#gemma olsen

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Poedit Cut/Unused Content: Cub Reporter

I can't remember if I was looking for more context into Arthur's "two week vacation" or if I was just in the neighborhood because all my homies love Gemma Olsen (and also Buster and Gordo), but in either event, I went through and dug up a buncha "Cub Reporter" stuff.

"Cub Reporter" is fairly significant in the plot and so obviously underwent a lot of revisions. The lines don't all follow in order, some entries seem to have actually been removed, and the quest originally also seemed to cover "Start Spreading the News" so I'm just gonna dump the whole thing and highlight the stuff I think is interesting.

It starts with Mrs. Oliphant.

000 Curiouser and Curiouser.

001 Arthur! Arthur Hastings!

003 You're the one who was taking all that Joy towards the end.

004 Oddest thing. I had one. He just went on holiday.

007 Where did you go? When you disappeared for two weeks? Did you ever put it together?

009 Arthur, nothing I'd love better than to give you a new press pass. But I have to know that you're ... managing better.

010 Look... there's all sorts of silly rumours coming out of the tunnels. Gas leaks, water main breaks, maintenance workers at the pub instead of their posts. If that was all true, Wellington Wells would be about to fall apart.

011 If you could go down there and let me know ... I'm sure it's all fine down there ... let me know it's all okay ... then you've got your old job back.

013 Yes, of course. That would be brilliant. But first, the tunnels. Show me you're as good as you used to be. Then I'll send you to Uskglass with a press pass. Agreed?

014c My old office! That was fun, being a reporter.

014d I used to have an Adulator, didn't I! Kept me from getting in trouble with crowds!

014e If I could get my old job back, I'd get my Adulator back. That could come in handy!

014f Who's going to let me upstairs?

014f Receptionist is out for coffee. Typical. How am I supposed to get upstairs, then?

014g Huh. I bet if I got the coffee machine working, they'd all head off to the kitchen for a nice cup of joe.

014h We just have to have faith, that's all. She'll come back with the coffee. We just have to pray she will.

014i I can't stand tea! I must have coffee!

014j If someone would just have a bloody wedding, then I could get a cup of coffee!

014k A lady just can't go without coffee these days, it's unthinkable!

014l If I don't get some coffee soon, I'm going to shoot somebody.

014m I've a sneaking suspicion that they want some coffee.

014n Excuse me, the door upstairs is locked...

014o Pardon me, do you think someone could let me upstairs?

014p Unless it's the Second Coming, I can't be bothered!

014q Not now, I'm running just to keep up!

014r Just like my sisters, always pester pester pester!

014s Let's see if I can get Mrs. Oliphant to give me my old job back. And my old press pass.

015 Arthur! I thought you'd gone ... well, you're here, so I suppose you're all right after all!

015a How rude! Can't you see I'm working!

016 Old place hasn't changed at all, has it?

016a If you don't stop pestering me, I'll murder someone! I swear I will!

017 Where did you go? When you disappeared for two weeks? Did you ever remember?

018 I must have had too lovely a time. Hah hah.

019 I was hoping you could use a reporter.

020 I'm afraid I've got a half dozen of them. Bloody useless, the lot of them. I've got six pieces on my desk, all about the new flavour of Joy. Can you imagine, it's coconut.

021 Didn't Dr. Verloc make that announcement ... some time ago?

022 Oh, I wish I had a spare press pass for you.

023 Gemma wanted to do a piece on him. I hope she hasn't fallen in a hole somewhere. I haven't seen her in days.

024 It's bloody frustrating, too. There's all sorts of ... silly rumours about the tunnels under Wellington Wells. Gas leaks, water main breaks, maintenance workers at the pub instead of their posts. If that were all true, Wellington Wells would be about to fall apart. I asked her to do a story about it.

024a It's bloody frustrating, too. There's all sorts of silly rumours about gas leaks and whatnot down in the tunnels. As if Wellington Wells was about to fall apart. So I asked her to write a story about the tunnel workers and how they keep themselves entertained. You know, with the art, and the singing.

025 Oh. Well. I'm sure she'll turn up, and everything will be peachy.

026 I'm sure it will. Lovely to see you, Arthur! Drop by any time.

027 Gemma was a real reporter. Always digging up interesting stuff, from what I can remember. I wonder why she hasn't come back? Maybe I should poke around her desk?

