Part 5: I find Hagen's transition into the alien creature to be exceptionally horrifying. It's handled so well that it's almost beautiful, even though it's really the opposite of that. This was the section that made me think of Oyster. I don't remember Oyster very well, but I remember that Jordan is very good at writing unusual states of mind, mixing human thinking with something other - writing an unfathomable experience and making it feel real. I also have to give her props for having the guts to write this: He thought of Scully standing naked before him, the red patch between her legs. Had this happened already, or was it about to happen? He couldn't tell. He saw himself pushing her down on her back, seizing her ankles, spreading her legs. Wide, wide, wide as his shoulders, wide as his arms would spread out, wider, until the tearing sound began. I've always felt that if you're going to write something dark, you should be real about it - don't shy away from it. Don't sensationalize it, but pay it the respect of telling the truth. This feels true. True enough that I was struck by the sudden realization of how rarely I read anything so genuinely and viscerally violent - especially when it's about Scully or Mulder.
Part 7: The sections involving Diana and Jeffrey aren't of great interest to me, but I like that TTF has them in it, as partners. I tend to feel that plot-centric fanfic is a "more the merrier" kind of deal. Involving more characters, and actually giving them things to do, makes the story feel more full-bodied and complex.
He remembered the idiot drooling down on him, saying Come, Come, and trying to lure him into the woods. He remembered killing the idiot, the gorgeous bright red arc of blood sything across the golden tips of the rye.
I love this line, the mix of ugliness and beauty.
Part 8: I like the hallway scene(!) a lot. It's sensual and erotic and intense, and while I think Jordan could have cut back a little on the swoony emotional description, I only got tired of it on my second read through.
I love this: she says a single agonized word: "Mulder." His name forces her mouth into the shape of a kiss.
But I don't like: "I wanted to see you again," she says, and wonders why it comes out as a whisper.
One of the things I like so much about this AU is that Scully is so strong and competent and independent. She carried on their work on her own, and she's done a good job. But with Mulder she's 'timid damsel Scully' more than 'dauntless agent Scully'. It's a shame, because it would only take changing maybe five short lines in the whole fic and I don't think there'd be a problem.
NOTE: I like this section less, now, as well. *sad sigh* I loved the way the scene started seemingly in the middle of something. It was probably my favorite part of the fic. I thought Jordan was ingenious for not showing us how they got to this point they're at in the hall, for jerking the reader into the scene with a sudden passionate lurch.
Part 9: Mulder asking Scully whether CSM had talked her into visiting him was pretty hard to take, but the way he says it, I'm not sure he believes his own accusations. He seems more like he's railing impotently against much bigger forces - just as he always was, only worse now. Usually I wouldn't let him off that easy for being a prick, but after what he's been through I think it's forgivable.
Part 10: I like that Scully meets an informant. That's another thing that fills out a story nicely: when the character's do research. Cappy is obnoxious, but in an enjoyable way.
I like this historical, earthy, human approach to explaining the case. It's not necessarily that it's better than the more cosmic, futuristic, alien approach. It's just pleasantly different, and tangible.
She remembered the ice... Closed her eyes and swallowed, and tasted the bile of a long ago near miss, some encounter so close that they'd had to make sure Mulder was stopped dead in his tracks afterwards.
The FTF tie-in is cool, but I think TTF reads more like an AU branched off from 'The End' than an AU branched off from FTF.
2/3
Part 7: The sections involving Diana and Jeffrey aren't of great interest to me, but I like that TTF has them in it, as partners. I tend to feel that plot-centric fanfic is a "more the merrier" kind of deal. Involving more characters, and actually giving them things to do, makes the story feel more full-bodied and complex.
He remembered the idiot drooling down on him, saying Come, Come, and trying to lure him into the woods. He remembered killing the idiot, the gorgeous bright red arc of blood sything across the golden tips of the rye.
I love this line, the mix of ugliness and beauty.
Part 8: I like the hallway scene(!) a lot. It's sensual and erotic and intense, and while I think Jordan could have cut back a little on the swoony emotional description, I only got tired of it on my second read through.
I love this: she says a single agonized word: "Mulder." His name forces her mouth into the shape of a kiss.
But I don't like: "I wanted to see you again," she says, and wonders why it comes out as a whisper.
One of the things I like so much about this AU is that Scully is so strong and competent and independent. She carried on their work on her own, and she's done a good job. But with Mulder she's 'timid damsel Scully' more than 'dauntless agent Scully'. It's a shame, because it would only take changing maybe five short lines in the whole fic and I don't think there'd be a problem.
NOTE: I like this section less, now, as well. *sad sigh* I loved the way the scene started seemingly in the middle of something. It was probably my favorite part of the fic. I thought Jordan was ingenious for not showing us how they got to this point they're at in the hall, for jerking the reader into the scene with a sudden passionate lurch.
Part 9: Mulder asking Scully whether CSM had talked her into visiting him was pretty hard to take, but the way he says it, I'm not sure he believes his own accusations. He seems more like he's railing impotently against much bigger forces - just as he always was, only worse now. Usually I wouldn't let him off that easy for being a prick, but after what he's been through I think it's forgivable.
Part 10: I like that Scully meets an informant. That's another thing that fills out a story nicely: when the character's do research. Cappy is obnoxious, but in an enjoyable way.
I like this historical, earthy, human approach to explaining the case. It's not necessarily that it's better than the more cosmic, futuristic, alien approach. It's just pleasantly different, and tangible.
She remembered the ice... Closed her eyes and swallowed, and tasted the bile of a long ago near miss, some encounter so close that they'd had to make sure Mulder was stopped dead in his tracks afterwards.
The FTF tie-in is cool, but I think TTF reads more like an AU branched off from 'The End' than an AU branched off from FTF.