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24/7 #1
24/7
A Skinner/Mulder, Master/slave fantasy. Mulder finally finds someone who will give him the extreme thrills that he seeks, but there’s a high price to be paid.
Extract:
"He felt as if was spinning out of control, seeking ever more dangerous risks, more intense thrills…and this…this was the ultimate risk, the ultimate trip into the unknown, the ultimate thrill. If he signed this piece of paper, anything could happen to him. During a sex game he wouldn’t have any control, or the buffer zone of a safe-word. He’d be totally, completely, at the mercy of his Master. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week…"
Angst, BDSM, Discipline, Established Relationship, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, Kink, Romance, Spanking, Torture
Main characters: Fox Mulder and Walter Skinner
Word Count: 622,519
Extract:
"He felt as if was spinning out of control, seeking ever more dangerous risks, more intense thrills…and this…this was the ultimate risk, the ultimate trip into the unknown, the ultimate thrill. If he signed this piece of paper, anything could happen to him. During a sex game he wouldn’t have any control, or the buffer zone of a safe-word. He’d be totally, completely, at the mercy of his Master. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week…"
Angst, BDSM, Discipline, Established Relationship, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, Kink, Romance, Spanking, Torture
Main characters: Fox Mulder and Walter Skinner
Word Count: 622,519
1869 pages, ebook
First published September 21, 1999
9 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Xanthe Walter
34 books220 followersXanthe has been writing for most of her life, creating hundreds of short stories, novellas, and novels. Born in London, England, she puts her drama degree to good use by creating dramatic adventures about gorgeous men!
She had a day job for many moons, but when she discovered the wonderful world of MM fanfiction, she knew she'd found her tribe!
She wrote in fandom for over a decade, winning many awards, before transitioning to professional writing in 2012 with the BDSM romp, Ricochet.
Xanthe writes genre-defying MM romances, skilfully weaving murder mysteries, sci-fi, and fantasy into compelling love stories. Her books often contain plenty of spice, as well as the occasional sprinkling of BDSM.
If you enjoy MM romance and relish engaging novels with well-written characters, then jump on board her emotional rollercoaster!
Sometimes she goes to dark places, but you're guaranteed payoffs that hit the sweet spot and make the journey truly memorable.
When she's not writing, Xanthe is a musical theatre fan, geeks out on Tudor history, and never says no to a proper cream tea! She splits her time between London and Somerset with her two beautiful cats.
Come and join her on her friendly Facebook group Xanthology.
She had a day job for many moons, but when she discovered the wonderful world of MM fanfiction, she knew she'd found her tribe!
She wrote in fandom for over a decade, winning many awards, before transitioning to professional writing in 2012 with the BDSM romp, Ricochet.
Xanthe writes genre-defying MM romances, skilfully weaving murder mysteries, sci-fi, and fantasy into compelling love stories. Her books often contain plenty of spice, as well as the occasional sprinkling of BDSM.
If you enjoy MM romance and relish engaging novels with well-written characters, then jump on board her emotional rollercoaster!
Sometimes she goes to dark places, but you're guaranteed payoffs that hit the sweet spot and make the journey truly memorable.
When she's not writing, Xanthe is a musical theatre fan, geeks out on Tudor history, and never says no to a proper cream tea! She splits her time between London and Somerset with her two beautiful cats.
Come and join her on her friendly Facebook group Xanthology.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 27, 2013
An amazing X-Files fanfic TPE story. It's long but delicious with firm M/s relationship between Skinner and Mulder including a lot of discipline, pony and puppy play, bondage, fisting, role playing, etc...You don't have to be a fan of the show to get into this--I watched episodes, but certainly wasn't obsessed with it. Honestly, you could change the character names and it would be just as awesome.
If you're looking for a beautiful, loving, emotional Master/slave story, I highly recommend it.
Favorite passage:
If you're looking for a beautiful, loving, emotional Master/slave story, I highly recommend it.
Favorite passage:
“And what are you?”
“Nothing. I am…nothing,” Mulder whispered. The paddle stopped, and Skinner turned his slave’s face around so that he was looking at him.
“You’re my slave,” he said, his eyes dark and concerned. “That’s not nothing, Fox. It’s…everything – to me at least. I had hoped it was the same for you too.”
August 24, 2013
Oooh, thanks whoever added this to GR!
Long: that's the first word that leaps into my head. Check out that word count! It could safely have lost 500,000 words and been esentially the same story. A better story.
I did love how Xanthe worked the X-Files mythos and plot into her fiction. This was a far, far better end for Krycek than the series ever considered.
Long: that's the first word that leaps into my head. Check out that word count! It could safely have lost 500,000 words and been esentially the same story. A better story.
I did love how Xanthe worked the X-Files mythos and plot into her fiction. This was a far, far better end for Krycek than the series ever considered.
November 11, 2013
Super, super long and super, super juicy free-online fanfiction. I am not much of a X-Files fan, but I was able to just replace the characters in my head while reading this. Big thanks to Vivian for pointing me in the direction of this delicious TPE, M/s story.
