The Darkness Within

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

I CAN POST ENTRIES ON THE BOOK CLUB! MWWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

*coughs*

Anywayyyy...

Wendy said I was welcome to post that here, so here we go.

~~~~~~~~~~

(First posted on Haven)

Moose and Squirrel - before being declawed and tamed by scores of fic writers intent on giving them the white picket fence happiness they were never designed for in the first place - were pretty dark and tortured characters to begin with. A given, considering how much crap they went through in the show.

Back in the days many fic writers explored that dark path and gave us many incredible stories, the quintessential one being, of course, the infamous Iolokus. Stories where the characters' traumas weren't swept under the carpet of True Love (TM) Hot Sex, Domestic Life and Fat Babies. Stories where bad things happened to good people.

They were stories such as:

Arizona Highway by Fialka
Secret World by Bonetree
Grace Realized by Michaela
Injuries to The Spirit by Mystphile
The Mill by Cofax

...to name just a few off the top of my head.

In these stories Mulder and Scully were flawed and damaged. Years of turmoil and horrors weren't cured with a kiss and a soft bed. They had issues with one another, they argued and fought. They could be unfair, cruel, monstrous even - their claustrophobic co-dependency toxic, yet unavoidable. They suffered, battled illnesses both mental and physical, and sometimes they even died. Some stories made a point of reminding us how dangerous their job really was - that the human monsters could be worse than the alien ones. But their spirit shone nevertheless through it all, pure and bright, that elusive spark of magnificence that made them - well, you know, THEM.

As a reader I always found those tales much more emotionally rewarding than those of the bunnies and rainbow - Mulder and Scully in love forever in their pretty house with their pretty children - aw, look he has his mother's eyes and his father's nose - variety.

No pain no gain, uh?

I guess my question is: have you read such stories? Do you enjoy them? Can you rec the ones that stayed with you?

~Fish~

Comments

Re: ooooh yes

[wendelah1]

I don't personally care for the hurt/comfort genre. I think it has to do with being a nurse and taking care of people who've been injured, or are suffering from some other dire condition requiring surgery/chemo/radiation. It can work in the hands of a very skilled writer (I liked "Apex" by pinkflamingo aka syntax6, for example), but inflicting pain on the characters to advance the romance is usually the dead opposite of sexy and romantic to me. I think that's why I liked Sophia Jirafe's "Night Touch" and its follow up, "Contours," so much for subverting the trope.

Hurt/comfort isn't the same thing as darkfic to me, although they do fit under the general angst umbrella. I'll have to think about it some more and get back to you if I figure out why.

"The Soft Embalmer" is totally twisted and dark. (Go Fish, go!)

I'll have to go reread amyhit's essay and then read andromedalogic's response. I wonder if amyhit even knows about the essay since she's not on Tumblr.

RE: Orison fanfic. I had totally forgotten that "Night Touch" was also a post-Orison fic. That episode produced a lot of great fic, didn't it?

Re: ooooh yes

[notacrnflkgirl.livejournal.com]

inflicting pain on the characters to advance the romance is usually the dead opposite of sexy and romantic to me. I think that’s why I liked Sophia Jirafe’s “Night Touch” and its follow up, “Contours,” so much for subverting the trope.

There’s a sequel?! Downloading now.

I’m with you—angst appeals to me but h/c doesn’t. I’m sure some of it’s because I’m a noromo, but regardless, h/c simplifies and romanticizes traumatic experiences and healing processes. I get why people write it (which is what Meda discusses in her essay), but it’s a rare h/c work that doesn’t rub me the wrong way.

I doubt amyhit knows about the attention her meta’s gotten. I posted the excerpt on tumblr but didn’t say anything to her on LJ—I only unearth my account here for the Book Club these days and tend to forget about it the rest of the time.

“Orison” must be less popular now than it used to be. It’s one of my favorite episodes, but I believed I was in the minority until I searched Gossamer. Someone somewhere, maybe in their author’s note?, even complained about the overwhelming quantity of “Orison” post-ep fic.

Re: ooooh yes

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

I am not a big fan of HC either. The emotional scarring is much more interesting to me than any physical torture which, by and large, I find tasteless. Like you I think it is a different genre from Darkfic.

"The Soft Embalmer" is totally twisted and dark. (Go Fish, go!)

*bows* It was a very interesting experience, writing something like this. I love twisting the mytharc on its head.

We did rec a few great Orison fics not so long ago, didn't we?

Re: ooooh yes

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I must read "The Soft Embalmer." Why have I not read it? Or have I? I HATED "Night Touch," but I must read the sequel and consider the fact that I might have been wrong. I hate being wrong.