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crack_van2006-01-17 02:16 pm
laceymcbain.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-01-17 02:16 pm
Entry tags:
Into the Summer Sea by Audra Rose (NC-17)
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
audrarose
Author Website: Audra's Slash Garden
Why this must be read: Another pivotal episode in The Sentinel fandom is "Sentinel Too" where Blair drowns in the fountain at the university. The series almost ended there, and it's an episode that launched a thousand fics. "Into the Summer Sea" manages to be both mysterious and moving. Blair is changed by his experience in the fountain--profoundly changed. He's become intimate with death, and although the doctors say he should be fine now, Blair knows that he isn't. Jim's watching Blair fade away, but he's so consumed with his own guilt and his hidden feelings for Blair that he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to stop Blair from disappearing, and he's terrified.
The alternating first person POV is occasionally confusing--it requires the reader to shift from inside Blair's head to inside Jim's--but I'm not sure the story would've been as effective without that inside POV. It references a number of TS eps, but even if you're not intimately familiar with the series, the story still works extrememely well. It's surreal and erotic and emotional, and you'll feel the fear, the desperate need to hold on to something real, the chill of rain on your skin. The best word I can use to describe this story is "haunting" - it's absolutely beautiful.
He takes the first deep, full breath I've noticed since I pulled him out of that fountain, and I feel absurdly grateful. Blair's skin is firm and velvety beneath my hands, and I can feel it warm up wherever my fingers pass. I run gentle fingertips over his collarbones, and he shudders for me.
Blair raises his head slightly, and says in a shaky voice, "This - this really feels good, but maybe we should call it a night?"
Irrationally irritated and not ready to let him go, I reach up to pull the leather tie from his hair, spilling the soft waves over my wrists.
"Jim, what -" The objection bleeds in to a soft moan that slides over my sensitive hearing like a caress. Running hard palms up Blair's neck, I soothe my fingers over his scalp, rubbing gently.
"Now this should be illegal, man," Blair breathes, turning his head helplessly into my hand. I cradle his head in my palm and run the other hand through the dark silk of his hair. I want to trace my fingers over the line of his jaw, brush across those soft, full lips, but I stop myself in time. His presence back in my life is still too tentative to risk frightening him away.
Read the story: Into the Summer Sea, and let the author know you enjoyed it!
There are two sequels that I'm aware of:
Sand and Water
Still the Deep
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ:
audraroseAuthor Website: Audra's Slash Garden
Why this must be read: Another pivotal episode in The Sentinel fandom is "Sentinel Too" where Blair drowns in the fountain at the university. The series almost ended there, and it's an episode that launched a thousand fics. "Into the Summer Sea" manages to be both mysterious and moving. Blair is changed by his experience in the fountain--profoundly changed. He's become intimate with death, and although the doctors say he should be fine now, Blair knows that he isn't. Jim's watching Blair fade away, but he's so consumed with his own guilt and his hidden feelings for Blair that he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to stop Blair from disappearing, and he's terrified.
The alternating first person POV is occasionally confusing--it requires the reader to shift from inside Blair's head to inside Jim's--but I'm not sure the story would've been as effective without that inside POV. It references a number of TS eps, but even if you're not intimately familiar with the series, the story still works extrememely well. It's surreal and erotic and emotional, and you'll feel the fear, the desperate need to hold on to something real, the chill of rain on your skin. The best word I can use to describe this story is "haunting" - it's absolutely beautiful.
He takes the first deep, full breath I've noticed since I pulled him out of that fountain, and I feel absurdly grateful. Blair's skin is firm and velvety beneath my hands, and I can feel it warm up wherever my fingers pass. I run gentle fingertips over his collarbones, and he shudders for me.
Blair raises his head slightly, and says in a shaky voice, "This - this really feels good, but maybe we should call it a night?"
Irrationally irritated and not ready to let him go, I reach up to pull the leather tie from his hair, spilling the soft waves over my wrists.
"Jim, what -" The objection bleeds in to a soft moan that slides over my sensitive hearing like a caress. Running hard palms up Blair's neck, I soothe my fingers over his scalp, rubbing gently.
"Now this should be illegal, man," Blair breathes, turning his head helplessly into my hand. I cradle his head in my palm and run the other hand through the dark silk of his hair. I want to trace my fingers over the line of his jaw, brush across those soft, full lips, but I stop myself in time. His presence back in my life is still too tentative to risk frightening him away.
Read the story: Into the Summer Sea, and let the author know you enjoyed it!
There are two sequels that I'm aware of:
Sand and Water
Still the Deep