September 23, 2013
What could I tell to describe this story? That it’s an X-Files fan fiction? You already know it. It’s free. You know it too. That it has 1158 pages? You were probably shocked to discover it. If it’s so long is because the author describes every little detail of a complete year of 24/7 Master/slave relationship.
But Skinner and Mulder are just two surnames. And their background, provided by the TV series, could have been the background of any MCs who had bad times in their past. Who hadn’t any? So, if you didn’t like the series, no problem. Forget the series and read this story anyway. If you really love Male/male Domination/submission and BDSM, read it. You can find it here:
http://www.xanthe.org/24-7/
Quotes:
“Skinner had certainly been strict with him, but he had also been patient, and loving, and Mulder knew how hard it was to find that combination in any top.”
"How we conduct our fantasies, needs and desires is nobody's business but our own, I think, so long as we don't harm anyone else.”
"You're good because you're strong without being brutal, strict without being unfair, loving without losing your authority – and most of all, you never make the mistake of treating a sub as anything less than human. Any number of subs would gladly serve you - and you deserve to be served, love." Andrew said to Skinner
One of the thing you don’t want your master to tell you while you’re tied on his bed:
“Uh oh. If this is the tube of Superglue, where's the KY?” loll
“[...] others find the thrill of submission profoundly sexual, so that even if they might occasionally hate being punished, they need it on some level. Perhaps partly to reinforce the rest of the fantasy – but for other reasons as well.”
Review:
PROS:
Skinner is a caring and pushing Dom: perfect combination. And he was trained by a harsh master called Andrew. Mulder is a little childish, a little bratty. “I'm sure Scully thinks I’m a case of arrested development – that I’m still 12 years old inside”, said Mulder. He is a sub who played slave with many doms, but never really been one. That was him who decided what the tops would do to him. So, can we tell that he submitted? Not from my point of view. Moreover, the author thinks like me: “You’ve paid lip service to it, but you’ve never truly understood what it means”. Mulder felt he needed someone to control him or else he would destroy himself. And then he sold himself to a stranger. He didn’t know who was buying him when he signed the slave contract. Happily for him, it was Skinner. Mulder is exuberant and sometimes uncontrollable. He questioned everything and everyone. Trusting someone does not come easily. He did not set his past problems, especially those related to his sister Amanda’s disappearance. This brings several critical moments in this story; to the point where Skinner and Mulder back to square one in the middle of the story and start again Mulder’s training.
This is really Domination/submission and BDSM. And there is something for everybody in this story (domination at home, at parties, at restaurant, at a bar, at the office, from far away [phone], rough and tender f*ckings, bondage, suspension, mild humiliation, CBT, all sorts of beating, sexual and non-sexual services, exhibitionism, branding, hot wax, cutting, slave auction,...). And there is every imaginable role play: puppy play, pony play, captain/sailor play, school principal/schoolboy businessman and hustler, prison guard/prisoner, rape fantasy, and other plays like that. They seem having a lot of fun when they are role playing. Since I am not very fond of role plays, I’ve found these descriptions a little long, particularly when the role playing didn’t include anything SM or nothing really believable.
But all these D/s and BDSM activities don’t feel like a patchwork made to give every reader his due. Everything is done for a good reason at a good moment of the story.
Even the secondary characters are interesting. I’m jealous because I’d like to have been the creator of Murray and Hammer. They are two original characters: Murray, a genial master who is 60 and fat with a heart condition, and Hammer, his strong willed and pushy sub who is approaching his 40 years old and is much bulkier and tougher than his master. Even if Murray is a doctor, Hammer is the one who takes care of them and everything, and who is member of the House. But Murray is the purveyor of BDSM fantasies in their relationship. Murray said to Mulder: “Where would we [Doms] be without our subs, Fox? You're the other half of us – what are we without you?”
There are many delightful parts, like the dead rat crime scene and the idea of a collaring ceremony for Wanda, the cat. Everything pertaining to Wanda is fun. And the bike ride... Woohoo!
There is enough in this story about the difference between BDSM and abuse to give a course on the subject (particularly in section 24). And it alone is sufficient to give it one more heart.
And there are moving moments, particularly when Mulder met Skinner’s little sister also named Samantha, even though everybody call her Tabitha (section 25).
P. 1146 I loved the scene in the BDSM Bar when Skinner and Mulder showed themselves and their talents as master and slave. I particularly appreciate Mulder’s body guard attitude.
I laughed a few times of Mulder’s wisecracks. And I cried at the most intimate and significant moments.
CONS:
From the beginning of the story, I asked myself how a master who has a trained investigator as a slave can imagine that his slave will not attempt to discover what his master is hiding. It was extremely predictable that Mulder would do anything to know.
“"Well, I knew your insane curiosity, and I also know what a talented investigator you are, so I should have expected that you wouldn’t be satisfied with my promises that I’d tell you one day," Skinner replied.”
