Gooose's profile

Potentially at some point; at the moment she's just relieved they're not questioning her too much, and doesn't have enough context to necessarily immediately realize they're going along with anything she says. Once she starts to become more comfortable as Sarah, she may start to get suspicious.

Mostly, with a decent amount of Roger as the new Madeline and a few check-ins with the celebs living as the Gibsons and Karyn. Since those two are the only two being switched into stars with a preexisting relationship, you can imagine they'll be spending more time together than the other three.

The circle only works while they're inside, but Athena's going to try and figure out something portable they can take with them. It means they'll remember the original Zelda and how things were before any other changes Esme makes this particular night, but they'll still be vulnerable when they go back to school the next day.

That's a big theme of this branch, that Stephanie, now Esme, becomes corrupted by the power she has. Going from powerless to all powerful has given her a serious head trip. She doesn't think things through, she projects her own desires on to others, she's petty, and she's getting increasingly addicted to the power in her hand.

I have a few ideas but I could never settle on who to have Sarah and Karyn become. Played with the idea of Sarah ending up in a Biff/Steve type but discovering the jock archetype doesn't automatically equate to popularity in Japan, and being more of a delinquent instead and lower down on the social hierarchy. Also considered making her into a hard core otaku. Not really sure at all who to have Karyn be.

Really enjoying this branch, and curious if the wisher will turn out to be an established character or someone new to the proceedings. I noticed Stephanie isn't actually among the transformed goth's in the hall, so I'm curious if we'll see her be a part of things, even if she's not the wisher herself. As an aside, I was a little surprised Kyla was onboard to help Athena and Zoe, considering she seems to like her Swim life better than her Geek one. Looking forward to more.

That's certainly a possibility. She still thinks she wants to tell her eventually, and share the stone again, but she's getting deeper and deeper and has no firm plan of when to ever do that.

So, Jon is definitely being influenced on some level just by the sensations and feeling of her new body, and the wish to be able to access muscle memory is influencing that, it's not going to change her orientation. She's still attracted to girls, though there might be a few bumps along the road as she syncs up more with her new body. For that matter, Sarah still likes boys, and he's going to go through a similar process, the main difference is their willingness to embrace their new forms.

The other thing influencing them is Karyn's wish that they'd follow her advice on things relating to the swap; they're going to be unconciously compelled to follow her commands like we saw here with the instruction to lean into Sarah's mannerisms.

Karyn is definitely tumbling down a slippery slope in pursuit of her fantasy in this branch, and she's going to continue to do so. Things are going to snowball on her.

Confusion about rude Jon, about Howard being there, or about the egg thing?

Yeah, he'll be able to choose his swap as it happens. I wrote it that way so if another writer wants to change who Jon switches with, it's easier to split off.

Oh, there were definitely other options to what she did, and she's certainly being selfish with the course she's gone with. Down the line she may indeed have to reckon with her choice here, and subsequent choices she's going to make. The stone is essentially absolute power, and we all know what that does.

So, you're right that some of it is contrived for the transformation story, but her rationalization here is that she's trying, at least at first, to avoid altering people's minds as much as possible. She could also have just wished Sarah to be a nicer person who was interested in her, and wished Jon's unrequited feelings for her away, but she didn't. Morally speaking she's on a bit of a slippery slope regardless, but she's trying to rationalize and justify what she's done.

I like your split! I wonder if there are new nerds now to fill their old niche, perhaps the former swim team? I'm also curious to see if you're wisher will end up being the same person as who it is in my branch. Nice work!

I'll say the stone holder is doing a mixture of experimentation, getting a full handle on what the stone can do and how to use it, and setting up their larger plan. Minor spoilers: In this case the wish was less about making things better for Lily, and more about making things better for Jenni, giving her a devoted, loyal and longstanding partner instead of Benji, who she'd naturally ended up with based solely on the previous wishes.

Madison as Linda's maiden name is somewhat common, though I've also seen Webster used at least twice. My split of the On the Set Branch had Jon Gibson's actress's name be Madison "Maddie" Merlin as a nod to the other common names.

Added a few chapters

That element might be part of why Linda and Jon are more on board with being Susan and Sarah/why Jon is insistent about continuing the McMillan's lifestyle. That is to say, they're being influenced not to be borish versions of Sarah and Susan.

It's an interesting question. I think if you asked her, she'd say her name is Mackenzie, full stop, while the production staff is continuing to call her Program J and Zoe/Cici would probably call her Jon if she knew all the facts. They might give her a new designation down the line eventually, and Jam is a funny nickname if nothing else.

Interested to see where this goes!

