dr_temperance (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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milliways_bar2008-12-20 07:32 pm
dr_temperance) wrote in milliways_bar2008-12-20 07:32 pm
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(no subject)
If there is one thing that Brennan excels at, it's compartmentalization. It's a useful skill, especially during otherwise hectic times.
Next week, she and her father are flying out to Ohio, to participate in their first official family Christmas in over fifteen years. Brennan is looking forward to it, but it does leave her with a lot to get done.
On a number of fronts.
She started out this evening in the bar with work from the lab--a shattered skull in need of reconstruction. The skull is now pieced together, resting on a stand while the glue sets.
Its eyeless sockets are watching Brennan as she moves on to her next task--wrapping her nieces Christmas presents.
Brennan measures out a precise square of red and green paper (just enough to wrap a crystal-growing kit from the Jeffersonian gift shop) and sheers her scissors neatly through.
Next week, she and her father are flying out to Ohio, to participate in their first official family Christmas in over fifteen years. Brennan is looking forward to it, but it does leave her with a lot to get done.
On a number of fronts.
She started out this evening in the bar with work from the lab--a shattered skull in need of reconstruction. The skull is now pieced together, resting on a stand while the glue sets.
Its eyeless sockets are watching Brennan as she moves on to her next task--wrapping her nieces Christmas presents.
Brennan measures out a precise square of red and green paper (just enough to wrap a crystal-growing kit from the Jeffersonian gift shop) and sheers her scissors neatly through.
no subject
"I think so. I'm fairly certain my partner thinks so as well."
"The fact that we have committed violent acts doesn't necessarily warrant fear. It doesn't make us bad people. It depends on the surrounding circumstances."
There is always grey area, of course. Like the time Brennan had lured Epps into a trap for the express purpose of killing him. (She had been interrupted by Booth before she could carry out the plan.)
But even then, Epps had been trying to kill her loved ones.
no subject
Carefully.
And then--
"You have not seen me work."
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Brennan raises a questioning eyebrow.
"Is that relevant?"
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"I do not know."
Beat.
"Sometimes it is."
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Brennan nods to X's hands.
"My assumption is that the claws are employed?"
no subject
Beat.
"Some of the time. If it is in the mission parameters."
Sometimes explosives are more useful. Or guns.
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"Killing with one's hands is different than killing with weapons, from a distance."
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The rest of it--not so much. Not for her, anyway.
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"Do you enjoy the work?" Brennan asks.
She will not be surprised if she is told that enjoyment is not relevant.
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This is her idea of an answer.
"But I do not like killing."
Beat.
"Some people do."
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"I've encountered some of them. And seen the handiwork of several others."
It's astounding what some human beings are capable of doing to other human beings.
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"We have fought some of them, too."
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It does not trouble Brennan in the slightest that some people--people like Epps, who love killing for the sake of killing--could be...permanently removed.
no subject
"Oh."
Beat.
"Good."
no subject
Understanding.
It's a beautiful thing.