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

Re: All over the map... Part 2

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

The obvious question that Richard doesn't ask Mulder or Scully is why? What was so important that Mulder felt like he had to intrude where he knew (or assumed) he wouldn't be wanted?

I would like to know that too! Over the course of the series we see Mulder struggle with Scully's involvement with the X-Files. He needs her, but he feels guilty about what her involvement does to her (the "Go, be" speech from FtF, for example). It seems like him coming to see her must have been precipitated by something really important happening--but we never find out what it was, or what he thought about before going to see her.