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Post by summerreading on Aug 16, 2018 20:57:39 GMT -5
I'm loving what I'm seeing so far. I'm looking forward to getting into the head of Phoebe, and that the story starts right with Phoebe's journey when Grams died. What a treat for me, because I'm really looking forward to seeing what you decide to do with her. You really have set a good tone, and I think you have gotten the sisters written well already. Oh! I'm so very happy that you like what you've read so far and especially think that I have gotten the sisters written well already. I don't care for fanfics where the sisters don't act the way I think they would under those circumstances, so it's important to me to do that in my own stories, but then I also know that different fans see the sisters differently, so I'm glad they fit your idea of what they would be like at this point.  That's true, different fanfic writers see the sisters differently, but I guess it depends on the person and their life experiences. Obviously we cater to one sister more, because she relate. But I really have enjoyed reading the story in the eye's of Phoebe. Yup, your my first Charmed Cafe story. So I look forward to reading the rest. Also Patty's Treasure Box. What inspired you to name it Charmed By Love? That's fine Es, so far I haven't found anything I didn't like. Nice to be taken on a little trip down memory lane so far. Here's to more reviews. |
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Esmeralda
Charmed
S2 "What If...?"
Fan Fic Winner
Twenty Years Gone....But Never Forgotten.
Posts: 21,920 
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Post by Esmeralda on Aug 17, 2018 6:11:28 GMT -5
As I said I would. Time to after a long delay being busy with summer activities. Get my Summer Reading List into gear!  YAY! CHARMED BY LOVE - PART ONE: PRE-WITCHED
I was just caught shop-lifting (hey, they were the perfect pair of shoes that I had to have!); Prue was getting ready to get married and moving out; and you were depressed about becoming stuck at the Manor, taking care of me and Grams. Do you remember what happened shortly before that picture, Piper? You went walking with Prue, and Prue told you that she wanted you to be her maid of honor because she and I didn't get along - she was too goody-two-shoes for me, always doing what she was supposed to do, while I was too much of a free spirit for her, always doing what I wasn't supposed to do. While you were talking, you ran into a handsome young man, and you both shared a look - the first time you looked Leonardo Wyatt in the eyes.
I wonder if even then Leo knew that we would become the Charmed Ones, that he would become our whitelighter and you two would share something special. I never got a chance to ask him, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Anyway, Grams wanted her picture. We were standing on the steps outside the Manor and Grams wanted us to move just a little closer (which I didn't want to do since I was standing right next to Prue - I don't think she wanted to either). Then she asked me to turn so she could get my good side, and you told her I didn't have one that day. You were right - I just wanted to get that picture done and over with.
Prue wanted to know if I had plans and if it was anyone she knew, since she was still upset that the day before I called her fiancé, Roger. Hey, I was just trying to be nice to the guy, considering he was going to be part of our family soon, when I wasn't even sure I wanted to be part of our family, not then! Besides, I wanted to know, why would I want to spend my time on a wimp who had mother issues? That got Prue mad, as she wanted to know why she should believe me when I didn't even know the difference between what belonged to me and what belonged to the shoe store.
I was all ready to stomp off, picture or no picture, when Grams suddenly gasped and grabbed her chest. We ran over to her, telling her to take shallow breaths and whether we should call a doctor and she told us, "No doctor. Just a picture. Is it too much for an old lady to ask her granddaughters to retract their claws, stand still and look at me long enough to take one lousy picture?"
So we stood on the steps, tried to smile and Grams took the picture. It still sits on the table in the foyer, but we're standing a lot closer than I remember standing during the picture - proof how close we became as the Charmed Ones, when we were anything but back then.
Later, while I was getting ready to go out, I walked passed the steps leading to the attic, a room whose door was always locked, but I could have sworn that Grams was talking with someone. Only when we sisters, as the Charmed Ones, went back to the 70's to save our powers from a warlock and got to meet our mother, did I realize that's who Grams was talking with - the spirit of our mother. But their words and what those words almost led to, they haunt me to this day, Piper, showing how very close you came to never even getting to know Leo, much less getting together with him..
First, I thought I heard someone (who I now know was Mom) say, "It's just a phase. When their destiny's revealed, they'll come together, and Grams reply, "But what if they don't? What if they never do? What if the gift is too much for them to handle and they...? Well, regardless, I fear there may be only one option if I can't find a way to bring these girls together."
