Smokey

Dear Darling Doctor: Chapter 6

Added 2025-09-24 09:00:02 +0000 UTC

Well folks, we're officially past the halfway point! In fact, based on my current status as of scheduling this post (writing chapter 8 as we speak), this story is going to end with Chapter 9, so we're actually 2/3rds of the way through! I think it's a good length for what's going on and the number of characters involved in the story.

Before I set out to reboot this story, the main question that's been driving me is "how does Cassandra go from a toxic but otherwise ordinary woman to the absolutely unhinged housewife we know and love". Brainwashing explains part of it, to be sure. Her mistrust of men and women alike becoming a worship of men means her hatred of other women becomes a lot more intense. Her crush on Doctor Sang is slowly morphed into feverish obsession, but it needs to have something to kick it off. I hope that I've done an adequate job of justifying her eventual characterization so far.

But this chapter also shines a spotlight on Marion and Siobhan! So let's chat about them.

Marion is just someone who, as you may have guessed, I love to humiliate and torment. She's a great target for it, I think, and as of this chapter we're getting a good idea of why she ends up so, well, All Pent Up~

Siobhan, of course, is meant to evoke the most sympathy. She's a troubled girl, and she's struggling to withstand everything. It's a character idea that I'd never actually considered before, but she basically emerged fully formed in Chapter 1 for me. I knew exactly who she is, what happens to her, how she struggles at Sunny Skies, and why.

Thanks again to Aubree for beta reading all these chapters!