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ci5hq2007-07-11 02:51 pm
callistosh65.livejournal.com) wrote in ci5hq2007-07-11 02:51 pm
Fic Rec: Permanent Change by Jane Mailander
Title: Permanent Change
Author: Jane Mailander
Link to story: http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/13/permanentchange.html
Permission to archive the rec/review at Palely Loitering: Yes
Short review:
Doyle has been held for three days in Ireland and by the time Bodie gets him back, he has been ravaged in an unexpected and devastating way. Jane M has fun with our expectations for the obvious - which it’s NOT ( hence the Alexander Pope ref – Rape of the Lock, yes?? Yeah, yeah, took me a minute..:) and with that she sets up this first-time tale, with a nice line in dialogue and just the right edge of spit and venom to the lads to make the whole thing feel wonderfully canon.
She sets the tone right at the beginning. When Bodie is reunited with Doyle it’s all gruff no nonsense argy-bargy, not a drop of sentiment allowed:
"I said I'm. Not. Going. Out. Bodie."
Just a thread of real rage in that voice -- rage hiding the humiliation of what had happened to Doyle at the hands of his captors.
No coddling, no comforting, unless Bodie wanted to wind up like one of those True Republic shite-for-brains now missing a few teeth and ligaments. "Well, no, of course not, not with your hair lookin' that way." Bodie strode to Ray's desk, rummaged about, and emerged triumphant brandishing a pair of scissors. "Siddown."
And then we have the gem of the piece, that little scene that turns this into a classic. Bodie basically comes out to Doyle by giving him a haircut. Sounds silly and simple, but it’s neither. As Bodie cuts his ravaged hair to even it all up, Doyle begins to relate the details of this three-day hostage ordeal, and interspersed are Bodie’s reactions as he cuts and listens:
Bodie trimmed Doyle's savaged hair, kept silent. He felt the fine shivering under his fingertips as he turned and bent Doyle's head to shape the hair around one ear or the other, tilted it forward to even the back…
Bodie stroked the top of Doyle's head on the pretext of removing loose hairs, dread building in his own stomach at this matter-of-fact recital of what must have been a terrifying ordeal….
Bodie had stopped cutting Ray's hair, wasn't even touching him; he didn't want his partner to feel his hands trembling. When he could speak with a steady voice, it was a growl….
I love the rhythm to this scene, Doyle recounting the horror, Bodie cutting his hair, and letting his feelings of anger, concern and relief finally show.
And humour gal that I am, that’s another reason I enjoyed this so much..*g*
Bodie's doctoring worked -- no one in the takeaway gave Doyle a second glance, though the counter man did ask about his hurt hand. "Drags his knuckles on the ground," Bodie said helpfully, and got elbowed.
And then the next morning at HQ..
"Joined the Army, Doyle?"
"Sod off, Murph."
"What price did you fetch for that fleece?"
"Sod off, Lucas."
"Oh my God -- Doyle's a bloke!" "Sod off, Anson."
"I've seen better haircuts, four-five."
"Sod-- er, sorry, sir. Force of habit."
I love the way she writes that moment when Bodie realises he’s going to come clean and tell Doyle how he feels. Doyle has been grabbed by a grateful Mum and her ten-year old after talking down gunmen holding the child hostage. Bodie is looking on, amused.
And something changed within him. Perhaps a dose of courage, perhaps his devil-may-care attitude popping up in defence. Perhaps madness.
Perhaps it was realising that at that precise moment, as he ragged his mate after a harrowing job, Doyle was simply and 100% his partner and best mate, and Bodie's yearnings didn't touch anything in that moment.
Let the bad-tempered bastard deck him, let him shout and call Bodie names, let him go for months without speaking a civil word to Bodie -- Doyle had done it all before. However this worked out, they would still be the best team in CI5 and nothing would change that. And Bodie would still love that bad-tempered bastard with all his heart, even if he couldn't love him with all his body.
……
"Fuck tonight, mate," Bodie said. "I can tell you now."
And how he tells him? Is simple and bloody brilliant.
Then Jane M defuses it all, and undercuts the emotion of Bodie’s confession with wit and very real bite from the pair of them..
"You want to sleep with me?" he whispered.
"Yes." Bodie's teeth were locked.
"Thank God. I thought you were working up to say you didn't want to sleep with me."
Bodie nearly drove into a lamp-post.
They shouted a bit, the rest of the way to HQ.
"You stopped touching me, Bodie! How do you think I interpreted that!"
"You'd just lost all your fuckin' hair, mate! You wanted me reminding you of that!"
..So that when the emotional moment does finally come, it’s just...well, quite lovely.
Bodie had had enough of Doyle's lament. At the next red light he faced his partner, very deliberately stroked both hands over the top of Ray's head and down to frame his cheeks, and moved in.
