The High-up Singing and Alive Fruit

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sliding in just before deadline again... veronicaluv assigned me luxuria - lust. Be warned. There is naked writhing behind the link... *g*

The High-up Singing and Alive Fruit


Title: The High-up Singing and Alive Fruit
Author: Slantedlight
Slash or Gen: Slash. Definitely.
Archive at ProsLib/Circuit: Certainly.
Disclaimer: Bodie, Doyle and the CI5 universe do not belong to me, I just watch from afar and then play.
Notes: Many thanks to paris7am, shooting2kill, kiwisue and empty_mirrors for helpful beta comments!

Comments

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

Wow! Just wow! That one knocked me off my feet. You do have a way with words, you know? This is a roller coaster put into words if I ever saw one. Hot, wild, emotional, beautiful and funny. Everything a real good fic needs and I enjoyed every minute of it. But I shouldn't read stuff like that at work, really *cough* I totally immersed into the whole thing and totally forgot about my surroundings. I could actually hear the wind and almost feel the rain (not talk about other feelings *ahem*). Thank God my boss didn't blunder in *phew*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee! I tend to rearrange my desk so that my back is to the wall and my monitor tilted ve-ery privately these days!

Very glad you liked the fic though! I think I'm a bit desperate for some weather that moves at the moment, so I'm glad it worked for you too! (And we all like the lads moving, right... *g*) Thank you!

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

Oh, all the misunderstandings and miscommunications, on everyone's parts! I didn't see the final one coming, which made for a wonderful ending. Left me with a huge grin on my face.

Thank you! I very much enjoyed this one, especially the way you used the weather throughout the story to set the scene and bring in a bit of peril near the end.

Seems these two never talk except when mortality hits them upside the head, eh?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

D'you know, the whole miscommunications/misunderstandings/for-gawd's-sake-speak-to-each-other is so not me actually, so I was kind of surprised when I realised it was heading that way...Usually I want to slap them around the head myself, but somehow that just didn't work this time!

It's good to make you grin - thank you for telling me!

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

It's a device that when poorly executed leaves me wanting to scream with frustration. But when it's well done, it makes me want to go back and read the story again to catch all the little hints I missed the first time.

Poorly done, it's Passions (gag-moi avec un cuillere). Well done, it's any movie by M. Night Shyamalan.

Yours was well done. :-) I had to go back to see events again from Doyle's POV.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh gawd, I remember Passions! *is wide-eyed in wonderment* Oh, and I love Shyamalan - I've still got to catch up on his latest, mind...

Thank you! I'm so glad it worked - that's exactly what I was going for! *breathes huge sigh of relief*

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

Was his latest "Lady in the Water"?

We just saw that, and I have to say it was terrific. It had a slow start, mainly because you don't know where he's going with any of it yet. But it's definitely worth hanging in there. By the second half of the movie we were all making wild guesses and getting most of them wrong. It was a hell of a lot of fun - it felt like he was playing with us, leading us first in one direction and then in another, and every now and then breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the viewer through his characters. Actually, Shyamalan himself plays one of the characters in the building.

It was great fun, as long as you don't take anything too seriously. I think he made that movie for himself first, and the rest of us second.

And pity me - my mother in law watches Passions (and three other soaps) Every. Single. Afternoon. Without fail. If she can't be there, she tapes them. Given that she lives with us half of every year, and the house is too small to get away, I was just about ready to rip my ears off rather than have to overhear any more of that crap. OTOH, she's gone back home now and I already miss her. Not her soaps, just her.

But Fancy needs to die. Now.

[izzie7.livejournal.com]

Well, I totally luxuriated in this one (sorry - couldn't resist that). It was great - a steamy opening, and we now have the story behind that patch *g*

There's so much I could quote, but I'll settle on this bit, which was so gentle and said so much:

And he leaned over, and kissed him, not because he wanted to fuck his mouth, or his backside, or be fucked, but to show him that it was alright, to steady him on the ground, right there beside Bodie. A long kiss, and soft, and gentle, and tasting of Doyle.

Lovely!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well, I totally luxuriated in this one (sorry - couldn't resist that).
There's always one! *g*

I've been eyeing that patch for a while now actually... well, you know what I mean. No actually, come to think of it, that was what I mean...

Glad you liked - thank you!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That was wonderful! I sort of figured Cowley might be talking about bugs somewhere else, but it still was a kick when Bodie and Doyle finally realized it. And the scene on the cliff, Doyle spilling out all he felt. Loved it!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

You did better than me then, cos I didn't suss it out myself for quite some time... *g*

Thank you - I'm glad you liked it!

