Story 195: "Every Sparrow Falling" by Alloway

[wendelah1]

What a nice response we got to "Oak Leaves in October." It's good to remember that there is more to this fandom than just the canon ship.

"Every Sparrow Falling" is a case file that is also an x-file. This is Mulder and Scully doing what they do best, investigating the paranormal. It's been some time since I last read this, but I remember being scared out of my wits. There is no summary from the author so here's the one from Raiders of the Lost Fanfic, Maybe Amanda's old rec site: "Casefile, paranormal, religion, madness. And hot dogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jack."

For Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, it began with a sparrow.

More precisely, with a flock of sparrows. Or, as Agent Mulder had put it, a *fall* of sparrows.

"Clever turns of phrase aside, I imagine this must have been quite painful," Scully murmured, hunkered down by the body. The dead man was sprawled out peacefully, save for the bloodied mats of hair and the bird feet dangling out of his skull. Scully surmised she'd find the rest of the bird buried within. "Looks like it fell beak first, but still...given the impact, the rate of speed had to have been tremendous."

"Indicating a long fall from a high point of origin," Mulder agreed. "Consistent with the recent evidence of lights in the clouds, odd humming noises--"

"Mulder--" she protested.

"Come on, Scully, this isn't the first unexplainable 'deadly rain' recorded," he argued. "You've seen the reports. Hell, you've *written* the reports."

She nodded. "Frogs, rocks, crickets, seas of blood, and the inexorable sacrifice of the first-born..." she trailed off. Mulder was first; Samantha had been second-child. "No, Mulder," she said. "This rain is man-made. Or at least sent by aliens with terrible penmanship."

"What?"

Latex-sheathed fingers plucked one of the birds from its chosen spot of ground. "It's been stuffed," she said. "Hardened with a shellac-like coating. And Mulder--the writing is a dead giveaway." She rotated the bird to face him. Ignoring the blind, dead eyes, he focused his attention on the scrap of fabric sewn to the sparrow's chest.

"Wife beating," Mulder read. Scully could almost hear the gears grind as Mulder shifted from alien-chaser to manhunter. "Scully, pass the gloves."

Read "Every Sparrow Falling", then come tell us what you think.

The link is to IOHO's archive, but if their bandwidth runs out, you can also read it on her old site via the Wayback Machine or at Gossamer.

Comments

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

*deep breath*

Okay, I think I get it. It took almost an hour of scrolling back and forth through the fic to check different parts, and then writing the whole thing out, though, before I felt like I actually knew the plot and wasn't just guessing about things.

It’s an x-file built on some truly ghastly and interesting concepts, I’ll give it that. I think my main problem with it is that it’s all a bit too tenuously connected. The death that brings Mulder and Scully into town turns out to have little to do with the x-file. The man’s death is an accident, and his accidental killer just happens to be connected to what turns out to be the real x-file. There is all this talk about sparrows: the first man dies from being hit by a sparrow, Mulder and Scully get pelted by sparrow guts, and James’ team were called “Sparrows” – yet there doesn’t seem to be any actual connection between these very notable elements, just coincidence. Not to mention there is just too much going on with the actual x-file. It’s called orange, it’s some kind of malevolent essence, it forms totems out of dirt when something rouses it, it eats people’s humanity to sustain itself, it can call out seductively to certain kinds of people, it also turns them into zombie vessels for itself, and it uses bugs to help it eat people somehow? Or it just makes them crazy. And it travels around in the guise of a fair or a carnival or whatever. And there is a secret (government?) operation whose job it is to exterminate the orange, somehow, and mind wipe people when necessary. And James’ essence is still lingering around, somehow, communicating with Mulder (and Scully?) while they’re not entirely conscious.

It just—it’s too much. I’d really like a bit more cohesiveness.


On the other hand, there is quite a bit I like about this fic. It’s creepy, it’s inventive, the ending is chilling, the Mulder/Scully dialogue and behavior is spot on, plus Scully rescues Mulder and bosses around secret ops. dudes.

On the other other hand, I do wish the fic had a bit more of a character focus. I like my fanfic to give me more of Mulder and Scully than the show typically does, and most fanfic does. I think Every Sparrow Falling is notably the most case-focused casefile I’ve ever read. I admire it for that – for being different, and true to the show. But I find it difficult to get emotionally interested in this fic, without the emotional in that a bit more character focus usually brings.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I thought the ending, also, rang particularly true in terms of the show. Early seasons especially had a lot of "and then everything was resolved--OR WAS IT" (cue Jersey Devil children crawling out into the sunshine/Tooms staring intently at the meal tray slot in his cell door/whatever).

I'm not a big fan of that kind of ending, but I guess it's a good way to get you to tune in next week. I liked the story but thought the ending was just okay.

[wendelah1]

It just—it’s too much. I’d really like a bit more cohesiveness.

I do see what you mean, but I didn't feel that way while reading it. Maybe it's because human evil wears many disguises? It's too big to sum up in a less complicated way?

The connections seem a little tenuous, but in much the same way they do on the series. What does Mulder say about coincidences? "If coincidences are coincidences, why do they feel so contrived?" I can't remember the context, naturally.

I think the fic reveals things about Mulder and Scully and their partnership; though there may be nothing new or exciting to us, the readership of 2012, this was written in 1997. To me, the story itself still feels fresh and original, full of striking imagery and terrifying possibilities. I got emotionally invested in the outcome because the writing was so compelling. I got excited trying to unravel the mystery right along with Mulder and Scully. I adore mysteries, in case you didn't know, so it makes sense that it would have special appeal to me. *g*