Engine Room // September 2024 – Part I

Tunes

I chime in with a
“Haven’t you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?”
No, it’s much better to face these kinds of things
With a sense of poise and rationality

[- Panic! At The Disco, I Write Sins Not Tragedies -]
Clothing

Top: Ash. – “Cirius Top” (Maitreya LaraX) – NEW @ Engine Room // September 2024
Shirt: LeeZu – “Valerie Blouse BARK” (BoM)

Accessories

Hat: [piXit] – “Wind me Up Hat” (unrigged) – NEW @ Engine Room // September 2024
Piercing (Nose): Wicca’s Originals – “Yhesy Piercing”“Tegan Piercing Set” (unrigged)
Piercing Lips 1: LittleFish – “EziliV2”
Earrings 1: Wicca’s Originals – “Finnea Piercing” (LeL.EvoX, human, female)
Earrings 2: CODEX – “Yuki Set” (LeL.EvoX, human, female)
Monocle: Air – “Dyonisos (monocle) gold R_CM” (unrigged)
Fingers: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Xatyn Ring Band” (Maitrya LaraX, Bento)
Nails: FORMANAILS – “Steampunk” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: KMH – “Hair F266” (unrigged) – NEW @ Engine Room // September 2024
FaceArt: Rubedo – “Merlin Eyes 02″ (LeL. EvoX BoM) – NEW @ Engine Room // September 2024

Head, Body & Tattoo
Head: LeLUTKA – “Avalon 3.1″
Tattoo Face: BodyArts – “Faceband Wicca” (LeL.EvoX BoM, custom made – take a look at the “Vere Flores” or one of her various amazing facebands)
Tattoo Face/Neck: BodyArts – “Ornamentum
Teeth: [CX] – “Strigoi’s Fangs – Silver Type.1 ( Size E / Wider )”
Body: Maitreya – “LaraX 1.0”
Tattoo Arms: Nefekalum – “Artisan Sleeves Black (Metal/Gold)” (BoM, Materials) – NEW @ Engine Room // September 2024
Poses, Props & Tools

Pose: STUN – “Haerin 2” (Bento)
Backdrop: Paparazzi – “BACKDROP – Steampunk Hall 3″
Animal: Ardwark – “Hexclaw Feline Deco – Pose 1” – NEW @ Engine Room // September 2024

Model, Stylist & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Travelling through the Pages of Time

TUNES

Several hundred years before
A gambler and a monk embarked
On a long trek through the endless prairies of the North
They had a fierce debate
About God and chance and fate
And to resolve it, agreed a game of cards indeed be played
The game went on all day
And through the next and next they played
And around them a shelter was built to shield the rain
A street around the shelter formed
Then a church, a house, a bar
New Albion today
With bustling streets, machines, cafes
And the nice, the wise, the eccentric and insane
The mafia’s run by
A red haired dwarf with just one eye
Whose affairs he decides with a pair of silver dice
Over the Zeppelin Union Pilots
A castrati boss presides
And we hear his song each afternoon as he flies by
There’s prisons made of lead
And gargoyles of iron shreds
[- Paul Shapera, The Dolls of New Albion -]

Clothing

Outfit: *:..Silvery K..:* – SteamDancerina” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Engine Room // March 2021

Shoes: Hotdog – “Gaiter Boots” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Engine Room // March 2021

Accessories

Glasses: Air – “Etienne f_gold_CM” – NEW @ Engine Room // March 2021

Nails: FORMANAILS – “Kalisha” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: .EscalateD. – “Glencora V1”

Hairbase: LeLUTKA – “EvoX.Hairbase.037” (EvoX BoM, Part of the Avalon Head)

Eyeshadow: LeLUTKA – “EvoX.Eyeshadow.021” (EvoX BoM, Part of the Avalon Head)

Face Art: Nefekalum Tattoos – “Aliea (Gold) // EvoX Tattoo” (EvoX BoM) – NEW @ Electic Event // March 2021

Lipstick: LeLUTKA – “EvoX.

