these really are characterization AUs rather than the usual setting or plot point AUs
I don't think so. I think the characters are different because their lives are different. In the context of these circumstances, I find the characterizations very believable.
Although I do seem to have been misunderstanding part 4 all this time. I always thought Mulder was crying and Scully was choked up at the end because they both knew they were never going to stop, and Mulder suggesting it in a moment of impulsivity, like it was really going to happen, was painful. Clearly I was wrong.
So maybe I do find that section a bit OOC. But I find the dynamic between them so believable and lovely that I can almost ignore the whole "let's quit and get married!" thing. Though if ever there was a Mulder marriage proposal I didn't hate, it'd be this one. The way Mulder says it just works for me. It's one of the most vulnerable things he's ever said, and he tosses it out like a casual suggestion, using the same basic words he used to suggest they go into teaching. Yup, that's exactly how Mulder would do it, I think.
no subject
I don't think so. I think the characters are different because their lives are different. In the context of these circumstances, I find the characterizations very believable.
Although I do seem to have been misunderstanding part 4 all this time. I always thought Mulder was crying and Scully was choked up at the end because they both knew they were never going to stop, and Mulder suggesting it in a moment of impulsivity, like it was really going to happen, was painful. Clearly I was wrong.
So maybe I do find that section a bit OOC. But I find the dynamic between them so believable and lovely that I can almost ignore the whole "let's quit and get married!" thing. Though if ever there was a Mulder marriage proposal I didn't hate, it'd be this one. The way Mulder says it just works for me. It's one of the most vulnerable things he's ever said, and he tosses it out like a casual suggestion, using the same basic words he used to suggest they go into teaching. Yup, that's exactly how Mulder would do it, I think.