Interview With Geerkil Ziskey, the Dragon DJ

By Deaflegacy

Second Life has a number of DJs, but only one takes on the form of a dragon: Geerkil Ziskey. I'm a curious pony, so I got an interview with him. 

Wanting to get to know DJ Geerkil, so my first question was, “Okay, could you please tell me about yourself?”  He replied, “Well, I am a child in an adult body that likes to have fun and joke around a lot.”

My next question was about his hobbies.  The dragon answered, “Amateur Radio.  Collecting music, avatars, and interesting SL builds.”

I was wondering where he likes to go on Second Life.  His response was, “Due to my size, I do not venture around much. I mostly hang out in the sims I work in as a music broadcaster.”

I asked Geerkil what he would like me to say about him in the article. His answer was, “I lack in social skills, but I more than make up for that in a desire to be helpful. I love what I do in Second Life.  I love my music and the sharing of it with the others.”

According to Geerkil, he plays at The Happy Vixen.  He also plays at the Zeta Valley Wharf, The Gathering Oak, Club EFS, The Heart of Gold, Lost Farms Crystal Cavern, also The Cutlass Club from time to time.  He also plays at The FunHouse.  Geerkil works for three different Internet Radio Stations, PhoenixradioFM.com, Allfurradio.com and KVXN radio.com.

My last question was if he is planning on being a DJ for a long time.  “As long as I can.  I have been doing it in Second Life over twelve years.  For working for actual Internet radio stations, about five.

The dragon will be playing from his hoard of music records for some time to come.

Deaflegacy

What's New With The Dragon Crew

By Bixyl Shuftan

Second Life has no shortage of DJs. But few are teams whose personality interactions are great entertainment for their listeners. And even fewer have the appearance of a dragon. The combination makes the Dragon Crew a unique musical team in Second Life entertainment. Made up of DJ Geekil, whom has been DJing in SL for years in his dragon avatar, his partner JB Raccoon, whom while not being in the virtual world nearly as long had quickly emerged as a talented music player, and LS Raccoon, whom sometimes acts as the hostess for the two men, the "Epic Failure Show" or "Dragon and Raccoon Show" as they've often called themselves has entertained many crowds. Interviewed by the Newser in December 2017, recently they requested to meet up to talk a little about a few things that have changed since then.

Among the recent changes is that due to real life, JB can't quite take part as often as he used to. "I do not participate on Tuesdays or Wednesdays because of my health," he told me. Geerkyl scoffed at the explanation, "That's the excuse he's using." So the Dragon Crew has taken on a new co-DJ for Geerkil, "I have a replacement staff member for Tuesdays and Wednesdays." The new member of the crew is Applebloom (JeanetteDJennet Resident), whom is almost always in a pony avatar. "So when I say hay is for horses," the dragon mused, "Applebloom will agree."

So how did the little pony end up part of the Dragon Crew? Meeting up with the two at the Happy Vixen beach club, the dragon answered, "I sat on her, and she liked it," Geerkil chuckled, "NOT!" Applebloom responded with a "Hrumph!" I asked about a rumor I heard that if he did that again, she'd use "pony magic" to give him the most girly cutie mark she could think of on his behind. Geerkil answered, "She did offer a mark I would never ewver forget, every time I sat down again." "Dern right," the pony grinned, "I may be small but my kick is mighty." "Plus the fact she wears steel shoes," the dragon remarked, "which is a little bit troublesome."

Applebloom then told, "Well to be truthful about it, I first saw ol' Geer here a little before we had that Halloween event (at the Happy Vixen) and I looked at him and JB Raccoon wondering just what the hell they were playing, especially at the Halloween event. Well, not too long after that I had a talk and introduced myself to Geerkil and told him I'd love to do what he does and maybe be on his show one day but that my mic was broken. And he told me when I got my mic fixed. Well a few days ago I finally got a new one and got in touch (with) JB here at The Vixen, and he told me to hide and we'd 'surprise the sausage.'"

