Story 218: "An Influence of Stars" by JET

[wendelah1]

I didn't think it had been that long since I last posted here, but I see LiveJournal has changed the posting format. Again. Well, I guess we'll see how it goes. It looks like I have to insert my own paragraph breaks now. Lovely. Or maybe I can't make them at all?

This story was suggested by estella_c. It has a holiday component; however, merry it's not. But it's jetfic so it's well-written, original, poignant, etc.

Summary: "When stars are in the quiet sky, the most I pine for thee," —Edward Buward Lytton. Or Mulder and Scully at bedtime. Overall, it's less smutty than it sounds. (Sorry)  

Category: Oddness, M/S. Post-ep For a Good Portion of Season Seven in Fewer Than 13 Pages With Less Than a Point Than Usual.

Spoilers: Yes, through "All Things."

The author is still on LiveJournal so you can pm her feedback. I believe her email is current. The link is to her old site, waybacked, but this story is also available at Gossamer under Jesemie's Evil Twin.

Let us know what you think and please keep the suggestions coming.

Read "An Influence of Stars" (way-backed) | "An Influence of Stars" (Goss, scroll to story) | "An Influence of Stars" (LJ)

Comments

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

I read this over the summer and once in between, and it’s a really sweet story. JET did a good job of using episodes without relying too heavily on them. I especially liked the part with Samantha and Teena Mulder. It was a sweet domestic setting, made even more potent because the readers knows Mulder just saw Samantha in starlight. It a good example of why JET is a good writer, because she lets the story tell you what is going on without directly telling you what is going on.

I didn’t like Scully in this one though. She was too… docile.
“I sort of… I want to make love to you tonight.”
I like my Scully a little edgy. I love the romance in MSR, but sometimes it makes the characters seem weak. I think that’s just my preference though, not really a critique.

[wendelah1]

Second try at this. LJ ate my comment.

I'm surprised only three people commented on this story. Thank you for being one of them.

I agree that others have written an edgier Scully: Rivkat and OneMillionandNine are two that come to mind. But I disagree that expressing romantic feelings in a more hesitant, less aggressive way makes one seem weak. I would argue further that weakness is not something that should be avoided. Sometimes we need to be weak and dependent. This doesn't diminish us as people, or it shouldn't. I am still waiting for the world where we are all allowed to be fully human, to embody the full range of human behaviors and emotions.

I could go on and on about this issue, because it comes up a surprising amount in this fandom, but I'll spare you the rant.

[newo-fic.livejournal.com]

I just love the way JET writes. It feels almost dreamy. Thought that may not be the write word. Whether it's this story or any of her other works or snippets, I feel as though I'm floating when I read her, and she says so much with so few words, it's stunning.

When the craziness of this coming weekend winds down, I hope to be back to comment with something more specific and concrete, but I just wanted to throw in my immediate impressions.

[wendelah1]

I guess real life took over. Thanks for giving us your initial impressions. I'm surprised this story received so little attention.

I agree, her style is quite impressionistic, even ethereal at times. I wouldn't describe it as concise, however. She uses language quite beautifully but sometimes I feel lost in the words, and for a storyteller that can present problems.

[newo-fic.livejournal.com]

Argh! Totally meant to come back to this but, yes, RL really did run away with my free time. This is a great story and I'm surprised it received such a small response as well. December is a crazy month for many (myself included), which may be a reason for the lack of participation.

but sometimes I feel lost in the words

I can see this, yes. There are a few fic authors that I love but will run into this issue with their stories every once in a while, which can be distracting, especially when a particular story starts off that way. I may need to reread the beginning several times before it sinks in, as if I entered a conversation that was already in progress and I'm trying catch up.

[wendelah1]

You have a lot on your plate. December was insane for me, too.

I hope we get people back this month.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Well, I suggested this, so I have to say something. But it's hard to explain my fascination with this story because it's a type of story I don't usually favor: floaty, dreamy (yes), really a cluster of vignettes rather than a plotted tale. But the imagery has seduced me. A lifelong SF buff, I'm fond of stars. They're sort of my personal insignia (so personal no one knows about it; I once mentioned it to my sister and she said, okay, she was going to adopt the carob cluster as hers; private joke; too private?)

