xf_book_club | Story 96: "Bone of Contention" by Kel and Michelle Kiefer

Entry tags:

Story 96: "Bone of Contention" by Kel and Michelle Kiefer

I would like to express my gratitude to the members of this community who carried on and discussed "Iolokus" so brilliantly in my absence. You guys are the best. What? You didn't even notice I was gone? Even better.

Because I am in need of comfort fic, I am by-passing the queue for the moment, in order to post a story I reread any time I am feeling low. I think everyone who loves to read has stories or books or fan fiction that they turn to in times of crisis, for escape or to just to make them smile. This one does all of that, and more. Any story that can make me laugh and cry and creates genuine suspense about the case file and the romance is a classic, in my view. I remember how disappointed I was when

emily_shore recced this fic at

crack_van. "No," I wailed. "That's my favorite story! I want to get to rec it." So now I have.

Summary: When an investigation in the middle of nowhere opens old wounds, 2000 miles away becomes too close to home. Can Mulder and Scully unravel the puzzle before they fall apart?

Here is a link at Fugues Fiction Archive, divided into two sections: Bone of Contention

Or, if you want it all in one big gulp, here it is on Michelle Kiefer's old site, way-backed. Bone of Contention.

As always, let the authors know what you think, us know what you think and give us your suggestions for next time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good choice, Wendy. It's been a little while since I've read this, but I remember really liking the plot.

It does have a very carefully constructed plot. All of the elements get brought together at the end, in a believable and satisfying way, too.

Thanks for this rec! I was not familiar with this story at all.

This literally made me laugh out loud:

"The bone specimen does not correlate with any known missing persons for a very good reason," Scully announced. "It's from a sheep."

So Scully.

And this:

What Mulder wanted more than anything was to find a two-legged sheep monster so he could bring it back to the slimy creeps in Forensic Anthropology and let it stomp them to death.

So Mulder. You just know such thoughts have gone through his mind time and again.

***

But it was so much easier for all the other women who loved Mulder, because they didn't have to put up with him.

I’m glad this story delved into some of the difficulties of their relationship. I think if they were real people, they’d drive each other insane.

***

In Valium, veritas?

Best line, ever.

I felt it kind of weakened somewhat toward the end with the ugly things they were saying to each other. That didn’t seem like them to me. And I could’ve done without the medical examination bit, which I had to skip. But all in all, a very original and even more creepy story. I won’t forget that ending for a long time. Ack!

I always feel good to hear I have turned someone on to a great story. Kel and Michelle Kiefer wrote four other stories together, all of which can be found at Gossamer. This is my favorite but they are all enjoyable and well worth searching out.

I’m glad this story delved into some of the difficulties of their relationship. I think if they were real people, they’d drive each other insane.

At times, yes, I am sure they could. Actually, I think they are more alike than some people seem to think, which might be a source of conflict. They are both very strong-willed, both very sure of themselves, and both are always certain they are right and the other person is wrong.

I felt it kind of weakened somewhat toward the end with the ugly things they were saying to each other. That didn’t seem like them to me.

I'll have to revisit this comment after I finish my reread.

And I could’ve done without the medical examination bit, which I had to skip. And I thought that scene was hilarious. Even thought it did embarrass both characters, I thought it did so for a good cause. Nurses have such a sick sense of humor sometimes. *g*

But all in all, a very original and even more creepy story. I won’t forget that ending for a long time. Ack!

Very well put.

"Kel and Michelle Kiefer wrote four other stories together, all of which can be found at Gossamer."

What are the four other stories?
I only saw "Moongate" and "Out of Everywhere" on Gossamer. What am I missing?? I'd love to check out more of their writing :)

-Kate

I am pretty certain that "msk" is Michelle Kiefer, because the email addresses are the same. *g* So the Kel/msk stories are also theirs. You can read them all on Kel's author page at Gossamer. Eternal optimist that I am, I am hoping they will start writing together again.

I just read this for the first time about a month ago, and loved the story and the characters' voices. Even though I read it recently, it'll be a pleasure to reread!