"So I hid down on the second level and when (Geerkil) came, we shocked him because he couldn't figure out who the 'guest' was until he saw me. Both he and JB liked my style and easygoing nature and how well I worked with them during that show that both he and JB had the idea of asking me to take JB's spot on Tuesday and Wednesday because JB had to ease back on his workload. So here I am,.now a full fledged member of The Dragon Crew." The little pony smiled.

The conversation went to Discord chat, JB making a recording which would get sent to me. "You can be like the rest of the news media and report fake news, saying we play great music instead of the truth," Geerkil chuckled. When I responded by asking him what were their greatest epic failures were, he answered "Too many to mention." He joked that the recording being made of the conversation would glitch and become "white noise."

Geerkil occasionally gets teased by his colleagues and friends who occasionally call him "sausage." The joke goes back months ago when at a show, the subject of cooking sausages for a meal came up, and he ended up saying "I love sucking sausages." It wasn't until after he spoke it that he realized it could be taken as innuendo, and those who heard gleefully chuckled. The joke has stuck around since, "You never sausage a dragon."

Geerkil sometimes pokes a little fun at Applebloom's screen name, JeanetteDJennet Resident. "This is the name that ne-ver ends," the dragon teasingly sung, "It goes on and on my friends." When I asked her where the name came from, she answered it was from, "a MUCK that me and my late hubby were on. I was a little donkey named Jeanette, so when we came here instead of having it jeanettethejennet I shortened it by two letters to jeanettedjennet. I was a Wizz on that MUCK in fact, we both were. His name was Skunx, a skunk that could shapeshift." The detail she most remembers about their time on the MUCK was their home area Oah Hill Ranch, "It was HUGE with like close to 30 seperate rooms. If you've ever been on a MUCK then you know you have to descibe it, put all the door and exits on and descibe THOSE. Very involved. ...took me several months to build it." Being a MUCK, places had to have a lot of detail, "especially if you wanted to link it up with the rest of the MUCK."

When Geerkil and Applebloom co-DJ together, their routine is called "The Dragon and Pony Show." Geers commented that the order was because D is before P in the alphabet. They're played at a number of clubs in the past year, the dragon commenting, "we left a few ... one because they had some internal issues, then they wanted us back, but when we asked for our (positions) back, we never got them. ... that was the one with stickers, I like stickers." JB ang Geerkil mentioned a few more, one they left because, "we weren't funny enough," another because the manager "was a (dirty word) (dirty word)," and another, Dancing With Angels, closed because the owner had health issues, "That was sad." They are still performing at the Funhouse, at the Heart of Gold club, Club Cutlass "from time to time," the Happy Vixen Beach Club, Zeta Valley, and the Gathering Oak. Geerkil also performs at Lost Farm Crystal Cavern, though JB won't set foot in there. There's also "Club EFS." "There's probably one or two more that we've forgotten ..."

Club EFS is the Dragon Crew's own and new club, located at at Nox Arcana high above the PlayaCar sim at (52/128/2251). While EFS is short for "Epic Failure Show," only the initials are used as there are others who perform there, "but we wanted to keep the reference to us." As of the writing of this article, there are two other DJs who perform there, DJ Squeaks (Brandi Streusel), Benji, who Geerkil grumbles "thinks the raccoon is more important than the dragon," and "The Floof." "Awesome!" Geerkil cheered in response at the third, "We have 'The Orange Floof.' ... Got a really cute avatar, I really like it." JB called it an orange husky avatar.

The steel and brick club is dragon-themed with lots of wings, dragon statues, a couple smaller dragons flying overhead, and the dance floor being a hellish-looking set of iron bars over flames. Geerkil joked, "it has a nice little grill over top of a lava bath so we can pre-cook our guests so that later on in the show we can eat them." He would later comment, "Hey, I'm a dragon. Everything else looks like food to me." The grill does have a purplish mist over it, so perhaps it's magic that keeps the flames from burning the feet on the dance floor.