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Can't possibly single out a couple of lines to quote from something so wonderful. I loved the way you used the weather to crackle it up between them -lust was well served! And your dialogue as usual is a joy - so very, very *them*. Your storytelling of the lads never fails to mesmerise - and God help me, I *loved* it when Bodie fell off the cliff and Doyle went down after him - my kink is a hurt Bodie, and the way you got them safe and sharing the same pillow again was lovely.

So thank you for this windswept, lusty tale; definitely one for the re-read often pile.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, you! Shucks... *g* And thank you!

I *loved* it when Bodie fell off the cliff
Heeee! They actually didn't end up quite as hurt as I'd originally meant... one of these days I'll write a proper h/c story, though I'm afraid my kink is generally the other way around - Doyle is so pretty when he suffers!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Well, sheesh, it's not like I wasn't watching the patched jeans before and wondering...now I'm going to be thinking about Bodie poking the hole and making it bigger.... I may never get any further in the episode than the jeans! *g*

Oh, well done--very nice! Anything I could say would be inadequate. It was...well, whate everyone else has said already--sweeping and alive with movement and emotion. The language is beautiful, as always, and the conflict real and understandable. Bodie is so certain, and so determined not to let Doyle actually say that it's over. *g* It's great--highly enjoyable, with lots of lines that just hit you right, you know? Thank you! Very, very much!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I must admit I've always quite enjoyed thinking about Bodie poking the hole and making it bigger... *g*

Thank you very much - I'm very glad you liked it! I was worried they'd just get silly with the not-talking, but I suppose it was only a couple of days in the end, so it all worked out okay!

So, that patch... *g*

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I loved that! I could feel the scraping as he slid down the cliff and I held my breath till they were safe.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! There sort of had to be some action in there, and they were by the sea, so cliffs it was... *g* Glad you liked!

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Hee! This was just terrific. I loved the boys at cross purposes, and the scene of Bodie coming to on the cliffside with Doyle lying there beside him muttering all manner of dire commentary. Brilliantly funny.

And the sex...

...THUD.

Girl, have you been eating your Wheaties? Because you are getting more and more adventuresome with the boys and the bonking and...all of that. I will never be able to look at those ratty old jeans the same way =ever=.

And I thought the patch was bad enough. Sheesh!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ack - could have sworn I'd replied to you, but it's not here! Sorry for the hugely long delay...

And thank you!

Girl, have you been eating your Wheaties?... getting more and more adventuresome with the boys and the bonking...
Heeee! It's them, it was all them, I swear it. They just wouldn't quit with the bonking... I tell ya, getting 'em down that cliff was a job and a half... *g*

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, I'm pretty sure you did comment. I'll have to look through my inbox, but I'm almost positive I saw a comment.

I really appreciate your taking the time to doublecheck though.

Speaking of comments--I got your package (waited to write, 'cause I wasn't certain you had web access). Loved the story!! Loved it. Thank you so much (now just tell me precisely how I can return the favor ;-) ).

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

Oi! Do you have a thing for throwing the Lads off cliffs? As I recall, this is the second time you've done it.

I love the story behind the patch, the use of weather, Bodie's desperation in thinking that if he stalls Ray long enough R will realize his true feelings, and of course the twist at the end making everything all right.

I especially love this line: Nothing ever stays the same... He'd never wanted it to before. Poor Bodie!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I so must have been hallucinating when I read these comments, because I could have sworn I replied to three at once, in an airport in Georgia, but there's only one response up! I'm so sorry that I didn't - didn't mean to be rude...

As for the cliffs - well, they've both had a go now, so perhaps I'll have to think of summat else... Did you spot it was the second time I disabled a car with a snapped accelerator cable too?! I plead pressure of moving house! And country! And stuff like that! Although you've gotta admit, they are pretty when they're lying slightly crumpled at the bottom of cliffs... *g*

Glad you liked it though - thank you!

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

No worries! I know how busy you've been. When I comment I always see it as a bonus if the commentee responds, but I don't expect it. And no, I didn't spot the re-use of the accelerator cable!