Glad the sister relationship came across well; I wanted the Black family and the McMillan family to really contrast one another here and help explain some of the differences between Sarah and Karyn in the process. Expanding on the idea that's present in several branches of Sarah being a latch key sort of kid, both of her parents are pretty absent/disinterested in her life. Before there friendship dissolved, Sarah spent a lot of time with the Black family and losing that has been really rough for her in addition to the direct conflict with Karyn. (Alyssa, Bethany and Kimberly don't have a grudge against Sarah like Karyn does, and would probably still welcome her into their house, but it's just too awkward with her current antagonism with Karyn for Sarah to approach them)

I have her in one other branch, that's only 2 chapters long, though in that she's three years older than Karyn instead of only one.

So, the exact wish or wishes won't be revealed right away, but the reason Zoe remembers the old world, is she technically heard Jon wishing through the wall. She couldn't make out the words, so she hasn't made the connection, but it triggered the bit of the magic from the root branch where if you hear the wish you know reality's been changed, but everyone else thinks things have always been this way.

Ugh, kinda wish I didn't give Alyssa the same name I give Karyn's mom in most of my branches. It's just going to keep confusing me.

Much like a certain Djinn in another branch, your wish is my command, or at least my strong suggestion.

Basic idea is the wish sent Jon's mind back in time to the moment of Karyn's birth, and he's lived as the new Karyn, creating a different timeline. The original Karyn was shunted into the life of Alternate Jon at the moment the new timeline caught up to when she made the wish.

Thanks, it's been a fun one to write so far.

The intention is that the spark of Karyn and Sarah's big fight was some kind of engineered sitcom misunderstanding, with both of them feeling like the other turned on them.

An interesting notion, but I do have the Gibson family written off as moving to Greece. That said, the programs that played Zoe, Mikey, and Linda might be similarly repurposed like Jon was into Mackenzie.

No, they won't become clones, but most of them will get good enough to pass as who they're supposed to be. In either case the physical stuff is the easiest to learn. Larry will be a fair bit sweeter than Sarah, since he has very recent memories of being on the bottom of the totem pole. Jay's probably going to be less of a bully than Mike was etc. The first two weeks is all about getting them up to speed with their new bodies and lives, learning to act like who they appear to be, but as time goes on they'll be encouraged to make their lives their own within reason.

Some participants are going to throw themselves more into their roles than other. Jon in particular is really leaning into his impersonation, and going to get immersed in the role, while someone like Ms. Wong is going to do the bare minimum for the class requirements.

That's the plan, Guest! I think some programmers, particularly those who aren't working on the Mackenzie side of things will be more wary of pushing the two together again, but perhaps seeing the benefits once Mackenzie gets to strut her stuff a little bit

Plan is for a higher up in the program to tell them that it's unsafe to swap while pregnant, so Jon will end up swapped longer than the rest of the class.

I like the addition of cutting together a traditional 2d version of the show.

Funnily enough I had considered going Latina but ended up veering for Korean/Australian instead. Interesting variation.

Hmm, I've got a rough idea for Jon's new role, but it could be compatible with being Karyn's sister, something to consider.

Yeah, I'm going with the idea that she's more malleable early on due to the massive changes to her brain chemistry, and eventually she'll shift back towards a more in control equilibrium. Lily may also discover that empathy goes both ways once Rose begins to stand up for herself a little more.

Decided to play with the psychological effects of the Syndrome, particularly the deep connection and empathy between the two new twins. At the moment, because she was prepared for the change and Rose wasn't, Lily is exerting far more influence on her new sister and that's affecting how she reacts to her rapidly changing circumstances.

Current rough plan is to have Jon be somewhat forcibly taken into the Vanderfield family. She can still visit the Gibsons from time to time, but she'll BE a Vanderfield with all that entails. Of course, the beauty of a branching story is others can make a path going in another direction.

I added another chapter; I have a few vague ideas where this can go. Tentatively planning to have Rose Vanderfield be Jon's new name, to match her sister's flower theme.

I'm curious if Sarah is going to move in with the Gibsons or if Jon is going to move in with the McMillans, considering they'll need to be close most of the time. Either way, rather interesting stuff!

Looking forward to it, I'd also be interested in seeing the original Sarah's reaction to the game world later on, perhaps having been put into another role when she tried to enter it. Just an idle thought.

Glad you're liking it!

