Some of us out there like to play Neopets, those cute online virtual fantasy pets that we feed, play games with, and get hurt in the battledome, whether we admit it or not. It used to be aimed at a mature college level audience while it was based in the UK, although with the change of ownership and movement of operations to California, there has been an undeniable decline in quality and target-age over the past few years.

This poem was written as a teaser for a rather dark short story series I was, at one time, writing for the Neopian Times and had submitted to the Neopets Team via poetry contest long before they ruined their self-image with Neopets 2.0, a spectacular fiasco in an attempt to increase commercial sales with a new image that does nothing more than mock other online communities such as Marapets and Gaia Online. With the collapse of interest in the site my short story halted completely, yet I could not revoke my submission. Having figured it was unaccepted into finalist choice I simply forgot about it. Three months later, about, I received a letter that it had been selected as a finalist, and a week after that, as a winner.

This is about as close as it gets to a posthumous literary award while still being alive. If I ever actually finish the story I just might stick it here, too. Something, perhaps, to look forward to if you're a Lord Kass fan, as well.