Head, Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLUTKA – “Avalon 3.0” – NEW @ SkinFair // March 2021

Head Skin: LeLUTKA – “FACE – lel EvoX AVALON” (Part of the Avalon Head) – NEW @ SkinFair // March 2021

Freckles: LeLUTKA – “EvoX.Freckles.013” (EvoX BoM, Part of the Avalon Head)

Body: Maitreya – “Lara V5.3”

Ears: [CX] – “Ostium Impaler Ears”

Tattoo: .:Vegas:. – “Tattoo Dark Earthly” (BoM)

Poses, Props & Tools

Poses: Myself

Cane (incl. Shoulderpose): Badwolf – “Steamskull Cane” – NEW @ Engine Room // March 2021

Location

Drune Diesel City

Model, Stylist & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

From little Seeds great Flowers grow…

“She limped, unaided around the house, like a bird with its wing broken. Tame, because it couldn’t fly away. All her time was taken up with managing herself, working out new ways to do things. Being a different person in the world.”
[ Joan London, The Golden Age ]

I guess I never had  more opposite posts back to back  than the last and today’s… maybe thats because my life at the moment is a little bit upside down and huge changes are about to come. I do have mixed feelings about it, as I did not really plan those, but sometimes you just get forced to make changes and you have to adapt the situation and make the best out of it for yourself.

But then, like I wrote yesterday… I always wanted the freedom to do what ever I want on my personal blog and so I hope you all don’t mind a black/silver against white/gold contrast 😉

It was always something I thought a lot about. When I started modeling, we were taught, that we should find our personal style. Back then it was like either you are a casual person, a formal one, am avant garde one or one of those kind of styles that we all know. I never felt ‘home’ in one style genre only and so I started to call my personal style weird or crazy to at least have category if I was asked about. I do not know where all that comes from, but it is not only happening in Second Life. In real life I am a musician, but as well a teacher and I do give private lessons for instruments and songwriting and I do work for a record studio playing the bass sometimes, too. I never had the desire to have a nine-to-five job, more than that I even was scared about the thought to have to do the same every day in a certain time frame. Certainly it would be easier and you could plan your free-time better, but I guess I would miss something just having one job.

It isn’t the first time that a chapter of the book of my life closes (sometimes I had to close them my self, too) and so I know if one closes another one will open. Just the time until that happens is sometimes a bit scary, as you never know what it will be. Usually those kind of “in-between” times only happen if you didn’t close the chapter yourself. Mostly they do happen, if you didn’t plan any changes and all of a sudden for no reason others decide to screw you over with lies and gossips that aren’t even true. First I tried to fight against that, but if you have 4 people gained up against you they can pretty much tell everything and being their own witnesses for their lies. First it dragged me down a lot and I was trying to find a way how I still could prove the truth, but the longer it did happen, the more I came to the point that it would be senseless. So I had to change my tactics and just make my peace with it and find new ways for myself. It would have been an unnecessary waste of power and time to keep on fighting in the end.

So I am looking forward to what will come. Things have come up to my mind already and now just need to grow and being developed more. That already feels much better than the time of uncertainty, where you have no clue what you are going to. Maybe that’s why I found parts of my creativity back, too and have fun taking pictures again even if they are a little bit weird *winks*

For now I will be on holidays and try to get some rest from all the past half a year crap. I know things will move on, as they always have and every time it happened, there was something new for  me that I really enjoyed. Even if that sounds old and lame sometimes and in the middle of frustrating and depressing times you neither want to hear or see it – Life has so much to give and there always will be ways to find new perspectives. Recently I found a quote, first I read it was from Sigmund Freud, but when I looked it up, there wasn’t any prove for that and no one really knows where it came from, but it does fit so perfectly for now and I like it a lot. I even thought, if I should put it on a sign and place it at my desktop somewhere, so I can look at it if I get bad feelings about the whole situation again. Maybe it makes a great closing sentence for today’s post *grins*

“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”

Clothing

Dress: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Bridal Gown” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Gloves: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Gloves” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Accessories

Collar: .Charm. – “Skai Collar” (Store closed)

Piercing: [CX] – “Bitten 2017”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest”

