Reading Room - The Blue Figurine by Courtney Gray
Title: The Blue Figurine
Author: Courtney Gray
Link to story or zine/ProsLib info: at the Circuit Archive and in Nudge Nudge Wink Wink 3.
Pairing: B/D
Bodie and Doyle have been on the trail of the Lehman brothers for months, and just when they're within nabbing distance, something goes wrong in the op... in fact Bodie goes wrong, so wrong in fact that for just a moment Doyle wishes that Bodie'd stayed in the jungle and that he'd never had a partner. Trouble is, it was exactly the wrong moment...
He's holding a blue figurine when he makes the wish, and somehow - unbelievably, and yet incontrovertibly so, he actually gets his wish, and Bodie is gone from his life as if he'd never been there. I tend not to think of this as a supernatural fic, because the rest of it seems so very grounded, but of course, I realise now, it is! Really that part of it plays very little role in the story though - it's really an exploration of what people - Bodie and Doyle - do for each other, how they affect each other, and how easily we can be made better or worse people - though perhaps it also suggests that deep down, at the heart of us, we are who we are, and that it only takes a little either way to tip that into being better or worse.
For instance, Bodie is portrayed here as his mercenary self, the man who never chose to leave that occupation for the comparative respectability of the army, SAS and ultimately CI5. So we see that he has a ruthless streak, that he accepts things we hope our CI5-Bodie wouldn't, and that, in general, he has barely developed a taste for using utensils (as CI5-Bodie explains to his ex-mate merc before everything goes haywire courtesy of the figurine). But - but-but-but (*g*) - despite this, we catch glimpses of our own Bodie's humanity in him. He might be rough with Doyle-as-sex-object, but he's not cruel to him, he meets him as a person who wants the same thing he does. He might offer him a "beating" as one of their sex games, but he gives Doyle a choice. He might tell Miller If you're going to fuck him, get on with it and let's throw him out of here, he might even be prepared to enjoy watching, but he doesn't do more than hit him once and throw him out of the room when Doyle goes too far for him. Okay, none of those are good things, but he doesn't force himself on Doyle, or beat him to a pulp for the fun of it - he's not that far gone into inhumanity. And of course at the end of the story he actually thinks longingly of the relationship that Doyle wanted, wishes that they had it... and, oh, doesn't he just turn out to be holding that blue figurine...? *g*
And what about Doyle - how much is he still himself without Bodie around? The story's mostly from his pov, so he actually contemplates this himself, and decides that in one way he might indeed be better off - a more focussed, single-minded agent - but that in general he's not happier without Bodie, he misses the balance that Bodie gives him - and that he presumes he gives Bodie.
Actually there's elements of Doyle's characterisation that I'm not entirely convinced by in general:
Without Bodie ...perhaps it was more honest to say that he was now more like his true self. He had always been content to be by himself... But Bodie would come by and drag him off... Bodie crowded his life with people and activities that he would naturally have avoided..
Is that the Doyle we see in the eps? We do see him working on his bike alone, but we see him being pretty social too, and not just when Bodie's around. He always seems pretty friendly with the other agents, and of course he usually wants Bodie working with him on things, even when they're from his past, and not connected to Bodie. So I do wonder a bit where the unfriendly-Doyle characterisation comes from (there are other authors who write it too). Is it just to create greater contrast between hail-fellow-well-met Bodie? Except that there are still other authors who paint Bodie as a dark lone wolf who walks alone...
In any case, Doyle decides that he needs the humanity that Bodie gives him - perhaps rather ironically, considering Bodie-the-merc's humanity is pretty hidden away and denied by Bodie on a number of occasions, such as when he meets Doyle's eyes when Miller is about to fuck Doyle, then deliberately cuts himself off from the contact, or when he chooses to wear the black gloves to purposefully stop himself feeling so close to Doyle when they fuck.
The Doyle that we see though, despite what the author tries to tell us, seems pretty true to the Doyle we see in the eps. He might be focussed on his job, but at the end of the day he puts finding Bodie, and making contact with Bodie, above the job. He disappoints Cowley and threatens potential promotion by putting Bodie first - even merc-Bodie. And when he finds Bodie, he's prepared without hesitation to be as close as Bodie wants him to be in the hope that he can create the kind of closeness between them that he wants too.
I like this Doyle, and I like this Bodie - they're their own people, created from their own backgrounds and experiences, but they're both infinitely better when they're together, and I like the way the author shows us - without weeps of tears and gnashing of torn hair - that they really do need each other.
So - what do you think? *g*
Do you recognise Doyle here?
Do you recognise Bodie here? In either incarnation?
Did you struggle with the supernatural element to the story, or did it work for you?
And what about the reason even before the figurine that everything went haywire - that Bodie was being too protective of Doyle to the point that it mucked up the op and prompted Doyle to make a wish-in-anger-and-frustration? Do you believe in that Bodie? Do we see that relationship between them in the eps at all, or did Gray make that up out of whole cloth for the sake of the story? How protective is protective-Bodie? And do we see protective-Doyle as well?
