Showing posts with label Graves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graves. Show all posts

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Happy Weekend: Graves

Warning:  This post contains material that may be considered sexually explicit.  While it does not go that far, you may wish to not read this at work.  You have been warned.  Enjoy!


aka:  A Brief History of Dream Walking

“For Dream Walking in a way is the ultimate control, the ultimate trust, and least of all, the ultimate level of exploration.  For what exists within the confines of the human mind is far greater than what exists in the universe, in beauty, possibility, and danger.  Mistrust a handler and you die.  She is your lifeline, your breath, and least of all your heart, while your body becomes a slave to your mind.”   
- Harvey Shanbhag, President of United Planets, 3347.

It was the day the aliens came.  The aliens and their shiny new technology and shiny new promises.  I remember it clearly.   It was a dark day, the pollution clouds moving like mist in the shadows, encompassing all of London, even more than normal.  They came, and the city lit up like Yule.  All the lights turned on, the music started playing, and everyone was awake.  People went to work; people went to the shops, and on the lifts.  Life came back to the dark and polluted city of London.  But it was to only hasten our demise; for it was the day the aliens came.

I remember it well.  I was at work, in a shop.  It was just after Yule and the lights still glistened in the wet streets.  And then the aliens came, taking us.  I was the first it would seem.  Alone in the middle of the night, I was pulled from my bed and placed in a chamber; it was wet and cold, and full of feelings of emptiness in our sleep.   Soon, emptiness was replaced by feelings of others around me – new faces, new names, new thoughts and memories abounded around me, and yet always in our sleep.  We were never awake.

That is when I met Sally.

Sally was a scientist, had a two doctoral degrees from the University and was studying psychology.  Psychology and biochemistry she said.  Her specific area of expertise was in dreams; while we were all taken by the aliens, she snuck her way in to study them, and in the process entered the chamber we were all kept in.  She had a commanding presence always; we were placed into menial tasks while in the chamber.  Immediately on our first day together, she organized us and managed to find a way around the tasks.  “They know what we’re thinking,” she always said, “So think something different.”  Her keen advice to us all.

During our time together, we fell deeply in love, but not in the platonic way one would.  I had coupled with a gentlemen from Queens, and together we lived a long and prosperous marriage in our arranged dream world of the alien chamber.  But there was always Sally.  Sally would walk past, Sally would glance, or even Sally would stare deep in thought at those that kept us for their secret bidding. 

Then one day, we all awoke; the war had been won and we were left to sort out the mess.  My husband from Queens was the first to leave; while we cared for each other, we were little more than fill for our own emptiness we left behind, and he left an entire family.  Others left too that first day, week, month that we had awoken.  Those that stayed at first stayed out of obligation to their fellow dreamers, that we sort out what had happened, who we had become, and what was to become of our lives now out of our slumber. 

But Sally stayed, Sally and her deep stares, and her icy blue eyes.  She would walk to the desolate bridge of the ship, pushing buttons, trying to get any reaction from anything that she could.  Though she was a psychologist and biochemist by training, she also had a love for computers and cracking codes.  She would stare for hours at end, hardly noticing anything or anyone that buzzed around her.  Then one day, after our ten plus years near each other she finally spoke.

“Adella,” she would whisper, looking deep into my mind.  I’d look back at her, into near-empty, calculating eyes, and look to her for more.  And then she’d walk away, walking to the next computer, the next puzzle.  In a way I think it was her way of coping with our captivity and slavery.  One moment she’d try to make a human connection and the next walk away, the memory of humanity too cold and painful for her to participate in.

Things started to change though.  One day I awoke to the sound of a slight buzzing.  When I opened my eyes, I was greeted with the sight of a room full of dancing white lights – she had managed to get the systems up.  I walked up to her, she sat silent, staring at her screen.  I walked up and knelt by her side, looking at her, her body never recognizing the fact that I was there. 

Finally after an hour or more she sighed, “Adella, you can’t be sneaking up on me like that.”  Was she that absorbed in her work that it took her that long to realize that I had been there for so long?  I shook my head and stood up, silent.  “Find me some tea?” she said as her long delicate fingers went back to work on the console.  That’s how it started – two desperate souls without a place to return to.  I had found out that London had been destroyed in the war, the only real place left for us were the refugee camps of Saturn.  We had lost our homes, our lives.  I ran a stationary shop, selling cards and small party favors for Yule; she had been at King’s College.  All gone now, nothing left for us but Sally’s work.

That’s how our new life started – me fetching tea for Sally after a month, of course, after that time we were the only two left at the wrecked ship we had grown to call home.  And we began our daily ritual – I would fetch tea, watch her work for awhile, and when I grew too restless, I would go about looking through what was left of the ship, always vigilant to avoid the chamber.  “You lack discipline,” she finally said one morning when I handed her a cup of earl gray.

“Excuse me?”  I asked, shocked at the observation and the fact that she said more than her usual request for tea.  “I ran a shop,” I replied to her vacant stare.  Though I was accustomed to her stare, I saw it daily when she was working, she never used that stare on me.  Worse, her eyes never left mine as she took my hand. 

“Come with me,” she said, leading me away from the command deck.  “You need discipline,” she said as she rummaged through an old crew quarters.  “Yes,” she said, taking a cylinder of coil in her free hand.  “Kneel,” she commanded me and I obeyed; who was I to question the words of the great Sally Stephens, PhD?  I knelt down in front of her.  “I can teach you discipline, if you’d like,” she said, her statement more of a command than a question.

I immediately nodded.   “Yes Sally,” I said.

She shook her head.  “Ma’am,” she said.  “Call me ‘Ma’am’ for now.  Close your eyes,” she said and I did as I felt the cool metal being coiled around my neck.  I tried to suppress a shiver but couldn’t and I could hear a cold, icy laugh emerge from her.  “You may open your eyes,” she said as she took me by the chin, tilting my head up so I could see her mouth as she spoke.  “Do as I say and you will be rewarded.  Do as I don’t and you will not.  Simple.  Discipline is easy,” she said, looking over my face and body as she commanded me.  After her own silent speech she said, “Tea please.”

Our ritual of my training continued.  I’d wake up, she’d already be at a console, digging through lines of code.  I tried to ask her one day what she was looking for, and after a tongue click and a sigh, she finally told me.  “Neurotransmitters and sleep cycle patterns,” she said, running back to her work.  “Now kneel.”  I did as I said, taking my punishment for interrupting her studies, only returning to our usual ritual later that evening. 

