Shadows and Light (Sentinel story)
| Sentinel Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Shadows and Light |
| Author(s): | Mairead Triste and Aristide |
| Date(s): | |
| Length: | 74k |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | The Sentinel |
| External Links: | online here |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Shadows and Light is a Jim/Blair story by Mairead Triste and Aristide.
It was published in Wounded Heroes and is online.
Notes
Acknowledgements: This story first appeared in RaC's zine 'Wounded Heroes', and I'd just like to say that she was an absolute dream to work with, and that I adore her, and that I'm honored to have been a part of her pet project. In addition, of course I wouldn't have made it through the writing process without substantial help from Bone-- and it wasdarned nice of her to help me out on this one, 'cuz it's not her cuppa at all. Honeys, I am blessed!
Author's Notes: Sometimes I just really like to sit around and dwell on Jim's darkness, and then stuff like this happens. Behold the brain tug-o-war... [1]
Reactions and Reviews
I read a rec for Mairead/Aristide's erotica recently that described it as something close to painful, as something as near to horror in its pulse-pounding, mind-gripping, soul-wrending *power* as anything is ever likely to get.And I felt envy.
Because I hadn't thought of saying it first.
I *can't* be envious of erotica as good as hers, man. She gets the characters just right, yeah, and that's the core of any good piece of smut, but... but...
gah
The Cimmerians can make the rest of us -- the *best* of us -- look like bloodless prudes in comparison. One of the reasons I'm so fucking *obsessed* with sex is that I can *have* sex like this. Real and raw and hot and painful and mad and terrifying and endless and more more MORE.
She takes me there.
And then she has the nerve to make language her bitch in passages like this:
Blair was already at the station when he got there. Jim endured the first careful, questioning look, refrained from trying to interpret the following silent nod, and settled into work. The lack of sleep left him buzzing, drifting a little while things moved and shifted around him, a grainy backdrop of unreality mis-set in the middle of some busy stage. Simon's voice was too loud, Megan's too nasal. He retreated by degrees, and eventually people stopped asking him what was wrong.
And always, there was Blair. At his side and in his mind and pulling at the blood in his veins, always Blair, Blair, Blair; tempo and aggregate and totality of his own personal underworld. He was being sucked under, except that somehow he knew that the drowning, the drawing had already happened. It had happened years ago. This was no new news, despite the fact that the sum of his body wouldn't stop tingling with the shock of it.
sigh
This story takes the best of the Cimmerian's often warring identities, the dark and light, the bitter and the sweet, to produce just pure *power*.
Shadows and light. Yeah.
Come back soon, baby girl. You're missed.[2]
This is a fascinating look at a conflicted Jim struggling to cope with his relationship with Blair. Very cool. Nice character moments. Hot sex scenes. What more could you want?[3]
This story fascinates me because Jim is in such denial. In discussions about this piece, I've seen mention of the fact that Jim's feelings are unclear and the reasons for his actions are too vague, but I think it's a classic case of repression. We don't need much explanation; the story is all the more powerful because the writer allows the reader to sort of creep into Jim's head as the tension in his body and mind become unbearable. Jim rationalizes his desire by giving pleasure to Blair, but refusing to cross the line for his own needs, and it sets up some beautiful angst.[4]
Jim comes home drunk and horny after an unsuccessful date and Blair offers to go for a walk while he masturbates - but Jim is appalled at the idea, and things spiral out of control from there...Aristide and Mairead Triste are pseudonyms for the same author. Aristide's stories are those on the lighter, sweeter side of the spectrum, while Mairead Triste handles the darker side, and when they write together, there are elements of both on offer. This story deals with Jim's homophobic reaction to his sexual attraction to Blair. The two start a sexual relationship - Jim can't help himself - but it's a fractured one as Jim struggles to accept that he wants Blair in this way. This is a tough story in many ways but it's well worth it as Mairead Triste remorselssly shows us a darker side to Jim's nature, but then Aristide lets us off the hook with a more hopeful ending. And of course, the writing is fantastic.[5]