-Kate

Oh, good. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Oh. oh. oh. what a lovely little endlessly charming story. It's just steeped with affection for these two characters, and sweet silliness yet wonderful underlying dark humor that borders on the satirical. It's a smart story, and sure of itself, loaded with wit and witty dialogue.

There are so many little moments, some perfectly twisted or endearing...

I love this passage:

"Women love Mulder," Langly had said once, in a complaining kind
of way. He'd said it to Scully, as if she was something other
than a woman herself.

Scully was a woman. Scully did love Mulder.

But it was so much easier for all the other women who
loved Mulder, because they didn't have to put up with him.

He was a rigid man of strong beliefs that changed suddenly,
drastically, and unpredictably. He was articulate and
verbose, yet on the whole uncommunicative. He told her
she completed him, that he couldn't go on without her.
Of course that could be said of his cell phone as well.

"You need to get out more," her mother once said.

Wonder if Mary Magdalene's mother ever her told her that. "Mary,
you need to get out more. What about that nice boy, Peter?"

Despite his messiah complex, Mulder was not Jesus Christ. Where
Jesus cast out demons, Mulder attracted them. Jesus walked on
water and Mulder did the crawl. Jesus multiplied the fishes
and Mulder flushed them down the toilet and bought more.

But there was one similarity. Neither one of them was the dating
type.

Scully sighed. It was all very well to complain that Mulder had
a messiah complex, but it was her own choice to build her life
around him. It wasn't her first choice, but it was the best of
all the available options. Mulder filled her life without
fulfilling her needs. She couldn't live without him, and he
didn't leave room for anyone else. "

I love the honesty of that, how it addresses the complexities of the characters and their relationship, but with that same kind of humor and affection Mulder and Scully regard one another with.

I think that's what I like most about this story... that while yes, it is a case file of sorts, the heart of the story is their bizarre love story. Mulder woos Scully over mutant sheep, and Scully forgives Mulder of his eccentricities because of his goodness, his excitement, his intelligence, his child-like wonder and curiosity.

I usually don't do well with casefiles, because I end up not really caring about the extraneous characters or psycho-killer-mutant-alien-conspiracy plot, which more times than not is contrived, boring or just plain ridiculous. I end up skimming through huge sections, just getting to the bits where Mulder rescues Scully from the inevitable knife-wielding super villain, and they have license to be demonstrative of feeling.

Not that the plot of this story isn't ridiculous, but it's so well constructed and the extraneous characters - Roger, Brian Yates, Revere, even CSM - are so well constructed that even though they play minor roles, they're always complete, whole people with unique, believable voices. Especially Roger. I didn't skip through anything on this one... these characters were so fresh and darkly funny and the plot was so satirically ridiculous.

I also loved the examination scene. It was dark humor to the max. Here you've got two characters who love each other, want each other, and Scully finally gets to touch Mulder's penis, but the context is so ridiculous that they are both completely miserable. She has to get a kind of sick pleasure out of making him squirm in this scene, asking her 'medical history' questions in a detached, professional capacity.

And the whole castration bit was genius, in that same awesome, twisted, dark, witty way.

As far as the 'ugly things' they say to each other at the end...
Well you're right, I can't ever imagine Mulder telling Scully she makes him sick, that she let them essentially rape and use her, and that he doesn't know who she is.... even drugged, angry, terrified and humiliated..

But I can forgive the story of that because as soon as he says it, he reacts exactly the way Mulder would react. He's horrified at himself, and desperate to make her understand how much she means to him.

(cont...)

(cont.. from above)

And Scully reacts exactly the way Scully would react. She's hurt beyond measure... but she has the capacity to forgive him, because of the solidness of their bond.

I love this:

Her face was deadly white, a mask of pain that he had caused.
An enemy attack would have been gentle by comparision, he
thought. It takes a real friend to wound a person this deeply.
His satisfaction evaporated, leaving only horror in its wake.

"Oh, God, Scully, I'm sorry. I know you didn't let them,"
he said.

"After everything, after all this time, you don't know who
I am?" she whispered.

"I was drugged," he said stupidly.

"Because I can't have children, you don't know who I am?"
she asked.

"That's not what I meant."

"Isn't that what you said?"

"No. But eggs...hormones...sex...and you don't date."