A few days later, I awoke earlier than normal, the sound of the ship having changed from its usual meditative hum to a warning.  I gathered my items, ran to the bridge, but Sally was not there.  I ran to her other haunts in the ship: medical bay, the captain’s quarters, an exercise deck, but she was nowhere.  Finally, I looked to the last place I hoped she would not be – the old dream chamber. 

I ran in and saw Sally, deep in a slumber and alien tendrils wrapped around her body.  I gasped.  Once we had emerged from here, I had vowed to never return, but there I was, limp with alien vegetation wrapped around her body, like the day we awoke and emerged from this nightmare room.  I knew she had been testing me, teaching me, showing me the inner workings of the systems of the ship to the extent that, in an emergency, I was able to operate in the medical bay and send communications.  Was this a test?  I knew she had been working in here but had always refused to follow.  I looked over at her and saw she had stopped breathing.  “No!” I muttered and ran in, prying cold slimy vines from her body.  She fell forward, onto my shoulder and I carried her to the medical bay.  She still was not breathing.  I eased her to the floor and attempted to blow a couple breaths in her mouth; I was met with a gag and a green slime oozing from her mouth.  A couple more attempts at breaths and she finally inhaled, coughing more of the slime out. 

“Thank you,” she said, a weak smile coming across her face as she lay under me. 

“What were you thinking?!?” I sputtered in shock. 

“It worked Adella, it worked.”

“What worked?” I stared at her.  Was it worth committing suicide to get a scientific endeavor to work?  I looked down at her, sorrow overtaking me.  Had I not come along early, no one would have known that what Sally did “worked.”  “You stopped breathing,” I said, trying to shake off any anger or fear I wanted to throw at her.

“There was oxygen, from the vines,” she said, coughing a little, still unable to sit up from the cold metal floor.  “It’s how we breathed in there before.”

“You stopped breathing,” I repeated myself, hoping that Sally would recognize my concern.

“You were disciplined,” she said in an even weaker voice before passing out.

I looked her over, knowing that I had a long day ahead of me.  “Come on, we need to get you to the medical bay, and get a doctor out here,” I said to her unconscious form as I pulled her up to my side.  She was even heavier than I remembered before. 

When I got her to the medical bay, I did the best I could to get her limp body into the scanner.  All these months of work and there she lay, asleep.  Really, looking over her, she was fine, probably just sleeping it off.  I could go behind her back, call for help, and let a real doctor come and check her over.  But, that wasn’t what she ordered.  “Do as I say,” she always said, often followed by little threats I never thought she’d fulfill, including this one.  But, I knew she trusted me to look over her unconscious body.  I closed the lid to the scanner.  “You owe me,” I said to her near-lifeless form. 

After a few hours, I heard her breathing deepen and she awoke.  “How do you feel?” I asked, looking down at her.  She looked around, obviously wanting to know if I had called others in for help. 

“Like I had a really good night’s sleep,” she whispered as she stretched.  As she sat up, still looking around she asked, “You didn’t call anyone, did you?”

I shook my head.  “I wanted to but somehow I couldn’t,” I said, offering an accepted hand to her to help her to her feet.  I felt her cool hands on my shoulders as I helped to steady her out of the bio-scanner. 

“You did well then,” she said, the back of her fingers lightly rubbing against my cheek.  “You will be rewarded of course,” she smiled, a warm lust in her eyes.  She leans in, unsteadily, and staggers forward.  When she collects herself, she stammers in a shy tone, “That was supposed to be a kiss.”

I look down at her, still unsteady in my arms.  “I don’t think I can take advantage of you in this situation,” I say, helping her walk to the cabin we’ve been staying in. 

“Yes you can,” she orders and leads on from there. 

Though the cabin is just as I had left it this morning, something there feels warmer, closer, more like home.  I help ease her to her bed.  “I don’t think you should work today,” I say, helping pull a blanket up over her.

“Really I’m fine,” she says, arguing.  “Here,” she pulls me down to the bed with her.  “If you say I need rest, then you stay here and rest with me,” she places her arm around me, pulling me closer to her.  Soft lips touch mine and I am pulled further into the bed.  “You’ve done well, anyone else would have called for help,” she says.  “And honestly, considering what we have here, we can’t have others stealing our research.”  I feel her hand caressing my cheek again. 

“Isn’t it dangerous to be your own test subject?” I ask, leaning back from Sally a bit.

