cicerid

You write really well Red Ranger! Ever thought of giving it a go as a profession? I normally don't read fanfics because I simply don't have the time but am now hooked on this one and want to know how it ends. Looking forward to the next chapter.

Last week's scenes were sweet indeed and I enjoyed them too and I enjoyed them being in the background of a bigger, more tragic storyline. I can't wait to see how Aden is there for Belle during her upcoming hard times. This new hurdle (yet another one!) will make him more mature and give his character even more depth in my view. I have a feeling uni is not out of the question for life, maybe just deferred and am holding onto that hope. When Belle gets better hopefully the writers will give us nicer things to keep us watching.

Well, we had lots of snow yesterday here in London. Kids were at home at school was closed and I also could not get to work. It stopped snowing today and the view from where I sit is absolutely gorgeous. Blue sky with white snow on trees and on the grass in the garden. My kids said it looked like Narnia. I really enjoyed the snow which we rarely see in London but this winter has been so cold, the least I expect this summer is a proper heatwave! And I won't complain about it!

Really well written, I'm really enjoying it and it makes me want to read more of it. I think H&A writers should come in here and read some of these fanfics to get good ideas. Some storylines are so much better than the ones they come up with. Having said that, I hope they NEVER go down the sister/brother route for Aden and Belle

Well Red Ranger, as much as I find the idea of Aden and Belle being siblings rather disturbing, what a great idea for a fanfic! And well written too! It must give you great satisfaction to have made it practically impossible for them to continue being a couple I can't wait to see what happens next.

Charlie is hot. Angelo is cute, not hot (he's no source of naughty thoughts for me I'm afraid). I like them as characters and I like them as friends. I'm not sure Charlie has got her heart 100% in it. She twice went out with him to try and get over Roman. Their saucy scenes were hot but I don't see any electricity outside the bedroom department. That might change though as it is also true that they have not had much chance for "electricity" with all that's been going on, so I'll reserve final judgement on them for the time being.

More than hot headed I think he was being plain stubborn and not thinking much ahead. I am still hoping he sees sense and changes his mind. People close to him (Nicole, Roman and Belle herself) might make him realize that furthering his education does not prevent him from looking after Belle. Fingers crossed then, because I really want to see Aden make something out of himself. By the way, I love your signature doola!

Not necessarily. Some characters in the past did go to uni without leaving the Bay (Dani and Irene I believe). If the writers want him to, I bet they'll find a way (maybe not necessarily uni but any kind of course that takes him away from the diner or the job on the water, whatever that is going to be). I'm sure a character like Aden can achieve more interesting goals than chopping vegetables. The writers have been working so much on him as a character and I feel that it would not give his ongoing storyline justice if they left out the bit about where he goes from here (if not for his own sake for the viewers' sake: everybody seems to end up working at the diner at some point). What was otherwise the point of studying so hard for his high school exams?

You're right, Amanda is never mentioned which is weird given what's been happening to her daugher. Having said that, it's not the first time past characters tend to be totally forgotten. As for the chemistry, yes it's true there has not been a lot of "electricity" lately but can you blame them? Who's got time for chemistry when all you are doing is going from one hospital visit to another and when you become paranoid your life is in danger? Give them time... the chemistry is still there but latent and this is now a time for tender care and support more than anything else. I remember some people complained that the Jack and Martha relationship had gone a bit cold when Martha was going through chemo and having a tough time dealing with her cancer but, again, did people really expect fluff at a time like this? Jack was 100% there for her and that's what was right at the time. Sticking together through tough times, commitment and sacrifice is what proves a relationship strong, not just undeniable physical attraction (don't get me wrong, the latter is still extremely important but sometimes you can't have it all at the same time).

I just want to comment on how good Jodi's acting has been so far this week. You can really feel her pain and I am sure she will do the grieving storyline real justice.

I agree with you Jody, I have really liked Aden this week. He took charge of the situation during the formal disaster by staying level-headed in spite of all that was going on around him, he's been totally committed to Belle and caring (give-back time) and, as you say, he still managed to be forgiving and compassionate towards Melody and basically to be there for her, in spite of her being the reason why Belle got injured. The old Aden would have lashed out at her and I'm glad he did not. As for putting further education off, while I agree I would like to see him go off to uni, it's understandable his mind is not in it at the moment and he is probably doing the right thing by choosing to postpone such an important decision to a time when his mind is clear of other more pressing issues.

