This is a very good, thought-provoking story, and I loved the lean, graceful style which is really its own kind of poetry.
I think this story is delightful: the setting, the style, the characterizations, the original characters. I like it all.
I don't see any passive-aggression here. Or maybe I just have no idea what you mean by that?
One of my personal irritants in fic is when the agents, without much explanation, get into bed together and don't have sex! It's not that I'm a smut hound, not really, but it just seems terribly awkward and adolescent. The only writer I can think of who got away with it was Tesla in This House Is burning, but the comfort snuggle doesn't work for me here. I think the only time such a situation might seem appropriate is after the two agents have had sex repeatedly and maybe the world is coming to an end the next day.
I would ask if you were joking but I know you are not.
Sometimes people want the comfort of another warm body. And they don't always want or need sex to accompany that. That's not adolescent, that's human. As we both know, sex does eventually ruin complicate Mulder and Scully's partnership.
It seems so simple to me. They don't have sex in this story because that's not where their partnership/friendship/relationship has progressed, not at this juncture. The most interesting stuff about Mulder and Scully on the series had nothing to do with actual sex and everything to do with trust and intimacy, based on years of shared experiences as FBI partners, working in a two person office, fighting crime, and battling the forces of evil. That partnership is what is so fascinating about the series. Their partnership is what has kept me watching and writing and reading the fanfic all these years. Not the consummated sexual relationship and its unfortunate aftermath.
Any two people can hop into bed and have sex whenever they feel like it, and they do, at least on television, and presumably in real life, too (though in my 32 years of marriage I have not cheated once, I won't say I haven't been tempted).
OT: I just finished watching the fourth episode of Justified and to my utter dismay, US Marshal Raylon Givens has already had sex with Ava Crowder, after assuring his boss that he wouldn't do it, and telling her that he couldn't do it because she was a witness in the investigation into that shooting from the pilot. I have to tell you, I lost a lot of respect for him over that, but I'm guessing he's kind of the Anti-Mulder for you?
Anyway. The sex? That's not what The X-Files is about, not for me. That's probably why I like this story quite a bit more than the other M/S shippers do, most of whom have not put in an appearance in this discussion. There are not many pairings who can believably share a bed chastely, either on television, or in fanfic. However, I think Mulder and Scully can, because their mutual sexual attraction is the least important thing, and for me, the least interesting thing about their relationship. YMMV.
But hey, I'm delighted you read it all, liked it mostly and commented anyway. Thank you. ♥ ♥ ♥
Whatever it stems from (you didn't say), I'm don't think your confusion is likely to be sorted by reading the rest of the series. These are not case files or post-eps or chapters in a book; instead, they are stand-alone stories, loosely connected by their exploration of the personal dimension of the M/S relationship.
***
Scully liked dancing. More to the point, she liked dancing with Mulder. He was graceful and courteous and never gave the impression of leading her around the dance floor, although there was no question he was leading. A giant metaphor for their whole relationship. Yet that wasn't fair to either of them.
After all, she chose to follow.
Indeed.
In case anyone else wants to hear the song that was playing while Mulder and Scully danced, here is Glenn Miller's band performing String of Pearls. Or if you prefer, here's a high fidelity copy so good that it makes me wish I'd been around to hear the band in its heyday.
no subject
I think this story is delightful: the setting, the style, the characterizations, the original characters. I like it all.
I don't see any passive-aggression here. Or maybe I just have no idea what you mean by that?
One of my personal irritants in fic is when the agents, without much explanation, get into bed together and don't have sex! It's not that I'm a smut hound, not really, but it just seems terribly awkward and adolescent. The only writer I can think of who got away with it was Tesla in This House Is burning, but the comfort snuggle doesn't work for me here. I think the only time such a situation might seem appropriate is after the two agents have had sex repeatedly and maybe the world is coming to an end the next day.
I would ask if you were joking but I know you are not.
Sometimes people want the comfort of another warm body. And they don't always want or need sex to accompany that. That's not adolescent, that's human. As we both know, sex does eventually
ruincomplicate Mulder and Scully's partnership.It seems so simple to me. They don't have sex in this story because that's not where their partnership/friendship/relationship has progressed, not at this juncture. The most interesting stuff about Mulder and Scully on the series had nothing to do with actual sex and everything to do with trust and intimacy, based on years of shared experiences as FBI partners, working in a two person office, fighting crime, and battling the forces of evil. That partnership is what is so fascinating about the series. Their partnership is what has kept me watching and writing and reading the fanfic all these years. Not the consummated sexual relationship and its unfortunate aftermath.
Any two people can hop into bed and have sex whenever they feel like it, and they do, at least on television, and presumably in real life, too (though in my 32 years of marriage I have not cheated once, I won't say I haven't been tempted).
OT: I just finished watching the fourth episode of Justified and to my utter dismay, US Marshal Raylon Givens has already had sex with Ava Crowder, after assuring his boss that he wouldn't do it, and telling her that he couldn't do it because she was a witness in the investigation into that shooting from the pilot. I have to tell you, I lost a lot of respect for him over that, but I'm guessing he's kind of the Anti-Mulder for you?
Anyway. The sex? That's not what The X-Files is about, not for me. That's probably why I like this story quite a bit more than the other M/S shippers do, most of whom have not put in an appearance in this discussion. There are not many pairings who can believably share a bed chastely, either on television, or in fanfic. However, I think Mulder and Scully can, because their mutual sexual attraction is the least important thing, and for me, the least interesting thing about their relationship. YMMV.
But hey, I'm delighted you read it all, liked it mostly and commented anyway. Thank you. ♥ ♥ ♥
Whatever it stems from (you didn't say), I'm don't think your confusion is likely to be sorted by reading the rest of the series. These are not case files or post-eps or chapters in a book; instead, they are stand-alone stories, loosely connected by their exploration of the personal dimension of the M/S relationship.
***
Scully liked dancing. More to the point, she liked dancing with Mulder. He was graceful and courteous and never gave the impression of leading her around the dance floor, although there was no question he was leading. A giant metaphor for their whole relationship. Yet that wasn't fair to either of them.
After all, she chose to follow.
Indeed.
In case anyone else wants to hear the song that was playing while Mulder and Scully danced, here is Glenn Miller's band performing String of Pearls. Or if you prefer, here's a high fidelity copy so good that it makes me wish I'd been around to hear the band in its heyday.