Date: October 12, 2020 07:10 am Title: hoax
AG. This was so, so, good. Like, I’m not even sure where to start.
Comma-Beeslys.
Emotional Jim.
THE COAT CLOSET.
Pam leaving her mark.
Their entire unspoken conversation before he leaves the coat closet.
I kind of love the idea that they hooked up and nobody, including cameras, knew about it and things went on just like we saw them in the show. And the ending. Gah.
I loved all of it.
Date: October 12, 2020 07:08 am Title: hoax
Wow. Just break my heart and put it back together all in one go, why don't you.
This is, I think, the written equivalent of a binge watch that takes you through the dark days of Season 3 all the way to Chair Model.
My wedding that never was and the dance partner I never had? Pam being angry that Karen is invading her memories of Jim? Jim riding the line of being a good friend and a jackass about her rejection? Them actually slipping and letting each other realize they're hurting each other because they're still in love? "Let Karen Filippelli see it?" Jim keeping her panties? Jim keeping her panties and FINDING THEM IN HIS POCKET AFTER THEY'RE TOGETHER FOR REAL?
Wow, okay? Just wow.
Date: October 11, 2020 10:35 pm Title: peace
I woke up in a terrible mood (courtesy to my cat and a headache). I did my usual morning routine, and that included checking updates on MTT. And I saw your chapter.
Oh my, I thought and brewed some coffee. And I started to read. And then I made a couple of agitated circles around my room. Then I finished the reading and made some more circles.
And now, I have a cup of tea and writing this review.
Where to start? What words to choose? How to describe everything that this chapter made me feel? I don't know, truly, because it's so, so great, and I don't think I can do justice to it.
I can't even pick the thing I love the most? The fact that it's Jim's POV? The way you weaved together the memories of the first meeting, the first date, the first time with the current worries? That feeling that these characters felt like absolute canon Pam and Jim and your story could easily be a part of offscreen scenes? That feeling of fragility and tenderness that radiated this story? Humor that you so naturally sprinkled your story with? Your writing style? All of that?
I'll end with the latter.
And I was having a hard time picking favorites line, because, yeah, I wanted to copy and paste the whole text. But these were outstanding:
"Christmas isn’t a time for magic. Christmas is a time for encroaching loneliness and reminders that the people you love don’t feel the same way. Christmas is a time for reality." Gosh, it hurts so much...
"She seemed to understand, that after years of no’s he needed each and every yes underlined and bolded." YES! That's them so much!
"He had never been enough for her before. And yet there she had been, saying that he was. It was everything." Just no words, it's perfect.
"He stretches out the bundle of flowers in his hand, a bright smattering of color which he totally didn’t just pilfer from his mother’s beloved front garden." a) I like the humor! b) I love awkward, insecure, romantic Jim so much and see him so rarely. Thank you for showing him like that!
“I’m trying to save you.”
He shrugs. “I’ll take my chances.” Awww, if only he knew back then... fantastic!
"That everything in his life since the very first day he met her has orbited around her. She’s the very fabric holding him to the earth." Oh, she is, she is. It's so desperate yet romantic. And I love it!
And the whole metaphor of a house and rebuilding is so, so good!
Your story made me very happy, and thank you so much for writing it!
Author's Response: Oh Dernhelm, I can’t even begin to tell you what this review meant to me! I had so much trouble writing this chapter - I think it was trying to write it from Jim’s POV that I found so hard. For you to say that you liked it means so, so much.
Date: October 11, 2020 06:53 pm Title: peace
Jenna, just wow. To take and expand those scenes was a stoke of genius. To get Pam's hesitancy and Jim's feelings of being taken aback at what she said was great.
I loved how in the bedroom Jim was trying to be all soft and sweet only for Pam to turn the tables on him. The flashbacks running through everything were also a delight.
The fact that they are what gives him the idea for the video was amazing. That scene is one of my favorite scene's in the entire series and you did it more than justice. Even with the slight expansion you did, it felt just perfectly right.
Phenonminal job with one. Really wish I had more jellybeans to give.
Author's Response:
Warrior, thanks so much! I was hoping you’d be able to forgive me dragging out Jim coming up with the video idea overnight. It’s so lovely to hear that it worked!
