xf_book_club | Story 120: "A Bitter Taste on the Tongue" by Jane Mortimer

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I thought it might be fun to read more "first-time" stories. During last week's discussion of "On a Star-Spangled Night," the subject of Mulder's behavior towards Scully came up. One person even called his actions "predatory." Another member commented that she'd rather read depressing sex stories than fluff. I think "A Bitter Taste on the Tongue" fits the bill nicely. This is not my favorite first-time story, but it comes close. It is very hot and very dark, and since Mortimer is such a great writer, for me at least, it was surprisingly convincing.

Warnings: if you think you might need one, pm me, please.

You can read "A Bitter Taste on the Tongue" at Fugues Fiction Archive.

You can also read it via the Wayback Machine here.

Please us know what you think, and leave your suggestions at the nomination post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

estella-c.livejournal.com

Referring back to my mantra ("it's only out of character when you don't like it") I admit that I don't like this Scully. Rather, I can't believe in her instant acquiescence to the drug of sex. She'd accept Mulder's sinister sexual promise about as fast as she'd accept a line of cocaine.

My choice of the word "play" was careless; this is not a b&d game. It is actual bondage and domination, and very earnest. Though, like amyhit, I think sincere pushback would have put an end to it. It's just that Mulder is confident in his own power to dominate.

W, your reminder of vulnerable, second-season Scully made me think. I imagine you could work up a floatable theory that M & S are recreating Scully's state of utter helplessness at the hands of her abductors. That she survives her bondage and is rewarded with an orgasm should be therapeutic. Mulder being a psychological social worker: not hardly. He's caught up in his own hostile craziness, and there's no intimation that he cares how she feels, except to wonder at her acting skills. Even if Scully is unconsciously returning to the scene of the crimes against her, it's at the hands of someone who, if only temporarily, hates her.

This is personal, of course, but I find it far more likely that Scully pulls herself out of that apartment and keeps going. Mulder is scary. And at some point she's going to demand he explain himself. Otherwise the partnership is over.

It really would have been nice to know why. It's as though Mortimer is saying "Work with me here. I'm trying an experiment." *That's* the game.

From:

wendelah1

W, your reminder of vulnerable, second-season Scully made me think.

I was just trying to defend the writer's decision to write the story she wanted to write. From my pov, within the story's universe, everything that happens is plausible. It must be the writing that is the problem, because many of the people commenting here have had no problem accepting a more passive version of Scully in other stories. This is a Scully who submits because he tells her that's what he needs from her. It's a lie, or a half-truth at best but she believes him.

She doesn't instantly acquiesce. She leaves the room, drives around the block and comes back. It's not until he speaks the magic words that she finally gives herself permission to capitulate.

"You don't want the weather? You don't want politics? Oh, I see. You don't want general information. You want to help me."

His fingers circled her breast lazily, out of sync with his voice. "Yes. I. do." Dammit.

His mouth moved up to her ear. His whisper was low and hoarse. "Then help me. This is what I want. This is what I need."

The tone, the undeniable truth of what he was saying, pounded through the last of her defenses. She couldn't not respond to a need that strong. She had to cling to him to keep from falling down.

She believes him. Maybe she shouldn't, maybe you don't like or believe that she would but I think it is clear that in this story, she does.

As I said to bravenewcentury, if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work. If you think Scully should have walked out of that apartment and not come back until she had had it out with him, well, fine. But that is not the story Mortimer wanted to write. She wanted to write a story about trust and illusion, about the lies others tell us, why we sometimes accept them as truth and what happens when we do.

I imagine you could work up a floatable theory that M & S are recreating Scully's state of utter helplessness at the hands of her abductors. That she survives her bondage and is rewarded with an orgasm should be therapeutic.

I believe someone wrote a parody version of this scenario. *cough*

Mulder doesn't care about what she is feeling, except in brief flashes of conscience, at any point during the story, does he? He sets out to hurt her, and I think by the end we can all see he has succeeded. There is nothing redemptive going on here except as illusion.

From:

estella-c.livejournal.com

I guess you're right: I just can't believe that Scully would believe his lie. After all that bullying sarcasm, "This is what I want. This is what I need."

Please.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed a passive Scully. That power balance thing again--it's what made their relationship magical.

From:

wendelah1

True confession time: what I enjoy (and am turned on by) in this story is the emotional pain, this specific brand of emotional pain in particular. I'm going to try to describe it at length at some point because I think that painful stimulus is what she was trying to generate.