Line #91 Fanfic/LovesJourney


1	''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7747573/1/Love-s-Journey Love's Journey]]'' is a ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' fan fiction that tells the story and romance of Tom Branson and Lady Sybil Crawley is through a series of letters, diary entries, and personal POV thoughts, spanning from Branson's arrival at Downton in 1913, and ultimately leading to their journey to Ireland.
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3	There is also an interquel called ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7964849/1/Love-s-Journey-Stepping-Stones Stepping Stones]]'' that tells what happened to Sybil and Branson during the "missing years" between Seasons 1 & 2 (late 1914 to early 1916). Begins right after Chapter 40 of ''Love's Journey'' and the end of Series 1.
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5	These are followed up by ''Love's Continuing Journey'' about Tom and Sybil beginning their lives in Ireland. It will be discussed elsewhere because it swerves greatly from canon.
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7	Most ''Downton Abbey'' tropes are applicable.
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9	----
10	!!''Love's Journey'' provides examples of:
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12	* AdaptationExpansion: The story actually shows Sybil's time in York at the nursing college and fleshes out Tom's family, as well as Tom having a pair of unpleasant encounters with Major Bryant.
13	* AdaptationalExplanation: It isn't explained why Major Bryant wound up at Downton in the show. Here, Sybil mentions he suffered a respiratory infection while in the trenches.
14	* AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul: Since the fanfic was started before Tom's family was fleshed out in the series, his older brother Kieran in Series 3 becomes his cousin.
15	* AdaptationalVillainy: Major Charles Bryant is a {{Jerkass}} in the series proper, but really shows himself to be a nasty piece of work here where he attempts to steal one of Lord Grantham's cars for a joyride, is racist towards the Irish, and hacks up Tom's hands with a knife when the chauffeur tries to make him take responsibility for his child with Ethel.
16	* AgeLift: Tom is born in 1885 in the show since it's said he and Matthew are about the same age. Here, he is born in 1890, making him slightly older than Mary (born 1891).
17	* AlasPoorScrappy: In-universe; Tom doesn't like Ethel, but he still feels sorry for her due to being sacked.
18	* AllForNothing: It turns out that Tom and Sybil's elopement would have failed anyways since Sybil's friend Susan writes that Gretna Green requires married couples to be residents of the area for at least three weeks, giving whoever would be chasing them down enough time to find them.
19	* AllJustADream: Chapters 27 and 87.
20	* AlmostKiss
21	* AscendedExtra:
22	** Tom's unnamed cousin who died in the Easter Rising is named Martin and they were very close.
23	** Tom Bellasis, the acquaintance of Sybil's who was killed in Series 2, appears in ''Stepping Stones''.
24	* ASimplePlan:
25	** Gwen's secret job interview: PlayedForLaughs.
26	** The Ripon Count. PlayedForDrama.
27	* BelligerentSexualTension: Tom and Sybil set this aside many times because they don't want to give the impression they're getting married because she is DefiledForever.
28	* BetterAsFriends: Tom and Sybil try to be this after his failed proposal but it doesn't last.
29	* BlatantLies: Tom saying he was "just passing" the drawing room window while walking from the garage; the drawing room and the garage are on opposite sides of the house.
30	* BootCampEpisode: Chapters 48-56 is about Sybil in nursing school.
31	* BrickJoke: Sybil is puzzled by the color of Tom's eyes in chapter 3 but she "solves her mystery" at chapter 5.
32	* CentralTheme: The value of patience.
33	* CharacterTic: Sybil bites her lower lip when she's nervous.
34	* ChekhovsGun: Tom starts using Gwen's typewriter when he starts taking the same correspondence course.
35	* ChristmasEpisode: The Servant's Ball. Tom couldn't attend the one in ''Stepping Stones'' because he had to attend his sister's wedding, but he did attend the one in ''Love's Journey''.
36	* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Discussed in Chapter 19 after the Ripon count where Tom's hands are shaking so badly that he would have asked Barrow or O'Brien for a cigarette.
37	* DanceOfRomance
38	* DancesAndBalls
39	* DeadPersonConversation: Tom occasionally writes letters to his deceased cousin Martin, referred to as "Letters to Nowhere".
40	* {{Deconstruction}}: Chapter 20 is basically Sybil giving herself a negative AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.
41	* DeusExMachina: Rachel, the girl Martin loved, works in the Swan Inn. Tom sees her as a sign that he shouldn't give up on his love for Sybil just because their elopement failed.