Well, at the time, I had no idea to whom she was talking to or what they were talking about and personally didn't just rolled my eyes, thinking that nothing could bring us girls together, nor did I care, so I totally forgot about it until years later. So I just went in my room and got ready for my big night out.
Later, I waltzed towards the kitchen to get the keys for the car we sisters shared. As I drew near, I heard you asking Grams what she was making and she said she was just keeping her hands busy. You asked her if she needed a hand and you must have thrown some stuff into the pot, because Grams wanted to know how you knew what to add and you said you needed to balance stuff out and Grams said "You were born for this, literally. Why do you insist on wasting your talents behind some counter in a bank?" and you replied that your talents didn't come with health benefits and with Prue getting married and me, well, I was me, so someone had to be practical. Grams didn't think you should be practical at the expense of your dreams and you said, no, at the expense of losing the Manor and not being able to pay Grams' hospital bills.
I remember being glad that you were the one willing to make the sacrifice, because I sure wasn't and at that, I walked into the kitchen, grabbed the keys and got ready to go out, even when Grams asked if I wanted to join you two with whipping up something you'd regret the next day. Not me, I had my own ideas of doing things that other people might regret, but I sure wouldn't!
Only much later did we realize that what you helped Grams make was a potion that would totally bind our powers, so we would never receive them, not even when the time was right. Not even Mom's ghost had been able to convince Grams that we wouldn't blow our destiny as the Charmed Ones - she was certain it was best for us not even to try, which would've put you and Leo on totally different paths. But before she could give us that potion the next day, she had another heart attack and stumbled down the steps and was gone before we could do anything about it.
A couple days later, after the funeral, we were in the living room. You were holding that bottle of potion, the bottle you'd found at the top of the steps. When you told us where you found it, Prue wanted to know what she was doing up there in the attic. Even though I heard her talking up there before, I didn't want you guys to think I was crazy, hearing things (which I still thought might have happened), so I said it wasn't possible, since Grams always told us that the attic was sealed off, but you wanted to know what was she doing, coming down the stairs, so to change the topic, I wanted to know what we were going to do about that thing that Grams was always concerned about - our future. The only reason we were still there together was because of her, and now Prue already had one foot out the door with her engagement and I knew you didnt want to bunk with me any longer than you had to.
You didn't want to discuss that right then, instead you suggested that we discuss it over dinner - you'd even make one of Grams favorite meals, since she always liked the idea of you being in the kitchen, but Prue was supposed to spend the night with Roger, and I decided that this was my perfect chance to escape. So I told you two that I was taking off, that I didn't know what my future held, but it sure wasn't in San Francisco. You both tried to talk me out of it, but I said we all knew that the only thing that I contributed to our threesome was trouble, so I was going to go see what New York thought of me. After all, Grams always said that we all had a purpose and maybe we'd have an easier time finding it out on our own.
I knew that without Grams, the one who was always the glue who kept us together, that I couldn't stand sticking around a sister who refused to believe that I did anything with her almost-husband - as if I ever would - not only was she my big sister, almost a mother-figure, who along with Grams had practically raised me, but I knew from the beginning that he was a creep who was only using Prue from the start.
So I ran away to New York to try to find our father, Victor Bennett (at that point we had no idea why Mom kept her maiden name, the reason why we were also Halliwells and not Bennetts), who also left us when he left our mother. I know it wasn't fair saddling you with the Manor, since Prue expected to be married to Roger soon, but what can I say? You and Prue and Grams spoiled me, the baby of the family, rotten, and I was still very young and very foolish and very self-centered and didn't know better.
Within months, I did - I lost my job, was broke, was homeless, so I turned to you, Piper, the only person whom I felt I could trust. You told me that Prue was talking about finding a roommate to help share expenses, and after all, as you well know, Grams had willed the Manor to all three of us for a very special reason - had we not all been in that house together, we would not have received our powers and you would have never met Leo!
So I came home in the middle of a thunderstorm. Remember, Piper? When I walked into the door, you and Prue were looking at something she found in the basement when she went looking for the fuse box to try to fix the entryway chandelier. It was our old spirit board that Mom had left us. We never knew what the inscription on the back meant:
To my three beautiful girls.