Date: October 11, 2020 06:35 pm Title: betty
I love this story! This song was one of my favourites from day 1 and you just made it even better. Plus the video...so good. Thank you for this.
Date: October 11, 2020 06:28 pm Title: betty
Love a S3 fix-it fic and with your touches and writing skill, this is everything we could have hoped for and more. Pam kicking Roy to the curb. Jim kicking Karen to the curb. Jim and Pam finally having it out with each other. Then having their way with each other.
Beautiful writing as per usual.
Date: October 11, 2020 05:29 pm Title: peace
“She’s his foundation. He’s trying to build a second level on what he thought was solid ground. Meanwhile, the earth has rocked and cracks have splintered the walls of the original building. She’s frantically trying to slap plaster and paint to shore up the damage and he’s still upstairs, hammering away and worsening the destruction.” This visual and metaphor is just the absolute perfect description of season 9 and I love it.
The “Ike” interview: GOLD.
I love all the sprinkled images of early Jam. Especially him stealing flowers from his mom’s house. I die.
It’s all just structured so well and coveys the season 9 feelings perfectly, but with the inner monologue that makes up for the season 9 angst. You already know I adore your writing and this is definitely no exception.
Author's Response: Thank you so much, WW! I always love hearing your thoughts!
Date: October 11, 2020 05:15 pm Title: peace
SO much to like about this.
I think you've hit something big on the head with this idea that Jim's own insecurities, born of years of watching her go home with Roy and still festering a little more than he'd like to admit, sort of blind him to Pam's insecurities (and good heavens do I wish the writers had had that sense of how their history informed their actions in Season 9).
Some of the details are just wonderful - Jim stealing the flowers from his mother's (and how much cuter does that make him stealing the flowers for their elopement in Cafe Disco?) is great, and so is him spotting Pam giving Michael one of her famous post-it messages.
The interview and the whole flashback to the early moments of JAM was fabulous. I love seeing that immediate connection leap off the page, and the fake interview is just SO something Michael would do and that Jim would pick up on through Pam's reactions.
I thought it was a really nice choice to have Jim realize that Pam doesn't want a tender Jim - she wants a Jim who wants her so much he's desperate and a little out of control, in the same way that he's been desperate and a little out of control about the job.
I thought the running construction metaphor worked - it seemed like the sort of thing that naturally occur to someone who has spent a lot of the last few years working on a house.
Ultimately, what you've done is kind of a written/mental version of the video in A.A.R.M... so naturally it ends up inspiring the actual video in A.A.R.M., which is a nice organic touch.
Author's Response: Thank you so much!
Date: October 11, 2020 04:34 pm Title: peace
Ugh, JB. You already know that I think this is perfection. I loved the flashbacks, and how we got to see Jim inner monologue and how those things confirm that is and always has even everything. Michael in the interview is hysterical, the insecurity Pam feels even after years of marriage and children together is all too real, and I love that you chose to set this fic in season 9 because we are severely lacking in those.
You’re a genius and a wordsmith and I always feel so honored to read anything you write.
Author's Response: BT. You are the ultimate hype man and I am so, so damn grateful for you. I’m still so in awe of each and every time you say something lovely about my writing because holy crap your opinion means so much to me. Thank you!
1 [Report This]Date: October 11, 2020 03:06 pm Title: betty
Ugh. Alright, I'm obsessed with this story like everyone else. But Betty is one of my favorite songs on the album, and I love that she uses the name James in it, and this story was just EVERYTHING I wanted to happen after the art show. Your youtube video is now one of my favorites, I'm a sucker for a Jim and Pam collab video with music. THANK YOU FOR THIS.
Date: October 11, 2020 12:40 pm Title: epiphany
Look, I know it's not really the point of smut, but I have to say - the conversation in the costume shop was just SCREAMINGLY funny, and also a really solid portrait of Jim and Pam's life as parents - they go from "passionately in love" to "raising two kids" awfully quick in canon, and it feels like a change that would definitely be jarring for them, with the added time burdens it puts on certain aspects of their life.
"In a million years, Pam will never tell Jim that he has Dwight to thank for tonight" is a line that will haunt me.
You do a really good job of capturing how experimenting with your sexual boundaries can be just... painfully awkward, seconds before becoming ridiculously arousing, seconds before becoming painfully awkward again.