028 Hmmmm. Where does she keep her notes?

028a It's in some sort of code. Huh. I don't think that's Gemma's handwriting.

028b How do I read it?

028c If I read it top to bottom then right to left… “Verloc's looking for a permanent solution.” Oh, that's not ominous at all. Solution to what?”

028d That's Gemma!

028e Should I try to rescue her? No, it's too dangerous!

028f Where are they taking her?

028g Why did they take her? She sounds quite sane!

028h Did she know too much? About what?

028i Looks like I've got another reason to go to Haworth Labs. And a really good reason not to get caught there.

028j Toxic fog...?

028k Electrocutions...

028l Cyanide?

028m If I finish Gemma's investigations, Mrs. Oliphant would have to give me back my old job. And then I'd have a press pass.

029 Maybe I should see what's become of old Gemma.

030 Sorry, Arthur! Terribly busy right now!

030a I probably shouldn't bother her until I've got the goods on Gemma's investigation.

Did you know there's a character limit per "block" of bulleted points? 4096! The more you know.

031 Terribly busy, what is it?

032 Gemma's been taken away. I saw two doctors shove her into a Popper.

033 Oh my goodness. Why?

034 She was digging into the tunnels. That didn't come out right. I followed up. The whole underground is sort of falling apart.

035 Oh my.

036 That's why you sent her, wasn't it? Not to write about the Tunnel Rats.

037 I certainly couldn't print a story like that, could I?

038 The Joy's gone bad. And Dr. Verloc knows. But he's telling them not to worry, he's got some sort of permanent solution.

039 That doesn't sound ominous at all.

040 That's sort of exactly what I thought...

041 If I had a press pass, I could get into Haworth Labs.

042 After what happened to Gemma? Dr. Verloc -- he's sort of his own law there.

043 I have some ... personal business there.

044 If I'm ... not here when you get back. If you've found something out ... see if you can't publish it. Those numpties out there know how to put the ink on the page, but the only articles they ever read are their own.

045 You're getting out? How?

046 Oh, I wouldn't even know how to get out. But you never know when I might stop printing lies. And they won't like that.

047 Maybe I should drop in on Gemma at home. If she's really vanished, then maybe I can get my old job back.

047 My god, it's all boarded up! What happened?

048 That's coming from Gemma's house! That's a bit awkward.

049 I'm not getting in that way.

050 Just here to read the meter!

051 I guess someone noticed she's not been around and decided to rob the place.

052 I better turn that alarm off. I'm going to need time to figure out what happened to Gemma.

053 ARE YOU GOING TO TURN THAT FUCKING ALARM OFF?

054 Shit.

055 YOU BETTER NOT BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER TRAIN SET UP THERE!

056 I SWEAR BY ALL THAT IS HOLY, IF I FIND ONE TOY TRAIN IN YOUR SWAG BAG, I'M GOING TO KNOCK YOUR LAST TOOTH DOWN YOUR THROAT!

057 GORDO! TURN THAT FUCKING THING OFF AND COME BACK DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW.

058 If the alarm's upstairs, I'm going to have to get past Mr. Shouty here.

059 Who the fuck are you?

060 I live here.

061 Love what you've done with the place.

062 What the fuck?

063 Fucking ears are playing tricks.

064 Who's there?

065 Fucking ghosts?

066 My ears should recover in a few days.

067 NO I WILL NOT KEEP MY VOICE DOWN!

068 I AM A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN!

069 I AM NOT UPSET! I'M HAPPY AS A CLAM! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TOUCH ME!

070 I'M A REPORTER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TOUCH ME!

071 YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL I'VE TAKEN MY JOY!

072 YOU CAN'T TAKE ME AWAY I'M NOT SICK! OR UNHAPPY!

073 HELP! POLICE! HELP! SOMEONE STOP THEM!

074 Christ. More of them. You used to have to wait to see a doctor!

075 Gemma! I would never have pictured it! ... I'm not sure I actually want to, come to think of it.

076 Should we just take everything?

077 I don't think Dr. V would like that. The constabulary might notice.

078 I don't see anything talking about Dr. V here. Where's her study?

079 I thought vampires had to be invited in.

080 Downer!

081 That ought to buy me some time.

082 Open up in there!

083 Who are you?

084 Come out! We're friends of Gemma!

085 She needs our help!

086 Will you look at that! You've been a busy girl, haven't you, Gemma.

087 I think I've found everything. Doesn't look like she found all the answers yet.

088 I guess I'd better go see what's going on in this Motilene Regulation Unit. Maybe the answer is there.

089 And my old Adulator, if you've still got it.

090 Great. I've got all my press stuff back. That ought to be handy. You can show up all sorts of places regular people shouldn't go.

