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crack_van2006-03-18 04:25 pm
caz963.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-03-18 04:25 pm
Entry tags:
All We Are by Sally Reeve, (R)
Fandom: THE WEST WING
Pairing: Josh/Donna
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
salr323
Author Website: Sally's West Wing Fanfiction
Why this must be read:
I rec'd a couple of oldies last week, so this week I wanted to recommend something new. If you like your Josh and Donna angsty, romantic and with a dash of humour, then Sally's stuff's for you! She's relatively new to the fandom, but don't let that deter you - she has a really good handle on the characters, her writing style is excellent - and the thing which really appeals to me is the way she gets into the character's heads and 'internalises' things.
She's written about six West Wing fics so far and they're all very good - so if you haven't read any of her fics, then be sure to read them all! - but I chose this one (which is a post-ep to 7.09, "The Wedding") because I think she captures Josh incredibly well here. (Not that she doesn't usually do that, but this is especially good!) This line in particular (from Donna) kinda sums up Josh as he is at this point:
"Your big, dark secret, Josh, is that you don't think you're good enough and that you're terrified you're going to be found out."
Of course, you might disagree with that assessment, but for me, that hit the nail right on the head!
There are also 'cameo' appearances by Leo and CJ - both of them spot on.
He'd been up all night, worrying at the numbers, trying to make it work -second guessing himself at every turn - and he felt stretched thin. Six weeks out, and everything to play for, he knew he could have cost them the election. His mistake, his misjudgement. And whatever Leo said, Josh wasn't convinced that the mistake had been unavoidable. He knew he'd been off his game, distracted. For months now, if he was honest with himself.
He should be sharper, he should be better than this. He was better than this, or he had been. Fact was, he was losing his edge - along with his hair. Maybe he was just getting old? Burned out. He'd lost something, that was for sure. He just couldn't quite put his finger on what…
"Hey, you." He broke out of his dour reverie and saw CJ, like a vision from his glory days, holding out a champagne glass. "You might as well have this, I can't."
He took it and offered a slight smile in return. "Why not? Global crisis or baby on the way?"
CJ didn't answer, just fixed him with a killer look. "Your schoolboy 'humour' - and I use the term loosely - doesn't fool me, Joshua Lyman. I could see the dark clouds hovering from the other side of the room."
"So you took pity on the leper at the feast?"
"Wow, we are feeling sorry for ourself, aren't we?"
He didn't answer, but knocked back a good half of the champagne. It tasted bitter.
"Donna was looking for you earlier," CJ said, fixing him with a look that he couldn't decipher. It was somewhere between a smirk and a question.
"I'm avoiding her," he replied, draining his glass and wishing he had a second. Right now drunken oblivion had a certain appeal.
CJ raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall. "I have world war three about to blow up in my face," she said, "but for some reason, known only to God himself, I'm going to ask you why."
He looked away, out through the ridiculously happy crowd of dignitaries, and feigned ignorance. "Why what?"
"Why are you avoiding Donna?"
"Does it matter?" The question crested a nervous laugh that he didn't really feel.
There was a short pause. CJ shifted - shiftily, he thought - and said, "Let's just say I have a personal interest."
His eyebrows rose. "In…Donna?"
"Oh for the love of God, Joshua!" She poked him hard on the arm, almost knocking him off balance. "In the situation."
He could feel the tension curling inside, unnamed and unnameable. He tried to ignore it. "What situation?"
"Are you a complete idiot?"
His slight humour evaporated. "Apparently so, if you ask half the people in this room."
"Don't be stupid."
"That too."
"No one thinks you're-"
"Oh come on!" he snapped, pacing half a step away from her and back again. "They want to replace me, CJ! No one thinks I'm up to the job, and if Leo hadn't- They're just waiting for me to fall flat on my face so they can laugh and point."
CJ folded her arms and skewered him with a gaze that pinned him to the wall. "You think I don't know what that's like? You think that when I took over from Leo - from Leo McGarry! - that everyone wasn't waiting for me to fall flat on my face, waiting to laugh and point? You think I don't know what it's like to do a job that's so impossibly vast that you feel like you're drowning in it?"
He blew out a contrite sigh, glanced at her angry, concerned face, and felt like an idiot all over again. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's just-"
"You don't do well on your own, huh?"