Yeah, he should. Thus the author gave Skinner reasons not to want to talk about his past just to add a little spice to the story. But since everybody, just like me, will expect that it’s about to happen, that Mulder would try to know, it’s a little cheap spice, a simplistic trick.
About a quarter of the story (pages 256-257), I already had enough of Mulder’s stubbornness who never wanted to speak about his most important issues (e.g. Krycek) to his master. “I couldn’t let anyone see the weakness,” said Mulder. But anyone who reads that sort of story knows the sub will eventually speak anyway and regret not having done it before. And the fact that Mulder is accustomed to keeping his little secrets to himself doesn’t seem very convincing to me when he did the same mistakes for the Xth time. Can’t a truly sincere and trusting slave be able to overcome his old habits? I think yes if he believes in his commitment to his master and if he has a little brain and heart. But the author here preferred to create a childish character, so his master could find more reasons to spank him as the brat he is.
It seems that authors in general who want to get their two MCs in bad situations have one favorite mean: they give one or the other MC (or them both) a reason not to want to speak to the other about his difficulties or his bad feelings or who prefers to hide and lie than to be honest. And invariably, things go wrong. I’d like to find an author able to choose something else to get the same result, because I have enough of that old trick of non-communication or lies. Here it was the two MCs who hided things to each other; each one because of problems experienced in their past. Skinner, who was always saying to Mulder to be honest and to trust him doesn’t speak of the important things either, supposedly because he was afraid that Mulder considers him weak or not suited to the role of master. But that’s a cliché to think that way. I can assure you that subs in general rather believe that their masters are more likely to dominate them aptly if they experienced what they give them to live, because they can better understand them.
“I can't change quickly though. This is the way I've been all my life. Alone, not letting people in. A week and a half with you isn't long enough to change me, Master. One day. Maybe.” Said by Mulder.
“It was easier to stay as he was, distrustful, locked up within himself, than to take the first, tentative steps towards trusting.” Thought by Mulder.
“You already eat out of my hand, but one day you'll learn to trust me too - enough to tell me everything. I'll be here. I'm a patient man. I can wait," Skinner promised.”
One thing that puzzles me is that it’s clear that Mulder is still very troubled by her sister Amanda’s disappearance and by whenever he dropped someone or someone had enough his escapades. The author seems to see D/s as a psychological cure. She describes it very well; she even manages to make us believe it, but is it possible that someone as disturbed as Mulder could get by without professional help? I'm not sure. However, the author explains why it is not certain that a psychologist could help Mulder. The reasons given are quite convincing, but we did learn that only the middle of the story. That could be interesting to give this information sooner, so Skinner does not act as if he was thinking he could psychoanalyze Mulder.
I don’t understand why Skinner didn’t arrested Krycek when he broke in his house twice. Did the author keep him to spice the plot? No one on Earth would have let Krycek go after that. Why Skinner did if not to be sure that there will be a little more action after that in this story?
The story finished with Mulder declaring his love to Skinner, giving him a wedding ring and telling him that he wanted to be “more than just his slave”, that he wanted to be also his lover. What?! What do you mean by “more than JUST his slave”. You have to give yourself “body, heart and soul” to be a slave. Didn’t you understand what it means? The heart and the soul are in the equation.
What a stupid ending message the author gave! That’s as if you can’t be lovers and slave or master at the same time for the entire duration of the relationship. The way it’s said, it’s as if both things couldn’t cohabit together and grow at the same time in the same heart, each emotion helping the other to exist.
What Xanthe should have told is that Mulder fully realized that he loved Skinner for a long time, that he couldn’t have become the perfect slave he was at the end without this love and that the last step he had to do was to reveal his love. By telling that he wanted to become more, that was as if Mulder said that all this time, his slavery was something less. In fact, slavery is not less. Never! It’s something more.
That’s as if for Xanthe love was a sort of dressing that you add on top of an already delightful dessert. But love can pretty well be weaved with the submission and veneration that a slave feels for his master or with the need to guide and protect that the master feels for his slave to form the complete fabric of what you feel for each other. Love does not have to come after, to add something better to the D/s relationship and for you to become “more than just a slave”, nor come before to give birth to that D/s relationship. Love could be there, all the time and all the way, from beginning to end, at the base, the top and the middle of the D/s relationship. None of what a master feels for his slave or what a slave feels for his master could prevent love from existing and growing and no love could preclude the slave’s veneration and submission or the master’s needs to guide and protect. All could be tightly plaited together.
Inconsistencies:
P. 169 "58 balloons to get this good." Skinner grinned, winking at him. And p. 817, “How many balloons did you kill first?” Mulder asked, eyeing the razor wearily. “Hundreds.” Skinner answered.
P. 312 "Don't tell me my Master is ticklish?" He asked mischievously. "I don't mind firm strokes, it's when you do all that light, whispery stuff," Skinner protested. And p. 835 “Ticklish are we, slave?” Mulder inquired. “A little, Master,” Skinner admitted. Mulder grinned – that was something he hadn’t known about his Master in all the time he’d been with him [...]”
