Lads in the Rain

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I've woken up to an ordinary-coloured world this morning, all the snow has gone and been replaced by raindrops on my windows and grey doom-y skies. I actually quite like weather like this now and then (plus we're promised sun later, which makes for optimism!) - being all cosy inside whilst it blusters outside is rather lovely. The other thing that cheered me up was that my mind immediately went to thoughts of the lads just getting on with it (ooh-er, missus) in the rain. There are even episodes where we clearly see that it's been raining, and I think one or two where it seems to be raining on Cowley's windows whilst the lads are inside. (Can I think of which ones now? No... Can you? Do you have a screencap to prove it...? *g*) One of the first bits of fic I ever wrote featured Doyle watching Bodie making a dash through very heavy rain across the carpark, and appreciating how very wet Bodie got (it hasn't seen the light of day yet, it's waiting to be cut into some longer story). And of course all of that got me thinking - could we make a list of stories that feature the lads in the rain? Not just a brief mention that it's raining, but where the rain is a real feature of the story, or of part of the story?

Can anyone help? And is there a difference between summer and winter rain? I think there might be - the cold kind, and the soft, or suddenly cooling warm kind - because what I really want to read about today is the cold kind... but we could make both lists, one ready and waiting for next summer... *g* Well, there might be a difference, but of course the rain list was already started, and didn't differentiate, so... I won't here, either!

The Lads in the Rain Story List
Any Port in a Storm by TooLoose
Clap Hands by HG
Closer Quarters by Slantedlight
Dancing in the Rain by Nell Howell/Istia
The Day the Rain Came by Too Loose
Easy Prey by Jaicen
Fevers by Pamela Rose
Gone Fishing by The Hag
The Greatest Treason by Lezlie Shell
Harlequin Airs by Ellis Ward
The High-Up Singing and Alive Fruit by Slantedlight
Home and Dry by The Hag
Just Enough Rope by Slantedlight
Lifelike by Jojo
The Lyke-Wake by Slantedlight
Nice Boys by Lizzie
Marooned by Anne Carr
October by Rowan
On Offer by Merentha
Rain by PRZed
A Rainy Night in Soho by Kitty Fisher
The Small Rain by Istia
Storm and Sunlight by EPS
Stormclouds by Ice Bear
This Week it Rained by Halotolerant
Trying to Understand by Derry


Oh - and what about snippets from stories? Do you have a favourite rainy story snippet that you fancy sharing? Post it below in the comments, without the story title or author, and perhaps we can guess where it's from, just for a bit of rainy day amusement...? *g*

Comments

[murphybabe]

One of my favourites - Dancing in the Rain... um... Istia?

ETA sorry - posted before I meant to because I'm in a hurry! I know you said that the rain should be a real feature of the story, but I reckon it is, here - that last image is so powerful and lovely... *sighs*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think this one counts - I've put it as summer rain though, cos although I don't think it says, I always get the impression it's warmer rather than cold and unfriendly rain. Does that make sense?

[sunray45.livejournal.com]

You would have to bring up the subject of RAIN, wouldn't you! We are in the midst of the after effects of ex tropical cyclone Oswald, and it is blowing a gale and the rain is bucketing down. No flooding where we are, thank heavens, but all creeks and rivers up and down the Qld coast have burst their banks.

Sorry, no ideas about the Lads in the rain, only them looking damp in wetsuits. *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I hadn't heard about that... They reckon there'll be flooding over here too, with the water table already so saturated, and snow melting on top of it, but at least there won't be tropical cyclones... Hope you're safe and warm, and that the idea of curling up with the lads appeals to you a wee bit!

[ci5mates.livejournal.com]

This one jumped out at me straight away... here's a snippet, well two actually...

'Martell was staring at the rain when he returned to the galley. “You do realise, don’t you, Bodie, just how much business I’m losing, stuck on this river babysitting your partner.”

“You like the river. Said so yourself. Just think of Eric the Viking.” He received a frosty stare for his trouble. “I’ll be back before he wakes,” Bodie promised, pulling on his wet jacket. “Fancy some Chinese for tea?”

The rain teemed down.'

and...from the same story...

'The rain was coming down again and already Doyle was soaked, his hair dripping into his eyes, his expensive wool coat heavy with water. The sodden grey clouds made the afternoon quite dark and he risked exposing his shoulder holster by removing it freeing his arms of the clumsy weight. The rain fell cold against his shoulders without the water heavy garment but he felt lighter. He handed it to Martell, never taking his eyes from the large house, visible through the trees. “Are you sure it’s the right house?”

Martell was watching his shoulders flex, the shirt clinging damply to his back and absently replied, “Reasonably sure. Although it’s been a couple of years and last time I came by car, but I remember the river, I walked down here to look at it. I wouldn’t have thought it would flood like this.”

