*Divergence, Restraint discussion...please join in!* Divergence. I would guess this story has been discussed a million times, yet here I go, doing it again. But, as we all know, my "deep" discussions tend to all end up in the shallow end of the pool, so maybe this one will go a little differently. Plus, I added Restraint, another of ragingpixie's stories, again post-S4, but with a much different feel overall. Hopefully you'll find something you want to talk about.
I thought that these would be a fun sort of compare/contrast because they're both set in a similar time frame, (post-S4) yet the subject matter is extremely varied.
Something I noticed immediately, is the "timeline" syle. I like this in almost anything I read. In Divergence, it's done through Justin's birthdays: Justin turns twenty-one in California and decides to make Los Angeles his permanent home.
Justin turns twenty-two, and Brian remembers when he sees Justin’s picture in the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times.
Justin turns twenty-three and gets a letter from his mother.
In Restraint, it's day by agonizing day, all the way from Day One to Day Fifteen and Three-Quarters! I really like my stories all partitioned off and tidy that way.
Do you think such a division adds (or takes away) from a fic?
Another thing I really love about both stories is the build-up, the slow rise of tension toward the climax. (and do I mean climax! in Restraint!)
What things do you think contribute to the tension in Divergence?
In Restraint, the tension is 100% old-fashioned sexual tension and it's played out perfectly here, in my opinion. Self-assured Brian, cocky Justin. Both *determined* that the other cannot possibly win the bet. I love it!!!
Who did you think would win in the beginning? Were you surprised in the end?
I think that both stories build beautifully. It's one of my favorite parts of both, even after reading them many times. My heart is still in my throat in Divergence and I'm all hot and squirmy at the end of Restraint!
Now, let's look at Divergence alone for just a few minutes. It was hard for me at first to really get into a story that didn't have an S5 ending. It took me a while to forget that S5 didn't exist at the time this was written and therefore couldn't exist in the fic. Once I got that down, I was good. Did any of you who didn't read this until long after S5 get that same feeling?
I would *suspect* that for people who don't enjoy this story, a lot of that would come from the high angst factor. This thing is full of it...even the author's descriptions feel bittersweet and a little hopeless to me, like this one: Daphne picks him up from the airport, and Justin is momentarily struck by how beautiful she is. He’s always known that Daphne was pretty, but her prettiness became ordinary when he saw it every day.
Now she is smiling and confident, no longer punching him in the arm when he makes her laugh but nudging him gently with her elbow, and Justin wonders when she got so gorgeous. He asks her.
“What happened to you while I’ve been gone?”
She giggles and blushes and pays the parking attendant. “I dunno. Maybe you should come home more often.”
Justin doesn’t answer. Daphne is beautiful, obviously happy, yet the moment isn't as carefree and lighthearted as it could be. I really think this anchors the tone and makes the story work flawlessly.
The characterizations, while very IC, all have that melancholy feel as well. Justin isn't completely happy, even though he's got this wonderful "new" life, Brian is "typically" Brian, he won't ASK Justin to come home, but he desperately wants him to.
What do you think? Are the characters IC?
And then there's the cancer...this time even harder and harsher and more horrible. The passage where they're both on the beach and Brian tells Justin he wants him to throw his ashes in the ocean just drives daggers right through my heart every single time:
“I want you to throw my ashes in the ocean,” he finds himself saying one lazy afternoon when the tide is low and the seagulls circle. “I want it to be tragic and sad.”
Justin’s pencil stills over his sketchpad. “You mean, when you’re like, ninety years old? You’ll be all shriveled by then. You’ll barely make enough ashes to fill a matchbox.”
“My dick alone could fill an urn,” he replies, and turns to his back. “And ninety’s pushing it a little.”
“Eighty, then,” Justin says determinedly, and doesn’t look at him.
“Justin,” he says to the sky, “you promised.”
“So did you,” Justin whispers back, and Brian barely hears him over the waves.
Had Brian really promised Justin something? And did Justin *really* promise Brian he wouldn't freak out? Do you think that either of them could really live up to those promises?
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ... I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. What does this Robert Frost line mean to you in the context of the fic?
Do you, as some do, find the ending ambiguous?
And since I love to squee, I'll leave the discussion of Divergence with this line. I love it. No special reason, I just do. It makes me all shivery. “You got time for a fuck, Sunshine?” Brian whispers in his ear, his voice low with lust and whiskey. “Or do you not do that any more?”
I feel like I'm making this way too long already, but let's talk about Restraint.
Like Divergence, I think one of the most compelling things about this story is how the tension builds. This time it just happens to be lovely, hilarious, wonderful sexual tension.
In the beginning, it's all too easy for Justin and for Brian. They're both totally sure they're going to win. And in the end, it's hard. So very hard.
I love this story and that building of tension is done beautifully. Do you agree or disagree?
What are some of your favorite moments in the story?
Did you expect that Brian would lose the bet?
The final passage and and the revealing of Brian's feelings is so much different than the rest of the vic and and I find it touching and so compelling. So much that I felt like I was intruding.
What do you think of Brian's vulnerability? IC? Not? Why?
And of course, any fic that ends with Brian's hands in Justin's hair has a special place in my heart.
Two great fics, one great author. Very different, yet very much perfect Brian and Justin. Please feel free to add whatever you want to this discussion...I want to hear it all!