I don’t understand that the author made Skinner ordered to Mulder not to speak all day (p. 662) and to be in deep submission, but when Mulder spoke many times, Skinner said and did nothing, as if the author and her two MCs had forgotten that order. That gives the wrong image about Skinner: an image of leniency.
At page 678, the author says “Skinner’s cock still buried deep inside his slave’s ass. The back of Mulder’s head was on his Master’s chest.” How is it possible? Mulder is just 2 inches less tall than skinner. If Skinner’s cock is still in his slave’s ass and Mulder’s back on Skinner’s front, Mulder’s head should be beside his master’s head, not on his master’s chest.
At page 761 "You fantasized about me?” Skinner looked surprised. “Before we were involved? I didn’t know that.” But Mulder already spoke about many fantasies of his involving Skinner in his office. I don’t understand why he seems so surprised.
The infuriating first attempt at branding
In section 25 Having said from the first time he and Mulder spoke of a branding (p. 17) how it was a major commitment that should not be taken lightly and having waited so long to get there for them to be really ready for it, after promising to Mulder that he would be there for him the days before and above all the day of his branding to help him prepare for the marking, Skinner, who was absent all week, is out many hours for a fucking tattoo on the day of the branding! He is habitually so in tune with his slave’s feelings and usually keeps his word, but he didn’t understand that Mulder could need his master that day and he broke his promise! It is just not like him.
"Fox, I swear that the sound of your mind chewing over a problem is the loudest thing I've ever heard," he said.
Really? Then why didn’t he know how Mulder felt in such a circumstance?! It’s simply unbelievable that he didn’t.
I think this part is in shambles. Xanthe should have come to Murray’s heart attack later in the week of the branding. A man who has a heart attack usually doesn’t remain unconscious for several days. My father had a heart attack. He woke up shortly after. He was weak; it's true, but able to talk. Skinner could very well have been engulfed by his preparations for the holidays all week, getting a tattoo a day or two before the branding day and be busy on the branding day with his visit to the hospital after Murray’s heart attack, where his friend could have told him to do the branding that day anyway. The branding day, Mulder could have taken care of the final preparations. Then Skinner, coming home just before the arrivals of his first guests, could have found Mulder on his knees in the playroom, waiting for his promised caning, and trying to go in subspace. Then hugging and kissing his beloved slave, Skinner should have asked for his forgiveness for letting him down such a day and not having done the preparations for their important commitment. Mulder could have then told him that he had failed to go in subspace because he was too worried about his master’s health and that he needed him before being branded. Skinner SHOULD have immediately recognized that he failed in his Master’s duty and broke his promise, without waiting for Mulder to accuse him of it all. Then he could have offered to postpone the ceremony because he understood the importance of this commitment for them both, the mental preparation had not taken place as promised, and he didn’t feel ready too.
That way, I could then have kept my respect for Skinner. But as it is written, I think he acted like a moron. He cheapened the value of the commitment.
Anyway, why didn’t they schedule their holiday to have at least two days free before the branding day to have time to prepare? There was no reason for this failure happening. All this part of the story feels like square pegs pushed in the readers’ throats.
And there is something wrong about his tattoo: Skinner winced because his tattoo hurt before having it done. A little fox tattooed on his heart could very well have been done in one sitting. So if he got it all done on the branding day, why did he wince because it hurt the day before?
I know what messages Xanthe wanted to give us here. The master's presence is crucial before such an important event. It is as much a master’s commitment as his slave’s. A branding without preparation and without caring is just torture, not a beautiful ceremony and moving commitment between two partners in a D/s relationship. And a slave does not have to carry on his shoulders alone the couple’s issues and to give up the satisfaction of his own needs. I agree with all that. These messages are important. But this passage is so poorly written. Events happen out of order and Skinner’s actions are so out of character that everything feels awkward, even askew. It gives a bad impression of Skinner and does not give a very good impression too of the care that the author takes to write her stories.
If you can’t tell your message so it integrates seamlessly to the story and to your characters’ psychology, forget it! Just forget it! Otherwise, everything seems to be out of tune.
Everything was going so well before. I completely dropped out when I read this part of your story, Xanthe. I had to wait two days to finish reading the rest. I’d have even loved to kill that fox on Skinner’s heart. That gives you an idea of how much angry you made me. Because Skinner could have got this tattoo when they began to speak of branding or the day before. Supposedly he did it the day of the branding because he wanted it to be a surprise. What a f*cking surprise! Abandon his slave for many hours just before a branding! What a stupid thing to do! F*ck!! I am really angry with you!
“I failed you in this – I must take a large part of the responsibility.” Said Skinner.
No no no no! If Skinner have been there that day, helping his slave to prepare and showing him that he loved him, everything would have been right. Skinner has to take all the responsibility. ALL OF IT!! And Xanthe too for writing it that way.
