rec50 | Galatea; My Back Pages

Hello, all. I'm

falseeeyelashes and I'll be reccing The West Wing this round. My table can be found here. Happy reading!

Claim: The West Wing general series
Prompt: 21 - Epiphany
Title: Galatea
Author: Pix
Rating: R
Length: Long
Brief Summary: This is the story of Donna and Josh, Josh and Donna and everything the show should have explored. Using the story of Pygmalion as a thoughtful, moving parallel Pix tells the tale of Donna becoming something more than just an assistant and how Josh comes to see her as something else. The pacing is beautiful and the phrasing is eloquent; it has to be read as opposed to described.

In their story, he is brilliant and talented and skilled at deflecting intimacy. He is passionate and charismatic; women are drawn to him because it's so easy to imagine what it would be like to have that intense attention focused on them. There is a string of ex-lovers who would be more than happy to tell them that he never quite turns that radiant regard on them, and the day they realize it's not their fault is both heartbreaking and liberating.

He is an artist at the top of his form; his muse is America and he serves it like no other.

In their story, she is coltish and tentative, utterly unaware of her strength and all too aware of her weaknesses. She is compassionate and
quixotic; men are drawn to her because it's easy to imagine her making them the center of her world. There is one ex-lover who can attest to the loving attention she paid to him. The day she realized she could be more than the pedestal for his achievements was both heartbreaking and liberating.

She is still growing into who she could be; her muse is potential and she's oblivious to it.

Link: Galatea

Claim: The West Wing general series
Prompt: 24 - Future Fic
Title: My Back Pages
Author: Delighfully Eccentric
Rating: R
Length: Long
Brief Summary: There are so many post-adminstration fics out there, but this one still remains my favorite. It's CJ and Toby and Sam, and it's Toby and his book launch and it's CJ holding his book and it is some of the best characterization of CJ and Toby, and more difficult, CJ/Toby. It's long, but it's worth the read; it's light, but nostalgic enough to hurt.

She watches and feels vicarious pride in the lines of people queuing for his name. It's been more than a decade since she last waited in a line, so it's fortunate that she already has his name, in a far steadier than the hand than the one he's using now. She has it in a dozen books she pilfered from his collection when they were young, in a handful he chose as gifts and even on a wedding invitation right next to his bride's.

She has his name in his own hand, but she doesn't have his latest words. She would like to read his book. Especially since some of the early reviews indicated that she, with Sam and Leo and the others, is in it.

She's appeared in a number of books since Bartlet left office and thereby opened the floodgates for political memoirs by people who hadn't been close enough to have anything to remember, commentaries by people who hadn't been privy to enough to comment on, and satires by people who knew nothing of the absurdities of the people they were trying to satirise. Never has she been shaped into paper and ink by someone who knows her, though there have been several who think they do. She would dearly like to know which category Toby falls into.

Link: My Back Pages