Fic: It's Me or the Muffin

[lost_spook]

I wasn’t very well today and spent a lot of it lying about not doing much and watching The West Wing (when I had the energy). And I’ve come to the conclusion (all but 3 eps from the end of S3) that I’m not sure it will ever give me the entertaining trainwreck that would be actual Sam/Ainsley, and, after all the random encounters every six episodes

Comments

[jjpor]

I'll be honest, I only ever saw S1 of The West Wing, and then we parted company. People speak very highly of it, however. This is still a very nice little dialogue, even if I'm probably missing the nuances or something.

Hope you feel better soon, too!

And UNIT, you say? Hmm...

[lost_spook]

I don't think I was up to nuances yesterday. Or today, for that matter. I don't feel that bad... just unable to actually do anything for the moment. :-)

Well, I picked up S1 on video and there was a cliffhanger ending, so... Next thing I know, I have DVDs. :lol: It's very American (well, obviously), but it is exceptionally well-written, I think. I liked S1 best so far, though. Ainsley comes in S2 (she's a Republican lawyer who beats Sam hollow in an argument live on TV and then the President wants her in the White House, where she ends up working in the boiler room, until Sam promotes her in S3 because she's the only Republican in the building. And gets her back from her holiday after 40 hours to do it. So, there ought to be something like this at some point, but with this show, it'd probably happen off screen, even if it did happen. I think I definitely must be ill. I'm waffling madly.)

[jjpor]

Oh well, hopefully you'll regain your ability to do things sooner rather than later. :)

Actually, I think I may have seen more than S1, because I have a vague memory of Ainsley being this blonde right-wing woman with a Southern-ish sort of accent? So I must have seen some later ones... My main knowledge of the show apart from the fact that Martin Sheen was the President and Rob Lowe was in it was that it finished up with a Presidential election fought between the fella who played Princess Leia's adoptive father in the Star Wars prequels and Alan whatsisname who used to be Hawkeye in M*A*S*H*, and that the likes of the Grauniad said how spookily the plot of the show mirrored the real-life 2008 US election.

And that exhausts my knowledge of the West Wing. ;D

[lost_spook]

Well, you knew more than me before I started watching. I knew someone famous was the President and that it was supposed to be very cleverly written, and that it might have Stockard Channing in it.

Well, it is cleverly written, and it does have Stockard Channing and Martin Sheen is great.

And, yep, that would be Ainsley.

[curuchamion]

*tries to picture an American muffin with topping*

*fails*

(And, um, I know nothing of The West Wing beyond the premise. But you make it sound interesting.)

[lost_spook]

I did say my knowledge of muffins was limited. I know they're big cakey things, and I could have sworn the other time Ainsley went to the canteen with Sam she had one that had pink icing (frosting?) all over the top of it, but maybe that was just a bit cupcake?

Well, it's good so far. :-)

[justice_turtle]

...clearly I had no brain in 2010. (Well, I knew that.) Yeah, I'd call an American-muffin-shaped thing with pink icing a cupcake, although now I come to think of it I don't really know where we draw the line between "cupcake" and "muffin". Perhaps it varies by region, or by who's selling it, or by *hands in air* something else altogether. ;P

[librarylover82]

Your Ainsley voice is very accurate. I think you nailed the dynamic between them quite nicely. You need to get Toby and Leo into one of these!

[lost_spook]

I'm not sure I dare. My ignorance is already showing! :lol:

Thanks, though. I didn't run to one of her odd-syntax moments, but then she only does that when she's nervous.

[dbskyler]

Well done! Although I really need to see more of early "West Wing" -- I mostly watched the show after Sam had left, so I don't really know these two. But it was a fun conversation to read anyway.

(By the way, there are a few "Britishisms" in here -- do you want me to point them out? They didn't detract from my enjoyment of the fic, though. Actually, speaking as an American who tries to write British characters, it was fun to see it the other way around. I probably make little mistakes all the time -- it's almost inevitable.)

[lost_spook]

Well, I've now finished S3, so I can't comment on later seasons. I like the Sam and Ainsley stuff, but it's kind of random. I am hopeful that something will happen, but we see Ainsley so rarely I'm never sure if the actress has left or not. Heh. Thanks.

And, yes, go ahead, please. I think I completely deserve to have all my British-isms pointed out to me after my incurable habit of Britpicking in Who fic! I like to think I can get away with it in some things if I'm paying attention, but the West Wing is so very American. It's kind of the point of its existence. I knew I'd get something wrong. *sigh*

(And, in my defence, I did manage not to write "pull my pigtails in the playground and run away", so I do know some things. :lol:)

[dbskyler]

I didn't really start watching until S7 (so, you know, way late) but I thought it was great. I have caught some earlier episodes here and there on re-runs, but I haven't sat down for a systematic watch.

And, yes, go ahead, please. I think I completely deserve to have all my British-isms pointed out to me after my incurable habit of Britpicking in Who fic!

No, Britpicking Whofic is a service, really! I know I really appreciate it, anyway. I just didn't know if you wanted to bother US-picking for a piece like this that you wrote on a whim when you weren't feeling well. (Hope you're better today, by the way.) Okay, here we go -- as you can see, there weren't many:

-- "you ruined my last holiday": This would be her last vacation.

-- "strawberry topping": Pretty much the only thing we'll have with "topping" over here is ice cream. Strawberry icing would be better, but most muffins don't have icing, let alone strawberry icing. I saw your comment to curuchamion above, and I don't know the scene, but it was more likely to be a cupcake, yes

[lost_spook]

Aw, thanks. :-) I've altered those bits now. Had I had an actual brain, I might have remembered the vacation/holiday thing, but I didn't. I only write fluff when I'm ill. Or I have some other excuse. :lol: (And, drat, Sam's other girlfriend came back in today's episode. So what was the point of Ainsley only ever being in it every six episodes and only ever in scenes with Sam? I prefer my version. *cough

[belantana]

“Yes, but I thought you believed that word was synonymous with Republican. I think you’ve restored my faith in human nature.”

OK now it's number one on the New Television List (behind only the to-be-caught-up-on list of the rest of Fringe and New Who). *g* Sam is totally gorgeous here. And I really want to try an orange-cranberry muffin! (Maybe I should stop reading fic and go have breakfast before I collapse into bed...)

[lost_spook]

Thanks! :-)

This was totally brought on by being ill and not having brain for much else other than me lying around plotting UNIT shenanigans and in-between going: "Aren't Sam and Ainsley ever going to get together?" (No, would appear to be the answer to that, sadly. It would have been very, very entertaining, because they disagree on a lot and Sam doesn't like to lose an argument...)

As long as you understand that you may get fed up with them all being wonderfully written and never trying to save the world, or racing against time to stop a bomb going off. ;-)