Story 163: "China" by Punk Maneuverability

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Punk Maneuverability is one of the X-Files fandom's long-time authors. A quick scroll of her Gossamer page tells me she did most of her writing for this fandom in 1997, but she continued to write XF fic for close to a decade. China, posted in 2006, is one of the last XF fics she's posted to date.

It's a short AU in which Scully has made a drastic change in her life, one that has left both she and Mulder's lives torn asunder. I don't want to say too much more about the plot, because part of what makes this fic intriguing is the way the reader doesn't immediately know exactly what's going on. I picked this fic because, though they are very different fics, the central tension of China is very similar to that of last week's rec: Scully's discontent and her desire for a "normal life".

China by Punk M

You can also find the author at runpunkrun, and you can find our recommendation page over here.

Comments

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I can see what the author means about the "ragged" ending; it begins as though it will be a much longer fic and then just kind of slides to a halt.

It's an interesting character piece. I enjoyed the development over the story of the main character's (Richard's) voice.

I think Scully's obvious dissatisfaction with the life she's made for herself is interesting too, but I cannot see her making the move she does at the end of the story. We've seen her be withdrawn emotionally; we've seen her have difficulty expressing herself. We've never seen her chicken out of a difficult confrontation, no matter how hard she may find it. I think if she was going to leave her husband, she would tell him herself.

[maybe-amanda.livejournal.com]

I think if she was going to leave her husband, she would tell him herself.

Probably. But Richard isn't her husband (very deliberately, in her mind, I bet) - he's just some 'normal' guy she's shacked up with.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't see the distinction--I may have misspoken on "husband", but to my mind you can substitute "person she has some regard/feelings for", equally well.

[maybe-amanda.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't see the distinction--I may have misspoken on "husband", but to my mind you can substitute "person she has some regard/feelings for", equally well.

Kinda think that's the point. He's not the love of her love. He's not even the like of her life. He isn't someone she cares about enough to talk about her past with. He's just a filling station on life's long highway. She's using him, and then she's done.

As I said, our heroine doesn't look to heroic in this one.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I understand your point logically, and in a story about solely original characters would probably find it more believable. But I don't see how Scully has gotten to this point. It's completely at odds with what I see as her character.

[wendelah1]

I agree. I can't see her making the move that's implied by the ending either.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I agree with maybe_amanda that Richard is not someone Scully cares overly about. We know that he met her slumped in a lawn chair at a party, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other ... thin and sad. So I imagine that he was Mr. Nice and Normal, and since she'd uprooted her entire life for normalcy she probably felt she ought to seize normalcy when it presented itself to her. Which seemed harmless until they'd been seeing each other for a couple of months and there was still no real feeling in it for her. But Scully's never been a quitter so she just kept trying anyway. At least that's the sense I get from the way they treat each other in the fic.

Her primary reason for being with him has turned out to be empty, yet she's stayed this long, presumably because she hasn't yet been able to admit to herself that she can't be 'normal'. So I can see why she would feel some misplaced anger towards Richard, because he represents her failed attempt at a normal life. As Richard reflects: I didn't like the idea that her anger with me was in some way dependent upon her anger with [Mulder].

It would have been more considerate for her to have had a sit-down conversation with Richard and told him it was over, but he would have wanted answers she couldn't give. Also, Richard doesn't seem all that devoted to her either. He seems intrigued, but not in love or anything. If this was how she wanted to live, I couldn't do anything to change it. I could only decide it wasn't the way I wanted to live. That sounds as if he's prepared to move on, if that's what it comes to. Tough as Scully is, she's also vulnerable in ways Richard isn't. She's cold to him, but I don't think she's cruel. He's not a victim here.

The main thing I do wonder, though, is why she left no message whatsoever - not even her house key on the table. Any sign at all that she'd decided to leave him would be sufficient. It flat out makes no sense, unless she was taken from the house after all, as zinnia03 suggests.

Or what about another chip-activation incident, like Skyland Mountain? Maybe Mulder came to tell her there'd been a rash of such incidents in other locations and he was worried it would happen to her again. *shrugs* Just a theory. This fic really does have me wondering where Punk originally intended to go with it.