Oh Red Ranger 1, what have Aden and Belle ever done to you? (I'm only joking) - as I've mentioned to you in a different thread I find your comments witty too and, even if sometimes they are very strongly put, they always lead to a very challenging and interesting exchange of opinions and I like that a lot. This is what makes the appreciation threads so good - how boring would they be if they were all just about how hot someone is or how cute a couple are when they kiss etc. (nothing wrong with this sort of comments obvioulsy but it is so much more interesting to discuss characters and their actions and how differently they are perceived by different viewers). To go back to topic, I agree with you I would not want Goeff and Melody to get back together for a while, if they ever get back together at all. I liked them at the beginning but I feel like too much water has passed under the bridge and so much has happened. Melody is like a totally different person now - it's obvious that Goeff still cares about what happens to her but I don't think there are any other residual feelings. In a way, the Goeff/Nicole relationship is a more interesting one to watch develop as they are both such different personalities and I wonder whether it can actually work: will there be too many compromises to make on either side, will one of them have to change too much, will they find a common ground once the "honeymoon" period is over and they have to deal with day-to-day issues? Goeff and Melody are more similar and therefore maybe less compelling to watch, at least for me. As for Aden/Melody (apart from the fact that I don't want to see Aden with anyone other than Belle if not forever for at least a very long time) I don't think it would work. I like their unlikely friendship a lot though and I hope Aden plays some sort of part in her recovery.

Totally agree! NO MORE relationship dramas, just interesting plots which involve them being HAPPY together and them interacting with/supporting other Bay members. They so need to interact with more people and spend time with people other than each other: any relationship where people only have each other is very unhealthy. The transition from being troubled teenagers to being adults should hopefully be a smooth one. As we have now started to see Aden interact a bit with Goeff, I'd love to see Aden apologise to Goeff for his past behaviour towards him and them having a proper chat about their past (it would be very unrealistic if the writers turned them from sworn enemies to friends without this chat taking place) and I'd also love Belle and Angelo to have a heart-to-heart about what happened between them and a proper apology from Belle (she never said sorry or explained things to him directly). This would to me be the proper beginning of a fresh start. Also, I would love to see them both focus on their future and it would be good to have episodes simply centered around which direction they intend to take professionally.

If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular reason why you chose your forum name to be the one of a soap child molester?

I have liked Roman since day one. He is a very decent person who's proven to be very compassionate and not judgemental. He was very kind to a homeless Miles and to a hurt Colleen. He had only been in the Bay a short while and yet offered to help others protect Sally when Johnny Cooper was on the run (not that they did a great job there though...). He's had kind words to Annie after her drunken incident and Ruby when she was upset about Ross being sick. I liked him and Martha together (even though I prefer Martha with Jack) and even though he's admitted still being in love with her he's doing the decent thing and has not tried to pursue her because he sees that she is in a happy relationship. I liked him with Charlie too - yes, he did break her heart but he was honest. The truth can hurt but it's better than live a lie. Last but not lease he's done a great job with Nicole and is being a great surrogate father/brother to Aden and we can see good results in both cases. Roman is the person who probably interacts with most other bay residents which can't be said of everybody else (they all seem to be too absorbed in their own love relationships and have no friends outside such relationships). I hope Conrad gets interesting storylines in 2009 because I think he deserves them!

Sexyluc, I know you don't like Belle and Aden, either individually or as a couple and I respect your reasons why, but don't you objectively think that from the first day Aden was out of the clinic and he and Belle met by chance on the beach it was pretty obvious that Belle was so not over him? I don't believe Belle did anything she did not want to do. As I stated earlier, she just woke up to her true feelings. With regards to the kiss in the car, Aden did it to prevent them getting busted by the security guard. I'm not denying he probably enjoyed it, but his action was a spur of the moment decision to deal with a potentially critical situation. And we mustn't forget Belle kissed him back. The feelings between them have always been mutual. So I think you can accuse Aden of many things but not of forcing Belle to love him back (not sure whether this post should have gone in the Belle, Aden or Adelle thread )

This is another typical example of how differently people can perceive characters and their actions. Aden tries to hug Belle after she admits to him that she tried to love Angelo but could not, because she never stopped loving Aden. When Aden then says he needs to know if Belle is with him or not, I see it as him saying no more games, I need to know that we are now actually together (no one can deny Belle had been giving mixed signals, saying she had chosen Angelo but always looking for an opportunity to be with Aden). Anyway, we all so need new storylines so we can have new scenes to debate about! Bring on 2009!

