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

(1/?)

[notacrnflkgirl.livejournal.com]

Yours and wendelah1’s recommendations and mine have a number in common: Arizona Highways (which absolutely merits its “fandom classic” designation), “The Mill,” “And If I Make My Bed in Sheol,” “Telephones,” Oyster, Justin Glasser’s stories in general, The Other Man.

“Much Madness Is Divinest Sense” (http://archiveofourown.org/works/78598) by Naraht. S3 sometime after “Wetwired.” → warnings: disabling mental illness, suicidality, and suicidal act. → from my notes: “One of my all-time favorite works in the fandom, with perfectly depicted moments and realistic characterizations.”

Resurgam (http://ioho.org.uk/resurgam_nc17.txt) by Ophelia. S7; “Emily” central to story. → xf_book_club discussion (http://xf-book-club.livejournal.com/21387.html).

“Loss of Yesterday” (http://hesychasm.dreamwidth.org/2970.html) by Jintian. S2 between “Firewalker” and “Irresistible.” → xf_book_club discussion (http://xf-book-club.livejournal.com/68842.html), where I also posted my impressions. I love this work. → warnings: possibility of past rape/sexual assault indicated but not in any detail.

“Butterfly” (http://oracle.invidiosa.com/butterfly.html) by Oracle. S2, “Excelsis Dei” post-ep. → xf_book_club discussion (http://xf-book-club.livejournal.com/37496.html) and amyhit’s meta: “Femininity and Fanfiction: A Meagre Foray into the Fandom Wilds of Gender Disparity, Gender Equity, and the Epic Hoax of the Emotionally Supine Woman.” (http://amyhit.livejournal.com/77905.html) → warnings: none yet. I began “Butterfly” after encountering amyhit’s meta, both to familiarize myself with the source material and because she referred to Scully’s experiences therein as “narcoleptic,” which they are so far. (How much narcolepsy-related fic is out there, you know? It’s niche.) I’m still reading it.

“Falling Stars” (http://web.archive.org/web/20050306102646/home.comcast.net/~juliefortune/X-files/fallingstars.htm) by Julie Fortune. freestanding. → crack_van review (http://crack-van.livejournal.com/4444623.html), xf_book_club discussion (http://xf-book-club.livejournal.com/37261.html).

“Of Ladies Most Deject and Wretched” (http://www.invidiosa.com/circe/fanfic/ofladies.html) by Circe Invidiosa & Helen Quilley. S7, “Orison” post-ep. → warnings: as for “Orison.”

“Living with the Dreaming Body” (http://ioho.org.uk/livingdream.htm) by Punk Maneuverability. S5 sometime after “Emily.” → xf_book_club discussion (http://xf-book-club.livejournal.com/55570.html).

“Reflections as the Light Begins to Fade” (http://archiveofourown.org/works/35410) by Amilyn (Amy L. Hull). S3, “Paper Clip” post-ep.

“Five Things That Never Happened to Dana Scully” (http://anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com/791475.html) by anythingbutgrey (not to be confused with the work of the same name by threeguesses). → wendelah1’s rec (http://wendelah1.dreamwidth.org/217857.html).

*

Guilty angsty pleasures

Comfortably Numb (http://www.keyofx.org/fiction_Paige%20Caldwell-Comfortably%20Numb.txt) by Paige Caldwell. S6 sometime after “Tithonus.” → warnings: substance abuse/addiction.

Re: (1/?)

[wendelah1]

I love "Much Madness is Divinest Sense." Every couple of years, I ask Naraht when/if she's going to finish it. The last time I asked, she said probably never and told me I could write an ending for it if I wanted.

I'm still hoping she'll come back to it someday but she seems to have moved on.

Gosh, yes. I love anythingbutgrey's Five Things fic. That's certainly an it hurts so good type of fic.

Wow. I see two stories here I haven't read! (runs off to read them now)

SECOND LINK WAS BROKEN, here's a new NEW link to Of Ladies Most Deject and Wretched.