Of LS (Little Spirit) Raccoon, Geerkil remarked, "We put her in her own special office, where she can be on the phone." JBstated she was recently given a desk as a gift by a friend. ... valued at $200." Geerkyl grumbled, "No one sends me no ****ing desks." JB mused, "At least now I know where those teeth marks came from." Geerkil would later call LS an enthusiastic hostess, even when there was hardly anyone else in the club they were at, "she continues to do her performance." "She treats it as if we have a club full of guests," JB added. But they sometimes had other hostesses, such as Kitacella at the Happy Vixen, "Kit's good."

As before, some of Geerkil's humor is a bit low, "I admit my sense of humor is quite warped." Seeing LS's anthro dragon avatar, Geerkil remarked "Boobies." He would then say he used the word because of all the terms for that part of a woman's anatomy, that's the one he gets in the least trouble for using. Of their performance at the Gathering Oak, Geerkil called it, "The home of the Fabulous F*rting Fairy Furry Forest Flatulent-Filled Forest where they f*rt fragrant flatulent ..." He would later say, "I find f*rts hilariously funny." He did say though he has been blamed for a few windbreaking noises that he never made.

One occasional personality is DJ Tech. "Tech gets on occasionally, so he's a special guest." JB commented, "Tech primarily does get a brief appearance on the show with us." Geerkil then remarked "usually to tell me to shut the f**k up or something." JB chuckled, "Or (call you a) dumb a**ed dragon." The dragon muttered, "That's another famous phrase." Little Spirit giggled, "That's why we call him D.A.D." Someone joked, "That gives 'Who's your daddy?' a whole new meaning." That resulted in chuckles from everyone but Geerkil.

Sometimes Geerkil wears a hard hat. When asked to explain how it started, he explained that on occasion someone's been dropping anvils on him, "I decided to take some precautions." JB joked the weather has sometimes been "partially cloudy with a chance of anvils." When asked if there have been sightings of a coyote chasing a roadrunner, JB answered, "Well, the anvils do say 'ACME' on them, so it's possible (chuckle)." I then asked if Geerkil was wearing a hard hat, was someone else going to wear a sailor suit, a third a police uniform, and a fourth a biker. Geerkil blurted, "Oh no no! We are NOT going 'Village People!'" "Oh God no!" JB exclaimed, "No waaaay!"

Of the antics at the show, Geerkil rmarked, "I am not the instigator, but I do tend to promote that at times. ... (chuckle) I have a loyal crew." JB mentioned one incident at the Gathering Oak in which someone made something happen to Erik, who then looked right at Geerkil. The dragon chuckled, "I have this guilty look about me. I'm just doing my job, and darned if every time Erik ****ed, he'd watch me like a hawk. ... I'm laughing my (butt) off. It was so funny, and I'm the only innocent one in the whole group. All I did was make the suggestion, and it makes things happen (laughter)." They also mentioned a few jokes they played when people nearby go Away From Keyboard. "You do not want to be idle around us for very long," Geerkl commented.

The Dragon Crew now has a Facebook page at ( https://www.facebook.com/DragonandRaccoonEFS/ ). They also have a Patreon page. "There's not much on there for perks right now," JB explained, "We don't have the money right now to offer anything significant." "I think or first perk is going to be a coffee mug with the Dragon and Raccoon logo on it," Geerkil spoke. "Once we have a new logo design," JB added.

Geerkil refers to their collection of older and more obscure music as Warehouse 13, "Lost and forgotten tunes."

JB Raccoon pointed out his avatar, which he calls a "huskcoon," has changed a little since the interview a year ago, "he even has a pair of glasses to match the ones I'm going to wear in real life. JB had previously used an Aventity blue husky. He would go on to say as time has gone on, he's become a bit more social. While he had no problems interacting with people on-air, he preferred to keep his avatar a bit distance from others. "Someone would move to the DJ booth, I'd move away. ... I'd move somewhere else just to get away from them. I don't do that anymore. I haven't done it in several months." He gives some credit for this to Akea Gromet, "I think he was the first ... to get behind the DJ booth, and me not move." JB would take a picture of him, which remains at the Happy Vixen as Akea passed away several months later.

