callofkaren | [Lecture Circuit.]

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[Lecture Circuit.]

After enough time spent on the island and getting to learn its varying levels of weirdness, Karen knew there was nothing she could really do when, for three days in a row, all she get off the bookshelf was the same reel of The Office. And she knew if she ever wanted to watch another movie or read another book or comic or magazine again, she was going to have to give in and watch it.

Didn't mean she had to like it.

The last time Karen had seen an Office reel had been so long ago, it felt. Like an entire lifetime had passed in a year, and remembering watching that first one, the looks on Jim and Pam's faces, seemed like a weird, barely remembered dream. She knew there was nothing she could really do, or nothing could really get worse than the last one she'd watched — she'd made it to regional manager, hadn't she? Whatever version of herself was back home was doing okay, and so was she.

That didn't mean she couldn't shake the nerves as she set the reel up during one of the relatively slow times in the compound, hoping there was nothing too embarrassing she couldn't explain away if anyone wandered over. She at least had the faint hope that anything she could do couldn't be worse than the best thing Michael Scott ever did.

As she started watching, the reel opening with Michael being Michael, Karen's nerves slowly melted away until she was actually giggling along. It was like nothing had changed at Scranton, except Jim's desk. Of course, when Michael explained what he and Pam were doing on the road, Karen saw exactly where it was going.

Still, it was a bit comforting to know that Scranton was as batshit insane as ever.

Karen prided herself in being smart enough to follow along and prepare herself for the weirdness that would be watching herself onscreen. She could take it, right? Nothing could be worse than that first time watching with Jim and Pam. She could have done without the knowledge that Michael pictured her naked. Hey, there was her voice and there she was, looking—

She blinked.

And then, practically echoing Michael but at a higher and more shocked tone, "Oh my GOD."

Half of the rest of the episode flew by Karen's wide eyes as she just stared and stared, trying to process what in the hell she was watching. She was still half in shock when the explanation came, and barely registered Michael's stupid mouth or any awkwardness. All Karen could focus on was the strange, almost disconnected feeling that came with watching herself up there being happy and starting a family.

[Find her at this scene or at this one, your pick! Dated to some arbitrary time this weekend.]

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It was a little hard for Karen to really pay attention to anything going on around her, what with her finding out she was having babies back home. (And she wasn't huge - if she'd been back there, she might have smacked Michael for saying that. She could see herself holding back on the screen, even.)

She knew Pam was there, but hadn't really worked up the courage to look at her just yet. Karen often forgot that Pam wasn't the Pam who'd been here first; there still was a lot between them, even if things were good.

"We're not—" she stopped herself, because having to repeat what she'd said when Pam heard it well enough was just stupid. "You and Jim, you're together. Like you're supposed to be." If there was anything Karen was grateful for on the island, it was being able to say that without an ounce of regret. She'd gotten over it, had moved on and accepted the way things were.

It might not have been Karen's intention to make her feel that way, but Pam quickly felt pretty foolish, as much as her reaction might have been warranted. She couldn't have known. That didn't make the initial thought of it any less jarring.

Her head felt like it was spinning, but she made her way over to sit on the couch by Karen, trying not to look as shaken as she felt. Like you're supposed to be, she repeated in her head, and managed a weak smile. Maybe that was true. Maybe it was supposed to work out no matter what. She couldn't dwell on that now, though, not when Karen was onscreen and pregnant.

"Right," she replied quickly, shaking her head. "No, of course. I just -" What she'd thought had been made pretty obvious, though. What wasn't clear was what was going on onscreen. After watching for a few moments, apparently confused, she turned her head to look in Karen's direction, still a little pale. "You left Scranton," she said, the sentence not quite a question. "So this is in the future."

"I was still there when I showed up here, but yeah. I left." Pam probably didn't need any explanation for why she would have, and Karen wasn't inclined to give one. She might have shown up on the island before the beach, but she hadn't been stupid. Overly optimistic, maybe.

God, she wasn't even sure how much Jim had told Pam about the reels.

"There was another one I watched, a long time ago? I became regional manager of the Utica branch. And..." she gestured weakly at the screen, "moved on."

"Apparently," Pam replied, just as weakly. Some things -- namely, Michael -- hadn't changed, but a whole lot more seemed to have, and she barely knew where to start with it. At least Karen had been somewhat prepared, if not enough to expect that it would show her being pregnant. Then again, she doubted anyone could have been ready to find that out that way.

"Do you, um..." She trailed off, biting her lower lip. The question she had to ask would have, under normal circumstances, been pretty cruel, but this was all different. "Do you know whose it is?"

"Not Jim's," Karen said, trying for a little bit of humor and kinda falling flat. She cringed at herself and shook her head. "I don't know, it's sort of just a huge surprise."

"Yeah," Pam agreed with a faint laugh. "So I guess this is pretty far off in the future, huh?" It was more, really, than she could wrap her head around. Seeing herself there on screen wasn't the problem. Thinking about how much time had passed, though, and how much was different back there, all of that was harder than she even would have expected.