Let's just agree to disagree then! Anyway, judging by your avatar we seem to agree on at least one character: I love Jack, always have and always will

I think you hit the nail on the head here. It's all about whether you like them/it or not. Sometimes I feel like we're all watching different shows. The people who posted above me couldn't see the blackmailing Red Ranger accused him of, while I can see it perfectly. Belle was vulnerable and confused and Aden took advantage of that. She wasn't sure what to do; she needed Angelo for the investegation of the development site, but at the same time, she loved another man. She walks into her room and Aden practically ambushes her with the "You know you feel the same way. You know this is right". Of course she isn't going to turn him down when he puts it like that. If he'd said "I think you feel the same way. I think this is right" it would have another situation completely. When a person is already confused about her feelings towards a person, if this person then shows up and in a very clever way convinces her that he's the one for her, then she's going to agree, failing to see what he's doing to her. I call that emotional blackmail This is the bit where Aden pressurizes Belle into sleeping with him the day they get back together. I don't see where the blackmailing her into keeping it going comes into action. As stated above, Aden asks Belle to come clean from day one. Anyway, you are right, it's all about whether we like the characters or not. When we do like them a lot, it's very hard to find them at fault and easier to find acceptable reasons why they act in a certain way. For instance to me, Aden did not pressurize Belle, he simply made her see sense so that she would stop all the innuendos between them and not waste any more time with the wrong man

I have to disagree with you on this. Aden had a breakdown as a consequence of him having found out that Larry was also abused as a child. Finding out that your girlfriend has cheated on you is not in my view the same as finding out your own father has willingly left you in the company of a child abuser. Of course what Aden did was wrong (but I should discuss this in his thread, not in this one, so I'm stopping here) and of course Angelo had every right to be angry but I still think he over-reacted and definitely abused his position. I found Angelo very boring when he first arrived. He was just too clean-cut and trying too hard to impress. I find him more interesting now that he does have some kind of storyline with his development site involvement. I must say he did not act very smart when he decided to try and nail the developers all by himself. I however don't believe it was Angelo who shot Jack. I'm sure there was another shot before Angelo shooted and I must admit I felt so sorry for him when he stumbled upon Jack's body! Angelo has definitely potential as a character (and Luke is a good actor when given the chance to act like we've seen in the last couple of weeks - not when he was just the obviously-destined-to-lose member of a love triangle) so I hope they prove his innocence and give him some interesting storylines in 2009. P.S. I also think he just was not meant to be with Belle - irrespective of whether there was an Aden or not.

Red Ranger 1, your contributions to the threads are not attacks at all in my view! I find you're always stating your view in a very constructive way and that's exactly the kind of healthy debate I was talking about.

Maybe I missed some episode/scene but how/when did Aden emotionally blackmail Belle into keeping their ralationship going alongiside her relationship with Angelo?

Thanks SkyKat! I also now try not to reply to posts that go against my fav characters (although I sometimes can't help it ) and I feel that if I have got nothing nice to say I'd rather say nothing at all. There have however been some really interesting discussions in the threads and it's always nice to take part when it's a healthy debate and not an exchange of attacks. Well done to you moderators for putting up with us and for doing a really great job at keeping us in line!

No, it was not aimed at you Pierced Musie! Someone else used those words earlier on and I just thought they were a bit OTT!

Yes, she should have learnt her lesson the first time around but she did not. She needed to make the same mistake twice to learn. She should not have treated Angelo the way she did, we all seem to agree on that. Having said that, to say that this makes her an "excuse for a human being" and "vile and selfish" is in my opinion a bit over the top. Sounds like we are talking about some world dictator here, not a fallable teenage girl.