I'm still not fully happy with the wording of the dialogue. Therese knows she's not a perfect mother by a long shot - she was able to almost ignore Francoise for a few years (the strip where they run into her and F wants more time, not more gifts). The strip's tone implied that because she could head off to work, she wasn't a good mother, I had Anthony directly tell her she wasn't a good mother, and I think she's still digging out from that a bit. But the "not missing" / "not a good mother" sounds a bit awkward to me.And I couldn't get a fully satisfactory expression for Liz in the last panel. The FOOB thing would be laughing uproariously at Therese's "fine. if you want her right away on Christmas, you'll get her - after *our* traditions exhaust her" attitude. But that's not really a nice thing to do to a little kid. So I was going for "amused but concerned" or "amused, but know you shouldn't be" and it didn't come out well.
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Yeah, I think the expression you were going for was a kind of wry smirk; "You are SOOOO bad..." kind of thing. But I like the dialogue. Real life doesn't always express itself well. Therese sounds here like I think she would; a little grieved that she hasn't been the mother she could have been, and a little surprised and confused that she feels that way.
The ideal reaction to Thérèse's odd behavior wouild be the smirk one usually associates with the citizens of the Batiukverse; they know that something unpleasant happened but they also know they can't help being amused in a way.
Her mother's peculiarities aside though, it seems like Françoise had at least half of a good Christmas. That's 'cause I doubt the Caines are as festive as the Arsenault family.
dc2, I'll give Anthony's parents the benefit of the doubt and leave it open that they may have given her a nice Christmas day. You're probably right about the smirk - if there's a next time I'll study up the Winkerverse.
Hmmm. I hate "Arsenault", and it's non-instrip-canon, so if it comes up, I think I'll use another name for Therese.
I still prefer the surname LePétomane.
You've pretty much got the WInkersmirk down. All you need to do to make it complete is to make Liz look as if she's thinking "Dear God, that could have been me."
Sad but true, I know several parents who will get their kids hopped up on sugar and caffeine before returning them from visitation.
So, that actually feels pretty authentic.
I love your take on Therese! You have a way with the very characters LJ has always ignored: Therese, April, and Deanna. (Is it a coincidence they are all women..?)
Did you have a storyline with Becky, or am I remembering another alternative foobiverse?
Thanks, PBJ - Becky had a brief appearance in the
main arc epilogue, and was mentioned in passing (as not around) by April at the start of the pre-Christmas story
Heh, I really like your Therese. I'm having kind of a hard time getting into her head for her appearance in my future foe-fic, because I don't want her to suddenly be the mother Francoise needs, because it has been established that she didn't want kids or feel like a mother after Francoise was born. But she's also not the man-eating bitch that hates her own daughter, so I think you've struck the right balance.
I'm also wondering if you'll show the Caine Christmas as a contrast to Francoise's all night binge? At least we'll finally get to meet Anthony's parents!
Destroyer Of Worlds,
I, too, am anxious to see what the Caines are like; it seems to me that Anthony's dad would have a strong opinion of the direction his son's life had taken. I don't expect him to yell "Go, Team Thérèse!" but I do expect that he can't quite understand why Anthony is hung up on a fantasy Liz nobody else sees.
dc2, DoW, I haven't planned on showing the Caine Christmas, but the Anthony/ Patterson interface should come up briefly at points further down the aftermath of Elly's breakdown. Maybe Anthony's family will have some place in that.
Ooh, tourtiere. The absolute best thing about being friends with Canadians ;)
*claps* I can't wait to see your version of the Caines seniors when they do show up!
I don't mind, so much, the mention of Thérèse letting Francois stay up all night and wear herself out with singing and excitement, and eat far too many sweets. It's certainly not a good thing to do to a kid on a regular basis - but to me, it's implied that there's at least an unspoken agreement (or possibly a verbal one) between Francie and her mother, that this is a special day and thus, she gets to stay up far later than she normally would and eat things that she might normally not be allowed at (or at least, would normally have much smaller portions and fewer servings of). But that's just for this one night of celebration; tomorrow, things are back to normal.
Possibly, I'm only seeing this because it's the same way my parents handled New Year's Eve with me and my siblings - we got to stay up and drink non-alcoholic champagne with them and have chocolate liqueurs, but we were also made aware that we were only being allowed to stay up so late and have champagne and alcoholic candies because it was a special occasion - and that the status quo would return the next day.
So really, any cringing I did was more at the thought of an exhausted child who's still riding a sugar high from all the goodies she had last night (and who may even have eaten enough to make her nauseous) being turned over to unsuspecting, possibly somewhat strait-laced elderly people.
On the other hand, Thérèse may have engineered this deliberately - it's possible that the Caine elders expressed a desire for a "quiet" Christmas at some point during the negotiations, and she was just trying to make sure everyone was happy; Francie got an enjoyable Christmas Eve, and the Caine grandparents got the chance to just let Francie sleep it off and have a quiet Christmas morning.
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