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

Fathoms Five

[addisonzella.livejournal.com]

I started Fathoms Five but didn't finish it. At first I was going to say Mulder and Scully seemed out of character, but I don't think that is an accurate statement. Maybe it was the environment in which the story was set. It seemed like an AU situation. But if you liked the story, maybe I'll give it another try

Re: Fathoms Five

[wendelah1]

You could call it AU, I suppose, although it's set in the future. Who knows what has happened to Mulder and Scully since IWTB? It's up to our imagination, at least until the mini-series airs. It's been several years since I've read it. I wasn't crazy about it the first time I read it, actually. When my husband (who is not in fandom; his background is literature and I trust his taste) and estella_c both told me it was a masterpiece, that convinced me to reread it.

RE: Re: Fathoms Five

[addisonzella.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely give this fic another try, then!

Speaking of the mini-series, have you seen the latest trailer? So good!

Also, a hilarious actor from Portlandia and Silicon Valley, Kumail Nanjiani, does a podcast called x-files files. I'm on the road a lot, so I enjoy listening to him break-down the episodes. He usually has his friends as guests on his podcasts, which adds unique perspective and comic relief.