42	* DoggedNiceGuy: Tom
43	* DoomedByCanon: Edward Courtenay, William Mason, Major Bryant, Vera Bates, Lavinia Swire.
44	* DontYouDarePityMe: Tom thinks this in chapter 71.
45	* DownerEnding: ''Stepping Stones'' ends with the news that Tom's cousin Martin was killed.
46	* DrillSergeantNasty: Nurse Templeton is a nurse variation of this trope who has little patience for young women who don't have the stomach to handle viscera (or even talk about them in conversation).
47	* DrowningMySorrows: Tom and Sybil have this in common.
48	* [[EpisodeOnAPlane Episode On A Train]]: Chapter 33.
49	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Sybil using the slang "bloody" in her first diary entry.
50	* EyeScream: Susan's beau James loses one of his eyes and most of his vision in the other due to an explosion.
51	* FaintInShock: Happens to a nursing student named Gretchen when Nurse Templeton asked her if she had ever seen human organs before.
52	* {{Fingore}}: Tom's brother-in-law Sean loses two fingers in World War I.
53	* FormerlyFat: Sybil, which is why she has body issues.
54	* FreudianSlip: So many, to indicate Tom and Sybil's growing attachment.
55	* GirlPosse: The pack of mean girls who pick on Sybil at nursing school.
56	* HairTriggerTemper: Tom's uncle Michael flies into rages at the littlest things. It actually caused his death when Martin died and Uncle Michael suffered an apoplectic fit.
57	* TheHeart: While giving a eulogy at William's funeral, Matthew highlights his role as a source of optimism for the company.
58	* HeroOfAnotherStory: The other Downton residents and their storylines are mentioned. Many of those stories are unresolved by the end but we know they'll sort themselves out eventually.
59	* HiddenDepths: SYBIL.
60	** CovertPervert: She sure does love EatingTheEyeCandy.
61	** HotBlooded: She's very prone to anger and swearing but she hides these well.
62	** OutdoorsyGal: She climbed trees as a child.
63	** PassionateSportsGirl: An InformedAttribute. She used to play Cricket.
64	* HighTurnoverRate: In the two years between Series 1 and 2, there were apparently a lot of housemaids after Gwen left to become a secretary; Ethel stayed the longest at nearly two years. Tom halfheartedly wonders if Gwen put a curse on the position.
65	* HistoricalInJoke
66	** Chapter 95: Tom accidentally invented the emoticon.
67	** Chapter 129: Sybil came up with the bare bones concept of a cellphone.
68	%%* HonoraryUncle: Tom for Gwen's twins.
69	* HowWeGotHere
70	* IHaveThisFriend: Sybil only tries to use her position as an Earl's daughter twice: one for an eye doctor (specifically the one who treated Mrs. Patmore) to help Susan's beau and to put Tom out of the line of fighting by having him be a chauffeur for a general.
71	* ImpoverishedPatrician: This is how the Crawleys' other chauffeur Pratt came to work for them due to a neighboring estate being forced to sell leaving him out of work.
72	* TheIngenue: Sybil
73	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Tom's late father didn't believe cars would be so important.
74	* JailBaitWait: One of the reasons Tom delays his courtship of Sybil is because [[MayDecemberRomance she's 7 years his junior]], so he waits till she's 18.
75	* LastRequest: William has Tom promise that he'll protect Daisy from Barrow and, if she wants to move up, to help her do so.
76	* LikeASonToMe: Reversed with Tom thinking of Mrs. Hughes as a second mother, which leads him to attack Major Bryant after he insults her over the Ethel predicament.
77	* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The author believes that Sybil is unaware of the Pamuk scandal.
78	* LoveAtFirstSight
79	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: After breaking Major Bryant's jaw and some of his teeth, Tom pours alcohol on him to a) wake him up since he has to catch a train and b) make it look like his battered and disheveled appearance is due to drinking.
80	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Tom is the eldest of six children, the youngest of whom is 6 when he started at Downton.
81	* MilestoneCelebration: Invoked. The author calls chapter 100 this when Sybil and Tom have their first lover's quarrel.
82	* MyEyesAreUpHere: Sybil dances with a man who is distracted by her cleavage in chapter 27.
83	-->'''Sybil''': ''They'' go wherever I go, my Lord, so why don't you ask ''me'' that question?''
84	* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Turns out Daisy and Mary aren't the only ones with this. Sybil has a nightmare that Tom dies in the war at chapter 68. She later finds out he's been drafted.