May this give you the light to find the Shadows.
The Power of Three Shall Set You Free.
Love, Mom
We would soon find out.
So?? What do you think now, now that you've read more of what you already know, but from Phoebe's point of view? Like I said, I know you know what's going to happen, so if you don't want to keep going, don't be afraid to say so. I like Phoebe's point of view on all the past events. It's nice to get inside her head, especially her thinking about the past. Here's hoping that doing this, will knock some sense into her on her bad decisions she made across some seasons. Like that she admits she was very very foolish and very self-centered, of course, she was young. [/quote]I'm *so* glad that you like it so far! Of course, you know what's going to happen since nothing will change, and indeed, her experiences in New York helped her to grow up. Had she not, I think one of the Charmed Ones would've quickly become a warlock rather than a witch! |
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Esmeralda
Charmed
S2 "What If...?"
Fan Fic Winner
Twenty Years Gone....But Never Forgotten.
Posts: 21,920
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Post by Esmeralda on Aug 17, 2018 6:16:15 GMT -5
Oh! I'm so very happy that you like what you've read so far and especially think that I have gotten the sisters written well already. I don't care for fanfics where the sisters don't act the way I think they would under those circumstances, so it's important to me to do that in my own stories, but then I also know that different fans see the sisters differently, so I'm glad they fit your idea of what they would be like at this point. That's true, different fanfic writers see the sisters differently, but I guess it depends on the person and their life experiences. Obviously we cater to one sister more, because she relate. But I really have enjoyed reading the story in the eye's of Phoebe. I'm *SO* glad! Yup, your my first Charmed Cafe story. So I look forward to reading the rest. Also Patty's Treasure Box. What inspired you to name it Charmed By Love?[/quote] Well, it's was my first Charmed story and it was Piper and Leo's love story, so titling it that just made sense to me. That's fine Es, so far I haven't found anything I didn't like. Nice to be taken on a little trip down memory lane so far. [/quote]Yeah, especially with the anniversary coming up, it is. I'm re-reading it, too, as you read it, and although I keep wanting to proof it as I find stupid typing errors, I'm also enjoying the trip down Memory Lane. [quote[Here's to more reviews. [/quote] Can't wait until you have time to read more! |
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Post by summerreading on Aug 18, 2018 10:05:54 GMT -5
As I said I would. Time to after a long delay being busy with summer activities. Get my Summer Reading List into gear! YAY! That's right about Phoebe. Her experiences in New York helped her grow, I just wished we saw more and heard more from her time in New York. I can't help but wonder if Jeremy had been responsible for Phoebe coming back home, and may have done something to get her to end up coming back home. Would he really wait another few years, if Phoebe really stayed in New York for that long. That's true, different fanfic writers see the sisters differently, but I guess it depends on the person and their life experiences. Obviously we cater to one sister more, because she relate. But I really have enjoyed reading the story in the eye's of Phoebe. I'm *SO* glad! That's nice. I really just love the title Charmed By Love, it's such an uplifting title, it's what drew me immediately to click on this thread. Even before I read what it is about. |
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Post by summerreading on Aug 18, 2018 10:11:32 GMT -5
CHARMED BY LOVE: - PART TWO: Something Wicca This Way Comes
CHAPTER ONE
Prue wasn't thrilled about me coming home, but thanks to your loving mediation, Piper, I was allowed into the Manor, if not actually accepted back into the family.
Later, you and I were playing with the spirit board, asking typical questions like whether you'd get the chef job you were auditioning for the next day. We also asked whether Prue - who was no longer engaged to Roger but still working for him - would have sex with anyone but herself that year. As always, you accused me of pushing the pointer, something I never did, since I was sure you were the one pushing it!
The news was on TV in the background, and there was a story about a serial killer who was murdering young women, young women who all practiced Wicca - white witchcraft. I don't know if I'll ever forget that first conversation about your boyfriend:
You were pointing at the reporter. "That's my boyfriend, Jeremy."
"Yummy, he's hot! Are the roses on the table in the entryway from him?
"Yes, along with the bottle of port, the special ingredient for my audition recipe tomorrow."
"Now that's what you call a thoughtful boyfriend. When did you meet him?"
