Story 110: "Gutless" by Magdeleine

[wendelah1]

Yep, this is the one with the talking parrot, a pretty good casefile, and Scully having "Mulder Awareness Days." The author refers to the latter as Uber-UST in her summary. I think the term "parrotfic," not to be confused with parrotfic, might have originated here. "I mean why read babyfic when you can read parrotfic, right?" Truer words were never spoken, er, written, Autumn. There is a talking parrot in a Syntax6 story that I bet is a little shout-out to "Gutless." At least, I think it is a parrot.

If you don't find this to your taste, try "Bonemeal," which is a very different kind of story. You can find it on her author's page at Gossamer, along with "Gutless" broken into smaller bites. "Bonemeal" deserves its own discussion, but it's so short, I doubt we'll ever do it formally. If anyone knows if this writer changed fandoms, has a different email address, and is perchance still around somewhere, please let us know. Thanks to an anonymouse, you can go leave Magdeleine comments on her story at Archive of Our Own. You can read her fic for The Office there, too.

This story was suggested by amyhit as being one that would generate discussion. I guess it's time to read it and find out.

"Gutless"

Upcoming attractions: "Fathoms Five" by Penumbra, "Melancholia" by Jeylan, and "This House is Burning" by Tesla. If you don't like those, you can always go post your own suggestions at the nominations post.

Comments

just in case anyone is as big a geek as i am...

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I just thought I'd mention that Magdeleine's website is here (http://web.archive.org/web/20010407202114/http://shannono.net/theden/magdeleine.html). It's a really simple little website, but it has a couple of her fics that aren't posted to Gossamer, as well as having Gutless in seventeen much smaller parts, in case that type of approach appeals to anyone.

also, i don't know if anyone else is geekish enough to find little fandom quirks like the nicknaming of fanfic as amusing as i do, but from what I can tell, Gutless was given the nickname 'parrotfic' before it was posted - possibly by one of its many betas. in the author's notes for Bonemeal, Magdeleine says "For those of you who are wondering, yes, I'm almost done with the parrotfic, hereafter to be known as Gutless." but in the notes for Black and White and grey All Over she is still referring to it by the title "Mind over Matter", which does appear on the Gutless cover art in the caption, "because all you have to do is put mind over matter."

and now back to the previously scheduled discussion of the actual writing. *g*

**GRINS**

[leiliaxf.livejournal.com]

oh yeah--I was on a lot of the AIM conversations back in the day when she was writing this (there was a whole group of us, writers and betas and just friends. We'd chat for hours sometimes). "Parrotfic" was the working title, as it were; we used to tease her constantly about writing M/S smut and try and push her over the edge into full-blown sex, and she resisted resisted resisted :) . I wish I'd kept screencaps of the conversations--they were HYSTERICAL.

I feel so old now..."I was THERE! Back in the day..." *g*

::cough::

[(Anonymous)]

http://archiveofourown.org/users/obsession_inc/pseuds/Magdeleine

[elizabethannfic.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm in the minority here, but I thought the UST went a little too far. I like UST. In many case I like it better than MSR. However, Scully acting like an animal both in thought and action--clawing at the air or whatever it is she does in the car at one point--seems to me to be too much. The case was interesting. The writing was well done. They seemed generally in character. I enjoyed the fic. At some point--for me--the UST crosses over into something repetitive and over the top. I did like that they don't jump in bed at the end.

[elizabethannfic.livejournal.com]

As to Scully seeming mostly annoyed: This is my problem with fics that present Scully as hopelessly and secretly in love or lust with Mulder. I can't buy it. Mulder perhaps might be from an earlier stage in the show, but not Scully. I know others disagree, but that is probably why this UST didn't ring true for me, since it focused so heavily on Scully.

The parrot is funny. The juxtaposition of brutality and lust is not sexy. The repetitive electrical touch of Mulder's hand is cliche and was a part of nearly every chapter's internal monologues. I've used it myself, I'm sure, but they began to stand out on their own as stock phrases.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm of the "over the top" school of thought. Which might have been predicted. I so often say the same things about fics that disagree with me: too long, too much describing of emotional states, too purple. All of which apply here.

By "purple," I refer too "Relief hit like a tsunami, and she sagged against the door in its wake." This because a door stuck and Scully wouldn't have to face Mulder in a sweaty nighty. Multiply that by thousands of inappropriate metaphors.