But I've been wanting to ask you - what is the significance of the title? I see you have 2 poems cited at the bottom of the fic, but I can't find any reference to them in the text. Am I missing something?! Am I going mad?! Am I just unusually dense?!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The High Up Singing and Alive Fruit is from "The Electric Orchard", by Paul Muldoon:

"The early electric people had domesticated the wild ass.
They knew all about falling off.
Occasionally, they would have fallen out of the trees.
Climbing again, they had something to prove
To their neighbours. And they did have neighbours.
The electric people lived in villages
Out of their need of security and their constant hunger.
Together they would divert their energies

To neutral places. Anger to the banging door,
Passion to the kiss.
And electricity to earth. Having stolen his thunder
From an angry god, through the trees
They had learned to string his lightning.
The women gathered random sparks into their aprons,
A child discovered the swing
Among the electric poles. Taking everything as given,

The electric people were confident, hardly proud.
They kept fire in a bucket,
Boiled water and dry leaves in a kettle, watched the lid
By the blue steam lifted and lifted.
So that, where one of the electric people happened to fall,
It was accepted as an occupational hazard.
There was something necessary about the thing. The North Wall

Of the Eiger was notorious for blizzards,
If one fell there his neighbour might remark, Bloody fool.
All that would have been inappropriate,
Applied to the experienced climber of electric poles.
I have achieved this great height?
No electric person could have been that proud,
Thirty or forty feet. Perhaps not that,
If the fall happened to be broken by the roof of a shed.
The belt would burst, the call be made,

The ambulance arrive and carry the faller away
To hospital with a scream.
There and then the electric people might invent the railway,
Just watching the lid lifted by the steam.
Or decide that all laws should be based on that of gravity,
Just thinking of the faller fallen.
Even then they were running out of things to do and see.
Gradually, they introduced legislation

Whereby they nailed a plaque to every last electric pole.
They would prosecute any trespassers.
The high up, singing and live fruit liable to shock or kill
Were forbidden. Deciding that their neighbours
And their neighbours' innocent children ought to be stopped
For their own good, they threw a fence
Of barbed wire round the electric poles. None could describe
Electrocution, falling, the age of innocence."

In the back of my mind, as I was writing it, it was about the electricity between the lads, and of the lads - they're alive and sparking with it - and people being electric, "the body electric", sparks and electricity being lust, but so much more than that when you go a bit deeper... And so I was googling for thoughts for titles and so on, and I read this, about the way people are frightened of things that they were once excited by and brave for, and how they try to lock away things that frighten them, stop them from existing, deny themselves the joy of it all... and it sort of seemed to fit.

Pretentious? Moi? *g*

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

ok, now I get it. And I just noticed that you do have a link to the poem at the bottom of the fic. Duh!

Out of their need of security and their constant hunger.
Together they would divert their energies
To neutral places.

Yes, that sounds like our lads sometimes.

Thanks for explaining. Isn't Google wonderful?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

*g*

Glad it makes sense to you too - I worried I was just being pretentious, or seeing stuff so much from my own little angle that everyone would be going "'eh? Huh?" And then I decided I didn't really mind, but it's nice to know that other people might get it too!

*loves Google*

*g*

[asymphototropic.livejournal.com]

Harrumph. I printed this story, hardcopy, on the backs of all kinds of documents that I had with me on my travels.[the only printer paper I had available.] That way I had something delectable to read on the thirteen and a half hours journey returning stateside, see? But what I didn't take into account was being squished elbow to elbow and knee to knee with total strangers in the economy section of the plane. And those folks being so totally bored, they might well take to reading over another passenger's shoulder.

True to expectations, this story was wonderfully steamy, and I couldn't put it away til I had quite finished it, and re-read all the best portions repeatedly.

But you should have seen me writhing in my tiny seat, shifting so that the folks around me wouldn't see it. Wonder which circle of hell has the suffering soul simply dying to read an exquisite bit of fiction whilst shackled to a fixed spot with nosy and potentially puritanical neighbors trying to read such hotstuff as:

"His finger pushed further in, wrenching at the frayed cloth until it could slide between Doyle's buttocks, slowly up, slowly down, counterpoint to their thrusting cocks, their tangling tongues."

Loved the explanation of the patch. The rest of the story too. But most especially the patch.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee! Sorry about the writhing! I've lucked out, I'm in windows seats so far - writing from Atlanta, Georgia right now! Mostly I've slept (cos I kind of skipped last night, somehow) but I managed to re-read Voice-over which made me happy!

I can't believe I've never read an explanation for the patch, someone else must have done one, but I've not found it. So, you know, had to be done... *g* Glad you liked, writhing aside... *g*