Arvin Sloane: 'Ships Discussion and Fanfiction Recommendations
As no one has claimed these topics and as one can mix them easily.
One of the remarkable things about Alias is the fact the older characters have relationships easily as passionate as the younger ones, and usually a good deal more complex. Sloane's decades-long-marriage certainly qualifies as one of the most convincing love stories of the show. We see its final stages - Emily's suffering from cancer, the Alliance ordering Sloane to kill her, Sloane seemingly complying but actually saving her, and then the tragic ending when she dies because she has given him another chance after he chose her over Rambaldi too late. While the great paradox about the relationship is apparant from the beginning - Emily's benign, caring nature, and the fact she is married to a ruthless killer and choses him twice after finding out the truth; conversely, Sloane's ruthlessness, and yet the tenderness and unwavering dedication he shows towards his wife - the layers get revealed later on, and continue to be so after Emily's actual death. Late in season 1, we see that Emily does in fact know her husband works in the spy business, though she believes he never stopped being a part of the CIA; and yet she never talked to him about this. She's strong enough to sacrifice her own finger (a matching gesture to what Sloane does in The Box) as a part of the deception of the Alliance, and when she makes a deal with the CIA via Sydney, she shows her awareness of the stakes by insisting on the government's pledge not to pursue the death penalty for her husband, but she ultimately can't bring herself to go through with deserting him and handing him over, not when it comes to a face to face conversation in which he tells her he loves her.
Conversely, the s3 revelation Sloane's affair with Irina, refered to him in s3 as the betrayal of someone who never deserved it, shows he lied to Emily about at least one serious matter before his career as an Evil Overlord (tm). Taken together with a scene in later s2 where he talks to her on the phone standing in side an abandoned warehouse and lies without hesitating about where he is (he tells her he's at the house he bought for them instead) when even pragmatically speaking, there is no need for such a deception (except perhaps that he's in the company of Mr. Sark at that moment, but still), and the very fact Sloane is nothing but gentle when being with Emily, you can speculate that at least part of their marriage was that she deliberately didn't want to see, and he deliberately split himself, surpressing anything he couldn't bear for her to know but also seeing anything he did when away from her as something that did not touch her.
S4's In Dreams provides one possible reason with its examination of Sloane's most painful memories, which are centered around Emily and the child they never had, Jacquelyn. The core of those memories, the most painful one, however, isn't the actual death of the child - which we never see - but Emily's reaction afterwards when Sloane has to tell her. He's unable to console her, and she turns away from him, later asking him never to say the name or speak of their lost daughter again. It's tempting to regard this silence as the first (though it might actually have come after the Irina affair, depending on the timeline); in any case, both the loss and the policy of not talking about it, looking away, show the darker side of the marriage. Which does not negate its intensity or long term impact. Sloane continues to wear his ring (and Emily's ring, as is the custom for widowers) for the rest of the show, and on the infrequent occasions when he mentions her, it is always combined with the expression of missing her; In Dreams also illustrates that being with Emily again is his version of paradise. (Which, naturally, he has to leave.)
Here are some of my favourite stories dealing with this relationship:
Hindsight by kangeiko (set during Emily's pregnancy, but about so much more)
Emily by sunshine_queen: examination of Emily's feelings for her husband
Appointed Hours by vaznetti: Sloane after Emily's death.
After, During, Before by yahtzee63 pulls off a very tricky threesome - Jack/Emily/Arvin - convicingly and with style; set after Laura "died" and Jack got released from prison following the Irina reveal.
Speaking of Jack. This would be the other decades long relationship Sloane has, arguably as important. Given the sheer amount of backstory and complex present day interaction, constantly shifting from friendship to hostility and back, you can't tell me that this wouldn't be a very popular slash pairing if a) the participants weren't two middle-aged gentlemen, and b) Jack Bristow didn't come across as the straightest man on the show (all the more kudos to Victor Garber's acting skills). I don't see the relationship as necessarily erotic myself, but I do think you can't make heads or tails of it (or explain why ever party is still alife) if you don't acknowledge that there is love in whatever sense involved. What we know - those decades of knowing each other, Sloane bring Jack along into SD-6 while Jack is working as a double agent for the CIA, the Irina affair, Sloane recruiting Sydney behind Jack's back, lies to each other matched by shared secrets, various life saving occasions, tidbits like Jack having trained Arvin to withstand torture - is as intriguing as what we don't: such as, for example, just when Sloane figured out Jack and Sydney were doubles, or why Jack did not know about Emily's pregnancy when it happened.
