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Post by Dallas on Jan 15, 2017 10:50:58 GMT -5
As you all know, 2017 is the 15th Anniversary of ODaaT. Last week on Twitter I took a picture of the first week that I ever wrote ODaaT, in January of 1995 when I was 12. I wrote, back then, in the Soap Opera Digest synopsis format; this carried on for many years until I decided to bring ODaaT to the web in 2002. The online version is heavily based on my original writings, with a few tweaks here and there. I thought it would be fun to have a blog about all of the images I'll share with you this year. I've reloaded the first image from last week's twitter. The second week of writing I'll share with you was a pretty big week for both the original writing & the online version of the series; when Natasha drove her car off the bridge and was presumed dead. I think this happened around episode 13 or 14 online. This part of the story really changed the Robin/Cory/Natasha/Shane story line in both versions of the series because before Natasha's "Death", she and Cory were "the" couple of the show, and Shane didn't have much purpose. Once Natasha came back, Shane fell in love with her and Cory had married Robin, so it was a very soapy situation that had great legs for the series. I've made no secret that throughout ODaaT's history, I've used real-life soap operas as influence when I write. I'll watch something (Or back in the day just read about something in SOD because I didn't watch all the soaps - at the time there was 10 or 11!) and think "I have to do that". The car going over the bridge, was really inspired by Guiding Lights Reva, when she was presumed dead in Florida. Anyways - I hope you enjoy these images ... I'm so glad my penmanship improved over the years! D
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Post by Dallas on Jan 22, 2017 9:57:53 GMT -5
Another week - another new 15th anniversary blog post. This week, I'll talk about something in one of the first week's of my original writings and that is Kim's rape. At the time, this happened ODaaT's 4th week; the storyline did happen in the online version as well (episode 4 "The Ultimate Violation"). As everyone knows, I have always been inspired by the real life soap's and what they were doing. When I first came up with this idea, my main train of thought was "so many soaps have couples that started in rape and are huge now". Think of Jake from Another World and, probably the biggest of all time, Luke and Laura from General Hospital. Both online and in my original writings, however, I realized that Jackson, the man who raped Kim, could never be redeemed. I'm not sure how or why soap writers got away with this in reality, because once a character forces himself on a woman, it is over for that character. On the online version of ODaaT, I tried to create a back story to create sympathy for Jackson, but even I didn't like it. When I brought ODaaT back from in 2009, one of the things I quickly decided to do was kill Jackson because he wasn't going anywhere or going to be redeemed. I thought this would be an interesting topic of discussion because the last couple years in the web-series world, the topic of rape has been rather controversial. I think every soap has had at least one rape storyline and some are told better than others. (The best one I can remember was how GH handled Elizabeth's rape; the worst two that I've seen are Ciara on Days of Our Lives and Avery on Young & Restless). These stories are important to tell, IMO, because rape does happen on a regular basis. It is for dramatic purposes, of course, but there's usually an underlying message behind them. Another reason I wanted to mention this is because where I am in my writing of ODaaT, I have another rape coming up that I have to write. I haven't wanted to touch the topic again, because IMO I really didn't do Kim's storyline justice. I'm going to do my best to do a better job with the new storyline (it will air 2018) and hopefully it doesn't create the out lash that some of my peers received; none of us write to offend or upset anyone. This is a topic that gets written about; it's just a matter of trying to do it in a respectful, proper manner. I'm excited for the challenge of doing that in my up coming storyline. I've attached the picture of my original writing from 1995! Until next time - Dallas
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Post by Dallas on Jan 29, 2017 10:33:01 GMT -5
