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crack_van2013-12-18 10:43 pm
aralias.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2013-12-18 10:43 pm
All in the Mind by Gemini (NC-17)
Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Blake/Avon, Avon/Servalan
Length: Long-ish. Probably about 10K+
Author Website: Some more on Hermit.org
Why this must be read: Another of my favourite B/A fics (this one was written/published in 1997), and the first fic that I've recced thus far that it's going to be difficult to talk about without talking spoilers. Nevertheless, I shall attempt it...
It takes place after the end of the series - a time period B7 fen generally call PGP (if you don't know what that stands for, don't look it up), and it deals with one of the many fan-crack ideas that B7 casually introduces and then forgets about. In this case - the idea of memory erasure and implanting new memories into a person. The first canonically happens to our hero and it's something he has to deal with a lot in fic. The latter is less common, but still a reasonably persistent theme.
This fic does something quite unusual and interesting with the memory erasure/implanation idea, and what it is does is essential to the two major relationships explored in this fic: B/A and A/S. They're far more complex than this as characters (particularly Blake, who makes some spectacularly grey decisions), but in a way (while getting on with their own stuff) Blake and Servalan also function as Avon's shoulder angel and his shoulder devil. And this fic, which depicts the relationships simultaneously (sex in both), plays into that negotiation between Avon's best and worst instincts in a very plausible and compelling way. I'm not that keen on the ending, but I'm keen enough (i.e. very keen) on the rest of it to strongly urge you to read it. I also recommend Gemini's other work - particularly 'Identity Crisis', which, as you may guess from that title, plays on a similar idea, but in a very different way.
Excerpt
Link: All in the Mind
Pairing: Blake/Avon, Avon/Servalan
Length: Long-ish. Probably about 10K+
Author Website: Some more on Hermit.org
Why this must be read: Another of my favourite B/A fics (this one was written/published in 1997), and the first fic that I've recced thus far that it's going to be difficult to talk about without talking spoilers. Nevertheless, I shall attempt it...
It takes place after the end of the series - a time period B7 fen generally call PGP (if you don't know what that stands for, don't look it up), and it deals with one of the many fan-crack ideas that B7 casually introduces and then forgets about. In this case - the idea of memory erasure and implanting new memories into a person. The first canonically happens to our hero and it's something he has to deal with a lot in fic. The latter is less common, but still a reasonably persistent theme.
This fic does something quite unusual and interesting with the memory erasure/implanation idea, and what it is does is essential to the two major relationships explored in this fic: B/A and A/S. They're far more complex than this as characters (particularly Blake, who makes some spectacularly grey decisions), but in a way (while getting on with their own stuff) Blake and Servalan also function as Avon's shoulder angel and his shoulder devil. And this fic, which depicts the relationships simultaneously (sex in both), plays into that negotiation between Avon's best and worst instincts in a very plausible and compelling way. I'm not that keen on the ending, but I'm keen enough (i.e. very keen) on the rest of it to strongly urge you to read it. I also recommend Gemini's other work - particularly 'Identity Crisis', which, as you may guess from that title, plays on a similar idea, but in a very different way.
Excerpt
"What happened?" he repeated, not wanting to know, but needing to face the responsibility and the guilt. If he was still alive, who had paid the price for his life?
"The last thing you recall is speaking to Deva?"
"Yes. What's eating you, Avon? Tell me the worst, I have to know sooner or later."
"They're all dead." So little emotion in that voice. The arms holding him never faltered in their grip. "There was a spy in your camp. She sold you to Servalan."
So his tests had failed him in the end. They'd failed him, and everyone who'd trusted in him. And here he was now with the one man who would never have passed any of his tests - his embezzler, cynic, thief, liar and occasional mutineer. The man he trusted above any other. Ironic that. But he was tired, so tired, and he hurt in spite of the fuzziness. Something felt as though it had ripped his guts out. He pressed a hand to his stomach.
As though divining his thoughts, Avon said, "You were shot by the troopers. Luckily they got you to a cryo-capsule in time."
"Luckily?"
"You're still alive aren't you?" Avon glared.
"And how did you get here?" Blake flung back at him.
Avon stiffened. "I chose to survive."
Link: All in the Mind