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xf_book_club2011-09-21 04:24 pm
amyhit.livejournal.com) wrote in xf_book_club2011-09-21 04:24 pm
Entry tags:
- au,
- msr,
- post episode,
- r,
- season 7
Story 181: "The Waterskiers" by Khyber
Well everyone (I'm not sure how numerous you are at the moment, but I'm going to be bold and say 'everyone'), we've reached the end of the road - the point where the narrative pavement turns to gravel turns to a beaten dirt path trailing off narrowly into the uncharted wilds of the great and sometimes terrible WIP territory.
By waybacking Khyber's website we get what seem to be conflicting accounts of what the future of KvsS7 was to be. In early 2008 there were five fics meant to follow "The Waterskiers," three of which were to be "full episodes" and two were to be vignettes (as seen here). This outline complies with Khyber's notes for "Amnesia" which he judged to be the "late beginning/early middle" of the story. Yet by late 2009 the titles of four of these five fics had vanished, and only the one titled "Parabola" remained. It was initially indicated to be planned as a vignette, but later seemed intended to have been a full episode.
In summary, the fate of the KvsS7 universe remains largely a mystery, and anyone participating in the comments thread should feel free to speculate on the future of the story, as well as share their thoughts about the fic itself.
TITLE: The Waterskiers (Mod note: You may have to c/p the URL, or find the fic on Gossamer.)
AUTHOR: Khyber
E-MAIL: khyber@khyberfic.net
DISTRIBUTION: Ephemeral, Gossamer, please ask for anywhere else.
RATING: R for mature content.
CATEGORIES: XR KEYWORDS: Withheld.
SPOILERS: Pbbblffft.
SUMMARY: Missing scenes... okay, a LOT of missing scenes... from "Hollywood AD."
Author's Notes: This story is part of "Khyber Versus Season Seven" and takes place during "Hollywood AD," specifically, following the end of the famous bathtub scene. The rest of the episode takes place a week or more after the end of this story.
Remember that the premiere of "The Lazarus Bowl," according to the episode, is "eighteen months later," sometime in late 2001.
Sadly the summer is over. That does, however, mean a return to something resembling a normal posting schedule at some point in the near future. Remember the old days (July) when a new week meant changing up the plot, style, and characterizations with an all new fic? Well those days are returning along with coats and scarves, so if you have any suggestions for fics you'd like to read this fall the recommendations page is always open.
By waybacking Khyber's website we get what seem to be conflicting accounts of what the future of KvsS7 was to be. In early 2008 there were five fics meant to follow "The Waterskiers," three of which were to be "full episodes" and two were to be vignettes (as seen here). This outline complies with Khyber's notes for "Amnesia" which he judged to be the "late beginning/early middle" of the story. Yet by late 2009 the titles of four of these five fics had vanished, and only the one titled "Parabola" remained. It was initially indicated to be planned as a vignette, but later seemed intended to have been a full episode.
In summary, the fate of the KvsS7 universe remains largely a mystery, and anyone participating in the comments thread should feel free to speculate on the future of the story, as well as share their thoughts about the fic itself.
TITLE: The Waterskiers (Mod note: You may have to c/p the URL, or find the fic on Gossamer.)
AUTHOR: Khyber
E-MAIL: khyber@khyberfic.net
DISTRIBUTION: Ephemeral, Gossamer, please ask for anywhere else.
RATING: R for mature content.
CATEGORIES: XR KEYWORDS: Withheld.
SPOILERS: Pbbblffft.
SUMMARY: Missing scenes... okay, a LOT of missing scenes... from "Hollywood AD."
Author's Notes: This story is part of "Khyber Versus Season Seven" and takes place during "Hollywood AD," specifically, following the end of the famous bathtub scene. The rest of the episode takes place a week or more after the end of this story.
Remember that the premiere of "The Lazarus Bowl," according to the episode, is "eighteen months later," sometime in late 2001.
Sadly the summer is over. That does, however, mean a return to something resembling a normal posting schedule at some point in the near future. Remember the old days (July) when a new week meant changing up the plot, style, and characterizations with an all new fic? Well those days are returning along with coats and scarves, so if you have any suggestions for fics you'd like to read this fall the recommendations page is always open.
no subject
"I'd like snow," she said. "I'd like a snow day, two feet of snow."
"Maybe at Christmas."
They're back in DC. Their escape from everyday reality is over and it's back to work. Scully is wishing for a snow day - a reprieve, something to keep reality at bay. She doesn't want to go back. Is this a foretelling of their future? Does it mean that they can't keep on going this way, that soon they will no longer have the conviction necessary to go back? And does Mulder's response indicate that he doesn't understand what she's really wishing for? Or that he understands, but also understands that she's wishing for something she knows they can't have? I prefer to think it's the second, and that it isn't a foretelling of the future.
This thematic element of the story is very excellent, and very well incorporated into the fic, which is what makes me admire Waterskiers even though I don't always like it. We see Scully (and Mulder, though more by proxy) struggling to come to terms with their place in things, and how much she is willing to sacrifice for the cause. But this struggle is voiced more clearly by CSM, in what he says to Skinner:
"Waterskiing is such a strange pastime, don't you think. You caper and prance at the end of your line, as if somehow you have control over what's happening, as if the boat wasn't there pulling you along. But you don't. You're a puppet. All you really have control over is whether or not you keep going."
