A thousand words (Gods and Monsters)

When I knew about Single Frame Stories, it was reaching to an end and I only got to participate in two of their weekly challenges: I believe and Life and Death. I don't know if there have been other similar challenges during this time, because I tend to live under a rock. So you have an idea of how much I live under a rock: Just a couple of days ago I learned who was that Ashley Madison woman that everybody was talking about. Now I know it wasn't a woman, but yes, I believed they were talking about a random celebrity in their opening posts because of the mentions to cheaters and so I didn't bother to check what was that about. It was a joke in a satirical Spanish magazine what made me realize that the topic everybody was talking about, wasn't a woman.

But I digress... As I was saying, I don't know if there have been similar challenges during this time. I know that there's one that has just born: A thousand words, brought by Skye Donardson and Billy. There's a group in Flickr, A thousand words, where we have to add our contributions. The challenge consists on (quoted from their Flickr group page):

We generate a random word, topic, or partial phrase from the ones that YOU give us, and then set you loose with it. Turn it into a picture worth a thousand words! This group is all inclusive, and welcomes people of all skill levels to participate.

The most important rules to keep in mind are (also, quoting from their Flickr group page):

• When you submit your picture, please also go into the corresponding discussion, and put down your idea for the next challenge.
• Topics will be open for submittals for ONE week, and entries need to be in by NOON SLT on every other Saturday.
• Once the topic is closed, we will collect everyone's ideas, and put them in a random generator to choose the next cycle's topic, which will be posted by NOON the following Sunday on the blog, along with everyone's pictures from the prior cycle. The new topic will also be posted in the Flickr group.

I like these kind of challenges in SL. I may not participate all weeks (schedules can go crazy at times), but I'm posting all this to help spread the word. I hope that you will also participate, spread the word, and help keep these initiatives alive and kicking :-)

This week's challenge is Gods and Monsters, and this is my picture (with caption):

Often, monsters are those who we allow to raise as gods.
Too many gods turn their back to, and leave alone, those who helped them reaching the sky.
I hope to see you posting pictures there :-)

PHOTO CREDITS - Auryn Beorn

Mesh body: Lara, from Maitreya
Mesh hands: Lara's hands, from Maitreya
Mesh head: Stella, from Lelutka

Skin: Avril Applier, Jamaica, from Glam Affair
Lipstick: Included in Avril Applier
Hair: City Princess, Russet (Reds pack), from Exile

Dress: Diletta gown, Ink, from Junbug
Tiara: Leafs headpiece, Silver, from Zenith

Pose: The Dress #1, Black Tulip (mine)

PHOTO CREDITS - Auryn Resident (Alt)

Mesh hands: Coco Doll, Hands (1), from Coco (Cocoro Lemon)
Mesh ears: Coco Doll, Ears (Human), from Coco (Cocoro Lemon)
Mesh head: Coco Doll, Head 002AF (Closed Eyes), from Coco (Cocoro Lemon)
Mesh teeth: Coco Doll, Teeth 002, from Coco (Cocoro Lemon)
Mesh body: Coco Doll, Upper (Bandage & Cut), Lower (Bandage) from Coco (Cocoro Lemon)

Hair: Lucinda, Cherry, from Truth (I bought this one in 2011, not sure if it's still available)

Pose: Solitude #1, Black Tulip (mine)

PHOTO CREDITS - Windlight

Windlight Sky: Phototools- No Light
Windlight Water: Pond

My first thoughts about Merchant Resource

I've published the introduction and two chapters, and the third chapter of Merchant Resource is about to be published. It's taken longer than I'd like, but I had a lot of work to do at home (the garden), still have a lot more to do, and holidays is always the best moment for that.

I hope it's being useful to those reading it. I admit it's not light material at some points. There are so many things to keep in mind, I know this.

Personally, I'm liking when I sit down and start writing this series. You may think that I already do all the things I write about... And you would be wrong. I've never thought I know everything about anything. I've never thought I know a topic so in detail that I could never learn anything new on it, or that I could not be corrected of past mistakes.