Another installment of the 15th anniversary blog ... Today, I'll discuss the character's of Daisy, Danielle, Trenyce, & Chris. In the original series, Daisy & Chris were married. Just like the online version, Daisy ran to be the mayor of Twin Peaks, but the day of the election, she was kidnapped by her twin sister, Danielle. Danielle took over her life until Daisy was saved, only Chris wouldn't/couldn't keep his hands off Danielle. I brought that story to the online series as well - I believe Daisy disappeared in episode 21 or so. Back in my original writings, once Daisy was freed and the truth about Chris sleeping with Danielle came out, I wrote the characters of Daisy and Chris off the series. I just couldn't figure out what to do with them. I think another key aspect of my thinking was that, the African American casts (other than Y&R) never really had front burner storylines. For years, Abe & Lexie were back burnered on Days; it wasn't until they made Lexie "evil" with Hope's baby that they were really involved in a front burner story, for the first time. When I brought ODaaT online, I didn't want to write Chris/Daisy off the series once this storyline wrapped up. I thought it was important to tell the Daisy/Danielle storyline, but I knew that there had to be more to these characters than just one storyline. Why tell the storyline in the first place, if they were just going to leave the series after? That's when I decided to create a new character, who wasn't in my original writings, in Trenyce. She was the bridge between Daisy and Danielle, but also a character that I could have a lot of fun with. Her first storyline on the online version, was trying to avenge her mother's death by seducing Chris and getting pregnant. Family dysfunction at it's very best! It's amazing how one decision (like bringing on Trenyce) can really change the dynamic of the series; I can't imagine ODaaT without her now, nor can I imagine it with Daisy. Daisy, in my mind, is one of the strongest, most stable women on the show. It's nice to have that when there is usually a lot of drama surrounding all the characters. And Trenyce, well, she was the wild child that has matured, but she still has that feisty side that is fun! What have been your favorite moments with Trenyce, Daisy and Chris? Sound off! Until next time, Dallas
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Post by Dallas on Feb 5, 2017 11:34:56 GMT -5
Hey guys - no new episode today (February Sweeps daily episodes start TOMORROW!), but I will do my weekly 15th anniversary blog post today. When I started writing, back in 1995, soaps still had, on occasion, the odd Primetime special. Basically, an hour of soap in the night time. Usually, the production values were higher and the story lines moved a faster pace to compete with the prime time shows out there. At least, this is what my fantasy memory of them tells me. The two I remember the most, were Days of Our Lives "Winter Heat", which came out, I think, 1994ish. The other one I remember was the Young & the Restless prime time episode where Victor was shot, but we didn't know who shot him. The next program on CBS was the Daytime Emmy's that Eric Braeden and Melody Thomas Scott hosted (back then the networks were so clever...Victor shot in a cliff hanger prime time episode; followed by the man playing Victor hosting the biggest daytime award shot...amazing). I think this was in 1995. Maybe 1996. Anyways, I loved the idea of having a big, splashy, prime time episode for ODaaT, because I always wrote it like a daytime show. So, in 1996, I wrote ODaaT's first "prime time special". It featured the wedding of Natasha & Cory, only Robin was still obsessed with Cory and she started the church on fire while the ceremony was taking place! Now, when I brought the series online, I did have this story play out, only dramatically different. I couldn't have Robin actually start the church on fire because she would be caught, and the character would be ruined, sort of. Instead, the online wedding had Victoria, who was suffering from multi-personalities, try to kill Robbie by tampering with the chandelier; it fell and hit Natasha, who then was in a coma for 6 weeks. This happened in episode 59; at the time, it was a season finale for ODaaT. I've since stopped doing "seasons" because it's like a daytime show, so its based on years now. Anyways, as I was flipping through the original ODaaT binder, wondering what week I would show you all next, I saw the prime time episode and thought it would be fun to revisit that. If only daytime could go back to some if it's roots and try these things to get more of an audience; I think, especially Y&R and B&B would have a some what successful chance because their production values are still the best in daytime (with 4 shows, it's not difficult though). Anyways - until next time, enjoy! dzk-w
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Post by Michael on Feb 7, 2017 18:57:51 GMT -5
I just saw this thread and got caught up! What a cool idea for the anniversary year. I love these peeks behind-the-scenes and knowing how things evolved between your original version what you put online. I love doing this stuff with Footprints, so it's really fun to see another writer's take on it. It's also interesting how early in the series so many pivotal events happened! Can't wait to keep reading these.
