Toga's Total Teasers and Tale Title Tally

[theprawncracker]

EEEEEEEEEEEE! SitT! One of my VERY favorite Toga Tales! I'll have to go read that one again sometime... maybe after I'm done with Perfect Harmony.

Oh please Lisa, tell us more?

 

[The Count]

* Tell us more, tell us more, tell us more.
Like, did you write fanfics in the car.

Tell us more, tell us more, tell us more.
Did your stories get very far?

Post us more, post us more, post us mooooooreee!

 

[TogetherAgain]

Why I Haven't Posted Anything in Ages: The Fourth Tale

By this time, TogetherAgain was back in school. She was in her third year of high school, which, because her school was so huge, meant she now went to the second campus... the one that started an hour earlier. This, of course, meant that she got to wake up at 5:45 AM to catch a bus at 6:47 to get to school (hopefully) in time for 0 period at 7:30. Her 0 period class was, of course, English.

You may recall that I mentioned a while ago that English was getting to be less and less fun for TogetherAgain. In fact, the previous school year, English had been- though she dreaded to admit it- one of her least favorite subjects. But this year, that finally changed, for two very important reasons.

First, one of the things that had started to turn TogetherAgain away from English was all the symbolism she was supposed to find. Couldn't a story just be a story? Apparently, the answer was no, and it irked TogetherAgain to no end... until, of course, she started writing Muppet fan fiction and therefore started using some symbolism herself. (If you ever spot the number eighteen, in any form, in any of her stories, it's a good sign. See the number seventeen, and reach for your teddy bear.)

Second, the class was at 7:30 in the morning, and TogetherAgain and her classmates were all half asleep... but the teacher was jumping around the room in a bright green shirt and a brighter green bow tie saying fun things like, "If you don't have a common goal, unity is duck-duck-goose," and, "Instead of the SUV working for you, you're working for it! You become it's little oompa loompa!"

Suddenly, English was TogetherAgain's favorite subject again, and she was once again convinced that her place in life was to become an author. (Although she could, by now, properly pronounce "writer.")

In the meantime, TogetherAgain's busrides proved to be a wonderful time to think about her fourth story. This one started with a character of TogetherAgain's own creation: Maggie. Kermit's sister. Also known as Margaret, if the conversation was heavy enough, or if the person addressing her was angry, or one of her parents. Also known as Mags, if the person addressing her was Kermit. And no, no one else was allowed to call her Mags.

To TogetherAgain's surprise, Maggie turned out to be a huge hit on the forum. She started showing up in other stories by other writers. TogetherAgain was shocked... and flattered.

But the fourth story was not about Maggie. It was about Kermit returning to the swamp because his mother was battling a brain tumor, and thus, it was entitled, "Swamp Call."

"Swamp Call" was the first of TogetherAgain's stories to start to break with her standard list of what happened in her tales. It was the first story in which no character's dialogue ever included the exact words of the story's title, and it was the first story in which there was no villain who somehow changed identity by the end of the story. In the first story, the villain turned out to have changed his last name (and to be related to the character who had been based on TogetherAgain). In the second story, the villain changed his ways and started using his middle name instead of his first name. In the third story, the villain didn't even have a name until the last chapter. In this, the fourth story... there was no villain.

However, the more noticeable change to the readers was the fact that this fourth story was, by far, the longest... Which had a great deal to do with Beauregard, who took a look at some of TogetherAgain's "deleted scenes" from other stories and told her to stop cutting things out! ...So she did, and the story ran for multiple months and thirty-six chapters, instead of the usual twenty-some. And many of the readers claimed this story to be the best. They loved TogetherAgain's portrayal of Kermit's family and home swamp, the heartache, the comedy, the characters... It seemed like no matter what TogetherAgain did, it was greeted with heaps upon heaps of praise. They called "Swamp Call" her magnum opus, and begged her to continue with more stories!

But, during and after this fourth story, things began to change...

 

[The Count]

Hee... "Magnum Opus", now whoever called it that... *Reads on to the end... *Gasp! No! You can't leave us like that! Things began to change? But how? And why? And ishkibbible? And squeeeeeeeee? Lisa, finish this please!
*Cuddles with burnt orange teddy bear and white-scarfed lavender lady bat plushies.

 

[The Count]

*BTW: See that? My 187H-th post, just for you and your vonderful fics.
And since I'm on the subject... What hexactly is the symbolism in your stories that you alue to being connected with the number 17? *Needing some inspiration/confirmation for #17 for my own character creations.

*Leaves muffin for this Toga girl, whoever she is, her and her three minds of a mind of their own.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Oooh, someone's curious!

Well, since you ask...

