One Word Ficlet Challenge - Neal/Luck
Jun. 16th, 2010 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Title: Luck
Author:
elrhiarhodan
Rating: Gen
Fandom: White Collar
Spoilers: Out of the Box
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~300
Summary: The totally sublime
photoash opened up a terrific ficlet challenge yesterday. She gave me three prompts, and here is my response to the second one:
Neal - Luck
Neal doesn't believe in luck. That's why he plays chess, not poker; backgammon, not baccarat. Skill is what matters, the untalented rely on luck.
This doesn't explain Peter Burke, though. There was nothing about skill that resulted in the random assignment of Special Agent Peter Burke to the investigations of a series of seemingly unrelated art thefts, confidence schemes and forgeries. But luck had nothing to do with Burke's ability to piece together those random crimes into a singular pattern and track Neal with the tenacity of a bloodhound on the scent.
Neal never considered the assignment of Agent Burke to his case to be bad luck. As he once told Kate (who had bemoaned the fact that Burke was responsible for the hasty abandonment of their lovely apartment in Venice), there where probably hundreds of FBI agents equally skilled. They'd just have to work a little harder to keep ahead of the very tenacious Agent Burke. That hard work paid off in Prague - Neal had very deliberately picked a third floor apartment over a bakery with a sturdy awning. Just in case he needed to defenestrate in an emergency. Luck had nothing to do with him standing next to the opened window when Burke burst into the apartment.
Neal didn't even consider his eventual arrest a matter of good (Burke's) or bad (his own) luck - Burke was just that much smarter, and he respected that immensely.
In fact, the only time he even remotely considered that his relationship with Peter Burke was lucky was the day after he nearly boarded a small private jet that was supposed to take him and Kate to a whole new life.
Author:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Rating: Gen
Fandom: White Collar
Spoilers: Out of the Box
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~300
Summary: The totally sublime
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Neal - Luck
Neal doesn't believe in luck. That's why he plays chess, not poker; backgammon, not baccarat. Skill is what matters, the untalented rely on luck.
This doesn't explain Peter Burke, though. There was nothing about skill that resulted in the random assignment of Special Agent Peter Burke to the investigations of a series of seemingly unrelated art thefts, confidence schemes and forgeries. But luck had nothing to do with Burke's ability to piece together those random crimes into a singular pattern and track Neal with the tenacity of a bloodhound on the scent.
Neal never considered the assignment of Agent Burke to his case to be bad luck. As he once told Kate (who had bemoaned the fact that Burke was responsible for the hasty abandonment of their lovely apartment in Venice), there where probably hundreds of FBI agents equally skilled. They'd just have to work a little harder to keep ahead of the very tenacious Agent Burke. That hard work paid off in Prague - Neal had very deliberately picked a third floor apartment over a bakery with a sturdy awning. Just in case he needed to defenestrate in an emergency. Luck had nothing to do with him standing next to the opened window when Burke burst into the apartment.
Neal didn't even consider his eventual arrest a matter of good (Burke's) or bad (his own) luck - Burke was just that much smarter, and he respected that immensely.
In fact, the only time he even remotely considered that his relationship with Peter Burke was lucky was the day after he nearly boarded a small private jet that was supposed to take him and Kate to a whole new life.
We're lucky
Date: 2010-06-17 02:13 am (UTC)This one was full of references to the bits of the over riding story you have been telling.
Re: We're lucky
Date: 2010-06-17 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 01:36 pm (UTC)Thank you!
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Date: 2010-06-17 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 01:37 pm (UTC)Hee hee...
That's what you get when you cross a fic writer with a former history major!
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Date: 2010-06-17 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 08:19 pm (UTC)Loved Neal respecting Peter's skills and smarts - although I'm somewhat curious if he still holds the opinion that there are plenty of other FBI agents like him. *g*
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Date: 2010-06-18 12:09 am (UTC)Probably not, after Peter caught him.
Thanks for the great observation!
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Date: 2010-06-17 11:59 pm (UTC)Luck is unreliable, unlike smarts and skill.
Thank you for writing such excellent WC fics - keeps me excited until the show resumes next month.
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Date: 2010-06-18 12:10 am (UTC)It's so much fun...and I can't wait for WC to resume, too.
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Date: 2010-06-18 12:48 am (UTC)I love that they are the smartest guys in the room. And both would use the word "defenestrate". Mozzie would understand it as well as Elizabeth.
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Date: 2010-06-18 01:39 pm (UTC)I'm so delighted that you're enjoying my writing - and maybe someday, I'll write the full Bridge story. Or not...leave it as legend and write the Defenestration of Prague instead.