"Oil" by Eodrakken Quicksilver (G)

[k2daisy.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Kristen, your XF reccer for April. Since we've already had an MSR and a slash reccer in previous months, it looks my timing is perfect; my area of specialty in X-Files is unusual pairings, POVs and characters. So the stories I'll be choosing range anywhere from G to NC-17, and the pairings are mostly het but the most unlikely people you'd imagine together. I'm starting off with a gen piece, and what is undoubtedly the most unusual character POV I've ever seen in XF fanfic. I don't think my description will do it justice, but here goes!

Title: Oil by Eodrakken Quicksilver
Fandom: THE X FILES
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: pauraque
Author Website: Under the Sun

Why this must be read: "Oil" is an intense, heartbreaking look at the episodes of Piper Maru and Apocrypha from the POV of...the alien oil. (Yes, you read that right.) But this angle isn't played for laughs; Eo crafts a wrenching examination of what it means to be eternal, how the oil reacts to and overcomes the difficulties of using hosts to survive on Earth, and what it longs for.

The piece is brilliantly-written and complex. The use of the second-person tense ("you" and "me") drives home the point of the oil being one complete 'being', and yet it also having individual parts; the narrator is talking to a piece of itself, in a way. And the concept that one of Earth's elements is both the oil's true foil and something it envies takes the cliche of "oil and water" to a whole new level.

Hrm. I don't think I am doing this story justice. So here's

You took the host and jumped with him into the lake.

And the lake jumped into you, filling eyes and nose and ears and pores.  Its touch was endless -- no part of you was secret.  It held each individual hair on your head.

The lake told you of its existence.  A gentle push spoke of geese taking flight from the surface.  A ripple spoke of fish, and slower waves of smoothly kicking frogs.  The lake warms your foot, speaking of a beaver diving low -- a hot visitor from the land.  Whatever intrudes, the water always swallows. Infinitely welcoming, yet so forgetful. The water has no memory after the ripple dies.

You came out, and the water collapsed back on itself -- you didn't leave a hole.  Some of it came with you, clinging.  Already, it was making its escape into the air.  The cold you felt was its goodbye.



Go. Read.

Oil

Comments

[leelee-cakes.livejournal.com]

Hi and welcome! I might be a crazy MSR shipper, but I lurve alternative POV's. This story looks amazing and I love the snippet you've just posted.

Look forward to seeing more of your recs!

Leelee

[k2daisy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've been looking forward to getting my turn at bat on crack_van and reccing some 'alternative' XF fics; the fandom has gotten pretty splintered over the years, so it can be tough to find different stories if you don't know where to look. This month, you can look right here! *g*

[zaneetas.livejournal.com]

Duuude. I decided to hold off reading X-Files fic because I kept telling myself that it'd be just one more huge fandom I'd want to get involved in, but my resolve is seriously crumbling with this rec. It's told from the POV of the oil? Wow. That's...that's...that's just neat.

[k2daisy.livejournal.com]

That's...that's...that's just neat.

Hee. You can imagine my difficulty in trying to review it here, can't you? ;-) There's nothing I can say that will describe it adequately, but it's just one of those stories that cannot be overlooked.

*rubs hands together*

I'm so delighted my Evol Plan to Lure People (Back) to XF appears to be working.

[leelee-cakes.livejournal.com]

You have a Punky Brewster icon.

I love you. ;)

And yes-fandom has become somewhat splintered. It's nice to have this comm to find some fic from other areas.

Leelee