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crack_van2011-02-28 08:27 pm
bachlava.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2011-02-28 08:27 pm
Entry tags:
Above Rubies by Rachel Howard (NC-17)
Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Length: 335k (three parts)
Author on LJ: Not to my knowledge.
Author Website: Basement Office or Gossamer.
Why this must be read: Rachel Howard is, IMO, one of the single best authors in XF fandom, and "Above Rubies" is probably the best fic I've ever read, period. "Above Rubies" is one of those ultra-rare plot-heavy long pieces with a complicated plot that actually works. It's utterly unsupernatural, but it feels like it could be one of those rare mundane canon plots. (Okay, it could almost be one of them.) The process of Mulder and Scully's coming together is skillfully interwoven with the plot rather than being dependent on it, and in addition to narrating and describing the whole thing eloquently, the author has a rock-solid grasp on every last corner of every character and relationship involved. She also does a great job of dealing with all the emotional issues that the characters carry without either getting bogged down in angst or resolving them cheaply. The fic is set in S5 and narrated in alternating sections primarily by Mulder and Scully, but with appearances by Skinner and Krycek as well.
The cleaning staff has been here. The bed is turned down, Mulder's shoes are tidily lined up side by side, but his suitcase, hanging open on a low rack along the wall, hasn't been unpacked.
Trailing my hand along the top of the bureau, I examine the complimentary hotel pad. [Agent] Santanda's number is there, along with the phone number for Balthazar, which is a restaurant, I think. A tie curls carelessly across the bureau. No handy clues like [the suspect’s] address, though.
The bed is like any other hotel bed, completely anonymous. But on the bedside table rest a pair of pearl earrings. Simple, but pretty. The kind of thing that a woman might wear with a business suit.
I think they're Agent Scully's.
I could pick them up, see if they smell of her perfume. She wears something called Paris -- I heard Kimberly ask her about it once. It suits her, fresh and not very flowery. She doesn't wear much of it, but I've caught the scent riding next to her on the elevator, sitting beside her in meetings. I would know it anywhere.
She has a black suit that she wears the earrings with -- there's a cream colored blouse that goes underneath the jacket.
If they're really Scully's.
I think about the tightness that settled into Sharon's face when we argued about my work, how it kept me from vacations and dinner engagements, how the politics and frustration made me short with her when I should have been kind. I remember the failed trip to New York when we tried to put our marriage back together again...
I don't pick up the earrings.
I switch off the bedside lamp before I leave the room.
Parts one, two, and three of the whole thing, which is also at Gossamer. If you prefer an angstier or more Emily-centric plot-heavy exploration of S5's situations, you can also have a look at Goodnight, Newton, which is independent of this fic but stands as a complement to it.
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Length: 335k (three parts)
Author on LJ: Not to my knowledge.
Author Website: Basement Office or Gossamer.
Why this must be read: Rachel Howard is, IMO, one of the single best authors in XF fandom, and "Above Rubies" is probably the best fic I've ever read, period. "Above Rubies" is one of those ultra-rare plot-heavy long pieces with a complicated plot that actually works. It's utterly unsupernatural, but it feels like it could be one of those rare mundane canon plots. (Okay, it could almost be one of them.) The process of Mulder and Scully's coming together is skillfully interwoven with the plot rather than being dependent on it, and in addition to narrating and describing the whole thing eloquently, the author has a rock-solid grasp on every last corner of every character and relationship involved. She also does a great job of dealing with all the emotional issues that the characters carry without either getting bogged down in angst or resolving them cheaply. The fic is set in S5 and narrated in alternating sections primarily by Mulder and Scully, but with appearances by Skinner and Krycek as well.
The cleaning staff has been here. The bed is turned down, Mulder's shoes are tidily lined up side by side, but his suitcase, hanging open on a low rack along the wall, hasn't been unpacked.
Trailing my hand along the top of the bureau, I examine the complimentary hotel pad. [Agent] Santanda's number is there, along with the phone number for Balthazar, which is a restaurant, I think. A tie curls carelessly across the bureau. No handy clues like [the suspect’s] address, though.
The bed is like any other hotel bed, completely anonymous. But on the bedside table rest a pair of pearl earrings. Simple, but pretty. The kind of thing that a woman might wear with a business suit.
I think they're Agent Scully's.
I could pick them up, see if they smell of her perfume. She wears something called Paris -- I heard Kimberly ask her about it once. It suits her, fresh and not very flowery. She doesn't wear much of it, but I've caught the scent riding next to her on the elevator, sitting beside her in meetings. I would know it anywhere.
She has a black suit that she wears the earrings with -- there's a cream colored blouse that goes underneath the jacket.
If they're really Scully's.
I think about the tightness that settled into Sharon's face when we argued about my work, how it kept me from vacations and dinner engagements, how the politics and frustration made me short with her when I should have been kind. I remember the failed trip to New York when we tried to put our marriage back together again...
I don't pick up the earrings.
I switch off the bedside lamp before I leave the room.
Parts one, two, and three of the whole thing, which is also at Gossamer. If you prefer an angstier or more Emily-centric plot-heavy exploration of S5's situations, you can also have a look at Goodnight, Newton, which is independent of this fic but stands as a complement to it.