Add Episode

Good Question

Episode submitted by The_Guest on Sat May 21 14:06:42 2011
Return to Parent Episode

Well, I created the two different branches with the idea of telling a similar story, but with different people being aware in each version.

I started with what Anonymous51 wrote...

It needed to change people. Some for the better, some for the worse. It was the reason for its being. It was created through magic and through magic, it would accomplish its mission. It was totally devoted to its purpose. Nothing or no one could stop it. It was unstoppable and indestructible.

Since the cloud was created by the magic of the stone, it had the ability to change reality (within the same range as the stone, of course) and it used that ability when changing the people it came in contact with. Since the cloud did most of its work overnight, most of the people changed by it were sleeping at the time and wouldn't notice anything different until they woke up.

The cloud changed their lifestyle to something completely different. All of reality had also changed around them - their environment, their family, their friends, their occupation ... all to match their new lifestyle. But the cloud kept their memories intact, so that they would always remember the reality before they were changed. It made things more ... interesting.

We haven't actually established how many people the cloud can change per night and if it will dissipate over time or move on, by the way.

You phrased it as changing people's situations...in terms of how I was writing the Athena and the Sarah characters, I wrote it as them being intellectually their old selves, but feeling the emotions of their new ones. Also, they do have a bit of a cushion on doing activities their new self did regularly without thinking...such as walking to class.

So, there is that conflict. We have the two sisters, Athena and Sarah, who normally hate each other. But in this scenario, they are feeling the emotions of being sisters. And I wrote it as a more complex relationship.

Athena is popular, but not the cheerleader popular that Sarah was before. She's individual and unique. Good student, involved in activities at school, etc. She's not the sort that fits into one of the previously established cliques. If she is in a clique, she's defining a new one.

Sarah is now at the bottom of the totem pole. She's not unattractive, but she's a freshman, younger, and still a bit awkward physically. She probably will blossom a bit as she gets older, but she's not going to develop into a big breasted blond girl.

Sarah loves her sister, even admires her, but is jealous of her for having found her place in high school, and the fact that Sarah herself can't get out from her shadow. And thinks that being a cheerleader is the way to distinguish herself.

Athena thinks cheerleading is...well...stupid, and that the girls who do it would be a bad influence on Sarah.

They are, at the core, the same people, in my opinion. The soul is the same. They are just the product of a different life and choices.

As for the original fighting, I agree. Basically, neither 'aware' version in each branch has any idea what is going on and how they should feel about it. And while they are emotionally changed, the conflict between how they think they should feel and how they are feeling will change them over time.

For example, does 'aware' Sarah push the agenda presented to her? Namely, becoming a cheerleader and working to make her life more like it was before? Is she more or less prone to being influenced by others in this new emotional state?

Does "aware" Athena decide that her new life is better or worse than her old? She isn't one of the types of girls she hated before, but she isn't a Goth. How does her perspective change on this?

And, back to the Cloud, which is changing people's lifestyles to something completely different...how might that change the town overall? Specifically, I was wondering how I or others might hit the categories that Anonymous51 laid out..."their environment, their family, their friends, their occupation."

For teens and kids, student and/or clique is the equivalent of occupation. And changing their occupation in some cases resulted in an age shift. Unless you go Doogie Howser, you can't have a 14 year old doctor, for example.

But, we don't know who else got changed that day, or how the victims will notice changes that happen after the first day. I would imagine that the Cloud can only do a few people a night, and it doesn't work during the day.

Lots of questions there. I suppose I have a lot of thoughts. I'll be happy to do a back and forth here. Or, if you want, I often lurk in the Fiction Branches chat that was set up, and I have a mail account set up specifically for FB.

To The_Guest

Episode not yet rated
(You must be logged in to rate episodes)

Add Episode