“Yes, but that’s why I have you here,” she says, leaning back forwards towards me.  She grins and takes a hold of my collar.  “You’ve been trained, you know what to do, and I know that I can only trust you.”  She pulls on my collar harder, standing up in the process.  “Kneel,” she says and I do.  “This is where I need to trust you.  Do you understand?”  I nod.  “Do you promise that I will do as I say?”  I nod again and she looks me over, staring deep into my eyes.  “We start further testing tomorrow.”



~~~ 

The following morning I am met by a new array of sensations covering my body, and I can’t quite tell if it is the lingering aftermath of pleasure, pain, or both.  As I roll over, the scent of leather and oil hit my nose, and I see Sally still asleep on the bed above me.  I look to my wrists, which are now vaguely free from the pleasures of last night; my ankles did not fare as well and I reach down to free them, still hearing the strains of Sally’s light breathing in her sleep.  I quietly try to get up but kick at a chain, “Shi…” I catch myself cursing and Sally moves.

“Tea,” she sighs, ordering me back to my duties.  “We have a lot of work ahead of us now,” she says, wiping the wrinkles from her bio-suit and I look down to my suit, doing the same. 

I nod, “Yes Ma’am.”  As I to the attached kitchenette I see her form leave the quarters. 

We worked like that for a month, maybe two.  I’d wake early and free myself from whatever was bound to me, and she’d follow me up, often going to a small warehouse that was in the belly of the ship.  Each morning I’d arrive with our tea, and I’d see her assemble.  After awhile, she had created what looked to be a chair with conduits running from it. 

“Like it?” she asked one day, staring at it in pride.  “I think we can recreate the dream state again, only now, you’ll be able to monitor every moment of what happens in there,” she says.  “Here,” she takes my hand, “This is the control booth.  From here, you are my lifeline.  Every breath I take you can see, and even control.  Every chemical that is made by my brain, you can influence.  You will even be setting what brain waves I create,” she points to a read out.  After an hour of showing me each panel, she quizzes me.  “Very good,” she says, rubbing her fingers over my sore and swollen lips.  “Now we both know how to work it.”  She looks at me and cocks her head.  “Hmm,” she says and starts to look over my body, poking and prodding at various points.  “Where are your ports?” she asks.

“Ports?”  I reply, not knowing what she had said.

“The ports on the bio-suit the aliens fitted you with.”  

I look down and see little circular ports on her body.  I reach out and touch one.  Though I had seen them on her, I had always assumed that she already had them on when she was brought here originally.  I shake my head.  “I was the first one here,” I say, saddened more by the fact that my bio-suit did not have ports than by the life I was forced to leave behind. 

“Ah,” she says, walking a circle around me, observing my body.  “Then it is imperative that I have your trust,” she says as her hands change from a light poking to interchanging between a light slap and a light rub.  “My life is literally in your hands,” I feel a sting, “Anything goes wrong, and only you can fix it,” I feel another sting.  “Most of all, you’ll be the only one who can wake me,” and another sting.

“I don’t believe that,” my voice cracks.

“Well, there is a stop-gap built in.  As long as someone is continually monitoring this, I will stay asleep.  No monitoring and a sequence will begin to wake me up.  Power goes out and the chemicals keeping me in my slumber will wear off, and I will wake up,” she pulls on my hair, playing with it in different styles as she talks.  “While you have been following orders from me this last year or so, it is now time to switch.  It will be the same while I’m awake of course, but it could get lonely,” she now toys with my lips and I wince a bit as her finger hits a particularly sore spot from the previous night.  She continues to instruct me. 

“Think you’re ready?” she asks, pushing a few buttons on my console and I nod.  “Good,” she says.  “This first trial will be to see if you can alter and monitor everything.  I’ll only be deep enough to be meditating, so I can pull out if needed.”  I bite my lip.  I can’t believe that after everything Sally had succumbed to in the chamber a few months ago, let alone almost dying, that she was willing to go back under again. 

“I can see you’re nervous,” she said, pressing a few more controls.  “I’ll have a way of controlling as well from my end,” she holds up a gauge of sorts that is fitted into her hand; at the end is what looks like some sort of an electrical plug.  “If I feel I need to wake and cannot, I have it set up that I can.”  I look back at her hand.  “It’s a panic button, but knowing that I can trust you, I really won’t need it,” she says, pushing a button on the console.  “Come, I’ll show you how to fasten me in.”

I follow her into the room with the chair and she begins to show me how to strap her in, starting with plugging in the panic button.  “Do you really think this is a good idea?” I ask, nodding in respect to Sally.

Sally shakes her head.  “Talking out of turn,” she nags me.  “I thought we were past this.  It’s about trust.  I can still trust you, right?” She looks me in the eye.  Though her normal modus operandi in this situation would be to command a question to me, this one she allows me to answer of free will. 

I nod my head, “You can trust me,” my voice shakes.  She looks at me, knowing there is more to what I have to say.  “I just don’t know if I can trust myself.”

She reaches around me, giving me a hug.  “You already have dear Adella, you already have.”  She pulls back, looking at me and then finishes strapping herself in with my help.

~~~ 

A few months after our successes, it has become evident that the use of a chair-type mechanism for holding the body will not work, when we awake one morning and I hear Sally softly sobbing.  The previous day we had gone a record 18 hours with her in the chair. 

“You okay?” I ask, kneeling as I check on her.   She shakes her head and grimaces, continuing to try to hold back.  “Pain?”  I ask and she nods rapidly, trying not to let on how bad she feels.  I try to help her sit up and I feel how hot an inflamed her back and arms are.

“We can’t use the chair anymore,” she says as I look her over, her body having atrophied a bit and her suit hanging looser on her skin. 

“But we got it to work, didn’t we?” I ask, helping her up.  I am taking her to the medical bay with our without her wishes, and she seems to be complying with me. 

“Yes, but my body can’t handle it, it hasn’t been able to handle it for awhile now, I just haven’t mentioned it.  There needs to be a suspension of something,” she begins to think aloud, her thoughts numbing her pain enough that I can lead her to the scanning bed.  We pass an upright stasis chamber on our way to the bed.  “Of course,” she says as she stops me by the unit.  “But I can’t stay in for long; my skin would never allow it.”

“The bio-suit?” I ask, my arm still wrapped around her for support. 

Sally shakes her head.  “I don’t think they’d last.”

I look across the way to a chair similar to what she based the current model on.  “Why not just use shorter times?”

Sally shakes her head again.  “No, they kept us asleep for years without damage to our bodies or our suits.  We bodies didn’t age, our muscles didn’t atrophy” she nods to me to let her stand on her own and she takes a few steps forward.  “This,” she says, pointing to a microscope-like unit and presses a few buttons, powering it up.  “I missed this,” she leans forward, looking into it, studying it.  “Yes of course,” she says, pressing a few other buttons.  “Tea please,” she says, indicating to me not so much the desire for the hot liquid, but rather the need for her steadied research of this device. 

“What is it?” I ask.

“I think it’s another computer, one we missed,” she says without moving from the machine.  “Yes, it’s here, but the supply seems finite,” she presses a few more buttons.  After a few minutes, she stops and looks at me, not saying a word.

“What?” I ask, fearing her next words.

“You have to go in.”

I shook my head.  “You stopped breathing.”

“I didn’t have you watching me,” she took my hand and led me to the screen.  “You have to go in.  This is new; it’s what we were missing before.”  I look away and look back to her.  Though the last year or so of scientific experiences has taught me to read the biochemical readings that Sally was so used to working with daily, what I saw on the screen was still new to me.  Sally sighed.  “You have to go in because, if this works, I need to be able to monitor exactly what happens to you in there.  I won’t leave the computer, except to be next to you, to help you in and out of it, like you do for me.”  She looks to me with hopeful eyes, “Only you can do this right now.”

I shake my head in disbelief; when we emerged from the chamber, I swore that I would never re-enter it again.  I already entered it once to save the life of my dear friend, and now I was in disbelief that I would be entering it yet again to go back into that dream world that I was very glad to leave.

“So?” Sally asks, the tone of her voice expecting miracles.

“I’ll do it.”  I shake my head lightly and I catch myself biting my lip.  I really don’t want to do it, but I know that I can trust her and I know that she knows what she is doing.

“Come,” she takes me hand and leads me into the chamber.  I feel my heart begin to race as I see the room.  Though we only were conscious in this room for a few minutes, seeing it represents my fear of all we were subjected to for those ten years.  I look at Sally, walking ahead of me, practically dragging me now into the chamber, and she is oblivious to these feelings.  I was taken, the first to be taken here, she only volunteered. 