091 I'll have to break in somehow.

091a Maybe I can find some answers inside, if I can get in somehow.

092 Someone's ransacked the place. I hope Mrs. Oliphant got away.

093 You mustn't go around publishing the truth. What will people think?

094 Is that ... some sort of secret door? How do I open it?

094a Odd bit of wall. Doesn't look like the rest.

095 Doesn't look like it takes a key. I wonder if she got Dr. Faraday to make one of those clever puzzles for her. They were chums back in school.

096 So this is where she published the Unpleasant Issue.

To summarize:

Arthur apparently was taking a LOT of Joy before he disappeared, such that Mrs. Oliphant noticed and originally she would be reluctant to reinstate him because of this. She doesn't seem to consider this a concern in the final cut so this detail might be genuinely cut rather than disused.

There seems to have been a bit of a switch between Arthur giving warning signs and his having left the paper with no warning at all. No warning at all seems to be the one decided on.

Orrrr it might have been that his two week holiday and the end of his career as a reporter are not exactly the same event.

Does the Adulator work on more than one NPC at a time? I don't know, I know what I'm doing so I never have to use it.

"Should I try to save Gemma? Ehhh, nah."

Arthur's line about having two reasons to go to Haworth Labs kinda implies that Gemma was originally taken there rather than Wellington Health as she is in the game. Or at least that he assumes that's where she would be taken.

My boy Buster had more lines for yelling at Gordo and you apparently could have snuck past him in an older iteration of the quest, but he could also hear you.

Margaret's cat puzzle office might have been designed by Dr. Faraday, with whom she was old school friends. Loooove that for them. Also, noting now that she calls her staff a bunch of "numpties" in Faraday's fashion.

In the final cut, Margaret did not actually succeed in printing the Unpleasant Issue since it's not mentioned and her secret room has not been discovered, but she must have done so in an earlier draft of the quest.

[unsymptotally]

In 1959, Bea Porter-Blanchet is promoted to the City Desk at the Hamlyn "O" Courant, a welcome change of pace from the dreary attic offices of the copywriters. In fact, she's gotten quite friendly with fellow staff reporters Gemma Olsen and Arthur Hastings. While she juggles her new workplace friendships (and not-so-friendships) she must distract from an increasingly pressing issue that'll require coming to terms with past regrets.

Currently under construction! I'm not happy with my writing and so it's currently under a state of revision (up through chapter 6 of 21, so far 😅) but if you enjoy office trivialities and eventual spycraft, consider giving it a read!

[weincorrectfew]

Verloc: I hope my doctors treated you well?

Gemma: Oh yeah, I love being kidnapped and drugged.

Verloc: Oh. Good! That was my idea.

[whflibrary]

hamlyn village - newspaper office!!

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Gemma Olsen?

Gemma, Gemma, Gemma!

Everyone always says they want Prudence DLC, but why would you want that when you could have Gemma DLC?

We only actually see Gemma for this brief moment, but her impact on the story is immense.

I will admit that on my first few playthroughs, though, Gemma's storyline was confusing to me. As it was, I thought these Doctors were taking her to Haworth Labs. They seem to work for Dr. Verloc to judge by the dialogue in Gemma's living room after this scene so that would make sense. However, we later learn that she was actually taken to Wellington Health. The actual order of events is that Gemma has escaped from Haworth Labs and just now returned to her home to find these Doctors waiting to whisk her away to Wellington Health.

Arthur has a cut line implying that Gemma was being taken to Haworth Labs (although he'd have no way to know that):

028i Looks like I've got another reason to go to Haworth Labs. And a really good reason not to get caught there.

That the final cut of the game has her going to Wellington Health instead I think also contributes to the popular but unsubstantiated idea that the rivalry between Wellington Health and Haworth Labs is anything more than a clash of personalities. Even still, the two organizations do seem to be somewhat cooperative in this case, leadership disagreements or not.

As for Gemma's relationship with her organization's leadership, it seems quite friendly. Gemma refers to Margaret as "Chief", Margaret's memos are casual and even playful (referring to herself as "headmistress" while gently chiding Gemma for taking too long to deliver her article on the Tunnel Rats), although she also expresses worry. From what she says to Arthur, Gemma's her only reporter that's worth any kind of damn.

