Title: The Frü-Files? (1/1)
Author: Christine K
Spoilers: None, unless you haven’t been to a Moxy Früvous concert
Rating: PG (Scully says the ‘H’ word *g*)
Category: Humor/Crossover with Music
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters (and I wish I did). I’m just borrowing them to take them out for an evening. They belong to Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen Productions, and Fox. The other people in the story are real – and their names were not even changed to protect the innocent, as they are all guilty of seeing Moxy Früvous and I know all of them.*g*
Summary: Mulder and Scully investigate something called a “Frü.”
Warning: This is my first attempt at X-Files fanfic, so I decided to write about something I know. If you have never heard of the band, Moxy Früvous, please check out http://www.fruvous.com and http://www.fruhead.com to get a background of them and their fans before reading the story. If you are already a Frühead and read the newsgroup alt.music.moxy-fruvous, then you know what I’m talking about. *g* Thanks to Fiona for being my proofreader. 🙂
Also, check out the illustration for this Fanfic from Theresa Filardo. (Thanks Theresa!)
***************************************************
There are 300 people crowded in one room.
Music.
A large cheer.
They wait, talk, Sharpies emerge and then the room empties.
The next night, the same thing happens but in a different
city with many of the same faces from the night before.
Wednesday, May 3, 2000 8:30am
FBI Headquarters, Washington DC
Scully shakes her head, “Mulder, I don’t see how this qualifies as an X-File. People join cults all the time.”
Scully, as usual, was trying to debunk his thoughts on the issue.
“It seems that people gather in small quarters, like a cult, become intrigued by something and then move on to another city. Some frequent terms that pop up are ‘crashing,’ ‘needing crash space,’ and the one that bothers me the most – ‘frütripping.’ What makes these people do that?”
He flips to another slide showing people crowded together, hands in front of them making the motion as if they are playing Nintendo all at the same time. Scully is still not convinced – she reads the file labeled ‘Frü.’
“It just doesn’t seem to be a cult, or have a resemblance to one. These people all have jobs and lives, but become mesmerized on certain nights and in certain places when they converge and then they return home. Doesn’t that happen to you when you get together with the Lone Gunmen to talk about a UFO sighting?” Scully asks sarcastically and grins.
Mulder rolls his eyes and continues, “It’s more than a cult. What’s so strange is that they become so mesmerized that they take off in droves to another place where the same thing happens – and in some instances, it will be the next night. I mean, I can see in one location and in one state – but in so many different places?”
Mulder flips to the next slide to a picture of a girl.
“Let’s take this woman, for example. Her name is Katherine Maheux and she is from Gatineau, Quebec. That’s Canada, Scully.” Mulder grins. “Her trance-like state started in 1997. Since then, she’s been to places that no one has ever heard of, like Northampton, Massachusetts, referred to as ‘NoHo,’ Fredonia, New York, referred to as ‘FredFest,’ and Burk’s Falls, Ontario, referred to as ‘Hellhole, Ontario’ as I am having trouble finding that one on the map.”
Scully shakes her head, “You know Mulder, just because you never heard of these places doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And I see nothing wrong in taking a vacation – which is what this girl seems to be doing.”
Another slide is shown; she is dressed in some costume with leaves on, dated October 31, 1998.
“But it’s more than a vacation. She returns home in a state of euphoria and bliss and sometimes will babble on for days about the ‘trip’ she’s been on. The words ‘Früvous’ come up too much, like I said earlier with the word ‘frütripping.’ What is it? A virus? A dessert? A state of euphoria? And why do people use this ‘Früvous’ to go to these towns?”
Scully raises an eyebrow, “I don’t know Mulder – maybe it’s a drug of some sort. Maybe all these kids and people are on drugs! And the drug is so hard to find that they must travel to certain towns to get it and get high, hence the words ‘frütripping’ and ‘trips.’ Scully takes the file again and starts to read it. “See, even here Mulder it says ‘it has spread, through a grassroots following, starting in Canada, to the United States, Europe and Australia.’ It has to be a drug.”
“I don’t know Scully, I think it’s more than a drug. These are well-educated people that only seem to do this practice at certain times during the year and to certain places.”
Mulder flips to more slides showing names and places of people:
AJ and Lisa LoCicero – Burk’s Falls, Ontario August, 1998
Marie-Claude Danis – Windsor, Ontario January, 1999
George Nowik – Toronto, Ontario February, 2000
Adam Hartfield – Utica, New York April, 1999
Andrea Eves – Northampton, Massachusetts, October, 1998
Fiona Gardiner – Buffalo, New York November, 1998
Amy Brunner and Jeff Dallien – Toronto, Ontario, August 1999
“Scully, the list goes on and on. These people are not even from the places that these pictures were taken in.”
Mulder flips back to the slide of Andrea Eves – Northampton, Massachusetts October, 1998.
“This girl is from Thunder Bay, Ontario, who goes by the name of ‘Drea,’ pronounced ‘Dree-ah,’ and she traveled all the way to Massachusetts. What made her do that?”
“I don’t know…to get the hell outta Thunder Bay?” Scully grins.
Mulder shakes his head, “No, to see or get some of this ‘Frü’ that I’ve been mentioning. We must find out what this is.”
“Well,” Scully said, closing the file, “How do you expect to do this. You don’t even know what it is.”
“Ahhhh…well while I was doing some research, I just happened to glance at the paper today,” he picks up the newspaper. “There was a small ad for something called ‘Moxy Früvous’ and it will be at the ‘The Birchmere’ in Alexandria, Virginia tonight. Früvous,” he pauses, “or Frü, looks pretty much to be the same thing to me. I think it’s our chance to check this out and maybe rescue some of these people.” Mulder grins and hands her the paper.
