#touchstonea

[randomfoggytiger]

Hi! Thanks so much for all your fic recommendations and analysis posts! They are fantastic! 

I was wondering if in your travels you had come across any fics that rewrite season 9, so that Mulder didn't leave, BUT also keep going with something that looks like the plot of season 9. Not necessarily the exact plot (since it’s bonkers), but something where Mulder and Scully have to deal with the larger Mytharc while being parents. Falling In And In by Aloysia_Virgata is the closest I’ve come to what I’m looking for. 

And just to be clear, I love fics like Terra Firma by Malibusunset and Hurricane Season by Beduini and Rah, but they aren’t quite what I’m looking for in this case. 

Thanks!!!

YES I HAVE! (Thanks for the compliments~.) I did my best sticking to this very, VERY specific niche. Some of these include Mulder left but Scully joined him later:

Mulder Doesn't Leave But the Mytharc Continues

Lapsed_Scholar's MASTERFUL fill-in series: Mulder is a stay-at-home dad during the entire events of S9 (including the cat autopsy scene.) Love this to death; and it further cemented my hatred of canonical S9, so there's that: Season 9 Rewrites and Musings - Lapsed_Scholar - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own] 

ML/ML_is_me’s (Ao3, Gossamer, DW, Invidiosa)  

Mulder is a stay-at-home dad battling the Conspiracy. Scully and their new partner get a call and drop-in from Phoebe, who is relatives with a higher-up:

1/ Project:TruthSeekers Alt Season Nine: Home Fires, Part One - ML_is_me, spookyawards_archivist - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own] Goss Gossamer | Story: "The New Truth, A Project 09x04 - Home Fires 01" by ML  

2/ Project:TruthSeekers Alt Season Nine: Home Fires, Part Two - ML_is_me, spookyawards_archivist - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own] Goss Gossamer | Story: "The New Truth, A Project 09x04 - Home Fires 02" by ML AU/INTP marvels that ISTJ tracked him down w/ Will-- Gossamer | Story: "155 Words - Thankful" by ML

@baronessblixen's short AU covers a S9 nightmare Mulder had: (53) Hate is always foolish and love is always wise on Tumblr Ao3 Just A Dream - Baroness_Blixen - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own]

@o6666666's (Ao3) 20. As we huddle together, the storm raging outside--  Untitled — 20 (tumblr.com)-- is an invasion story where Mulder and fam bunk out to escape the aliens.

jeri's (MC) fic focuses on a case Monica and Doggett bust in connection to Marita. Mulder is in the background being a stay-at-home, mentioned occasionally by Scully: Ahonis (mulderscreek.com) Goss Gossamer | Story: "Ahonis" by jeri 

@aloysiavirgata has a long series about Mulder and Scully parenting a specially-abled Will, ending with mytharc Colonization:

By Falling In and In

LiveJournal 2

LiveJournal 3

LiveJournal 4

LiveJournal 5

Other assorted S9 fics w/ dashes of By Falling In and In are:

A Heart of Star-- Mulder has bonding moments with his growing son

Elysium-- Scully has bonding moments with her son growing up

Mulder Left, Scully Joined-- Mytharc Flavored

@touchstoneaf's epic that diverges from your idea only slightly-- Mulder is on the run; but Scully hauls Will out to him with her. The series is long and beautiful, touching on their entire relationship but mostly the wounds of S8 he has yet to address. She also reforms the entire mytharc while only using tools the show's writers gave us. Stunning work:

Part 1/ Amor Fati: Destinata (The Fated Love), Act One: Desiderium (The Longing) - touchstoneaf - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own]

Part 2/ Amor Fati: Destinata (The Fated Love), Act Two: Et Perierat et Inventus Est (The Lost and the Found) - touchstoneaf - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own]

Part 3/ Amor Fati: The Fated Love, Act Three: Tres Discendens (The Leaving of the Three) - touchstoneaf - The X-Files [Archive of Our Own]

Tess (Ao3) and Jacquie LaVa's fic covers Byers escorting Scully and Will to Mulder to Christmas. Mulder convinces her to stay: xfms.xffics.com/stillstillstill.txt Goss Gossamer | Story: "Still, Still, Still" by Tess & LaVa, Jacquie 

Tess also writes about Scully being shoved back to the FBI for resources since Mulder is on the outs. The conspiracy rages on: Gossamer | Story: "The New Truth, A Project 09x00 - Prologue, A New Beginning" by Tess

ML/ML_is_me’s (Ao3, Gossamer, DW, Invidiosa) Slightly off topic-- Scully tracks Mulder down with Will in tow: Gossamer | Story: "155 Words - Thankful" by ML

Does this count? Gillian Leigh's (MC) AU diverts from canon midway? when Mulder gets a vision from his future daughter warning against the adoption. He goes back, packs up Scully, his fam, and hers, and hides out in a civilization bunker. Samantha's there, too: Visitor in the Desert (mulderscreek.com) Goss Gossamer | Story: "Visitor in the Desert" by Leigh, Gillian 

I have more; but this is long enough as it is! XDDDD

Hope these all do somethin' fer ye~!