"In the hospital cafeteria the day Grams was admitted. He was working on a story and I was bawling over a bagel, so he handed me a napkin."
"Oh, how romantic!"
"Yeah, it was. The napkin had his phone number on it," and I laughed.
Then you glanced at the television again. "Hey, speaking of boyfriends, look at the inspector who's talking with Jeremy - isn’t that Prue’s old boyfriend, Andy? I thought he was still in Portland. I wonder what he’s doing back in San Francisco and whether Prue knows he’s back."
Then you stood up, saying that you were going to make us some popcorn, and suggesting I ask the board about Prue and sex again, and as you walked towards the kitchen, for once, I really did try to push that pointer towards “Yes", but it suddenly started moving all on its own! I was hardly touching it at all! It spelled AT. I yelled and both you and Prue came running. I explained what had happened, but neither of you would believe me, again accusing me of pushing it. When I tried to show you two, it stayed put until you both turned your backs.
Prue walked away, but as you watched, it started moving again, and I wasn’t even touching it! We both yelled for Prue, who was still very cynical, especially when I showed her what it spelled: ATTIC. I was all set to run upstairs, but she told me that that was impossible - that door had been locked from the inside for as long as you guys could remember.
But I didn't care. Nope, not impulsive, act-first/think-later Phoebe! I climbed up the steps and tried to open the door. I tried and tried, but couldn't get it to open. Admitting that Prue was right, I started to walk away, when I heard something. I turned back and there was the door, wide open! Not only that, but a ray of light was shining on a trunk sitting near the window!
Yes, Piper, I know - I should've gone and told you and Prue, but I was drawn to that chest, wanting to know what whoever was using the spirit board to communicate with us - Mom? Grams? Someone else? - wanted us to find. I opened the chest to find a big old dusty book. I picked it up and blew off the dust. On its green leather cover was a strange symbol, three arches surrounded by a large circle. I opened the cover to read its title out loud: The Book of Shadows.
Flipping the title page, I found a page decorated with beautiful illustrations and words in an old, flowing ornate script. I'm still not sure why I did, but I read the words aloud:
Hear now the words of the witches,
The secrets we hid in the night.
The oldest of gods are invoked here.
The great work of magic is sought.
In this night and in this hour,
I call upon the ancient power.
Bring your powers to we sisters three.
We want the power. Give us the power.
Power? What power? I'd always felt so powerless, to receive some sort of power, something I could share with my sisters, especially Prue, a sister I wanted to be close to but who I knew would never let me, sounded wonderful.
But wasn’t it just some crazy poem? I didn't feel any different, nor were there any strange manifestations. But when I closed the book, that symbol had changed. Now all of those arcs intersected with each other and the outer circle was now inside the arcs, joining them to form the symbol we now know as the Triquetra, our symbol.
Yes! It had to mean something!
Hehe, love Phoebe. She's so full of life and her excitement about being a witch really resonates with me. Reading this reminds me of the Charmed Novel based on the first episode, The Power of Three. It had Phoebe encounter Melinda Warren in the attic and also had Phoebe going to a Wicca store where she ran into Andy. Of course, it wasn't canon to the series. But I can't help but feel Constance M. Burge really had fun with writing for Phoebe. Maybe that's why those two scenes were omitted from the pilot's early drafts and became part of the novel, it would have made it feel much too Phoebe centric. Can't wait to continue on this journey through Phoebe's eyes. It's bringing back very good memories of how I remembered Phoebe. |
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Esmeralda
Charmed
S2 "What If...?"
Fan Fic Winner
Twenty Years Gone....But Never Forgotten.
Posts: 21,920
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Post by Esmeralda on Aug 18, 2018 13:34:44 GMT -5
LOL, keeping in mind that Phoebs was based on Connie herself, I wouldn't be surprised one single bit!
I also have that novel (and the one for 'Charmed Again') and I also love it. I wonder if it's what Connie wanted the first episode to be like before it became the pilot and then the first episode.