Oh, I didn't take any offense, sorry, tone is a little hard to convey via text. I was just attempting to explain some of the thinking that went into this branch; I enjoy exploring the impersonation angle. I've also obviously enjoyed your additions as I've borrowed a few of your characters here and there :)

Some of that will be addressed in the next chapter to a degree. Part of it comes down to the fact that they're exchanging minds not physical brains, so whoever is in Leonard's body will become as smart as he was, if not as knowledgeable. It's a sort of software vs hardware kind of thing and it will extend a bit to muscle memory and so on as well. You're right that this class isn't something that would normally exist, even if the technology for it to happen did, it's purely a result of the stone that people are broadly okay with that. I tried to get that across with Jon, who wasn't mentally affected by the wish, being the one to be the most confused/put off by the whole concept initially.

I suppose some of this comes down to a difference of preference; I prefer a body swap to a transformation personally, particularly if the exchange is uneven in some way. It's interesting to explore a complete swapping of identities both physically and socially. I agree that this can lead to some situations that no real person should have to go through, but these are fictional characters. Hopefully you can still find some enjoyment, and if not, I have contributed to other branches that may be more up your alley.

Intentionally left who's in this class a little vague, to give writers open room to branch off from here in different directions.

Really enjoying this path, very fun writing.

That's actually roughly my plan for what to do with Mikey, Roger underwent his own drastic change.

Voting for the #GirlBoss if you decide to continue this.

Nah, he was mentioned in chapter five, but he has changed. The implication is that he's biologically the son of Serena now, while Zoe and Juliet were borne by Linda. He hasn't changed much personality wise, just looks a bit different.

Heh, I may just do that, thank you

I love how you depict the ripple effects of what happened with Linda and Juniper spilling over to change Zoe even before she gets hit with her own reversal.

Changed Zoe's twin's name to Juliet to be a bit more distinct from the other branches where I've used Jasmine for the transformed Jon's name.

Thanks, hopefully you enjoy where it goes. I had a solid plan for what to do with Jon and Mikey, but was much more up in the air on the others, especially Roger. Hopefully what I ended up going with will be interesting!

For story purposes Lakeview Academy offers like a dozen different language courses.

Decided to have a brief flashback to what else was going on during Jasmine's first night as a Djinn. As we see, while the girl's had their sleepover, the elder Galenos women had some fun of their own, whilst a few dark clouds gather on the horizon

My favorite part of this story might be coming up with different exclamations for the different magical creatures. Bark on a Tree! for Dryads, Shards and Shells! for Dragons (From Eggs), By My Mothers' Magic! for Djinn, that sort of thing.

Decided to keep this mostly focused on the new Fiona's POV, but I might hop back for a chapter to establish what's going on with the other four briefly.

This could alternatively be titled, Three magical girls accidentally end up in a romantic comedy.

This is a branch where I have some fun ideas that are all fairly far into the story, so I feel like I'm having to get through a lot of set up to get there. Debating employing a few timeskips, or focusing exclusively on Jon's POV to get there quicker.

Djinn allow for romantic partners of any sort, including more than one, which is helped by their alternative magical reproductive system. Later in life, Jasmine could literally blend her magical essence with both Sarah and Karyn, creating a child from all three mothers. Older Djinn are also quite proficient with minor perception altering magic, allowing her to potentially make people not think it odd that she's married to two women if they one day get married. That's actually something Djinn have done historically to make them working in masculine fields or being married to women seem unremarkable. So it won't be a problem as far as Jasmine's family is concerned, have yet to decide about Dryads and Dragons, but probably all three races will be cool with polygamy. I'm thinking for Dragonnewts it's much more of a class thing, IE are any potential suitors sufficiently wealthy to be a good match.

Decided to go with a version of the idea suggested by Lucus Rose on the last chapter, with the added wrinkle that Karyn and Sarah are both magical but don't know Jasmine is and vice versa. We'll see Sarah's POV next, but suffice to say she's also quite into Jasmine, just a good deal more Tsundere about it. Eventually all three girls will end up as a polycule. Might go back and do a branch with the original idea of human Karyn and Kitsune Yuki somewhere down the line.

Go for it Sage, I tried to make the initial branch of this a good jumping off point to turn Jon into a variety of magical creatures. Going the multi-route with Karyn and Sarah could definitely be neat, but at this point I'm leaning towards Yuki and Jasmine getting together. That said, Jasmine being the oblivious Archie to Karyn and Sarah's Betty and Veronica is a fun idea.

Hmm, I am seriously considering having Athena be an actual witch in this branch since we've established magic being a thing beyond the stone already. I'm unsure if she'll be Zoe's best friend in this reality; that is to say, I don't know if being a Djinn, having a second mother and big sister, not having Roger in her life, etc. would alter Zoe enough that she's not a goth in the first place. I'm also playing with the idea of at least one Lakeview student also secretly being a magical creature of some kind, although not a djinn, lots to think about

Any opinions on a pairing for Jasmine in this branch? I feel like Karyn is the obvious answer, and I'm not opposed to going in that direction, but I'm also open to other options. Jasmine's new nature could easily have a knock on effect of changing her relationships with various people.

