She saw the iPod as she was packing her stuff into boxes. It had been tucked away in a drawer for months. She never listened to it anymore; the memories were too painful.
Dear brokenloon,
I know you've been out of the fic loop for a while. But seriously. FINISH. THIS. STORY.
Love, Callisto
:)
Jim and Pam are Jim and Pam, only...not really.Stablergirl, like so much of your work, this is an absolutely an awesome story. Your writing style in this one is so fun and evocative! And I love how Jim is still somehow Jim despite the fact that he had that surface "jerk" quality.
Steve the waiter...priceless.
"You’ve turned me all romantic, Sunshine"... way to bring back the formerly sarcastic nickname in a now-endearing fashion.
Keep it up!
Author's Response: right? thanks for getting that Jim is still our Jim despite the defenses. He's totally the same guy and that was basically the whole point of the story. Also so glad you liked the call back of the nickname, that's a favorite of mine too. Thanks for the review!
10 Gorgeous. Such amazing imagery and emotion. Your writing is spectacular and the characterizations are utterly real. Really amazing work! I loved the post-its and Pam finding herself included so tangibly in his life. Fantastic.
This is such a fantastic, amazing story, so original, so well written, cannot possibly rave enough. Definitely one of the best stories on MTT. I'll be so sorry to see it wrap up!
Random season four angst/fluff/Jim musings. This is great. So quiet and simple, like much of your writing. Glad I re-discovered it. :)
He goes out, he works, he does not call Pam, even when he's drunk and calls the office, he somehow gets Dwight's extension instead of the main desk, and the following Monday he recieves a very long pamphlet on alcohol abuse, narrated by a green panda.This is seriously one of the best in-Jim's-head pieces I've ever seen. Too many awesome lines even to pick out to quote. "world's shittiest subtle observer" love that. Great, stellar, fantastic job!!
NOW COMPLETE!!!
"Jim, why don't you tell Pam how you really feel?"
Jim and Pam deal with the stuff that comes with being on a hit show...talk shows, radio call-ins, and press junkets. They say there's no such thing as bad publicity, but is that really the case? Watch as Jim and Pam deal with being in the public eye and under the thumb of manipulative network producers. The story is told through interviews, transcripts, web pages and photos.
The interchange you have here is great, particularly Roy, who I have always thought gets a bit of a bad rap...not a bad guy, just not the right guy. You really bring him to life in a great, human way. And crushing Jim's spirit like that with
"I keep messing up and you keep doing everything right and she’s still with me.”
Oh, man. Good work.
Author's Response: I don't know what it says about me that I like to crush Jim's spirit. Twisted, huh? Thanks so much for your review and I'm so glad that you enjoyed how I depicted Roy.
This is such a great story. You've really captured the emotions and strain of constantly being watched. Loved this:
They’d tease it and put it in commercials and take it away from them until this…this moment was no longer theirs either.
Looking forward to the next installment!
Author's Response:
Caliisto—Thanks so much for your review. It’s great reading that you think that I’ve got their emotional strain down. I’ve never been filmed like they have so I’m usually just guessing. Thanks for your kind words and your review.
This is a great story. Jim's tortured uncertainty really comes through... it's almost hard to read. This bit was really striking:
...his feelings for her jumping into his throat and onto his tongue…an energy between the two of them that he knew had to mean something…
Well done!
Author's Response: Thank you so very much, Callisto. I really appreciate your review. I'm beginning to wonder if I should worry about how much I enjoy writing tortured!Jim!
This was such a great episode, if a bit hard to watch. So full of frustration! I liked this line in particular:
The kicker was that it turned out after all this time that Michael might be right about Toby, and what Jim really wanted to know was what kind of a world do they live in if Michael is right?
Oh yeah.
Good job!
Just a little introspection. I guess mild spoilers for Season 4 and the general concept of where things might be going for Jim and Pam.This is gorgeous and so realistic. The uncertainty and baggage and the way they watch each other and know what they are but still have that fear... yeah, really good!
But they fight about the future because it matters.
That's the kicker.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I truly think they\'re on the same road headed for the same place...they just need to make sure they\'re on the same page. Jim can\'t be hare-ing it to the finish line while Pam\'s content to be the tortoise. Or something. You get my point. Anyway...thanks again for your review! I appreciate it muchly.
Post-"The Job," Jim and Pam's first Saturday together as a couple.This is so good! Cute, funny, true to character. Love the banter between them. Great job!
Author's Response: Thanks!
8 OMG this is totally hilarious and fantastically awesome. Short and sweet.
I think the reference is that curly hair invites deviance. Flanders to Rod (or Tod?)...
Author's Response: yay! glad you liked. and yes - that is the reference! you get 10 points, a gold star and a thumbs up :)
Post-Job Fair fluff. Because it made me happy.
Spoilers abound.
This is so great. Very believable and great voices for our dynamic duo.
Great line:
He's not really sure where her head is or what's making her ask all these questions but as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her to him, he's a little bit grateful because it's almost as if she's answering all the unasked questions in his head too.
Very nice!!
Author's Response: Thank you, callisto! "Believable" is sometimes hard to pull off so I'm really glad that you thought it worked. :)
THAT was really sweet. Damn the documentary format that keeps us from seeing these moments!
I read this over on FF and you definitely need to post the whole thing...it's great! Dwight as guard dog is hilarious.
Author's Response: Thank you! I\'ll have more chapters up soon. Didn\'t realize so many people visited both sites... Oh well. Thanks again!
