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crack_van2006-10-24 05:48 pm
tatkreiswok.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-10-24 05:48 pm
Entry tags:
The Right to Remain Silent by Justine and Kass (PG-13)
RL unexpectedly got in the way of my driving the TS van this month, and so to make up for it, I’ll try to have a new rec up every day for the rest of the month.
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Authors on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sanj_stories and kassrachel
Author Website: Kass can be found at: Slash Scribbings
Why this must be read:
I love a good, post-"TSbyBS" story, and it seems to me that there should be more of them. I think the changed dynamic of a more equal canon relationship causes a lot of authors to shy away from exploring the boys' lives post-series. There's a certain "safety" in keeping ‘Jim as detective of the year, and Blair as tag-along Anthropology post-grad,’ or ‘Jim as Sentinel, and Blair as Guide figuring out things as they go along.’ What I think some of those authors forget is that Jim and Blair – at least in my mind – have been equal partners in every sense of the word from the start of their relationship. Jim’s Sentinel abilities need a focus to guide them, and that’s what Blair provides. Likewise, Blair knows a smattering of everything and is all over the map without someone more pragmatic like Jim to tether his esoteric skills to practical uses. Each needs the other in order to be a better Jim or Blair.
In The Right to Remain Silent, Justine and Kass brilliantly concoct a post-series story that matures Jim and Blair one year after TSbyBS. Blair goes out for an evening on the town to re-visit some old haunts with one of his few friends at Rainer who’s still speaking to him. While it starts out as an object lesson in why you can’t go home again, the way the evening shapes up for Blair leaves him with more questions than when he started out – including ones about his attraction to Jim. This story is beautifully written, with terrific characterizations, fabulous dialog, and an amazing post-"TSbyBS" evolved Jim and Blair. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.
The thing was, it was the spin you put on the story that created the tale. He was a postmodern shaman and guide, protecting his sentinel against the dangers of the urban environment. He was a failed anthropologist hiding a life-or-death secret regarding his former dissertation subject. He was a cop well out of his rookie year, junior partner in the best partnership on the force. He was a thirty-year-old man living with his thirty-eight-year-old roommate.
But the sentinel, the subject, the partner and the roommate were all Jim Ellison. Who had shyly kissed him on the lips last night, to prove (in a twist of logic that had made some sense at the time) that they weren't gay.
What were they, then? Didn't there come a point at which two lives were so entangled that they might as well surrender to the inevitable? Blair tried to imagine things being different: he'd have his own apartment, maybe; a girlfriend, a wife. But he knew these were not his fate, his moira; he was tied to Jim. Other possibilities existed in some strange universe where there was no Jim, and Blair didn't find them attractive.
He stepped out of the shower. I like my life right now, he told the gods silently. Please don't make me fuck this up.
The Right to Remain Silent
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Authors on LJ:
sanj_stories and kassrachelAuthor Website: Kass can be found at: Slash Scribbings
Why this must be read:
I love a good, post-"TSbyBS" story, and it seems to me that there should be more of them. I think the changed dynamic of a more equal canon relationship causes a lot of authors to shy away from exploring the boys' lives post-series. There's a certain "safety" in keeping ‘Jim as detective of the year, and Blair as tag-along Anthropology post-grad,’ or ‘Jim as Sentinel, and Blair as Guide figuring out things as they go along.’ What I think some of those authors forget is that Jim and Blair – at least in my mind – have been equal partners in every sense of the word from the start of their relationship. Jim’s Sentinel abilities need a focus to guide them, and that’s what Blair provides. Likewise, Blair knows a smattering of everything and is all over the map without someone more pragmatic like Jim to tether his esoteric skills to practical uses. Each needs the other in order to be a better Jim or Blair.
In The Right to Remain Silent, Justine and Kass brilliantly concoct a post-series story that matures Jim and Blair one year after TSbyBS. Blair goes out for an evening on the town to re-visit some old haunts with one of his few friends at Rainer who’s still speaking to him. While it starts out as an object lesson in why you can’t go home again, the way the evening shapes up for Blair leaves him with more questions than when he started out – including ones about his attraction to Jim. This story is beautifully written, with terrific characterizations, fabulous dialog, and an amazing post-"TSbyBS" evolved Jim and Blair. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.
The thing was, it was the spin you put on the story that created the tale. He was a postmodern shaman and guide, protecting his sentinel against the dangers of the urban environment. He was a failed anthropologist hiding a life-or-death secret regarding his former dissertation subject. He was a cop well out of his rookie year, junior partner in the best partnership on the force. He was a thirty-year-old man living with his thirty-eight-year-old roommate.
But the sentinel, the subject, the partner and the roommate were all Jim Ellison. Who had shyly kissed him on the lips last night, to prove (in a twist of logic that had made some sense at the time) that they weren't gay.
What were they, then? Didn't there come a point at which two lives were so entangled that they might as well surrender to the inevitable? Blair tried to imagine things being different: he'd have his own apartment, maybe; a girlfriend, a wife. But he knew these were not his fate, his moira; he was tied to Jim. Other possibilities existed in some strange universe where there was no Jim, and Blair didn't find them attractive.
He stepped out of the shower. I like my life right now, he told the gods silently. Please don't make me fuck this up.
The Right to Remain Silent