Following the show, subtext is far more common than text where Jack/Arvin stories are concerned (only the first two I'll rec have actual sex). However, one which has to be one of the first, if not the first on the net does make it textual:
Salvation Payment Plan by shrift. Set immediately after Breaking Point in s3, Jack's pov. Deliciously messed up, as are the guys.
Get Me To The Church On Time by andrastewhite, on the other hand, is downright cheerful for this particular pairing. Set pre-show, Sloane's pov, shortly before Jack's wedding, and besides pulling of the whole "but I'm not gay!" thing better than a certain recent movie, it does justice to Jack's love for Laura/Irina as well. Great final scene with Arvin and "Laura", too. You read it with a wistful nostalgia, as they're all so young there, but utterly believing these three will develop into the characters we know from the series.
Wallsby yahtzee63: talk about wistful. Sloane looking back on his relationship with Jack through the years, and about never quite acknowledged things.
Untitled" is also Sloane looking back but couldn't be more different in tone, as it is set during "Hourglass" after that glass of wine with Jack before his "execution", and if you recall, both older spies weren't exactly in a gentle mood there. kangeiko does them justice.
On the lighter side of things again, also by kangeiko: Safe, a glimpse at the two during an early mission.
Between Sloane's body count and Irina's bodycount and their track records in (ordering or exerting) blackmail, torture, and the like, you'd think it would be otherwise, but what really shocked fandom and gets people into denial to this very day is the s3 revelation that the two of them used to have a fling back in the day which resulted in their daughter Nadia. Personally, I found it intriguing, especially since the show at no point, including the deleted scene on s2 DVDS which makes the past relationship quite obvious (and was set after Sloane's return from Tibet where, as we later learn, he found about about Nadia's existence), makes an attempt to sell this as a romance. I regard Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko as a bit too similar to ever be able to love each other, even if they weren't in love with other people, and seeing each other a bit too clearly for comfort, too - but at the same time, that makes for more than interesting scenes, and it's a pity there are only so few of them on the show. What few there are range from adverserial sparring ("never talk to me about your love for Sydney again!") to friendly sparring (I love their "What would you say if I offered you to buy me out?" "I'd say you're ever trying to set me up to get killed, or I seriously underestimated your love for your wife" exchange), with one or two instances that could even indicate affection thrown in. (Irina probably saves his life when she drags him away from Emily's body, and she didn't have to do that; she also makes an attempt to comfort him in her no-nonsense way in the next episode. Conversely, Sloane's defense and description of Irina to Nadia in s4's Pandora is probably the best summing up of Irina Derevko delivered on this show.) Add to this that they're both love Jack and Sydney, and you have the makings for very interesting fanfiction indeed.
Restitution by tellitslant: the original affair from Sloane's pov.
Sleep Therapy by kangeiko: set during the two years when Sydney is assumed dead. Sloane thinking or more accurately dreaming about Irina. No, not happy dreams. Disturbing and elegant.
Subtext by eirena is set in late s2, after Emily's death, Irina's pov, and does justice to the complexity of the situation and the players.
Given all of the above, the relationships between Sloane, Jack and Irina make for a fascinating triangle, no matter how you read it. Here are some great takes on this constellation:
Edge of Darkness by andrastewhite is a Sloane pov on himself, Jack and Irina during Sydney's two "missing years" and makes a guess on just why Jack ended up in jail again that makes perfect sense quickly became fanon for me.
Bound by kangeiko takes on the two years as well in parts but looks back on the decades before and Jack's and Irina's marriage through Sloane's eyes.
Deeds of War by the same author, on the other hand, is Irina's pov, written pre- s5 and set in a speculative future. Irina messes with Jack's and Arvin's mind during Sydney's wedding. I love it to bits.