That is happening while I write this. As I research and write, I realize of things I could also do better, things I should change. I'm in fact reviewing my own store, my own procedures. Some things will take me some time to fix. Others I'm changing them as I write them down for this guide.

For example, I will correct and improve some of my naming conventions for items I sell; they were okay for full permissions mesh, books and poses, sort of okay for scripts, and they could be a lot better for animations and home and garden. When did I realize? When I was writing the previous chapter and thought of analyzing your sales data. You would think I've done this before. Well, I haven't. The reason is my memory; my recollections of my own sales were pretty accurate about the data I gathered once I thought "data analysis - of course!" and checked it. But neither I can trust my memory 100% nor I should suggest methods that rely in something so subjective and easy to mold as memory.

Another example is the store policies: I'll be strengthening mine after having written about the topic. Why? Because I studied policies of several stores, remembered many complaints from merchants in Plurk that could have had an easy solution had clever store policies been set in place, and decided that I have to review mine and clarify some of the points I've written about. As I write the next chapters, I'm sure I'll change more things in the way I do my own work.

The other thing I'm liking is that by writing this series and talking of scripts that could be helpful, I'm also forcing myself to write some scripts that it's ages since I told myself I have to write this script. The quickest example I can give is the set of unpacker scripts: I've started using them for the blogger packs I sent out for my first round at Enchantment.

If you're following the series, would you share in comments what are you finding useful? Have you changed the way you're doing some things?

Have a great day :-)

IMAGE: Dancing on the sea, in Flickr

PHOTO CREDITS

Mesh body: Lara, from Maitreya
Mesh hands: Lara's hands, from Maitreya
Mesh feet: Lara's feet, from Maitreya

Skin: Lulu 02 C, Jamaica, from Glam Affair
Freckles: Cassiopea Cosmetics, A (tn), from Glam Affair
Hair: Astralia, Garnet, from D!va

Wings: Virtuous Wings, from *NW* (NeverWish - Mystik Ruby)
Belt: Enola Belt, Copper-Black, from Keystone (Aymee Monk)

Pose: Snow Dancer #14, Black Tulip (mine)

WL Sky: Raymond's Night
WL Water: Phototools- Gallery Water 01

Watcher of the Sea

Ever since Ariel was fifteen years old, she would escape her father's surveillance, the King of the Under-the-Sea world, and swam to the surface. She liked to sit on her favourite rock every night, half a mile distance from the shore. She always looked up to the sky and smiled at the Moon. When the Moon was full, cloudy or not, it would tell her stories about the world that was outside the sea, warming her in its faint light, making of Ariel a distinctive spot of an otherwise lonely location.

Ariel was a mermaid. Mermaids were thought to be legendary creatures. Half human, half fish, and with a voice that would enchant and drive crazy in love any man that would hear them sing, mermaids hadn't been seen by humans since centuries ago, and so they had been forgotten.

That particular night, the Moon was explaining this when Ariel saw something in the distance. It was a ship, worryingly close to the storm near her. She loved being showered by the rain, but this was very different to those creatures called humans. The Moon had told her that there were storms so wild, they would break their ships causing the people inside to drown. This seemed to be what would happen tonight.

Ariel's fingers were clenching in anxiety while observing, and finally, the inevitable happened: a lightning struck on the ship, starting a fire, and while some people tried to suffocate it, others, pushed by waves that grew high as to reach gunnel, struggled to avoid falling in the sea.

There was tension and screaming at the ship. Ariel could not stop looking and the Moon reminded her that her father would be quite angry if humans would see her, that mermaids were not to interfere in human life. Upset and uneasy, doing her best to ignore the knot that was tying tight in her stomach, she was ready to dive back home and so she stood up. Then, another wave pushed the ship, and this time she saw a man falling in the sea.

It happened so fast that before Ariel realized, she had jumped towards the ship and was swimming to rescue the man. Only when she reached that half conscious human, the words of her father resonated loud in her mind. "Do not intervene in human affairs!"

She shook her head trying not to hear them, and swam driving the man to the safety of the seashore. She waited until he opened his eyes, laying next to him, and when he did, she smiled and told him in the sweetest voice ever heard, "I'm so glad I was there to help you! How are you feeling?"