She gripped the wheel. "No point in dating if you can't
make babies. Is that what you're suggesting?" she asked
angrily.

"Hormones," he said lamely. "And feelings, and biology.
Scully, I don't know what they did to you. Do you? I
just didn't know if everything worked the way it should.
Or if I should just forget it."

Mulder knew that with every word he made everything worse,
but he was afraid if he stopped now, they would never speak
again.

"'Cause if you don't, that would be okay. I do love you,
Scully, even though you make me feel like an ass whenever
I say it."

And her reaction:

It explained a lot.

Scully kicked off her shoes and sat against her bed's
headboard, wishing she had a cigarette and a stiff
drink. Oh yes, Mulder's revelation explained a whole
raft of previously baffling events.

No wonder he'd gently put her off after her cancer
had gone into remission. He obviously cared about
her; she had no doubt of that. But when she had
tried to advance them into a new direction during
their little detour from the partnership seminar
in Florida, he'd neatly sidestepped the issue,
leaving her holding the wine and cheese.

At the time, she'd assumed he was still reeling
from almost losing her. Or maybe she just wasn't
his type--not tall enough, leggy enough, sexy
enough. It was finally clear, though, that he'd
been repulsed. Oh, he'd been too kind to actually
say it. Unless he was drugged, Mulder would never
come out and admit he saw her as a neuter, a
freak show exhibit.

Her face burned with humiliation."

And then:

"I can't stand it," Mulder said at last. "After
everything we've been through, everything *you've*
been through, what's breaking us apart is something
I said. I can't take it back, Scully. I would
if I could."

"That's a bit melodramatic, wouldn't you say?"
she asked, hoping her voice didn't betray her.

"Is it, Scully? Are you going to be able to get
past this?"

"You have to give me some time, Mulder."

"Time for you to pretend it never happened?" he
asked darkly.

"What the hell do you want, Mulder? You called me
a neuter. I can't just 'shake it off' in a matter
of hours."

"Is that what you heard, Scully? Because that
isn't what I meant, not ever."

Such, honest, in-character reactions. And the way it's all wrapped up just leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling, even if it borders on sentimentality.. but really, it's the only way to finish this kind of story and do it any kind of justice.

And Roger and the Sheep. Bizarre, twisted, and tender. Perfect.

I guess that's how I would describe the entire story... bizarre, twisted, and tender. Perfect, despite its imperfections, or maybe even because of them.

-Kate

I was offline while the Iolokus discussion was going on, and when i came back i snagged a bunch of everyone's comments into a word file and started, sort of, "disputing" with those comments - for my own edification, of course. now i want to post my thoughts, in my own journal, but i'm not very comfortable with doing that unless i can contact the people i'm quoting and disagreeing with and let them know i'm doing it. it seems unfair otherwise.

So, Kate, if you would drop me a line, or just let me know you've seen this and are aware that someone (me) is going to be quoting you on her journal, I would really appreciate it. thanks. or if you had some major qualm about my doing so you could voice that as well. and sorry, all, for cluttering your Bone of Contention thread. As if Iolokus doesn't get enough attention, right? *smirk*

I quite liked Bone of Contention. I don't have the glowing feelings for it that many people do, but i thought it was well plotted, and that the original characters were particularly good. i never really bought that mulder would have thought scully was hormonally altered as a result of her abduction and subsequent infertility - at least not to the extent he thought she might have been in BoC, but it was an interesting idea, anyway.

ETA: i just want to clarify - i think it would've been realistic for mulder to have wondered about scully's biochemical functions, post abduction. i just don't think he actually did, much. i don't think, canonically, it was an issue. and i don't see it as being 'in character' for that reason.

Hi,
Sorry, I didn't see you were looking for me until Wendelah pointed it out to me! Yes, feel free to repost or quote my comments if you'd like to.. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Iolokus. As you can probably tell, it just didn't float my boat, but you'll find I don't have much of an ego and get a kick out of seeing my arguments parsed or given a healthy beating :) Thanks for asking though, I appreciate it.