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Post by Dallas on Feb 19, 2017 13:37:10 GMT -5
I just saw this thread and got caught up! What a cool idea for the anniversary year. I love these peeks behind-the-scenes and knowing how things evolved between your original version what you put online. I love doing this stuff with Footprints, so it's really fun to see another writer's take on it. It's also interesting how early in the series so many pivotal events happened! Can't wait to keep reading these. Thanks, Michael! It's neat going back to see my original writings and how things are the same but also different. I'll try to post one a week of these!
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Post by Dallas on Feb 26, 2017 10:32:16 GMT -5
This week's post will be about one of my all time favorite characters on the series: Cassie Nova. Cassie was not on the series when I first started writing the series in 1995, but I soon realized that I needed a super bitch on the series. Keeping in mind that during the early goings of ODaaT, Kristen became this amazing villain on Days and Sheila was either on Bold and Beautiful or Y&R creating havoc. I also always really loved Vivian on Days, so she inspired me too for creating evil characters. Patrick and I are also really big tennis buffs. Growing up, we had a Sega Genius. I remember one weekend, my Mom rented us a new tennis game for the Sega. In the game, there were 4 female characters and 4 male characters that you could select to play as. One of the girls first name was Cassie. And one of the male last names was Nova. I put those names together to get my new character's name. During my original writings, Cassie came on to open her restaurant (which also happened in the online series), however she first tried to seduce Cory. The online version, she only went after Shane, which is the story that ended up happening in the original series as well. In the original series, Cassie got pregnant by Shane which resulted in him and Natasha breaking up. Cassie, however, miscarried but hired a pregnant look alike to give her the baby (the storyline was very inspired by Kristen-Susan on Days). The truth eventually came out, and Cassie ended up being stabbed in a "who stabbed Cassie" storyline. Online, the story played closely similar but I had to change it because I didn't want to have another look alike storyline. So, I had it that she miscarried but that she stole Dawn from Adam and Helen, and she told Helen that her baby was dead. It was still very dramatic and soapy. Then, I loved the twist of Cassie taking over Helen's life a little later after the truth had come out. It is still one of my favorite twists that I've ever done during the online version, because I thought I planned it out so well. She is still one of my most favorite characters to write for because, when you're so crazy, you can do and get away with anything. Those are the kind of situations/characters that make writing so much fun! Currently, Cassie is off the series ... but this is the anniversary season ... you never know when she'll come back in to town
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Post by Dallas on Mar 5, 2017 10:22:36 GMT -5
This week's blog post is about a twist that I was really proud of when I first wrote it: Vinny's triplet story line. Every soap has had, at least, one "evil twin" story occur. When I first began writing ODaaT back in 1995, Vinny was going to have a twin (I also had Daisy/Danielle but in the original series, they were very short-lived characters). Vinny's twin was going to be the person who shot Victoria in the opening scene of the series. As time went on, however, I wanted to do something that was more extreme, so I came up with the idea of triplets, because it wasn't as common. (What's interesting about this is that, I wrote the triplet story line on ODaaT and about 6 months later, Days had Eileen Davidson play all the characters at once - Kristen, Susan, the Nun, Thomas, ... I think there was one other, so I felt very ahead of my time haha). The story line in the original really lasted a long time as well, because, now I was dealing with 3 characters vs. 2. Dave and Brett were our creating chaos while Vinny was being held captive. In the online series, it did happen in a similar fashion. Vinny was being held against his will while his brother's ran his life. In both versions, Meggan learned the truth and she was held against her will with Vinny. In both versions, one of the evil brother's gave Meggan alcohol (as she was in recovery) making her fall off the wagon. I love how twisted that plot point is! It is kind of sick giving someone with a disease their vice. In the original writings, both Dave and Brett were killed off. But online, Dave was killed (Robbie shot him) and Brett is in jail. I kept Brett alive, just in case I ever wanted to revisit this story line. I feel like the online series has had a lot of twin story line's, so I have no plans to bring him back. However, one of the online story's that did come from keeping Brett around, that was not in the original series, was Trenyce/Savannah and the baby switch of Andrew. Once that truth came out, having various characters visit Brett in jail was a lot of fun, just to bring him back on for a short amount of time. Like I said, I have no plans to bring him back, but keeping him in jail, means that one day, I always could do that. It could be fun to create havoc again if Vinny/Daisy ever need a story line! I hope you guys liked that twist when it happened - it was one of the ideas that I knew I had to bring to the online version of ODaaT! Until next week - dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Mar 12, 2017 9:58:34 GMT -5