[randomfoggytiger]

I have three categories that I cannot compromise on:

Short fic-- This unnamed IVF Christmas AU by @ghostbustermelanieking has my whole heart. It stayed with me for days, it replays occasionally in my mind; and it makes me legit tear up and goofy smile every time I think it. I have two backups of this story just in case it vanishes from the web some day.

Story length-- Snow by LuvtheBeez. Mulder and Scully are married, expecting, and caught up in a Fargo-esque grocery store robbery that just keeps getting worse. Perfect MSR in conversation, actions, thought processes. Amazing how it weaves ALL the small, beginning details back into the story in important ways. Shout out to stressed Skinman.

Epic length-- "Amor Fati Destinata (The Fated Love) Act Two: Et Perierat et Inventus Est" by @touchstoneaf. A.maz.ing. Alternate to S9: Scully joins Mulder in a motel with William. But it's so much more-- rewriting the mytharc, the alien factions, the Super Soldiers, barely getting away from the enemy by the skins of their teeth repeatedly, on the lam and off the grid, and working together in the best way as protective parents but first and foremost as partners trying to prevent the conspiracy and the end of the world. Emotionally moving, simple in its scope and touching and heart pumping and thrilling all in one. It's still ongoing; but, to me, it beats out every other author I've read of longform fic. Not a misstep anywhere.

Well, I've go to embrace it: I am a fam fic reader.

*sigh*

Who am I if not a fam fic reader?

What’s your favorite msr fanfic of ALL time? You know, the one that you wish you could erase from your head to enjoy it again. Tough question?

Never a tough question: although there are many among my favorites, Parabiosis is my forever fave.

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Fic That Irons Out the Mytharc: Amor Fati (Fated Love) Chapter 18

If anyone wants the mytharc to make sense post S7-- supersoldiers, factions, green and red blood, etc.-- all you have to do is read Chapter 18 (here) @touchstoneaf's epic Amor Fati (Fated Love) series , an AU after William's abduction in S9.

It's masterful, stretching backward and forward, knitting in the two alien factors warring since the Consortium went up in flames into a coherent and frightening threat for the future: two titans out for each others' throats and catching the human species in-between.

As an aside, if you want an amazing fic series that blend old school X-Files mythology with the new-fangled stuff (that was too convoluted to make sense of), her four-part (and still going) series is THE read. Amazing characterization. Amazing plot. All the characters in voice. Intelligence through the roof. PTSD and acceptance for Mulder, alone and on the run; PTSD and acceptance for Scully as she becomes a lioness for her son and Mulder, reuniting them on the road and helping them forge a life together. The three of them have each other as they flee, all factions hot on their heels. Absolutely stunning body of work.

I mean, look at her cover art (it's adorable and makes me chuckle):

Her notes in between chapters are spectacular (and wittily tongue-in-cheek) as well~. I particularly love her Diana Fowley Llama-Faced Crack-Ho quip; but more seriously, I enjoyed this abstraction:

""Note:  I checked the Latin, and there were three possible meanings for 'Amor Fati' for philes to choose from (probably to give us the chance to decide on our own). The phrase was originally used by Nietzsche to mean ‘love of one’s fate’ (as in to love all that had occurred in one’s life, good or ill, that made one who one is).  Considering the many painful speed-bumps hit by our heroes, this meaning is particularly apt for our intrepid duo.  The other form of ‘amor fati’, though, can be conjugated as ‘amoris fatale’; the fated love.  Nuff said.""  

Cannot recommend this series enough.

**Note**: I started reading Part 2, which focused solely on Scully already on the road (Part 1 was set the groundwork for the series and tied up all loose knots concerning the other characters, ex. the Scullys, TLG, Skinner and Doggett and Monica.) If you prefer to get into the meat of the story, start there: I've never watched S9 and found it was completely coherent without Part 1 as its primer.