85	* NearAndDearBabyNaming: Gwen names her twins Anne and Tom, for Anna and Branson.
86	* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Nobles Who Actually Do Something]]
87	* NothingIsTheSameAnymore
88	* PetTheDog: In a rare show of solidarity, Thomas acts as a pallbearer for William's funeral alongside Mr. Mason, Tom and Bates.
89	* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Tom is the eldest of six children, the youngest of which, Moira, is 17 years younger (Tom is about 23 in 1913 when he arrives at Downton, making her six at the time).
90	* RunningGag: Sybil throwing her diary when she's angry. Lampshaded in chapter 87.
91	* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: William is the Sensitive Guy and Tom is the Manly Man. William is a footman who's good with animals, more sentimental, takes criticism harder, and less prone to violence than Tom, who's a chauffeur and mechanic who laughs off the White Feather girls and isn't afraid to get in Major Bryant's face more than once.
92	* ShadowArchetype: Martin Branson goes back to Ireland without telling the girl he loves how he feels, something Tom decides not to do.
93	* ShipperOnDeck:
94	** Sybil is one for Mary/Matthew.
95	** Tom is one for Anna/Bates and even serves as a witness for their wedding.
96	* ShotgunWedding: Tom invokes this by trying to make Major Bryant take responsibility for Ethel's child. It fails.
97	* ShoutOut:
98	** Invoked with Tom using ''Literature/ArabianNights'' to explain Sybil's trouser pants to Daisy.
99	** Tom and Sybil use the name [[Literature/{{Persuasion}} Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth]] as a cover name when they elope.
100	* SideBet: The servants apparently had one over how long Mr. Lang would last before being fired/resigning.
101	* SoapboxSadie: Sybil reaches this level with her preaching.
102	* StarCrossedLovers
103	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Tom and Sybil often have the same train of thought.
104	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: So many. The earliest was in chapter 12.
105	-->'''Sybil''': (Tom's) mind is far too serious to think about such silly, girlish daydreams--not that I daydream about such things, mind you!--[[LampshadeHanging why am I even writing this?]]
106	* TemptingFate: Chapter 18 ends with Sybil excited about going to the Ripon Count.
107	-->'''Sybil''': I have such a good feeling.
108	* UnPerson: Sybil fears her family will disown her if she marries Branson, and treat her as if [[IHaveNoSon she no longer exists]].
109	* VacationEpisode: Chapters 144-147 is about Tom and Sybil's secret London holiday.
110	* VillainousRescue: O'Brien has one in Chapter 69 when Ethel gets a bit handsy with Tom and O'Brien happens to walk in.
111	* VillainousValor: Tom is astounded that Major Bryant is willing to put himself in harm's way by going to the front lines.
112	* WarIsHell
113	* WeddingEpisode: ''Stepping Stones'' chapter 9 is about Gwen's wedding.
114	* WelcomeEpisode: Chapter 2 is this for Tom Branson.
115	* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim:
116	** In Chapter 9 Tom wonders what Daisy sees in Barrow.
117	** Sybil wonders this about Mary and Sir Richard, noting that she doesn't see the spark in Mary that Matthew brings out in her.
118	* WhatIsThisFeeling
119	* WideEyedIdealist: Sybil.
120	* YouRemindMeOfX: Tom says Daisy reminds him of one of his sisters.
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122	!!''Love's Continuing Journey'' provides examples of:
123	* EasterEpisode: Chapters 8 and 9 concern the Easter celebrations at the Branson house.
124	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Tom Branson and his brother Francis. Tom is shown to be a good worker and helped provide for his siblings, Frank is a near-stereotypical hooligan.
125	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Irish revolutionary Michael Collins is mentioned popping his head in and out of Tom's newspaper the ''Irish Republic''.
126	* NiceGirl: Tom's sister Siobhan is by far the most welcoming member of his family.
127	* ObnoxiousInLaws: Tom's family isn't completely welcoming of Sybil, particularly his sister Kathleen. This isn't helped by the fact that Tom and Sybil are supposed to stay with Kathleen and her husband Sean.
128	* PromotionToParent: It's mentioned that Tom and his eldest sister Kathleen helped their mother raise the younger siblings.
129	* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: A good portion of the story is Tom's return to Ireland and facing scrutiny from everyone he knows from his family to the local priest because of his choice to marry Sybil.

Context Fanfic / LovesJourney