In this light, the title of this fic says it all in one word. It's a beautiful and chilling metaphor when you realize the scope of everything it encompasses. Not only does it apply to Mulder and Scully, but to Skinner and CSM, and also to Bill Mulder and all the rest of them. They're all waterskiers. None of them are in control of this thing or their place in it. It's hard to say if anyone is in charge anymore, or even if they ever really were.
no subject
Yes, that's it exactly. They don't even have control over that, unless they are the person driving the boat.
The interweaving of the two stories doesn't really work for me, but when I analyze what's making me uncomfortable, I think it's that anytime Mulder and Scully get closer on a romantic level, it feels to me as though they aren't as focused on the work. In "Home from the War," that was okay, because the war was over. But that was all an illusion, a dream world they each created independently, while under heavy sedation via hypnotic suggestion. By this time in the series, Mulder's found his dead sister, his mother's gone too, his father was murdered back in season two or three. I do see Mulder's commitment wavering in this series, and his focus shifting to his feelings for Scully. My sense is that as much as she loves Mulder (even noromo's get that they love each other), Scully isn't comfortable with it because her sense of justice won't let her be. More than her own abduction, I think it was the death of her sister, the deaths of the other Mufon women from cancer, and her daughter's death that gave purpose to her life, that cemented her commitment to the X-Files. Maybe CC and 1013 think she's there for Mulder but I don't. I think she is there because she has to live up to the fact that her life was spared, when Melissa's was not, when Penny's was not. Melissa died in her place. She'll never rest until the men who committed these crimes against humanity are brought to justice. She can't. And I think in large part that's what makes her (and me) so uneasy about her growing closeness with Mulder. In her mind, she hasn't earned it, she doesn't deserve it. It's not about the sex for her (and it really pisses me off that Mulder thinks it is for even a second), it's about their work and how important it is to the future of humanity.
This above all is what made me hate IWTB, even more than the ridiculous plot and inhumane medicine being practiced. There is no way on earth Scully would leave the fight, not unless she was forced out. And I never had a sense in that film that her leaving law enforcement for medicine was anything other than a retreat from reality. I also don't believe Mulder would sit around for years in a back room clipping newspaper articles, waiting for the FBI to give him an engraved invitation. Do you?
I think you can quote Khyber. He did like IWTB because he liked seeing them living their lives and being happy, which is why I think the ending to this saga would result in the same thing. I think if he does come back and finish it someday, M&S will end up being forced to flee for their lives, perhaps to Europe, perhaps even with the help of CSM and Skinner. The itinerary is planned, the tickets are bought; all they have to do is get on the plane and leave.
no subject
In this metaphor, do you think that's no one, or the aliens? I suppose you could say it's the conspiracy itself. There's no one at the helm, and yet things continue. The conspiracy has become self-perpatuating, to an extent.
Yeah, I'm just going to agree with just about your entire comment. The thing about Scully being there for Mulder has always really bothered me. In fact, I think one of the only lines in the much beloved Parabiosis that I don't quite like is near the end when she says something along the lines of, "and I've stayed in this job because I'm in love with you." On one hand, I think it's true that if they didn't have each other, and love each other, they wouldn't have stayed. But I don't think for a seond that Mulder is why she does the work. At the risk of being overly simplistic, she does it because it's right.
It's not about the sex for her (and it really pisses me off that Mulder thinks it is for even a second)
Hmm. I think she can feel guilty about having sex with him, and that can encompass a lot. I don't think she's guilty about sex for itself, but then who ever is? Her sense of duty and professionalism, her sense of self-containment and control, these things are all bound up in her sexuality - especially when it comes to Mulder.
The fact that she's had sex with him leaves her open for reproach. I think that's how she views it. It makes her vulnerable, because it wasn't professional, and it wasn't about the cause, and she wasn't self-contained. Mulder thinks:
She avoided his eyes, mouth set in a straight line. It
pissed him off. Right, Scully, straight to the sex. That's
your greatest failure, the one you're most ashamed to admit,
opening your legs.
I do think it's pretty insensitive of him not to understand, after all this time, what "opening her legs" means to her. Everything else, all the terrible things that happened that she couldn't prevent, were things that were done to her. And she fought back, and was not defeated. But this was something she did by choice, out of desire and need, a kind of temporary but chronic surrender. I think it's a knee-jerk reaction for her to be ashamed for exposing herself the way she did. She has a lot of anxiety about a lot of things, and that anxiety gravitates to the areas of herself that she feels are weak or flawed. that's how I see it.
no subject
That kind of makes sense to me for Scully, although it also makes me sad. Because I don't think loving someone makes you weak or flawed. Getting to love and be loved in return is a wonderful thing under almost any circumstances. Getting to express that love in a physical way is something I can't ever get enough of or take for granted. I have a hard time understanding why after all of this time it wouldn't be a joy for her as it is clearly is for him. And why she feels like the power differential is still unequal. I feel like in these stories, Mulder keeps making himself vulnerable to her but she is still keeping a part of herself back. Or she keeps wishing she could? I thought "All Things" was supposed to represent a turning point for them, but it doesn't seem like it was in this series. It's almost like "All Things" never happened or it didn't mean the same thing if they'd been sleeping together on and off all along as in this series. They seem much happier in the real season seven than they do in Khyber's version. Do you think that was his intention?
Edit: Rereading the comments on "Poem" I ran into this one by Khyber: "My central concern for this s7 stuff is, "what would this really be like? What if everybody involved was a real person?" because I think they got very close to that in S7, and I just want to take it a little further."
I think that answers my question.