Story 203: "Living with the Dreaming Body" by Punk M

[amyhit]

After the considerable word count of our last fic, now seems like a good time to take a bit of a breather with a nice short read. This week's fic was recommended by lightlack. It takes place sometime not too long after the events of "Christmas Carol" and "Emily" when Mulder and Scully end up back in San Diego on a case. The fic is focused on Scully and how

Comments

[amyhit]

I'm late because I was in another (nondream) state

Ha!

it is an interior story, an emotional adjustment story, all about what one character is thinking/feeling with very little action or dialogue in support. There are thousands of these and most are bad. Punk did it right.

I agree. And for me a big part of what makes this story work is that it starts near the end of Scully’s ‘emotional adjustment’. I don’t think Scully is working on any new conflicts in LWTDB. They seem to be things she’s been coming to terms with for some time already. It’s like punctuated evolution: the story picks up quite unobtrusively just a short time before a punctuated leap. It’s not that Scully goes from zero to sex-with-mulder in seven pages and a thousand words, it’s that she’s already mostly there when the story starts.

I am old enough to see male protection as a comfortable thing. She has to come to terms with her loss, and nobody else can do it for her.

I’m sure it will come as no surprise that I am not comfortable with “male protection”. As a concept it make me feel angry and a little ill (mainly because what male society has often meant when it says “protection” is something akin to “possession”). However, protection can also be genuine. There are times when it may be needed, times when it may be helpful, and times when it may be wrongly given but is at least understandable. I think in Mulder’s case what he does is wrong, but understandable.

And I do agree with you that nobody but Scully can come to terms with her loss. LWTDB seems to be written accordingly. Mulder tries to express his anger on her behalf, insisting that “it’s not okay” but Scully simply says “This is my body. It will be okay.” It’s a matter of Scully’s feelings, Scully’s body, Scully’s life, and I like that Mulder doesn’t have a bigger part in it. It’s just not about him, or what he thinks, or his pain - even if it is on her behalf.