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Post by summerreading on Aug 19, 2018 0:56:11 GMT -5
LOL, keeping in mind that Phoebs was based on Connie herself, I wouldn't be surprised one single bit! I also have that novel (and the one for 'Charmed Again') and I also love it. I wonder if it's what Connie wanted the first episode to be like before it became the pilot and then the first episode. I almost forgot Phoebe was based on Connie herself! Yes, that's true, not surprised at all. That may be true. Don't you just want to get your hands on Connie's original scripts, I'm sure she went through many rewrites before it became the pilot. Seems to me she may have wanted Melinda Warren to be in the pilot episode but instead she was moved to appear in The Witch is Back for the first time. I also wonder if they planned on having some kind of flashbacks showing Melinda being burned to death since the novel included Phoebe seeing her with her warnings, that it would make sense we'd see her death before. |
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Esmeralda
Charmed
S2 "What If...?"
Fan Fic Winner
Twenty Years Gone....But Never Forgotten.
Posts: 21,920
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Post by Esmeralda on Aug 19, 2018 16:23:40 GMT -5
LOL, keeping in mind that Phoebs was based on Connie herself, I wouldn't be surprised one single bit! I also have that novel (and the one for 'Charmed Again') and I also love it. I wonder if it's what Connie wanted the first episode to be like before it became the pilot and then the first episode. I almost forgot Phoebe was based on Connie herself! Yes, that's true, not surprised at all. That may be true. Don't you just want to get your hands on Connie's original scripts, I'm sure she went through many rewrites before it became the pilot. That really would be interesting. Well, she hadn't written a lot of scripts before this - the reason they hired Kern as showrunner - so she might have included too much in her script so they had to take some out and leave it for later. It does seem like there could've been more before Phoebe joins Piper on the step. They may have added the expository stuff later to make it fit. Now I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of the next chapter. |
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Post by summerreading on Aug 20, 2018 8:06:00 GMT -5
PART TWO, CHAPTER TWO
At that exact moment, you and Prue came running into the room, wondering what I was doing up there and what had I done. They'd been standing under the chandelier, that one that Prue couldn't fix - now it was shaking and glowing with light! Now I knew for sure that the spell had worked! We were witches and we had powers! Great powers! But once again you two refused to believe me. Prue was infuriated that I had included her in this and marched out.
You wanted to know if anything had happened when I said the incantation, and I rolled my eyes and said that of course something did: my head spun around and I spat out split-pea soup! But the symbol on the Book changed and you said the chandelier came on.
But you just shook your head and left, insisting that witches don't exist and those things could be explained.
But now I knew better. I stayed up all night reading that Book, more fascinated by every page. It said that there were three main essentials for magic - timing, feelings, and the phases of the moon. Were we to receive our powers, the moment I spoke the incantation - the most powerful time of all: midnight of a full-moon - was the best time. I then read about our ancestors, especially Melinda Warren, a powerful good witch who could move things with her mind, freeze time and see into the future. Before she was burnt at the stake, she vowed that every generation of Warren witches would become more powerful and more powerful with the culmination of three sisters who would be the most powerful witches the world had ever known.
And, oh, yes, Piper, do I ever remember your response the next morning as you prepared to leave for your audition: "Hey, Phoebs, last night was pretty weird, but we aren't witches and we don't have powers. After all, Grams wasn't a witch and to our knowledge, neither was Mom. So take that, Nancy Drew."
Even when I told you that we were the protectors of the innocent and known as the Charmed Ones, you drove off.
But as you well know, Piper, we are the Charmed Ones, and we do have powers. You found out about yours when your prospective boss entered the kitchen before you could add Jeremy's port. When you raised your arms, everything froze. Everything! Not just the chef, but the bubbling pot, the clock, everything but you! Once you figured it out, you were able to add the port before he unfroze, and you won the job. While you were telling me about this on the phone, Jeremy came up behind you to offer his congratulations and ask you out for a celebration dinner.
In my excitement, I jumped on my bike and began riding, wondering which power was mine, hoping I could move things with my mind - what a cool power that would be! - when suddenly something flashed in my mind, like a dream, but so much more real - a big, black car, slamming into two boys on skateboards. No sooner did the scene fade from my mind than I spot a black car coming up over a hill, heading full-speed towards an intersection! And there were two boys on skateboards, heading towards the same intersection, doing tricks, not looking!
"NO! STOP!" I yelled as I skidded my bike in front of the boys, stopping them as the car swerved in front of us. But I conked my head and ended in a hospital with a mild concussion and scratches.