The last line is killer. (As is the fact that Jim orders pizza.)
Date: October 11, 2020 12:27 pm Title: mad woman
Fact: If Jim and Pam had gotten drunk more, they absolutely would have saved themselves a LOT of angst.
I really like the choice to just let them talk for a while in this one - they've got a lot that needs to be said, it's good to just let the dialogue flow and let them say it. (I think there's something about phone sex that just kinda works for these two - they benefit from not having to face each other, I think.)
I like the choice that rediscovering some sexual interest from Jim is the furthest thing from a panacea for Pam - she is still fully prepared to keep running.
The discovery of Roy's paperwork and the line about him delivering sucker punches when he's not even in the room is genius.
And the use of so much dialogue from Casino Night and later is just like death by a thousand cuts, but in a good way.
Date: October 11, 2020 12:09 pm Title: invisible string
I really like the overall concept here. We know that Pam's time at Pratt opened up some old wounds for Jim, and I think it makes sense that given both their physical separation and the engagement that their past would be on the minds at this time, and something they might want to talk about and work through. Plus: THANK YOU for correcting my least favorite piece of canon, Pam and Jim's insistence in PDA that they never had sex in The Office. WHY, PTB?
"Aside from Angela, you would be the last one he would sacrifice to the natives." SO TRUE. (Although I've got Michael between Pam and Angela on that list. TWSS.)
The tub and harbor scenes were just wonderfully intimate, as well as, you know, good smut. And the palm reading scene was ADORABLE, especially with the, um, acknowledgment that Jim has DEFINITELY thought about bending Pam over his desk.
Author's Response: DJC, I am SO sorry I'm just seeing this review! Somehow it got lost in all the notifications. I'm thrilled you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for your feedback and taking the time to review!
Date: October 11, 2020 11:47 am Title: betty
I am a sucker for a good art show fix-it fic, if only because I think it's absolutely the hardest thing to forgive Jim did in Season 3, so first, thank you for taking that on.
I also liked that while you've managed to dispense with the major obstacles pretty handily, you've done it in a way that makes sense (SO a thing that "prettiest of all the art" Roy would do thinking he'd checked the good boyfriend box for the night, and a remarkably plausible way to put a sudden stop to Jim/Karen) and still given them room to fumble through and screw up along the way - there's a lot of nastiness that's brewed between the two of them, and it's very realistic that they'd be a little snippy with each other. (I also just loved the natural touches here - their delaying tactics in the car are great, as is the acknowledgement that trying to make out in a car is a lot less comfortable than Hollywood makes it look.)
The drive to her apartment? Deeply, um, moving (although I shared Pam's concern that they were about to die). As was the apartment itself. And I loved her pulling out the cardigan (which was of course stored next to the periwinkle dress!) to repeat the coffee invite. Love it all.
1 [Report This]Date: October 11, 2020 06:46 am Title: my tears ricochet
Your metaphors are absolutely amazing. The one with the vase from her childhood? So so perfect!! Just brilliant writing!
Author's Response: Thank you so, so much! I worry that I overuse extended metaphors in literally everything I write so it’s so nice to hear people aren’t sick of them yet!
1 [Report This]Date: October 11, 2020 01:22 am Title: betty
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HOW THAT NIGHT SHOULD HAVE GONE. *nods emphatically*
Date: October 10, 2020 09:21 pm Title: betty
You had me straight away with the art show. But holy god you had me again with the newly single Pam. “she wasn't about to go through all of that again” Yes, girl. So much yes.
“It was his words, not the wind, that had her gripping her own scarf more tightly around her” AG. The way you write. I just —
This is so achingly beautiful.
“she wondered if the air felt heavy on his hands” Wow. Like I shouldn’t be surprised that this is so damn good, but it’s SO damn good.
“this conversation had the potential to ignite the two of them anyway.” I mean, fingers crossed...
The way the song is just unobtrusively twining through this is truly amazing.
“caught her trying to tear down one of your flyers” Oh. My. God. YES. I was so mad at that Office Ladies ep where they basically tried to explain this away as nothing & nope. Nope, nope. This, THIS is it.
“as if trying to seal in that I love you” Oh, I am most definitely not fine.
“We can fuck in the kitchen later.” DEAD. This is the most perfect repurposing of the kitchen thing of all time.