I stopped to read then and there, and I wasn’t sure to finish reading the book. I was too angry with Skinner and with Xanthe. I had to wait two days. And even then I felt everything done and said by Skinner like a forgery, something fake. A few pages after that, when Skinner said that he’d prepare Mulder “this time” and make him go to the basics (it was about the millionth time he said so) and then explained: "Maybe you need to be sure that you're surrendering yourself to a kind of dominating force you can't resist – maybe only then will your subconscious view me as being a good enough Master to put a brand in your flesh – a brand that will stay there for the rest of your life.", I thought “F*cking bastard! If you understand it, why did you act like you did before?!” I was still angry with him and Xanthe, and nothing seemed able to redeem what was done before nor to help me appreciate the rest of the story. I couldn’t respond well to Skinner’s harsh tone of voice and display of authority anymore. For me, there is a big flaw in this guy now: it’s someone who can be aloft above his relationship and mentally far away from his slave, cold enough not to see to his feelings and needs. He broke the trust I had in him. And the more he displays his authority after that, even when he showed his supposed love, the more I find him detestable! Because if he truly loved his slave, he’d have been there when most needed.
You can see the rest of this review here:
http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?tag=D...
But Skinner and Mulder are just two surnames. And their background, provided by the TV series, could have been the background of any MCs who had bad times in their past. Who hadn’t any? So, if you didn’t like the series, no problem. Forget the series and read this story anyway. If you really love Male/male Domination/submission and BDSM, read it. You can find it here:
http://www.xanthe.org/24-7/
Quotes:
“Skinner had certainly been strict with him, but he had also been patient, and loving, and Mulder knew how hard it was to find that combination in any top.”
"How we conduct our fantasies, needs and desires is nobody's business but our own, I think, so long as we don't harm anyone else.”
"You're good because you're strong without being brutal, strict without being unfair, loving without losing your authority – and most of all, you never make the mistake of treating a sub as anything less than human. Any number of subs would gladly serve you - and you deserve to be served, love." Andrew said to Skinner
One of the thing you don’t want your master to tell you while you’re tied on his bed:
“Uh oh. If this is the tube of Superglue, where's the KY?” loll
“[...] others find the thrill of submission profoundly sexual, so that even if they might occasionally hate being punished, they need it on some level. Perhaps partly to reinforce the rest of the fantasy – but for other reasons as well.”
Review:
PROS:
Skinner is a caring and pushing Dom: perfect combination. And he was trained by a harsh master called Andrew. Mulder is a little childish, a little bratty. “I'm sure Scully thinks I’m a case of arrested development – that I’m still 12 years old inside”, said Mulder. He is a sub who played slave with many doms, but never really been one. That was him who decided what the tops would do to him. So, can we tell that he submitted? Not from my point of view. Moreover, the author thinks like me: “You’ve paid lip service to it, but you’ve never truly understood what it means”. Mulder felt he needed someone to control him or else he would destroy himself. And then he sold himself to a stranger. He didn’t know who was buying him when he signed the slave contract. Happily for him, it was Skinner. Mulder is exuberant and sometimes uncontrollable. He questioned everything and everyone. Trusting someone does not come easily. He did not set his past problems, especially those related to his sister Amanda’s disappearance. This brings several critical moments in this story; to the point where Skinner and Mulder back to square one in the middle of the story and start again Mulder’s training.
This is really Domination/submission and BDSM. And there is something for everybody in this story (domination at home, at parties, at restaurant, at a bar, at the office, from far away [phone], rough and tender f*ckings, bondage, suspension, mild humiliation, CBT, all sorts of beating, sexual and non-sexual services, exhibitionism, branding, hot wax, cutting, slave auction,...). And there is every imaginable role play: puppy play, pony play, captain/sailor play, school principal/schoolboy businessman and hustler, prison guard/prisoner, rape fantasy, and other plays like that. They seem having a lot of fun when they are role playing. Since I am not very fond of role plays, I’ve found these descriptions a little long, particularly when the role playing didn’t include anything SM or nothing really believable.
But all these D/s and BDSM activities don’t feel like a patchwork made to give every reader his due. Everything is done for a good reason at a good moment of the story.
Even the secondary characters are interesting. I’m jealous because I’d like to have been the creator of Murray and Hammer. They are two original characters: Murray, a genial master who is 60 and fat with a heart condition, and Hammer, his strong willed and pushy sub who is approaching his 40 years old and is much bulkier and tougher than his master. Even if Murray is a doctor, Hammer is the one who takes care of them and everything, and who is member of the House. But Murray is the purveyor of BDSM fantasies in their relationship. Murray said to Mulder: “Where would we [Doms] be without our subs, Fox? You're the other half of us – what are we without you?”
There are many delightful parts, like the dead rat crime scene and the idea of a collaring ceremony for Wanda, the cat. Everything pertaining to Wanda is fun. And the bike ride... Woohoo!
There is enough in this story about the difference between BDSM and abuse to give a course on the subject (particularly in section 24). And it alone is sufficient to give it one more heart.
And there are moving moments, particularly when Mulder met Skinner’s little sister also named Samantha, even though everybody call her Tabitha (section 25).
