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This first-season tale begins immediately after the conclusion of 揟he Lab Brat,� covering the period through 揚inch Sitter� and 揟oo Cute� and concluding with events in 揟he Big House.� (揜oad Worrier� and 揟he Teachings of Don Jake� are here assumed to take place in the summer between Scarlett and Daria抯 sophomore and junior high-school years.) The timeframe is in the late 1990s, Lawndale being a suburb of an east-coast mid-Atlantic city, probably Baltimore.
The original story was begun in late August 2004. It was then interrupted by a computer crash only a week or two later, and was further interrupted when the original plot was tossed out while the story was in progress and a new plot was sought. (I discovered that many of the elements of what I had planned for the tale had already appeared in a Marvel Comics graphic novel called 1602梀irginia Dare and all that. Damn!) After two years of research, a new plot was located and the story was able to continue on to the end. The story is posted in HTML with different typefaces and modified screen captures from the show. Because the story is occasionally updated and corrected, it helps to refresh the screen each time a webpage for this tale is accessed.
The idea of doing an illustrated fanfic was very appealing. I actually got the idea from reading the illustrated versions of Diane Long抯 famous Daria fanfics, 揟he Last Stupor�/A> and 揢ndone.�/A> When I began writing 揝carlett,� however, I did not have an illustrated fanfic in mind. The story was going to be purely text-based. Then I decided to teach myself HTML, bought a book on it, and began constructing the 揝carlett� webpages as an experiment. The problems in using screen captures are obvious: unclear shots, the need to modify certain shots, trouble with over-modifying JPG shots, a lack of pictures on certain things the story calls for, an excess of pictures on things having nothing at all to do with the story, the tendency to let certain interesting pictures dominate sections of the storytelling, etc. Plus, I had to offer the option of reading the story in chapters or all at once, there were issues with my tinkering with different type fonts and layouts to get different effects, etc. By the way, all the pictures in this story will reveal their origins if you place the cursor over them in IE7.
Despite the story抯 use of the screen names of certain members of Daria fandom抯 Infamous Unserious Five (Scarlett, Tananda, Angelinhel, Taryn, Beth Ann, Mahna Mahna, Woot, etc.), and the names of other Daria fanfic writers and fans (e.g., Guy, E. A. Smith, etc.), real-life IUF members and other fans are not meant to be the subjects of this story. Their screen names simply seemed right for the characters featured herein who had no given names in the TV series. Anyone who knows nothing about the glorious heyday of the IUF in Daria fandom should consult their collected legends in 揟he Cave�/A> at Thea Zara抯 Sh33p抯 Fluff. This explains little and leaves the investigator more confused than before, but thus it serves its purpose.
Last updated 2/6/07
Acknowledgements
MMan抯 challenge was the genesis of this story, and he has my sincere thanks. Angelinhel and Decelaraptor (Guy) told me not to use cedar shavings for mice, which I fixed in the original version of this tale (thanks), and Kristen B. said she was pretty sure mice can抰 vomit, but the mouse herein is the most special mouse in the entire Dariaverse, and it can ralph up a storm if the author wants it to. Kristen and DigiSim did catch other errors I had to fix, so I am in their debt, and DigiSim and Richard Lobinske caught an anachronism and suggested a fix that was so good I used it (thanks!). Scissors MacGillicutty took time to guide me through a few basic steps in HTML formatting, which really helped the story抯 look (particularly the title). Decelaraptor encouraged me to break the story down in shorter chapters, so this is offered as an option. Improvements in the quality of the screen captures used came about from adopting the advice of DigiSim, Richard Lobinske, and Lawndale Stalker. Thanks also go to Prince Charon, Richard Lobinske, and hey for the constant reminders to finish this thing, which kept me going when Real Life was getting in the way, as it too often did.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One: Ankh Girl Comes to Lawndale
Chapter Two: The Tale of the Mouse
Chapter Three: Getting to Know You
Chapter Four: Walking with Leopards
Chapter Five: Goodbye, Hello, Goodbye
Chapter Six: A Desperate Prayer and Rescue
Chapter Seven: The Battle of All Mothers and After
Chapter Eight: When the Going Gets Tough
Chapter Nine: The Best Defense Is a Good Offense, Not
Chapter Ten: This Was Such a Bad Idea
Chapter Eleven: And Then, As If By Magic�/A>
Chapter Twelve: The New World Order
Chapter Thirteen: Terrible Swift Swords
Chapter Fourteen: The Mark of the Beast
Chapter Fifteen: Fate Is the Hunter
Chapter Sixteen: "That Wasn't Half Bad."
A Few Final Notes
Scarlett: The Complete Story (So Far) On One Webpage
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