Story 220: "Fragile" by Ophelia

[wendelah1]

It's too quiet around here, folks.

I just finished reading this next story, nominated by infinitlight. It's a carefully researched casefile, a very good one, if a little on the graphic side for me. (Damn. Why am I such a light-weight?) As it unfolds, it gets better and better, and has memorable climax and denouement. I'm classifying this as gen fic, Teen-for violence.

Title: Fragile
Author: Ophelia
E-Mail: OpheliaMac@aol.com
Rating: R--mature themes
Category: T, A
Spoilers: General Fourth Season, my own fanfic story, "Poison," and a story called "Favorite Child" by Lindsay, which gives an interesting interpretation on the choice the Consortium forced Bill Mulder to make.
Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST
Summary: Mulder and Scully are called in on a case described as an alien abduction, but Mulder suspects something both more commonplace and more sinister. Mulder angst, Scully angst, imaginary small town in Wisconsin angst.

You can try sending feedback to the author, although in my experience, fandom AOL addresses are mostly dead ends. Please let us know what you think. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

Read "Fragile"

Comments

[szgrey.livejournal.com]

I think the most compelling sections of this are those told from the POV of the man who defiled the dead body.

Me too. I'm trying to think why that is, and the best I can come up with is that those sections seem to gel more, maybe because they're not trying to do as much- so we get this pure, deeply creepy focalization through this twisted mind, while the other sections are trying to handle all the layers of Mulder's and Scully's characterization, relationship, dialogue, and the unfolding of the investigation. (Plus things (like the frequent references to particular episodes) that date it & sometimes feel clunky.) There's this wonderfully-crafted plot, with a well-drawn setting, good details, good dialogue, and for the most part it moves along really well, but sometimes it gets weighed down by things that might better be trimmed, like redundant-feeling explanations of what's going on in Mulder's or Scully's head. The Thomas sections aren't carrying that weight.

[wendelah1]

There's this wonderfully-crafted plot, with a well-drawn setting, good details, good dialogue, and for the most part it moves along really well, but sometimes it gets weighed down by things that might better be trimmed, like redundant-feeling explanations of what's going on in Mulder's or Scully's head. The Thomas sections aren't carrying that weight.

That explains a lot, actually.