P. 1146 I loved the scene in the BDSM Bar when Skinner and Mulder showed themselves and their talents as master and slave. I particularly appreciate Mulder’s body guard attitude.
I laughed a few times of Mulder’s wisecracks. And I cried at the most intimate and significant moments.
CONS:
From the beginning of the story, I asked myself how a master who has a trained investigator as a slave can imagine that his slave will not attempt to discover what his master is hiding. It was extremely predictable that Mulder would do anything to know.
“"Well, I knew your insane curiosity, and I also know what a talented investigator you are, so I should have expected that you wouldn’t be satisfied with my promises that I’d tell you one day," Skinner replied.”
Yeah, he should. Thus the author gave Skinner reasons not to want to talk about his past just to add a little spice to the story. But since everybody, just like me, will expect that it’s about to happen, that Mulder would try to know, it’s a little cheap spice, a simplistic trick.
About a quarter of the story (pages 256-257), I already had enough of Mulder’s stubbornness who never wanted to speak about his most important issues (e.g. Krycek) to his master. “I couldn’t let anyone see the weakness,” said Mulder. But anyone who reads that sort of story knows the sub will eventually speak anyway and regret not having done it before. And the fact that Mulder is accustomed to keeping his little secrets to himself doesn’t seem very convincing to me when he did the same mistakes for the Xth time. Can’t a truly sincere and trusting slave be able to overcome his old habits? I think yes if he believes in his commitment to his master and if he has a little brain and heart. But the author here preferred to create a childish character, so his master could find more reasons to spank him as the brat he is.
It seems that authors in general who want to get their two MCs in bad situations have one favorite mean: they give one or the other MC (or them both) a reason not to want to speak to the other about his difficulties or his bad feelings or who prefers to hide and lie than to be honest. And invariably, things go wrong. I’d like to find an author able to choose something else to get the same result, because I have enough of that old trick of non-communication or lies. Here it was the two MCs who hided things to each other; each one because of problems experienced in their past. Skinner, who was always saying to Mulder to be honest and to trust him doesn’t speak of the important things either, supposedly because he was afraid that Mulder considers him weak or not suited to the role of master. But that’s a cliché to think that way. I can assure you that subs in general rather believe that their masters are more likely to dominate them aptly if they experienced what they give them to live, because they can better understand them.
“I can't change quickly though. This is the way I've been all my life. Alone, not letting people in. A week and a half with you isn't long enough to change me, Master. One day. Maybe.” Said by Mulder.
“It was easier to stay as he was, distrustful, locked up within himself, than to take the first, tentative steps towards trusting.” Thought by Mulder.
“You already eat out of my hand, but one day you'll learn to trust me too - enough to tell me everything. I'll be here. I'm a patient man. I can wait," Skinner promised.”
One thing that puzzles me is that it’s clear that Mulder is still very troubled by her sister Amanda’s disappearance and by whenever he dropped someone or someone had enough his escapades. The author seems to see D/s as a psychological cure. She describes it very well; she even manages to make us believe it, but is it possible that someone as disturbed as Mulder could get by without professional help? I'm not sure. However, the author explains why it is not certain that a psychologist could help Mulder. The reasons given are quite convincing, but we did learn that only the middle of the story. That could be interesting to give this information sooner, so Skinner does not act as if he was thinking he could psychoanalyze Mulder.
I don’t understand why Skinner didn’t arrested Krycek when he broke in his house twice. Did the author keep him to spice the plot? No one on Earth would have let Krycek go after that. Why Skinner did if not to be sure that there will be a little more action after that in this story?
The story finished with Mulder declaring his love to Skinner, giving him a wedding ring and telling him that he wanted to be “more than just his slave”, that he wanted to be also his lover. What?! What do you mean by “more than JUST his slave”. You have to give yourself “body, heart and soul” to be a slave. Didn’t you understand what it means? The heart and the soul are in the equation.
What a stupid ending message the author gave! That’s as if you can’t be lovers and slave or master at the same time for the entire duration of the relationship. The way it’s said, it’s as if both things couldn’t cohabit together and grow at the same time in the same heart, each emotion helping the other to exist.
What Xanthe should have told is that Mulder fully realized that he loved Skinner for a long time, that he couldn’t have become the perfect slave he was at the end without this love and that the last step he had to do was to reveal his love. By telling that he wanted to become more, that was as if Mulder said that all this time, his slavery was something less. In fact, slavery is not less. Never! It’s something more.
That’s as if for Xanthe love was a sort of dressing that you add on top of an already delightful dessert. But love can pretty well be weaved with the submission and veneration that a slave feels for his master or with the need to guide and protect that the master feels for his slave to form the complete fabric of what you feel for each other. Love does not have to come after, to add something better to the D/s relationship and for you to become “more than just a slave”, nor come before to give birth to that D/s relationship. Love could be there, all the time and all the way, from beginning to end, at the base, the top and the middle of the D/s relationship. None of what a master feels for his slave or what a slave feels for his master could prevent love from existing and growing and no love could preclude the slave’s veneration and submission or the master’s needs to guide and protect. All could be tightly plaited together.
