Story 95: "Iolokus" by Mustang Sally and RivkaT

[wendelah1]

A few days ago, someone was talking about fic and the phrase "most famous fic in our fandom" came up. I'm not sure what story she had in mind but surely "Iolokus" has to be a contender for that title. I have seen it nominated by many people for the best fan fiction novel, not just in our own, but in any fandom. I have also seen people say they couldn't finish it because Mulder and Scully were too "out of character."

The misspelled monster that started it all. Although I'm told it promotes heteronormativity in the end, we were more going for polymorphic perversity; you'll have to judge for yourself.

Summary: Painted across the barren and desolate reaches of Texas, the shadows of the Project put additional pressure on Scully and Mulder's already fragile relationship. After a hostage crisis raises more questions about the Project's breeding program, Scully begins her own investigation, leaving Mulder to choose between saving her and saving himself. Finally, the investigation leads to tragedy and Mulder and Scully find that more questions have been asked than answered.

The title reference was to an island mentioned in Medea, to which we turned for fairly obvious reasons.

Warnings: extreme violence, including the death of children.

There are four long sections to this behemoth. My first time through this fic I hadn't much knowledge of canon, so I am curious to see what I think of it now. Thank you to sangria_lila for this excellent nomination. If there is enthusiasm to continue, I suppose we can forge through to the end or just quit with book one. It's your call.

Please leave feedback for the authors and then come back and let us know what you think. Nominations for next time are made here. Since rivkat's site is down at the moment, the link is to the wonderful Fugues Fiction Archive. Of course, the story is also available at Gossamer.

Iolokus

Edit: Since Rivkat's site is back up, here is another link to the story: Iolokus.

Comments

[sixpences.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I have time to re-read the entire thing at the moment (it took me three days last time but I pretty much didn't do anything else) but I'll endeavour to at least go back over the parts I don't remember so well. This is definitely a fantastic suggestion.

[scarletbaldy.livejournal.com]

http://www.rivkat.com/index.php?set=fiction&story=72

This link works very well for mwe. And the advantage is that you can get the fic in a neat and tidy PDF file. :)

And may I say WOOOHOOO! The person who nominated this is gonna be my new best friend. It is common knowledge that I absolutely worship Iolokus, that I have never read anything as outrageously superb and that no writer has IMO ever come close to matching the sheer sick genius of Mustang Sally and Rivka T. This is the fic that made me start writing.

I am not saying the story is perfect. There are many flaws to it. But there are so many moments of sheer genius that you forgive the stuff that could have been tweaked a little bit better.

I have a week off, so I'm going to go re-read this and I'll be back (MWAHAHAHA)

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

I tried to read this story when it first came out and I was 17 or so. And I totally didn't appreciate it. I was too young and I didn't understand the emotion behind it yet. Then about 10 years later, I came back to the fandom and sat down to read it. And I read and read and read. Lost track of time, and had to call a friend's nanny to pick my kids up from school.

There are a number of serious WTF moments for me, make no mistake. But it's long and that's just going to happen, you know? What captivates me about Iolokus is that the characters are so skewed and distorted in places, but I can still see them every time. This is Mulder and Scully given the gift of their (possible) emotions and reactions, rather than Mulder and Scully as week-to-week TV characters who need to keep things together.

I go back and forth sometimes, wondering whether the Emily arc or the William arc is more cruel to Scully. And there are times when I think it has to be Emily, because Scully had no choices anywhere along the line. And as a fellow control freak, I find that so, so horrifying.

Excellent choice all around, sangria_lila.

[wendelah1]

I'm looking forward to your thoughts. I found it a pretty enthralling read the first time through as well.

[wendelah1]

It's working for me now, too. But the site was down last night, no question about it. Wow, a week off. Enjoy! I'm looking forward to your thoughts. I knew I could lure you back here somehow.

[wendelah1]

I go back and forth sometimes, wondering whether the Emily arc or the William arc is more cruel to Scully. And there are times when I think it has to be Emily, because Scully had no choices anywhere along the line. And as a fellow control freak, I find that so, so horrifying.

That is an excellent point. But I always assumed that Scully gave William up for adoption because she was forced to do so. She felt like she had no choice. I also assumed that losing a child you had known and loved passionately was worse than losing a child you had barely met, even though the circumstances of her death couldn't have been more horrifying. I believe that Scully could eventually become reconciled to the loss of Emily, the miracle that wasn't meant to be. I don't believe she could ever get over losing William.

