Story 189 & 190: "Epiphany" by MaybeAmanda, and "How to Fly" by Oracle

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

It's a good thing we just got finished with an apocafic, because this year we're going to have two fics for Christmas and they're both sweet and generally happy little stories. Everyone is welcome to comment on both, or only one, in either order, at any time.

The first one is an AU season 9-ish fic in which Mulder and Scully spend Christmas together with their infant son. It's also probably the most homey, domestic fic I'm ever going to rec. *g* But don't let my Scrooge impression scare you off. It's nice, and there's an interesting little twist to Mulder and Scully's world, amidst all the domestic bliss.

Epiphany by Maybe Amanda

In the second fic, Mulder and Scully spend Christmas Eve stranded while on the road. It's set in any one of the early/mid seasons, and it's nothing complicated, just a sweetly romantic little vignette.

How to Fly by Oracle

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and seasonal well wishes to all who don't.

Comments

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I promise to comment. I have read both, but must refresh my memory of Epiphany. It's a complicated week for reading. :)

Is this a title or not?

[wendelah1]

This should be interesting. The comment pages have been redesigned and we no longer have comment titles as an option. This will negative impact the readability of this community, as well as our ability to conduct lengthy discussion. You also can't preview comments. Personally, I am really, really pissed off about this. Fail, Live Journal!

As far as the stories, I liked them both pretty well, although I had some issues with both of them. I'll be back after I finish a story I owe to Fringe Secret Santa and comment in more depth.

In the meanwhile, have a photo!




EDIT: now I'm just confused. In this view (my own style, which is Flexible Squares), it looks like the comment pages are unchanged. And the Subject line is still available and comments can be previewed? I'm going to sign out and sign into an unpaid account and see if that makes a difference. If I need to, I'll change the format to Flexible Squares if that means we get the comment lines back.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Wow, this new commenting format is terrible. Merry freaking Christmas to you too, LJ.

Anyway, what the title of this post WOULD say, if titles were still an OPTION, is:

How to Fly

Honestly, this is the kind of fic I'd usually find a bit too romantic and sappy for my liking. But as a Christmas fic I'm rather fond of it.

First and foremost, I like the way the fic feels like a little adventure, even though it's so short and harmless. It has that feeling like...like the world around Mulder and Scully is, for the time being, theirs to share, without any intrusions. Does anybody know what I mean? The snow makes the setting of the car feel intimate, and the fact that they have to go out in the snow together makes their shared motel room feel even more intimate.

Rather than put Mulder and Scully in a more "normal" setting in order to give them a merry Christmas, Oracle puts Mulder and Scully in their usual, workaholic setting - on a case, in the middle of nowhere, suspended between two points. It's both a mundane and quirky way to spend Christmas Eve. The familiarity of them being on a case, and the strangeness of it being Christmas, are elements I find quite charming in combination.

I like their banter about Santa Claus:

"What about you?"

"Who says I've stopped believing?"

"Mulder, seriously."

"Seriously? I think there are more than two possible
explanations for flying reindeer."

I like the mild but tangible currents of angst and longing, which juxtapose the ultimate sweetness of the fic, and keep it somewhat grounded.

I like Mulder quite seriously offering to go back for Scully's pie. It may be a little OTT in the chivalry department, but whatever, it's so very adorable.

I like Mulder's evasive yet telling answer when Scully asks him why he wanted to join her for mince pie:

"Because I wanted to," he replies. He avoids her gaze.
"Why do I need a reason?"

I like the second repetition of "And kisses him."

I like this sentiment, which I guess could be called the central concept of the fic:

Sometimes I wonder how we get out of bed every
morning. How we keep holding onto life, even when it looks
like we aren't going to make it. And how we keep fighting.
How we never give up."

"It's because we believe, Scully. We believe we can do it."

Yes, it's a little cheesy, but again I'm going to plead the "It's ChristmasFic" defence. Besides, I can actually imagine Scully and Mulder having this exchange. It's simple and it's true - not that positive thinking gets them through the many dangerous challenges of their lives, but that their conviction does.

For the most part, HTF is a fic I don't feel particularly inclined to be critical of. It's short, a trifle, and maybe a bit too sentimental, but that's fine with me.

