A Writing Problem I’m Struggling With

A few of you longer term readers MAY recall I keep threatening to get the reboot of my Witchfire series underway. One of the problems I’ve run into is that instead of just doing a cancel and start all over at the beginning (like Television and movies do), I wanted to add a twist and create a situation where our heroine ends up back at day 1 via unintended time travel, and has the opportunity to correct some of her mistakes of the past few months of story time.

Part of me is iffy on the whole idea in the first place. About a year and a half ago I wrote a post on using time travel creatively in fiction instead of using it as a get out of jail free card for bad writing (among other things). It feels like I *am* using it as an easy out to fix what I didn’t like about the first nine chapters though. At the same time, I can add a few other unique and exciting twists that will keep the reboot from becoming the same old “let’s go back in time and fix things” cliche.

The bigger stumbling block for me is the temporal mechanics involved; ie ‘the how it works’ aspects that keep the plot device believable for readers and workable for the writer. Here’s the options I’ve explored:

The standard comic book situation where there just can be multiple versions of characters working side by side. Witchfire is a little overpowered vs the other characters to start with, and two of her could make the story really unbalanced. Multiple iterations of more than one character could get confusing for readers also, so I don’t see this as a viable option.

Two easy options around this would be something like ‘Back to the Future’ or ‘Quantum Leap’, where a character passes out when confronted with their future self, OR is whisked off to some ‘waiting room’. Taking the original out of the picture leaves that character NOT experiencing the events that the future version did though. THEN the future version doesn’t have those events / memories to draw upon anymore. In short, it works if the traveler is only going to be there briefly. Long term, we get plot holes.

I could make the original nine chapters a dream that Witchfire recalls as she goes forward, but let’s face it, THAT has been the ultimate writing cliche and cop out since the resolution of the “Who Shot JR” thing back in the 1980s version of Dallas. I just couldn’t do that without hating myself, lol.

NEVER do this to your readers!

The closest thing I’ve come to finding a workable option is that if a time traveler comes face to face with their past self, the two beings merge into one. This eliminates the writer being saddled with multiple incarnations of the same character running around together, and by extension makes the story easier to follow for the reader.

It’s convenient, but still feels slightly… contrived(?) to me. There’s also the question of do the characters simply un-merge when / IF the time traveler goes back to the future (as opposed to just waiting for time to catch up to the point they traveled). Easy enough to say yes, but does the earlier version retain the later version’s memories and skills that may have been learned? They did essentially share a mind and body after all.

These MAY seem like minor points or questions on the surface, but we’re talking about a plot device that will set the tone early, and may flavor various events as the story progresses. Getting everything correct and coherent is going to be HUGE in how readable the story is.

SO, is there an option I left out? A way to put a little polish on the “merger” idea that might make it feel less awkward? Let me know.

Ever Wonder What Happened to Harry Potter?

Oh sure, you got that brief blurb at the end of Deathly Hollows where he’s sending the kid to Hogwart’s, but what REALLY happened to him? I’ve got the scoop!

After Harry graduated, he tried to pursue a boring 9 to 5 job in the mundane world but quickly bored of it. He traveled to Vegas and quickly became THE act to see on the strip with his magic.

Unfortunately, his unbelievable and unequaled act also earned him the jealous wrath of Penn and Teller, and a few other stage magicians. A vicious smear campaign on social media and elsewhere led to Harry being ran out of town on a rail.

He took the remainder of his savings and settled into small town Tennessee where he opened a couple of gas stations with convenience stores. He’s lived there quietly ever since. His stores are super popular, as they always seem to have everything in stock, and his gas prices have been described as magically, almost unbelievably low. 😉

And now you know the rest of the story…

Chaos at My NSFW Stories Blog

Yes, for those who don’t know, I write erotica, and am working towards publishing stories for sale. I keep that on a separate blog (NSFW) however so as to keep this one safe for followers with delicate sensibilities (or kids).

Well, it’s been chaos over there for about a week. My premium status there expired, and WP actually held the site hostage and wouldn’t let readers access it until I renewed my domain name. I got around to it, and the site was unlocked. Yay, all is well… I thought.