Howeveur...

Margaret is also not entirely forthcoming with Gemma about her intentions. She sends Gemma to the Motilene HQ on the pretense of writing an(other, according to Peter Thump) puff piece on the arts and (sub)culture, but with a vague appended notion to look into rumors about leaks in the pipes.

It's difficult to say how much of that is Margaret just giving Gemma a subtle prod in a direction or if it's understood by both of them that this is really what Margaret wants to know about. Because for as much as Gemma loves to know things she's not supposed to, she also recognizes that none of this can be published and wonders how much she should tell Margaret... while it is, in fact, Margaret's secret plan to publish it.

You what though? Margaret gives Gemma this assignment on September 23rd, 1964, but Gemma checks into Haworth Labs Personalized Care Program on September 2nd. But she'd have actually had to have followed though on the Motilene HQ assignment to have all those notes about it and be telling her caretakers that the town is about to collapse.

A discrepancy in this game? No!

A couple things our patient notes tell us:

Gemma has a mother still kicking about. Probably? Possible this is a Coconut delusion or a misremembrance from her previous Joy use. Her house shows no indication that her mother lives with her. A mother probably wouldn't let you leave your work (with Downer shit in it) everywhere, tack up conspiracy boards all over the walls, and put typewriters in every room. Including the bathroom.

I do like to think, though, that the Crier that lives on the top floor of Thomasina House in Arthur's act is Gemma's mother.

And it's flown right out of my head.

By George, I think I've got it!

I don't know why you encouraged me, I'm rubbish at it.

I don't suppose you've got any ideas.

If I just had some inspiration.

If only you could just be a writer.

Is that a cliché?

It came easy to you, didn't it?

"It's easy, isn't it? You just sit down at your desk and open up a vein."

No wonder I can't write anything, look at this sink.

Nothing gets you ready to write like a little cleaning.

Out damn spot! Out, I say!

Shit you might say if someone close to you was a successful writer and encouraged you to try too because they love you and maybe you're old and should get a hobby.

The other thing of note here is that Gemma attempts to seduce one of her caretakers to bribe him to let her out. That could be an act of desperation, but given the playful nature of her own notes to herself and that the staff has also noted her as being manipulative and a saboteur? Spy shit! Love that for her.

Regrettable that we never see her plying these wiles firsthand. But if you wanted to suppose about it, there's plausible options.

For one thing, Gemma's got quite a few of William Godwin's seditious flyers on her study's conspiracy board. Surely then she attended one of his rallies. That's follow-up on a lead. Unfortunately, William's activities are simply one piece of the disjointed tapestry of shit going on around Wellington Wells. Remember when I said Gemma didn't have the whole picture and was trying to fit in pieces that were not part of the Verloc puzzle? You have access to William before you get to Gemma's house so that's another clue for you that she's got some red herrings in her theory.

Gemma also spent a lot of time in the partitioned company of Harry Haworth.

The cut lines I found the other day indicate that Harry, though apparently still obsessed with his phrenology, was mostly sane and salient. Yeah, he's sixty-four, but why not? What else has she got goin' on?

I suppose that means that the first patient who needs you to clap or she'll die could be Gemma rather than Vanessa, although I think Arthur would have a line about it if she was.

One last thing that I think people miss about Gemma is that she must be some sort of handy. She has a workbench in her greenhouse.

And there's Mechanical Bits in her hidden go bag.

Because that is what this is. This is why she came back to her home.

This bug out kit includes:

Mechanical Bits (for crafting Disposable Safe Crackers, Electro-Lock Shockers, Music Boxes, Polarity Devices, or Shortspikes - any of which would be particularly useful to Gemma)

Scotch (for bribing Constables)

Intimidator (a skill book on self-defense that she probably should have read beforehand)

And in her suitcase: 15 Sovereigns, a Rubber Cat Suit, a Tickler, and an invitation to the Reform Club.

Sally will soliloquize that the Reform Club could have helped her:

I almost miss going to the Reform Club. I bet some of them could help. And they never ask awkward questions. But I'd have to be Naughty Nurse again, and I'm just not that.

Well, apparently Gemma didn't let a tiny thing like giving a little slap and tickle stand in the way of her freedom (although that she has a Tickler suggests she's not into the punishment aspect). Whatever it is that they do at the Reform Club, Gemma apparently knew about it and intended to use it as her escape plan in case she got in too deep. Unfortunately she was intercepted before she could get to it.