During the interview, one friend of theirs on and off of Second Life, known here as Lord Equis, made a few comments over the voice chat. He also appeared at the club to say hello.

Of their ideas for the future, one they're considering is recording their off-the-air conversations. "A lot of the funniest stuff we do is off the air," Geerkil explained,

After a bit more than an hour, the Dragon Crew and I went our separate ways. Geerkil and Applebloom's "Dragon and Pony Show" can be encountered at the Happy Vixen at Purrfection Estates (236, 219, 24) on Tuesdays at 4PM SL time. The "Dragon and Raccoon Show" is on Thursdays at 6PM SL time. And as mentioned before, there's their Club EFS at PlayaCar (52/128/2251) .

Bixyl Shuftan

DJ Geerkil And The "Dragon Crew"

By Bixyl Shuftan

One of the more unique acts of the Happy Vixen beach club and Club Zero Gravity is DJ Geerkil and his "Dragon Crew." While there are plenty of DJs across Second Life, Geerkil Ziskey is unique that his avatar is that of a dragon. More recently, he's become the most visible part of what's known as the "Dragon Crew, which also includes his "co DJ" JB Raccoon, and often LS Raccoon, whom is often a hostess for her two friends.

DJ Geerkil, who pronounces the name "Gurrkel," first came to Second Life in May 2006, and has been DJing in Second Life for quite some time. For years, like most other DJs Geerkil just played music, explaining that when working alone he doesn't have much to say. Then in Spring of this year, JB Raccoon and LS Racoon first came to Second Life, April and May respectively. They are real-life friends of Geerkil, and had found out about the virtual world through him. At the time, Geerkil was working with someone named Dirty Dawg. "They did the Saturday show together and I would join them in Discord (a text and voice chat service)," JB told me, "but stay silent when they went on the air, until I got caught not knowing we were on the air (laughter)."

But sometime around late July or early August, Dirty Dawg left due to an issue. "JB was the only one who would chat with me (on Discord)," Geerkil stated, saying he talked JB into joining him on the air during his show. And the two of them just clicked, or as Geerkil put it, "the BS just started to spring out." On occasion, someone else would join in, "but JB was the one who kept showing up." Geerkil calls JB the brains behind the show, and credits him for the reason the show is what it's become, though gives credit to Dirty Dawg for helping out at the start.

Geerkil, JB, and LS invited me to listen in on their chatter through a program called "Teamspeak." Of his being a DJ, the dragon remarked, "Music is my life. ... Music can change the mood, enrich the soul." Geerkil doesn't really sing, though on occasion will end up singing to his music. He says he was fond of the "Monkeys" when young, saying of one of the band, "He was good looking as a young man, but he got old and turned slam ugly, like me." He says he has about two terrabytes of music in his computer.

Most of the time, Geerkyl is in his large Seawolf dragon avatar, although on uncommon occasions will be in an anthro dragon form or other avie. Because of his size, when DJing at the Happy Vixen, he does so from just outside the wooden deck, laying on the sand. He calls Club Zero Gravity his favorite location as he can sit behind the DJ stand. "I had the impression ... designed with Seawolf dragons in mind," he stated, saying it "popped my bubble" when that wasn't exactly the case.

