… Primary colors in a Second Life® …

The adventure began, when I saw a friend with the Umbrella from ++NODe++, but I suspect it began even before that. I have been feeling like doing a rainy day piece this entire winter, because we have had a lot of rain where I am from and there have been so many incredible rainy day creations of late in SL. So I decided to go and see the creations of Nyagos Kidd, the creator of ++NODe++, for myself. There I found basically two creations in an amazing variety of colors and patterns and a beautiful and inspired store design. Possessed while there, the mood overcame me and inspired me to look for places to enjoy the rain.

The adventure begins…

The first creation was the one I came for, the umbrellas. Which, by the way, come in a huge collection of combinations of 6 designs/colors per umbrella. This bright blue umbrella when considered with the adorable bright yellow galoshes that I got from Stuff In Stock‘s participating store, su . vida, I planned on pairing it with brought to mind a Mondrian painting. Those galoshes came with three pairs – bright pink, electric yellow, and vibrant green – cost me a combined total of 80L. What a steal!

So the thought of a Mondrian painting got me thinking about the adorable black and white coldLogic houndstooth coat dress, called parke.white, that I had been drooling over at March Mesh Madness 2012. That, combined with a Glam Affair skin sporting bright red lips and painting my stock nails from Sexy Mamas a BRIGHT Red, would at least complete the desired color palette and really stand out against the drab rainy day.

Me & My New Umbrella

Before setting out, I had to admire the second amazing creation, an adorable pile of pillows, shaped and decorated to look like iPhone app icons. You can get your very own from the gotcha machine on the wall, or just admire the massive pile in the middle of the room. You know I forgot to look and see if there was a Second Life® icon pillow. Regardless, the pillows are bright and colorful and really stand out in the drab (and extremely elaborate and creative environment) of the rainy store.

And As I Looked Into The Dark … I Knew The Adventure Was Beginning

My favorite rainy sim, Rainy Town, the sim where Cream Shop once had its main store, is sadly gone. So, I was completely at a loss for where to go next. I was, however, inspired by the location. So I called out to one of my favorite groups to find more places of inspirational rain. The group was Fashion Emergency, FE for short, a group of fashion conscious SL residents who help find the obscure and not so obscure in the world of SL Fashion. The help there most often is of a fashion nature, but has been known to be all over the charts. Friendly members rising to offer their two cents and sometimes more is a common occurrence and my quest was no different. So off I went, on my new adventure, singing in my head, “Me & My Umbrella” to the tune of “Me & My Shadow” in some sort of mash up with “Umbrella“ by Rhianna. I know I am crazy like that. What can I say?

Sweet Lovely Cute was how I was feeling so I stopped there first…

My first stop in my rainy day adventure after leaving ++NODe++ was the Sweet Lovely Cute Sim. While rainy, the sim was a little, too, industrial feeling for my mood. As you can see it is an exceptionally well-done, random-clutter kind of back alley / warehouse feel. Since it wasn’t what I wanted, I didn’t stay long. But never fear! I marked the sim for later exploration and took off to the next of the many suggestions shared by the group. Some were wonderful, but still none were quite what I was looking for, and therefore, I saved them for future adventures. And some were lovely, but too laggy to get a decent picture with all the scenery rezzed. And, of course, I had to play extensively with my new capabilities of shadows and dept of  field, which only added to the difficulties of the experience.

Balance is everything …

As we spoke of sims we had enjoyed exploring and ones that were no longer part of SL, I remembered a sim based around a devastated coastal town, Innsmouth. Finally, it was my own memories, which took me to the place that finished out my quest and had me playing, exploring, and snapping shots for hours, Innsmouth. The sim is designed to look as if a hurricane has ripped the quaint little town apart. What I didn’t remember was some of the creepy dark things lurking in hidden places in the town, just waiting to be stumbled upon by some unwitting SL resident.

You can’t let yourself get swept away …

When I first landed, I must have landed while the hurricane was still in progress, because the skies were dark and stormy and the rain pelted down on my body. I was thankful for the thick fabric of my dress and the sturdy umbrella that I had toted along with me. Boy! Did they came in handy. And those dirt roads would have been unmanageable in my normal high heels. At one point, I was even afraid that I would have to send out an SOS to have someone come pull me loose from the mud. I had that awful suction thing going on and almost lost one of my new boots.

I stayed …

In the end I managed to get my self out of my suction predicament, and apparently, I stayed so long that the rain pretty much came to a stop. I began to see signs of light getting brighter, as I walked out of town and on my way back home. I was returning my avi to familiar places of safety, one where I control the environment and the decor. That way i would be able to log out and leave her to rest up from her long and arduous journey around the grid …

And As I Looked Back …

And As I Looked Back …

… Out Came the Sun …

Out Came the Sun

And dried up all the rain. Leaving me to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, all the way home. On this adventure, I strongly identified with that Itsy Bitsy Spider … I had had my adventure to see the world and when the storms lifted I had achieved my goals and headed home, none the worse for wear.

Upon returning home, I compiled my pictures, saving the best shots to share, and even ended up making a graphic novel type set of them. If you are curious to see the effects, you can check out my Rainy Day Adventures … Graphic Novel Set found here on flickr. For Sim and store information, see below in the style card section. And If you have your own favorite pics of these or any other wonderful rainy locations, please share them in the comments. For some reason, there never seem to be enough good rainy scenes in SL. So please if you know one do share… Happy adventuring until next time.

Style Card

Store SLURLs available on the SLURLs page

Skin: -Glam Affair- Layla Light – L HB 07
Hair: [e] Over – Blonde 02
Eyes: [SLB] Eyes – July’09 – Green R
Eyelashes: Crissy Designs – Irresistible Look Eyelashes, [ glow ] eyelashes – Secret Eyes 01
Nails: *Sexy Mamas* Prim Nails (custom shade) and Reale – Manicure – red (alternated depending on if pose broke the nail AO override)

Coat Dress: coldLogic jacket – parke.white
Galoshes: su . vida – color shock zebra (matt) – Yellow
Umbrella: ++NODe++ – umbrella_v2_NO1

Poses: (marukin) [blossom] sundress (Collabor88), (pda) Marvelous Design (Collabor88), [doll.] Celestia 1 (PLATINUM HUNT), Djinn & Tonic – Designers United 2 – Up & Away Attachment (moved birds out of the way), and poses from my natural AO

Locations

NODe+ Store (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLOW/15/65/21)

Sweet Lovely Cute (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bon%20Voyage/56/50/23)

Innsmouth (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Innsmouth/166/218/25)

Filed under: Second Life Adventure, Second Life Fashion, SL Tagged: “++NODe++”, “Designers United”, “Djinn & Tonic”, “Glam Affair”, “March Mesh Madness 2012″, “su . vida”, “[doll.]“, coldLogic, Collabor88, Crissy Designs, Elikatira, Glow Studio, marukin, PDA, Sexy Mamas, [SLB]