In this week's post, I'll go over a story line that was in both my original writings but also was in the online version of ODaaT, however there were major differences in the story lines and how they unfolded. When I first created ODaaT, I really didn't have a lot of big families on the series. I always had the Calimo's and the Robertson's, but that is about all that I had for families. Everyone else was just an isolated island. This is because, while I was very inspired by daytime shows, I was also inspired by primetime soaps. Mostly, at the time, Melrose Place. On a series like Melrose, there was very little family ties between the major characters (other than Jane & Sydney, who were sisters). Having a series like this, however, gives the writer the ability to put any of the two major characters together in a romantic setting. So, on ODaaT, I thought "anyone could sleep with anyone", and there could be drama. After Robbie and Leah's wedding (which was a 4 or 5 part mini series in the online series", she cheated on him and got pregnant and there was a "who is the Daddy?" story line. In the online version, by the time they got married, Leah's ex Jeff was already on the series and he still had feelings for her. So, it made sense that she would end up in bed with Jeff and would not know who the Daddy is between Jeff & Robbie. That story line, in someways, is still playing out today because Paige is now aged and she is struggling with having two Dad's and no Mom. However, in the original series, Leah actually slept with ... CORY! The who is the Daddy story line played out between Cory and Robbie, and Victoria (who was in love with Robbie in the original series) changed the paternity results to show that Cory was the Dad, not Robbie, but Robbie actually was the father of Paige. Funny, how it is so similar but the same! Of course, online Paige is Jeff's daughter, not Robbie, and Leah and Cory don't really share many scenes together. (Really, I actually did think about putting Cory/Leah together for this story line, but it really didn't make sense at the time because Cory was involved with Robin and Natasha; Leah had Robbie and Jeff, why would they turn to each other? It seemed like a very big stretch). With Leah dead now, it doesn't seem like I'll ever get the chance to potentially explore the idea of Cory and Leah and what that would look like online. But, it is a soap opera, I guess you never know! Until next week - dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Mar 19, 2017 8:57:47 GMT -5
Another week, another blast from the past! This week's post is about one of my all-time favorite twists I've ever done on the series, both in my original writings and the online version: Cassie's car bomb meant for Natasha kills Sofia. Let me start at the beginning. I've said before that I have been very influenced by real story lines that occurred on the daytime drama's (one of the above posts references Reva's car driving over the bridge on GL as my inspiration for Natasha's car driving off the bridge and being presumed dead in my first year of writing), and this event was no different. I've never been the biggest General Hospital fan, I'll be the first to admit. I tried watching the series when it Soap Digest was giving it all sort of praise in the mid-to-late 90's, when Claire Labine was writing the show. I've just always found it so dark. That's just my opinion, though. Anyways, I only continued to watch on Thursday's and Friday's ... and one Friday, there was an episode where Sonny's new wife went to her car. She stopped and waved to him. The scenes were all in slow motion, of course. She opened the car door and the car exploded. Sonny's wife was dead. At the same time, Brenda (Sonny's true love at the time) was marrying Jasper Jax. Anyways, I LOVED the twist of killing someone in that fashion because it was just shocking to me. (Keeping in mind I wasn't watching daily, I have no idea if the audience knew days in advance that someone put a bomb in Sonny's car or not). So, I knew I wanted something like to this to happen on ODaaT. In both versions of ODaaT, Cassie had been close to getting caught by Sofia for her schemes to keep Shane and Natasha apart. She had planned to kill Natasha, however, because she didn't know that Sofia was on her case, per se. In my original writings, the car bomb went off at a lavish party at the Calimo mansion. Bob, Natasha and Robbie were all devastated that Sofia