- Kate

Not that the plot of this story isn't ridiculous, but it's so well constructed and the extraneous characters - Roger, Brian Yates, Revere, even CSM - are so well constructed that even though they play minor roles, they're always complete, whole people with unique, believable voices. Especially Roger. I didn't skip through anything on this one... these characters were so fresh and darkly funny and the plot was so satirically ridiculous.

The original characters are one of the joys of two of my favorite Kel fics--Basketball Therapy and The Beginner's Guide to Tight Rope Walking. The plot is ingenious, by turns funny and tragic, a difficult range to pull off, especially in a short novella.

I also loved the examination scene. It was dark humor to the max. Here you've got two characters who love each other, want each other, and Scully finally gets to touch Mulder's penis, but the context is so ridiculous that they are both completely miserable. She has to get a kind of sick pleasure out of making him squirm in this scene, asking her 'medical history' questions in a detached, professional capacity.

I know I got a charge from imagining her doing it. It is the opposite of intimacy, and it confounds the reader's expectations of what this first encounter "should" be like. Scully is so clearly doing it just to comfort him. He is in emotional distress, yet he can't tell her why because he is so humiliated by the incident, so traumatized by the near-miss.

As I can't possibly finish the reread until after Thanksgiving, I want to assure fellow readers that I have always considered BOC first-rate. Most of the stuff suggested here is first-rate. I find myself nostalgic for attack mode.

Enjoy the fancy food.

I followed the excellent Bone of Contention back in the day--Five years ago!--impatiently, and had the nerve to be disappointed that there was no final sex scene. Well, callow youth. I was barely out of adolescence.

Shut up, Wendy.

I still feel that the final conversation between Mulder and Scully feels too flat. Maybe I'm just addicted to jokes. Or maybe I don't appreciate subtlety. No, I'm *crazy* about subtlety. And I think that BOC is a study in that very thing.

This is a logically constructed casefile that has what many lack, a motivation plugged directly into the ust generator. Mulder is afraid that he and Scully will never have the sex he has dreamed of for so many faux-adolescent years. He is agonized about it, really, and has no idea that a direct approach would resolve Scully's insecurities as well as his own. It's an absurd situation, but one we shippers are hooked on, and the dry and subtle writing sells it on an adult level. In a situation one banana peel from buffoonery, delicate relationship adjustments are made.

Of course Mulder blurts out inanities and hurts Scully terribly; that's what happens when people don't practice intimate conversation; their ability to articulate deserts them in the clinches. And I do think he has a valid worry to add to all his ongoing invalid worries. Just as Scully has every reason to question Mulder's Brain.

The style is deliciously understated. I'm too lazy to illustrate, but I do remember being tickled when Mulder thinks of humming "Peggy Sue" just as Scully is nervously about to board a chartered small aircraft. This is a joke that requires at the very least some attention, as do many others, but the writers manage to make reading no chore whatsoever.

I still feel that the final conversation between Mulder and Scully feels too flat. Maybe I'm just addicted to jokes. Or maybe I don't appreciate subtlety. No, I'm *crazy* about subtlety. And I think that BOC is a study in that very thing.

That same conversation made me very happy, as did the lack of a final sex scene. I cannot tell you the number of stories that have been ruined for me by a tacked-on sex scene or three, the number of stories (in multiple fandoms) I have quit on because the writer decided that in the middle of a crisis, up against the wall, was the perfect moment for their heroes. I think that Syntax6's "Split the Lark" is a wonderful exploration of the aftereffects of rape on a woman and her lover. I love it to pieces right up until the end when it has that awful sex scene. I just wanted to cry when I read it. I am sure that as a writer she wanted to give the reader closure but it just isn't that simple.

The bottom line is I just don't think Mulder and Scully get to live happily ever after and people who think they do are watching the wrong show. YMMV. That is just one of the reasons that IWTB didn't work for me. I think for these writers their relationship is always going to be a work-in-progress. I thought the scene at the end hit the right notes, without dragging the story down into cheap melodrama or tacky romance novel clichés, which is the way a lot of writers would have gone. It might be a more popular story if they had given us a sex scene but it certainly wouldn't have made my top five favs list.

