Go Big, Go Home (#3 of probably 7?)

[princess_george]

Title: Go Big, Go Home (#3 of probably 7?)
Rating: The series is R, this instalment is PG-13 at most (mild language).
Length: Almost 9000 words (this instalment)
Timeline/Spoilers: Takes off from somewhere between "Pawnee Rangers" and "Meet and Greet" - AU from there. Basically another way of thinking through the questions posed by Season 4.

Comments

[stillscape]

Yay, you posted! I think the revised scene works really well. The small details are really shining, too, I think. Ben's tangent about lamps. Leslie eating the jelly beans. Donna's upscale sandwich. Hee.

[princess_george]

Thanks, glad the scene worked better! And you know that Donna's sandwich is all from our exchange, right? I'd forgotten about her sophisticated palate until you reminded me... I was wondering if chipotle might be too intense for her, though...

[stillscape]

Oh, I remember. "Donna's sandwich" is on the list of oddly specific details I have had very serious conversations about, along with things like "what Ann would wear to prom" and "April's favorite Christmas carol." The foccacia was a nice touch.

[princess_george]

So, clearly, the next questions are:

a) What would Ann wear to prom?

and

b) What is April's favorite Christmas carol?

I don't think a BLT on foccacia with chipotle mayo is in fact Donna's favourite sandwich. I'll have to think about what might be, but I don't think that's it. I was definitely trying to set the tenor of "it's not my favorite but it will have to do since it's the best this lame cafeteria has to offer" in the scene. I hope that came across in the tone of the writing.

I think asiago cheese is involved in Donna's favourite sandwich, either in the bread or as a sandwich filling. And maybe a touch of arugula?

[stillscape]

Oh, answers to those went into fic already! Ann would wear something short and slutty, and April's favorite Christmas carol is "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Actually, now I come to think of it, both of those were craponaspatula's suggestions, which I happened to agree with. I think the only prom outfit I had much of a hand in was Andy's.

I can see Donna being into both asiago cheese and arugula, and I think it's totally clear that she was making do with what the cafeteria had to offer. Sandwiches, as a food group, seem a bit too pedestrian for her. But then again she is a Pawnee resident. These things seem vaguely contradictory.

[craponaspatula]

Of course we already discussed those things.

[princess_george]

Excellent choices.

[princess_george]

Well, I did see in one episode Donna holding what looked like a foccacia sandwich, so I felt it was canon-compliant... but even a discerning gourmand sometimes has to make do with what the cafeteria has on offer. And Donna doesn't strike me as a brown-bag lunch kind of gal.

I've always wondered about Donna's alternate sources of income. She lives pretty large for a lower-level government employee. And she's single, so it's not like someone else is paying her bills. Maybe she has a lot of Snakehole-type investments all over Pawnee. Real estate holdings, business ventures, etc. Donna Meagle, business magnate.

[stillscape]

I think I read in an interview at some point (with Mike Schur, maybe? It wasn't with Retta) that Donna lives well beyond her means.

[princess_george]

I'm just cracking up after scanning back and wondering how many words we have spent on Donna's lunch!

[stillscape]

It seems like a perfectly rational number of words to me, and also a perfectly rational discussion to be having in the first place. Then again, you've seen what I write, so I might not be the best judge of whether a particular discussion is rational in the first place...

[princess_george]

You're a strange, strange woman. In the best kind of way, of course.

I'm starting to think this show writes, like, 20 page single-spaced back stories for each character, especially after seeing Ben in the promo. I mean, the layers in that. The layers! That t-shirt alone takes a whole page to explain, I'm sure.