Hello!!! I anxiously write my absolute adoration for your fic! I apologise if this is messy in advanced-- Like-- 1) The powered rails fandom is low, and while I admittedly don't contribute myself, I got the hankering around the time the first part was nearly complete and was like. OMG THIS IS SO GOOD BRO?? THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR?? DANSE TAKING ON THE KNOWLEDGE HE IS WHAT HE WAS TAUGHT IS EVIL? DEACON BEING THE GUY TO SHOW UP? (Thanks sole <3) BOTH OF THEM PLAYING THE DISTANCE GAME? The emotions? The stakes? The build ups and threads all looping around another? PRESTON GARVY CAMEO?? Going fucking crazy I'm shaking your fic in my teeth like a rabid animal rn. 2) Love love love love your characterizations of them both. Allowing Deacon his lies and need for distance without compromising his ability to bond deeply with others even if he keeps it all in his head & allowing Danse his beliefs and strong morals whilst keeping how sweet, thoughtful, and competent he is in battle (funny how they both suck at social norms lol) is just so chefs kiss.
2.a) Love the additions of the relationships outside of another too? Deacon and his ties to (well... all over) ppl like Hancock and Nick even, at one point & Danse still thinking back to his BoS ex-comrades and Dr. Amari and even Glory is so freaking cool. Like, even the bits of Hancock and his brother, the Railroad members interacting with another, and the characters Deacon thinks back to from Switchboard/etc. are all so intriguing and build up really immersive reasons why certain characters act certain ways! Literally pacing with my whiteboard connecting shit together like. I WAS ONTO YOU HANCOCK I SWEAR BRO I KNEW BEFORE YOU SHOWED UP IN DIAMOND CITY I KN-- *I get dragged away by the Diamond City Guards*
3) Speaking of other characters?? OP?? OPPP??? My fav chapters gotta be the ones around the Great-Doctor-Get-Together arc :O I adored reading all the characters interacting?? Like when Nick and MacCready and Dr. Sun an even Hancock showed up I was like :O -> :D Love Robert and Nick's antagonistic/mentor/teasing relationship so damn much aiosjd. When he hit MacCready with 'Robert.' IT MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD AISDAJD Then I was like, sad, obviously, bc Danse's situation :( Also the scenes with Nick and either side of power rails were so freaking good too. Adore that synth, knocking some sense into everybody 😔 someone has to...
4) OF WHICH OP HOLYSHIT I LOVE THE MUTUAL ANGST BETWEEN DEEKS AN DANSE LIKE. THE WAY THEY BOTH WANNA REACH OUT SO BAD ONLY TO YANK THEMSELVES AWAY IS JUST SO CHEFS FUCKIGN KISS. Such amazing pay off in the new chapters (and don't get me wrong the way you write longing is absolutely PEAK. Like. Dessert for my heart.) with them actually talking (minus The Topics) and reassuring another while still in that sweet sweet transition period, still in their brains a little *too* much. Yummy yummy yummyyy.
4.a) I actually really look up to your ability to draw out emotional scenes? And not like in one sitting kinda way, more of having things be left unresolved, then speckling the ramifications throughout the following chapters, way! I love how you let characters think, let them misunderstand, let them stew and be direct and be indirect too. Actually 👉🏽👈🏽Studying your writing tbh. Lowkey got me practicing and focusing on character voice these last few :] Also trans Hancock. How did I never see it? I Am A Fool, And I Recognise This.</3 Loved the more casual reveal and Danse getting maybe made into the butt of the joke a little too ajssdj. He's so sweet man, so sweet.
5) THERES MORE BUT UHM. I AM GETTING NERVOUS THIS IS TOO LONG 😅😅 Thank you for sharing your writing and for all the inspiration and excitement I get when that email hits my inbox :D Have a good one (an apologies if this is a mess-- I hope the list format helps some)!
The first thing I gotta say so you know straight out is PLEEEASE do not apologise, your comment is beautiful and makes me incredibly happy, thank you. I specifically in my head was like 'this is a laptop comment' (as in, using my laptop for writing out a reply to you) (rather than using my phone) because I am a Millennial like that.
1 - I've been into this ship pretty much by my lonesome/not connecting with others until late last year when I saw @powered-rails and @please-do-not-perceive-me sharing and discussing content and I was SHOOK, lol. And I've had the draft of my fic percolating for years but had resigned myself to never sharing it until I saw there was current interest in the fandom online. I legit told myself 'it will get like 3 hits and zero kudos and no one will want to read it, it's too effing long'. But people have been so NICE and I feel blessed, honestly. I'm having great fun this is my true online/Tumblr era.
2 - Thank you <3 I know we all have our specific (but often highly overlapping) takes on the two core characters and I've spent about a decade thinking about mine and deciding and refining what I think makes them both tick. Until the point where now, I don't have to wonder about why they're doing what they're doing, just figure out how I want to best relay it to a reader. It's very fun. And I'm SO glad you like the supporting characters as well?!! I went to a lot of effort to get their voices right in my head and I try to have a whole world/background plot thing moving behind the scenes while the boys do their whole thing, occasionally breaking back into being the main plot at key places.
3 - Yesss I'm so glad, cos this was a highpoint of me writing the thing too and remains one of my favourite parts when reading back for editing. I also have no real medical knowledge myself (for physical health at least) but I love writing doctors, both Carrington and Amari are fave side characters of mine to write. And it's not like the game lore is super accurate with medical stuff anyways, so I try to not worry too much about it and just write what's interesting and fun (with injuries, surgeries, chems and Stims, and so on).
4 - It means so much to me that you've enjoyed so far the way their relationship is developing and the pacing it has taken - I'm also INCREDIBLY happy that you're picking up on what's being left hanging/unsaid/unresolved to build in the background over time, with the characters not being willing to say or even think it, or even misunderstanding their own motivations. I see both Danse and Deacon as characters with self-limiting insight as survival mechanisms, and bringing those walls down is gonna take time and trial and error. I've also put a LOT of thought into what to leave unsaid/only implied in my writing/as the narrative voice, and how long to leave threads hanging and when to bring them back in, and what to trust the reader to remember and put together and what to say directly, and when. This is what I think about more than anything else so this part of your comment means a lot to me, seriously. Thanks very much for sharing with me.