Author: Courtney Gray
Link to story or zine/ProsLib info: at the Circuit Archive and in Nudge Nudge Wink Wink 3.
Pairing: B/D
Bodie and Doyle have been on the trail of the Lehman brothers for months, and just when they're within nabbing distance, something goes wrong in the op... in fact Bodie goes wrong, so wrong in fact that for just a moment Doyle wishes that Bodie'd stayed in the jungle and that he'd never had a partner. Trouble is, it was exactly the wrong moment...
He's holding a blue figurine when he makes the wish, and somehow - unbelievably, and yet incontrovertibly so, he actually gets his wish, and Bodie is gone from his life as if he'd never been there. I tend not to think of this as a supernatural fic, because the rest of it seems so very grounded, but of course, I realise now, it is! Really that part of it plays very little role in the story though - it's really an exploration of what people - Bodie and Doyle - do for each other, how they affect each other, and how easily we can be made better or worse people - though perhaps it also suggests that deep down, at the heart of us, we are who we are, and that it only takes a little either way to tip that into being better or worse.
For instance, Bodie is portrayed here as his mercenary self, the man who never chose to leave that occupation for the comparative respectability of the army, SAS and ultimately CI5. So we see that he has a ruthless streak, that he accepts things we hope our CI5-Bodie wouldn't, and that, in general, he has barely developed a taste for using utensils (as CI5-Bodie explains to his ex-mate merc before everything goes haywire courtesy of the figurine). But - but-but-but (*g*) - despite this, we catch glimpses of our own Bodie's humanity in him. He might be rough with Doyle-as-sex-object, but he's not cruel to him, he meets him as a person who wants the same thing he does. He might offer him a "beating" as one of their sex games, but he gives Doyle a choice. He might tell Miller If you're going to fuck him, get on with it and let's throw him out of here, he might even be prepared to enjoy watching, but he doesn't do more than hit him once and throw him out of the room when Doyle goes too far for him. Okay, none of those are good things, but he doesn't force himself on Doyle, or beat him to a pulp for the fun of it - he's not that far gone into inhumanity. And of course at the end of the story he actually thinks longingly of the relationship that Doyle wanted, wishes that they had it... and, oh, doesn't he just turn out to be holding that blue figurine...? *g*
And what about Doyle - how much is he still himself without Bodie around? The story's mostly from his pov, so he actually contemplates this himself, and decides that in one way he might indeed be better off - a more focussed, single-minded agent - but that in general he's not happier without Bodie, he misses the balance that Bodie gives him - and that he presumes he gives Bodie.
Actually there's elements of Doyle's characterisation that I'm not entirely convinced by in general:
Without Bodie ...perhaps it was more honest to say that he was now more like his true self. He had always been content to be by himself... But Bodie would come by and drag him off... Bodie crowded his life with people and activities that he would naturally have avoided..
Is that the Doyle we see in the eps? We do see him working on his bike alone, but we see him being pretty social too, and not just when Bodie's around. He always seems pretty friendly with the other agents, and of course he usually wants Bodie working with him on things, even when they're from his past, and not connected to Bodie. So I do wonder a bit where the unfriendly-Doyle characterisation comes from (there are other authors who write it too). Is it just to create greater contrast between hail-fellow-well-met Bodie? Except that there are still other authors who paint Bodie as a dark lone wolf who walks alone...
In any case, Doyle decides that he needs the humanity that Bodie gives him - perhaps rather ironically, considering Bodie-the-merc's humanity is pretty hidden away and denied by Bodie on a number of occasions, such as when he meets Doyle's eyes when Miller is about to fuck Doyle, then deliberately cuts himself off from the contact, or when he chooses to wear the black gloves to purposefully stop himself feeling so close to Doyle when they fuck.
The Doyle that we see though, despite what the author tries to tell us, seems pretty true to the Doyle we see in the eps. He might be focussed on his job, but at the end of the day he puts finding Bodie, and making contact with Bodie, above the job. He disappoints Cowley and threatens potential promotion by putting Bodie first - even merc-Bodie. And when he finds Bodie, he's prepared without hesitation to be as close as Bodie wants him to be in the hope that he can create the kind of closeness between them that he wants too.
I like this Doyle, and I like this Bodie - they're their own people, created from their own backgrounds and experiences, but they're both infinitely better when they're together, and I like the way the author shows us - without weeps of tears and gnashing of torn hair - that they really do need each other.
So - what do you think? *g*
Do you recognise Doyle here?
Do you recognise Bodie here? In either incarnation?
Did you struggle with the supernatural element to the story, or did it work for you?
And what about the reason even before the figurine that everything went haywire - that Bodie was being too protective of Doyle to the point that it mucked up the op and prompted Doyle to make a wish-in-anger-and-frustration? Do you believe in that Bodie? Do we see that relationship between them in the eps at all, or did Gray make that up out of whole cloth for the sake of the story? How protective is protective-Bodie? And do we see protective-Doyle as well?