The Wrong End of the Story by Julad and Calico (NC-17)

[patk.livejournal.com]

Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: julad
Author Website: http://yearningvoid.net/stories/julad/
Why this must be read:

First, don't let the author's notes bother you and take away from the joy of reading. This is a wonderful thrilling, creepy slash-story, well written and even so much more, set in a canon-universe. It's kind of a horror-story, but not a slasher-movie (not much blood-loss here) more the “Is this real?”-kind of type when casual situation turns into something frightening and your usual world suddenly turns upside down - or maybe not and what frightens you is only your imagination? The end left tendrils of doubt and insecurity in my mind, like ghostly traces of mist over empty fields in fall, although it is mostly a happy end.

It starts out as a pretty casual story/scene. The two of them away from Cascade, their journey home via plane is delayed because of bad weather but because they both have to be back in Cascade at a certain time they rent a car. They drive through bad winter-weather, it's slow going, it's night. They're a little bored, a little over-tired, a little stressed out by the problems they had up to this point and a little edgy. All they want is to go home …

Don't let yourself being thrown out by the Jim-characterization at the beginning. Things change, the impression you get changes, layers are stripped away in a manner that really requires your attention to follow Jim's motivations of why he does what he does.

And while reading: every time you go *huh?* take a short break and think about the location, time, situation, state of mind and being and the fact how certain circumstances influence your ability to think and perceive clear and in a logical way.

And when you finally reach the end of the story, take a second to think about why the things Jim says are so important at this point and at this moment and try to image how you (or Blair) would feel *if* Jim had not said this things.

Beyond the obvious plot, it's a story about the power of words and the power that knowledge of another person gives you over this person.

I don't want to say more in order not to spoil the story, but for those of you who want to read my thoughts and interpretations on certain scenes of the story, either before (careful: big spoilers) or after you read it, you're welcome to take a look at my livejournal:
thoughts


The Wrong End of the Story