After I have reread the story, I may ask for your take on the WTF moments.

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

Yes, your thoughts about William mesh completely with my own. I can never fully make up my mind though, because they're just both so awful. Emily's whole conception is stomach churning in its own right. And she was then tortured and died a scary, painful death. William was loved and then given away to be kept safe. But they're both sickening and cruel, quite frankly. The full impact of those two storylines never really hit me until I had kids of my own. Ugh.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I've read thousands of fanfics over the years in at least ten different fandoms, and Iolokus is my gold standard.

And it's funny, I can easily pick out half-a-dozen things I really don't like about it (wrt to some of the above comments, there are plenty of places where I myself can't "see" the characters as Mulder and Scully (I have had a bunch of arguments with my dearest Phileish friend about it--she thinks the characterization is perfectly "them". We both love the story but for different reasons).

I love so much that it's so balls-to-the-wall, so unafraid and that it pulls out all the stops. It borders strongly on parody, but I think it's so well written and such a tearing good story that it's hard to be offended.

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

And it's funny, I can easily pick out half-a-dozen things I really don't like about it (wrt to some of the above comments, there are plenty of places where I myself can't "see" the characters as Mulder and Scully

Yes to this. I should have been more clear and said I can see them every time I read the story - not in every given scene. Which sounds like hair-splitting, but hopefully you'll see what I mean.

[wendelah1]

I just finished Iolokus last night and whoa, it was even wilder than I remembered. Balls-to-the-wall is right. I'll be back with something more coherent later, I hope.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I'm pretty new here, but I thought I'd put down a thought or two. I've been leery about starting this story, just because of its reputation, but decided to give it a shot.

Maybe I should hold off judgement after I've read the whole thing (if I can get there..) I'm maybe a fifth of the way into the first section, but it's getting harder and harder for me to continue reading.

I just don't see the characters anywhere in these characterizations. Here, they're both so angry and cold and malicious, taking pleasure in the ways they can hurt and use each other. That a partnership or a personal relationship could function or be maintained this way is ridiculous. Even the ways they think about each other, or remember the past, are either malevolent or emotionally barren. Huge chunks of Mulder are entirely absent - his kindness, his empathy, his humor, his respect for his partner. Even his respect for Skinner or his fondness of Frohike. Likewise, while Scully of course holds huge pieces of herself inside herself, the Iolokus characterization is entirely off the mark. She seems a shell of person, shallow and bitter... and I don't believe either of them would treat sex with one another so casually, or use it as a weapon against one another. I love Mulder and Scully, but I don't even like either of the characters in this story. They're needy, ugly, abused and abusive, and beyond dysfunctional.

Ok, I'm done, sorry for the rant... it may be hard for me to suspend my disbelief and continue reading this story, but I want to try. So far, I'm not seeing what all the fuss is about.

Thoughts?

-Kate

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I misunderstood! I think we may actually be on the same page. If I take the story as a whole (it's a big whole!) I think the characterizations are believable. Some scenes I find it hard to accept the characterization, and one scene in particular always stands out to me as the scene where my brain went "NO" :). (I don't want to say which scene it was in case people read this before they've read the story, but it involved Scully, about whom I am very picky (incidentally, there was a *very* similar scene in the film Alien Resurrection, and when I saw it I jumped in my seat and went "Iolokus!" (probably pronouncing it entirely wrong--I say "Eye-oh-low-kus").)

On my first read through (years ago, although I wasn't yet in fandom when it was published), I found these "difficult" scenes quite jarring and hard to take, but I continued to read because I was drawn in. I think I've read the whole story (including Syadiloh--do we count that?) two or three times, but I've read bits and pieces of the whole many times, and I think as time's gone on I am more able to accept the characterizations.

But I digress, as usual.

One thing I notice reading back through fics that I've enjoyed in the past is that I'm a reader who is easily seduced by pretty language and beautiful writing. Some of my favorite fics don't stand up to repeated rereads, despite being well-written and enjoyable to read, because for me a big part of fanfiction reading (as opposed to novel reading--I do a lot of that, too) is the emotional connection with characters that I already know well, and if the story doesn't resonate with those characters I think there's something missing.

