Night Giving Off Flames

Fanfiction
Title:	Night Giving Off Flames
Author(s):	Jesemie's Evil Twin
Date(s):	June 2000
Length:
Genre:	MSR
Fandom:	The X-Files
External Links:	Night Giving Off Flames (The Basement Office) Night Giving Off Flames (Gossamer)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Night Giving Off Flames is an X-Files story by Jesemie's Evil Twin.

It was written for Scullys Improvfic and is a post-colonization AU that takes place after the episode "Hollywood AD."

Podfic

• Night Giving Off Flames by Addisonzella (2016)

Reactions and Reviews

2000

This story will make you ache from head to toe. It's so perfectly written, the feelings of loss and despair are so fresh, you will feel for these people like you never thought possible. The ending will just sweep you away.

2001

Few authors have the power to annihilate me and make me grateful while they're doing it. Such is the power of this fic. Elegant construction and flawless execution mark all of JET's work, but this one...this one is bellissima.

2004

There are very few writers with a voice as distinctive and as lovely as JET's.... This particular story takes place after colonization has succeeded: Mulder is in hiding, and Scully's been captured by the shapeshifting aliens who continue the Consortium's fondness for experiments in the form of torture, torture in the form of experiments. That's the setup: the story is about the aftermath. About trauma, and identity, and of course that old X Files staple, trust. In the end, JET takes a hoary old chestnut of XF dialogue, immediately identifiable from a hundred episodes and a thousand fanfics, and redefines it as the recognition of grace.

2010

I think it's one of the best in The X-Files fandom in the post-colonization genre.

Wow- this one was interesting. Stylistically I found the first part a bit...overly self-conscious. It seemed like the action got going and the plot sort of took over in part 2 once jetfic was less bogged down by finding the perfect descriptor for autumn leaves or whatever. As a result, I found the whole thing flowed better and became a lot more resonant. And I'm someone who generally gets off on the pretty when it comes to language; I just felt here it was overwrought and distracting in places, particularly in the beginning of the story, when as a reader I'm trying to get my bearings anyway.

I liked the disoriented feel, the sense that neither of them quite knows what's going on in the world at large. Scully's description of Mulder's "death", Mulder's uncertainty as to where he actually is. In contrast to Machines of Freedom, this is a very passive Mulder and Scully. They're broken, sure, and they've just found their way back to each other, but there's not much indication as to where (if anywhere) they're going from here. I mean, not saying it wouldn't tempting to just shack up in the The Lone Gunmen's safehouse and wait for the supplies to run out, but still.

And I'm someone who generally gets off on the pretty when it comes to language; I just felt here it was overwrought and distracting in places, particularly in the beginning of the story, when as a reader I'm trying to get my bearings anyway.

That's a fascinating observation. I think what she's going for at the beginning is a kind of surrealism of the everyday. There is this contrast between made between the ordinary life that both Mulder and Scully are now leading and the extraordinary circumstances that brought them there.

This was the first one of Jet's stories that I found, off of a rec on crack_van, back when I first started reading fanfiction for TXF. It felt almost hallucinatory, really. I'd never read anything quite like it. I had to read it about three times before I figured out what was going on, but somehow this story works for me anyway, pretty much from start to finish.

I liked the disoriented feel, the sense that neither of them quite knows what's going on in the world at large.

Along with that, she creates a feeling of absolute dread, at least she did for me. I was right there on the floor with Mulder, falling apart by the ending.

In contrast to Machines of Freedom, this is a very passive Mulder and Scully. They're broken, sure, and they've just found their way back to each other, but there's not much indication as to where (if anywhere) they're going from here. I mean, not saying it wouldn't tempting to just shack up in the Lone Gunmen's safehouse and wait for the supplies to run out, but still.

This is the cautionary tale, isn't it? While he is off on a classic Mulder ditch, they take her from him again, and use her disappearance to blackmail him into going underground, too. Well, that's my take on it. They use his faked death to get her to break, that plus the Shifters take on his appearance and torture her. It's what the Consortium really would have done to shut down the X-Files division if they'd had half a brain.

But Mulder doesn't give up. Krycek asks him directly, "why are you taking this chance?" Because he's the hero. He can't not try to get her back. even though he's been told not to try, that they'll kill her if he does. He has to rely on his enemies to rescue her, for a high price and "a bonus," which given who Krycek is, could be anything.

And Scully doesn't give up either. Despite physical and psychological torture that would have permanently broken most people, she somehow manages to find her way back to sanity, and eventually back to Mulder.

JET doesn't take us any farther than their reunion, but as reader, I have to believe this is the beginning of their comeback. Now that they've saved each other, the world still needs saving.

