Story 228: "Original Sin" by Syntax6

[wendelah1]

She's back. "Original Sin" is syntax6's long unfinished WIP, abandoned in 2008 after six gripping chapters. To my surprise and delight, she has returned to fandom, and over the past few weeks, posted the remainder of the story. She updated her website, too, adding a half dozen or more stories in a new fandom. It looks good.

It's post Fight the Future, and Scully has moved to Utah. Unfortunately for her, the X-Files followed her there. She must not have noticed that the state emblem is a big old beehive. Poor Scully. When will she learn? Tags: NC-17, mytharc, casefile, M/O, S/O, MSR, chipfic, Samantha, horribly absent & hugely apologetic author.

If you haven't already, email her some feedback, then please come back and let us know what you think.

Remember, the nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

Read Original Sin

Comments

[wendelah1]

The twin Samanthas were a great twist. I think they have to be clones, albeit ones that had been allowed to become adults without being subjected to the experimentation that made them into hybrids. We know the consortium made multiples of her, used them for many different purposes. It's creepy to think CSM raised one and then married her. She must be the one Mulder met after he found the chip for Scully? It's hard to understand what happened to the Samantha who ended up in the system. How did the Consortium let that happen? Was it a social experiment of some sort? There were many questions left unanswered, but this is The X-Files. The answers always lead to more questions.

Her secondary characters are wonderful. They are one of the elements that set her apart from most fic writers. She takes great care in creating them to make them real. She's the real deal. There is no doubt in my mind that she could be published.

The other thing that sets her apart is how deftly she weaves together all of the elements of the story, including the romance. Most decent writers can do a character-driven romance or they can do a carefully plotted mystery. She can do both, plus the romance doesn't set my teeth on edge, which always comes as a surprise. I cannot tell you how many stories I bail on because they lay the UST on too thick. This might not have been her strongest ending, but she still sets the standard. I did think the second sex scene was gratuitous, although not by romance standards, of course. I thought the sex scene at the pool was both sexy and emotionally involving.

I liked that Mulder finally couldn't avoid telling Scully that he'd met one of the Samanthas before, the one CSM had the kids with, maybe? And I liked that she had him make an effort to connect with those children at the end. But the kids of the other Samantha, the one who'd married the FBI agent, wouldn't they be his relatives, too. I guess they weren't orphaned. Yet.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Do we know who killed Vegas Samantha? Did I miss it? Wouldn't be the first time.

I wanted to say that one thing I appreciated about this story is the honoring of that Fox/Samantha scene in the diner, which I considered a great, poignant scene. Chris Carter apparently didn't think it was very important. The guy never did figure out what he had.

Don't overthink my minor criticisms. Syntax6 is a top talent, and I'm thankful for her loyalty.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

Do we know who killed Vegas Samantha?

The other Samantha.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Lord, I guess I'll have to go back to taking notes.

[wendelah1]

She more or less confessed during the scene where she started cutting on Scully, before Mulder shot her. Then Mulder confirmed it in the scene where he's being questioned by the police about the three dead bodies with three different killers.

the OTHER, other kids

[bmerb.livejournal.com]

Yes, I also wondered about that too: "But the kids of the other Samantha, the one who'd married the FBI agent, wouldn't they be his relatives, too."

What happened to the two kids that Samantha "Annie" Milgram had with the FBI douchebag? those two would be Mulder's nephews/nieces too (whereas the two orphaned by the Stephanie/Samantha and CSM are both his nephew/niece AND his 1/2 siblings. 3/4 siblings? er, something anyways).

So yeah, no interest in connecting to the other two seemed a bit strange and grated against me while I read it.