Moving on, An Influence of Stars is a wonderful cluster of vignettes, iridescent like a cluster of soap bubbles, linked just so delicately by the stars on the ceiling and the threatening stars in the sky that make The X-Files, after all, a piece of science fiction as well as a cop show and a romance. The references to various episodes, the time-hopping, is carefully done, and I absolutely love the opening, in which you are in mortal terror that Mulder has somehow been imprisoned in a fake domestic existence that forbids him Scully--remembering then that of course, in dreams, he was. I loved the description of the cathedral windows and later the Christmas allusion and, well, both Christmas and Hanukkah being light festivals the story gives me a holiday glow that shopping can't touch. It's all very personal, I guess.

JET is, of course, a very good writer, but I couldn't stay with her fiction permanently. It's not dramatic or physical enough for me, and I start to experience the sort of impatience that so many feel with Penumbra's Parabiosis. But that's okay. Other fic is for the future. AIOS is for this twinkling time of year.

[wendelah1]

A lifelong SF buff, I'm fond of stars. They're sort of my personal insignia (so personal no one knows about it; I once mentioned it to my sister and she said, okay, she was going to adopt the carob cluster as hers; private joke; too private?)

I did not know that but now I do.

Moving on, An Influence of Stars is a wonderful cluster of vignettes, iridescent like a cluster of soap bubbles, linked just so delicately by the stars on the ceiling and the threatening stars in the sky that make The X-Files, after all, a piece of science fiction as well as a cop show and a romance. The references to various episodes, the time-hopping, is carefully done, and I absolutely love the opening, in which you are in mortal terror that Mulder has somehow been imprisoned in a fake domestic existence that forbids him Scully--remembering then that of course, in dreams, he was.

I love the opening, too, probably because Diana is in it. As the story moves on, I get distracted by worrying whether Scully would let anyone put stars on her ceiling and then once I've let that go, reluctantly, at trying to figure out how her little nephews could possibly have gotten them up there in the first place: "He does. The ceiling is patterned with star-stickers radiating pale green..." Huh?

But the story gets better by the ending. I actually love the sex in this story. It's not lacking in physicality at all. I rarely relate to the sex in fanfiction: It's too phallocentric for my taste, whether slash or het, and mostly too formulaic: kissing, breasts, oral sex, Scully comes, insert tab B into slot A, she comes again, then so does he. It's so conventional and so boring.

But the sex in this story is completely focused on her: her pleasure, her needs and desires. His are barely mentioned despite being told from Mulder's POV. I find this highly erotic.

He smoothly slides his fingers back inside her, the sight of his hand
between her legs more erotic than anything he's ever seen. She's wet
and soft and tight, gorgeous dark auburn curls parted to show the dark
pink slick flesh. He spreads her, and she grinds into his palm. He can
feel the hard knot of her clitoris against the heel of his hand. He
wants to make her come like this first, wants to see the flush spread up
her radiant flesh, her head tipped back, throat exposed like a
sacrifice.

She's so close, and she knows what he's doing. She braces her hands on
his stomach to balance herself, then lets her arms hang at her sides.
She watches him, permission and desire in her eyes.

He feels her muscles tighten, her breathing catch. So close--

He grabs one of her hands and kneads it, paints a star on her palm over
and over with his thumb. Her hand flexes open and trembles, and he
doesn't release it when she comes, contracting around his fingers. She
collapses a little, kisses him and tastes darker, more addictive.

I doubt that there is a man alive who would have the presence of mind to trace the shape of a star on his lover's palm even once at this juncture, let alone over and over, but by this point I hardly care. She keeps this reader right in the moment along with the lovers. I've usually hit the back button long ago.

Thank you for the rec. I'm surprised it got so few comments.

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

OneMillionNine is almost too much for me! His/her stuff is weird to read but great at the same time.
I know your right, Scully deserves to be soft spoken. I just like to see her bold and in control. Again, its a preference.

[wendelah1]

onemillionnine is a woman. I like her fic but I know what you mean. It's over the top in places. However, her stuff is very entertaining, and you'd never say her Scully isn't bold and in control.