JB Raccoon as his name suggests does have an anthro raccoon avatar. But he also appears in an avatar that looks more anthro husky with a raccoon's tail. LS describes it, and hers, as half raccoon, half wolf. He told me one reason for his online persona is that he once gave out what he called his home location on a Google map that led to a tree. LS Raccoon, described as a "taker of food," does not usually say much during the show, but instead as a club hostess she gives group announcements of the Dragon Crew's events in club groups and group chats, and greets people as they enter. When not at events, she is often playing games with friends, or just chatting with them.  She hosts for Geerkil and JB at Club Zero Gravity. At their Tuesday set at the Happy Vixen, the task of hosting is left to Kitacella whom had the job first. Geerkil feels she does a great job, and is happy with her performance.

The name of the team the Newser uses for the purpose of this article, "The Dragon Team," comes from Nydia Tungsten, the owner of the Happy Vixen. Geerkil and JB refer to it as "The Epic Failure Show," the dragon describing it as, "Those idiots get on the air, and they do the stupidest BS." He openly described his sense of humor as "warped," and in the banter between he and JB, the dragon describes the raccoon/husky as his "seat cushion." There's sometimes a few poop jokes by the dragon in the between the songs banter, Geerkil saying he can't pin down why he finds them funny, he just does. When saying he sometimes trains DJs, "It's something I do, do. ... Did I just say doo-doo?" We went on to say in younger days, he would have his kids do "poo patrol" in his backyard, "and now I have to do it myself."

There's also a few jokes about women and sex, Geerkil admitting it can sound like "barefoot and pregnant" to those with sensitive temperaments, "probably why I don't have a girlfriend." In one of the few times he changed from his dragon avatar, he had on something tiny and cute that could fit in someone's hand. He then offered his services as a "cleavage pet," saying his tiny dragon form could help keep a girl's bosom warm if he was tucked in. However he does not condone outright sexism, criticizing men in position of power in the news whom were exposed as bullying women in sexual manners, "I am very much against sexual harassment ... unless I am the one doing the harassing."

When I asked for examples of their craziest times, Geerkil laughed and told me it might be hard to pin down one. He then stated, "When JB was wearing his blue underwear, without his pants." JB brought up, "There was that one time you lit my a*s up," saying the dragon had caught his tail on fire. Geerkil responded, "That was an accident, sort of. ... I don't remember." "A memory lapse of convenience is what I call it." There could also be technical issues, Geerkil saying, "that's why we call ourselves the Epic Failure Show." LS has this to say about Geerkil and JB's act, "They're hilarious as always. They do a wonderful show, always putting effort into making sure people have a good time and to draw more in. (The) events are very much as fun as the skits, and we all enjoy having a good time as do others."

One of the last questions I asked Geerkil was about how he decorates his dragon avatar, which wears gold chains and has charms hanging from it's horns. Geerkil says he originally got the idea as dragons are attracted to gold, and it was originally for his anthro dragon form, getting a golden headdress for it. But it worked so well, he enlarged it and had it fit his full-sized form. He then decided to go further, "Why not get a custom outfit, something no one else has?" Since he liked gold chains, he had some wrapped around the avatar, with green cloth underneath in places, "to avoid chaffing my scales." The charms on his horns were tailor made, the design made by someone Geerkil offered to pay. He was so pleased with the results, he "overpaid" the builder.

The schedule of the Dragon Crew will be changing soon. When the Happy Vixen shuffled it's Thursday events from 6 to 8 PM and 8-10 PM to 4-6 PM and 6-8PM, they were offered a second set in the 6-8PM timeslot. Geerkil told me their Saturday schedule is likely to change. Of his real life, there has been some trouble as Geerkil is on insulin and other medication, of which he had trouble affording. Fortunately, he managed to get some help with it.

Be sure to catch the Dragon Crew at the Happy Vixen from 4-6 PM Tuesdays and 6-8PM Thursdays, and check the schedule at Club Zero Gravity for their appearances.

Bixyl Shuftan

Xymbers Slade: Second Life Fortune Teller and Online Writer

Xymbers Slade is a resident with an interesting past and present. He was with the Second Life Mentor Volunteer group, until Linden Lab shut them down in November 2009. Another thing he did then, and still does today, is fortune telling.

