Samantha is a role play character in the virtual world of Second Life where she is an angel, and lives with her adopted mother Amanda, and a domestic robot 'Nannybot'. Much like Bertie Wooster she has acquired a number of aunts, four at the last count. There is also a strange feral boy called Stuart who lives in a tree house in the garden and steals Amanda's gin. Second Life is quite an odd place when you think about it.

I've always enjoyed creating characters and making up stories about their adventures; perhaps one day I'll actually finish my fan fiction. Over the last couple of years I've been enjoying trying out pictures as well as text. Most of my photos have been on the theme of 'The mother of a young angel buys a robot nanny' but there are also some pictures from other stories mixed in as well as one off photos I felt inspired by.

I began taking Second Life pictures with the intention of them being more than just snapshots back in December 2019. I had attended some super photography classes run by Isle Biedermann and shortly after made the acquaintance of Iris Okkido who invited me to be a model in her picture Mother Christmas. Iris was able to create images which left me quite at a loss as to how such things could be achieved in Second Life and, when I asked her about how she accomplished this, she was encouraging of my efforts and explained some of the basic points which would allow me to improve my pictures. We became friends and I acquired a talented mentor who helped me start to develop my style and ability.

Over time my main backstory for role play has become that I am an angel. This stemmed out of my having been drafted as an extra in the role play story of my alt and adoptive mother Amanda who had been playing an angel in World of Darkness settings since around 2010, and whose character had developed in the Noctis Surectum faction of Nations of Remembrance. As real life became more demanding of my time, I found that it was harder to manage the consistency required to write compelling story arcs through regularly visiting rpg sims, and the story of Samantha and Amanda was increasingly told via my new Flickr account. I found that Amanda’s story became a lot more ‘slice of life’ than previously; this was, perhaps, inevitable as I had made the account in Samantha’s name and naturally wanted to make it more family friendly as a result.

With Amanda’s story having become less about fighting demons and romantic entanglements with vampires, she seemed to settle down as a home maker - although with a few one off adventures when I had time to visit RPG locations in world. Sam’s identity as a precocious tween, rather than dysfunctional teen veering on the edge of outright evil, seemed to solidify as well. This led to the idea that Sam had grown up previously as her WoD character, almost transformed into a demon, and had been returned to childhood by Nafari (see Appendix) so that Amanda could bring her up properly. It also neatly explained why Amanda might feel that additional supervision for Samantha was required in the form of Nannybot.

Nannybot, had, existed as a character in some science fiction role play I had run alongside my main story for about 18 months around 2019, played by a few friends who also enjoyed the long para rp sessions to which I was attracted. In 2021 I introduced Nannybot as a character in my main story-line, as a domestic robot purchased by Amanda, in the picture ‘Nannybot Unboxing’. Having developed my technique, there are few a things about this image which I would approach differently now, but that's all part of the process of learning after all. Despite this, the introduction of Nannybot seemed to work well in images, as did the love hate relationship which developed between her and Samantha.

Appendix – An Elaboration on Past Stories

The explanation of who Nafari ‘The Angel of the Trees’ might be is a little in depth. If you *really* want to know the answer to this, and also to understand where Sam’s former teenage rpg character ‘Hope’ came from, and how Hope eventually almost fell from grace to become a demon, by all means continue... However, please be aware that there is swearing in some RPG extracts if you carry on.

Once upon a time an angel, whose heart was pure and just, was so moved by the suffering of the world that she wept bitterly and, where her tears fell to earth, there sprung two beautiful trees of pure innocence which radiated goodness and love.

In these sad days a young woman walked through the lands of remembrance. She was tired and very hungry and cold because she had been sent away from her home and was all alone in the world. Eventually she came to a mansion where a strange woman offered her food and shelter but at a price; the owners of the house were vampires and to stay there the girl would have to let them drink her blood. As she had nowhere else to go she remained in the house where she worked very hard doing all the laundry and cleaning as well as cooking for the other humans who stayed there.

The queen who ruled the vampires was frightening and sometimes the girl would cry because no matter how clean she made the house or how many clothes she washed she would be beaten and told she was stupid. Yet, despite all this, in her heart she was happy because she had fallen in love with a princess, the daughter of vampire queen. Although the girl was neither pretty nor clever she tried hard to be kind and good which attracted the attention of a wicked demon who would temp and torment her from night to night. At last, just as the girl thought she could stand it no longer, the beautiful angel, from whose tears had sprung the trees of innocence, came down from heaven to comfort her.

((( Nafari is shaken out of her turbulent thoughts by a spike of sudden emotion coming from you. "I sense that there is much you would say but you fear that I will think ill of you if you were to speak of it to me. I am now your guardian little one." gently places a hand under your chin so you will meet my gaze "there is nothing that you will say that will cause me to turn my back on you. Speak and find peace." )))

It so happened that the enemies of the vampires captured the princess and cruelly tortured her with fire before locking her in a dark dungeon. The girl was so distraught that when the demon came offering a deal for her lover's release she agreed. That night the princess was released but at a terrible cost for later the demon returned demanding the girl's own soul in payment. The girl was in a terrible situation and it seemed that now the wicked demon would drag her down to Hell. Full of remorse she cried out to her guardian angel who, in compassion, at once forgave her and took the cost of the girl's foolish bargain unto herself.

