Story 173: "How Gravity Works on Planet Spooky" by Khyber

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

khyber@citizensofgravity.com
DISTRIBUTION: Ephemeral, Gossamer, please ask for anywhere else.
RATING: PG-13 for mature content
CATEGORIES: V,R
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully something.
SPOILERS: S7, lots.
SUMMARY: Post-ep for "First Person Shooter." "And Mulder's
falling down on his end of the deal by doing a lousy job of making
the bed; it's impossible to convince myself that this really
is nothing."

Disclaimer: 1013 owns and is sorely neglecting significant
creative capital borrowed in this story.

Author's Notes: Part of Khyber VS 7. Thanks to Mims and
Samiam for early reads. This story was posted a week ago at:
http://www.alanna.net/Khyber. I *strongly* recommend reading
"Collapsar" and "Weret-hekau" first.


3. How Gravity Works on Planet Spooky


And if you have any suggestions for fics you'd like us to read once we get back to our regular schedule, please head over to the recs page and toss 'em out there.

Comments

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

People who are in an intimate relationship (as opposed to a codependent one) don't have to go to such elaborate lengths to be in the same space.

Healthy people in a healthy intimate relationship don't behave this way, but Mulder and Scully are not healthy people by a long shot, and by extension their relationship cannot be healthy. They're sure trying damn hard to get to a place - with each other and within themselves - where it can be, though.

And what is it about pretending he's not using his bed that makes it somehow easier for her to use it?

1. Because that means she's taking something from him for personal reasons, and that he's giving something to her for personal reasons. If he's not sleeping in the bed then she can feel she's taking nothing and he's giving nothing and it's not personal.

2. Because if he's not sleeping in the bed then she's not now sleeping in his bed in the same sense that she is if he does sleep in it. If he sleeps in it, then it's his personal space. His body has been intimate with that space, and now so is hers. If she sleeps in his bed there's a sexual element to it, but if she sleeps in the bed that he happens to have in his apartment, they can say it's nothing.

And Mulder's falling down on his end of the deal by doing a
lousy job of making the bed; it's impossible to convince myself
that this really is nothing.


-makes me wonder where Khyber was planning to take this. Maybe I should be glad he didn't finish it.

I'm kind of glad he didn't finish it too, but for opposite reasons (shocker). I could be totally off base, but Waterskiers (and some of his other writings) make me think he was going to end it with them 'escaping into obscurity' or something - getting out of the fight. I can never imagine the story going that way, and I don't want to imagine it. I'm one of those people who read Dancing Skeleton Day and hoped it meant Mulder and Scully were coming back.

Some of my despair over this story is due to having already read the next three sections, which made me feel pretty terrible. Now I feel like I need to post a warning: do not read if you are prone to depressive thoughts.

I do remember them being extremely wrenching, but given my love for the way Khyber writes wrenching, I'm looking forward to them tremendously.
Are these issues of hers related to sex? I thought this had to do with Pfaster?

I would say yes, but not in the stereotypical "Issues with Sex" sense. The way I see KvsS7, the AU aspect of it (which is primarily evident in the characterizations) comes from the one thing Khyber changed waaaay back in S3: the MSR has not been platonic all these years. Because the nature of their relationship was different, the way they experienced their partnership, and by proxy the work, was different too. Meaning, also, that they responded differently to traumatic situations than they did in canon. I think that one benefit of a platonic relationship is that it has a kind of integrity that's easier to maintain under enormous amounts of stress. In a platonic relationship everything is less personal, which is particularly important if you're already in kind of a co-dependant bind. If something in their working life hurts them, it's probably not going to have as much impact on their platonic relationship as it does on a sexual one, and if they do something that hurts each other, the hurt is more likely to remain localized to one specific area, rather than bleeding out. The if-then's and boundaries of a platonic relationship are a lot easier to maintain.

So in the immediate sense Scully is sleeping at Mulder's apartment because of her encounter with Pfaster, but all of this is part of a much greater picture as well.

Anyway, I thought they'd stopped having sex for some number of years, but that is one of the more confusing elements of this story cycle and universe.

My impression is that they had sex once, and then immediately after decided not to persue it. But then they continued to have sex occassionally, at some points in time more than at others. And we know for sure they've had sex as recently as Drive.

[wendelah1]

And Mulder's falling down on his end of the deal by doing a
lousy job of making the bed; it's impossible to convince myself
that this really is nothing.

The layers upon layers of denial go way too deep for me to accept this. It's too much, even for them. For me. LOL.

And we know for sure they've had sex as recently as Drive.

We know that because of a later story, though, right? We don't know that now, or do we? Did I miss one of his subtle hints? LOL.

make me think he was going to end it with them 'escaping into obscurity' or something - getting out of the fight. I can never imagine the story going that way, and I don't want to imagine it. I'm one of those people who read Dancing Skeleton Day and hoped it meant Mulder and Scully were coming back.

Interesting. Yeah, the ending for Sokol did not make me very happy, though I can see why it had to end that way. I can't imagine them leaving the fight either--which is half the reason I disliked IWTB as much as I did.

I have to go post the next three stories.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

We know that because of a later story, though, right?

Right, because of The Fall of Our Summer, which is possibly my favorite KvsS7 fic.

Should I be warning for spoilers?

I can't imagine them leaving the fight either--which is half the reason I disliked IWTB as much as I did.

Whereas, I know Khyber has said he liked IWTB, and from what I remember he liked it largely because they got out. But don't quote him on that, obviously.

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

Wait how do we know they had sex as recently as Drive? I didn't get that from these three fics

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure I was referencing ahead to The Fall of Our Summer. But it's been so long I can't remember for sure.

The timeline for KvS7 is pretty tricky to piece together, but from what I recall it's also pretty consistent, if one takes the time.