I AM DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY YOU POSTED THAT VICTOR/SIERRA FIC, OTHERWISE I PROBABLY NEVER WOULD HAVE DECIDED TO READ ALL YOUR OLD ADELLE/DOMINIC STUFF AND FOUND THIS LITTLE GEM.
She signs it ‘xoxo Isabelle’ and makes the last ‘e’ a little unnecessarily loopy just for fun.
This fic is amazing for several reasons, and one of them is how you've given Echo a very strong presence in Isabelle, but more importantly - you built Isabelle. I think a lot of Dollhouse writers forget that when Echo's not Echo she's still SOMEONE, even if she's more herself than other Dolls would be.
In addition to that, I really liked how the line between Isabelle and Echo was really blurry. Isabelle's a little cheeky, carefree, caring - and Echo is all those things too. It makes you wonder just how much of Isabelle is the manufactured memories and how much is Echo's prime characteristics (my favorite thing about the beginning was Isabelle worrying about Tom, and then later, Boyd, because that's Echo all over. She's a caretaker) taking over.
(The blurry line between Echo and her imprint is something the show's writers should really pay some more attention to, I think. Like in 1.10. SERIOUSLY, WRITERS?)
She starts to think Maybe someday
A common characteristic Echo's romantic!imprints seem to have is the tendency to be romantic, so it was nice to see that reflected here as well. <3
“Just about.” His voice is a good sound, like always. Hearing it makes her feel more at home in her own bones.
I really, really adored this section. Echo knowing it was time for her treatment while still being pulled by Boyd's voice shows that even though she's still more there than the other Dolls, she's always connected to her imprint and to the artificial bond created by the Dollhouse (or is it? Because the bond may have started off false, but she can't forget it, and what Boyd and Echo have gone through is enough to set it permanently).
“You better, old man,” she declares, and loops her arm through his. They walk in easy silence for awhile.
AUUUUUUGH, THE PAINNNNNN. I love how they both know this is a stolen moment, and even when they're laughing, the prose still makes this scene come off as intensely wistful and nostalgic. Boyd and Echo's bond is so clearly visible in how Echo worries, in how Boyd comes down to check on her even though he's not allowed to (randomly, I also think that it says a lot about Adelle's slightly softer side that she allows this - like she allows Topher's thing with Sierra - because, obviously, she knows. SHE'S ADELLE).
“Of course, Isabelle.” He offers a hand to help her up inside the van. She pretends not to see, and climbs in on her own.
Undoubtedly my favorite part of this fic. Echo going for her treatment not because she wants to, but because she knows she has an obligation reminded me of 1.09, where Dominic tells her she's a Doll. She doesn't turn on the Dollhouse, but instead carries out her mission and gets back in the chair to be erased - now part of this is probably due to the "Would you like a treatment?", but we already know that Echo can skirt around this from the moment in 1.07 when she's running around the university and glitching it up, so it's not illogical to presume that she does this to help the House. Like Echo knows that they help people - obviously what they're doing is completely unethical and sort of bordering on slavery, but it does help. I like how that separates her from Caroline, who's always blathering about how WRONG!!! things are. Because really, Caroline's as much of an imprint as anyone else is at this point. She may have been built of Echo's base, but she has experiences and memories that Echo doesn't, which got her to where she is now. (A thing I really liked about the finale was how Omega clearly shared some of Caroline's characteristics but also clearly was not Caroline 2.0.)
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING ANYMORE. CLEARLY, I LIKED IT. BUT YOU KNOW, ONLY A LITTLE. ♥
no subject
She signs it ‘xoxo Isabelle’ and makes the last ‘e’ a little unnecessarily loopy just for fun.
This fic is amazing for several reasons, and one of them is how you've given Echo a very strong presence in Isabelle, but more importantly - you built Isabelle. I think a lot of Dollhouse writers forget that when Echo's not Echo she's still SOMEONE, even if she's more herself than other Dolls would be.
In addition to that, I really liked how the line between Isabelle and Echo was really blurry. Isabelle's a little cheeky, carefree, caring - and Echo is all those things too. It makes you wonder just how much of Isabelle is the manufactured memories and how much is Echo's prime characteristics (my favorite thing about the beginning was Isabelle worrying about Tom, and then later, Boyd, because that's Echo all over. She's a caretaker) taking over.
(The blurry line between Echo and her imprint is something the show's writers should really pay some more attention to, I think. Like in 1.10. SERIOUSLY, WRITERS?)
She starts to think Maybe someday
A common characteristic Echo's romantic!imprints seem to have is the tendency to be romantic, so it was nice to see that reflected here as well. <3
“Just about.” His voice is a good sound, like always. Hearing it makes her feel more at home in her own bones.
I really, really adored this section. Echo knowing it was time for her treatment while still being pulled by Boyd's voice shows that even though she's still more there than the other Dolls, she's always connected to her imprint and to the artificial bond created by the Dollhouse (or is it? Because the bond may have started off false, but she can't forget it, and what Boyd and Echo have gone through is enough to set it permanently).
“You better, old man,” she declares, and loops her arm through his. They walk in easy silence for awhile.
AUUUUUUGH, THE PAINNNNNN. I love how they both know this is a stolen moment, and even when they're laughing, the prose still makes this scene come off as intensely wistful and nostalgic. Boyd and Echo's bond is so clearly visible in how Echo worries, in how Boyd comes down to check on her even though he's not allowed to (randomly, I also think that it says a lot about Adelle's slightly softer side that she allows this - like she allows Topher's thing with Sierra - because, obviously, she knows. SHE'S ADELLE).
“Of course, Isabelle.” He offers a hand to help her up inside the van. She pretends not to see, and climbs in on her own.
Undoubtedly my favorite part of this fic. Echo going for her treatment not because she wants to, but because she knows she has an obligation reminded me of 1.09, where Dominic tells her she's a Doll. She doesn't turn on the Dollhouse, but instead carries out her mission and gets back in the chair to be erased - now part of this is probably due to the "Would you like a treatment?", but we already know that Echo can skirt around this from the moment in 1.07 when she's running around the university and glitching it up, so it's not illogical to presume that she does this to help the House. Like Echo knows that they help people - obviously what they're doing is completely unethical and sort of bordering on slavery, but it does help. I like how that separates her from Caroline, who's always blathering about how WRONG!!! things are. Because really, Caroline's as much of an imprint as anyone else is at this point. She may have been built of Echo's base, but she has experiences and memories that Echo doesn't, which got her to where she is now. (A thing I really liked about the finale was how Omega clearly shared some of Caroline's characteristics but also clearly was not Caroline 2.0.)
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING ANYMORE. CLEARLY, I LIKED IT. BUT YOU KNOW, ONLY A LITTLE. ♥