was killed and Cassie got away with it for a while longer. On the online version, Cassie tried to kill Natasha. Sofia, instead, went to Natasha's car and the bomb exploded. This all happened at a New Year's Eve party at the Calimo mansion. Cassie was still busted shortly after on the online series, but the impact was already felt with Sofia dying. It is one of my favorite twists because in both the original series and the online series, I hadn't really killed any major characters until Sofia. And, Sofia was a pretty big character to kill because she was the mother of the leading family on the series. However, killing her actually opened up a lot more story for Bob, Natasha and Robbie. For example, the Bob/Kim romance (which has been a favorite of mine) wouldn't have happened if Sofia was still around. So, sometimes, you have to kill a character to give other character's story's; as long as it makes sense. Anyways, I hope you all liked this twist in the series as much as I did! Until next week - dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Mar 26, 2017 10:47:41 GMT -5
This week's post will be about a child that was born on the series, both versions, and that is Dawn. It is always a goal as a soap writer to make sure that some key characters have children, because that is the next generation of stories. In my mind, the new generation has to be surrounding people the audience will automatically warm too or want to read/watch about, which is why the children of favorites is the way to go. It is something in the back of mind currently in the online series; some major couples need to have children (of course, it has to make sense for the story and the timing, but I do need more children lol). Anyways, one of the children that has been born on the series, like I mentioned, is Dawn. In my original writings, Helen got preggers by Adam while he still fooling around with Victoria. She learned about the affair and went to the Calimo cabin and ended up giving birth there. In the online version, Cassie blackmailed Olivia into taking Helen to the cabin, drugging her, and then stole her baby. When Helen awoke, Olivia told her that her baby was dead. And Cassie, had Dawn (Cassie had miscarried and was using the baby to keep Shane). Both ways, Dawn's introduction to the series was dramatic and soapy. In both versions of ODaaT, Dawn was also aged rather quickly, although quicker in the online series. Interesting to note: in my original writings, after I aged Dawn, she actually developed an eating disorder. I did bring this story to the online version, but it played out with Trenyce and her fellow student Mallory Cunningham. Because Dawn was stolen by Cassie in the online version, I've chosen to give her a little bit more of a wicked side, which has been fun to tell. Hopefully, I'll have more babies come on board soon! Until next time - dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Apr 2, 2017 9:06:49 GMT -5
In this week's post, I'll discuss one of my favorite mini-storyline arches that I did on ODaaT, that played out in similar fashion in both versions of the series. In the original series, I really wanted a way to break up Cory and Robin, so I had this idea of Robin dying and Cory moving on to another woman (he ended up sleeping with a character named Tara, who has never made it to the online series). Robin, of course, didn't die but rather, Dominick faked her death and when she came back there was a triangle to play out. In the online version, the story was similar but difference. Robin's mental health was rocked after her and Cory's baby was stillborn. Dominick, having already gone through a mental health crisis with Felicia, planned on faking Robin's death so Cory could move on. Dominick blackmailed Will into helping him drug Robin to make it appear that she was slowly dying. Just as Will was about to give her another injection to make her appear to be dead, Cory and Eva burst in and saved Robin. Dominick's motives made sense because he was trying to protect Cory, and I love that Robin was so out of it that she had no idea what was going on. It was a fun mini-umbrella storyline, because it had Will, Dominick, Eva, Cory, Robin all in this big story. It was also the way I wrote Will out of the series, as I felt his time was up on the series. Robin shortly after also went away, but she's back now which is fun. Whenever I am struggling to come up with a new storyline idea, I find myself often going back through my original writings to see the big twists that happened that I feel like I should bring back into the current series. This is definitely one of those twists that I think worked to the series advantages. Until next week dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Apr 9, 2017 8:52:02 GMT -5
