AFK Follies
Y'know, if you haven't performed the rite of AFK Molestation on your friends and cohorts, you're missing out. All it takes is a little rapid-fire building skill and a quick screenshot finger. Or two fingers. Why, oh why, did they change screenies from "`" to "CTRL-`"? I've missed far too many good candid shots trying to remember that. But I digress.


This one was Sophia Weary's idea, and it's elegant in its simplicity. Walk away from your computer, and come back to find that everyone has mutated into furries... Including you! Aiiiiyeeee! (Take that, spell checker.) We used the heads from standard Linden library furries. What are those, anyway? Meerkats?

It helps if everyone is sitting in pose-equipped chairs, which keep the av's head still even if he's AFK. Otherwise, you'd need to do some fairly tricky estimation work to assure that the victim's head snaps back up into place when he returns. The key to this one is to refuse to admit anything is amiss. Furry heads? What furry heads?

That's Chrestomanci Bard (Victim #1) on the left, and Laura Ingersoll (Victim #2) on the right. Sophia is at top, and that's my back to the camera at bottom. Dominic White, the only full-time furry in our little kaffeeklatch, was absent. (I don't know if he's a furry by philosophy, but he does cut a dashing figure in wolf head and flowing cape.) That's his picture on the poster in the back.


Chrestomanci returned from her phone call, possibly summoned by the sound of surreptitious giggling and the click-whirr of screenshots. Laura was still MIA. Since Chres is the owner of the wicker chairs, this opened the door for even more elaborate mischief. Enter the AFK Zone, courtesy of Sophia, again. She has a scary gift for this.

The chair, and its occupant, was relocated to 500 meters above ground. Between the three of us, we managed to construct a black sphere with moving starfield, a whole slew of particle effects, and a spinning noise maker with spooky woo-woo-woo sounds. (The latter was mine. One side effect of the Garage of DOOM is that I've now got a whole library of spooky/monstrous sound bites.) This pic was taken from the outside. From the inside, all that could be seen was starry blackness and particulate fireworks. There is no escape from the AFK Zone!

We all donned disguises and waited. Chres is the semi-transparent blob to the lower left of the chair, just below the large white particle. She's wearing a semi-invisi-primmed ghost costume from a couple Halloweens back. Sophia is crouched inside the black box at lower right. I'm the flying black silhouette at middle right. Unfortunately, the ghost of Rod Sirling doesn't show up on film.


This isn't relevant, but it was kind of a nifty picture. That's Laura at left and Chres at right, during the course of our semi-weekly avatar showoff fest. This time, it was on the roof of Chres's Afton house (mostly because that's where we fell when the AFK Zone was dismantled). I think I'm the only one that doesn't have a custom furry avatar. Well, aside from a 20 meter tall teddy bear, but I don't know if that counts. It's more a mega-plushy than a furry.

In any case, I just liked the story built into this picture. The actual dialogue consisted of Laura expressing envy and dismay over Chres's superior tail design, and Chres responding (in character) "Well, I'm just foxier!" The expressions on the prim-furry heads are ideal.

Ah, I miss these moments. I'm going to have to make a point to spend more time outside of Louise, and less time with my head buried in a script window.
Posted by Moriash Moreau at 11:01 AM