“Sally,” I hear my voice squeak out and she stops.

“What is it?” she turns and looks at me, and I feel myself blush a little.

“Don’t leave me,” I say.  I know that nothing will go wrong really, she’s going to be watching every moment that I’m in there.  In fact, I’ll be safer in there than I am out of there; the computer monitors everything that happens in the body.  Sally looks me over.

“I’ll take you only semi-conscious the first time.  If you can handle that, and we’ll be able to talk to each other, then we’ll talk about going under fully.”

I nod, “Okay.”  Though I trust my friend with all my life, being in this chamber alone makes me nervous.

Sally takes my hand again and leads me up to the wet, warm pod.  As I touch it with my hand to climb in, the vines move, allowing me entrance.  I look to Sally with nervous eyes.

“It’s okay, it knows that I’m in control now,” she says and helps me up. 

As I start to climb in, the tendrils help push me up as well.  When I turn around to look, Sally is now holding a small tablet and pushing buttons on it; she is controlling the vines that are helping me.  She chuckles a little and looks at me, “Every move, I’m in control,” she says as she presses a few buttons; a tendril of the chamber lightly moves across my cheek, leaving a trail of warm, thick liquid, like a warmed paraffin wax.  As I get into the position needed, I feel a vine snake its way up my leg, massaging it gently. 

“This is very strange,” I say.

“We were asleep at this point,” she says.  “Relax, close your eyes, let this happen,” she says and I hear her press a few more buttons on the tablet.  I close my eyes, and slowly, I feel a tendril snake up my arm, caressing it all the way.  “I’m in complete control of your body right now Adella,” she says, and I feel another tendril snake up the other leg, stopping near my pelvis and pushing on me.  I gasp a little, and it does feel good.

“Pheromones, it works on pheromones,” Sally exclaims, but I don’t care.  I feel good, comforted, and another tendril snakes around me, bringing with it the warm paraffin wax feeling, kneading my muscles, and I’m suddenly alive in sensations.  Warmth, heat, massage, it feels too good.  Why was I so scared, I wonder to myself and I give in to waves of pleasure seeping across my body.  I can’t move, but I don’t want to move; if I move I know that these wonderful feelings will cease.  I hear Sally chuckle a little, further away than she was before, and I feel another tendril snake around me, probing at my mouth a little.  I open for it and it pushes in lightly, probing, and I remember Sally telling me that it will breathe for me.  My hearts quickens but the tendrils react to it, massaging me more, and I catch myself in a pleasurable moan.  Sally chuckles again.  “Liking it?” she asks, and I feel more and more ecstasy take over me.  I inhale and let all these sensations take control.

And I dream.

When I begin to come to my senses, I am laying on a gurney with a warm blanket over my body.  Light, smooth lips are kissing and nibbling mine.  Sally is kneeling above me, kissing me, looking me over.

“How was it?” she asks and I look around.

“What happened?” I ask.

“It worked.  How did it feel?”

My hands smooth over my body; the suit is intact, though I thought while under that the liquid had replaced it.  “Good,” I nod and grin, wanting only more.

Sally stands up, offering me a hand.  “Then it worked well,” she said. 

I sit up and look over my body and around me; I’m still in the chamber, but it now feels completely different to me, like it’s my home, or the bed of a secret lover.  “Wow,” I say in awe, “Was it supposed to feel like that?” I ask.

Sally sits beside me, her arm wrapping around me to show the tablet she had been controlling my experience with.  “The aliens used pheromones and hormones to stimulate our brains to produce a high amount of endorphins.  Need a cigarette?” she chuckles as I bask in my afterglow.  I catch myself blushing.

“And your experiences with entering the dream world?” I ask, somewhat jealous of her now.

“If you want to know if I felt like you did, the answer is no, there were no endorphins.  Did you feel like fighting the tendrils at all?”  I shake my head; fighting was the very last thing I wanted.  “The endorphins stimulated your body into believing you were having a very pleasurable experience, when in fact, you were being held prisoner and could not move.  I even took you fully into sleep; you weren’t fighting the system at all.” 

I look back behind me at the chamber I was held in, amazed at the room and the experience.  “How long?”

“Six hours.”

Six hours?  I look with amazement at the chamber; Sally could make millions of credits in the pleasure districts with this, but here she is, trying to apply science to it for the greater good. 

“I’ll start in the morning on adapting the liquid to the tank we found, but with fewer endorphins,” Sally grins at me, teasing me a little about what I felt in the chamber.  “For now, let’s get some rest,” she offers me a hand and I follow her to bed.

~~~ 

A week passes, with little spoken word shared between us other than Sally’s customary, “Tea,” request.  We wake, I follow her to her latest work shop, and I watch, handing her tools, schematics, and data tablets as requested.  Soon, she is alternating her work between the tank and a nearby controller, showing me how to work it, and what to look for.

“You’re lucky,” she reminds me one day.  “You’re the only human to experience the full experience and potential in there,” she reminds me of the chamber and I blush. 

“Did you plan it that way?” I ask sheepishly. 

“Yes,” she said and smiled.  “I had to reward you for all your hard work some how,” she presses a few buttons on the console and I blush.  “But, I did not change the original settings at all.  We all felt that while in there, our minds just never registered it while in the aliens’ dream world.”  She tweaks a few more settings.  “I think it’s ready,” and she heads to the tank on the opposite wall, nodding to me.  I follow and assist her in, data tablet in hand.  After a few pressed buttons, she is asleep and I am alone again, monitoring her. 

After a few hours, I pull her to consciousness as instructed.  “And?” I ask, she nods.

“It worked.”

~~~

I remember when it all began, the day the aliens came.  It was such a sad day, but now it is brightened by the contributions Sally and I had made to the world.  I remember the day I went to sleep and the day I began to really live, as we finally made a contribution to our society.   Dream chambers have been delivered to small communities where it would be otherwise impossible to work, children attend school by them, university even.  Men and women are home more for their children, no longer needing to commute.  Sally and I stayed at the ship, upgrading the systems to continue more work.  We hired a crew; people had jobs, money, and that money built up the post-war economy and brought a new life for many people.  And dream walking soon replaced the computer.  People could attend colleges, museums, plays, sports; everything was available in the dream world.  