The original ODaaT was created (in terms of me starting to write the series) in 1995; in 1998, I actually created an ODaaT spin-off series called Golden Hearts. GH also took place in Twin Peaks, and some of the characters from ODaaT just starred on GH. The characters that made the move have never been featured in the online version of ODaaT, but the chief of staff of the hospital was a woman named Penelope. Her daughter Sasha and her boyfriend Michael were the three characters to move to GH. On GH, they were the leading story line drivers, big time. This entire idea of the spin-off came from General Hospital and Port Charles, to be honest. I liked how ABC and the show runners had two shows within the same town, which provided opportunity to have crossovers (like the Nurses Ball, ect). So, in mid-1998, I had this huge gala as a hospital fundraiser. At the gala, a huge tornado ripped through the town causing mass destruction. Of course, part of the fun was that it happened on both series at the same time, so you really had to "watch" both to see everything unfold. It was a fun experiment, I must say but I never felt like GH got to the level that ODaaT did, and I ended up "cancelling" (I just stopped writing the series) by the end of 1999. Still, it is fun going back and reading some of Golden Hearts stuff, because it did have some high lights for me. I've attached the weeks of the tornado coming through both series. And before anyone asks, NO! I will not have an ODaaT spin-off. When I do have other projects come out (like Pender Island, Chasing Diamonds), I like them to be as different from ODaaT as possible. I don't need another series that is similar to this one. Until next time! dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Apr 16, 2017 9:02:51 GMT -5
This week's post is regarding one of the first major emotional arches I did with the online version of the serial: Noah's death. In the original writings of ODaaT, Leah did have a long-lost son who came to town. The father of the child, however, never made it to the series. In the original series, Leah's son's name was Jeff and he died, which still caused turmoil in the marriage of Leah and Robbie. In the online version, to create havoc for Robbie and Leah, I made Leah's backstory that she got pregnant at 16 and she wanted to marry Jeff, but his parents forced her away after they told her that Noah had died. Noah was of course alive and well and there was a triangle. At the same time, Meggan's drinking was out of control and I wanted something to happen that was pretty drastic. That's when I thought that Meggan could hit Noah with her car and he would die, which is how it unfolded. Shortly after the accident occurred on the series, I went on my long hiatus, but since coming back this act played such a huge part in storyline for Leah, Jeff, Robbie and Meggan. The accident is still talked about today; especially since Jeff and Meggan are now engaged to be married. I do think that the best storylines that happen in soaps are ones that feel years of aftermath effects, this is definitely one of them! Until next week - dzkw
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Post by Dallas on Apr 23, 2017 9:16:00 GMT -5
This week, I'll discuss one of my all time favorite story lines that I did during the online version of the series, which is Cassie taking over Helen's life. The reason I liked it so much is because I had set everything up really well, and I knew what was going to happen but the audience didn't know about the switch until much later on. However, the moment Cassie took over Helen's life, I started writing Helen differently. The setup was that Adam was close to having an affair with one of his unbalanced students, Mallory. He ended things with her and she kidnapped Dawn. Mallory ended up dying while Adam saved Dawn, but the fact that Dawn had been kidnapped really set Helen over the edge to the point where she bought a gun. One night, she was home alone and she heard some noises and she pulled out her gun. Thinking she was going to be robbed, Helen shot the intruder, who turned out to be Adam. Fast forward about 3 months, and I re-wrote the history of that night to be that Adam came home and saw Cassie coming up stairs from the basement (where she was holding Helen, and soon Natasha) hostage and Cassie shot him. It was a lot of fun to write this kind of story because everything had been planned and set up so well, IMO. Part of the inspiration from this arch was from the original ODaaT, only it was different. Cory was involved with a woman named Tara (she has never made it to the online series) and he dumped her when he saw her kiss Adam. Tara, however, went to Adam and asked him to be together, but he said no because he wanted his marriage to Helen to work. Devastated, Tara kidnapped Dawn. In the end, Dawn was saved but Helen was rattled and bought a gun and she ended up shooting Adam when she thought he was an intruder. Adam was left paralyzed from the shooting and he blamed Helen for his lack of ability to walk. When bringing this story to the online version, I could have re-did the original arch but I really loved the idea of Cassie worming her way into people's lives and ruining them. It was more fun. Did I mention it's the 15th anniversary and Cassie could come back this year? Keep reading! Until next time dzkw
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