"Not so much."
Enjoy!
All We Are
Pairing: Josh/Donna
Author on LJ:
salr323Author Website: Sally's West Wing Fanfiction
Why this must be read:
I rec'd a couple of oldies last week, so this week I wanted to recommend something new. If you like your Josh and Donna angsty, romantic and with a dash of humour, then Sally's stuff's for you! She's relatively new to the fandom, but don't let that deter you - she has a really good handle on the characters, her writing style is excellent - and the thing which really appeals to me is the way she gets into the character's heads and 'internalises' things.
She's written about six West Wing fics so far and they're all very good - so if you haven't read any of her fics, then be sure to read them all! - but I chose this one (which is a post-ep to 7.09, "The Wedding") because I think she captures Josh incredibly well here. (Not that she doesn't usually do that, but this is especially good!) This line in particular (from Donna) kinda sums up Josh as he is at this point:
"Your big, dark secret, Josh, is that you don't think you're good enough and that you're terrified you're going to be found out."
Of course, you might disagree with that assessment, but for me, that hit the nail right on the head!
There are also 'cameo' appearances by Leo and CJ - both of them spot on.
He'd been up all night, worrying at the numbers, trying to make it work -second guessing himself at every turn - and he felt stretched thin. Six weeks out, and everything to play for, he knew he could have cost them the election. His mistake, his misjudgement. And whatever Leo said, Josh wasn't convinced that the mistake had been unavoidable. He knew he'd been off his game, distracted. For months now, if he was honest with himself.
He should be sharper, he should be better than this. He was better than this, or he had been. Fact was, he was losing his edge - along with his hair. Maybe he was just getting old? Burned out. He'd lost something, that was for sure. He just couldn't quite put his finger on what…
"Hey, you." He broke out of his dour reverie and saw CJ, like a vision from his glory days, holding out a champagne glass. "You might as well have this, I can't."
He took it and offered a slight smile in return. "Why not? Global crisis or baby on the way?"
CJ didn't answer, just fixed him with a killer look. "Your schoolboy 'humour' - and I use the term loosely - doesn't fool me, Joshua Lyman. I could see the dark clouds hovering from the other side of the room."
"So you took pity on the leper at the feast?"
"Wow, we are feeling sorry for ourself, aren't we?"
He didn't answer, but knocked back a good half of the champagne. It tasted bitter.
"Donna was looking for you earlier," CJ said, fixing him with a look that he couldn't decipher. It was somewhere between a smirk and a question.
"I'm avoiding her," he replied, draining his glass and wishing he had a second. Right now drunken oblivion had a certain appeal.
CJ raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall. "I have world war three about to blow up in my face," she said, "but for some reason, known only to God himself, I'm going to ask you why."
He looked away, out through the ridiculously happy crowd of dignitaries, and feigned ignorance. "Why what?"
"Why are you avoiding Donna?"
"Does it matter?" The question crested a nervous laugh that he didn't really feel.
There was a short pause. CJ shifted - shiftily, he thought - and said, "Let's just say I have a personal interest."
His eyebrows rose. "In…Donna?"
"Oh for the love of God, Joshua!" She poked him hard on the arm, almost knocking him off balance. "In the situation."
He could feel the tension curling inside, unnamed and unnameable. He tried to ignore it. "What situation?"
"Are you a complete idiot?"
His slight humour evaporated. "Apparently so, if you ask half the people in this room."
"Don't be stupid."
"That too."
"No one thinks you're-"
"Oh come on!" he snapped, pacing half a step away from her and back again. "They want to replace me, CJ! No one thinks I'm up to the job, and if Leo hadn't- They're just waiting for me to fall flat on my face so they can laugh and point."
CJ folded her arms and skewered him with a gaze that pinned him to the wall. "You think I don't know what that's like? You think that when I took over from Leo - from Leo McGarry! - that everyone wasn't waiting for me to fall flat on my face, waiting to laugh and point? You think I don't know what it's like to do a job that's so impossibly vast that you feel like you're drowning in it?"
He blew out a contrite sigh, glanced at her angry, concerned face, and felt like an idiot all over again. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's just-"
"You don't do well on your own, huh?"
"Not so much."
Enjoy!
All We Are