He would close his eyes and remember their time apart, concentrating on it, trying to feel it. Just when he started to connect with the empty feeling, he would open his eyes and look at her sleeping beside him, and slide close enough to her so he could feel her breath, and feel nothing less than a sort of joy.
This is such a great characterization of Jim. Loved this:
When he was home, when she was asleep next to him, he would sometimes think about the past. He would close his eyes and remember their time apart, concentrating on it, trying to feel it. Just when he started to connect with the empty feeling, he would open his eyes and look at her sleeping beside him, and slide close enough to her so he could feel her breath, and feel nothing less than a sort of joy.
It seems exactly like the kind of thing he would do.
Great little piece...love your style.
Author's Response: Thanks so much, callisto. Glad the Jim characterization rings true, and since I think of myself as having a pretty vanilla writing style compared to many writers here, it's nice to get a compliment on that.
"Well apparently, for two people who like to talk, we aren't very good at communicating." First fic, eh? It's very good. Loved this:
By the way Pam, I think about you dying sometimes in horrific ways, and I can’t breathe for a little while and I think that if something happened to you I would die like immediately.
Yeah, that's Jim. Your switching of perspectives is great. Also loved this:
"I'm afraid of losing my job."
"I'm afraid of keeping mine forever."
Author's Response: Okay, so I\'m terribly late in responding, which is unexcusible, but thank you! I\'m a huge fan of yours so this means a lot! I\'m glad you liked it!
First fic, eh? It's very good. Loved this:
By the way Pam, I think about you dying sometimes in horrific ways, and I can’t breathe for a little while and I think that if something happened to you I would die like immediately.
Yeah, that's Jim. Your switching of perspectives is great. Also loved this:
"I'm afraid of losing my job."
"I'm afraid of keeping mine forever."
8 This was great! Insightful and well written and a good glimpse into Angela's mind and motivations. Great characterizations of her attraction to and admiration for Dwight but also how Andy is basically a good person. In a world of Jam, this was a great alternative flavor.
Author's Response: Thanks! I\'m so glad you enjoyed it. Getting into Angela\'s mind was so tricky because I don\'t think I\'m anything like her but I find her very compelling.
8 Loved, loved this line:
Not surprisingly, he bleeds everywhere, all over her, and she sits on the floor in the hall, crying, simultaneously missing him and wishing he'd disappear.
This is a beautiful story, excellent emotions and imagery...really well done.
Author's Response: thank you! so full disclosure: in college i traveled abroad for 3 months and being away from my girlfriend for that long was... really really hard. of course, years later, we barely remember what that was like, but i was able to muster up some of those feelings, and to me, it can sometimes feel like hate and love rolled into one. the feeling of: i miss you wholly but i'd be happy not to see you ever again. very confusing. thanks for your feedback!
Beautifully done, like everything you write. Loved the way they just bring it up in the morning, each knowing what the other is thinking. This was perfect and very real:
'Marry me,’ he finally said, so simply and earnestly that her heart felt like a hot water balloon bursting in her chest. ‘Just, please. Say you will.'
We can't get enough of these little scenes, so I'm glad you were struck with inspiration!
Author's Response: Exactly - I wanted it to be clear they were intuitively on the same page - no need for lengthy 'explanations.' And I'm thrilled if this seemed 'real' to you...thanks so much for your generous comments, callisto!
BA, I feel like I'm back in London reading this. :)
Author's Response: callisto! I really appreciate you leaving me a review, thank you so much. However, and not that I would wish to deter you from doing so again…but, don’t you have some writing of your own to be getting on with…a brand spanking new chapter of Spectrum maybe? :) Cheers, BAx \r\n
Jim knows why he dates Karen.There's a lot I like about this story. Excellent characterizations, for one. The charm motif serves as a great parallel. And, of course, a lot of great phrases. A couple that caught my eye:
Karen smiled that close-mouthed smile again, the one that made him nervous because it seemed just an inch predatory or possessive.
He wasn’t aware there was this much sexual tension between them. Did Karen think there was?
She goes behind her desk, almost sauntering – oh wow, that’s for my benefit – Jim’s amazed for about the millionth time, and has to think of Michael’s coffee breath to stop himself from getting very, very hard at his desk, where he can see Dwight in his peripheral vision, for God’s sake.
Nice work. :)
The first week is the longest. A visit.
Colette, I absolutely love your style. Everything you write is so vivid and gorgeous and perfectly phrased. There are really too many great lines to cite them all but these stood out particularly:
For the first time, he allows himself to give in to the full brunt of missing her, of anticipating weeks of missing her.
It’s been a long, lonely, sleepless, can’t concentrate, fuck I need to touch her week.
And I loved this description of the city heat:
It feels thick and liquid, like moving through hot viscous soup.
Isn't THAT just spot-on for NY in the summer!
I eager await Pam's additional "details"!
Author's Response: Ah yes, city heat...am I insane that I've always liked NYC in the summer, lol? Anyway, I really appreciate your kind review, callisto - thank you so much!
As always, beautifully written, sweet, funny, and really vivid. Lots of great lines, of course. I love how the a/c makes it not really cool per se, just less hellish, and how awkward Pam feels explaining her ring being on a chain.
That said...it's over?! Say it ain't so! :)
Author's Response: I love 'vivid.' And reading your wonderful comments. Thanks so much, callisto. But, yeah...it's so. This fic was just conceived as taking place during that first evening. But there may be other Brooklyn fics - Fort Greene is an inspiring place, lol ;-)