(Insert clever title here)

@wintersnails 💡 (still not perfect but 1013 made it hard for anyone 💀) by Femke Hermu

Tagging @today-in-fic

Rated: R

Word count: 11,215

Timeline: Through My Struggle IV

Content Warning: references to medical rape, consistent with what was presented in MSIV.  Non-network-television friendly liberties are taken with language.  A few giant leaps south of Chris Carter’s Zone of Incomprehensibly Platonic Behavior.

Author's note: I have...no excuse for the 7.5 year gap between chapters. I'd written this chapter when I posted the first part of this in 2018, it just needed editing. I don't even know why I'm posting this now, except that I found it on my phone and wanted closure! I haven't touched this once before today, so any inconsistencies of voice or tone stem from a 7.5 year interruption.

Ch. 2 Preview:

“None of this was meant for you,” the boy says flatly, his eyes empty. “You have to let me go,” he whispers, shimmering evanescently at the horizon before he disappears under the waves.

______________________________________

Farrs Corner, VA

4:38 AM

Scully startles awake, a combination of sweat and tears glistening on her face. She feels a sudden, powerful wave of nausea and raises a shaky hand up to cover her mouth.

Mulder reaches out to her with his eyes closed, gathering her into his arms and easing her back down alongside him. He operates entirely on instinct, decades-old muscle memory from when they had been on the run inhabiting one thin-walled motel room after another. They’d needed to stay quiet and maintain a low profile, but they'd struggled with overwhelming symptoms of untreated post-traumatic stress for years. Soothing each other's nightmares had become an automatic response over time, a reflex triggered in even their lowest levels of consciousness.

"Mmmph. S’okay, Scully," Mulder slurs, nuzzling his face into her hair. "I’m right here,” he mumbles, his breath warm and familiar against the skin at the back of her neck. He hums an additional string of nonsensical syllables into her hair, tightening his arms around her as he fades back into unconsciousness.

Find the rest on ao3, here:

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

For @calimanc, who sent me this prompt two years ago. Thank you to my friends who helped me along the way through beta-reading and cheerleading: urlovingfriend, @unremarkablehouse, @bakedbakermom, @baronessblixen, and @bookishscully. The original prompt came from a list by @cecilysass. Set in late season 5. This is a finished fic and I will be posting a chapter a day.

Summary:

Following a lead on a case they just can’t seem to solve, an accident leaves Mulder with supernatural powers; the same powers their main suspect seems to posses. In a race against time to stop a series of murders, what could be a key to the case instead puts new obstacles in their way.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19

The Spooky Awards were the annual awards given to X-Files fan fiction from 1995-2004 (except for, strangely, the year 1997). They were voted on by readers in a process that's a little unclear to me now--I know it must have been occasionally controversial, because there were sometimes concerns about "ballot stuffing." Full disclosure, I'm getting most of my info about this from Fanlore, although as an aged person I do remember the Spookys being a big deal back in the day. I might have even voted for them at some point, but I really don't remember how it worked. I sure af know we didn't have Google Forms. From year to year the categories changed, sometimes drastically, and sometimes they awarded honorable mentions. In the earlier years, from my point of view, it looks like a lot of the same fics and authors won again and again in lots of categories, but by the later years, it seems like it was a much more varied group of winners. I find the Spooky winners really fascinating to look at now because (1) they show what people liked to write and read back when the show was on; (2) they're an interesting documentation of early online fandom / fanfic, including how people liked to categorize fic and pairings; (3) there are a lot of fics and authors on these lists that people still read and recommend; (4) there are some fics that people really don't read and recommend, and I'm always curious why (some might deserve to be remembered more!). I'm going to list the 1998 Spooky winners below and link each fic as best I can so other people can explore them. I chose 1998 because there were a lot of familiar fics to me on this list--honestly, some real bangers--but maybe I'll do another year later. I found every fic but one still online. (Unacceptable by Justin Glasser anyone? - update: found, thanks to @lilydalexf !) A few random observations about 1998: obviously lots of movie fic. Less of a focus on strictly MSR, and plenty of same sex pairings, including Scully slash. More male fic authors / author names than we typically see nowadays. Also, in googling for a hard-to-find fic, I think I discovered another XF fanfic author who went pro (Saundra Mitchell). Look these over and give me your thoughts!

Outstanding Portrayal of Mulder Angst

First Place - Iolokus series - Mustang Sally and RivkaT

Second Place - The Cry of the Truth - A. I. Irving

Third Place - Eleventh Hour - Rachel Anton

Outstanding Mulder Characterization

First Place - Reach - Khyber

Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Third Place - Tangible - Blueswirl

Outstanding Original Character

First Place - Miranda Scully -- Iolokus IV - MustangSally and RivkaT

Second Place - Audrey--A Show of Strength - Meredith

Outstanding Original Villain

First Place - George Naxos --- Iolokus - MustangSally and Rivka T

Second Place - Mark Dupree --- ELS - Dawson Rambo

Third Place - Mr. Chancy/Simon Moloch -- Kevin Justin Glasser

Outstanding Portrayal of Scully Angst

First Place - Wallpaper - Annie Sewell-Jennings

Second Place - Primal Sympathy - Lydia Bower

Outstanding Scully Characterization

First Place - Reach - Khyber

Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Outstanding Characterization of a Recurring TV Character