Doyle looked at the expanse of water overflowing the banks and swirling right up to the base of the house itself. “Bet Noah said the same thing.”

As soon as the boat eased as close to the dock as Rufus dared, Doyle jumped over. He landed thigh deep and steadied himself against the current with the exposed handrail before wading up the ramp onto the bank where, to his relief, the water only came to his knees. He removed his gun and checked the safety catch before splashing off across the submerged lawn.'

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know that one - nice though! I do like Marty Martell in stories, too... I shall go and look it up when you reveal the title and author! *keeps eye out to see if anyone else knows it*

Thank you!

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

As soon as I saw mention of Marty and the phrase "Doyle was soaked", I thought, "Oh, I know, this is Sorry, Bodie" -- but it's not at all, is it? Argh!

[murphybabe]

I know this one... it's... um... don't look if you don't want to know yet *g*







Easy Prey, by Jaicen?

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Considering it's rainy old London I find it remarkable how little wet weather there is to be seen in the eps. Fic not being constrained by the practicalities of filming in the rain, I'm sure presents a lot more realistic rain. 'Dancing in the Rain' was the only one that came to my mind though.

In RL, here it started bright and sunny this morning and it felt (quite unrealistically) like instant Springtime! Now it's sleet and hail showers, so it's back to feeling snug indoors.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I suppose the technicalities of filming meant they didn't actually have the cameras rolling whilst it was raining (not necessarily for the equipment either - imagine all that make-up being rained on!) I think we do see post-rain quite a few times though... okay, now I kind of want to list all the eps... maybe that could be a Safehouse Sunday post, actually! *g*

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

It's not rainy here but it is very blustery. Blustery! What a lovely, AA Milne kind of a word :) I remember wondering out loud about eps in the rain a few months ago and the lovely angel_ci5 reminded me that it's clearly been raining at the beginning of Mickey Hamilton (and the umbrella pics are from Heroes? Servants of 2 Ms? - one or other or both!).

And um... the summary for my story Lifelike (http://archiveofourown.org/works/250670) begins On a rainy evening in London... :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

We've lost our rain now too, and it's hugely blustery!

I remember chatting about eps in the rain somewhere too, but no idea where right now - glad it wasn't just me imagining it, mind! Oh, and yes the start of Mickey Hamilton! I think the umbrella pic above is from Heroes, so presumbly we must see rain in that... *g* Wish I could remember the conversation - was it in your lj, or...?

And yes! For Lifelike - thank you! I rather think I have rain in quite a few of my stories, but I don't want to put them up until we have a longer list... *g*

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

ooo, would love to see the scene with rain on Cowley's office window.

The wettest on-camera scene I can think of is the beginning of MOMH:

(http://constant-muse.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/410/470706)
(http://constant-muse.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/410/470988)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, rain gorgeous rain - great reflection of the Escort, too! You know, I'm starting to wonder if it might be fun to watch the eps on the lookout for rainy scenes... *g*

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

We've talked about this before - will it spoil your fun if I put the link in? :)

I definitely know one of the rainy episodes is Ojuka: Cowley and Avery talking, and there's a very wet background seen out of the window. And a few minutes later, Cowley's on the carphone, wanting a full report on Avery. Lots of rain on the window. No screencaps, because I still can't upload pictures!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Not at all - it would relieve the nagging in my mind, cos I know it has been talked about before, and not all that long ago, and Jojo up above remembered too, but I've no idea where. If I had I would have linked myself... There'll be more fun to get out of it, it's not as if most of that sort of conversation are 100% finished, if you know what I mean - there's usually extra things to add! *g*

You wee Linux girl, you... I shall have to go and check Ojuka myself! I'm starting to think that a watch-through of the eps in order, with an eye-out for the rainy ones, might be quite good fun - and a nice excuse to rewatch, cos I haven't for ages!

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I love the lads in the rain, too! "Dancing in the Rain" is one of my favorites.

Is self promotion ok? I recently wrote a 'lads-in-the-rain story' (here - http://archiveofourown.org/works/553766).

And at the risk of being controversial - it seems most times stories are recc'ed, they are all by the "older" pros writers - very seldom see much recommended by newer writers. Is it just because everyone is more familiar with them? Just curious for some thoughts on that! *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I guess if people self-promote it adds to the story list, so why not, as long as the story fits the theme (and yours definitely looks like it does! *g*) Thank you!

Erm... not sure if that's a controversial question, not sure how it should be... just sounds like an interesting question about Pros fandom, to me! *g* But it's true that people often seem to rec older stories, and I know I tend to do it myself...

