Comments | xf_book_club: Story 86: "Al Dente" by Spooky247

wendelah1 in xf_book_club

Story 86: "Al Dente" by Spooky247

Jul 13, 2009 22:30

It has been suggested that perhaps we need a break from angst, so the planned Tesla three-parter has been postponed that we may clear our heads. We can tackle it next week. This week I bring you Pasta!fic. The author says it's babyfic written to sounds of the Breeders' "Last Splash." I have no idea what that means but if estella_c thinks it's worth reading ( Read more... )

babyfic, season 8, nc-17, pg-13, casefile, humor

Comments 20

leucocrystal July 14 2009, 06:40:54 UTC

Ooh, I'll have to check these two out! I only have one story of this author's bookmarked ("Grave Goods"), but I really enjoyed that one, so I'm intrigued.

wendelah1 July 14 2009, 13:14:22 UTC

Zellie. Just go read "Al Dente." It's short and very amusing. It'll take you ten minutes, tops. I see the author has written a number of fics with the very talented Maybe Amanda, too.

mosinging1986 July 14 2009, 15:17:55 UTC

Oh, this story brings back memories! I love it because it is a more realistic picture of Life With Baby than you normally see. Too bad CC & Co. didn't think ahead to this reality when they wrote a baby into canon. I mean really, what audience wants to see (and hear) an hour's worth of an infant shrieking? Because that's what reality would've been.

It's hard to maintain the M&S I know in a situation like this, but this story manages to do it.

And it reminds me why I don't have kids, LOL! Oy, I could not handle that screaming. It was hard enough reading about it!

ikielove July 14 2009, 21:37:45 UTC

Yeah, this story is very realistic :). I don't think I could handle the screaming, either. Hence why I only have cats.

wendelah1 July 15 2009, 03:55:52 UTC

Yeah, this story is very realistic :). I don't think I could handle the screaming, either. Hence why I only have cats.

This is true. It is a very realistic picture of early parenthood, with the added stress of their relationship being whatever it was in season eight.

sixpences July 14 2009, 22:04:34 UTC

I really enjoyed this one: it's very well titled, delicious yet a little chewy. While the take on the S7 relationship isn't one I share it feeds well into the weird M&S dynamic of late S8, which again is brought out in the story. It probably says a lot about babyfic that I love this for not portraying life-with-baby as full of magical unicorn sparkles, in that Will is both adorable and a maddening little sod, and that his presence doesn't magically transform Mulder and Scully into mush-brained pod people (unlike in canon, ahem) with the perfectest relationship that ever was perfect.

I also really liked the description of the cooking. I just graduated from university so I am very familiar with the cooking of pasta, and this really felt the way a kitchen does when it's filling up with steam (though Scully is clearly an inexperienced cook for not starting off the water in the kettle... much easier ( ... )

ikielove July 14 2009, 23:21:24 UTC

"It probably says a lot about babyfic that I love this for not portraying life-with-baby as full of magical unicorn sparkles, in that Will is both adorable and a maddening little sod, and that his presence doesn't magically transform Mulder and Scully into mush-brained pod people (unlike in canon, ahem) with the perfectest relationship that ever was perfect."

Exactly.

wendelah1 July 16 2009, 06:54:51 UTC

Damn, I must have missed the episode with the mush-brained pod people. I agree, this is a very realistic portrait of life with a colicky infant.

It's funny but this fic exactly portrays the relationship I thought they were having. Sex, one time, never speak of it again, bingo, William. Ha ha.

You must have a damn big kettle if you can cook pasta in it. I want one just like it. I usually just put a lid on the pot myself. Scully is a very inexperienced cook. Velveeta makes wretched mac and cheese, for one thing.

Re: "Kinesthesia"

Very hot sex too, if I remember correctly. You do indeed.*cough* Chapter Nine *cough*

sixpences July 16 2009, 14:12:36 UTC

It's funny but this fic exactly portrays the relationship I thought they were having. Sex, one time, never speak of it again, bingo, William. Ha ha.

Well I suppose you get to be the noromo then *g*

And nooo, I don't cook the pasta in the kettle, but for anything that needs to be put in boiling water I'd heat the water up first in the kettle then transfer it to the pan. It's much faster than heating it from scratch even in a lidded pan, at least in my experience.

Thread 10

estella_c July 16 2009, 11:13:12 UTC

This fic is just as charming as I remembered. Mulder and Scully (and Will, of course, no matter how heartlessly CC dealt with him) trying to be normal in an abnormal, interplanetary-war-shadowed universe. Hey, if Chris Carter can ignore an innocent little human baby, ficcers can ignore the end of the world ( ... )

wendelah1 July 16 2009, 16:04:41 UTC

Mulder and Scully are having relationship difficulties because they don't communicate, which is not only quite canon-compliant but also something a *lot* of readers can relate to.

Haha! Is it ever! In their defense, I can validate that being in the presence of a squalling infant can cause a couple who normally communicates well to become frazzled. First, there's the crying itself, which if it goes on long enough can make anyone nuts. We used to take son_of_wendelah for car rides to get some peace. There was also this baby swing that had to be wound up at just the right moment or it would stop and then he'd start up again. When you combine the constant crying with the concomitant lack of sleep, it's amazing to me that anyone has a second child, intentionally, anyway. Good times, good times ( ... )

happier canon? bmerb June 3 2016, 23:32:25 UTC

Again, late to the game, but this was a super fun little fic. Somehow it got tagged under casefiles, which of course it isn't and I'm working my way through the book club's recommended casefiles right now, but I was certainly glad to read it! However... Now I really need to know what you were talking about when you said this:
"scenes of horrifying violence involving my favorite character penned by a certain renowned fic writer"

NEED TO KNOW. And who wrote Universal Invariants? Sheesh, take 16 years off from reading XF fanfic and there is just so much to catch up on!

It's never too late to comment at the xf-book-club wendelah1 June 4 2016, 02:30:14 UTC

Syntax6 wrote "Universal Invariants." We discussed it here a few years back. Check the discussion post. It's at her site but not at Gossamer. Wonderful fic, by a wonderful writer. It's probably the fandom's favorite of her fics ( ... )

Thread 5