In Hebrew, every letter also corresponds to a number. The Hebrew word for life, "Chai," ("L'Chaim" meaning "to life") is two letters, Chet and Yud, which correspond to eight and ten, respectively. Add them up, and eighteen is life! Therefore, for a hint of good things, I like to use the number eighteen, or a multiple thereof. For example, in Swamp Call, after the surgery, Jane the Frog's hospital room was 218, because she was going to live. Likewise, the hotel room shared by Pepe, Scooter, Gonzo, Fozzie, Rowlf, Clifford, and Sweetums was number 126: Muppets x Life = 7 x 18 = 126. (Miss Piggy's hotel room was some crazy thing with exponents that somehow related to 18... I had just taken a math test when I figured it out. )

However, when it came to indicating something negative, well... I didn't really know any negative Hebrew numerology. But, similar to the idea of the sting that comes from losing a game by one point, I thought, "What could be worse than being one short of life?" Therefore, the number 17, which is also a prime number. In more recent reflection, I've also realized that- drawing from Judaism again- the 17th of the month Tevet is a day of fasting, when numerous tragedies to the Jewish people have occured over history.

And I started doing all of this long before I even met my roommate the math major, so I can't blame her.

Also, thank you, Ed, and mazel tov, on your post count! <Enjoys muffins and scurries off to work on final paper>

 

[The Count]

Hmmm... 218? Must be Room 18 on the second floor. That probably explains why Swamp Call has 36 chapters, 18 twice is 36, elementary.
*Song reference.

Thanks... And I apologize now for the muffin... Currently, I'm working on my own Counting Characters thread (shameless promotion), where I develop each character on a one by one basis, continuing only as high as I actually wish to go(pushing myself to reach that next goal.
A total of sixteen haunters have been featured so far, and for #17 I'm working on a Sesame like dragon known as the Dragon and the Number 17. Searching for a name, so if you have any suggestions, please LMK.
Also, one of the first haunters is a quiet girl with her three candles' menorah. Although I have a character in mind for #18, I'd be interested to see what could be hexplored in terms of either the Golem scheduled to be state rep for NH and/or the Dibbuck. But I'll call on you should I need your immensely insanely instrumental assistance.
*Hugs this narrative by Fanfiction Queen, She who must not be named, Togariffic, Namer of Names, and Other Half of Halves.
*Hugs Lisa too, just in case she felt left out.

 

[theprawncracker]

(((HUGS))) I must agree that Swamp Call was definitely your best Lisa. Though I think Flippers and HoG could easily surpass it--if they haven't already.

Loving this still! More please!

 

[redBoobergurl]

Yes, Swamp Call was definitely my fave of yours, one I return to read time and time again. Note though that I said was...until you introduced us to Flippersteps. I eagerly await the day we see more of that one as that I think will be your true magnum opus, but that is just my own opinion.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Why I Haven't Posted Anything in Ages: Jerry Juhl

One of the things TogetherAgain always put in her stories then was cameos of people who had a lot to do with the Muppets. Muppeteers would show up as random people on the street, or as paramedics, doctors, bank tellers, restaurant owners... The readers loved it, and TogetherAgain loved writing it. No one ever knew where a familiar face would pop up next. "Swamp Call" would be no exception.

On the busride home from school, in a bright green shiny notebook, TogetherAgain excitedly scribbled out a scene she'd been looking forward to for some time, introducing the latest cameo appearance- Jerry Juhl, the man who had been the headwriter of the Muppets for ages. She dreamed of meeting him someday, but in the meantime, she was writing him as an old friend of Kermit's family... and owner of Juhl's Pizza Place. It was going to be a fantastic scene! Hilarious! Oh, she couldn't wait to finish it and post it and see everyone's reactions! It was great!

As the bus approached her stop, TogetherAgain shoved the notebook into her backpack and pulled herself out of heer seat, eager to get off, to get home, to keep writing!

"So how's your Muppet story going?" her friend asked as they got off the bus. TogetherAgain excitedly tried to summarize about how she was at this great scene, and she and her friend parted ways at the corner with the usual, "See ya!" Then she darted on to her own house and rushed up the stairs to her bedroom. She turned the computer on, made her bed, and hopped onto her ball, bouncing as she eagerly logged onto Muppet Central for a quick look before she got back to writing. It was going to be such a good scene!

Then, scrolling down, she saw it. The thread with the most recent post in the sub-forum "Henson People" was entitled, "Jerry Juhl--RIP"

She stopped bouncing.

She stared at that thread title for a long time before she managed to click on it and read...

Through private messages, she talked to Beauregard about it. Both of them expressed frustration. Why was Muppet Central still so active? Why couldn't the world just pause for a moment? Didn't he deserve that much, at least?

They couldn't make the world pause, but there was something they could do. Each writing seperate scenes, Beauregard, TogetherAgain, and theprawncracker wrote a short story, a tribute to Jerry Juhl.

TogetherAgain wrote the last scene, in Juhl's Pizza Place. The basis of it was that Beauregard, TogetherAgain, and theprawncracker, as Muppet Central's predominant fan fiction authors at that point, re-opened the pizza place, for although Jerry was gone, the Muppets would keep going. Someone would keep writing them.

It was a nice scene. Of course, it felt rather... presumptuous, to TogetherAgain... to think that they could ever replace someone like Jerry Juhl... But that was why it was all three of them...

But this would not be the last time that fan fiction would be a collaborative effort.