Thorn is filled with unexplainable craziness and most of it you can safely ignore if you prefer, but there are a few things you should know. Avatars are the same thing that they are in games except that avatars in Thorn are usually (but not always) mechanical. Basically they’re just a way to be in two places at once. As long as they don’t go too far from a good connection the user can witness and interact through the avatar from a remote location. However there are limitations. Most avatars will loose connection if they enter a large or shielded structure. When this happens their programming takes over and returns the avatar to the last position it was in where it had a connection and attempts to reconnect. But connections are always tricky and unreliable in Thorn so avatars usually try to stay in open areas.

Not all avatars look like floating heads or skulls but it makes sense and skulls are thought of as cute and friendly in Thorn so they’re not trying to be scary at all. Most of them will feature some kind of larger exaggerated feature or wings, antlers or horns. Something to help make the avatar more noticeable. Since the avatars are small and don’t make noise unless they want to its considered polite to try and make them stand out more and, of course, its a chance to show off some style and no one in Thorn would miss that!

Plus there are other floating heads flying around that aren’t avatars. They’re messengers. Originally just simple robots but over the ages they develop personalities of a sort, and more than a few of them have completely stopped functioning or gone insane and accidentally started religions while trying to fry eggs and yeah- it can happen! The ones that still work are still delivering messages and happy to do so, if a bit crazy.

And here we have the heart and soul of Surreal Orange. The Flying Eye. The first time I ever saw the flying eye was as decoration on a hit of acid. In case you didn’t know LSD is a liquid and so the simplest way to distribute it is on small pieces of blotter paper. (Look it up if you don’t know what that is.) And frequently they would print little designs on them. The Flying Eye I always thought was the perfect symbol for imagination and as decoration on a psychedelic compound it was perfectly apropos. Here he’s a little different. Really I shouldn’t even call him a him but its just easier and ‘It’ sounds insulting and is already taken as a name a couple times over. I’ll just use he.
Anyway- He’s the ultimate mystery. No one even knows WHAT he is. He doesn’t speak and comes and goes seemingly at random. Between you and me I think he’s actually a personification of the sense of sight- but definitely not limited to physical sight. Meaning is also I kind of sight. He’s like the concept of seeing brought to life somehow. But I’m probably wrong and he doesn’t speak so he won’t tell us. But he’s frequently helpful and seems attached to Floyd. Floyd thinks he’s awesome but doesn’t know anything about him either. Just a friend. Does he need to be more?

The personal connection of the Flying Eye for me also goes back to my work in Second Life where I created The Flying Eye Art Museum. Three times actually. I wanted to build an art museum and that was the name I chose. Its still going on but sadly I never have time to curate it. Need to take care of that.

I’ve always loved the idea of the show within a show. Not that the kittens are separate from the rest at all- but their stories will always be a fun little diversion. And yeah- the influence here actually seems more obvious than it is. These aren’t mutants or teen-aged. They are kittens and they are kitten sized and only they think they’re ninjas. They’re actually a bit of a mystery. They don’t speak so knowing anything about them is kinda impossible but every now and then you wonder how much they really know.

Vanity is the one at the back with the bow. She never gets her paws dirty. Curio is in the front always exploring and Angst is the one with the sword both physically and mentally.