Given Sloane's status as the show's first antagonist, Sydney's recruiter into SD-6 and reason to remain an agent for a long time (so she can bring him down), alternate father figure and uneasy ally (at times), it's not surprising that this cross generational relationship is very complex as well. The most simplified description would be "he loves her, she hates him", but even in s1, with the death of her fiance at his orders just behind them, it's never that simple, and not just because she has moments of pity for him them (at the end of The Box and later Emily-related; at the end of s4 and during s5 until the end of 30 Seconds, it becomes full blown Nadia-related compassion, which she later will feel guilty for). Post-Mea Culpa Sydney does acknowledge Sloane's affection for he and gambles on it a couple of times, even though she finds it disturbing. What makes it so to her, presumably, isn't just that he loves her but that though the paternal element dominates, the affection on Sloane's side is never entirely fatherly. Between his patented shoulder pats and other moments of inappropriate touching (tm), plus the occasional double entendre ("this is the first time I've seen you in action, up close"), it can't be denied that there are some sexual undercurrents there as well. (Given the glimpse in Sydney's subconscious we get where Vaughn turns into Sloane mid-kiss, she's quite aware of it, too.)
Here is some fanfiction, either picking up the mixture of of emotions or going that one step further and making it sexual:
Untitled by eirena is a ficlet which takes on Sydney and Sloane in s3. The dialogue cuts and twists both ways.
Another Untitled by kangeiko is another s3 Sydney pov, set during Prelude (aka the episode where Sloane takes her on a date field mission). Sharp and to the point, and full of that great ambiguity which makes the relationship.
Bane by yahtzee63 gives us Sydney's reaction to Sloane's return to APO in s5. Ah, Sydney and the Bristow art of denial.
I usually don't pimp my own fanfic, but there isn't that much written about Arvin Sloane, and thus I offer some of my own efforts on those various relationships, and one which I don't think anyone else has written about.
Secret Keepers is Judy Barnett looking back on her brief affair with Sloane.
Facets: Four times Arvin Sloane fell in love and one time he did not. Covers Emily, Jack, Rambaldi, Sydney and Irina, and tries for a portrait through them.
Goodbye Drug: which would be my take on the Sloane/Laura affair before he finds out she was Irina.
Family: and what it means to Arvin Sloane.
Heat.The end of Hourglass, when Jack revives Arvin. Sloane pov.
The Band: Sloane, Jack and Thomas Brill in Chile.
One of the remarkable things about Alias is the fact the older characters have relationships easily as passionate as the younger ones, and usually a good deal more complex. Sloane's decades-long-marriage certainly qualifies as one of the most convincing love stories of the show. We see its final stages - Emily's suffering from cancer, the Alliance ordering Sloane to kill her, Sloane seemingly complying but actually saving her, and then the tragic ending when she dies because she has given him another chance after he chose her over Rambaldi too late. While the great paradox about the relationship is apparant from the beginning - Emily's benign, caring nature, and the fact she is married to a ruthless killer and choses him twice after finding out the truth; conversely, Sloane's ruthlessness, and yet the tenderness and unwavering dedication he shows towards his wife - the layers get revealed later on, and continue to be so after Emily's actual death. Late in season 1, we see that Emily does in fact know her husband works in the spy business, though she believes he never stopped being a part of the CIA; and yet she never talked to him about this. She's strong enough to sacrifice her own finger (a matching gesture to what Sloane does in The Box) as a part of the deception of the Alliance, and when she makes a deal with the CIA via Sydney, she shows her awareness of the stakes by insisting on the government's pledge not to pursue the death penalty for her husband, but she ultimately can't bring herself to go through with deserting him and handing him over, not when it comes to a face to face conversation in which he tells her he loves her.
Conversely, the s3 revelation Sloane's affair with Irina, refered to him in s3 as the betrayal of someone who never deserved it, shows he lied to Emily about at least one serious matter before his career as an Evil Overlord (tm). Taken together with a scene in later s2 where he talks to her on the phone standing in side an abandoned warehouse and lies without hesitating about where he is (he tells her he's at the house he bought for them instead) when even pragmatically speaking, there is no need for such a deception (except perhaps that he's in the company of Mr. Sark at that moment, but still), and the very fact Sloane is nothing but gentle when being with Emily, you can speculate that at least part of their marriage was that she deliberately didn't want to see, and he deliberately split himself, surpressing anything he couldn't bear for her to know but also seeing anything he did when away from her as something that did not touch her.
S4's In Dreams provides one possible reason with its examination of Sloane's most painful memories, which are centered around Emily and the child they never had, Jacquelyn. The core of those memories, the most painful one, however, isn't the actual death of the child - which we never see - but Emily's reaction afterwards when Sloane has to tell her. He's unable to console her, and she turns away from him, later asking him never to say the name or speak of their lost daughter again. It's tempting to regard this silence as the first (though it might actually have come after the Irina affair, depending on the timeline); in any case, both the loss and the policy of not talking about it, looking away, show the darker side of the marriage. Which does not negate its intensity or long term impact. Sloane continues to wear his ring (and Emily's ring, as is the custom for widowers) for the rest of the show, and on the infrequent occasions when he mentions her, it is always combined with the expression of missing her; In Dreams also illustrates that being with Emily again is his version of paradise. (Which, naturally, he has to leave.)
Here are some of my favourite stories dealing with this relationship:
Hindsight by kangeiko (set during Emily's pregnancy, but about so much more)
Emily by sunshine_queen: examination of Emily's feelings for her husband
Appointed Hours by vaznetti: Sloane after Emily's death.
After, During, Before by yahtzee63 pulls off a very tricky threesome - Jack/Emily/Arvin - convicingly and with style; set after Laura "died" and Jack got released from prison following the Irina reveal.
Speaking of Jack. This would be the other decades long relationship Sloane has, arguably as important. Given the sheer amount of backstory and complex present day interaction, constantly shifting from friendship to hostility and back, you can't tell me that this wouldn't be a very popular slash pairing if a) the participants weren't two middle-aged gentlemen, and b) Jack Bristow didn't come across as the straightest man on the show (all the more kudos to Victor Garber's acting skills). I don't see the relationship as necessarily erotic myself, but I do think you can't make heads or tails of it (or explain why ever party is still alife) if you don't acknowledge that there is love in whatever sense involved. What we know - those decades of knowing each other, Sloane bring Jack along into SD-6 while Jack is working as a double agent for the CIA, the Irina affair, Sloane recruiting Sydney behind Jack's back, lies to each other matched by shared secrets, various life saving occasions, tidbits like Jack having trained Arvin to withstand torture - is as intriguing as what we don't: such as, for example, just when Sloane figured out Jack and Sydney were doubles, or why Jack did not know about Emily's pregnancy when it happened.
Following the show, subtext is far more common than text where Jack/Arvin stories are concerned (only the first two I'll rec have actual sex). However, one which has to be one of the first, if not the first on the net does make it textual:
Salvation Payment Plan by shrift. Set immediately after Breaking Point in s3, Jack's pov. Deliciously messed up, as are the guys.
Get Me To The Church On Time by andrastewhite, on the other hand, is downright cheerful for this particular pairing. Set pre-show, Sloane's pov, shortly before Jack's wedding, and besides pulling of the whole "but I'm not gay!" thing better than a certain recent movie, it does justice to Jack's love for Laura/Irina as well. Great final scene with Arvin and "Laura", too. You read it with a wistful nostalgia, as they're all so young there, but utterly believing these three will develop into the characters we know from the series.
Wallsby yahtzee63: talk about wistful. Sloane looking back on his relationship with Jack through the years, and about never quite acknowledged things.
Untitled" is also Sloane looking back but couldn't be more different in tone, as it is set during "Hourglass" after that glass of wine with Jack before his "execution", and if you recall, both older spies weren't exactly in a gentle mood there. kangeiko does them justice.
On the lighter side of things again, also by kangeiko: Safe, a glimpse at the two during an early mission.