Hehe, may have gone a bit nuts with it in this branch, but hopefully people found it fun.

Fair enough, I'll add that in the next chapter as she gets a better look at herself. That chapter had a planned description of the genie version of Linda too, so that's easy enough to add in. Jon will also have a human passing form without the blue skin.

Ugh, sometimes I feel my reach exceeds my grasp with this branch, doing five simultaneous swaps. Mostly I've been bouncing between the Alyssa/Jon stuff and the other four, but to a degree I kinda wish I'd done this branch as just those two swapping.

Current plan is for Jon to switch with Fiona, Leonard with Elaina, Karyn with Mr. McMillan, Kyla with Susan and Lily with Stu.

No other students, so basically any adult in Lakeview. Hopefully a few different types of people.

I have a few ideas already, but I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions for who to pair with the students.

Thanks, I thought it was a fun premise!

Yeah, I thought that was a lot of fun to play with. I was thinking it could be interesting to explore the actors who play Tiffany, Biff, Steve, Jons Mom, etc, and how different they are from their characters. I'm thinking Shannon was a child star who is used to being the center of attention and was planning for the show to be her break into serious adult acting, but Madison was hugely popular in the first season, getting movie offers etc, so there's tension there.

For this branch, I'm toying with the idea of Jon eventually figuring out that the wish swapped him across realities with the real Madison Merlin, who thinks she's become trapped in the show she acts in. Whether he'll still want to go back by that point is up in the air, especially since his old reality will have altered to match the ongoing plot of the show.

I'd be interested to see that! The whole premise sparked a lot of ideas for me. Planning to have Madison be the break out star who's in conflict with the more established star, Shannon who plays Karyn. Jon's going to have to struggle with Sarah suddenly being a supportive worried girlfriend, and Karyn suddenly hating his guts, his original body being a one episode gimmick, and an entire life outside the show he's a complete stranger to.

So, the plan is for the episode they were filming to be the premiere of the second season of the show. In the plot of the show, Madison's regular character Jennifer has wished herself into Jon in this episode, which is why she was wearing all the makeup and clothes to make her look like a boy. Planning to have the show be a teen dramedy sort of CW adjacent. No clue if people still say Starlet, but the man she ran into, a producer on the show, was an older gentleman with perhaps a few antiquated phrases in his repertoire.

Yeah maybe, I realized this concept resulted in a chapter that was rather front loaded. The general idea was to have Jon slowly become something of a Ms. Fine type figure, but with a very particular agenda. The trouble with maintaining narrative tension when Jon has a clear goal, is that the stone makes things a bit too easy if he's not hugly dumb with it. I think that's why the Something Interesting branch is so popular, it neatly keeps him from over-utilizing the stone.

This seems to be quite an interesting route. Is this standard possession or something else?

The more wild changes are mostly listed for humor/to leave room for others to go in different directions. The planned path I have is for this season to get the rare triple exchange where all six contestants are paired up in some way, with the first two being a classic body swap. I'm thinking of having Sabrina and Biff exchange social groups, basically Biff becoming a goth and Sabrina becoming a jock. For Leonard and Sarah it might be something like a transformation that necessitates them working together in some way, like turning them into siblings or something.

Looking forward to how you handle the other exchanges. I'm also curious to see if the temporary Gibson family will be able to recognize that the other members are also people who's identities were taken by Jon's family.

I like this take with the more drastic transformations to accommodate their acting. I'm curious to see what Leonard thinks of becoming Linda and particularly interested in Jon gaining the physicality of an Olympian while she loses it. Good stuff!

I like your take on the switch! I'm interested to see where you go with this.

Thank you so much User 616, now to go modify episodes.

Still having trouble getting images to embed.

Hmm, I tried putting it parenthesis as the formatting directed but it's still showing up as just text for me. What error am I making?

Not sure if there's a better way to embed an image.

Thanks! I have a few ideas where to take this, might need to split it into two branches to do it though.

Really enjoying this branch, hope you continue with it. I'm curious about how these changes are rippling out to the rest of the world. For example, since reality has altered for Cat to have an expensive car and wardrobe, is her family wealthier in general now? Where does she stand in the social hierarchy at school, what's her relationship to Sarah, Karen and other characters? Does she take different classes than Jon, or perhaps involve herself in different activities like Cheerleading, Dance, or theater? Maybe Gary will decide to give her some extracurriculars that match his ideal image.Does Cat now know people that Jon didn't etc? In any event, enjoying the story, please keep it up.