Secrets and Lies and Virtual Fireflys

Funny how things work out, isn't it?
A bit ago I blogged about FanFic and how I was coming round to appreciate the really excellent work that is out there. Of course, Buffy: Between the Lines is a shining example of that, an award-winning collaborative work under the direction of Tabitha Smith. Some time ago I also joined a Virtual Firefly on the Fireflyfans.com site. A what? Well, good question. ShadowCaptain came up with a brilliant idea. Set up some Virtual Fireflys, advertise for crews and then send them out into the 'Verse for adventures and high jinxs. Crew members post on threads on the Virtual Firefly message boards, adding to the story and reacting to each other.

How does that work, then?
So I signed up, originally as worldofhiglet (of course), but as my character progressed I changed my nick to DocKat (the Doc makes me sound sophisticated, obviously) to fit into the storylines. Oh yes, and there isn't a storyline. Shadow (Kat calls him Cap'n) has jobs that need doing, but the crew get into all sorts of scrapes by themselves. It has been a great ride so far -our original pilot, O2, is still under medical care after a job went bad, I've raided my own ship (Tranquility) dressed as an Alliance office (Kat is ex-Alliance), and now it appears that my past is catching up with me. And Elbarto has revealed is true feelings. Oh dear. The only thing I can say for sure is that I don't know how it's going to end. It all depends on who posts next...

Improv?
There are now 5 Virtual Fireflys, and new crew members are always welcome (just take a look at the boards first and see where you want to fit in then apply to join). Each boat has a different set of characters who get up to all sorts of adventures and misadventures. It was only after doing the post yesterday and then Greg P making his comments that it occurred to me that the Virtual Fireflys are a type of Improv, but with strangers. And no body language for queues. And time differences...Still, it's all good, (mostly) clean fun, and you don't need to travel to LA!