Inconsistencies:
P. 169 "58 balloons to get this good." Skinner grinned, winking at him. And p. 817, “How many balloons did you kill first?” Mulder asked, eyeing the razor wearily. “Hundreds.” Skinner answered.
P. 312 "Don't tell me my Master is ticklish?" He asked mischievously. "I don't mind firm strokes, it's when you do all that light, whispery stuff," Skinner protested. And p. 835 “Ticklish are we, slave?” Mulder inquired. “A little, Master,” Skinner admitted. Mulder grinned – that was something he hadn’t known about his Master in all the time he’d been with him [...]”
I don’t understand that the author made Skinner ordered to Mulder not to speak all day (p. 662) and to be in deep submission, but when Mulder spoke many times, Skinner said and did nothing, as if the author and her two MCs had forgotten that order. That gives the wrong image about Skinner: an image of leniency.
At page 678, the author says “Skinner’s cock still buried deep inside his slave’s ass. The back of Mulder’s head was on his Master’s chest.” How is it possible? Mulder is just 2 inches less tall than skinner. If Skinner’s cock is still in his slave’s ass and Mulder’s back on Skinner’s front, Mulder’s head should be beside his master’s head, not on his master’s chest.
At page 761 "You fantasized about me?” Skinner looked surprised. “Before we were involved? I didn’t know that.” But Mulder already spoke about many fantasies of his involving Skinner in his office. I don’t understand why he seems so surprised.
The infuriating first attempt at branding
In section 25 Having said from the first time he and Mulder spoke of a branding (p. 17) how it was a major commitment that should not be taken lightly and having waited so long to get there for them to be really ready for it, after promising to Mulder that he would be there for him the days before and above all the day of his branding to help him prepare for the marking, Skinner, who was absent all week, is out many hours for a fucking tattoo on the day of the branding! He is habitually so in tune with his slave’s feelings and usually keeps his word, but he didn’t understand that Mulder could need his master that day and he broke his promise! It is just not like him.
"Fox, I swear that the sound of your mind chewing over a problem is the loudest thing I've ever heard," he said.
Really? Then why didn’t he know how Mulder felt in such a circumstance?! It’s simply unbelievable that he didn’t.
I think this part is in shambles. Xanthe should have come to Murray’s heart attack later in the week of the branding. A man who has a heart attack usually doesn’t remain unconscious for several days. My father had a heart attack. He woke up shortly after. He was weak; it's true, but able to talk. Skinner could very well have been engulfed by his preparations for the holidays all week, getting a tattoo a day or two before the branding day and be busy on the branding day with his visit to the hospital after Murray’s heart attack, where his friend could have told him to do the branding that day anyway. The branding day, Mulder could have taken care of the final preparations. Then Skinner, coming home just before the arrivals of his first guests, could have found Mulder on his knees in the playroom, waiting for his promised caning, and trying to go in subspace. Then hugging and kissing his beloved slave, Skinner should have asked for his forgiveness for letting him down such a day and not having done the preparations for their important commitment. Mulder could have then told him that he had failed to go in subspace because he was too worried about his master’s health and that he needed him before being branded. Skinner SHOULD have immediately recognized that he failed in his Master’s duty and broke his promise, without waiting for Mulder to accuse him of it all. Then he could have offered to postpone the ceremony because he understood the importance of this commitment for them both, the mental preparation had not taken place as promised, and he didn’t feel ready too.
That way, I could then have kept my respect for Skinner. But as it is written, I think he acted like a moron. He cheapened the value of the commitment.
Anyway, why didn’t they schedule their holiday to have at least two days free before the branding day to have time to prepare? There was no reason for this failure happening. All this part of the story feels like square pegs pushed in the readers’ throats.
And there is something wrong about his tattoo: Skinner winced because his tattoo hurt before having it done. A little fox tattooed on his heart could very well have been done in one sitting. So if he got it all done on the branding day, why did he wince because it hurt the day before?
I know what messages Xanthe wanted to give us here. The master's presence is crucial before such an important event. It is as much a master’s commitment as his slave’s. A branding without preparation and without caring is just torture, not a beautiful ceremony and moving commitment between two partners in a D/s relationship. And a slave does not have to carry on his shoulders alone the couple’s issues and to give up the satisfaction of his own needs. I agree with all that. These messages are important. But this passage is so poorly written. Events happen out of order and Skinner’s actions are so out of character that everything feels awkward, even askew. It gives a bad impression of Skinner and does not give a very good impression too of the care that the author takes to write her stories.
If you can’t tell your message so it integrates seamlessly to the story and to your characters’ psychology, forget it! Just forget it! Otherwise, everything seems to be out of tune.
Everything was going so well before. I completely dropped out when I read this part of your story, Xanthe. I had to wait two days to finish reading the rest. I’d have even loved to kill that fox on Skinner’s heart. That gives you an idea of how much angry you made me. Because Skinner could have got this tattoo when they began to speak of branding or the day before. Supposedly he did it the day of the branding because he wanted it to be a surprise. What a f*cking surprise! Abandon his slave for many hours just before a branding! What a stupid thing to do! F*ck!! I am really angry with you!