Xymbers “office,” accessible from his dragon’s lair on Sunweaver Air, has a feeling of Medieval and the arcane about it, with the dragons, pentagrams and other mystical symbols, and more. He describes his business as “off and on,” getting a few clients a week.

He offered me a reading, inviting me to his place, “Have a seat... I'll go right into shuffling and we'll see what comes up here... one sec... “

After a few minutes of waiting, “I don't like the locations of some of these cards, they are not painting a pretty picture for 2011. A lot of this seems to want to focus on your own work and your own paper, too. I want to say some of these cards are more general, but a lot of them seem to be painting you with a pretty big target.”

“Six things stand out here. The first is that I got an upside down 4 of Cups (Apathy) as the ‘ best outcome.’ This is basically saying no one is paying attention to what is printed, or no one cares enough to take action if something ‘bad’ is brought up. Very tempted to say if Linden Labs wanted to pull something shady, this'd be the time to do it, and they'd get away with it.”

“The second thing that stands out here seems to be you. I drew you in three separate locations (yourself as the upside down King of Wands as ‘ next influence,’ you as the Emperor in the Past, coming off of a ‘ spilled milk loss ‘ and you as an upside down King of Swords ... someone up in arms here about something but completely lacking the resources to affect the situation). Have you recently come off of a time where you had to issue a retraction or a series of corrections that left your credibility stained? That 5 of Cups in the Past next to you would suggest so... a black eye that affected harder than it was supposed to.” To this I answered no, “All right, then I don't know what that ‘ crying over spilled milk moment ‘ would have been. Fortunately it's in the past and it hit you when you were strongest anyway, so it's a minor blip at this point.”

“The third thing that stands out here is that it looks like people's resources and dreams are far fewer in availability --- overall situation card is an upside down 7 of Cups (big dreams staying dreams) and we have an upside down Ace of Pentacles as the Emotions card (no profit in emotions/effort, or a lack of needed emotional resources to see projects through). Combined with that apathy card as the best outcome, this is looking ugly.”

“The fourth thing that stands out is that we have two rivals trying to discredit each other. There will be no peace, and if God put the peace branch out, they'd both set fire to it before turning back on each other. That could be a big problem. It will be something you need to stay out of, else they'll turn their viciousness on you. My guess is a possible story that hits about people being jerks to each other. This is Hatfield/McCoy fight levels here. Effort put trying to make things right or bring it to the attention of people is just going to turn a spotlight on you.”

“The fifth thing to stand out is just another ‘ lack of resources ‘ situation. Though this one seems to be pointed at you specifically. It's saying ‘ Ok, there's a lack of potential here. It's all said and done. No one cares anymore.’ And I think revelations are going to be had that put you on a horse off of SL in time. The center three cards on the right there --- 8 of Cups upside down showing lack of potential (combined with the big dreams staying dreams and lack of emotional resources to make things done right from earlier) Then the Moon showing secrets revealed... And then you as a very weak Knight of Cups... you go out on a good note, but off to where is the question. It all stretches back to that apathy. Less and less people are caring about SL in some form or another. It's an underlying current. After 6-7 years, even new twists on old novelties grow old and faded. So I would not be surprised if the paper or even SL ended by the end of the year. These cards want to suggest that if there's any time for it to collapse under its own weight or (given the presence of the Moon), more likely they'll shoot themselves in the foot and wind up having the bullet ricochet and hit them in between the eyes.”

“The final thing that stands out here is the final three cards. I have no idea what context these are for. Upside down Ace of Wands, suggesting growth but in the wrong direction... and right next to that is the Ace of Swords, the Excalibur of victory. So even though everyone goes in the wrong direction, their goals are still achieved pretty solidly. Justice, the card of Karma and of ‘ you get what you deserve ‘ is not liking this one bit and wants to make those victories moot. So I think while goals are achieved, they're like the pixels making up the program. They go away the moment you log off or turn away to look at something else. They're not worth anything if they're not looked at. If that makes any sense.”