Special Thanks:
Jackie Graves

Credits:
Concept:  Jackie Graves, Arizona Navarathna
Story:  Arizona Navarathna, Sonja Mistwallow
Modeling:  Sonja Mistwallow, Arizona Navarathna
Photography:  Philip Belgold
Photo Editing:  Arizona Navarathna
Editing:  Arizona Navarathna
HTML Editing:  Medavac Renfold
Video:  Sonja Mistwallow, Medavac Renfold
Communications and Locations:  Sonja Mistwallow


Stylings:

Sonja/Sally's Clothing:
Outfit:  Graves, Paradox Megapack for L$980
Shoes:  Graves, Alpha Boots in Black for L$390

Arizona/Adella's Clothing:
Outfit:  Graves, Enigma Bodysuit for L$440
Shoes:  Graves, Vertigo Boots for L$490
  

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Happy Sunday: Graves, Neurolab, and Hypnoville Aerospace

A special request from Jackie Graves herself, with a little bit of kink...

Warnings:  Contains a bit of police corruption and brutality and may walk on the side of being slightly NSFW.  Also a stripper pole or two.  You have been warned...



Date:  580689.15
Location:   Hyper Advanced Fighter Station Gamma Gamma

In a near to distant future, science has taken control of the human race, much in the way humans were drawn to the church in middle ages.  Gone are the days of the Christian Ten Commandments, instead, new societal norms are defined by a set of mathematical logarithms, set to define what is good for the human race.  While people still have their own sets of emotional responses to events, laws and most decisions are based upon these logarithms so as to prevent conflict within the relatively unstable society.

Technology has flourished in such an environment, stopped now by little except the occasional lack of funding.  While some emotionally-based laws still exist, as do emotionally-based societal taboos, there has been a resurgence of old emotionally-based social practices, including a new resurgence of pleasure-based religions.  Technology has wiped out birth defects, as all humans are now genetically engineered to prevent many diseases.  Chemical compounds have been developed to defeat addictions.  While the scientific utopia has flourished, a small sect of people have looked to the past, missing the ways of a life and society based in emotions.  The more technology advances, the more humanity retaliates with its most primal instincts...

Police Commander's Log.  We have received reports of illicit sex trading in the outer zone cities' underground brothels.  This comes after Public Health's reports of increases in communicative diseases from similar sectors.  Teams sent in to investigate have come up with little or no evidence of any sex trade or other illegal activities.  Higher police forces have now been sent in to investigate.

Police Commander Alayna Wynter sat in the cockpit of her fighter, reading over the computerized logs of the recent disease outbreaks in the cities of the outer zones, the hum of the hyperspace drive the only sound in her ears.  While she was still proficient in her basic early police skills from years ago, it had been far too long since she had the chance to enjoy the quiet solitude of the cockpit.  She closed her eyes, memorizing the facts before her in the case file, and felt the small buzz of the engines move through her body.

"Commander Wynter, do you read?" Dispatch asked, interrupting the solitude of the still of space.

"I read, go ahead Dispatch."

"We have new reports coming in from the emerging Red Light district.  Looks like there's an emerging Pleasure Lounge called "The Reno," run by one Shizuko Askvig."

"She the head of their operations?" Alayna asked as she pulled up the case file on her computer.

"Affirmative.  Looks like she has ties to the lounges in other cities as well.  Forwarding you the information." Dispatch said as a wave of images and files filtered its way onto Alayna's computer.

Alayna, now long-forgetting the hum of the solitude of the fighter's cockpit, looked over the data.  Shizuko's face appearing in multiple pictures gathered by Central Intel over the last few months.  "Dispatch, any chance that Shizuko is a clone?"

There was a pause on the other end.  "That's a negative," Dispatch said.  "Genetic scanning has concluded that this one is a Unique.

Alayna looked at her display.  "Dispatch," she said, "Tell the captain, We nail this one then we've got our girl."



Date:  580689.39
Location:  The Reno Pleasure Lounge, Arcadia Alpha City

It was a slow night at The Reno, and Shizuko Askvig felt it in the bar.  Her bartender was late again, and several of her girls were up in their dorm, having come down with a mysterious illness that was making its way through the Pleasure Districts.  Rumor had it that the contagion was created by the central government scientists as a quick and easy way to catch and punish offenders.  Problem was, most of those offenders were workers who could not afford the treatments necessary to prevent the illness from spreading further.  Partners of patrons were becoming ill and the work camps were now swamped with the illness.  Nonetheless, Shizuko still had a business to run, and a few patrons were slowly filtering in.

"Sam you're late," she said to her bartender.  "You've got the manager spot tonight and the bar, I'll take the poles and any extras we may need," she said, tossing a towel to the young woman at the bar.

"Of course Shiz," Sam said.

Shizuko started up the music for the night, her DJ being one of the latest to become ill.  "Sam, we're going with the classics.  We don't have the girls to cover anything more than the basics unless something changes soon."

Sam nodded from the bar and went back to her work.  Shizuko turned on the lights for the poles and started a few of the pleasure rooms up just in case there was a minor influx of patrons.  It was going to be a long night.  Though there were a few patrons in the bar, many were scared away by the contagion.  She had considered getting a few more clones of her girls, but that cost money that they were losing daily.  As she took to her pole, a woman entered wearing a full space suit and sat at the bar.  Shizuko continued dancing but watched, she knew that something was not right.  She tried to catch Sam's attention, find a way to vet the stranger, but Sam was too busy taking stock of the liquors to notice.  While it was common for many of her patron to wear the suits, later taking them off to imbibe in food, drink, and pleasures, there was something not right about this woman.


Alayna sat down on the bar stool, watching the bartender take stock of the bar and a single dancer on the pole.  She pressed a button on her glove, pulling up the pictures from the case on the display in her helmet, the computer locking on to the facial recognition software, confirming the dancer on the pole to be Shizuko.  Alayna's heart started to race faster, it had been far too long since she had the chance to close in on her captor, and instead she leaned back onto the bar, licking her full lips a little.  She kept watching, each moment making her think more and more about her early days on the beat, and her girlfriend she had back then.  Things were a lot simpler then - there were no government mandates on partnering or non-work activities back then.  Many a Sunday were spent with the two young women, both fresh on the force, in bed working their weekly frustrations out.  Her name was Shenna Vanlaere.  Alayna never knew what happened to her, just that one Sunday she woke up and Shenna was gone, her belongings and personal effects all still in the small apartment they shared.  She knew that Shenna had been into some deeper investigations at work, but was never a privy to the information about it.

"What can I get you?" Sam asked Alayna, disturbing her from her thoughts.  She could feel the beat of the music pulsing through her suit.