As to what happened to her beyond that? We have the Doctors in Wellington Health's statement that she was "kept for observation" and this particularly grim scene in the Intake Evaluation room:

Although I have to think whatever Intimidator tactics you are applying are not as intimidating if you have to look them up mid-interrogation.

If you're an optimist though, I've got this for you:

The administration offices of Wellington Health's school have been converted into patient cells since they apparently can't find anyone to teach anymore. But the last one, Admissions, is empty. I mean, she escaped from Haworth Labs too. Possible that a handy Gemma scoured this room for materials and fashioned an escape from this room too.

She does write in cursive usually, but she has been known to do an all caps for emphasis. "BUT DO THEY EVER RETURN???" indeed.

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Prudence Holmes?

So Prudence's story should be serving a pretty crucial point to the narrative, but it gets impeded by design flaws and glitches. People also get hung up on the "mystery" of Mr. Kite and disregard how Prudence's escape connects to the rest of the story.

The most glaring problem for understanding Prudence's story is that Prudence's body in the tunnels suffers from a glitch in that game that will sometimes fail to spawn narrative-triggered corpses. The same thing will happen with Bobby Hickinbotham, for example. He should be passed out on the couch when you arrive at the Reform Club, but sometimes, all you find are his things strewn about. Lucky you don't have to search him to get the ID card you need!

Same thing happens with Prudence when you get to the motilene mines. And if you're the sort of player who isn't paying rapt attention when Arthur comments on it anyway and connects that to the ongoing plot about her, you may then never find out what happens to Prudence.

And that's assuming that you have been dutifully answering the telephones in the Garden District every morning and are invested in that. Which one may very well not be. I play quite efficiently these days, but I think even most new players do not spend enough time in the Garden District to be there on ten separate mornings to answer the phone ten times.

I do wonder if the quest "An Awkward Courtship", in which you're asked to return to the same Garden District set piece five nights in a row to eavesdrop on a couple meeting clandestinely, wasn't meant to sort of nudge the player into spending more time in Lud's Holm than they might have otherwise. If you look at it as trying to set the player up to be in the Garden District at dawn to answer the phone, then that quest seems a little less like a pointless time sink.

And all of this stems from the larger problem WHF has that the areas are so large and so samey unless you are in a set piece that one gets environment fatigue. So a player is probably wanting to get out of the Garden District as soon as possible, rather than linger about.

So they then also made it an achievement to listen to the phonecalls. A merit badge that Steam reports only 1.5% of players having collected. Welp. The generous thing to do would be to make your progress on the phones carry over to Sally's act, but I suspect we'd be asking quite a lot. (And then you'd miss Agent Sally the Super Spy's meandering and astute observation that it must be some sort of secret message.)

Speaking of environments, you're also supposed to be guessing at what the coded language in the calls means, but that's hard to do if you've never played the game before and don't know the landmarks or characters yet.

WHF is a game that very much benefits from multiple playthroughs, but let's be real, it's kind of a slog and most people do not complete it even the once. (High five it if you're here though, means you made it!)

But let's imagine a world in which all the information about Prudence that the player should have collected from those phonecalls is given to them in a way memorable and in the course of the average playthrough.

Like I said, people get hung up on the whole thing of who Mr. Kite is, but that's actually not important. It's okay for a plot element like Mr. Kite to be simply be without further explanation. You already know everything you need to know about him.

And actually, you already know everything you need to know about Prudence's escape too!

The important thing is that Gemma doesn't.

Prudence (and to a more obvious but muddy degree, Johnny Bolton) are your clues that Gemma does not have the entire picture of the situation on her conspiracy boards and is unknowingly trying to fit pieces of separate puzzles together. That she has Bolton, Prudence, and Harry Plantagenet all together means she suspects Verloc in all of their disappearances. By the time you're reading Gemma's boards, you could have met Bolton in Lud's Holm and know that he's alive and well-ish and even with all the impediments to Prudence's story, you probably picked up her journals in the Barrow Holm and Maidenholm hatches and would know that she left of her own accord and has been following Mr. Kite's path out of town. Prudence is the most reliable point that what Gemma has concluded is not the the actual facts, but merely supposition.

If - big if - you're following the phonecall stuff, you'd know Prudence is still kicking about and not locked in Haworth Labs.

