Date: May 23, 2021 07:55 am Title: Chapter 17
Okay, so I'm VERY glad I read both your updates at once. I was slightly confused at first because I didn't immediately get who was talking to Jim (my brain... ugh...), but the rest is perfection!
Here's the list of things that made me giggle/extremely happy:
1) Pam thinking over the ways of murdering Izzy;
2) References to the canon events (oh, Jim...);
3) Dwight got two numbers!!!
4) 'Nice guys.' They're ruined for me forever, but that's perfectly fine;
5) 'Abort/Retry/Fail' and generally the way Jim thinking;
6) 'Would some tea help?'
Dear author, please, let them have some tea!
Author's Response:
Awwww...I'm so glad you liked it! I realize the formatting was not completely clear that I just copypasted (and swapped into first person) from the last chapter of what Pam didn't realize she was blurting out...glad it became clear as it went.
And yes! Tea appears next chapter!
Date: May 22, 2021 10:23 pm Title: Chapter 17
Jellybeans!!!
Author's Response: Repeated thanks!
Date: May 22, 2021 08:58 pm Title: Chapter 17
So I'll admit, it's been close to two decades since my college philosophy class. Yay gen eds. Even longer since my own days on the high school debate team. Thus I had to force myself to slow down in order to read this chapter and let it settle in. The back and forth between the two sides of Jim's thought process here demanded it. The humanities side with more open ended responses vs. the logic side where things can boil down to one or the other. However I also do like to think that I can be fairly logical and analytical from time to time. That is until mind altering computer errors force a hard re-start.
So, here's Jim having his own freak out moment. His brain going speeding off somewhere past light speed straight into plaid colored ludicrous speed. Enough so that Barista Jim's mind somehow blurs the lines of the mulitverse of fandom and has a brief mind meld with near around Casino Night Canon Jim and all of a sudden the theoretical astrophysists have enterd the conversastion. Probably due to common friends with the computer nerds.
Then even though his mind seems to be travelling at multiverse bending speeds the progam crashed to a halt leaving one heck of a dent in his helmet. Fortunatly for our hero his brain kicks back in at a more reasonable speed. The days he's spent watching Pam in a totally non-creeper way, you know the good kind of watching someone as you build a friendship with them, that kind of way, serve him well. He's able to skirt past any unintended misinterpretations and say what seems to be probably the best words he could say at that given time.
Suffice it to say I really enjoyed this chapter and once more wish I had more than five jellybeans to award you. Here's to hoping for some tea in the near future. Brilliant writing as always.
Author's Response: I'm always glad to force you to recall the deep cuts out of your own gen ed experience ;). I'm deeply unsurprised to discover you and I were both HS debaters. Jim here has...a lot...of me in him, even though I was not a philosophy major, so I'm glad it came through and wasn't just in my head.
Date: May 22, 2021 10:34 am Title: Chapter 16
So, hints at the increasingly dark-looking nature of the Pam-Roy relationship aside, this chapter was fun. Pam in all her neurotic glory, Jim finding a way to thread the needle of expressing interest and acknowledge Pam's obvious discomfort, and Pam responding with a case of the blurts. Very much enjoying their dynamic here... and I do appreciate the detail of Isabel noticing and approving of Jim's maneuver. She does have your best interests at heart, Pam! Although no jury in the world would convict you at this moment.
Author's Response:
Pam-Roy is BAD in this fic, but also Roy isn't going to show up so...
I'm really glad you liked the chapter! Jim is also going to be uncomfortable, but I promise, they work it out.
Date: May 22, 2021 09:30 am Title: Chapter 16
I'm behind on reviewing but I'm amazed at how much emotion and forward movement happened in this tiny chapter! Can't wait for Jim's POV!
Author's Response: Thanks for reading, whether or not you review! I got further faster in this chapter than I expected, which is why it was so short--hence the new update today!
Date: May 21, 2021 10:17 pm Title: Chapter 16
No! You can’t end te chapter here. PLEASE post your next chapter soon. This is too good and the chapter is too short. Can’t wait for more!
Author's Response: Ah, but the next chapter is up only one day later! I didn't want to do a chapter with both POVs in it, so I had to break to move us into Jim's headspace.
Date: May 21, 2021 08:36 pm Title: Chapter 16
Ok, so considering how short this chapter is, there's a lot to unpack. The techincally abusive ex-fiance? Another clue to Pam's life prior to this fic that make me even more glad she is un-betrothed.
The mention of a lot of nickles, the ability of Dwight to turn anything into a weapon, Jim as a saleman in another life. All fun callbacks to canon that are also perfectly in place here as well.
Another Pam freakout to be sure, but this time at least she un-freaks herself out enough to go and face Jim. However the idea that all her internal thoughts were also external blurtings was delightful to read. Can't wait to see what Jim thinks of all this.
Also loved his reaction to Izzy. Jim the defender of Pam's feelings on full display and I love it.
Author's Response: Thanks! I did a lot more in a lot fewer words than I expected--so that's why the chapter's short. I am not going to put Roy in this fic if I can avoid it--but that means I have the chance to blacken his name without including him, so here we are...