For a little while things seemed to go well but the demon was filled with anger that the girl had escaped and plotted a wicked revenge. The demon told the girl she had now taken a human baby to be tormented in her place. No longer so foolish to believe that the demon would free the child in exchange for her soul the girl resolved to travel to Hell herself to rescue it. At last she agreed a passage to the abyss with the Tyrant in exchange for her hope. Then, with the aid of her friend the angel Fugazi, and the ghost of the wicked demon's long dead sister Icla she traveled, without hope to Hell.

(((Icla points a claw in the direction of the throne on the level distance 'That...is the seat of the Tyrant'. Above them on the other side of the fiery lake rises a great throne looking down over them. Fortunately it is empty. Amanda cries out in fear and pain. Walking into that cave felt as if she had plunged into a bath which was too hot, but she walks forward none the less. At the demon's words her eyes are lifted to the terrible throne amid the flames. She lowers her eyes and stumbles forwards. Fugazi’s eyes widen as he steps through the door into the lair of his ancient enemy, taken aback by the sheer intensity of the place. He had heard stories, read scripture, but nothing could prepare him for the experience of Hell in the flesh. He scans the expanse slowly, taking in every little detail, all the while the screams of the damned echoing in his ears, a million souls crying out in torment, crying his name, begging for forgiveness. His eyes finally come to rest on the seat of the Tyrant...and he cries out. "Oh God...why have you forsaken them? Why?" He screws his eyes shut, tears streaming freely down his cheeks, and starts to shake uncontrollably. )))

They found the child held in a demonic plant and, at the last, the girl tried to sacrifice herself and take its place in torment forever.

(((Amanda Ellis looks at around at the flowing lake at larva, the ungodly screams. "No," she says at length. "No." Amanda hangs her head. "I knew that, I had to pay; I knew that this would be asked of me but... I... hide things from myself so well." she takes a step away from the angel. "Save the child Fugazi." she says simply and steps into the slithering tentacles.)))

Through the grace of this pure act they were saved and she and her friend were returned to the world while the child they had rescued was named Hope in memory and was taken to Heaven. Although the girl was now returned to earth, where she hoped to live happily with the princess, she was no longer truly of the world and gradually she came to realise she was slowly becoming like an angel herself; for the space in her heart which had once held hope had been filled by her sacrifice and the grace of the angel of the trees.

((( Lisha takes a step back she sees the signs but refuses to believe her eyes "you have changed human from when we first met... Amanda Ellis looks up. "What? Changed, I don't know what you..." as she speaks she catches sight of the silver pinion out of the corner of her eye. "Oh shit!" she swears and looks around, apparently panic stricken, "Oh! How do I turn it off?" she is sounding really alarmed. "I can't let anybody see them!" she turns towards the wing desperately but it moves away with her shoulder and she turns round in a circle, almost like a dog chasing it's tail before coming to a stop looking around helplessly. Lisha watches her in amazement once again she gets that look of a headache shooting through her skull even though its pretty much impossible "you are not ready... Who did this to you?" )))

All might have gone well were it not for the fact that the princess hated angels above all the races of the nations of remembrance and, when she learned her lover was no longer human she murdered the girl who had risked so much for her release.

((( Hecate DuCasse's eyes, still glittering madly, narrow ... her smile pulls wide, curled cruelly up at the corners and she gives her a lascivious wink ... "I believe" she says "I have addressed your request, little whore" . .she gives her an exaggerated bow and backs away, laughing wildly as she watches Amanda dangle from Basker’s grip, muttering "kill it if you wish, childe" Baskers throws Amanda in the direction of the wall ".. Just WHO THE FUCK do you think you are?! Do you think that for one moment I could ever feel anything other than hate or revulsion for a fucking floater?! You DISGUST ME!" Amanda Ellis hits the wall and crumples to the ground with a wet thud. )))

When the girl awoke from death she found that everything of her which had been human had burned away and that, once again, she was alone in the world. So she journeyed on her way once more, sorrowing for her loss and seeking to share the grace and love of the angel of the trees with any who would listen. Eventually Hope (who was later to become Samantha) grew up and returned to earth looking for revenge but now as an angel herself.

((( Hope cocks the hammer of the revolver and lifts it to point directly at Aci's face. "No." she says without hesitation. "I don't give a flying fuck if you are reformed, if you are good or any of that shit." As she speaks her lips twitch. "In fact it would make it better if you had tried to better yourself. I'd be taking so much more from your sorry excuse for a life." She pulls the trigger. Alci's mouth opens slightly then shuts, she has an expression of mild surprise, shutting her eyes she drops to the lake water heavily and sinks like a stone. Hope laughs in delight. "Fucking pig!" she suddenly screams and then stoops to throw a handful of grit after the sinking djinn. "Fucking die!" Bobbie growls in her throat, glaring at Hope, "You stupid girl. She's a Djinn, She's not human. You really expect a bullet to kill her?" Hope shrugs. "If she comes back I can do it again. Besides, I enjoyed shooting her and don't you ever try to TELL ME THAT I DID NOT HAVE A RIGHT!" Hope's eyes blaze and she momentarily looks utterly deranged. Bobbie: I will tell you that you didn't have the right. You don't kill unless it's self defense. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You ready to deal with the consequences? Hope snarls. "Fuck self defense and fuck her. She murdered my sister! She imprisoned me in hell. She's the fucking reason I'm like this. Fuck her. It was revenge and I don't regret it." )))

Of course this sort of behaviour was clearly setting Hope on the path to becoming a demon and before that could happen Nafari returned her to childhood and took most of her memory in the hope that Amanda could bring her up; it also explains why Amanda can be a little on the strict side despite being very loving when it comes to Samantha. Enter Nannybot stage right.