Eyeshadow 1: Nanika – “Gold Eyeshadow” (LeLutka Applier)

Eyeshadow 2: Zibska – “Lennie” (LeLutka Applier)

Face Art: Nanika – “Serena Gold” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Legs: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Legs / MARBLE” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thauron Ears”

Eyes: .ARISE. – “Blind Eyes / Gold”

Skin: *YS&YS* – “Immortal Skin Applier” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Tattoo: Nanika – “Gold Sequins Mesh Body Applier” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Set:

E.V.E Studio – “WHISPER Petals {Gold}”  (Gacha, Rare)

E.V.E Studio – “Apple Flower M01”

E.V.E Studio – “Apple Flower M02”

E.V.E Studio – “Golden Apple”

E.V.E Studio – “Flowers of the Golden Apple”

E.V.E Studio – “Petals Path A {Gold}”

E.V.E Studio – “Petals Path B {Gold}”

E.V.E Studio – “Dancing Petals Dystopia in Bronze/Gold”

Air – “Road sign type A stand_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type C_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type D_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type E_gold_CM”

Air – “Lost Bravery stand(gold)_CM”

Air – “Lost Brain stand(gold)_CM”

DISORDERLY. – “Enchanted Extras / Beast’s Library Papers”

Raindale – “Elnaril floor candle holder (light gold)”

{anc} – “mannequin. MermaidPrincess(Adult)” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Posing with Poseidon

How often we see cool poses and we never get to use them becasue they are extraordinary, editorial and so super awesome expressive that they seem to never fit an outfit.

Especially crouch poses or some kind of unusual movements can be hard if you have a certain outfit, that just doesnot want to cooperate with the poses you would love to use.. I am sure you know what I am talking about :p

So this time, I wanted tight pants, which would not clash with any kind of poses and some cool casual look that would agree with any kind of poses, that I always wanted to use before and rarely had a chance to do so.

My choice fell on one of the amazing applier leggings from Lassidude & Ennui. Her appliers really have an incredible quality and so many details that you barely can see they are ‘just’ appliers and not actual mesh pants. Appliers have the great advantage that nothing clashes or bends weird when your legs move. Another great thing about appliers is, you can mix and match a little bot more by using them together with mesh pieces, as you do not have to take care of several mesh sizes or mesh poking through each other by layering it over each other. The top comes from Moon Elixir with a full amazing outfit called “Rebel”

All the poses of today’s post are coming from Poseidon. An extraordinary pose store I discovered not too long ago. Gryphon Vendetta, owner and creator of Poseidon Poses, never stops to amaze me with his new releases.

The poses are super energetic and natural looking and most of them show incredible movements, like a momentary capture of some animation. You will find poses for any occasion or purpose at Poseidon, no matter if you look for runnings, jumps, dances or even themed poses like the super cool “Hill Nurse” set, that inspired me not too long ago to some creepy pics 😉 (https://wiccamerlin.de/something-evils-lurkinin-the-dark/)

He did some super cool props and as well little sets filled with his amazing poses. To me they are really refreshing and inspire me a lot just by running through them. If you are a friend of different angles, those poses are super awesome for editorial shots as well as he takes care of every limb to be perfect. And even if they look so dramatic you always get a real looking feeling and nothing breaks or looks like broken bones :p

If you love unusual, fresh modern poses and if you like to do editorial or fantasy shots or if you are searching for some new poses in general to make some cool pictures, just take a look at the Poseidon Mainstore (TAXI). I am sure you will find some exciting new poses for new picture ideas 😉

Details

Leggings: Lassitude & Ennui – “Handstitched Leather Leggings” (Maitreya Applier)

Top: Moon Elixir – “Rebel” (part of an outfit)

Gloves: Moon Elixir – “Valhalla” (gacha)

Shoes: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Gypsy Boots”

Hair: no.match – “No.Risk”

Glasses: AIR – “Black Cat CM”

Choker: :[P] – “Archimede Collar”

Makeup & Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “Fall Runway” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses: Poseidon

Basics

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 2.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara V3.5”