B.S. at Blandings

Fanfiction
Title:	B.S. at Blandings
Author(s):	T_verano
Date(s):	30 April 2016
Length:	24,441 words
Genre(s):	Slash, Humor
Fandom(s):	The Sentinel/Blandings Castle
Relationship(s):	Jim/Blair
External Links:	On AO3
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B.S. at Blandings is a Jim/Blair story by T_verano in which Blair Sandburg discovers a family connection to the Threepwood family of Blandings Castle, and pays a visit in which he must hide his relationship with Jim and navigate the typical pitfalls of Blandings: impostors, matchmaking and trouble with the law.

Author's Notes

Written for the marvelous Sallymn as a long overdue (long, so long, so very very long overdue) Moonridge fic. I cannot begin to express enough thanks for her patience and forbearance (this started out so long ago to be a different story entirely; several different stories, in fact, and none of them even thinking about Wodehouse).

I also cannot express enough thanks to Caarianna for beta'ing the fic, to Kernel1 for running the Wodehouse-related bits through her Wodehouse-lover's eyes, and to Suemc for helping me with some vexing "who addresses whom how?" types of British and peerage-related questions. All of them helped me more than I can say, and Caarianna and Kernel1 helped me with both minor and major issues (and helped me have the courage to tackle the major ones). Any errors you may find have wandered in during my revisions and belong solely on my shoulders.

For the reader: It might be useful to know that although the fic mentions several Wodehouse-world events, it's not meant to fit into any specific Blandings Castle time line. Also, because Wodehousian logic is my favorite kind of logic, I wrote this with an intention of it being completely logical that Jim and Blair in their mid-1990's selves could seamlessly visit Wodehouse's world in its perfect timeless… time, as it were.

Note: this is not one of those crossovers that can blithely advertise "You don't really need to know the other fandom." If you don't know Blandings Castle and Wodehouse in general, you'll probably find this fic to be a baffling irritation (which you may find it to be anyway :-)).

It feels almost sacrilegious to have attempted to hang out at Blandings for a little while like this and I know that I didn't do Plum anywhere near the justice he deserves, but the fic ended up being a ridiculous amount of fun to write.

Reactions and Reviews

On the one hand, learning about the Blanding Bunch, from mustachioed or lorgnetted schemers, to pottering pig-lovers, to the distressed damsel looking for her Dudley-Do-Right, to steady-state Beach, was an absolute delight. The added bonus of Bertie and his aura and Jeeves and his hangover remedy had me in stitches.

On the other hand, Blair unabashedly intimidated by his mother, stone crazy in love with Jim, and probably for the first time is in over his head trying to understand a confusing subculture he'd really like to embrace. Jim, of the crinkle-eyed smiles and psychedelic reaction to Tabasco and good brandy; his smirks and forbearance that keeps him following wherever Blair is, though not without a lot of complaining. The way they can't keep their hands off each other, even when they are annoyed, is just so believable. You even fit in a fantasy (albeit momentary) of Simon out-scowling Rupert--a classic match-up! All of these made me smile and smile. And Blair thinking that visiting Bertie and his circle will be sane--that had me cackling!

Fortunately, I didn't have to choose between one hand and the other; both held treasures. If I had been your MR recipient, I would have been glad to wait any amount of time to get a gem of a story like this one. I know Sally just loved it and I do, too. Thanks to her for bidding on it and thanks to you for writing it. Brava.