#dr. faraday

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.