Other Proodle thots:

Arthur was apparently smitten with her when they worked together at the Department of Archives, Printing and Recycling (such that Prudence even notes his making "googly eyes" in her journal), but does not recognize her voice on these phonecalls.

Which I personally elected to mean that it's not actually her or Mr. Kite on the phones and that when it's a message for them, it actually is. Prudence does mention coming back from the phonebooth herself in her journal, being chased by the bobbies she's electrocuted in the Maidenholm hatch, but bobbies are rarely seen in the Garden District, the only place in Wellington Wells with working phonebooths. She also writes that she's "leaving a message" when she needs to inform Mr. Kite that she needs a new shelter because the Maidenholm hatch smells like rotting corpse. She could be euphemistic in her own diary (it's par for the course in Wellington Wells to speak that way), but you could also interpret that literally as I do.

Prudence also says in her diary that Victoria always suspected a resistance movement plotting away, but that Mr. Kite says there isn't one. And I think that is the case. There are some disparate resistance actions happening in Wellington Wells (Mr. Kite's Underground Railroad, William Godwin's overt protests, Johnny Bolton's operations, whatever it is the Reform Club is doing) but none of them are organized. They don't know about each other and aren't working together.

Isn't it very interesting how Arthur more or less forgets all about his infatuation with Prudence the second Sally reenters his thoughts? He really only mentions Prudence when faced with her existence, when he's answering a phonecall.

I like to think that his two week "holiday" from the O' Courant and sudden move to civil service was related to his feelings for Sally. And that he ends up working under Victoria? The Ploughboys call him her "pet" and she does seems somewhat invested in him. She very likely took him under her wing so she could keep an eye on him and encouraged him to move on, chemically and otherwise, in any direction other than Sally. So maybe Arthur's attentions on Prudence were never really founded on anything other than that he already had those feelings but was willfully forgetting their actual subject and needed someone else to hang them on.

Which would be quite convenient for Victoria if it worked out. Much as everyone loves the idea of Victoria/Prudence, I have to think it was unrequited. Obviously Victoria would never act on those feelings if she had them, but what a character doesn't say is as important as what they do and not once in Victoria's DLC does she ever mention Prudence. She doesn't even remember Prudence's goodbye letter in her own recollection of her house.

[djangodurango]

sally boyle for the ask meme?

Gurrrrl.

My NOTP for them: Nick Lightbearer.

Seems obvious on the surface, but not likely in practice. Nick is famous in Wellington Wells in the same sort of way Sally is, but Sally only dates guys who can do something for her. He can't really do anything helpful to advance her career or even get her in a better position socially than she already is. My assumption is that before she works for Stewart Adams, she is one of Davy Hackney's models (hence all her "outrageous" looks) and she supplies her co-workers with her own homebrewed drugs as a sideline. Socially, being one of Nick's groupies (or even one his wives) isn't much better than just being one of Hackney's models and is probably a much larger hassle so it's a moot point as far as Sally's concerned. Plus, if you're dating him, you can't charge him for drugs. My BROTP for them: Dr. Faraday.

Sally seems to be the only person Dr. Faraday likes in any capacity. She speaks respectfully to Sally (compared to show she speaks to Arthur, Roger, and James) and doesn't seem to mind that Sally has come asking for something, even though Dr. Faraday faked her own death to avoid being asked for things. I rather think it would have been good for both of them to be better friends. My OTP for them: Herself.

Girl needs to be alone, be self-sufficient, and work! on! herself! My second choice pairing for them: gonna cop out and say herself again.

Sally's whole way of being is this idea that she can't do anything without the support of a man in some way. And yet there are so many examples of women in Wellington Wells who do exactly that. I've gotten into arguments before about how much the time period and misogyny influences the story, but We Happy Few is an alternate timeline in which everything (including qualified workers in nearly every sector) is at a shortage. There are opportunities for women to strike out on their own and to be self-sufficient. Sally just never sees them. Part of that is how she was raised; part of it is that - of the three main protagonists - she is the most resistant to self-reflection.

While I don't wish the story was different - because I think this facet of her character is what makes her interesting in this context - if she were a real person, I would wish for her to have been put in a situation where she was forced to be alone - genuinely alone - for a while and see that she could have been all along. As is, Gwen (though not a man) acts as the same sort of motivation and I think in the long run, Sally will still have problems with being on her own, even though we know she's capable. My fluffy pairing for them: Gemma Olsen.