First Place - Worth her Weight - Marguerite

Second Place - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Vignette

First Place - Fast Hard Screw on the Main Deck - Bidie McCucholl

Second Place - The Shadow of His Wings - Marguerite

Outstanding Humor Story

First Place - Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual - Lilla Vaughan

Second Place - The Carrot and the Stick - Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Author

First Place - Dawson Rambo

Second Place (tie)- Lydia Bower

Second Place (tie)- Nascent

Outstanding New Author

First Place - Bidie McCucholl

Second Place - Annie Sewell-Jennings

Outstanding Drama

First Place - The Iolokus Series - MustangSally & RivkaT

Second Place - A Show of Strength - Meredith

Outstanding Mulder/Scully Friendship

First Place - Worth Her Weight - Marguerite

Second Place (tie) - The Abyss Looks Back - Kronos

Second Place (tie) - And Chaos Shall Reign - Kronos

Outstanding NC-17 Romance

First Place - Metamorphosis - Annie Sewell-Jennings

Second Place - Momentary Lapses Series - Dasha K. & Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Non-NC-17 Romance

First Place - Reach - Khyber

Second Place - Merry Christmas, Scully - Stephanie Kaiser

Outstanding Other Romance

First Place - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Plausible Deniability

Second Place - Loners - Anne Haynes

Outstanding Mulder/Other Romance

First Place - Banging Your Head Against a Red-Haired Brick Wall - Blair Provence

Second Place - Venture Forth - Punk Maneuverability

Outstanding Scully/Other Romance

First Place - Half a World Away - Jane St. Clair

Second Place - Wheels of Iscariot - Emilie Renee Karr

Third Place - Homicidal Tendencies - Swikstr

Outstanding Skinner/Mulder Romance

First Place - Baton Rouge - Frogdoggie

Second Place (tie) - Challenges - Te

Second Place (tie) - Lasting Consequences - Debra Fran Baker

Second Place (tie) - Rarest Man Series (Body of Evidence, Duty Before Pleasure, Feast and Famine, Resolution, Test of Endurance, Wet Dream) - Sergeeva

Second Place (tie) - Unacceptable - Justin Glasser

Second Place (tie) - Wakened by Silence - JiM Page

Outstanding Skinner/Scully Romance

First Place - A Cold Angel Eye - Jordan

Second Place - Red Valerian Series - Dasha K.

Outstanding Platonic Mulder/Scully Romance

First Place (tie) - The Shadow of His Wings - Marguerite

First Place (tie) - Theory and Practice - Nascent

Outstanding Mulder/Scully UST

First Place - Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual - Lilla Vaughan

Second Place - Ninth Circle - Tim Scott

Outstanding Slash Story

First Place - Nightclub Girls - Dasha K

Second Place - Nightclub Jitters - Dasha K

Most Chris Carter

First Place - Kevin - Justin Glasser

Second Place (tie) - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Second Place (tie) - ELS - Dawson Rambo

Outstanding Series

First Place (tie) - The Iolokus Series - MustangSally and RivkaT

First Place (tie) - Momentary Lapses Series - Dasha K and Plausible Deniability

Outstanding Short Story

First Place - Day 17 - Khyber

Second Place - Fast Hard Screw on the Main Deck - Bidie McCucholl

Third Place (tie) - Camp - Shalimar

Third Place (tie) - All the Children are Insane - MustangSally

Outstanding Long Story

First Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Second Place (tie) - Reach - Khyber

Second Place (tie) - ELS - Dawson Rambo

Outstanding Story in a Series

First Place - Said the Spider to the Fly - Dark Nascent

Second Place - The Ghost at Her Side - Joyce McKibben

Third Place - Iolokus IV - MustangSally and Rivka T

Outstanding Unfinished Work

First Place - Paper Saints - Jill Selby

Second Place - Above Rubies - Rachel Howard

Outstanding Post-Episode Story

First Place - Camp - Shalimar

Second Place - All the Children are Insane - MustangSally

Outstanding Movie Fic

First Place - Worth her Weight - Marguerite

Second Place - A Makeshift Kiss - Jill Selby

Outstanding Action/Adventure Story

First Place (tie) - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

First Place (tie) - Iolokus - MustangSally and RivkaT

Outstanding X-File

First Place - ELS - Dawson Rambo

Second Place - Antidote - Karen Rasch and Rachel Howard

Outstanding Crossover

First Place - Homicidal Tendencies - Swikstr

This is my second Spooky Award post. It's apparently a series! My post about Spookys 1998 is here. The Spooky Awards were the annual awards given to X-Files fan fiction from 1995-2004 (except for 1997). They were voted on by fans and were always a bit contentious. You can read more about this at Fanlore or my previous post on the topic. The award categories changed pretty drastically changed them every year: look how different 2000's are from 1998's! But ... this was apparently a loaded topic. Check out this lively discussion about what the Spookys' categories should be in 1999. Also, there were apparently no 1997 awards because of ballot stuffing during the 1996 Spookys, which seems like it was a whole exciting fandom drama! But I digress.

2016 vs. 2026

Another reason why I love them so much, same energy time after time! 😍😄