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TinTurtle ([personal profile] tinturtle) wrote2020-09-22 11:14 pm
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Faith and Reasons -- A Professionals Ficlet

Some thoughts of Bodie's during the sleeping bag scene in Mixed Doubles.

Faith and Reasons

"No, you gotta have another reason. You gotta have a better reason than that."

He can't believe I'm that mercenary. Of course he can't.

He might be right. Maybe I like wearing a white hat—well, a light grey hat, anyway. Maybe I like it better than the money, even. I could tell Ray I do—he'd like that—but I won't, because what he's wrong about is that it changes anything.

He ought to know better, by now. After years of last week's terrorists blurring into this week's mobsters, until all you can remember is which direction they pointed their guns, he ought to know. It's actions that touch the world, that send out consequences like ripples on water. Motives never come close.

You can't explain that to Doyle, though. He may not read the lesson like Cowley does, but he's a believer, too, in the ways that matter. He thinks someone out there's keeping score, awarding points for noble intentions. He thinks that if I shoot someone tomorrow, the world will be different depending on whether I did it for money or for justice.

But the reality is, Parsali will be just as safe protected by a mercenary as by an idealist, and whatever my reason, the man I shoot will be just as dead.



Notes:

Many thanks to byslantedlight for her beta reading and kind encouragement.

I posted this fic on AO3 in January, but I have been reflecting lately on the value of redundancy in preserving fan works, so I decided to post it here as well.

This was my first ever fanfic. I'd been a reader of fan fiction for more than ten years, but I'd never written any until I began work on this piece in November of last year. After watching the episode Mixed Doubles, I thought to myself, "I bet someone has written a fic about whether Bodie is lying, and if so, why." I couldn't find that fic, though, so I decided to try writing it. This is the result (even if it doesn't quite answer the original questions).

[identity profile] restorick.livejournal.com 2020-09-24 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I like what you've done here, giving us Bodie's inner voice during that tense evening before the conference - Doyle's, too, as well as Bodie knows his partner.

This is one of my fave eps with it's juxtaposition - or not - of the two sets of partners. What Bodie and Doyle could have been if circumstances had been different?

It helps that both the lads look mighty fine at the same time, all the way through! *g*

Thanks for posting!
ext_1241: (Me&Beau)

[identity profile] jat-sapphire.livejournal.com 2020-10-01 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Did I give kudos in AO3? Pity if not. This is a lovely first go at writing fic. The quoted line from Mixed Doubles and the impression of Doyle through Bodie's musing is spot on, and Bodie's own voice rings true as wrll. I agree with his main point, though I tend to think Doyle isn't conventionally religious either. I think, for instance, Doyle can disagree with the use of dumdums without a Bible tag or a sense of sin about it. Anyway, thanks for posting it here where I got to see it again!
ext_1241: (Me&Beau)

[identity profile] jat-sapphire.livejournal.com 2020-10-02 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
*facepalm* I'm always doing this. I just reread a story and found the last TWO comments on it were from me. Ah, well, I'm just a fangirl.
ext_1241: (Me&Beau)

[identity profile] jat-sapphire.livejournal.com 2020-10-02 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, yeah, and then sometimes I can't even find my username in the list.