The scene at the end perfectly illustrated what their issues are--what they are always going to be. Mulder is a feelings type and Scully is ruled by her intellect. When Feeling people fall for Thinking people, there is always going to be some conflict. Mulder is spilling his guts to her and she is still telling him that they don't have to talk about what didn't happen. She just doesn't get it. Mulder is right. She really does compartmentalize her feelings--she's doing it right there in front of him! She never does say she loves him, either. But that's who she is, and as Mulder says quite plainly, there is nothing that could happen to her, nothing that she could do to him, that would change how he feels about her. I'm kind of weeping just thinking about this, can you tell I identify with Mulder in this scene? He loves her for who she is, not for who he wants her to be. He loved her even when he was convinced that she might not ever return those feelings because of what was done to her. That's true love. Of course, Scully feels the same way about him, he just can't see it, he's got himself so wound up in knots he can't think clearly.

I also think the ending is rounded out by the other mismatched love affair at the end, the other couple who can't talk about their feelings or consummate their relationship--maybe ever. That does not mean that Roger doesn't adore his beloved Cindy, on the contrary, he also sees her for who she really is, he sees the humanity in her, in a way that no one, not even Mulder is able to do. Even Mulder just sees her as evidence. Roger's love is transforming, it makes him into a better person, it gives him a true course of action and propels his rescue of his beloved from the clutches of the Syndicate, much in the same way that Mulder's love propelled him to go to the ends of the earth--literally--to rescue Scully, another trauma that he has yet to fully process, any more than Scully has.

Well, I'm getting of topic here. But I disagree vehemently that the conversation between M&S is flat. It is round and full and satisfying on every level, at least for me.

Wendy, when your X-passion is aroused, who can stand against you? I argue incoherently even when I have a dog in the fight, and in this case we agree on most points. Of course I don't believe in the happy-ever-after scenario; adults know better, whatever they fantasize. IWTB didn't work well for me either, but what I saw on *that* screen was hardly a walk in Happymarriage Park.

As previously admitted, I have a bad reaction to the whole discussing relationships thing. The verbal working out of issues. I prefer jokes, which are plentiful in BOC, and that last desperate admission countered by Scully's nonresponsive response just didn't achieve the appropriate closure. For me.

However, your point about Roger and Cindy is a great insight and a lovely parallel. One hopes just as hard that there will *not* be a sexual resolution in that particular case.

This story is about sex as much as it is about love. It creates an interesting disorientation.

This story is about sex as much as it is about love. It creates an interesting disorientation.

And the story is about the perversion of reproduction by the Syndicate. I think Kel and Michelle Kiefer want the reader to draw those parallels, between what was done to Scully and the other Mufon women, how they were used as lab rats, as incubators, to what monstrous thing was done to that half-sheep, half woman creature. Mulder is still angry about happened to Scully, and that anger fuels his search for the truth. He gets frustrated because Scully doesn't seem angry to him. She, too, is angry, but her fury gets hidden away, which in a way is a good thing. (Iolokus is an examination of what would/could happen if she didn't. So is Cofax's The Mill, though in another direction.) Mulder does realize that it helps keep her sane even as it creates this unwanted distance between them. He's resigned to the distance. His realization at the end, that she does truly love him, is really quite moving, because as a reader I was totally convinced (by the adorable plot) of his foolish ignorance.

The humor in "Bone of Contention" doesn't hide the ugly reality of what has been wrought here and elsewhere by the evil bureaucratic machine of the Syndicate. Being able to keep both those balls in play is a delicate balancing act for a writer and they do it so very well here. That is Kel's major attraction for me as a reader, that she can address so well the serious issues raised in the series, and still make me laugh along the way.

I belatedly return to point out a couple of BOC things that I really enjoyed.

Sage Revere, the uneasy science drone, has his government-contract arrangement literally blow up. Death to all wimpy rationalizers. Well, if they're under government contract.

CSM, under a pseudonym, is revealed as a sexual sadist to his own son. This is a glimpse of the character that, unpursued by 1013, is strangely consistent with Wm. B. Davis's what-is-he-implying performances. The guy did slimy very well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Story 96: "Bone of Contention" by Kel and Michelle Kiefer

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I love this story so much!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject