Story 42: "One & Only, First & Last" by onpaperfirst

[dictatorcari]

We're back with another post-Truth ficlet: "One & Only, First & Last" by onpaperfirst. Thanks to frey_at_last for the recommendation!

My favorite line: "They were never the sort of people who would drive to a winery on a Sunday afternoon, unless, maybe, a dead body had been found jammed in a vat of merlot."

Love it? Hate it? Post-Truth fics just aren't your thing? Then you know what to do: give us a suggestion for next time!

Comments

[wendelah1]

I liked this story better the second time around. The first time through, I just could not get past my conviction that, no matter how much she might want to see him again, nothing short of a visit from beyond the grave, as in "Ghosts," would entice Scully to risk endangering her son. I could barely imagine Mulder doing it, and that only because of the drilling the holes in his head incident. I figure anyone who would have holes drilled in his head to find "the truth" is capable of doing some pretty stupid things. But Dana Scully is not Fox Mulder. I can more easily imagine him proposing it, and her objecting. Or having them them fantasize about it, but not carry it through.

This time through, I ignored that part and just read the rest of it. The rest of it is very good. Onpaperfirst can write and, other than my expressed reservation, has a good handle on the characters. The scene that the story takes its name from, of the "one and only, first and last Scully-Mulder family portrait" was moving and nicely handled, as were all of the story's little details of their lives, both before and after Williams's birth. There are too many great scenes and the story is too short to quote here. You folks just need to go read this for yourselves.

The title is one of the best titles I have seen in this fandom: it is about the referenced picture, it describes their risky, desperate visit, and it is about their son. Their one and only, their first and last, beloved son.

Even if you choose not to comment here, please go feed the author.

[dictatorcari]

The title is one of the best titles I have seen in this fandom: it is about the referenced picture, it describes their risky, desperate visit, and it is about their son. Their one and only, their first and last, beloved son.

I loved that, too. I think it's my favorite part of this story.

[brooklynmili.livejournal.com]

I've been mulling this, and I'm just not sure if Scully would go along with this plan. Part of my problem is that we have basically no evidence from canon of how she feels about giving up William. Could she get this desperate, or feel sufficiently guilty about having taken Mulder's son from him to feel like she has to go along with it? Because of the characterization problems of s9, it's very hard to understand where Scully is going into the post-Truth period.

[penumbra23.livejournal.com]

I second the consensus that Onpaperfirst is exceptionally good at emotion and tiny details, and she has such a gift for the dynamic. It IS an excellent title, isn't it? It has grown on me a lot. Like the best authors she has a knack for making the reader EXPERIENCE something, whether it be nostalgia or recognition, or simply an undiagnosable joy.

[brooklynmili.livejournal.com]

Recently on metafandom there's been some chat about what makes LJ fic different from fic on other platforms, and this story makes me think of this, because it has the stylistic elements common to most of the LJ fic I've read: brevity of description, a kind of post-modern symbolic language, poetic turns of phrase rather than action and description. I don't dislike this style, but I find it hard to keep up with sometimes. However, onpaperfirst is clearly one of the best practitioners of it. The "this is the right thing" dialogue, for example, is exactly this sort of telegraphing, and shows it to its strength.

I particularly love her s8 elements: the baby shower, Mulder looking at ultrasounds. Partly, I'm a sucker for s8, and partly it's because she makes emotionally hollow canon into something much more interesting.

[wendelah1]

I have just wasted a couple of hours looking at metafandom for that chat about LJ fic. I should have just asked you in the first place. Do you have it book-marked?

I also have a hard time reading the type of LJ story you describe, although for a different reason. I vastly prefer stories with description and action, over the sort of character-driven vignettes that onpaperfirst does so nicely. The problem with a short piece is if a significant detail is in question, as it is in this case, at least for me, it throws off the balance of the story.

Although season nine left much to be desired in terms of writing, we do have eight plus other seasons of watching Scully to go on. I feel I have enough information to make a judgment.

I agree, she handles this all very deftly. She is a very talented writer. But I think because I can't buy into the characterization of Scully completely, it all makes me feel a little bit manipulated emotionally.