The More Things Change

*Simon and Garfunkel plays ominously in the background*

The More Things Change is a fanfic written by Two-Eyed Charlie, who would've picked a different name had he known four or five other stories already had this title.

Everyone is perfectly happy in it and there's absolutely no conflict to speak of.

Origins

The story started with an Iron Chef challenge by Roentgen to use the "new-canon" from Catching Up With The Daria Gang and turn it into a story, using all of the characters from the image and the career/life descriptions given to them. Two-Eyed Charlie gave it a whirl, making Daria the 1st-person POV character for the duration (minus one somewhat postmodern interlude chapter) and setting out to finish a routine, low-key short story.

The first two chapters managed to be longer than a regular short story, and only three of the characters had been introduced--it was too late to turn back, and the author could only watch in horror as the word count climbed to 90,000 and beyond.

Plot Summary

In the immortal words of Paul Simon: "Hell no, I can't complain about my problems; I'm OK the way things are."

Characters

All the characters from the anniversary article by Karen Disher and Susie Lewis appear, and a few that aren't are at least mentioned. A gaggle of original characters also make an appearance, but you should approach them with caution.

Canon Characters

Daria Morgendorffer: The lone female writer on the late-night talk show, "Later Tonight with David Wollgreen." Having achieved her life-long goal of being a professional writer in New York, she's completely and utterly miserable to the point where she hasn't written a short story in years and barely even sticks at her job for the money anymore. The fact that she figured she'd finally get a little happiness back-pay and, yet, here she is, has silently devastated her, but her socially conscious mind beats herself up every time she gets overtly self-pitying. This has put a strain on her relationships with family and friends and she knows it, but Daria is genuinely unsure of what she's supposed to do when everyone expected her and Jane to be at the top of the world.

Jane Lane: Daria's best friend (still) and artist who is mostly stuck doing commercial work in order to pay the bills, leaving her in an "Art Burn" situation that, this time, she can't simply walk out of. She's no happier than Daria about her current situation but is mostly concerned about her friend, who seems to be taking it harder than anyone else. Focusing on Daria serves as a nice distraction from her own problems, but that may not be for the best either.

Trent Lane: Still in touch with Daria and Jane (being in the same city and all), but he spends 98% of his time keeping bar at "Harold and Peters," to the detriment of any song-writing time. He mostly tries to keep Daria and Jane's spirits up without letting them ruin their livers, but he's also not in a great spot himself: Trent Lane, former fearless performer, has even begun to admit that his lyrics are stupid.

Quinn Morgendorffer: The successful host of the Youtube show "S'mores and Pores" and the successful mother of three children. At least on the surface of things, she seems completely happy, not to mention loaded with self-respect and money. Her turning up in New York to visit her sister causes a couple of plot points, if you'd believe it.

Helen and Jake Morgendorffer: Daria's parents, who managed to survive middle-age and make it to their twilight years. They desperately want Daria to come travel with them at some point, and spend a fair amount of time worrying about their clearly distraught eldest daughter.

Kevin and Brittany Thompson-Taylor: Yep, even they manage to be in New York along with everyone else--convenient, huh? They're about as happily married as they were in High School and they have more kids to look after than an orphanage. Their presence causes something of a disruption, if you can believe it.

Jodie Landon: The youngest member of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means, and possibly a presidential candidate sometime in the future. She appears in a hallucination. No, seriously.

Other canon characters mentioned: Tom, Mr. DeMartino (didn't turn out well for him), Mr. O'Neill (ditto), Ms. Barch (also ditto but possibly for the greater good?), Ms. Bennett (same as O'Neill and DeMartino), Ms. Defoe (sensing a pattern?), and Ms. Li, who is fine.

Original Characters

Huey Haynes: Jane's husband and an archeologist. He's considered "spontaneous" (having painted Daria's pet cat pink once upon a time), but is also very devoted. He's worried about both his wife and her best friend.

Teddy Morgendorffer: Of Quinn's triplets, he's the most like Daria. Visibly delights being around her and scrounging books from her bookshelves.

David Wollgreen: Daria's boss and host of his eponymous show. Described by her as "sounding like Phil Hartman crossed with a ball of greese."

Fred Michaels: Disgruntled comic book writer who spends most of his time in Hell's Kitchen, ranting about liberals, Muslims, and the "youths".

2017 Daria Fanwork Awards

A cause for celebration! -review of a different thing entirely

The story was nominated for Favorite Drama and Favorite Overall. The author also submitted a copy to the New York Times, however the only response he got back was a dead raccoon and a void subscription, so clearly the "low/high' culture barrier still exists.

Trivia

• Every place in the city that doesn't actually exist is named after Daria staffmembers. I think that comes out to a total of three though, so it's not that impressive.
• The author read and re-read What I Think About Valentine's Day in order to copy what he figured Daria's writing style would most likely be. Might as well consult the original brain behind it, right?
• Trying to get Phil Hartman-style inflections across on paper is as easy as defusing a nuke with your toes.
• This is the only novel-length work the author has ever finished, and likely will remain that way for the conceivable future.

Link

https://archiveofourown.org/works/35421790/chapters/88292764/The-More-Things-Change