ci5hq | Pros Novel Read-Along - Painted Angels by Angelfish

Apologies - I'd hoped to post this morning, but I've had a migraine all day, which is only just fading, and I couldn't bear the screen... (If anyone would like to volunteer to help with the introductions sometimes, then that would be great!) But here we are at last!

Painted Angels by Angelfish.
Cover art by

firlefanzine

Chapter Three

Chapter Three
The lads are off on another test, this one apparently to find their way from Point A to Point B in the wilderness, and this time they're working alone. Doyle has reached the end, but instead of the comforting light and warmth and human companionship he's been looking forward to, the clearing is empty - except, he eventually realises, for Bodie peering around in a similar way.

Bodie makes himself known, and seems to be trying to be friendly - but Doyle is wise to this now, and determined not to open himself up to betrayal again. When he heads off to get some water from the river, though, Bodie follows him, and they end up trying to work things out together.

Sure enough, there are further instructions hidden for them in the clearing, and they set off together to find what they hope really is the final end-point. All does not, however, go wrong. Doyle is determined to prove to Bodie that he's equally as capable - which he's already doing with ease - to the point that when Bodie tries to hand him over a rocky outcrop, Doyle refuses his help. Unfortunately Bodie didn't explain why he was trying to give it, and so Doyle lands on a brittle ledge, and plunges them both down the steep hillside into the river below.

Bodie is knocked out by the fall, but Doyle is alert enough to be able to pull him from the river and administer CPR. Bodie revives, Doyle it turns out has four broken ribs and has lost his jacket, and they both limp on as far as they can go - which isn't all the way.

Doyle is becoming dangerously hypothermic, and so Bodie stops them and makes a shelter and a fire so that they can see out the night. They cuddle up close to share body warmth, and Doyle falls asleep. He dreams - and calls out to Gabe, and in his dream they're obviously very close, because Bodie finds himself the subject of sleepy sexuality. Knowing that any response on his part would not be a good idea, Bodie's just about to move them apart when Doyle falls silent and his dream takes a completely different turn - then finally he relaxes into sleep again.

With light comes a searching helicopter, and they hike out a final mile to meet it. Bodie makes the mistake of asking Doyle about Gabe, and Doyle immedately attacks - "Don't you ever... ever even fucking think of saying that name to me again." The lads are rescued - sure they've failed out of CI5 this time - and they're taken back to civilisation. Doyle is hospitalised for a week, although Bodie is passed fit even after his near-escape. Cowley is surprised to find Bodie staying close to the hospital, and in fact to Doyle's bedside. The lads are even more surprised, when Cowley speaks to them, to find that not only have they passed CI5 recruitment - but that it is on the condition that they work together as partners.

So - what do you reckon?! Does this read as our Bodie and Doyle? Is it realistic? What do we think of Bodie's apparent change of heart after the revelation of the last chapter - "Thinks he's made a friend. Spare me." Are you believing in the story?

Threaded | Flat

Migraines are really *not* fun and even after the main attack has lessened you're left feeling pretty rough so thank you very much for posting this. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but I'm looking forward to it.

The first time I read this chapter, I was so happy to see a Bodie I could recognize that I just gulped it down. But on rereading, I find this transition very hard to follow.

The action scenes are great, and I love the rescue. When Bodie was thinking "why didn't he just obey," I wanted to ask him, "This Ray Doyle, have you MET him at all?" But Bodie has been guarding himself so hard, I think he really hasn't given any thought to what makes Doyle tick.

When Bodie realizes, maybe with some compunction, that his efforts to build a shelter and a fire have been mostly for his own good, and when he observes Doyle's sex dream/nightmare, it seems to trigger an increased consideration for Doyle that, when I view it apart from my own concern and involvement with Doyle and with the two of them together, I don't understand. Why does Bodie hang around the hospital? Later in their relationship, I get it, but now?

What happened to all that deep damage? Is it just gone now? Because they saved each other this time?

Get well soon and thanks for posting despite your pain.

I don't know about anyone else (and I can't find an actual example), but overall I'm finding some of the writing slightly convoluted in that it's sometimes unclear who is saying what and to whoooooom, and I find myself reading something several times just to make sure I'm right in what I'm thinking. I wonder if this is one of the things

golden_bastet refers to earlier in her 'fine tuning' comment? I'd love to know.

So - what do you reckon?! Does this read as our Bodie and Doyle? Is it realistic? What do we think of Bodie's apparent change of heart after the revelation of the last chapter - "Thinks he's made a friend. Spare me." Are you believing in the story?

I think it's gradually becoming more canon Bodie and Doyle. Bodie's change of heart? God knows... perhaps the pressure is off very slightly, or he just feels more comfortable doing what he's doing out in the wild, surviving?

Edited 2019-04-17 20:20 (UTC)

At the beginning I thought "No, that's not my Doyle. So insecure and fearfull only because it is dark in the forrest". But that's the only part in this chapter I didn't think fits good.

I especially love the scene where Doyle ordered Bodie do put the paper with the instructions back under the treetrunk and Bodie obeyed "Did the old man say this was about getting home first? Ah, level the playing field, Bodie," he growls. "I'm not saying leave it out in the open like a gift. Just give anybody getting here later the same chance we had."

The action scene with them going down the cliff and Doyle rescuing Bodie is very well written. And the scene with the reference to Doyle's lesser force and strength is one where you don't think "Oh no, not again this thing with 'Doyle is smaller and thinner so he can't have strength'". No, it is so good written that I thought "Yes, it is clear that he has difficulties to shift this deadweight. He's fallen down the cliff, the water is cold and Bodie is unconscious. It couldn't be easy." And I was glad that the author thought about that.

Oh, and I could feel the fear creeping up Bodie's spine when he discovers Doyle's hypothermia.

Forgot to say that I love this scene, it's so them!

"Aren't you supposed to...take your clothes off and get in here with me?"

"Jesus Christ, Doyle. At least buy me dinner first."

He delivers it deadpan, and for a moment they stare at one another. Then Doyle, to his own amazement, feels a gurgle of laughter rise in his throat. He gives Bodie a shove. "Fuck off and light your fire."

Thank you for writing this introduction! I hope you're feeling much much better now!

I like this chapter!
It' powerful writing and never boring.
Maybe you could argue about this and that, and if it's Bodie or not. If Doyle is too scared in the night.
But nothing could throw me out of this story so far. I love stories of how they met.

And with the famous last words, "Congratulations... You won the golden lemon." starts their partnership. :-)

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