Almost-happy endings. And a few happy ones, too.
10 I'm reviewing here, too. Even though I just reviewed on lj. Because you're awesome and this fic pretty much blows me away.
A series of related drabbles that begin prior to The Merger and continue on from there.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.I love all of these so much. And I love almost all of the songs you've used so far. Can't wait for the rest.
10 This was beautiful. Especially this line, "Loves her still, with no illusions." That's pretty much exactly what I see Jim's state of mind as right now. And also that last line. Oh.
Sorry a tree fell on your car. That sucks. A tree fell on our house once and it was not cool. But at least some amazing fic came from it, right?
10 This seems really interesting and it's extremely well written. I really love your use of language in this and how it all just flows so well. With lines like, "Television and radio urge calm and patience, parroting phrases speakers sqawk as tanks rumble by." Just really, really amazing. I hope you continue this.
Author's Response: Thanks very much; I really appreciate the support - given the fact that I love your use of language, it means a lot.
Okay. So this might be the most perfect dialogue to ever occur between Pam and Jim in post season two finale fic:
"Your boat sunk."
"But look -- You're still afloat."
So amazing. I read it and just thought, "YESSSS. Exactly." This whole fic was just so perfectly in character and beautifully written.
10 Every line of this was so amazingly in character. This line is pretty much the most perfect way to describe Michael: "...and in the absence of people he feels strangely listless..."
And there's so much subtlety in this, too. The little details like Jim going all in on a bad hand in online poker. Or Jan moving out of the way for the cleaning lady. Just all of these little things that add so much depth to each vignette.
Great job.
The third in a series of themed stories, to fill out Color Wheel and Language Barrier.
10 This was so amazing. You've captured that Jim/Pam balance of playfulness and tension so well in each of these.
And the subtle way you work in the weather is fantastic. Like in the chapter called Hurricane, it just felt that way. Pam and Jim's interaction felt like they were sort of like blown over houses or trees or something, trying to pull themselves back up, back together. And I think you only use the word "hurricane" once in the entire chapter, but they way you wrote it really created that sense of being in the aftermath of a storm, that tense stillness, you know?
And this: "The parking lot doesn't count, because it's pretty amazing to make her come ten feet from where she'd said I can't. It turns out she can." Oh, man. Brilliant.
And I'm such a sucker for cute Pam/Jim proposals like this. They make me feel all warm inside.
I love this review because I can tell that you were actually paying attention to the subtext, which is more of a compliment to me than "amazing". I'm glad you liked the line about the parking lot. It popped into my head while washing dishes and I just had to include it.
Thanks for taking the time.
Aw. This was so adorable. I'm usually wary of IM fics, but this was so in character and cute. What a way to wake up this morning. Thanks.
Per nomadshan's planting the irresistible notion in my head of writing an Out of Control Jim story (along with encouragement from other posters at TWoP - you know who you are).... This is an exploration of what could happen if (when?) Jim and Pam were pushed to the point of losing all control.
Yes. Because, really, how can Jim not be mad? I would be so incredibly frustrated and angry with Pam at this point if I were him. With her still trying to act as if nothing ever happened and her "we'll always be friends" slap in the face and her reluctance, her inability to just take a step forward and take initiative and do something, say something. And I think Jim is feeling bitter and wants her to hurt a little bit, because he's suffered so much and she still just expects him to be there to make her laugh and smile and-
Okay. Enough rambling on about that. What I'm saying is that, yes. I'm looking forward to the rest of this a lot. Angry, angsty, dark Jim is amazing. And I'm glad to see fic sprout from that face he makes after she says, "Good to have you back." So good.
I'm so sickeningly in love with this story. Drunk, scruffy, angry Jim! Oh. So hot and cathartic and painful all at once. Well done.
Eventually someone will catch on that she goes with him on all of his big sales calls. Slightly AU, slightly wishful thinking.
Oh, man. Loved this. Like a lot. Because I'm a lot turned on by the new in charge manager Jim. The cold open of this week's episode with him leading that meeting? I mean, it was sort of hot with the way he was holding his pen and sitting at the head of the table and-
The point is, that YES. You've written Pam so perfectly in this and I loved this: "But sometimes she'll look down, only to find her own hair twirled around her finger."
Oh, Jim...
SORT of hot? That cold open has ruined me for life.
Thanks for your review, unfold! I'm glad you liked this and that I'm not the only one who thinks Jim in charge is the hottest thing ever.
Jim and Pam. Tropical elopement. You do the math. I'm so in love with this story. In the midst of all this season three angst, this is exactly what I need. I love the tropical setting and the dialogue and everything. Looking forward to the wedding!
Author's Response: Thank you so much, unfold!
Jim and Pam share a dance and reminisce a little. Pure speculation - no real spoilers. And just a word of warning. If it were any fluffier, it'd be made of spun sugar.
This is- I think I cry more at fluff fic that at angsty fic, because it's so happy and perfect and I get sad that it isn't this way on the show. But this was so cute and wonderful. Sigh. Thanks.
Author's Response:
You know - I think I do too. When you read something angsty your prepared for the emotions to hit you but fluff can be sneaky like that.
Cute was exactly what I was striving for. That you think it was also wonderful is a bonus. Thanks so much!
Oh, man. How did you know I wanted more Pam femslash? Wonderful. I love Karen and Pam and I loved this line, "He is the bridge between you," because YES. I can so see their relationship being strangely strengthened by their mutual love for Jim. And, just, yes. Thank you.
Author's Response: Thank you! Glad to be of service. :)
The rain outside is drumming on the roof of her car and she loves it, hates it, doesn’t understand what’s happening but god, it feels good to do something unexpected.This is so wonderful. I love these images:
...he used the caulk of his presence to keep the wind from whistling through her cracks.
..like paint over flaked bits of plaster.
Pam's loneliness in the first bit is so palpable and vivid. Kudos.
In the end, it doesn't happen at a wedding.
10 You had to post right as I'm supposed to be heading out the door. But, seriously. Just the image of Pam in the middle of the aisle with forks scattered around her feet was so heartbreaking and- something else that I can't really name, but it made me hold my breath then. And just everything about this is so amazing. Their conversation in the back room is perfection.
Oh! Also, this: "...and he knows without having to be too close that the forks are nested snug against one another..." I don't even know how to describe how much I loved this line, because- just because.
You're amazing, is what I'm trying to say.
Jim's basketball game with the C.F.O. (not his actual initials) gets interrupted with news from what happened at Poor Richard's; he reacts accordingly.
This was just- I don't know how to explain the feeling I had at the end of this chapter. It just felt like a period, you know? The end of a sentence, because this new sentence is going to start now.
And I could feel the journey and the struggle that they've gone through to get to this point. It wasn't explicitly talked about or said or anything, but there was just this feeling to the scene in his kitchen, like this unheard echo of years gone by, of their history together, of all the things that got them to this moment. It was natural, it was real.
And I know I'm not explaining this very well, but it was just- LAFjasf. Beautiful and wonderful and it made me all teary eyed and you could end it here and it would be so amazing, but I'm not going to complain if you want to give us steam/smut. So.
Also, moving underwater? Yes. I don't know that there is a better metaphor for Jim's time in Stamford.
I tell you, unfold, even your reviews are beautifully written. :o) It means a lot that you say you got the sense of their history ("this unheard echo of years gone by" - god, what a beautiful phrase!), because that's what I was going for. Much of what makes these two so amazing, IMO, is the depth of their history and the things they've been through.
THanks for reviewing!
This story makes me ridiculously happy. I just thought you should know. :)
From denial to acceptance. Takes place after Boys and Girls, and written off a prompt from unfold.
I just want to reiterate how much I love this. Because I really really do. YAY.
Before, during, after (peas, waffles.) Post-Cocktails...but no fighting.10 *dies a million times* This made me feel all fluttery.
The whole thing was so quiet and honest. And you remain so true to the characters. The hesitant, but trying to be bold way that Pam does all these things was so spot on. It all felt so intimate and close and and- When she climbed into bed with him, oh.
And then the scene in the kitchen, their conversation, Jim's, "Just you and me."
Sigh. Just really, really amazing.
In the end, it is never, never giving up.
[Post Cocktails]
10 There's so much emotion in this that it was almost overwhelming. And there are so many lines that I want to quote back to you and say are brilliant, but. I'll just do this one, because it was the first I immediately loved: "She doesn’t think about Jim again that morning, except for when she makes tea, and takes a shower, and brushes her teeth, and chooses her outfit." Because, YES. It's so much exactly like that.
And her fear of him going out when she isn't around and Roy hurting him then was so palpable and wonderful.
And then the whole break room scene. With them against the vending machine and everything. The whole image of him laughing against her shoulder and neck because he accidentally pressed the buttons is so in character and so intimate and just so good.
So you should definitely do one for every day of the week. That would be fun.
Michael decides to take his sales dream team on a little trip and pulls Pam along for the ride. Spoilers through Cocktails.OMG. Ryan and Pam. Siiiggghhh. I love this dynamic you've created between them and the post shower sex and him kissing her on the forehead and Kelly not leaving him any messages.
Also, I meant to say earlier that I absolutely love love love how you're titling these chapters. It's brilliant and they're all so fitting and it makes me happy.
10 So my initial review for this chapter was short. Because I read this the first time on my phone and I left the review while sitting in class before it started so I didn't have much time. So then I started this livejournal post where I was fangirling over it and stuff and decided it would better to just leave it as a review for you.:)
Ryan made me cry. Well, not. Because I was sitting in the Cove (my school's little eating place type deal) reading it. But I had to like lean forward and put my hand on my forehead to sort of shield myself because I was sure I had this look on my face like I was on the verge of sobbing. Because I was. And I find myself holding my breath a lot during this story. The first part with Jim and Pam having lunch together. It was just so- After such a long stretch of time with neither of them saying anything outright, it made me go, "<i>Oh.</i>" You know? And then when he's just suddenly on her side of the booth, kissing her. It felt natural and right but not at all.
And I looooove Pam for being bitter about how Jim is trying to go about this. How he asks her to tell him to break up with Karen and she's not going to give him that, because he needs to do it on his own. And how much it hurt to realize that he hadn't already broken up with her and how much of an asshole thing that is to do to both Karen and Pam. But it's also such a Jim thing to do. To not say anything unless he has something behind him to catch him when it goes wrong, you know?
And Ryan saying, "I'm not Jim...Which means that I’m not moving to another state, and I’m not going to go out and find some replacement girlfriend. I’m not giving up on this. I just wanted you to know that so that if you decide to stop running from it you’ll know that the door is open." How on the boat, it seemed like the whole thing was just drunken, reckless fun, but it wasn't really that to him at all. It was something else. And I just get this sense of discovery here. Like they're both discovering this person they thought was something else, but really isn't at all. Ryan didn't really know who Pam was at all before the cruise and now he does and he's seeing both her blatant faults and the better qualities of her and- I mean, he wants that. He wants her. And it gives me this feeling I can't really explain.
Also, something about Ryan calling her while she was on that double date made me giddy and excited. I'm not sure why.
I'm sad there's only one more chapter, but I guess it had to end sometimes. :( And I'm not sure how this is going to end up, but I'm sure I'll be happy with however you choose to end it.
GOD. I have no words. Ryan is so- And Jim. And. Sighhhh. I love this story so much.