Maybe not fluffy per se, but Gemma would have been an excellent influence on Sally. Gemma is clever, self-assured, plucky! And she lives and works alone! Gemma also benefits from not having this idea that she's not like other girls. Gemma is like other girls. She likes pink and wearing cute outfits and she gets along well with other women. She even gets along well enough with Sally to glean information from her that Sally doesn't even soliloquize to herself about. If Sally had someone like Gemma to look up to (Gemma is older than her, 41, so that's a point towards maybe the time period not mattering as much as it would in the real world), Sally could have seen that you could reconcile femininity and everything about it that Sally thinks of as a burden. Gemma doesn't see her femininity that way; to her, it's another tool in her toolbox.

Bonus fluff: William Godwin.

I think when he comes to her for his consultation (he would be #9), Sally elects to put him on Blackberry not because she feels compelled to as in most other cases, but because his determination and certainty that Wellington Wells can course correct if only they can be made to see what they're doing to themselves endears him to her. It's a gesture of hope on her part. Sally mentions many different but disparate people who could help her in her soliloquy lines, so it stands to reason that she is aware of various resistance movements or people who are at least open to the idea (but maybe not with a baby involved). I think she probably does try to help in that way, which is why she has so many subversives on her Blackberry list. My angsty pairing for them: Arthur.

Look, I know everyone loves the idea of these two ending up together, but they're a shitshow waiting to happen. They're both in love with the idea of each other and while they've both realized that folly in an academic sense, if they were to make a of go of it, I don't think they'd actually be able to think rationally about it in real time. They would constantly be disappointing each other and pissing each other off.

And there's just a matter of trust on both halves of the equation. Is Arthur ever going to be certain Sally's not flirting with someone better? Is Sally ever going to feel secure that Arthur won't cut and run when things get complicated?

On the other hand, old timey people put up with a lot more shit in a relationship than I would so ???

I guess I'll leave the avenue of grim hope open for you diehards. My favorite poly ship for them: I might have, as a joke, once goaded @harrturr to draw Sally, Dr. Faraday, and Victoria Byng as a ship. And then proposed that what was needed beyond that was Gemma trying to figure out what the three of them were up to. Lesbian sci-fi political thriller! Cool new genre! My weirdest pairing for them: Harry Haworth.

If Harry hadn't been the Joy-addled mess that he was when Sally took that tour, she likely would have set her sights on him and not Anton. And Harry probably would've been better for her, not unlike Stewart Adams but without the significant drawback of being married. He was already in the habit of hiring women for scientific work so we can make a relatively safe assumption that he's not a misogynist. And Sally, in her wheedling way that Anton apparently couldn't or chose not to attempt, might have been able to discourage Harry from his experiments with that phrenological device of his.

[inposterumcumgaudio]

What if Gemma's mother is the Crier you hear at the top of Thomasina House when you visit as Arthur, who wants to write but can't seem to do it? Gemma’s patient notes mention she asks after her mother’s well-being, so her mother is alive somewhere. Why not here?

And it's flown right out of my head.

By George, I think I've got it!

I don't know why you encouraged me, I'm rubbish at it.

I don't suppose you've got any ideas.

If I just had some inspiration.

If only you could just be a writer.

Is that a cliché?

It came easy to you, didn't it?

"It's easy, isn't it? You just sit down at your desk and open up a vein."

No wonder I can't write anything, look at this sink.

Nothing gets you ready to write like a little cleaning.

Out damn spot! Out, I say!

[whflibrary]

forgetful reporter - gemma’s flower paintings!!

[whflibrary]

haworth labs - patient observation notes!!

[whflibrary]

forgetful reporter - gemma’s smaller conspiracy board, part two!!       note: a large number of these likely apply to the people in the photographs they were linked to with string. that said, some of those files don’t actually show up on the board, so it’s effectively impossible to know which notes apply to which pictures.

[whflibrary]

forgetful reporter - gemma’s smaller conspiracy board, part one!!       note: a large number of these likely apply to the people in the photographs they were linked to with string. that said, some of those files don’t actually show up on the board, so it’s effectively impossible to know which notes apply to which pictures. 

[whflibrary]

forgetful reporter - gemma’s conspiracy board!!

[piixels]

Micah: Nice sideboob ya hussy 

[piixels]

I am Gemma when doing anything school related