Author: Jane Mailander
Link to story: http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/13/permanentchange.html
Permission to archive the rec/review at Palely Loitering: Yes
Short review:
Doyle has been held for three days in Ireland and by the time Bodie gets him back, he has been ravaged in an unexpected and devastating way. Jane M has fun with our expectations for the obvious - which it’s NOT ( hence the Alexander Pope ref – Rape of the Lock, yes?? Yeah, yeah, took me a minute..:) and with that she sets up this first-time tale, with a nice line in dialogue and just the right edge of spit and venom to the lads to make the whole thing feel wonderfully canon.
She sets the tone right at the beginning. When Bodie is reunited with Doyle it’s all gruff no nonsense argy-bargy, not a drop of sentiment allowed:
"I said I'm. Not. Going. Out. Bodie."
Just a thread of real rage in that voice -- rage hiding the humiliation of what had happened to Doyle at the hands of his captors.
No coddling, no comforting, unless Bodie wanted to wind up like one of those True Republic shite-for-brains now missing a few teeth and ligaments. "Well, no, of course not, not with your hair lookin' that way." Bodie strode to Ray's desk, rummaged about, and emerged triumphant brandishing a pair of scissors. "Siddown."
And then we have the gem of the piece, that little scene that turns this into a classic. Bodie basically comes out to Doyle by giving him a haircut. Sounds silly and simple, but it’s neither. As Bodie cuts his ravaged hair to even it all up, Doyle begins to relate the details of this three-day hostage ordeal, and interspersed are Bodie’s reactions as he cuts and listens:
Bodie trimmed Doyle's savaged hair, kept silent. He felt the fine shivering under his fingertips as he turned and bent Doyle's head to shape the hair around one ear or the other, tilted it forward to even the back…
Bodie stroked the top of Doyle's head on the pretext of removing loose hairs, dread building in his own stomach at this matter-of-fact recital of what must have been a terrifying ordeal….
Bodie had stopped cutting Ray's hair, wasn't even touching him; he didn't want his partner to feel his hands trembling. When he could speak with a steady voice, it was a growl….
I love the rhythm to this scene, Doyle recounting the horror, Bodie cutting his hair, and letting his feelings of anger, concern and relief finally show.
And humour gal that I am, that’s another reason I enjoyed this so much..*g*
Bodie's doctoring worked -- no one in the takeaway gave Doyle a second glance, though the counter man did ask about his hurt hand. "Drags his knuckles on the ground," Bodie said helpfully, and got elbowed.
And then the next morning at HQ..
"Joined the Army, Doyle?"
"Sod off, Murph."
"What price did you fetch for that fleece?"
"Sod off, Lucas."
"Oh my God -- Doyle's a bloke!" "Sod off, Anson."
"I've seen better haircuts, four-five."
"Sod-- er, sorry, sir. Force of habit."
I love the way she writes that moment when Bodie realises he’s going to come clean and tell Doyle how he feels. Doyle has been grabbed by a grateful Mum and her ten-year old after talking down gunmen holding the child hostage. Bodie is looking on, amused.
And something changed within him. Perhaps a dose of courage, perhaps his devil-may-care attitude popping up in defence. Perhaps madness.
Perhaps it was realising that at that precise moment, as he ragged his mate after a harrowing job, Doyle was simply and 100% his partner and best mate, and Bodie's yearnings didn't touch anything in that moment.
Let the bad-tempered bastard deck him, let him shout and call Bodie names, let him go for months without speaking a civil word to Bodie -- Doyle had done it all before. However this worked out, they would still be the best team in CI5 and nothing would change that. And Bodie would still love that bad-tempered bastard with all his heart, even if he couldn't love him with all his body.
……
"Fuck tonight, mate," Bodie said. "I can tell you now."
And how he tells him? Is simple and bloody brilliant.
Then Jane M defuses it all, and undercuts the emotion of Bodie’s confession with wit and very real bite from the pair of them..
"You want to sleep with me?" he whispered.
"Yes." Bodie's teeth were locked.
"Thank God. I thought you were working up to say you didn't want to sleep with me."
Bodie nearly drove into a lamp-post.
They shouted a bit, the rest of the way to HQ.
"You stopped touching me, Bodie! How do you think I interpreted that!"
"You'd just lost all your fuckin' hair, mate! You wanted me reminding you of that!"
..So that when the emotional moment does finally come, it’s just...well, quite lovely.
Bodie had had enough of Doyle's lament. At the next red light he faced his partner, very deliberately stroked both hands over the top of Ray's head and down to frame his cheeks, and moved in.
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Great choice here.
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Have you read Scissors (http://members.shaw.ca/LRHBalzer/stories/scissors.html), by LRH Balzar? Totally different sort of fic in alot of ways, but I always think of the two together...
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I don't know what you know about these stories, but the basic gist of them is that, in them, the boys, for reasons they most definitely do not understand, are thrown into different eras, different personas without warning (kind of like Quantum Leap). Each and every time, they remember who they truly are, both during and after the fact. In each scenario, they need to accomplish something before they'll be allowed to go home. Often, other canon characters show up as well. Usually, they are unaware of who they normally are.
Also, Jane's Beauty and the Beast take-off and Little Merman are quite good too (on the Circuit Archive). I just can't bring myself to read Land Bridge, though I understand from many the series is excellent.
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