“The miles between them, the space between their desks, was all closed when he cupped her cheeks” This is so, so beautiful.
Oh wow. And you’re ending it with that cardigan like that. Huh. I may never recover...
Date: October 10, 2020 06:42 pm Title: betty
wow! I wish the episode has ended like this, their talk was perfect and then it so so hot!
Date: October 10, 2020 01:22 pm Title: betty
AG. I knew you’d knock it out of the park but ma’am, THIS? The way you wove the song in so beautifully and how they each had moments that applied to them, the conversation at the gallery and all the things he misses, and of course as always you’re the queen when it comes to writing the sexy stuff. Lady! God, this was so good. So so so good.
Date: October 10, 2020 08:48 am Title: epiphany
You really captured married JAM here well. How starting out they'd like to get into more things but the realities of parenthood but that on hold.
The conversation at the Halloween store was also on point. Sometimes old insecurities rear their heads and one needs some reassurance.
Pam's version of reassurance was just what the doctor (nurse?) ordered though. Lots of fun to envision all that.
Great job with all your chapters. Your writing talents were on full display with every offering.
Date: October 10, 2020 07:13 am Title: epiphany
Uh
This, like, broke me. Truly. I don’t even know what to say. The way you wrote their teasing and that whole first part with the movie was perfect. The conversation about Danny and pizza was PERFECT and so in character and I think it’s a super real and not often discussed thing when couples go without...eating pizza...for a while and I love that you brought that up. And then the actual PIZZA my god, it was some of my most favorite pizza that I’ve ever read about.
You are amazing and THIS is amazing and lady, I will immediately read any other costumed role play fics you put out into the universe, just saying! (HINT HINT)
Date: October 09, 2020 08:03 pm Title: epiphany
DC, holy shit. This so hot right off the bat. The early days of dating are truly a treasure trove - you think you know someone, but there is so much more to know. This captures that so very well.
“This is who we are now.” So, so good.
“You’ve seen the guy, right?” Jim gets it.
The way you write married life is so very real and so very perfect. I love their coded conversation and time just disappearing.
““Thank you for lying.” This whole exchange. Both ways. Just perfect.
“I won’t turn down bread sticks.” I —
“In a million years, Pam will never tell Jim that he has Dwight to thank for tonight.” Oh my god. This line. It’s amazing.
The humor running through this is just so perfect and I want to list literally every example, but I am exercising some self-control and only listing my top dozen or so... Gems such as:
“pre-pregnancy clothes that are still being rude”
“I’ll just be in the kitchen. Alone. Trying not to think about what I didn’t see.”
“Good thing there’s a nurse nearby.”
Pam feeling a little ridiculous at the end is just so in keeping with how I imagine her character would be and I appreciate it so much. DC, you are a gift and the justice you did this song (which seemed the least smuttable) was truly incredible.
Date: October 09, 2020 02:37 am Title: mad woman
BT, you are so incredibly clever and creative. Your chapters have just floored me in how you have taken tricky songs and completely wrapped them up in Jam. I just love it so much.
“I wish you would.” Oh Lord, this is perfect.
“Not with the way his voice wrapped around just underwear like warm honey, all slow and thick. “ Lovely, lovely, lovely
“Leave her alone, Dwight.” GOD this is the Jim we deserved.
Thumbhead. *Smirk*
“Beneath the desk, his leg jiggled. He was nervous.” Love this little detail.
I love love love the symbolism of them doing it on top of Roy’s scattered paperwork. So satisfying. I mean, the entire was satisfying and so perfectly done. I just love your writing so much.
1 [Report This]Date: October 08, 2020 04:37 pm Title: mad woman
Oh man, I just love some angry/drunk Pam. This was so well done. I’ve reread about 5 times now. This could be a whole fic in itself, angry exchanges and passionate/accidental encounters. Bravo.
Date: October 08, 2020 11:23 am Title: mad woman
That phone call was perfect! This has so many layers. The song lyrics, and the canon dialogue. The angst and the hope. Oh and also this:
"He didn’t bother with his underwear (boxer briefs, just like she’d pictured), just shoved them down enough to put himself on display." Wow. Now that's a visual!
And I love that she tried pulling the fire alarm! This was so, so good.