Story 83: "The Common Fate of All Things Rare" by Scarlet Baldy and Aloysia Virgata

[wendelah1]

Ever wonder what happened between the silence of Never Again and the flowers from Memento Mori? Ever wonder if Scully's night with Ed Jerse affected her relationship with Mulder in any way? Ever wonder what pushed Scully to go to the hospital and find out about her cancer in the first place? Ever wonder how her illness might have affected her work

Comments

[leucocrystal]

Ooh yes, good one! I must admit to being biased to like this one, given that it's Aloysia and Scarlet and all that, but I'm sure I'd have enjoyed this one even if I didn't know who wrote it. It's a tricky part of the timeline to try and navigate, but they do it and they do it damn well.

[scarletbaldy]

Why thank you, darling! We had so much fun writing it. Everything clicked into place eventually and it was a really nice feeling.

[notacrnflkgirl]

It's also available at cheapredhead.

I really liked chapter 1 but didn't like where the story ended up going.

[scarletbaldy]

Could you extrapolate on that? I'm curious to hear what you did not like.

[notacrnflkgirl]

That would require my thoughts to be well-formed and not just vague feelings. Um, two things that stick out to me: Wickham was too tolerated, and the train station scene was saccharine for my tastes.

I'm so bad at this. Sorry. :S

[scarletbaldy]

Hey, now worries, I am just as interested by what doesn't work for people as I am by what they like. I'm not quite sure what you mean about Wickham, but yes, I guess the train station was quite mushy - for my usual standards at any rate. When I wrote this bit, I seem to recall that Aloysia and I had agreed to go for something sweet, to make up for all the crap we'd put the both of them through. *laugh*

I know that I wanted a happy ending of sorts, because I'm such a closet romantic. *hangs head*

[memento1]

I remember this one. It's all worth it for the gag reel. Lolcat-speak for the win.

[wendelah1]

I didn't read the gag reel. I must go remedy that. Did you ever read last week's post,"The Sin Eater"? It was really good and not very long either.

[memento1]

*L* Trust me, I haven't forgotten. It's first on my "To Read" list. I'll try to do it now.

You know, I re-read a one-shot by Bonetree today, and after all the crap Bones fics I've been reading lately, I wanted to show it to that fandom and say "See, this is good writing. Write like this. Write deep." How did we get so lucky to have such fantastic XF writers?

[wendelah1]

I think it was a combination of how smart the audience was and how huge the fandom was in its heyday. It is mind boggling to me how large it was compared to now and compared to the fandoms I have been lurking in since I found media online fandom in 2003 (I think it was 2003.) There is a lot of terrible fic, too, but by virtue of our sheer volume, we got some damn good fic. I also think the nature of the show's many plot holes gave fic writers a lot of inspiration to tell real stories as opposed to the smut fests with a thin veneer of plot that I see posted everywhere now.

[anonymous]

I love this story, and partly for the same reasons that I so much enjoyed the first part of "Human Credentials"...and Tesla's "Neither here nor there". Its the premise, relatively rare actually in fanfic, of sexual tension unrecognized (but realistically so) because there are so many other complicated layers to the Mulder/Scully relationship. I really am not keen on the "Oh I think I am jealous, oh gosh, I now realize that I have loved you desperately and fancied you rotten from the first moment I saw you" sort of thing. I've never bought into the Mulder as celibate(he's far too sensual), and although Scully has to suffer with God and her Dad muttering eternal retribution in her ear from their perch on her frontal lobe,I always completely understood her Jersey fling. I am not so sure that they were ready in S4 for this sort of event in their relationship, but it is believable, it is funny, it is unbearably sweet and totally sexy. I love lots of different incarnations of the Mulder/Scully characters and relationship but this one

[anonymous]

Right, and I've just realized that the word "love" can be horribly over-used...but you get the gist.

[wendelah1]

Hello! I am always thrilled to have new people show up and play. If you would like us to discuss "Neither Here Nor There" and/or "Human Credentials," it would be helpful to me if you would put them into the nomination post, otherwise I am likely to forget about them.

Do you have a journal elsewhere, because if you do, you can comment here using your open id? Also, if you want, I can walk you through the process of creating a journal. It is easier to participate in discussion if you get notification of comments and posts in your email. Of course, you are also welcome to keep commenting anonymously. Signing your posts is a nice thing to do, thank you.

It's the premise, relatively rare actually in fanfic, of sexual tension unrecognized (but realistically so) because there are so many other complicated layers to the Mulder/Scully relationship.Yes, this is true. Of course, I believe the reason it is so hard to write a realistic romance for our duo is because their relationship wasn't romantic. It was a work partnership that very slowly

[scarletbaldy]

This House is burning is another fic I intend to read.

And yes, as a former noromo, conventional romantic fic usually sends me running. Because as you said theirs is essentialy based on a work partnership. Part of me sometimes wonder if Scully and Mulder didn't fell in love by default, because they had nobody else as to connect with but each other. And I never thought theirs was ever gonna be an easy realtionship, because as you said Wen, they are both damaged in some way.

[counterphobe]

Hi, ScarletB. Thanks for being here, and thanks to you and your co-author for taking the time to write and polish a casefile. It feels a little awkward to discuss the story with its creator sitting in the room. You should know that I always find things I don't like even in great stories. You can ask Wendelah--I had major issues with The Brothers Karamazov.

What worked for me:

1. Scully. I could see her in this, and I could hear her voice.

2. The case itself. Casefiles are hard. Very few crime novels or TV shows really stand up to examination, and I don't expect them to. It's always a stretch to make the clues reveal themselves in a way that's logical and also serves the narrative. The Common Fate of All Things Rare handled it well enough that I didn't find myself muttering to myself and closing the page

[scarletbaldy]

You're welcome! And by all means don't feel awkward. I adore constructive criticism and I know that Aloysia does too. Praise is great for the ego, but it does not help me be a better writer

[counterphobe]

Where I had trouble:

The balance of casefile against the relationship issues. The pacing of the two resolutions..

Explaining is not my strongpoint, unfortunately. Basically, though, the case toddled along until the relationship stuff was sorted out, and then it unraveled so that Mulder could go home to Scully.

I didn't mind that the Amazon reference was missed, but surely they would have noticed that the bodies were posed. How could venison in the stomach contents fail to suggest a hunter?

The characters themselves were too invested in the M/S relationship, under the circumstances, especially Wickham.

I know, the serial killer is cliche, but we're both great fans of The Silence Of The Lambs and make no apology for it. *grins*

Who doesn't love Silence of the Lambs? Nevertheless, to me there's an advantage in keeping things simple. Too much ritual can strain credibility and throw the reader out of the story.

[wendelah1]

I will corroborate counterphobe's statement that she had some issues with The Brothers Karamazov. For that matter, I had some issues with it, too, didn't I?

I will also confirm that even when she reads the fic she usually doesn't comment here (sob) but I am always happy to see it when she does.:D