Between Sloane's body count and Irina's bodycount and their track records in (ordering or exerting) blackmail, torture, and the like, you'd think it would be otherwise, but what really shocked fandom and gets people into denial to this very day is the s3 revelation that the two of them used to have a fling back in the day which resulted in their daughter Nadia. Personally, I found it intriguing, especially since the show at no point, including the deleted scene on s2 DVDS which makes the past relationship quite obvious (and was set after Sloane's return from Tibet where, as we later learn, he found about about Nadia's existence), makes an attempt to sell this as a romance. I regard Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko as a bit too similar to ever be able to love each other, even if they weren't in love with other people, and seeing each other a bit too clearly for comfort, too - but at the same time, that makes for more than interesting scenes, and it's a pity there are only so few of them on the show. What few there are range from adverserial sparring ("never talk to me about your love for Sydney again!") to friendly sparring (I love their "What would you say if I offered you to buy me out?" "I'd say you're ever trying to set me up to get killed, or I seriously underestimated your love for your wife" exchange), with one or two instances that could even indicate affection thrown in. (Irina probably saves his life when she drags him away from Emily's body, and she didn't have to do that; she also makes an attempt to comfort him in her no-nonsense way in the next episode. Conversely, Sloane's defense and description of Irina to Nadia in s4's Pandora is probably the best summing up of Irina Derevko delivered on this show.) Add to this that they're both love Jack and Sydney, and you have the makings for very interesting fanfiction indeed.
Restitution by tellitslant: the original affair from Sloane's pov.
Sleep Therapy by kangeiko: set during the two years when Sydney is assumed dead. Sloane thinking or more accurately dreaming about Irina. No, not happy dreams. Disturbing and elegant.
Subtext by eirena is set in late s2, after Emily's death, Irina's pov, and does justice to the complexity of the situation and the players.
Given all of the above, the relationships between Sloane, Jack and Irina make for a fascinating triangle, no matter how you read it. Here are some great takes on this constellation:
Edge of Darkness by andrastewhite is a Sloane pov on himself, Jack and Irina during Sydney's two "missing years" and makes a guess on just why Jack ended up in jail again that makes perfect sense quickly became fanon for me.
Bound by kangeiko takes on the two years as well in parts but looks back on the decades before and Jack's and Irina's marriage through Sloane's eyes.
Deeds of War by the same author, on the other hand, is Irina's pov, written pre- s5 and set in a speculative future. Irina messes with Jack's and Arvin's mind during Sydney's wedding. I love it to bits.
Given Sloane's status as the show's first antagonist, Sydney's recruiter into SD-6 and reason to remain an agent for a long time (so she can bring him down), alternate father figure and uneasy ally (at times), it's not surprising that this cross generational relationship is very complex as well. The most simplified description would be "he loves her, she hates him", but even in s1, with the death of her fiance at his orders just behind them, it's never that simple, and not just because she has moments of pity for him them (at the end of The Box and later Emily-related; at the end of s4 and during s5 until the end of 30 Seconds, it becomes full blown Nadia-related compassion, which she later will feel guilty for). Post-Mea Culpa Sydney does acknowledge Sloane's affection for he and gambles on it a couple of times, even though she finds it disturbing. What makes it so to her, presumably, isn't just that he loves her but that though the paternal element dominates, the affection on Sloane's side is never entirely fatherly. Between his patented shoulder pats and other moments of inappropriate touching (tm), plus the occasional double entendre ("this is the first time I've seen you in action, up close"), it can't be denied that there are some sexual undercurrents there as well. (Given the glimpse in Sydney's subconscious we get where Vaughn turns into Sloane mid-kiss, she's quite aware of it, too.)
Here is some fanfiction, either picking up the mixture of of emotions or going that one step further and making it sexual:
Untitled by eirena is a ficlet which takes on Sydney and Sloane in s3. The dialogue cuts and twists both ways.
Another Untitled by kangeiko is another s3 Sydney pov, set during Prelude (aka the episode where Sloane takes her on a date field mission). Sharp and to the point, and full of that great ambiguity which makes the relationship.
Bane by yahtzee63 gives us Sydney's reaction to Sloane's return to APO in s5. Ah, Sydney and the Bristow art of denial.
I usually don't pimp my own fanfic, but there isn't that much written about Arvin Sloane, and thus I offer some of my own efforts on those various relationships, and one which I don't think anyone else has written about.
Secret Keepers is Judy Barnett looking back on her brief affair with Sloane.
Facets: Four times Arvin Sloane fell in love and one time he did not. Covers Emily, Jack, Rambaldi, Sydney and Irina, and tries for a portrait through them.
Goodbye Drug: which would be my take on the Sloane/Laura affair before he finds out she was Irina.
Family: and what it means to Arvin Sloane.
Heat.The end of Hourglass, when Jack revives Arvin. Sloane pov.
The Band: Sloane, Jack and Thomas Brill in Chile.