"I guess so," Karen nodded slowly. "It has to, if I'm that pregnant." It was weird saying the words out loud, but it wasn't like she was suddenly going to sprout a belly over night. She made a mental note to pick up a few extra condoms on her way back home, though.

Glad when the scene switched, Karen frowned and shook her head at Dwight and Jim making a tag-team of fail. "Those are the ugliest balloons I've ever seen."

Pam's eyes widened a little at what the scene switched to, then she furrowed her brows, looking both puzzled and vaguely amused. "Please tell me he isn't trying to do some Star Wars-Death Star type thing," she deadpanned, shaking her head. It was explained soon enough, though, and she figured that was worse. The sign topped it all, though, to be sure. "Wow. You know, suddenly Michael's parties seem really, really good."

For all that she'd just seen and taken in, Karen couldn't help but let out a laugh at the banner and Jim's amazed reaction.

And Dwight talking about his feelings.

"Don't they? I still think we threw the best party, though."

"Oh, absolutely," Pam agreed too seriously, without a moment's hesitation, though she had to bite back a laugh at what was going on at screen. At least it was lighter here, a good way not to focus on what she'd assumed moments earlier. "Never in Dunder Mifflin history has there ever been a party that good, before or since."

Edited 2009-02-09 18:43 (UTC)

"None will ever compare," Karen grinned. Even with the way things had turned awkward between them not so soon after that, the memory of the Committee to Plan Parties was a reminder that Scranton hadn't been all bad.

Being here proved that she and Pam could have been friends if circumstances had been different.

"Oh no, Andy," she groaned, wondering just exactly what he was doing. "He's like...I don't even think he realizes he's pretty much stalking this poor woman."

Letting out a sigh, Pam rolled her eyes. All things considered, she wasn't that surprised -- Andy was Andy, after all -- but that still didn't excuse it. Nothing could. "Oh, god," she said, shaking her head. "You know, I can't even remember the last time I thought about him. It... was kind of nice." He was one person she definitely didn't miss, that was for sure. Actually, she wasn't positive she missed anyone from work.

Karen held back a laugh as she nodded in agreement. "You know, I used to think the Stamford office was just a kind of okay place to work at, but then there was Scranton...and I really haven't missed it."

Part of Pam had to think, because of how complicated everything had gotten back in Scranton, that Karen's feeling like that was because of her. Had they not been friends here, in fact, she probably still would have worried about that. As it was, though, she just shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Sometimes I think I do miss it, but I definitely don't miss -"

As if on cue, she was back on screen with Michael, and Pam knew she ought to have known that the so-called 'lecture' would be something like this. "This," she said emphatically, gesturing towards the screen. "Not at all. God, I can't believe I had to do this with him."

"At least you're being paid overtime," Karen pointed out. "I think you mentioned that earlier or something." She kept out the part where Michael had tried to insinuate he and Pam were sleeping together. It was all kinds of wrong Karen didn't want to remember.

But then again, no amount of overtime could be enough to make Karen do that.

"Yeah, I better be," Pam muttered, watching while, on screen, she threw candy bars out, and didn't look exactly pleased to be doing so. There were worse things Michael could have made her do, but that didn't mean this wasn't completely ridiculous.

It wasn't long, though, before she turned to Karen in shock. Maybe it was because it had been so long since she'd seen him, but somehow, she wasn't expecting Michael to be quite this bad. "Oh, my god," she said, looking something close to horrified. "Please tell me he did not just call that poor woman 'Sugarboobs.'"

Karen's eyebrows had gone up, and kinda stayed there are she watched Michael do his thing.

His incredibly inappropriate, offensive thing.

"This is kind of amazing. It's like...like a whole new level of Michael."

"You know," Pam said, tearing her eyes away from the train wreck on screen again, "I thought I didn't miss him before, but that is nothing compared to the way I feel now." Regardless of how pregnant Karen was, this couldn't have been quite so far in the future that some life-altering event had made Michael so much worse. It must have been that she'd blocked it out, and this was reminding her just why that would be the case.

"I'd completely blocked it out," Karen admitted. She couldn't keep her eyes off the screen, honestly. It was like she had to know what was going to happen next. "Did Jim ever tell you Michael used to be here? For a really short while."

"He did, actually," Pam replied, nodding. "And told me that he tried to start an island branch of Dunder Mifflin. You know, at the time, I kind of wished I'd been here to see it, but seeing him in action again..." There was no way that was the case anymore. The farther away from him she could stay, the better off she would be.

"There was rapping," Karen said sadly, as if the memory brought her great pain.

It kind of did.

Pam, having seen Michael rap far too many times already, shuddered. With Andy back on screen, her still slightly horrified expression didn't change much, either. "Yeah, definitely not sorry I missed the rapping," she said, then gestured towards the screen. "And I don't miss Andy randomly bursting into song like this, either."

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[Lecture Circuit.]

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