[The X-Files] [Mulder/Scully] Parabiosis
I recced this one over at my fic journal a while ago, but it's one of those pieces that stick around and haunt you for long after you've (metaphorically) put it away.
Title: Parabiosis
Author/ess: Penumbra
Series: The X-Files
Length: It's the longest 'oneshot' I've ever seen in my life. The story is presented in one long file that is broken up into 'chapters' on the page, but all up, my copy/paste wordcounterer gives me 41695 words. Yes, five digits.
Character/pairing: Mulder/Scully, MSR
Rating/warnings: None given, but I'd say R for the most part. Spoilers up to Requiem.
Summary: Science and Mysticism conjoin/Exceptions Prove The Rule
I heart this fic so very, very much. Most of the X-Files fanworks can be put in one of two categories: X-File, or shipper fic. Fics generally (and this is a big generally, obviously there are exceptions to the rule) revolve around a mystery, or they're permeated with romance and full of (often disturbing) sex.
This story is takes a step away from the pack and somehow manages to make itself a cut above. It is filled with wonderful, evocative, elegant prose and the descriptions are hauntingly lyrical even when they don't seem to be going anywhere at all. The pace is slow but also frantic, you're moved along to a destination that you're not quite sure you even reach. But the writing - oh, the writing - makes every step of the journey, every sentence, worthwhile.
Preview: He could hear the shower running, knew the bathroom door was unlocked. He was forever dealing with Scully naked in other rooms, Scully shopping for clothes, Scully communing with herself in bathrooms, Scully kicking off the covers just a wall away. She unbuttoned this or that, discarded her shoes, reached in her bra for one reason or another. She fixed his tie and messed up his desk, breathed in his ear, stuck her fork in his dessert. She called him with her dreams but never her nightmares. She licked the corner of her mouth, a gesture of thought. She bought herself flowers. She ate brewer's yeast and royal jelly and all sorts of weird crap, but coffee was bad for you and she was a caffeine freak, eternally poisoned and running on nerves. She was a fast draw, a dead shot, a basilisk eye through the sights. The wisdom in her eyes was a thousand years old, and she didn't even believe in reincarnation.
Title: Parabiosis
Author/ess: Penumbra
Series: The X-Files
Length: It's the longest 'oneshot' I've ever seen in my life. The story is presented in one long file that is broken up into 'chapters' on the page, but all up, my copy/paste wordcounterer gives me 41695 words. Yes, five digits.
Character/pairing: Mulder/Scully, MSR
Rating/warnings: None given, but I'd say R for the most part. Spoilers up to Requiem.
Summary: Science and Mysticism conjoin/Exceptions Prove The Rule
I heart this fic so very, very much. Most of the X-Files fanworks can be put in one of two categories: X-File, or shipper fic. Fics generally (and this is a big generally, obviously there are exceptions to the rule) revolve around a mystery, or they're permeated with romance and full of (often disturbing) sex.
This story is takes a step away from the pack and somehow manages to make itself a cut above. It is filled with wonderful, evocative, elegant prose and the descriptions are hauntingly lyrical even when they don't seem to be going anywhere at all. The pace is slow but also frantic, you're moved along to a destination that you're not quite sure you even reach. But the writing - oh, the writing - makes every step of the journey, every sentence, worthwhile.
Preview: He could hear the shower running, knew the bathroom door was unlocked. He was forever dealing with Scully naked in other rooms, Scully shopping for clothes, Scully communing with herself in bathrooms, Scully kicking off the covers just a wall away. She unbuttoned this or that, discarded her shoes, reached in her bra for one reason or another. She fixed his tie and messed up his desk, breathed in his ear, stuck her fork in his dessert. She called him with her dreams but never her nightmares. She licked the corner of her mouth, a gesture of thought. She bought herself flowers. She ate brewer's yeast and royal jelly and all sorts of weird crap, but coffee was bad for you and she was a caffeine freak, eternally poisoned and running on nerves. She was a fast draw, a dead shot, a basilisk eye through the sights. The wisdom in her eyes was a thousand years old, and she didn't even believe in reincarnation.