Prue came to get me. As she waited, she ran into her ex-boyfriend, Inspector Andy Trudeau, who was still working on that case, and bought her a cup of rotten coffee.
Later, as Prue treated me to a cup of good coffee at a restaurant, she apologized to me about Roger - he'd shown himself to be the bastard I knew he was, and she was now unemployed. She laughed, remembering how the fountain pen that he always waved at people to make his point, suddenly split in his shirt pocket, drenching his white pocket with blue ink.
"You did it!" I exclaimed. "You moved the cap and made the ink spatter his pocket! You can move things with your mind!"
She firmly shook her head. "You might think you can see into the future, but I do not have special powers. Now where's that cream?
And the pitcher of cream moved, Piper, it moved all on its own to sit next to Prue's cup! Oh, Piper, you should've seen the look on our unflappable big sister's face as I told her, "Well, that looks pretty special to me!" and when the cream moved from the pitcher to her coffee, she had to agree.
Unfortunately, becoming witches had its drawbacks, as I explained to Prue on our way back to her car, another conversation I'll never forget:
"While I was looking through the Book of Shadows, I saw these pictures. All of these incarnations of evil battling three women, three witches."
"Evil battling evil. Thats a twist."
"Actually a witch can be either good or evil. Good witches follow the Wiccan reid: And it harms none, do what you will. A bad witch, a warlock, has but one goal: to kill good witches and obtain their powers."
I had no idea that at that exact moment, you were discovering just how very true those words were as you ran into our very first warlock - Jeremy! Your boyfriend was the one who killed all of those other women! As he raised an athame, a ceremonial knife, his face and his voice changed and he told you, "I knew when the old witch died that you would come into your powers as soon as you were all united. So when Phoebe came home, I knew I could now claim them as mine!"
Fortunately you first used your power to what we (and Melinda Warren) thought was freezing time but is actually freezing molecules and then a board across his head to escape and hurry home. We used his roses and other ingredients to cast our very first spell - one meant to vanquish him, but when I picked up the bowl we were using, I had another flash - Jeremy, thorns sticking out of his body, but still alive, still coming after us! Only when Prue remembered the words on the back of the spirit board and we all joined hands and chanted those words, The Power of Three shall set us free over and over no matter what Jeremy threw at us was he finally truly vanquished.
That's when we all finally accepted that we were not only witches, but witches who would have to stick together. As you put it, "That should be interesting."
And it was.
We quickly discovered that the Book of Shadows, now activated by my incantation, was a magnet for evil beings, all who wanted its power - and ours - for themselves. But it also attracted very good beings. We didn't know it at the time, but some very good beings (or so we would think at the time - now I'm not so sure...) were watching over us and had sent one very special being to be our guide and protector.
You've gotta know who I mean, Piper - your future husband, the father of your son and the true love of your life - Leonardo Wyatt.
So?? What do you think now??? You can so tell how excited and enthusiastic Phoebe is. She really loves being a witch, especially in S1 and S2. I can understand the confusion with freezing time and freezing molecules. Love that she calls Leo by his full name. I almost forgot Phoebe was based on Connie herself! Yes, that's true, not surprised at all. That may be true. Don't you just want to get your hands on Connie's original scripts, I'm sure she went through many rewrites before it became the pilot. That really would be interesting. [/quote] That really does make sense, if only Kern never was hired. Wouldn't that have been great. But it does seem like lots of expository stuff was added to cut back. Too bad they didn't turn it into a 2-part series opener. Then they'd have lots of room to fit everything. Oh well! More fun for the fans to do it differently and combine many different parts. I enjoyed this last chapter by the way. |
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Post by summerreading on Aug 21, 2018 6:27:27 GMT -5
[/quote] You really have captured Phoebe very well. The way she thinks about the past, feels very in-character. I really am still loving this trip down memory lane. Speaking of Jeremy, I love that Phoebe did that. But the series didn't really go deeper into how she felt about Jeremy, it just got all forgotten after the first episode, Piper really didn't process it much. Knowing you slept with a warlock, would really do a number on you. I'm looking forward to the next chapter. The Witch is Back is a classic! |
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That's true, different fanfic writers see the sisters differently, but I guess it depends on the person and their life experiences. Obviously we cater to one sister more, because she relate. But I really have enjoyed reading the story in the eye's of Phoebe. 
