ci5hq | The Reading Room -- NOVEMBER by Sebastian (Reply)

http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/18/november.html

Or

http://www.oblique-publications.net/archives/2note/4_2Qnovemberredone.pdf

Original Publication: ...As Two £3 Notes, Oblique Publications, 1991

I have a special fondness for Discovered in a Graveyard stories. Partly because I think the episode is one of the best and most complex (even if Doyle does look like an ailing mime); partly because I see the canon event of Doyle's "death" as such a powerful catalyst for change -- both personal and professional -- in the lads' relationship; partly because there is a wealth of dramatic and romantic dynamics in these stories. Plus it's a perfect opportunity for some serious hurt/comfort. By now I consider myself a sort of connoisseur of DiaG fics and I never pass up the opportunity to read one. The very first one I ever read was Sebastian's beautiful but unsettling November, and you know what they say about never forgetting your first time.

The day was dreary, a dark grey lowering, but the room assigned to them in the small hotel was unexpectedly pleasant. Miss Parrish the proprietor opened the door and a flood of rosy light permeated the interior as she switched on a lamp here and there.

"I think you'll be all right here, gentlemen. Breakfast is from eight till ten, or you can leave the card out for our Continental. If there's anything you want in the meantime, just ring down for it to Reception."

Our story opens with Doyle and Bodie on what appears to be a routine and rather boring obs -- the weekend surveillance of an embassy. We quickly learn that Doyle is newly back on the job following being shot by Mayli and that there's some question both in his mind and in Bodie's as to whether he really will make it all the way back. Beneath the ribbing and roughhousing, they're both a little frightened and a little angry -- with themselves and each other. They're struggling to get back to normal, but normal has changed forever.

For the first time, Doyle's eyes opened to what Bodie had been through: self-pity and shock had blinded him to all but his own struggle to regain normality. Surprise, then pity overtook him; and a new resolve not to turn Bodie's protective instincts away for reminding him that once he had failed, and so, the talisman of invincibility destroyed, might fail again.

Why didn't you set the locks. Why, Ray?

We learn also that even before the shooting the dynamics of their relationship had begun to alter, particularly one drunken night when they got a little carried away together and apparently had sex -- which Doyle has (possibly deliberately) blanked out.

I love how Sebastian skillfully feeds us bits of important information piece meal, avoiding the perils of the big info dump at the start of the story. She takes her time and lets the tension build while we gradually get the whole picture: Bodie is in love with Doyle and Doyle is on the run from acknowledging both what Bodie feels and what he feels himself. Doyle desperately wants everything to go back to the way it was, and Bodie already knows it can never be the same.

Just some general observations of things I think Sebastian does well: dialog -- I think she does a great job with their voices. Not merely capturing the way they sound, but the kinds of things they would say, the jokes, the attitude, the insights. Sex -- she writes sex with an imaginative exuberance and the sex is always a vital part of the story, not just thrown in because the lads look so pretty fucking. (Or so fucking pretty.) Character -- I don't always agree with her reading of their characters (I have trouble with the Siren series, for example) but they're always interesting and complex characters.

Other thoughts on the writing…I like her floating POV. It's not something I usually enjoy outside of fan fiction, but I think it emulates the camera's eye, and Sebastian does it mostly effectively. I like that this is a genuine case story. I like that although Sebastian writes her Bodie and Doyle tough -- possibly a little unbalanced -- she captures the tolerant humor and tenderness between them.

Bodie looked over at Sally and Doyle, tangled up together, both fast asleep. Pity to wake him, but they'd have to be on their way soon. Bodie's brows narrowed into a frown as he surveyed Doyle; even asleep, little lines of stress showed around his eyes. Silver glints in his hair, and on his chest the ugly brand of a wound most mortal.

Doyle was not yet thirty-five years old.

The familiar tight sensation hit Bodie, an expression of fierce brooding twisting his face:

Doyle had nearly died.

It couldn't be right. Not that a young man, full of life and vibrance, moods and feeling should be wiped out in a flash, just like that--all he had to offer to the world gone, flung to the winds and lost. For no good reason.

For no good reason.

And if he had died, Bodie asked himself reasonably, eyes dwelling on the smooth honey of his skin, returning as if drawn to that black nightmarish pucker over his heart: if he had died... What would that have done to you?

He closed his eyes, trying to blot out the rising panic: to quell it, he set about to be practical. To let his mind catalogue the options open to him, to both of them: anything to screen the fearful view of the future which had so nearly become the past. I will do it, he thought, I have to do it; I'll ask him to get out with me, we've done our bit for the nation, Cowley can find some other young hopefuls to do or die.

He touched Doyle's shoulder, found the skin moist, and cool; pulled up the duvet over him. Then, Bodie got up, picked up his clothes from the floor and padded to the bathroom to wash.

Anyway, all this is seething beneath the surface. Meanwhile Doyle and Bodie go about their business like the professionals they are. But that old soldier's instinct is tapping Bodie's shoulder. He's got an increasingly bad feeling about this job -- and, in particular, about Doyle surviving it.

And he is right to be worried.