"Nothing yet.  I prefer to keep my helmet on," Alayna said to the bartender.

"We have imported gas cylinders if you'd like," Sam said, holding out a small capsule of specialized gasses meant to be added into air filters on space suits.

"Perhaps later, I'll be here awhile," Alayna said, hoping for the bartender to return to her work.  Alayna pressed a few more buttons on her wrist and more of her files came to view on the inside of her visor.  Something was off about Shizuko though and she wanted a closer look.  When Alayna was comfortable that the bartender was back to her work of stocking shelves, she stepped closer to the dancer and sat down.  Why didn't she act now?  All her police training told her to, but something about Shizuko pulled her in more and more.


Shizuko saw Alayna make her way closer to her.  While Shizuko was familiar with patrons wearing suits similar to the one Alayna wore, there was something about Alayna that made her ill at ease, almost as if there was a draw to her.  She made a few more swings on the pole when their eyes locked.  Shizuko instantly recognized Alayna for who she was and dropped off the pole.  "Run Sam!" she shouted as she bolted from the lounge as fast as she could run.

Alayna saw the commotion and closed the files, running after Shizuko who had fled to the oxygen generators in an attempt to hide and flee.  Thankfully Alayna had trained for things like this for a long time; the air the suit provided helped as well, and she quickly caught up to a breathless Shizuko.

"You don't have to do this," Shizuko panted, taking refuge in the plants.

"You broke the law, and because of it you spread disease and contamination, setting back medicine a good twenty years all by yourself."

Shizuko kept panting.  "For what?  For humans to become like the cyborgs?"

Alayna stopped for a moment, taking in the thought; there was no danger of the perpetrator running anymore.  While a society free of disease often meant that there was little physical interaction, what cost was it at?  It had been before the physical laws from 20 years ago were passed that she had last kissed anyone.  She shook her head, it didn't matter now.  "You broke the law, you spread disease and contamination," Alayna said as she pushed Shizuko to her knees, binding the cuffs and restraints to the slim woman's body.

"Was it not better the old way?" Shizuko mumbled as Alayna placed the required gag.  Alayna walked around Shizuko.  The captive was in much better shape than she had first realized and could be useful in more than a few ways.  She was spry, lithe, healthy, and could do so many things.  She had heard of some of her superiors using captives such as Shizuko for their personal needs, but never had the chance to acquire one.  Of course, even though she had been stuck at a desk for the last ten years, she had never imagined herself allowing a case to go unsolved specifically for the reason her own personal needs. Of course, there was also no consequence to her or anyone else in the force if she did keep this one for such an occasion.

"What to do with you," Alayna said as she circled the other woman. Alayna placed her hands on Shizuko's arms, feeling the muscles in them.  Firm, strong, she could be of good use to her; it would be such a shame to toss this one to the prisoner auctions.  Alayna caressed her hands over Shizuko's body further, stopping as she got near the woman's chest.  "Natural?" she asked as she pressed into her captive's ribs, feeling for signs of surgical alteration.  Shizuko whimpered a bit as she shook her head.  "Quiet you," Alayna said as lightly slapped the captive, rubbing her own hands around Shizuko's body as she slowly kneeled in front of her.

Alayna went to her own knee, looking at Shizuko's deep blue green eyes.  "You're under arrest," she whispered into her captive's ear, "For crimes against the health and well-being of the population."  She tightened the ballgag around Shizuko's mouth, "You have the right to remain silent," she said, her own breast brushing against Shizuko's gag as she hovered over the woman.  Alayna returned face to face with Shizuko, her hands securing the other woman's arms behind her back as her knee pushed between the captive's legs.  "Too bad there was already a grand jury inquest on you last month, you would have been beautiful in a court of law," Alayna said as she tightened the handcuffs behind Shizuko's body.  "Which also means that there will be no trial, you've already been found guilty.  Now it's just a matter of just getting you off the grid," Alayna grinned, an evil twinkle in her eye behind the helmet.  "Do you understand these rights though Shizuko?" Alayna asked as she placed her hands directly on the captive's face.

Shizuko started laughing, grinning slowly through the ball gag.

Alayna stood up. "What's so funny? You think this is a game?"

Shizuko laughed some more and Alayna took out her stun gun, hitting the captive with the lowest setting. Alayna knelt over the woman, slipping off the gag. "I ask again, what's so funny Shizuko?" Alayna asked, taking the woman by her hair.



Shiz licked the excess drool from her lips, staring Alayna in the eye. "My name's not Shizuko Askvig," she said. "Come closer and I'll tell you."

Alayna looked at Shizuko. "What do you mean? Did you not commit these crimes?"

"Someone committed them, someone looking identical to me with my genetic imprint, but that person's name isn't Shizuko Askvig," she said, still grinning.

The change of name put a wrench in the case for Alayna. All record of the perpetrator and case tied the name Shizuko Askvig to this woman's body and businesses. An entire grand jury had found Shizuko and her empire guilty. If she was brought in, she'd walk free again. A pang of guilt hit Alayna; while she could not let the perpetrator go on a mere technicality, she also could not bring her in for proper justice. More so, the chemical lie detector in Alayna's suit showed that the woman who had been posing as Shizuko was telling the truth; she was indeed not Shizuko Askvig, even though she was the owner of the pleasure lounges that were in violation of the city health codes. "Who are you?" Alayna asked.

"Come closer and I'll tell you," Shizuko whipsered. Alayna knelt as close as she could to the woman's mouth. In what seemed like sheer silence, Alayna stood up, gasping, looking at the woman below her.

"Then what to do with you?" Alayna asked. "I can't let you go, but I can't take you in either." Alayna walked around the captive again, "But still, you have to come with me, you're under arrest." Alayna helped the captive up off the ground and then walked her to her ship.





Stardate: 580690.16
Location: Central Policia, Private Offices and Quarters of Police Commander Alayna Wynter


Alayna had brought Shizuko to her private office at the police headquarters. Floating far above the central city, the headquarters offered a chance for uninterrupted solitude for the men and women of the police force to work in privacy. It also offered the more corrupt officers a chance to deal in their own personal dealings without notice. Here, Alayna sat at her desk with Shizuko kneeling before her.