For me it's probably because those are the ones I remember best - I read them when I first came into fandom, the ones that I loved best and re-read squirmed their way into my consciousness the most solidly. They also tend to be the ones up at Circuit Archive (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/) and the original Hatstand (http://hatstand.slashcity.net/), which were and still are the story archives I go to first when I want to read a story - so the stories there are again being reinforced in my memory.

I actually do think (ooh, here might be a controversial bit! *g*) that losing our two dedicated online Pros fic archives has meant that Pros stories are more likely to have become lost in the general ether of livejournal and the giant multifandom archives. If I don't have time to read a story when it pops up in a comm, and I don't get around to printing it out, then the odds are high it will have gone past me without my catching up with it. The Pros Big Bang stories are another issue - they come out all in one big splodge, which is fine in theory, but I don't have time to read them all at once, and again they're gone before I can get back to them. Ahhhh, I hear you say, but they're all up at A03 - and probably most of them are (but not necessarily other stories in other challenges, because everything's self-archiving now, and so you're only in luck if someone self-archives. And then I find A03 so massively unwieldy to search for specific titles, and even authors, sometimes... I don't like it's format, and I'm not crazy about the format used at Automated Hatstand (http://hatstandfic.net/) either... So I rarely go and hunt fic down there - in fact if I'm in the mood to read random fic (rather than re-read a favourite), I still tend to go for Circuit Archive (with its fun random button) or the original Hatstand, whose format isn't so bad. And of course Pros on lj was split into two when one cadre decided they wanted their own community, rather than to join in what was already around, so the provenience of Pros stories was further fragmented, meaning (in my humble opinion *g*) that they're harder to go back to and re-read, therefore less likely to be remembered, therefore less likely to be added to lists such as these!

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Well, more self-promo coming up (never much for bushels, me!):

Home and Dry:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/106060

Gone Fishing (first story in Raymond's Joy)
http://archiveofourown.org/works/112897

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

LOL!! "never much for bushels, me!"

(and I love both stories!)

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Gary in The Gun seems to be a bit of a minor rain-god. When he stops to drop the gun over the wall of the garden, there's raindrops all over his car window, and when he comes back to retrieve it, it's all wet again. And again when he's trying to wake Tony up in the car (the first time).

And it's not just the car. When Gary is trying to persuade Tony that he's a good guy on the bridge, the bridge looks like there are little puddles on it.

And yet, it doesn't rain once...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I always think of The Gun as quite a sunny one for some reason - I'll have to rewatch and look for the invisible rain! *g*

[milomaus.livejournal.com]

This week ist rained by Halotolerant
http://archiveofourown.org/works/532226

Since all the other Stories I thought of are already mentioned.....

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heee - how we could miss that one! *g*

Thank you!

[lillianorchid.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's quite a list! There are some there I haven't read before too. :D The ones I was going to suggest have already been posted too. :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - it's funny how our minds come back to the same stories, isn't it!

And yeay - hope we've given you something to read, all curled up cosily... *g*

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

"Summer ended abruptly and autumn began wetly; it rained constantly for the next three days. Bodie, who liked getting caught in the rain about as much as a cat did, hated it."

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool... hmmn... no idea who though, it's not ringing any bells!

*waits to see if someone else is cleverer* - the line about Bodie should be memorable enough!

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Another: Storm Clouds (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/19/stormclouds.html), by Ice Bear.

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Yeay - you're on the computer!!!

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Our village bypass has been closed due to flooding for six out of the last eight weeks and you're asking me to think about rain?!

... but thanks for all the new stories to read!

PS, of course the rain is different in summer, otherwise how would we in the UK know it's the summer (the rain's warm)?!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're right, I should have checked the state of your village bypass before I made such a thoughtless post! *g* Though it sounds like reading new Pros stories might make up for it... And oi! If I was still in Manchester that warm-rain thing might be accurate, but down here in the east it's rather less so! Mind you, perhaps we are all covered in floodwater at the moment, so... *g*

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Spotted this on the repeats when channel-hopping the other night: special rained-on car with no other rain anywhere in the scene!

Hijack. After Bodie and Doyle find the girl dead in the bath, scene cuts to.. erm, bad guys - yeah, note my firm grasp of plot in this one - in a scrapyard. One guy has the bonnet up on some car and asks, "Sound alright, Dusty?" And there are raindrops all over the car.

I'm starting to think they gave the cars quick hose-downs between scenes - it's the only explanation for why the cars are continually wet and nothing else is!

[potztausend.livejournal.com]

S2K pointed me to your post - you did a lot of work, thanks!

I think the only story I read and where I was *really* aware of the rain was "Dancing in the Rain", because the rain was important in it (and because it is a heart-melting story).

I think I know several of the other stories, so it will be a lovely work to re-discover them and to have a look at some unfamiliar ones ;-)