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: I like Punk, too, but...

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I don't see any evidence of a happily-ever-after ending in the making here.

I don't see a happily-ever-after, but it would seem that Scully is probably going back to the X-Files, and to Mulder. That's all I need in order to feels things are shifting in a less hopeless direction, while still feeling very apprehensive about what's to come.

I felt the ending was ragged because it didn't explain or resolve anything. It just drove the plot off a cliff.

It did lack resolution, but despite loose ends the ending felt natural (and quite effective) to me, because it signalled the end of Scully's attempt at a "normal" life, and presumably her return to the work. And since the entire story was based on the premise of her having left the X-Files, having her return to them feels like a logical place to leave things. It gives the story a bold, simple arc. The only loose thread I object to is that Scully left nothing at all to indicate she left of her own volition.

I do think you've asked all the right questions about this fic, wendelah1. It just doesn't bother me that they're questions we don't get answers for.

"China," OTOH, has a kind of light weirdness about it, a vaguely threatening but still diverting approach that makes good use of an "other" POV.

estella_c, now that I'm reading the comments, I realize I could have cut a lot of my first comment down and just pointed at yours. I agree with you about pretty much everything you've said about this fic. As to the fruit not bearing fruit (hee!), I know what you mean. I attribute it to the fact that China was supposed to be a longer fic in which character development would have been necessary.

On the other hand, there are things I do like about the seemingly pointless Richard exposition - even though I agree that it is a flaw over all. I like that it gives his character legitimacy in his own right, and makes his POV feel intriguing, rather than like a flimsy device. His relative solidity keeps me seeing Scully from the outside, as he sees her, without slipping into her character. And the more I learned about his life the more I got the eerie feeling that Scully was terribly out of place, which struck me as the main tension of the fic. I kept seeing her in a sever black suit throughout the fic, a dark presence, even though I know she was probably dressed in something casual. I think inside she was still black-suited as ever.