"What to do with you," Alayna said as she removed the woman's restraints, still firmly holding her in place. "If I let you go, someone else will arrest you, and we can pretend none of this had ever happened," Alayna pulled Shizuko's hair back so she could see her face better. "I could bring you in for arrest, but you'd go free and go back to your business, continuing to use your name as an advantage," Alayna said as she pulled Shizuko closer to her by the hair with one hand, removing the rest of the restraints with the other. "Either way, you'll be in a dangerous situation. So what to do with you?" Alayna asked, holding Shizuko's head bent back and looking eye to eye with her.

"You're mine," Alayna said, releasing Shizuko from her grasp and walking over to her central computer core. With the case solved, Alayna had to fabricate the red tape to keep Shizuko from being arrested again or being released. Shizuko, still feeling the pain from the stun gun to her abdomen, slowly limped her way over to the servers with Alayna. "I promise I'll be nice to you," Alayna said, making her way back to her desk.


For the first time, Shizuko felt fear, not knowing what to do. She had told Alayna her real name, but that had not been enough. Years on the force had made Alayna hard, placing a strong defense up against the rest of the city. "I promise I will not run Ms. Wynter," she bowed to Alayna.







Alayna looked down at the woman giving her life to her and felt a pang in her heart. She took off her helmet and saw the woman properly. "Come with me," Alayna said and led Shizuko across her office, pushing the captive to her knees again. "You cannot run," Alayna whispered into Shizuko's ear. "You cannot hide," she whispered into the other. "For I'll always know where you are now Shenna," Alayna whispered as she made around to the captive's front and kissed her deeply on the lips, rubbing the small of the captive's back, pulling her close to her own body. "I've missed you. Where have you been for so long?" Alayna asked.

Shenna, fully revealing herself from the character of Shizuko that she had created years earlier looked up, "I've always been in your heart," she said, "Mistress."








Special Thanks:
Jackie Graves of Graves for the gifts of the clothing, idea, and requests for this post. 
We <3 You!
OnO Zinner of NeuroLab for the use of his Space Station.  
Great work and we look forward to more in the future.
And Cunninham Capalini of Hypnoville Aersopace for the gift of several fighters and space station.  
While we were mostly done with photography at the time, we are planning something special for our next Graves photo shoot, and your work will be our set.  

To all three creators for their generous support of TRF in making posts like this one possible.  We love to do stuff like this when we can, and we wouldn't be able to do this without your help.  Thank you!



Stylings:

Spacecraft:
Hyper Advanced Fighter 3.3 by Cunningham Capalini of Hypnoville Aerospace
Available on the Yeol Sim or on the Marketplace for L$500

Space Station: 
Space Station Zero Grav Prefab by OnO Zinner of NeuroLab
Available on the NLab Sim or on the Marketplace for L$3,990

Sonja/Shenna/Shizuko's Clothing:
Outfit:  Graves, Devotion for L$490
Shoes:  Graves, Alpha Boots in Black for L$390
Ball Gag:  Dari's Haus, from my personal collection

Arizona/Alayna's Clothing:
Outfit:  Graves, Gravity in Clear for L$690
Shoes: Graves, Vertigo Boots for L$490
Helmet:  Graves, G-Helmet for L$360


Credits:
Concept:  Jackie Graves
Story: Arizona Navarathna, Sonja Mistwallow
Modeling:  Sonja Mistwallow, Arizona Navarathna
Photography:  Philip Belgold
Photo Editing:  Arizona Navarathna, Philip Belgold
Editing:  Arizona Navarathna
HTML Editing:  Medavac Renfold
Video:  Sonja Mistwallow, Arizona Navarathna, Medavac Renfold
Communications and Locations:  Sonja Mistwallow
Props:  Sonja Mistwallow

Monday, July 9, 2012

Special Sunday Night New Release: Graves Circuit


aka:  We Will Always Have Tea

The year is 3579 and the human population has long since branched out into the universe abroad.  While most of the economy is based around the mining of necessary resources to continually repair an aging fleet, science and technology has emerged with new advances to make life in space more comfortable.  One technology in particular, Dream Walking, has allowed populations to go into stasis and perform their daily jobs in a virtual reality of their own mind, eliminating the need for large amounts of physical infrastructure.  Entire information and service sector jobs now boom, rich in resources of an unlimited imagination of the mind.  Entire corporations data-mine ideas through the Dream Walks, while others educate, create, and perpetuate the human culture and society.  And even better for the corporations, all you need are employees willing to "sleep" on the job.  Of course, it did raise questions with sleep specialists as to whether or not the brain could get adequate rest to regenerate. 

Neptune Orbiter Five, high in orbit above the planet it calls home, has emerged as a recent leader in the Dream Walking industry, with a majority of the station being dedicated to services needed for the "creature comforts" of living in space for prolonged periods of time.  While most of the actual Dream Walkers live in other areas of the galaxy where there is more room and rent is cheaper, the corporations have a few Technologists maintaining systems aboard space stations and other communication relays throughout the network.  Considered as "super users," these Technologists function on the station to maintain the neural networks needed to conduct business across the internet, forming a sort of super-node or super-server comprised of the human brain and body.  For these Technologists, life is "flipped" around; considering that their work day consists of approximately twelve to sixteen hours of sleep, more if overtime is needed, leaving these men, women, and other genders time to play in their off-work hours.  Two such Technologists, Onxy and Emerald, have formed a peculiar relationship over tea.

"Onyx, where we heading tonight after work?" Emerald asked, toweling the last of the superconducting gel from her hair.  The duo were field testing two new technologies in the lab - a gel that acted as a superconductor between the body and computer, and a new latex that allowed a person to be submerged in the gel for great periods of time.

Emerald yawned as she stretched, releasing the tension from muscled that were forced in place after a long sixteen hour shift.  "Well, I think I feel like dumplings tonight."

Onyx chuckled on the thought of dumplings, her mind instantly going to something other than their favorite restaurant on the Pleasure Deck.  The restaurant was a favorite for two reasons - it had the best wonton soup in the galaxy and it was conveniently located across from the corridor where the friends' offices for the Dream Lab were housed.  "You and those dumplings.  We're just going to have to work out that much longer tonight."

"Yeah, these uniforms don't really give too much wiggle room for carbs," Emerald said as she skipped across the way to the restaurant.  "What to have..."

"Dumplings?"  Onyx teased her friend as they approached the bar.

"And tea.  You know, that's something that's always been around."

"Bars?" Onxy joked as she picked up the menu.

"That too, but tea, and dumplings of course, but especially tea," Emerald said as she took a sip of the hot beverage at the bar.  "That always feels good after a long session in that gel."