My biggest criticism is that I find the last two paragraphs schmaltzy. And Mulder and Scully's sudden laughing fit felt a bit forced to me. I want to buy it, but I don't quite.

Also, what's up with the Bronte references?

Mulder remains silent. He's sunk into one of his Heathcliff
moods and she thinks it's best not to disturb him.

He could be bald, tattooed, disfigured like Mr. Rochester,
moustached, plastic-surgeried or pierced, and she would still
find him beautiful.

Two Bronte references from two different novels in one short fic? It seemed a bit much. Besides, the first reference isn't particularly appropriate. Perhaps in literary speak a "Heathcliff mood" is just supposed to mean "somber and unhappy." But as I see it, Heathcliff is basically a cruel, hard, somewhat sociopathic tyrant. I don't think his moods and Mulder's compare very well. I like the second reference though.

Side note: I'm disregarding the author's note about this being an early seasons fic, because this feels like an AU S5 fic to me. God, imagine if Christmas that year had gone like this, rather than how it went.

Does anybody else have a specific season they feel like placing it in?

See, I still have comment lines in my style

[wendelah1]

But can anyone read the comment lines I write?

This comment mess is most irritating.

Oh yeah, we're discussing a story.

It's been so long that barely remember reading the Brontés--any of them--but maybe the youthful enthusiams of our writer accounts for the references? It's hard for me to see any of those novels as holding any interest for Scully.

I'll have to go back and reread this story. I'm still in writing mode.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I can read your title, but it just looks like a line of bolded text at the top of your comment. It doesn't have a separate place above the comment, like titles used to have.

Yeah, and the Comment lines don't carry over like they used to do.

[wendelah1]

This beyond annoying, really. It's broken the comment pages for this entire community then. I'm beside myself.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

In my head I was setting HTF in a later season (1)(I didn't read the author's note until after I finished the story). I thought the amount of emotion in Mulder and Scully's dialogue in the fic was too high for early seasons, when they were still relatively reserved around one another.

(1) After season 7, at least.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I have always liked "Epiphany," more since I parsed it out and came to respect its semi-hidden angst. It comes on like such a joyous little holiday celebration, but such a strained history Scully has been carrying in her brain. It's a good thing that Mulder displays as such a super partner-father, despite his inevitable confusion. He's almost too good. It might have been better if he were more defensive and confused. But hey, it's Christmas.

MaybeAmanda's style is, of course, the very best butter.

As for "How To Fly," well, I like Oracle, always have, always will, but this one seemed a bit flyaway for me. Maybe it's because Mulder's marvelous insight is shared as the two agent are in bed hugging each other. It's not pillow tall either, which as we know occurs *after.* Come to think of it, "Epiphany" is somewhat weakened by that "we must get together for sex soon" ending MA had boxed herself into. Let me put it this way. I like straight talk, and I like the sexing (dare I admit), and I like FBI crimefighting and partnerfighting and alienfighting and can even be titillated by an occasional M/O and S/O. But there's something about the loitering on the brink of physicality that makes me feel as though I've been trapped in the preteen library section. It's just me. Crabby old me.

The "no room at the inn" reference in "How To Fly" was clever. Though I'm not sure we fans should be encouraged to identify our heroes with gods any more than we have already.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

Ugh, livejournal. If anyone here's considering backing up their journal or moving, FYI you can get a dreamwidth account without an invite code between now and the New Year.

I liked Epiphany, a lot. There's nothing especially new about it, but it's sweetly written and manages not to be too sappy despite being holiday fic, baby fic, and schmoopy 'ship fic. I like the background detail of Mulder's missing memories and the references to Doggett and Scully's new job.

I like the beginning of How To Fly, the setting of the scene. Like amyhit mentioned above, I thought this was a good scene:

"So then why did you want to join me?" she asks, raising
her eyebrows.

There's a pause. He brushes some snow from her hair.

"Because I wanted to," he replies. He avoids her gaze.
"Why do I need a reason?"

The ending is way too sugary for my taste, though. I really don't like the reindeer conversation or the underlying metaphor. Bah humbug.