Scully glances at the small, block print-ad.
MOXY FRÜVOUS – THE BIRCHMERE 10PM.
“I don’t know Mulder, I mean, what if it’s a dangerous place?”
“C’mon Scully – it’s Alexandria! What could possibly happen?”
Scully looks at Mulder, who has a great big boyish grin on his face. What was he getting her into *again*?
May 3, 2000 10pm
The Birchmere – Alexandria, Virginia
Mulder and Scully arrive at 10pm sharp. Nothing out of the ordinary seems to be happening. They decide to stay in the back, near the soundbooth so as to not stand out in the crowd.
“Well Mulder, are you happy? It’s just a normal club with normal people.”
“Scully, I don’t think it’s started yet.”
“How can you tell?”
“Well I hear people over there taking bets on when ‘Frütime’ will actually happen. One said 10:13pm and the other said 11:21pm. Why are they picking such odd times?”
Scully shrugs, just as someone taps her on the arm.
“Excuse me – are you on the newsgroup?”
“Wha? What newsgroup?” she asks, looking quite startled.
“You know, AMMF. You look like you’re a newbie and this is your first time here. I’m Drea.”
Scully begins to get a scared look on her face and tries to get Mulder’s attention. This is the girl from the photo! And here she is in Virginia!
Drea looks at her watch. “Ooops, gotta go and stand in my spot at stage Murray – have a great time!” and with that, she scurries off in search of her spot.
“Mulder.” Scully whispers looking at him, startled. Just then, around 10:15pm, the lights dim, a spotlight shines and 4 men emerge on the stage. One takes a bass, one stands at the drum kit, one takes a guitar and the other one, the bald one – his head reflects all the light shining on them that blinds both Mulder and Scully.
They put down some paper in their areas, tune and begin to play ‘Substitute’ by The Who.
“OHMIGOD Scully!!!” yells Mulder, “It’s a band!!! This Frü…Früvous is a BAND!!! These people are not on drugs or in a cult!!! They are following a BAND!!!”
“SSSHHHHH!!!!” whispers the person next to him holding a DAT player. “This is the tapers section, if you want to talk, go somewhere else.”
Mulder looks at the taper with a shocked look on his face. He pulls out his ID. “Hey listen buddy, I’m with the FBI, and isn’t taping illegal?”
“No, not at Früshows. Go and talk to Tobey or Cal and check it out with them.”
“Who? Nevermind.” Mulder moves away from them, but realizes that Scully doesn’t follow. She is standing there, eyes fixed on the stage. He waves his hand in front of her face.
“Scully? Scully?” whispers Mulder.
She doesn’t hear him, her eyes still on the stage – but not on the whole band, just one of the members in particular. The drummer. She can’t take her eyes off of him. There is something about him – something she can’t quite put into words. His hair, the way he drums, the way he sings, especially the love songs. She can’t remember a musician captivating her as much as he did. What is his name? She must find out what his name is. What was that newsgroup that the girl mentioned? There are so many questions that must be answered.
Mulder stands next to her with his arms crossed in front of him and a pouty look on his face. This is not an X-File – it is just fans following a band around to different towns to see their shows. After being there for 5 minutes, he really doesn’t see what the big deal is and wants to leave.
“C’mon Scully. Let’s go. There’s nothing to see here.”
“No,” she says dreamily, “wait, Mulder. We have to see more so we can write our report tomorrow.”
After 2 hours of great music and banter, the show finally ends at 12:15am with ‘The Drinking Song’ when everyone put their arms around each other and sang together as one. Scully feels this was one of the most moving shows she ever attended. The drummer, Jian, as she found out during the show, plugged their official web site ‘Früvous Dot Com’ at the end and told everyone that they were a ‘grassroots band,’ and to spread the word of Früvous. “Yeah,” thinks Scully with a grin on her face, “Must spread the word of Früvous.”
Mulder and Scully leave the show, not realizing that they could stay and talk to these men, who collectively call themselves Moxy Früvous, for their report. Scully was still in a daze when she left the show and a grin didn’t leave her face for the rest of the night.
Mulder teased her and called it ‘Früphoria.’
Thursday, May 4, 2000 8am
FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC
Mulder and Scully come into work the next morning, blurry eyed, to work on their report about ‘The Frü’ for AD Skinner. How do they explain this one? There wasn’t a trace of a virus or drugs – just a bunch of people following a band around. “Great,” thought Mulder, “Another way for the agents to laugh at ‘Spooky Mulder.'” He glances over at Scully. She is otherwise occupied and absorbed in her work at her computer with that same grin from the night before.
“Hey Scully. Are you working on our case report from last night? We have to give it to Skinner in an hour.”
“Sure. Fine. Whatever, Mulder,” grinning, staring at the computer screen, typing, “almost finished.”
To: alt.music.moxy-fruvous
From: dscully@fbi.gov
Subject: First Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I just wanted to write to the group to say what an awesome time I had at the Birchmere show last night!!!!!!!!!!!! (being it was my first – and now I’m completely addicted.) Jian!!!!!!!!!!!! If you’re reading this – you changed my life – I just about cried when you sang your lines in ‘Horseshoes.’ I can’t wait for more shows. *goes to check schedule at Fruvous Dot Com*
‘I will hold on’ for more of them. 🙂
Dana.
P.S. How do you make the umlaut in the name Fruvous?
Copyright © August 5, 2000 by CDK. All rights reserved.
Recent Comments