The man stood up, his eyes widened in horror at the sight of the half-fish creature, and walked back a few steps.

"What, what... What are you? That's not possible! You're a monster!," the man said.

He reached the gun that was still held by his belt, and despite wet, he could use it and shot Ariel on her shoulder. She screamed in pain and fell.

"But, but... But I've saved you!," Ariel said, unable to understand, crying.

The man shot again, this time on her chest. Her eyes clouded and she fainted. The man shot a third time and there would have been a fourth one, hadn't it been for Ariel's father showing up on the seashore after the Moon called him saying it was urgent. Her father took the gun from the hands of the scared man and urged upon him to leave fast. Once the man disappeared from his sight, he threw the gun in the depths of the sea, took dying Ariel in his arms, and went back home with her.

Weeks after, Ariel opened her eyes. She was still convalescent and the injuries hurt. Her father was sitting next to her, he had been doing after their doctors extracted the bullets and cured her injuries the best they could. He smiled only for a second, then his stern look was back.

"Ariel," he said, "there's a reason why we don't intervene in human's affairs. They're a species of fearful violent creatures that attack what they cannot understand. Your intentions don't matter. They only see a strange creature to destroy and we have to protect ourselves from them."

One tear trickled down Ariel's cheek. She knew what would happen now.

"Now, there's the matter of the rules. You know them. If I am to expect for others to abide by my rules, I have to set an example by punishing my own daughter who broke them. I can't make an exception with you. You know what happens at this moment."

Her father was strict in applying the rules, and no matter her good intention when saving that man, no matter her promising she wouldn't break them again, Ariel was punished and cursed to eternally be the Watcher of the Sea. Always on duty to help drown those humans that would fall in the dark waters, she would be an invisible shadow to their eyes, singing to their ears while holding them and pushing their lives down in the depths of the silent sea.

This story is also published in The Night Corner

(This is my own version of Hans Christian Andersen's tale, The Little Mermaid, which inspired the poses. Of course, I couldn't help the turn to darkness.)

Yes! I've been accepted in the Enchantment event, and I'm all kinds of yay about it. Regular readers won't need explanations about the reasons, and new ones will find out why just by exploring the Short Tales tab of this website.

Photo Credits: Auryn

Mesh body: Lara, from Maitreya
Mesh hands: Lara's hands, from Maitreya; Slink hand, Point, from Slink

Skin: Lulu 02 C, Jamaica, from Glam Affair
Freckles: Cassiopea Cosmetics, A (tn), from Glam Affair
Hair: Abella, Dark Reds, from Entwined

Bra: Mermaid Jewel Bra, Mint, from Baiastice
Mermaid Tail: Ligie Mermaid Outfit, for Maitreya body, from Gaeline Clothes.

Poses:

• Watcher of the Sea, Are you okay, stranger?, from Black Tulip (mine), coming to Enchantment's round opening August 15th, The Little Mermaid.
• What was left of her #5 - Mirror for injured Ariel, from Black Tulip (mine)

Facial expression in the second photo: Surprise

Photo Credits: Ansel

Skin: Cruz, 02b Tan Skin, unshaved + base + bodyhair, from Redgrave
Glasses: Custom Eyewear - SCT, from Gos
Mesh hands: Slink Male Hands (AvEnhance) - Relax, from Slink
Hairbase: Hair Base - Dark Brown, from MADesigns
Hair: Garrett - Dark Brown VII, from MADesigns

Waistcoat: Rake's Waistcoat, Black, from Heathcliff (Junbug's brand for male clothes)
Trousers: Rake's Trousers, Black Tweed, from Heathcliff (Junbug's brand for male clothes)

Pose: Are you okay, stranger?, from Black Tulip (mine), coming to Enchantment's round opening August 15th, The Little Mermaid.

Photo Credits: Landscaping and Windlight

Beach Dune Building Set, from Studio Skye
Tropical Beach Building Set, from Studio Skye
Skye River Bank Building Set, from Studio Skye (The rocks)

Windlight Sky: Phototools- Moon Light 01 (Sun position, moved)
Windlight Water: Pond