Story 193: "Sore Luck at the Luxor" by Rivkat (Anubis)

[wendelah1]

This week's theme is Under the Covers Undercover. Yeah, I made that one up, but it does pretty much sum up this week's selection. Mulder and Scully are in Las Vegas, posing as a couple (duh!) to get dirt on some scumbag mafia type. This was originally posted under the moniker "Anubis," who it turns out was a small group of fanfiction writers who decided it would be fun to write stories individually and then post them under the same sock puppet. Yeah, I don't get it either, so there must be more to the story than what little I've gleaned.

Anyway, this story is funny and sexy, which is exactly what I'm in the mood for.

Summary: Not enough plot to summarize. I only wrote one story as Anubis. As for the rest, I'm not sayin'.

Organized Crime had jumped at the chance to have fresh faces doing the surveillance, and Mulder had jumped at the chance for a weekend in Las Vegas, and they met in the middle and smacked together and came down right on Scully.

Ever since she'd been lured to Vegas, Mulder had been itching to go together. Unfortunately, all the time she'd spent apart from the Gunmen was rather hazy in her mind and she hadn't resisted with as much vigor as she should have. Now that she considered it, Mrs. Franklin was a pretty pitiful excuse even for him. Mulder no doubt had some sort of dark and nefarious bet with the Gunmen involving what *he* could get her to do in Vegas.

Regardless of his true motive, he'd signed them up to do surveillance on Chip Morelli in a hotel in the ridiculous and superstitious shape of a giant pyramid. A black glass pyramid with neon coursing down the edges in case any alien spaceships needed landing lights. Mulder was in love with it.

I'm kind of in love with its ultra-tackiness, too.

You can read Anubis's other stories at their Gossamer page, and then try to guess who wrote the rest. Members, Watchers, Lurkers: feel free to come forward if you are one of the other authors!

Read Sore Luck at the Luxor at AO3. Leave feedback for the author, then let us know what you think. Suggestions are always welcome at the nomination post.

Comments

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I’m not really sure what to say about this fic. It just doesn’t do it for me and it never has. Which is peculiar, actually, because I like literally every other XF fic RivkaT has written.

I love the “under cover” trope, and all of the subsequent tropes that go with it, such as them pretending to be a couple, and them getting all dressed up, and them interacting in strange environments, and getting unprecedented opportunities for (getting forced into) showing each other aspects of themselves they don’t otherwise. But despite having all of these things, I just don’t like SLATL. I guess there are two main reasons why I don’t like it.

1. I think the sex scene is WAY too long. It’s a twenty-eight page fic, and the sex and foreplay take up ten pages. It’s a well written sex scene, but it’s too long, and frankly it’s too full of words for me to really feel anything but distracted or bored by. I’m so conscious, throughout, of RT writing about sex, that the actual sex doesn’t engage me. I’m not going to say it’s purple, because it isn’t. The mood and the focus are just entirely not to my liking.

2. The characterizations grate. This Mulder and Scully just…don’t seem to like each other very much. The way they look at each other, it’s like they only understand each other as “other”, as “the person in the room who is not me, who I must deal with”. It’s tactical and strategic. For me, this sort of thing works in RT’s other fics, because they’re all dark and serious and life-or-death, and the focus isn’t on romance or sex or love. But in a fic like SLATL, which is a fluffy (albeit witty) smut biscuit, I find it really unpleasant, to read Mulder and Scully thinking about each other this way.

Ultimately, I could more easily see RT having tweaked this fic into something dark and cynical that left a bitter taste in your mouth as Mulder and Scully depart from Vegas, than something fun and shippy, which I presume she was aiming for. As it is, I find SLATL is like a shiny red apple, which looks great, but the tastes if off.

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm going to have to go with Amy on this one. It's weird how tastes change as you grow older, but I didn't care for this fic as much as I once did. It's fun and well written and way above par a lot of other fics, but...

1. Yes, the sex is way too long and does nothing for me, mostly because the abundance of metaphors feels like the writer is unloading a verbal assault rifle on the poor unsuspecting reader. Couldn't we get a bit less metaphorical smartassery and a bit more story flow to just, you know - enjoy the moment? But you know me, I'm a great advocate of stylistic simplicity.