Iolokus is a different kettle of fish. I can accept its flaws, I think, as a part of the whole, and I've never really felt so swept along in the writing (1) (as opposed to the story) that I'm not rational about it.

(1) And I'm not disparaging the writing, which I think is excellent, if not perhaps poetic.

Also, the Mooselet is my favorite Original Character, ever.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

Sorry also for the long, rambling essay :). I didn't realize how long that got.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

Hi! I'm kinda new here myself and before I say anything about the story I'll warn you I'm not very smart, so take my opinion with the pillar of salt it deserves.

I remember reading this story for the first time (o long years ago) and, when I was part of the way through the Iolokus I, sending a long email to the friend who'd pressed it on me that was basically a very long-winded "why the HELL did you tell me to read this?". Her answer was simply "Keep going", IIRC. I did, and I was, and still am :), so glad. It's an amazing story, but it's not an easy one.

I still have big problems with the characterization in parts. There are parts of the story that work for me and others that really don't. Some things make me cringe, some make me flinch.

I think what makes it a good story for me (and bear in mind, plenty of people really dislike Iolokus, so don't feel like you're the only one not appreciating this high-and-mighty fandom classic, or anything) is that it *is* a struggle in places. It's huge and kind of messy and it has jagged points. It's bleak and upsetting and almost hopeless (something I find very hard to forgive in any story), but when it turns around, oh my, it'll shine the sun straight into the pieces of your heart it just broke, and you'll be begging for more.

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

So many of things you hate are what I love. *laugh* I read Iolokus not as though it's who Mulder and Scully are, but rather as though it's who they could have been. Sure, they're angry and cold, but not nearly as cold as canon tells us they must be. Bury Emily, next case. Put William up for adoption, make Skinner tell his father. That's absolutely chilling to me. But to love someone so much that when you're sinking into despair you trust them to stick with you even though you hurt them and punish them because you don't know what else to do? I can believe that of people who have become extremely codependent and insular. There are great gaping holes for me in places, and parts I don't buy at all. But as a complete package - particularly based on where this is set in canon - I can see it.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I've always loved Iolokus for reasons semi-mysterious even to me, a shipper who rereads Jess Mabe comedies for comfort food. Part of it is the language: all the bravura metaphors and flamboyant descriptions. Part of it is the way every painful moment, every transgression and humiliation, is parried with a bitter joke. Laughter, the best medicine. I'll miss The Reader's Digest.

Aloysia is onto something important, I think, and that is the way Iolokus overturns the limp conventions of 90s series tv by approaching the story as if it *isn't happening to tv characters*. When people are duped, kidnapped, medically abused, subjected to trauma after trauma--well, they go a little nuts. There's plenty of fic to satisfy our need for heroism. This is a celebration of victimization.

With jokes. And an eventual happy ending, which I doubt spoils anyone.

Iolokus is great storytelling, too. We haven't gotten to the Multiple Mulders yet!

Nit: I didn't think there was an Emily autopsy.

[notacrnflkgirl.livejournal.com]

My opinion as well.

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

*laugh* No worries!


One thing I notice reading back through fics that I've enjoyed in the past is that I'm a reader who is easily seduced by pretty language and beautiful writing. Some of my favorite fics don't stand up to repeated rereads, despite being well-written and enjoyable to read, because for me a big part of fanfiction reading (as opposed to novel reading--I do a lot of that, too) is the emotional connection with characters that I already know well, and if the story doesn't resonate with those characters I think there's something missing.

This is very true of me too. Two of my favorite fics - Iolokus and Parabiosis - have lush, gorgeous writing but the characterization doesn't fully work for me in either one. I'm such a sucker for beautiful language. But these two aside, the characterization has to ring true or I just can't get through it.

[(Anonymous)]

Can I ask what didn't work for you characterization-wise in Parabiosis? That's probably my favorite story of all time, mainly because I thought the characterization was so spot-on :)

-Kate

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm.. interesting points. That's the main thing though.. and maybe I'm just not far enough into it to really comment... but the codependency I can see (the characters are nearly paralyzed by their codependency here), but the love I can't see at all.

