Stories 179-180: "The Fall of Our Summer" and "Poems" by Khyber

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

We're back into the angst, this week, with a couple of vignettes that fill in some of the blanks the previous fics have hinted at about Mulder and Scully's past assignations, and the days of their early relationship. First up is "The Fall of Our Summer", a post ep for Drive, which Kyber originally posted to xf_is_love in 2009. Second we have "Poems", a post ep for Wetwired, and the second to last instalment in the KvsS7 universe.


The Fall of Our Summer

Poems


Only one more KvsS7 fic to go. Hopefully you've been fascinated, intrigued, or otherwise drawn in by the story so far, and you'll tune in five (or so) days from now, to reach the end of the road with us.

Comments

Poems - 1/2

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I find I disagree with both the assertions of this fic: one, that when Scully was fifteen she thought she might have poetry in her, and two, that when she's thirty-one she doesn't have poetry in her. If anything I see her character developing the other way around. I don't see her as having been all that interested in poetry when she was young, I don't see her as a girl who sat and tried to be poetic or worried that she wasn't. But as the series progresses I think Scully slowly gains greater access to a sense of the poetic - she opens up a little, the way she thinks changes a bit.

I don't necessarily disagree with the feeling of the fic, however; what Scully wants to say can't be said straight-forwardly, and she feels at a loss because she doesn't know how to say it the way it must be said ('poetically'). And, of course, the problem goes deeper than that - it's also that she can't accept what she feels for Mulder because it is, in a sense, 'poetic' feeling. She can't contain it within one part of herself only, compartmentalize it - it's foreign to her internal landscape and she can't let that go.

I know that there is something here, that there's something between
us, and it's just too big and deep and strange for me to accept even
though I know it's there.

As to Mulder, I just don't know what to make of him in this universe. I'm not sure if I like him. He's let Scully down many times, and he knows it but that doesn't prevent him from continuing to do so. Real people are like that sometimes, but his brand of selfishness is not something I find myself inclined (in this universe or canon) to be all that sympathetic to. And then there's this:

He can tell that Scully's suddenly conscious of herself and his
eyes, adjusting her posture. She's doing this for him.

Mulder feels his mouth go dry and stupid.

"G-Gerson's definitely lying," he says. "We should go talk to his
wife again; I think she just wants to get this all over with."

Scully's shoulders slump forward slightly. She abandons the orange,
half-stripped, and looks for a T-shirt to pull on.

Coward. No wonder Scully's a mess. She's an intimacy-phobe who's in love with a commitment-phobe. Nothing like being afraid to be vulnerable and have needs while carrying on an intense affair with someone who's afraid of your vulnerability and your needs.

Re: Poems - 1/2

[wendelah1]

Coward. No wonder Scully's a mess. She's an intimacy-phobe who's in love with a commitment-phobe. Nothing like being afraid to be vulnerable and have needs while carrying on an intense affair with someone who's afraid of your vulnerability and your needs.

That seems a bit harsh. This is third season Mulder, this is early in the partnership, so to me it's that he's more committed to his quest than he is to anything else. This may not be what she wants or needs but this is who he is. I don't see him as having great relationship potential but I don't see him as selfish either. I also don't think it's right to blame her issues with intimacy on him. She'd had relationship problems before, and obviously so had he. Even leaving the X-Files out of it, they weren't going to have an easy time of it, were they?

Re: Poems - 1/2

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Yes, I suppose I am being a bit harsh on this Mulder, he probably doesn't deserve such accusations. they're equals and they had sex as equals; it isn't his obligation to always give her first consideration. I think I'm just touchy because Scully seems to have taken most of the hits in this universe. If Khyber had roughed up this Mulder's character the way he did this Scully's, I wouldn't be so hard on him, because I would recognize that he was dealing with just as much inner chaos as she is. But it seems like her relationship with Mulder has left her more vulnerable and depleted, while he seems to be better off than even canon Mulder. So it's hard for me not to essentially blame him. Yes, it was always her choice to put the limits on how much of herself she was going to give to the work, and to him, but the position she was put in, right from the beginning, made setting those limits and holding to them a very difficult thing.

Scully was originally put in this difficult, disadvantaged position by a bunch of male superiors, and she is held in that position by them and their expectations; then Mulder comes along and starts pulling her into difficult positions from the other side, like a tug-of-war, and even though none of what's done to her is really his fault, he can be rather unaware of Scully's difficulties sometimes - of how difficult it is for her to do the right thing in her position - and I find it difficult not to accuse him of negligence. Basically, the whole situation raises my feminist hackles a bit - whether that's justified or it isn't - and KvsS7 raises them more than the series does, because it puts Scully in an even more vulnerable position.

Re: Poems - 1/2

[wendelah1]

Scully was originally put in this difficult, disadvantaged position by a bunch of male superiors, and she is held in that position by them and their expectations; then Mulder comes along and starts pulling her into difficult positions from the other side, like a tug-of-war, and even though none of what's done to her is really his fault, he can be rather unaware of Scully's difficulties sometimes - of how difficult it is for her to do the right thing in her position - and I find it difficult not to accuse him of negligence. Basically, the whole situation raises my feminist hackles a bit - whether that's justified or it isn't - and KvsS7 raises them more than the series does, because it puts Scully in an even more vulnerable position.

I completely agree with this statement. Canon!Mulder can be pretty clueless. And Scully always loses more, no matter who is writing the story. It's hard to write a Scully that's consistent with canon without acknowledging the breadth and depth of her losses. I think Khyber's approach takes this reality and runs with it. I do think Khyber's Mulder gets it eventually, he just doesn't know what to do, or how to fix what's broken in their relationship. He's scared. She's so angry, justifiably so, and he reeks of need, especially by season seven.