“Other than that, that's what's standing out here in the cards. I would not be surprised if you were either out of a SL job or just off SL period at the end of December of 2011 or January of 2012.”

I asked if he meant superficial victories, “I think the word I'd use is that they're all mirages. They're not even superficial victories. Even superficial ones linger. These do not. Everything works well in that one specific moment in which it happens, but the moment it is put down it is forgotten. And no one cares to go back to it.” So he foresaw troubled times for the paper and Second Life? “In a nutshell, yeah. It's like you produce your material, people ‘buy’ it, but it either is not read, or not ‘absorbed’ or something. The stuff doesn't stick. At least according to these cards, anyway. ... Something needs to galvanize the people of SL into a collection of individuals, rather than the mess of things it is now. I -want- to say no organization. Not enough to get -all- involved, which is what I think is to happen. It's not even about ‘ toppling the 800 pound gorilla ’ even. Some grid wide mega event needs to happen free of Linden Lab’s mismanagement.”

“Anyway, those are the cards. Too bad they were not any better; this is one of the more negative reads I've had in the last few weeks.” Xymbers did admit he was wrong on a couple recent readings, “Things like that come and go though. The first couple months of a year are always slow and unfocused as the year gets underway.”

And when someone else did a reading on him, it turned out wrong, “It was mostly warnings about people doing power plays and how people have entered certain businesses only to lord over others, so ‘ watch yourself. ‘ A few things that were almost certain to happen didn't, which was a surprise to both of us. Now I have to go back towards the end of this month because one of the power plays was a few weeks ‘ late ‘ and I have to see if things have changed from its previous incarnation. ... Yeah, always more readings. But at least we act on the knowledge. The reading I got for you suggested no one cared enough to react about anything written or whatnot.”

Besides his fortune telling, Xymbers has also been developing a story for self-publication on the Internet. “People will get to decide how the story progresses at points,” he explained, “The viewers will have a say as to what the heroes do. And if the viewers make the wrong decisions, it might be a ‘Total Party Kill.’ “ He went as far as to have artwork for the original set of his characters commissioned, which are set up in his dragon’s lair.

The story is around several characters in a future Earth of which humans are gone and the world is populated by “Anthro-Kin,” living in a Medieval society of which those with the talent and patience can learn magic. He originally had nine characters, some heroic, some anything but. But the more he thought about the characters, the more he realized some would have little reason to stick around with certain ones, “that adventuring troupe was going to be the focus of the story but they wanted nothing to do with each other and I knew it was bad when my ‘self insert’ wanted nothing to do with them either. ... My characters actively fought me at every step. ”

So he chose four new characters whom could stick in a group, “I finally gave up and asked ‘who wants to come forward,’ and got four volunteers. I'm still banging things out around them though, so I don't have much more than that for now. ... it starts on the 1st and I'm aiming for a twice a week schedule.” Later on, he told me of a fifth character coming to mind.

Of the five characters, the first is Ameris the “bovine bladesinger” whom despite dressing up as a Valkyrie and carrying a long axe insists she’s no warrior, "I'm not a barbarian, I'm a mercenary!" Then there is Target, an obnoxious thin and wry wolf whom dresses in second hand leather outfits, "I'm either in trouble, getting in it, getting out of it, or taking credit for it." There is Soyal the sorceress, a white cougar whose real name is a mystery and dresses all in pink, and woe to those who laugh at her outfit. Fourth is Thrana, a quiet snowshoe hare whose oversize feet can do serious damage, "Actions speak louder. I'll let my paws do the talking for me." Last but not least is Zelda, a blue eyed vixen water sorceress.

Xymber’s story, currently with no working title, is on his Livejournal. More on his fortune telling can be read from the article on him at Second Life Newspaper, and he also does business from a website. His place, Wyvernhome, is at Sunweaver Air at (184, 87, 26).

Bixyl Shuftan