I think what she's going for at the beginning is a kind of surrealism of the everyday. There is this contrast between made between the ordinary life that both Mulder and Scully are now leading and the extraordinary circumstances that brought them there.

Hmm, yeah, and I get that--I'm not sure I can articulate what bothered me about it specifically; it wasn't that juxtaposition, because I agree that that contrast is powerful and necessary. It's that opening, with every other word something I need to parse before moving forward. It felt unnecessary to me even as I was loving the image of a basket of neon chiffon leaves.

I really love dystopias and apocalypse stories- and that description of the sky boiling green was just chilling, and made me wonder what Mulder's neighbors knew, whether everything had gone viral, global. It reminded me of the creepy neighborhood in Mulder's hallucination in "Amor Fati", and part of me was waiting for the bottom to fall out right up until the end.

But as reader, I have to believe this is the beginning of their comeback. Now that they've saved each other, the world still needs saving.

Me too. :) .

I agree with jouissant's comments above on the style of the writing. For me this has always been kind of a problem with JET's writing--it's very, very pretty and evocative, but it's not terribly clear and plot tends to fall by the wayside. I like poetic stories, but I have my limits :) and sometimes they leave me hungry for something more substantial. For movement and story. For something to happen.

For this reason I like Night Giving Off Flames above all others of her stories I've read (it doesn't hurt that it was also one of the very first fics I ever read. This was back when it was published--I do think my attitude to fic has changed over the years now that I don't constantly have to make tough decisions about which ones to store on my (once-limited) hard drive).

I think the kind of dreamy tone of the writing works well because the plot is *supposed* to be confusing; supposed to be hard to grip onto. I like that we don't understand, along with Scully--that we can't trust Mulder (?) any more than she can.

There are running themes in JET's stories--small towns; found objects; gentle, mysterious strangers; weather patterns/seasonality. I think they come together, symbolically, in this story, and all of it is important to what happens.

I agree with jouissant's comments above on the style of the writing. For me this has always been kind of a problem with JET's writing--it's very, very pretty and evocative, but it's not terribly clear and plot tends to fall by the wayside.

I really enjoy JET's stories but I would agree that plot is not her strong suit. I got very frustrated with "Scenes for Quiescence," for that very reason. It has some lovely moments but I still have no idea what the heck is going on, which isn't what she had in mind, I assume.

For this reason I like Night Giving Off Flames above all others of her stories I've read (it doesn't hurt that it was also one of the very first fics I ever read.

It was one of the first stories I read in this fandom, too. Yes, I also like that the plot (once I figured it out) made sense, both emotionally and logically. She always gets the emotional part of her stories right, and I think the people who love her writing unreservedly respond to that aspect. I think that for them the plot isn't the main event anyway.

I think the kind of dreamy tone of the writing works well because the plot is *supposed* to be confusing; supposed to be hard to grip onto. I like that we don't understand, along with Scully--that we can't trust Mulder (?) any more than she can.

I think it does keep the suspense up. I think I vacillated about whether or not the fifth shifter was Mulder my first time reading.

There are running themes in JET's stories--small towns; found objects; gentle, mysterious strangers; weather patterns/seasonality. I think they come together, symbolically, in this story, and all of it is important to what happens.

Yes, a good observation, well-stated. Now I want to go look for those elements in the stories I don't know as well as this one.

2012

I consider JET to be one of the towering authors of the X-Files fandom, and many of her stories to be classic X-Files fics. I have read "Night" several times... [this fic is discussed extensively in Rogue Archives: Digital Cultural Memory and Media Fandom, see [https://books.google.com/books?id=y8wbDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&dq=%22Night+Giving+Off+Flames%22&source=bl&ots=roCByLEjhB&sig=9dpe3Qp9EIQocz9vNpH5PCV9luI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDk8TSxdvRAhUM2mMKHY5XC18Q6AEITzAJ#v=onepage&q=%22Night%20Giving%20Off%20Flames%22&f=false for more]

2015

Want some pain to go with your lunch? Read this and ugly cry… in the best way. -- (campaignofmisinformation)

Yeah ok I didn’t cry but only because I am in the lobby at work right now. (scullyphile)

2016

One of our absolute favorite things about the relationship between Mulder and Scully is the love. The undying, over the moon, burns as bright as a million suns kind of love. The can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, World Series kind of stuff. It seems that their love for one another is always put to the test, and today’s rec doesn’t hold back. Mulder barters to get Scully back after the colonization, and what ensues isn’t for the weak-hearted. Put your big kid undies on, readers. and enjoy this tragically beautiful story.

Unknown Date

oh wow...this is one of those stories where the story and the writing are both incredible. and it is so painful...lots of JET's notes include the term "oddness" in the description, but all she really means is "thoroughly original content to follow." so don't let that keep you from reading...