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You've really captured the sheer mind-fried horniness of Pam confronted with Jim in all his glory in the beginning here, with just the right amount of hints that a third-party observer could see his eyes are popping out of his head too.

"and quite possibly fabric softener" My heart.

"(but not too close, as the probability of that whole lap straddling thing increased as the distance between them decreased)" my sides, from the chuckling

Again, the use of twitterpated here is amazing. As is this whole interaction. “But I’m not complaining if you aren’t.”

I love Pam seeing Jim in a different light... both as someone who's changed and as someone who was always a little different than she got to see for herself. And how she grasps that something similar has happened for her.

"He secretly wants me." "Can't say I blame him." Tuna. Are you kidding me.

"Just catching up and clearing the air and maybe some mutual orgasms." BEESLY.

Four Non Blondes is an inspired song choice. And feels perfectly in character somehow. Also, this part: "She realized that she desperately wanted Jim to have fun, wanted him to have a good response from her friends and the rest of the bar, and she felt her stomach twist in anticipation." A very Pam sentence and also just such an emotionally clear thread from who she is now to who she was and what they are to each other now to what they were then.

"She caught herself before she could ask what other articles of clothing he’d be responsible for knocking off before the night was over." Probably for the best. Even 10 Years Later Jim probably isn't surviving that.

THE PARKING LOT. THE CASINO NIGHT DIALOGUE. *I* AM MIND FRIED.

If you don't update for another year and a half there will be riots. I don't make the rules.

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First, love that you worked JK's story of being a struggling actor in here... and Jim accidentally insulting the producer feels like very canon-level cringe. This also feels a lot like canon Jim - a guy who is drifting, not sure what he wants to do, yet to find his true North. Add a sense of sexual adventure, and you can see that guy ending up here.

Erin as the receptionist for a porn studio is amazing. (And Phyllis going back to her casting associate roots!) As is Jim trying to do this while living with his parents. A lot of good groundwork here.

Author's Response:

Hahah thank you! 

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Yikes. Wildly terrible Roy here. Just awful. Glad to see Pam seeing it too and reacting accordingly. Maybe Jim is coming into her life at the perfect time...

Author's Response: It's such a coincidence isn't it :D

Again - SO hilarious how well this canon dialogue fits on a porn set. Michael missed his calling, really.

"Hunter and I were rehearsing all afternoon." ::Pam voice:: Oh, Michael. Lord is Jan ever terrible. And porn director Michael is somehow less creepy than canon Michael, he doesn't deserve that.

Imagine how much more concerned Betsy would be if she knew what Jim was doing for a living... and how badly he was actually falling for Pam!

Author's Response: I shall endeavour to make Michael more creepy 🤣🤣

Dear Lorde this Roy is an asshole. Pam might be doing him a favor by drop-kicking him here, because he's clearly got an immense amount of growing up to do and he's clearly not going to unless he has zero other choice.

Of course Kelly is a big believer in the life-changing power of makeovers. And really, more power to her.

"but the sets I have been on are super slick and everyone just works super long and hard to get it all done." Oh, Jim. You set her up for that.

" There had been one time at her first art show in high school where he'd come along and called her art ‘the prettiest art of all the art'. That was the night she'd lost her virginity to him. He'd never come to another art show after that." Ugh. Roy. Why did you not dump this guy nine years ago???

You've continued to do a really good job making comic use of canon details here!

Author's Response:

I think I may have over orver projected my hatred of Roy here 🤣🤣 

And thank you! There’s a lot going into these canon callbacks with rewatching and looking at scripts to get them spot on, so glad you’re enjoying them!

Well there's a Fancy New Beesly in action! Love that she's made the decision and is just taking charge, doing what it takes to follow through and trying to think critically about the life she really wants.

Also think this is an important note here about her and Roy's relationship - it's not so much that it's always been miserable so much as they just stopped growing together relatively early on.

LOVE the note about Jim's father fleeing two states away. Ha. Like father like son!

TEAPOT SIGHTING.

Author's Response: So glad you liked the bit about his dad! And definitely wanted to show there was a reason to be with Roy, just there isn’t one now. Thank you as always for reviewing!

I'll never be able to think of poor Phil Shea the same way again. This was a very good use of the porn set for comic value here.

I thought you did well finding the balance between Pam’s utter mortification and her growing curiosity/willingness to explore in this chapter, too!

Author's Response: Thank you so much! Glad the balance has come across here. I wanted to set Pam off on a little path here. And yes, poor Phil Shea. That man is a treasure in any setting. 

I love love-addled, mind-fried Jim here!

Author's Response: Oh yay! I’m glad!

Lol. A lot of good canon moments mixed into this one, AND a solid John Krasinski reference with the football movie. Glad to see these two aren't falling into the trap of getting too easily disheartened either. Good forward movement!

Author's Response: Ah glad you got that reference :) Thanks for the review as always!

Ooooooof. And things were going so well! Friggin' Roy.

Author's Response: Exactly. Friggin’ Roy.