Story 267: "America's Games" by Sarah Segretti

[wendelah1]

I love angst and fix-it fics (and the writing of prufrock's love) but I'm ready to take a break from the post-series, post-IWTB setting, and read something set earlier in the series. This rec comes from last year's The Ten Greatest XF Fics You've Ever Read. Read what zinnia03 had to say about "America's Games":

America’s Games by Sarah Segretti. Author’s

Comments

I like

[bmerb]

This was a fun one. I enjoyed going back to the season 3/4 era, although I can't remember enough about the episodes it references to entirely slot it in. Mulder and his behavior through Scully's lens was aggravating and frustrating, which was a pleasure since Scully rarely voiced such frustrations on screen (well, minus one famous episode of course) yet it remained in character. I particularly like the UST to which Scully gives a resounding "no", followed by the fountain scene

Re: I like

[wendelah1]

I think I'm going to rewatch the episodes before I comment on the fic and comment on your comment. Back soon.

"That's where the hope is" part 1

[wendelah1]

I had to split this into two comments.

SCULLY: Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it. And that's a place to start. That's where the hope is.
Having read the fic before rewatching the episodes and again afterward, my conclusion is that this story might work better if you don't know the canon. Now that my knowledge has been refreshed, I can see how carefully Segretti has placed this story within the final events of "Herrenvolk," in German, "master race," and actual current events

RE: "That's where the hope is" part 1

[bmerb]

They don't follow through because Chris Carter never cared about the credibility of his characters or the continuity of his fictional universe. He still doesn't! Witness season ten!

Oh yeah, PREACH!! Ugh...

[zinnia03]

Yes, I like this story . I think it would have made a decent wrap-up episode for Talitha Cumi/Herrenvolk. Scully is particularly paranoid here, and after what she's been through recently it's not surprising, I think.

I like the level of suspicion that Scully experiences with her colleagues here. It's indicative of what's been done to her, and how much Mulder has rubbed off on her.

I like the UST. It was the undercurrent almost from the beginning of the series, hardly ever addressed in an overt way. It was depicted well in this story.

After reading this I had to go read "99 and 44 Hundredth's Per Cent Done" by the same author. It's probably been covered here, but I think I'll go add it to the nomination post anyway.

[bmerb]

I'll have to check that one out too!

[wendelah1]

I think it would have made a decent wrap-up episode for Talitha Cumi/Herrenvolk. Scully is particularly paranoid here, and after what she's been through recently it's not surprising, I think.

It would have been a great episode. Her paranoia is entirely justified.

I like the level of suspicion that Scully experiences with her colleagues here. It's indicative of what's been done to her, and how much Mulder has rubbed off on her.

She is certain now that the government, particularly the military, is complicit in the human experimentation. Trust no one.

I like the UST. It was the undercurrent almost from the beginning of the series, hardly ever addressed in an overt way. It was depicted well in this story.It was depicted extremely well in this story. Their behavior was true to the characters, and not at all over the top. I liked everything about the way Segretti wrote the characters--the dialogue, Scully's internal monologues, their fights about the case were spot-on

[wendelah1]

I just reread 99 and 44 Hundreth's Per Cent Done. I love that story.

[infinitlight]

Ahhh I'm always going to love Scully being righteously cranky, and I guess I've rewatched enough that I can pretty much remember where this fits (I think you just need to remember her being ditched by Mulder).

The date of writing (early 2001) was interesting to me, at first I'd assumed it was written later because of the interesting focus on terrorism at events (not that 9/11 was the first time people thought about terrorism).

Like bmerb, I liked the fountain scene. I thought (feared? lol) it was going to turn into a romantic scene, but in my opinion it was much better and more resonant than that. I loved her seeing her brothers in the two boys playing and her recognition/realization of what it is she's fighting for.

[bmerb]

Righteously cranky Scully... Ahhh yes!

[wendelah1]

After the Munich Olympics, security was paramount. Keeping the athletes and the visitors safe was a huge priority.

And yeah, after the bombing in 1993 at the World Trade Center, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, I think terrorism was always a concern--it gets mentions on the series itself. Didn't an episode of the Lone Gunmen predict something similar to what happened on 9-11?

I liked the fountain scene too. It tied in well with the themes of the story, in reaffirming their commitment to the quest. It's canon-compliant too, which I think was important to Segretti's goals for the story.

[infinitlight]

I didn't even think of the Munich Olympics, but of course you're right. I do remember reading about the challenges holding the games in Atlanta due to the heat of summer, so that was pretty accurately reflected in the story.

The Lone Gunmen: yes, the pilot episode has government-funded terrorists flying planes into the World Trade Center. I actually remember reviews discussing how outlandish the plot was :/

Can you guys help me?

[camicab04]

I need help finding an xfiles fanfiction. This is a post never again fanfiction where Mulder is obvioulsy dealing with jealousy and anger. In it Scully goes undercover and is being watched by mulder and other fbi agents as well as the suspect. She's living in a missing woman house I think? its for some guy that likes a girl or something like that. I know its post never again. It has a scene where in order to speed up the guy acting on Scully Mulder acts like the boyfriend of the girl Scully is acting undercover as because he figures out there's a camera in the bedroom. They end up having sex in the morgue. It's pretty well written and one of my favorites. But the name is strange and the author never wrote anything else, at least I don't think they did. So I can't remember it. I had it saved on my computer but I lost all my files. Can you help out? I really want to re read it. I feel like I found it through here but i looked back and couldn't see it. I don't know if I missed it, but I also noticed a lot stories are missing?

Re: Can you guys help me?

[wendelah1]

Hi. That fic doesn't ring a bell with me. The best place to ask for missing fics is The X-Files Lost and Found. Maybe I should add that to the profile?

When you say a lot of stories are missing, do you mean that the Master Post hasn't been updated? You are correct but we left off at story 260 last September and we're only at 267 a year later. I'll ask amyhit to update once we've hit 270 or by the end of the year, whichever happens first. If you mean something else, please let me know so I can trouble-shoot for you. Many of the early links are broken but it's an older fandom. Only the person who made a post can update and I haven't been able to reach the owner of the site. Most of the stories we've read are at Gossamer or Fugues Fiction Archive.