“I failed you in this – I must take a large part of the responsibility.” Said Skinner.
No no no no! If Skinner have been there that day, helping his slave to prepare and showing him that he loved him, everything would have been right. Skinner has to take all the responsibility. ALL OF IT!! And Xanthe too for writing it that way.
I stopped to read then and there, and I wasn’t sure to finish reading the book. I was too angry with Skinner and with Xanthe. I had to wait two days. And even then I felt everything done and said by Skinner like a forgery, something fake. A few pages after that, when Skinner said that he’d prepare Mulder “this time” and make him go to the basics (it was about the millionth time he said so) and then explained: "Maybe you need to be sure that you're surrendering yourself to a kind of dominating force you can't resist – maybe only then will your subconscious view me as being a good enough Master to put a brand in your flesh – a brand that will stay there for the rest of your life.", I thought “F*cking bastard! If you understand it, why did you act like you did before?!” I was still angry with him and Xanthe, and nothing seemed able to redeem what was done before nor to help me appreciate the rest of the story. I couldn’t respond well to Skinner’s harsh tone of voice and display of authority anymore. For me, there is a big flaw in this guy now: it’s someone who can be aloft above his relationship and mentally far away from his slave, cold enough not to see to his feelings and needs. He broke the trust I had in him. And the more he displays his authority after that, even when he showed his supposed love, the more I find him detestable! Because if he truly loved his slave, he’d have been there when most needed.
You can see the rest of this review here:
http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?tag=D...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2013
I’m glad that I finally got this one out of the way. It is an enjoyable read overall but it has also been an exhausting read to the extent that I’m not sure I want to read another BDSM fiction any time soon. My complaint, however, is more to do with the fact that I read this as an online fiction rather than with the length itself, though I think I would have liked it better if the story had not been so long, especially in the beginning stages of their relationship. I don’t think the chapter lengths were ideal for an online reading experience. There are some memorable scenes and role plays in this X file fan fiction. Skinner certainly knows how to get his slave into a submissive frame of mind and at times come across incredibly hot. I just loved the Wanda moments. :) Although there are constant setbacks in their relationship, the author provides enough psychological insight into her characters’ motives that they do not come across as conflicts for conflict’s sake. You have this sense of the relationship evolving throughout.
April 21, 2015
Just too freaking long.
April 25, 2017
I am totally fan-girling here, I love this epic romance so much! I could have read another ten books about Mulder and Skinner, lordy, this is one of the best m/m D/s stories I have ever read!
The funny thing is that I never cared for the X-files or its actors, nor do I read a lot of 24/7 romances because I rarely can believe that the dynamics work and generally find the set-up rather un-sexy.
BUT!!! I loved Xanthe Walther's Ricochet and have re-read it a number of times already. Her take on BDSM is exactly up my alley so I decided to give her most read story, 24/7, a try and read it in one week. That's over 1800 pages!!!
There is a lot of sex in the book, all kinds of kinks and domestic discipline things get explored but always with a reason. I find it fascinating that I can read a 300 pages story and become bored by page 100. With this story the bigger problem was to put the book away to catch some sleep.
A+ and "favourites 2015" as well as "must re-read" status!
The funny thing is that I never cared for the X-files or its actors, nor do I read a lot of 24/7 romances because I rarely can believe that the dynamics work and generally find the set-up rather un-sexy.
BUT!!! I loved Xanthe Walther's Ricochet and have re-read it a number of times already. Her take on BDSM is exactly up my alley so I decided to give her most read story, 24/7, a try and read it in one week. That's over 1800 pages!!!
There is a lot of sex in the book, all kinds of kinks and domestic discipline things get explored but always with a reason. I find it fascinating that I can read a 300 pages story and become bored by page 100. With this story the bigger problem was to put the book away to catch some sleep.
A+ and "favourites 2015" as well as "must re-read" status!
September 12, 2013
This is an odd BDSM Skinner/mulder slave fanfic. There are all the trappings of pretty hard BDSM, but it's done in a fluffy romantic style that just didn't work for me. When the Master forces the slave to do something they don't think they can do, it's supposed to be frightening - here those scenes are couched in so much coaxing, reassurance, and love that they aren't scary. Despite the amount of words devoted to sex and BDSM, this just didn't work.
December 29, 2014
I've read this story 4-5 times, at least in parts. As others reviewed - there IS redundancy in the sex, language and descriptions, but there's also: character development, a wide palette of BDSM practices, wish fulfillment (for X-file fans) with a plot, some likable secondary characters. Xanthe has her own unique style. If you can stomach it, I recommend this book.
February 1, 2015
4.5 stars
October 11, 2014
an intriguing plot, charming characters, and a perfect ending!
"here, there, and everywhere" :)
"here, there, and everywhere" :)
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