Date: May 20, 2021 02:41 am Title: Chapter 15
Wonderful chapter! And it left me craving for more and more!!
Also, I want to point at three moments that made me especially excited:
- 'You can do this, Pamela,' — that's so cute and sweet and innocent;
- the whole rock-God-Dwight joke (!!!)
- aaaaand this line 'if you were a creative writer you'd spend more time beating your head against a wall,' — I have no idea about this major, but I feel this so very much.
Thank you for this chapter, and looking forward to the next one :)
Author's Response: Thanks so much! I really appreciate detailed reviews that point out good bits like this one does, because it lets me know what to include more of going forward ;).
Date: May 19, 2021 07:15 am Title: Chapter 15
This is just 100% absolutly delightful. Also bonus points to me this time around. I read it nice and comfy in my chair while sipping coffee and putting off mowing the lawn. Thus no strange looks across the ambulance cab from my partner or odd looks across the room from my wife due to all the mad cackeling this chapter caused me. I don't know what the score is at this point, but I really hope the game of "Comfect makes someone look at warrior side-eyed due to laugter" never ends.
I digress. You already know my love of your more academic prose in your fics and this is right up there with if not the best of them. Mainly because of the blend of academic prose with flirty JAM banter that is so wonderful to read. Add in all the thoughts of Pam wanting to just lean in and kiss him, or vault the counter and pin him against the wall and it's just perfection.
The line about Pam getting drunk off Long Island Iced Tea. Was that inspired by an episode of The Big Bang Theory where such an incident happens to Sheldon? Though this time around it's a little more ominous what with Pam's refelection of who she was with at the time and the path that could have taken. Well done Pam for a moment of clarity there.
Then of course the mini-cliffhanger with Jim guessing her major and Izzy bursting into the fray. I've got a feeling Pam would have internally melted into a pile of mush at Jim saying "my dear Pam," like that. Now however that pile of mush might also be buried under a deep layer of emabarresment due to Izzy. Though I also think Jim is spot on in his assessement. Like I've said before, Jim pays attention to Pam. So he can connect most of the dots into what makes her tick. I really hope I still have a jellybean to give this chapter because it was a true delight to read.
Author's Response:
Dammit, warrior4, I thought we had a deal! I write this stuff and you read it IN PUBLIC where I can EMBARRASS YOU.
Just kidding.
Seriously, thanks for always noticing the nerdy asides; they're some of the stuff I like writing most, and it's really great to have someone else catch them consistently. The Long Island Iced Tea is based on I think a Simpsons episode? I seem to recall Marge getting smashed on them at one point.
Date: May 18, 2021 05:10 pm Title: Chapter 15
First, I appreciate Pam's respect for the basic principle of not hitting on service workers while they're on the clock. And Pam and Jim finding more ways to bond over mocking Dwight. He really does play a crucial role in their love story. And their banter about their various majors is cute. But I've got to say, the detail in here I really liked was the reworking of the Chili's incident into a different kind of wakeup call for Pam. It rides the line of believable and genuinely kind of sinister for Roy, and it's a lovely parallel with Pam's new awareness of Jim.
Isabel is such chaotic energy, I love it.
Sorry about the shift key... that sounds less than fun.
Author's Response: Thank you! It's important to me to make clear, as many coffeeshop AUs do not, that you should not hit on your barista in any way while they are on the clock or otherwise might feel that responding to your hitting-on negatively would impact their job. But it's important that they have the connection anyway--and so here's Izzy to make that clear. The shift key is working again! So hopefully that's gonna keep being the case...
Date: May 15, 2021 10:09 am Title: Chapter 14
Oh, Jim... I both like to see him so hopelessly in love and hate to see him so insecure. But, even then, I like that he remains rational (or, at least, I took his reflections for rational thinking)... and Pam's joke wasn't completely unfunny.
And I do hope that they'll have some tea in the end ;)
Thank you for writing and sharing!
Author's Response: He's really trying to think about it reasonably--and yes, there will definitely be tea at some point in this fic.
Date: May 15, 2021 10:02 am Title: Chapter 13
I just want to stop and say that Pam falling asleep on her watercolor of sunset is sooo adorable, and I need this picture in my life! Thank you for bringing it :)
Author's Response: Aww, thanks! I really enjoy putting in throwaway references to young artist Pam, thanks for catching it.
Date: May 14, 2021 06:54 pm Title: Chapter 14
Ooooof. Poor Jim. So much angst, and it's all so unnecessary. Come on, y'all. Speak up, and you can be charmingly neurotic together!
Author's Response: The good is coming, I promise!
1 [Report This]Date: May 14, 2021 11:52 am Title: Chapter 14
Oh Jim look at you go. You romantic, besotten, silly, imaginative person you. Kind of fun to get into his mini-freak out here. It makes sense. Pam was stumbling over herself a bit. Dwight is against all odds attracting someone who seems reletivly normal. Then he looks up and Pam's gone. Yeah, I get why he'd freak out a bit. But then the rational Jim who knows and sees the little things about Pam comes through. How her laptop is still there. I could feel his relief when she emerges from the bathroom and makes a beeline for him. Nice job.