I remember enjoying Gutless back in the day, and I kind of envy the group enthusiasm that swept the fans. But the reread was tiring. Whatever the plot rationale, this felt a lot closer to Scullytorture than UST, and I'm not into that.

In my experience, in real life, mutual physical attraction is pretty quickly recognized. Poor Fox Mulder: psychologist, investigator, profiler, clueless. That moment when he observes Scully trying not to tear his clothes off and diagnoses the flu is a pretty good joke. But Wendy, I think that a filmed version would get more and different laughs than intended.

Magdeleine is capable of excellent writing. Bonemeal is a knockout. And I still like the parrot (how not?) and the concept of "Mulder Awareness Day." I'd welcome their use in a lighter context, the happier context they seemed to promise.

Great plot, great timing

[counterphobe.livejournal.com]

Gutless is a casefile that is also an X-File, and I'd appreciate it for that alone. Clues are revealed at appropriate intervals to let the plot unfold, and there are valid plot rationales when knowledge is delayed. (Think how many times on the TV show the informant tells Mulder just enough to get him through the next scene. Deep Throat, for example, doles out his tips only so that the show can last an hour.)

I didn't see the ending coming, even though it made perfect sense. Thank you, Magdeleine.

I like UST, and I think you can see it in the program itself, but then again, I am an unrepentant fangirl. (I think you can see many things in the actors' portrayals, and I suspect that was the result of the last-minute writing, the [sometimes] bad writing, and the fact that special effects were added later. Those actors learned to be ambiguous and noncommittal. Enigmatic, if you prefer.)

To my taste, the UST was overdone. I'm on board with the Mulder Awareness Days and I like that the tension built, but I would have liked it more if it had been toned down. I was surprised when Mulder identified flu rather than menses, but I think I'm grateful. I'm glad that Mulder had his own UST problem, and I liked the ending.

There was a redundancy in the language and in some descriptions. Like Wendelah, I would love to see it filmed. I think some of the actions would have been fine on screen, even though the phrases themselves became tiresome. Some of the metaphors were wonderful, but some were not, and there were too many.

I feel a little hesitant to offer these criticisms because I really liked the story. I'm glad I got to read it, flawed or not. Again, thanks to Magdeleine for writing and posting.

My Unifying Theory of Parrotfic

[wendelah1]

So elizabethannfic thinks the Uber-UST could have been toned down to good effect. amyhit thinks the UST is the raison d'etre of the story. estella_c thinks the prose keeps turning purple and that the UST turns into Scully-torture by the ending. counterphobe concurs that the prose could be cleaned up and the UST muted a bit but thinks the well-constructed x-file(!)/casefile more than makes up for the story's comparatively minor short-comings.

This is going to surprise you: I agree with everyone.

Yes, the UST was out-of-control by the end, but it was supposed to be. The reason we were so uncomfortable was that Scully was being tormented and manipulated by the Tolchok, which was robbing her of sleep, and undermining her normally high ability to tune out her attraction for Mulder, even when she was awake. The first time I read "Gutless," I remember being so afraid for her: fearful she might give in and sleep with Mulder and ruin everything, or that she might not give in and would instead succumb to the Tolchok, as yet another victim of repressed sexuality. (I came from a fandom that pretty routinely killed off major characters in fic, so I was always expecting somebody to die by the end.)

For better or worse, the plot really does hinge on the UST. Without the "A" plot, the "B" plot doesn't work. Without ratcheting up the sexual tension to unbearable levels, the dream sequences are unworkable, so is the fight that proceeds them, and there is no climax!

At first, I really did think the story's metaphor was the parrot, especially since it keeps saying what they can't say--"Fuck me'til I faint!"--plus they keep passing it back and forth. "You take the parrot." "No, YOU take the parrot." Then Scully shoots the parrot, which killed that idea (and the parrot) dead. While we are on the topic of the parrot, I might as well mention the two three plot holes I found my third time through (it did take three times, though, to find all three). Why did the Tolchok suddenly start preying on the good people of Tehtonka, Kansas? Why then? Why there? Maybe I missed the obvious answer, that the parrot was a recent acquisition and came into town with its host? Or maybe it was the relatively high concentration of sexually frustrated townspeople that called it into existence? All I know is that Mulder should have had a theory, otherwise we are left with Scully's explanation: a mutant allergic reaction to the parrot.

Speaking of the parrot, doesn't everyone know that parrots need at least eight hours of sleep at night? You have to put them in a quiet dark room, cover their cage and leave them alone. What does it matter whose room he's in? Guido seems determined to keep people awake no matter what, no matter where, day or night. Leaving him alone in the motel only made matters worse, especially since he was used to being around people all day long.

