Discussion post: Novel length -- The Domesticverse, part 2

[kate-the-reader.livejournal.com]

This second part of the discussion of gyzym's Domesticverse, Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home) includes parts 5, 7 and 8. We'll discuss part 6 in the rare pair week.
Part 5: pressed against the pending physics of my passed down last name
part 7: life long local foreigner, i
part 8: having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone

Once again, msbrightsidesh and I really enjoyed discussing these chapters, which are, if possible, even lovelier than the earlier ones.
SO MANY FEELS!

Comments

[kate-the-reader.livejournal.com]

I think it must come early in the series, within parts 2-4. Eames's uncertainty about Arthur's commitment is early days uncertainty. After Arthur starts paying the bills, but before the visit to Eames's mother. After that, I don't think he had any doubts about their long-term commitment.

[xynnia.livejournal.com]

But it can't be - because the progression of Yusuf and Ari's relationship doesn't fit, given the timeline that's been established in 'Take the long way home'. Because Eames says, "I see you two have progressed to the public affection stage", and at the end of 'Take the long way home' - which explicitly goes past Eames' father's death - Ari is only just realising that her feelings for Yusuf go beyond friendship. So it doesn't make sense for this to take place any earlier than that, chronologically.

It cuts me up, because I didn't see Arthur and Eames having trust issues on this scale after 'Having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone'. Yet I feel like this must take place after it. Technically I suppose it could take place between parts 6 and 7, but I don't know. With the exception of some ficlets, didn't gyzym basically write these in chronological order?

[kate-the-reader.livejournal.com]

Goodness, you're right about Yusuf and Ari. I focused on the mood between Arthur and Eames, and that seemed early days, to me.
Maybe gyzym realised it didn't fit the emotional chronology, and that's why she abandoned it and never posted it with the other bits when she moved stuff across to AO3?

[msbrightsidesh.livejournal.com]

Let's hope so, because that is just - no, that's just not cool. Maybe Arthur was thinking something entirely different, maybe he didn't want to be presumptous about their living arrangement when he first started taking care of their finances and then he just overlooked it because, as Eames points out in the father death fic, it's been a long time since Arthur has looked at their finances seperately. So maybe it doesn't even occur to Arthur to change anything. I think Eames is mostly upset about the allergie thing and then he starts doubting things he knows he shouldn't doubt to justify being angry at Arthur? I don't know, that just doesn't sit well with me AT ALL and who the hell is Aaaron??? Meh, no, just no, I'll go and read the New Year's fic again.

[kate-the-reader.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think you are right. The house mortgage is an oversight on Arthur's part, not deliberate. He thinks of their finances as one, he's forgotten it's not evenly divided. He'll be shocked if it's pointed out.

I do think gyzym was off on a tangent and maybe realised that Aaron was a red herring or something and that is why the story was abandoned.

I love the New Year vignette, with Arthur leaning back into Eames on the roof.

[xynnia.livejournal.com]

I agree with your theories, there; I was thinking along the same lines myself, without having really put it into words. With Arthur having treated their finances as one unit for so long, who's to say what's "his" money and Eames' any more? And maybe the mortgage payments are coming from one account, but other necessities like bills and insurance are coming from another account, so it's basically divided equally.

But to Eames, it looks like an escape route and has obviously kicked up some old fears and insecurities. And then when he finds out about Arthur's mango allergy (fun fact: I also have a friend who is allergic to mango!) it seems like Arthur is hiding yet another thing from him... *sighs and pats Eames on the head* You boys and your emotions.

One more thing struck me as odd when I read: when Eames is describing Arthur's reaction to Yusuf, he says, "just got up and stumbled his way into part of my bloody house he'd never so much as bothered to--"

Why "my house"? Why not our house? This threw me off when I read it, because I thought it somehow meant that Arthur and Eames were still living separately, or at least owned separate properties. I think the word choice was deliberate on gyzym's part, but it also seems a really odd way for Eames to describe a house which he clearly thinks of as both of theirs, because that's the whole point of his rant, after all...

(This is the danger of trying to analyse a WIP xD You can never tell what might have been changed if it were a polished final version)

[xynnia.livejournal.com]

...Or I could have just looked at the comments for the WIP dump, because gyzym actually explains Arthur's reasoning there xD To quote:

"Basically it was him just continuing to pay without thinking at first, and then at some point he was kind of like, oh, well, I should probably talk to Eames about this, but Eames hates paperwork, and it's not like it really matters since we both have enough money to buy the place, and anyway it's my credit score I'm maintaining, since Eames doesn't care about his, and oh, look, the water bill, I'll think about it later. And then he just...didn't."

So yeah, pretty much as we theorised. Although that's a pretty long time to "just... not" address something that's quite important xD And Arthur really should have known by now that not talking to Eames about it would lead to more problems...

[kate-the-reader.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm glad we theorised right. Maybe Arthur sort of forgot on purpose because he doesn't like talking about things like that?
Or he intended to, and he thought about doing it but he could never find the right moment and then he kept meaning to ... (In which this reader imposes her own way of operating onto Arthur — this is TOTALLY something I have done.)

[kate-the-reader.livejournal.com]

The "my house" point is interesting as hell. Eames clearly has thought of this house as his home for ages, since he started insinuating his stuff in in sort of stealth mode. Before Arthur thought of it as their joint home. Eames thought he avoid spooking Arthur by not discussing it, just making it an established reality.
But yeah, why refer to it as HIS house, not THEIR house?

Hahah, I love the fact that we are pondering the psychological motivation of a character in a long-abandoned WIP. Shows what a grip this verse has, how real it feels.