And yes you're right, they should be cold and angry, with all the ridiculous, heartbreaking tragedies they've had to shoulder.. but a huge part of their characters is the fact that they're not cold and angry. Well they are to some degree, of course, but it says so much about who they are that they don't let the tragedy touch their humor, their affection for one another, their confidence in their own goodness as people. The tragedies make them stronger individually and together.

But in this story, I feel like the essence of who they are is entirely different. Like you say, it is who they COULD be... but part of the reason I like Mulder and Scully so much is the way they take all the shit they've been dealt and use it to secure the solidness of their own foundations. Here, they're letting it destroy them. For me, that contradicts the very nature of the characters... which is why I'm having such a hard time getting through this story.

-Kate

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

I guess I see the essence of them as being the same. Scully is terrified of intimacy on an emotional level but can handle it on a physical level (hello, Never Again) while trying desperately to convince herself that a detached, scientific approach has all the right answers to every problem she faces.

Mulder is in love with her but can't tell her without risking her scorn (Triangle) and has a kind of delf-deprecating emotional vulnerability when he's around her. But when he feels threatened by things he doesn't understand in her - when he feels jealous or left out - he can be cutting and petty. (Again, Never Again.)

I see the love in the early parts of the story as being implicit rather than explicit. They never say it - well, Mulder does - but I think by knowing Scully's character we can infer the same. She's scared of giving herself completely to another person on an emotional level, but she still stays with him. I think she's doing the best she knows how right now, and trusting Mulder to let her lash out. The same reason children who are little angels at a playdate are little hellions at home. They trust their parents to love them unconditionally.

Another way to look at this story is as a kind of inside-out AU. Most AU stories (which I generally dislike, actually) operate on the premise of "let's take the exact same characters and make them have the exact same reactions they would ordinarily, but change the surroundings and see what happens." Iolokus is more like, "let's keep the external variables the same and see what happens if we take the essence of Mulder and Scully but let them come undone by all the horrific personal tragedy they've suffered and see what happens."

But I love this story to the point of fanwankery, so YMMV. ;D

[aloysiavirgata.livejournal.com]

I've never been quite able to put my finger on it. I should begin by saying that Penumbra - who is a genius - writes these moments that are so unbelievably them that it can practically take my breath away. However, there's a certain...I don't know. Almost an innocence to her characterization that I just don't buy in places. I found it most apparent in Contact High, which I don't care for because of that fact. Which is a shame because the writing is magnificent.

[sixpences.livejournal.com]

I essentially agree with what's already been said about Iolokus as an AU with a specific premise; while my personal view of the characters is quite different (though I must admit to having been very influenced since I read it), I can accept the grounds on which this story is built and let it run from there. This is not my Mulder and Scully, nor one I'd like to read about too often, but the overall vision is so compelling that I believe it. It certainly doesn't hurt that the writing just pops off the page- it manages to be at times gorgeously cinematic and yet fizzing with intellect and dry wit. Iolokus is probably why other first-person fics always fall flat for me.

As I said above I don't think I can re-read the lot at the moment to comment more specifically, but I do remember being bothered in a nitpicky way by Scully coming off an SSRI (for perfectly legitimate reasons) and apparently feeling no 'withdrawal' (antidepressants don't cause genuine withdrawal, but in my experience dropping them quickly brings you pretty close to the DTs) or indeed any worsening of symptoms. But I may be remembering a little wrong, and as I said, minor nitpick.

[notacrnflkgirl.livejournal.com]

"(antidepressants don't cause genuine withdrawal, but in my experience dropping them quickly brings you pretty close to the DTs)"

Can't (http://bipolar.about.com/cs/antidep/a/0207_ssridisc1.htm) they (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome) ever.

I agree with you. SSRI discontinuation, even unmonitored, AMA, or abrupt SSRI discontinuation, does not lead to withdrawal in 100% of cases. But it's common enough that it's worth acknowledging.

Although … in 1998, were people who had no experience with SSRIs (I'm seriously assuming here) even aware that could happen? It's 2009, and most of the never-medicated people I run into have no idea.

[sixpences.livejournal.com]

Although … in 1998, were people who had no experience with SSRIs (I'm seriously assuming here) even aware that could happen? It's 2009, and most of the never-medicated people I run into have no idea.

Fair point, but that's why we have research- especially given that the rest of the series feels so real and detailed. Then again, I often have to remind myself that back in the day of XF fic you couldn't just look things up on Wikipedia...