My theory is that this was an excuse for Mulder and Scully to open up their connecting door. Which brings me to my Unifying Theory of Parrotfic: it's all about the doors. Think about it: every victim is preyed on in the dark, behind closed doors, Mulder and Scully keep opening their door to play pass the parrot. Scully opens the door to his room twice in the middle of the night when she is feeling well, horny. Unlike the door to the outside, their connecting door is kept closed but not locked. It opens easily enough until the night she has The Dream. You know the one.

Unifying Theory Part 2

[wendelah1]

She got herself moving with the old trick of suppressing her knowledge of cause and effect-- her mind was completely wrapped up in the goal of the door, unlocking the door, opening the door, but she refused to think about what would come through the newly-opened door. If she thought about facing Mulder with her face flushed red and her hair standing up, smelling of sweat and dream-induced arousal--

She ignored it. She walked.

The shakes hit her halfway across the floor, limbs trembling uncontrollably, feet placed unsteadily in a random forward path; lo, behold the revenge of a sleep-deprived body for a bare twenty or thirty minutes of sleep after pacing the floor for hours and hours. She fumbled the lock open with ravaged hands and tugged at the doorknob.

The door wouldn't open.

Relief hit like a tsunami, and she sagged against the door in its wake. Oh thank God, she didn't have to look at him. She didn't have to let him see her like this. Her mindless litany of thanksgiving was the closest to real prayer that she'd come in weeks: thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God. She lay her forearm against the blood-warm wood and pressed her forehead to it.

The knob turned by itself beneath her palm in a stealthy caress, whispering with soft metallic friction as the latch slid all the way open. There was a long pause, and then the knob turned back; somehow she knew, even after the movement ceased, that Mulder's hand was still on the knob on the opposite side. "Scully, are you all right?" he asked in a low voice.

"The door's stuck," she admitted, torn between absurd pride and equally absurd guilt. The condition of the door was most likely due to the fact that some mental giant had carefully painted both the door and the frame with semi-gloss paint that had, under these conditions of high humidity, miraculously transformed into carpenter's glue. Any efforts of her own, Herculean as they seemed inside her own head, were in fact unimportant and unworthy of the self-congratulatory cartwheels she wanted to turn.

"Did you unlock it?" Mulder asked, sounding skeptical.

"Of course." Her voice came out high-pitched and bitchy instead of the ringing authoritative tone she'd meant to access. Damn. She flushed with anger or humiliation -- at this point, it was impossible to distinguish between them.

"Hang on." A meaty thunk jarred the door under Scully's hand, unmistakably Mulder ramming against it with his shoulder. He tried again. The door was unimpressed with the macho man routine and remained epoxied in place.

She stepped in before he battered himself senseless against the stubborn wood. "Mulder, don't. If it's jammed this badly, you'll just damage the door frame." Silence from the other side, tacit agreement. "Just... just talk to me through the door."

The jammed door is a clear symbol for their relationship being stuck. Doors are also a Freudian symbol for the female genitals (yawn). She's not ready for him to know how much she wants him. Is the language getting a little over the top? Maybe, but you can't dial it back too much without losing some of the urgency.

After her Tochok-enhanced erotic dream is interrupted, Scully awakens to the light (woot! more symbolism!), has a Mulderlike flash of insight, and saves Mulder's ass by shooting the Tochok. Not surprisingly, Mulder now finds the connecting door opens easily enough. And then we get the great ending scene. I adore the ending.

As mentioned by amyhit, Mulder and Scully seem surprisingly like themselves, given what they both (with Scully bearing the brunt of it) have to go through by the end. I attribute this to the excellent dialogue, which sounded so much like them that it could have been lifted from the show. I could give examples but really, pick a page.

Despite the extended Scully torture( which reminds me of a line from A Bitter Taste on the Tongue by Jane Mortimer: "Your honor, he abused me with extended foreplay."), "Gutless" was written with obvious care and love for the series and all of the characters, even Guido. Especially Guido. Poor Guido. From the lurid scenes of violence at the beginning to the tender moments between Mulder and Scully at the end, "Gutless" is truly one of the most memorable stories I've read in this fandom.

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

Read this one again and enjoyed it more in the second reading. It really is well constructed and I enjoyed so much of it all around. The uber UST annoyed me the first time around but this time I understood the underlying structures and found it much better. A much needed read for a day like today.