No such luck. Yesterday, the whole thing becomes a train wreck. My domain is gone, the format has changed, I was missing one post also. Turns out all of that was because I didn’t want to spend $100 renewing the premium status. Yes, I paid for a domain name that I can’t even use as a primary now. Gotta love WordPress…

I spent all day cleaning it up and returning it to it’s NSFW glory.

Not joking there either. I follow the WordPress policy of no art with sexual content, but I do have nudity there (which is allowed), so be forewarned.

I did make some progress though. I gave Witchfire a new hair style and changed the top of her costume:

New, more simple and flowing hair style

What is Witchfire??

I suppose I should answer that first for anyone who has started following me since I migrated anything remotely sexy to the other blog (a year ago).

Witchfire started out as an idea of mine after reading stories at an adult comics site that told stories based on superheroine peril. While the stories were titilating since I love everything superhero, it DID bother me that the heroines were all empty-headed bimbos that always got defeated and taken advantage of. I decided to follow the example of one other reader there, and create my own stories that would still be kinky, but actually have some literary merit to them as well (hey, I can dream, LOL).

Witchfire was developed as a character to be that catalyst. The premise is that she’s a college age witch who enjoys the site a little too much, and gets banished by her goddess to that world to teach her humility and compassion. She has to help train the heroines, and uncover the conspiracy behind the unique genome that gives these women their powers but turns them a little ditzy.

Why waste my time on that, you ask? A couple of reasons:

First, I’m taking it as a challenge as a writer. Can I take pure misogynist fap bait and turn it into something that would appeal to a wider audience, both in terms of character development and an actual ongoing story.

Second, I do like the idea of writing superhero erotica. I’m hoping that working on this will lead to ideas for original stories that have some quality to them.

Lastly there’s just plain improving my writing to get to the point I can write something publish worthy WITHOUT burning through all the ideas for more mainstream stories that I have (erotica and otherwise).

At this point I’m starting a reboot of the Witchfire series also. I got eleven chapters in and realized I was really unhappy with some of the writing decisions that stress and poor advance plotting had caused me. Essentially, Krystal will be sent back to the day she first arrived in Delta City, thanks to a time warp of sorts. It’s sort of a groundhog day premise, BUT a bad guy will have traveled back also, and they too have knowledge of what the future holds. So maybe it’s really a kinky, metahuman version of the Quantum Leap series’ Evil Leaper episode. 😀

Getting back to the work though… I managed to craft 3 biographies for characters created on the other website, and truly flesh the characters out into relatable people.

(links in the paragraph below go to the other blog: NSFW)

One is “Amazing Babe“, who ended up being Witchfire’s girlfriend, and the other two are “Omega Woman“; the team’s heavy hitter, and a one shot character from years ago named Battle Sprite. I’m actually fairly proud of Battle Sprite as I took her from an ultra-ditz that acted like a 5 year old on a sugar rush, explained that occasional behavior and made her into a real person.

It occurred to me that I really have been doing writing prompts forever also. Almost every video game like Skyrim or Star Wars: The Old Republic that I’ve played, I’ve written out detailed biographies and backstories for every character I played. I know exactly what makes Adoxia tick, for example… right down to the smallest motive.

Maybe I ought to put out a “challenge me to develop a character” post… 🙂

Oh and NO, I’m not stealing the other adult site. The owner encourages readers to write their own stories and send them in so he can post them in a fan section. A good deal of that is truly mind numbing however.

Episode 2: A Different Hope (Star Wars Story)

Back in June, I did a quick Star Wars mini-story based on one of the numerous Star Wars memes out there. Now that my health issues are clearing up, I’m choosing to continue the story at long last. 😊

The Original Post: Butterfingered Padawan

Part II: A Different Hope

Obi-Wan first buried Luke and then returned to the interior of the house.  He looked at Artoo and let out a heavy sigh.  “It’s been a long time, my little friend”.  “The years seem to have been kinder to you than they have been to me.”

Artoo chirped excitedly and rocked back and forth, apparently happy that the earlier charade had now been dropped.

“Now, what brings you to this forsaken corner of the galaxy?”  “The message the boy mentioned, I presume?”

Artoo beeped and chirped, and then a small access panel on his body popped open.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, walked over and knelt down.  “I see…  Give me just a moment to undo what the Jawas did…”

He tinkered around inside the small compartment, and suddenly a holorecording of Princess Leia sprung to life.

“General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the clone wars, now he begs you to help him in the struggle against the Empire.”  “I regret that I am unable to present my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed.”  “I have placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit.”  “My father will know how to retrieve it”.  “You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan.”  “This is our most desperate hour”.  “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

“Hmmm, do the impossible with limited information and resources… here I worried life had changed from the good old days.” Kenobi said with the hint of a wry smile.

Qui Gon’s spirit smiled.  He’d grown to appreciate the dry humor of his former padawan during their time communing together on Tattoine.  “Trust in the Force, Obi-Wan”, he replied calmly.  “It’s guided the droid to you, and will open further doors as well when the time is right.”

“I don’t appear to have much choice.”, Kenobi replied bluntly.  “Whatever is happening is something big… it’s connected to the dark premonitions we’ve all been having.”  He glanced back and forth between the images of Qui Gon and Yoda.  “She was desperate to get this droid delivered also.”

“Go to Alderaan, you must”, Yoda said.  “Seek answers there regarding the girl’s location.”

Obi-Wan gathered up some of his belongings, placing them into a knapsack.  “I should return the speeder, and tell the boy’s aunt and uncle what happened…” he said slowly.

“If the Empire has a clue about the droid carrying whatever this information is, they’ll certainly be looking for them.” Qui Gon added.

“Then I have to warn them.” Obi Wan replied.

“Of the essence, time is, Master Kenobi” Yoda rebuked.  “Warn them you should, but be quick you must.”

Obi Wan nodded, then reactivated C3PO, stored both droids on the back of the speeder and then hopped in it.  He gave it full throttle heading towards the Skywalker homestead.

As an added note, I’m going to be doing this story in smaller chunks like the one above. Most people don’t have the time (or attention span) to read longer pieces, and it will leave me less pressured, as well as give me time to think up how the story will progress vs the official version.

ADDED BONUS:

A quick and fun look at Kenobi’s personality during the Clone Wars. 🙂

Butterfingered Padawan…

It’s time for me to start creative writing again, even if I did miss Thursday Writing by a day. 😛 This idea came to me while mindlessly searching Star Wars memes on the internet.  I came across the one below where creator mocked Luke for looking right down the emitter of his father’s lightsaber right after Obi-Wan gave it to him:

OK, funny, but Luke isn’t THAT big of a doofus.  This exact scene or moment never appeared in “A New Hope” either, so I can only conclude the picture is photoshopped.  Still funny.  Anyway, I finally did start thinking “what if” though…  Here’s my take:

THE STORY:

Luke momentarily turned away from his work reattaching Threepio’s arm, and chuckled slightly.  “My father didn’t fight in the wars, he was a navigator on a spice freighter.

“That’s what your uncle told you.  He didn’t hold with your father’s ideals… thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved.” Kenobi replied with a slight scowl as he rubbed his beard. 

A look of quiet disbelief washed over Luke’s face.  “You fought in the clone wars?”

“Yes,” Kenobi replied, looking away.  His troubled expression didn’t escape Luke’s notice.  “I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father.”  He leaned back in his seat and rubbed his chin.

“I wish I’d known him.” Luke replied quietly.

“He was the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior” Kenobi replied with a brief hint of a smile.  “I understand you’ve become quite a good pilot yourself.”

Luke smiled and half shrugged, returning his focus to finishing Threepio’s repairs.

Kenobi’s gaze drifted backwards in time and he allowed himself a brief smile again.  “He was a good friend…”  He glanced sideways and then stood up.  “Which reminds me…” Kenobi strolled across the small room to an old trunk.  “I have something here for you.”  He opened the chest rummaged through it.  “Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn’t allow it.  He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damned fool idealistic crusade like your father did.”  Kenobi found what he was looking for and stood up straight as he removed it from the trunk.

“Sir, if you’ll not be needing me, I’ll close down for a while.” Threepio interjected.

“Sure, go ahead.” Luke replied, taking a quick glance at Threepio before returning a fixed gaze to the thick metallic cylinder in Kenobi’s hands.  He stood up and met Kenobi half way across the room.  “What is it?” he asked.

“Your father’s lightsaber.” Kenobi said, holding it out to Luke.   “This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight.  Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster.”  Luke took the weapon from Kenobi and hit the power switch, the blue energy blade instantly springing to life.  “A more elegant weapon of a more civilized day.” Kenobi said as he returned to his earlier chair.

Artoo chirped excitedly as Luke moved the blade back and forth a few times.

“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic.” Kenobi said, watching Luke continue to move the blade about as if in a trance.  Kenobi looked down and scowled.  “…Before the dark times, before the Empire.”

Luke switched off the lightsaber and sat down on the bench next to Kenobi.  “How did my father die?”  He sat down and stared sadly into the barrel of the lightsaber.

Kenobi looked away for a moment, regret showing on his face.  He turned back to Luke and started to speak.  “A young Jedi named Darth Vad…”

Before Kenobi could finish his sentence, an explosion rocked the small desert house, blowing a hole in the wall and toppling Artoo onto his face.  The force of the blast also staggered Luke and made him fumble the lightsaber.  His thumb hit the activation button, igniting the blade and sending it right through his skull.  Luke slumped over dead, as the still ignited lightsaber fell to the floor.

Kenobi cursed and ignited his own saber as a Tusken Raider rushed through the hole in the wall.  With one clean swing, Kenobi cut the invader in half.  A second Raider appeared at the hole and tried to level its blaster rifle.  Kenobi force pushed the sandperson with all his might, sending him flying over the nearby cliff and to his death.

Kenobi rushed out the hole, a look of utter rage on his face.  “Do you realize what you filthy animals have cost us?  Cost the galaxy?” he screamed.  He flung his lightsaber, cutting down two more sandpeople.  “That damned boy was our last hope to kill the Emperor!”

Another sandperson leveled his rifle at Kenobi and started to pull the trigger.  Kenobi quickly used the Force to pull Luke’s lightsaber to him and deflect the shot right back at his attacker.  A half second later, Kenobi’s own saber arced back into his grasp.  Another two sandpeople charged Kenobi, swinging their gaffi sticks.  Kenobi cut one down and force pushed the other back into a third sandperson who was holding a thermal detonator.

Both tried to scramble away from the armed detonator, but Kenobi lifted them both into the air with the Force and flung them and the detonator over the cliff.  A moment later there was a blinding explosion and two screams cut short.

Obi-Wan moved to the cliff to see three more Tusken Raiders riding Banthas and retreating at full gallop.  He let out an enraged scream at them.

“Obi-Wan, control yourself!” a voice demanded from behind him.  “Do you want to end up like Anakin?”

Obi-Wan whipped around to see the Force apparition of his old master Qui-Gon Jinn.  “Everything we worked for, had hoped to bring to pass, it’s all gone!” he said angrily.  “Years and years watching the boy, masking his presence from detection by the dark side, all wasted…” he continued with a dejected sigh.  “There’s no one left that can stand up to Vader and the Emperor now.”

“So soon you forget…” said Yoda as his projected image appeared.  “Another, there is.” 

“Can the girl even be trained?” Kenobi asked, slowly regaining his center.

“Her immediate talent isn’t what the boy’s was.” Qui-Gon replied.  “Her connection to the living Force and ultimate potential may very well be even greater though.”

Yoda nodded slowly.  “Hmmm, find her you must.”

“How?” Kenobi asked.

“I believe the little droid in there will have the answers you seek.” Said Qui-Gon with a gesture towards the damaged house.

“Anakin’s old droid?” Kenobi asked rhetorically. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

To Be Continued?

Kenobi warned Luke those Sandpeople would be back, and in greater numbers. If I get any interest, I’ll continue my alternate reality Episode 4. 🙂

Star Wars Fan Film!

Khajiit also scoops Master Mandalorian over at the Sandcrawler blog. 😀

See my last post if you missed the Khajiit joke, LOL. Anyway, A friend linked this to me a day or so ago and I’m finally getting time to pass it on to folks here. Watch it while you can! No telling if Disney will have it snuffed out like the Vader fan films were.

No spoilers, but there’s a special surprise for my fellow fans of Star Wars: Rebels in there. 🙂

Star Wars History and Story Ideas…

My mind tends to wander a mile a minute when I’m doing mindless labor like packing and painting. Now despite the fact I should be working on my Witchfire series and the other writing that I’ve mentioned in the past, I find my thoughts drifting towards a few Star Wars ideas I mentioned far ago.

So my story ideas circle around a character of mine from the game Star Wars: The Old Republic. I realize most of you won’t be familiar with the game, so a quick bit of background. It’s a game set in the Star Wars Universe, but about a thousand years before the movies.

Side Note: At the time the game was released in 2011, it’s content was at least more or less canon. Since Disney has taken over an turned things on it’s head, I have NO idea if that’s still true. Their pattern SEEMS to be if they license it, it’s canon. If not, or it’s before their time, it isn’t. Bioware still has license, soooo…

The technology level is about the same as the movies. Apparently technology can only advance so far when you’ve hit that level. The Empire and the Republic both exist side by side and in conflict with each other. The Empire has many more Sith dark side force users than the movie however.

There’s some background to that also. Sometime between the game and the movies, the Sith got into a massive internal struggle and they all but obliterated themselves. The strongest survivor (by far) was a Sith named Darth Bane who created the “Law of Two” which says there’s only ever two Sith Lords; a master and an apprentice. Bane deemed legions of Sith to be a threat to themselves even more than the universe. But at the time of the game, there are still several Sith, all jockeying for power within the Empire.

Enter my character; Adoxia:

As a quick note, the bone color looking things on her face are actually jewelry.

She’s a pureblood Sith. What’s that you ask? The Sith were originally a red skinned humanoid race that were strong with the dark side of the force. They were largely untrained though and quickly conquered by the first fallen Jedi. From the combined teachings of the Pureblood Sith, and the fallen Jedi, the Sith Order arose. The pureblood SIth were quickly becoming an endangered species at the time the game was set. Interbreeding with human SIth and steady warfare had greatly reduced their numbers.

Adoxia goes through all the standard Sith trials and then fights her way through all the traps and politics of the Empire to become a Sith Lord. She tires of all the bloodshed though and also realizes as her adventures progress that the humans on the dark council are going out of their way to feed the Purebloods to the wolves and solidify their own power. Not too hard a task either since the Purebloods were the elites of the Empire for centuries and have the hubris to show for it.

Adoxia defects to the Republic and tries to train as a Jedi. While extremely capable, she has has an extremely hard time going from the passionate philosophy of the Sith to the emotionally dead ideology of the Jedi. This was 2011, so the revamped ideas of the Jedi as suppressing all emotion and connections that the prequel movies put out was already in full force canon-wise. Yes that was a deliberate pun also.

Philosophical discussions with a few other players who were dissatisfied with that new canon, AND the mean spirited power gaming on the Empire side and the lackluster play on the Republic side led to me (or rather Adoxia) creating the Order of the Grey.

Yes, God help me *I* may be partially responsible for the wishy washy grey, morally ambiguous force users that Disney is now trying to push on us.

MY Order of the Grey was a spin on the existing Revanite philosophy in the game though, and more accurately based on a true interpretation of Buddhism’s teachings regarding emotion. The original Jedi concept, as I mentioned, was based loosely on Buddhist teachings. Proof Lucas didn’t actually write the original trilogy, but that’s another post.

So, the Order of the Grey taught that emotions were part of life and not to be blocked out. They were to be kept in check and balanced by reason and logic. Properly focused positive emotions were particularly good so long as they didn’t reach the level of unhealthy attachment. There’s also a right and wrong to the universe, and Order of the Grey members were encouraged to pursue morally correct action along the lines of the Jedi. There was enough of a Sith influence to allow for a bit more extreme options than a Jedi might like though. Jedi were always supposed to try to find peaceful options, and take prisoners alive for example. The Grey might just put down a mad dog attacker.

Long explanations aside; my story ideas (kinky and not) were for stories continuing Adoxia’s adventures. Perhaps in her time, perhaps in the time of the movies. One previous Star Wars book has already established that a hyperdrive malfunction can result in time travel…

Would Adoxia be good, would she be bad? Still undecided there. I can see all kinds of scenarios though.

The Grand Reveal

A few weeks back, I chickened out of revealing the plot for my first planned novel.  I’m going to partially reverse that decision now.  The story will be a revamped version of a hugely popular piece I wrote for my Champions Online gaming group years ago.

The story centers around my character Liberty Gold.  Libby (nickname) was the third incarnation of that character.  The first version was in City of Heroes, the second in DC Universe Online, and then Champions.  A more detailed description is on the story page, but suffice it to say here, that the current one discovers she’s descended from Greek myth, and that a prophecy surrounding her birth threatens the entire world.  It was a Halloween challenge story, so things got dark, and it took three Liberty Golds to set everything right.

Here’s a peek at the first three chapters of the original version that the book will be based on:

The Dark Prophecy

Beyond that, I’m going to give the rest of you a treat that only ComixFana has gotten thus far; access to all my City of Heroes characters and all my surviving stories.  Maybe some of you will read them where he wouldn’t, LOL.  My best story was as epic as the Liberty Gold story but destroyed by a jealous guild mate who had access to the guild website.

City of Heroes

That’s an OLD OLD blog that I used strictly to have an archive on the cloud.  Keep in mind also that this is 20 year old work in some cases.  The stories and biographies aren’t as polished.  Miss Thornbird in particular screams Mary Sue, but was a fun character to play.  The stories were also influenced strongly by people that trolled me.  Miss Deadshot’s stories you’ll notice go from nice, to me constantly trying to work around drama and BS from other players.  At one point I literally pulled a Dallas on one and made them nothing but a bad dream.

It’s amazing how interacting with other players and their characters can have some strange impacts on a character though.  Oh well, I was young.  Enjoy.

A Few More Creations

So since I’m officially post whoring now…  Here’s a few more pictures of characters put together from the Champions character creator:

 

First…  An OLD character that was actually part of the inspiration for Witchfire.  Her name is Eldrictch, AKA Becky Carsen.  She’s a half elf mage and used to tend bar at Club Caprice in Champions Online.  It was a fun way to get to talk to other players without committing to major projects.

Her costume displays some of my dislike for the costume creator.  Pieces like her magical bracers were sized to fit male characters and never scaled down for women.  The belt and necklace are huge also.

 

Next up is a failed attempt at recreating Witchfire herself.  I much prefer the Morrigan statue that I have pictured in her story section.  It’s a near perfect representation.  This…  Well I thought people would find it interesting if nothing else:

 

Next, I actually did get a good representation of my tongue in cheek Dr Strange clone in the Witchfire stories.  I give you the infamous Dr Steven Weird:

 

Last but hardly least, a special treat.  Jennifer Saunders, AKA Liberty Gold in the game.  She will actually be the star of the first non-erotica book I’m writing.  Probably with a hero name change though.

 

Character Inspiration

I decided to show once again that you can find inspiration for characters (or stories) almost anywhere.  I constantly run through things I’ve read and watched for ideas…  How can I put a unique twist on something and change it enough to make it original?

Often times, it just ends up being the general idea.  My most well received City of Heroes story was based on a cartoon where one character went undercover in the villain organization but only one other person knew and they got put into a coma by an attack from the villains.

One of my most quirky characters was actually a near complete borrowing of a cartoon character.  She was a video game character in Champions Online.  Meet C.S.I. Gadget:

For those who didn’t guess…  She’s a tribute character based on Inspector Gadget’s niece Penny.  I made her origin vague enough so that neither I nor the game got in trouble for copyright violation.  The origin being that she was the neice of the city’s now retired most famous cyborg detective.  A natural genius, she covertly helped her uncle, and when she graduated school a few years early, she went on to college and got dual degrees in engineering and criminology, then became a CSI for the Department.  She carries several devices and a portable crime lab, and has a small army of robotic pets that help her fight crime.  And yes, as the picture indicates, she rides around on a small circular flying platform.

I got several compliments on her look, with people saying the look was perfect for an adult Penny.  Here’s her street clothes “costume”.  The shirt is supposed to be a Millennium City PD T-Shirt.  Being an older game, Champions Online didn’t allow for a super high level of detail.

So, I hope that help you writers see that an open eye and a little imagination can find creative inspiration anywhere.

She had a virtual army of pets in the game and it was a joke among my friends that turning her loose, the bad guy would scream in terror as a sea of pets washed over them, LOL.  That was before the game nerfed the pet summoning powers though.  *grumble*