"But tea is always interesting," Emerald continued.  "Tea has always been there.  Hot caffeinated beverages in general always have been."  Emerald took another sip while Onxy settled in at the bar with her menu, her own cup of tea in hand. 

"You've been data-mining in the archaeology section again, haven't you?" Onyx smirked as she ordered her wonton soup and steamed vegetables. 

Emerald blushed, the red of her cheeks making her body flush, moving a chill across her skin.  "Maybe," she said as she rubbed her exposed arms.  "Is it a bit cool in here?"

"You've been in the tank too long," Onyx said, "but it is a bit chilly.  Maybe it's time we let these suits warm us up."  Onxy pressed a button on her forearm and a latex film closed in over her body.  Emerald did the same and her suit shown green.  The duo were thankful of the successes in the testing they were making.  The suit formed a thin but strong and warm covering over both women, providing thermal regulation for them when they were in extended Dream Walking sessions or in the cool, open air restaurants in the Pleasure Deck. 

"Dinner's up, that'll be 10 credits," the gruff barman said to the women as he scanned their identification chips on their wrists for pay, one of the many technologies built into the cybernetic suits they wore daily.  The women took their dinner and went to the nearest table.

"Mmmmm, dumplings!" Emerald said as she poked at one with her chop stick, letting the steam rise up out of it.  As she sat and watched the steam, she took another sip of the tea.  "Now where were we?  Tea I believe?"  Onyx nodded in agreement as she took her first bite of the steamed vegetables.   Emerald took another quick sip, "Tea is always interesting.  Here we are, sitting on a space station over four billion kilometers from where our species originated."  Emerald took another sip, savoring the scent of the brew, "And we're sitting here drinking a beverage and eating food that was the same as food and drink served almost 5,000 years ago."

Onyx looked up from her meal at her friend, "Okay, I'm taking the archaeology section tomorrow.  No zoup for you!"

"And you were in the 20th century entertainment section."

"Maybe," Onyx blushed.  She had a guilty pleasure of finding a picture show called "Seinfeld" on her breaks in the Dream World.  "Go on though, your weekly analysis of tea is always fascinating," she said as she took a sip of her own beverage. 

Emerald chuckled.  "Tea.  Here we are, on a space station, millions of kilometers and thousands of years from where this beverage originated, but we're still drinking it, and we'll always be drinking it, that's the irony of tea."  She took another sip.  "Ten thousand years from now, humans will be sitting on a space station talking and drinking tea.  Of course, because of all the chemicals now around us, our bodies and our cybernetic suits have to process, digest, and metabolize it different.  Hence these suits.  Our livers would never handle our environment on their own.  Or lungs, or stomach, or any other part of our bodies really."

Onyx sighed with that thought, remembering her history lessons of when the pollution drove their ancestors to the stars in 2246, "Too true," she said.  She always wondered what the original tea trees looked like.  Or trees at all.  She had never been on a planet in the entirety of her life.

"No way possible for us to filter out all these toxins on our own; the tea alone is fine, it's everything else that's gotten in there from the industrial waste fields of Mars and everywhere else that would kill us."  Emerald took her last sip of the beverage and held her hand over her cup, motioning to the barman that she had her fill.  "Recreation time.  Where to tonight?" Emerald asked as they dematerialized the last molecules of food from their plates and bowls, cleaning their table for the barman.  Exercise was always important when working in the Dream Walking industry.  The hazard of being asleep for so long each day for work was twofold: not only were they restless after such a long shift, but they also risked their muscles atrophying from being so underutilized throughout the day. 

Onyx took a few sporty jumps near the bar, "What about racquetball tonight?  We haven't played it in awhile, and maybe the club after?" she said practicing her backhand. 

Emerald tipped the barman, the food was always wonderful there.  "Sounds like a plan," she said as she made a few test stretches herself, the two walking off further onto the Pleasure Deck.



Special thanks to Jackie Graves for the gift of Circuit and the matching Mainframe Boots today, as well as the inspiration for not only this post, but plenty of other cyberpunk themes in SL.  Circuit is the newest release, released just today, and is available at her mainstore for L$690.  She also suggested pairing it with the matching Mainframe Boots for L$390, also available at her mainstore, and conveniently located directly in front of the Circuit display.  The outfit comes in seven colors, shown to the left, as well as multiple clothing layers and attachments.  A favorite was an optional electrical plug... which plugs into your butt, a very cute touch indeed.  She also has an animated layer for the clothing that allows circuitry to light up on your avatar's torso and thighs.  There are also some really great nuances as well - the implants for the breasts are asymmetrical from each other, there is circuitry along the design of the suit, and the bracers also have some very nice glowing buttons to it as well. 


Overall:  10/10

Pros:  Perfection as always Jackie, love your work!

Cons:  None, except you'll want to purchase all of them (for L$1990).  We haven't done the math on purchasing the entire store yet.


Sonja/Emerald Styling Guide:
Outfit:  Graves, Circuit in Green for L$690
Boots:  Graves, Mainframe Boots in Green for L$390
Hair:  Truth, Janice in Black/White for L$250

Arizona/Onyx Styling Guide:
Outfit:  Graves, Circuit in Clear for L$690
Boots:  Graves, Vertigo Boots for L$490
Hair:  CatWa, Dima in Black/White for L$250

Credits:
Outfit and Shoe:  Jackie Graves
Concept and Storyboarding:  Sonja Mistwallow
Review:  Sonja Mistwallow
Models:  Sonja Mistwallow and Arizona Navarathna
Photography:  Philip Belgold
Photo Editing:  Philip Belgold and Arizona Navarathna
Story:  Arizona Navarathna
Editing:  Arizona Navarathna and Sonja Mistwallow
Special thanks to Jackie Graves for the outfit, and to the creators and citizens of Insilico for the location and inspiration for this post.  

Editor's Note:  Never has a post taken so long for us to compile, but it was a true team effort and worth the time tonight.  We always love reviewing big names when we get the chance, not because the clothes look great or because it's an easy review, but because it gives us the chance to be creative with our ideas and design.  We figure that you probably don't always want to read the same review over and over, just as Sonja does not like to write the same review repeatedly and I really don't like to edit the same review daily.  We are huge fans of Ms. Graves here at TRF, and it was a true surprise to receive her gift today.  We always like to try to make each review have something more than just plain critique.  There were a few times, and many SL crashes and lag, that made us wonder if we'd ever even get this post up.  But, we had to put it up, because creations of this caliber need something more than our usual critique and five-minute photo editing.