Author's Response: Thanks as ever for the careful reading and thoughtful review, warrior. You make it fun to write for this site.
Date: May 14, 2021 10:30 am Title: Chapter 14
Yay Jim POV! I love your version of dorky anxious Jim. Everyone writes Jim as a cool guy all the time but in the show there were snippets of him being very anxious and insecure and hints that the coolness was kind of a cover at work and I love that you are exploring that part of him!
Author's Response: Thank you! Gotta admit, a lot of my Jim's neuroses come from my neuroses, so it's pretty natural to make him not that cool of a guy ;)
Date: May 13, 2021 08:32 pm Title: Chapter 13
Man, you have done a really good job giving Pam a believable and entertainingly neurotic inner monologue in this one.
I continue to love the energy Izzy is bringing to this. Poor Pam. Should've warned her. Karma. I mean, at least for Pam. Not so much for Izzy. Unless you count Dwight.
Author's Response: Thank you! Neuroses are a specialty ;). I hope you enjoy the Jim POV that I've just put up too!
1 [Report This]Date: May 13, 2021 08:23 pm Title: Chapter 13
*CACKLES* I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I'm loving Izzy. and the Izzy/Dwight stuff is so funny even if Dwangela is endgame for me!
Author's Response: Thanks! Dwangela is where this fic ultimately will point as well, but the Izzy/Dwight dynamic is a lot of fun to write first.
Date: May 13, 2021 04:58 pm Title: Chapter 13
I forgive you for the bait and switch about the delay in the Jim POV chapter because a spit-take is always good fun. Calling Starbucks coffee sludge is also a point in your favor there. Short and sweet true. Nice to see that Pam's getting a bit more perspective on where she stands with Jim and maybe where he stands with her.
Author's Response: Glad you forgive me: I updated with the Jim chapter now, so it's not a long delay ;). Pam and Jim are spiraling right now--but the spiral is going inwards, towards each other.
Date: May 10, 2021 12:23 pm Title: Chapter 12
Ok, Jim and Pam are ridiculously cute here - both Pam's embarrassment and Jim not minding (/not noticing) Izzy's insinuations. And Pam realising that she really likes him! I'm also loving Dwight sitting in the corner grumpily assembling something, and Dwight's potential reaction to Jim telling him he's his favourite customer. Also this line: 'there’s a creaking sound that might be Jim pulling up a chair, or the ceiling falling down, but not even that would make her look up so she doesn’t know'. So excited to read Jim's POV!
Author's Response: I'm really glad you found it cute, since that was my very much goal! And while I pushed back the Jim POV for a short inserted chapter that gives us a little more Dwight/Izzy, I promise it is coming soon!
Date: May 10, 2021 12:14 pm Title: Chapter 11
I love Izzy in this - both her jumping straight to Dwight being the cute one (lol), and her needling of Pam. Also, the Deutschland uber alles of me line is amazing. And I love Pam watching Jim and being so totally enamoured of how funny he is, which is a nice echo of Jim's earlier thoughts on Pam.
Date: May 05, 2021 03:06 am Title: Chapter 12
Oh, Pam's embarrassment in this chapter is so palpable and so contagious that... ugh. But! I love the realization she made during her "seven minutes in hell" :) And I feel like Jim tried to help her to get out of this situation (which is just 'awww!'), and I'd like to find out what's in his mind VERY MUCH.
Thank you once more for your story!
Author's Response: Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying it! Sorry to say I pushed back the Jim POV by a chapter to get a little more Dwight/Izzy into it, but it is coming, I promise!
1 [Report This]Date: May 04, 2021 12:04 pm Title: Chapter 12
I haven’t reviewed this story too much, but I’m a fan. Things seem to be moving forward, thanks to Izzy’s comments. I’d love to read what was going on in Jim’s head when he heard Izzy’s insinuations. Will our two love birds get their heads out of their butts?
Also, I really hope they get tea on the menu soon. As a lactose intolerant, I feel Pam’s going to get sick from so many steamers LOL
Author's Response:
Don't worry: Pam here is not lactose intolerant ;) But still, yes, the tea will eventually arrive and she will be very happy with that :-D
Jim POV is being pushed back a chapter because I wanted to do a little more Dwight/Izzy first, but I promise: there will be head unbutting.
1 [Report This]Date: May 04, 2021 05:28 am Title: Chapter 12
Oh Pam, look at you and your feelings kind of sort of getting away from you. Of course Izzy is doing everything she can to egg her on. Which is also a lot of fun to read too.
And then there's Jim. Going with the flow as always. Helping to settle Pam down and being an all around good guy. Though the quick exit from the table also has me very curious as to what's going on in his head. Looking forward to seeing that.
Author's Response: Jim POV is actually being put back a chapter because I had a Dwight/Izzy thing I wanted to do--but yes, we will get some interesting thoughts from him in a little bit...
Date: May 03, 2021 08:26 pm Title: Chapter 12
delightful! more Izzy! more Izzy!
Author's Response: More Izzy coming up! Thank you!