Testing the Waters

Sentinel Fanfiction
Title:	Testing the Waters
Author(s):	Southy
Date(s):	6/05/05
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	The Sentinel
External Links:	online here
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Testing the Waters is a Sentinel story by Southy.

The author's notes: "The freedom of the Southy byline was that the stories were written without the restriction of "slash or gen" designations."

Summary: "Post-"Love Kills". Blair gets in over his head after he decides to make a move on Jim."

Author's Comments

Sometimes you’re in an intense place when you’re writing; and then when you’re done, you can’t “feel” that place anymore, and you aren’t sure how you managed to produce a story while you were there. This is one such experience. I wish I wouldn’t have had Jim ending so many statements with a question. (“But you don’t, do you?”) But I do like this as a conflict-ending-with-tenderness story.

Reactions and Reveiws

As I told Southy when I commented on this story, this is one of the more uncomfortable stories I've read in recent memory - I should have said 'discomforting' maybe - and I caution you, if you're one of the 'Blair is a saint' faithful, this story is not for you. The author's characterization of Blair is painful to read, but at the same time, it's totally believable in terms of canon Blair. For a relatively short story, it's very powerful. Jim is portrayed as determined and understanding - eventually - and it ends on a hopeful note that they can work things out. The story is technically well-written (meaning, good grammar, no glaring typos or mispellings). southy2005's stories have a 'real' feeling to them. The other works at Southy's LJ are also quality, well-written stories and if you've not seen them, I urge you to check them out... but not if you're looking for 'hearts, flowers, and everything is beautiful', because they tend to be a bit... I can't think of a good word here. Gritty, maybe, and I don't mean that badly in any.