2. Yes, as I said before this Scully comes across as rather harsh and sarcastic. It worked tremendously in Iolokus, but not here for what is essentialy a smut biscuit. And yes, there is a sense that these two don't really "get" each other, a certain je ne sais quoi missing - a lack of something flowing between them - an emotional distance? A bugger me, I don't know how to phrase it. There's a hole in their bucket dear Lisa.

Still, Mulder and Scully do Vegas earn points just for the concept, and there are some very clever lines in there. I also loved the way the hotel was described it worked really well.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

there is a sense that these two don't really "get" each other, a certain je ne sais quoi missing - a lack of something flowing between them - an emotional distance? A bugger me, I don't know how to phrase it. There's a hole in their bucket dear Lisa.

Ahaha! Love this.

Another thing that I don't like about this fic is that I have some 'gender role' issues with it. It seems like Scully is basically getting moved around throughout the fic, without really knowing what to do with herself. Mulder manipulates his way into getting them put on the investigation, for reasons which have as much to do with him wanting to see Scully "cut loose" as anything else. He tricks her into getting all dressed up in on outfit she's uncomfortable in. He shows off his exceptional talents for beating the house at craps, and has people catering to him and women brushing their breasts against him in short order. He's the one engages Chip, and who decides when they should head back to the rooms, and who plants the bugs in the rooms. He's also the one who instigates the innuendo, and ultimately pushes the matter by asking about Padgett, and then by making the first move.

Scully is put in this position of being a bauble, an easy drunk, tottering around on her pretty shoes (with heels no higher than her regular shoes, so what gives?). She does try to assert herself here and there, but it's just not in the cards for her in this fic. This is Mulder's show. She's little more than a spectator, watching him assert himself, watching him "make his own luck", watching him win, watching him charm the marks, and the entire craps table, and practically swooning over him herself. Then admitting that she isn't good at knowing what's best for herself, and using that as an invitation for him to make his move.

What's particularly strange is that RT is clearly aware of gender stereotypes and whatnot. But in this case, it's like the fic acknowledges distasteful stereotypes and then marches right into them anyway. Scully scowls at the "virgin luck" cliche, but when Mulder tells her to play, she rolls the dice, while he makes the bets and wins. She scowls that nobody asked her what she was drinking, but drinks what Mulder ordered for her anyway. Maybe it's all for the sake of their cover, but that's not really how it comes across. This goes deeper than "Joe and Dana". It ruffles Scully personally, not professionally.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Hmm, Contact High I would not call subtle--it's pretty forthright in its romanticism--and it is intricate primarily in a verbal sense; it's full of shiny, eye-catching phrases, almost as if the story is a gorgeous piece of embroidery or brocade. And although I love it and always will, I don't consider it Penumbra's best.

As for SLATL, brash is a fair evaluation. I think the overriding theme here is: it's Vegas. Vegas is a brash place created for sinful enjoyments, quite old-fashioned in it's sexism, an expensive, manmade fantasy. And we can all agree that Mulder has a weakness for the fantastical. And Scully. He can't wait to get them together. Plus, she was there and he missed it!

So he does set up the case, which tasteful Agent Scully may condescend to, but it is after all about organized crime (everyone remember that Simpsons sendup?) and not lights in the sky; she has no grounds for refusal. Her "costume" is her own choice, a bad one as it turns out but at least (Wendy) it isn't to her personal taste, nor will she pay for it herself. They both drink too much, I guess, but it's virtually unavoidable if they're keeping up with Chip. Mulder does a masterful turn here as a high-rolling, Hugh Hefner hero, and the nostalgia alone is adorable. And Scully really digs him. She already did and this is her nonserious chance to take advantage. She loves the act and she *decides* to have the sex then and there. Presumably what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (an irony acknowledging its brash code of amorality). But, in this case, I don't think so.

Yes, amyhit, I think it is all for the sake of the cover, the cover being for crime and Las Vegas itself. And, finally, for the carnal desires of our heroes, who can examine their higher selves in some other fic.

Oh my, yes, the sex goes on far too long in both stories. Maybe most of us have reached the point when skipping/skimming is indicated a lot of the time.