nainze

[randomfoggytiger]

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XI): The Last Conversations of One Melissa Scully

Melissa Scully is not long for this meta series; but what she does contribute is a rather intriguing peek into Scully's psyche-- exposing how drawn her sister was to radical or "out there" ideas long before Scully admitted it to herself-- as well as the funny confirmation that both her sister and her mother find Melissa's antics aggravating.

SEASON 2'S ABDUCTION FALLOUT

The effects of Scully’s abduction silently punctuate her resolutions throughout Season 2, spurring her to appear stronger than her capabilities (Firewalker’s “Mulder, I appreciate your concern. But I’m ready. I want to work” and Irresistible’s “I’m not having trouble, Mulder. I’m fine. Really”), an extension of her denial in Beyond the Sea but with more mature fragility. (Both are, of course, symptoms of growing up in a Naval household with an eagerness to please a father that respected perfection in himself.)

Although Scully references her experience on the brink of death once in Dod Kalm--“Mulder, when they found me, after the doctors and even my family had given up, I experienced something I never told you about. Even now it’s hard to find the words. But there’s one thing I’m certain of: as certain as I am of this life, we have nothing to fear when it’s over"-- the theme of her loss plays heavily upon the rest of the Season, be it Mulder's overprotective streak or her resolution to appear stronger than her capabilities (i.e. Firewalker, Irresistible, Our Town, etc.)

This response stems back to her childhood: wanting to please her Naval father, she internalized and emulated his efforts to achieve perfection in himself. In The Blessing Way, Scully is told that her self-perceived failures would be considered strengths by the late captain; but it takes years for her to embrace that truth for herself.

Digging a little deeper, we find that, although she relates tidbits of her time in the beyond, Scully leaves out her communion with Melissa, Nurse Owens, and especially her father-- still not able, at this point, to accept those parts of her experience.

MULDER'S DEATH AND SCULLY'S SHAME

Anasazi and The Blessing Way are a whirlwind for Scully, leaving her vulnerable, bashed, and beaten down when all her efforts are seemingly in vain.

After being put on leave from the FBI and “losing” the tape her partner died for, Scully stumbles to her mother’s house, ashamed and wavering in her convictions. 

When her mother opens the door, Scully is lightly tapping at her right thigh with her shoes, an attempt to focus on that repetition rather than her stampeding emotions, and attempts to keep a semblance of control through her tearful confession (without much success.)

Maggie welcomes her with a gentle “Dana…”; and Scully forces a practiced smile as she breathes an answering, "Hi, Mom."

Taking in her daughter’s fragile stance and barefoot condition, Maggie asks, “What’re you doing with your shoes?”

It's a tell-tale sign that all is not well: despite the various difficulties in the field or at home, Scully has never voluntarily taken off her shoes unless in extremities; and her mother, knowing these prim and proper habits, immediately intuits something serious has happened.

“They, uh, they started to give me blisters…” Scully warbles, lifting and dropping her shoes as more of her facade cracks, reality cruelly setting in.  

Her mother’s incredulous, “You walked here this time of night?” breaks the last of her escape from reality: there is nowhere else to escape, no other distraction on hand to keep her emotions at bay; and Scully can no longer pretend that everything is alright as long as she puts one foot in front of the other (a method she’d tried and failed to use in Beyond the Sea-- and will again in Memento Mori, Elegy, Gethsemane, and Redux.) 

Her composure melts completely, face crumpling as she moves into Maggie’s arms to simultaneously seek comfort and hide from her own vulnerability. It’s a signature of Scully's the audience and Mulder were introduced to in Season 1's Pilot and Season 2's Irresistible; and is now confirmed to have been her coping mechanism stemming from childhood.

Matron Scully scoops her up unhesitatingly, worriedly questioning her baby girl until Scully admits, heartbroken, “I’ve made a terrible mistake. Dad would be so ashamed of me", and breaks down into an onslaught of constrained tears and grief.

MELISSA FUMBLES THE BALL

The Blessing Way has a notorious deleted scene; and this analysis would not be complete, I believe, without including it. Not only does it align perfectly with canon, but it also reinforces the interpersonal dynamics present in One Breath; and is, therefore, vital to the Scully Family meta series.

After Scully has poured her heart out, Maggie does her best to glue her daughter back together. “I don’t see how you can fault yourself. You had to make a choice-- you did what you thought was right.” 

“No,” Scully negates, voice wavering, eyes turned aside, “I did what I thought was right for my partner.” 

Their interaction is incredibly telling not only of Scully’s Starbuck complex but also of her modus operandi when acting outside of known variables: trusting another person’s judgment over her own. This kneejerk reaction can be used healthily if she follows her own intuition as well (e.g. Anasazi and All Things); but if Scully distrusts or doubts her intuition, she kneejerks to an opposite reaction, shutting down and seeking purchase wherever she can (The Blessing Way, Never Again, and also All Things.) This aspect of her personality isn’t resolved until Season 7 when Scully saves Daniel Waterston’s life by relying solely on her instincts; but until then, Mulder and her family act as the solid foundation upon which she builds herself... until, until.  

"Wouldn't Mulder have done the same for you?"

That sentence is two-fold interesting: not only does Maggie call Mulder "Mulder" here instead of "Fox"-- likely due to a scripting error or perhaps in deference to her daughter's pet peeve-- but she also places complete faith in the man that shouldered her daughter's disappearance and recovery alongside the family. It's a simple, touching nod to Mulder's impact and the bond she shares with him.

“Yes, but that’s exactly it, Mom! I behaved exactly how Mulder would have behaved-- I lied and I countermanded my superiors because I thought that the pursuit of the truth was more important.”  

Maggie listens, unruffled. “And wasn’t it?” she asks, showing her naturally rebellious streak that is not deterred or dissuaded by protocol, rules, and regulations-- completely opposite to the obedient military wife one could easily attribute to her. 

“I don’t know what the truth is,” Scully admits. “But as far as the FBI is concerned, the truth is that if all of their agents behaved this way… they wouldn’t be able to do their job. And they’re right.”  

Maggie knows what her daughter won't, can't say out loud; and cuts through the doublespeak to give the assurance she could not in Beyond the Sea: “Dana, if you’re really worried what your father would think of you… I think that he would see that there’s no right choice… and no wrong one.”  

From Scully's view, the disobedience to her superiors outweighs the pursuit of the truth, at least to her father. But in light of Maggie's revelation and rejection of that notion, it leaves the audience-- and her daughter-- wondering how well Scully knew, or thought she knew, the late captain. As strict and striving and ladder climbing as he seems to be, at a glance, Captain Scully was also a man who stood by his principles and married a woman prouder of her husband's personal achievements than his professional ones, willingly carrying on his legacy to their children after his death.

Though comforting in its nuance, this thought is at odds with what Scully supposed of her father, failing to alleviate her doubts long after this conversation ends. Not until she irons out her own internal struggles can Scully accept the wisdom her mother provides.

Reaching out to draw in Scully's chin, Maggie adds, “He would have been very proud and supportive of his daughter.” 

Another interesting sidenote: Maggie’s action and Scully’s response is another proof of Mulder's instincts to draw her attention back by gently maneuvering her chin or face. Without being told, Mr. VCU Golden Boy divined a second method of comfort stemming back to his partner's childhood (as if those two’s connection wasn't spooky enough.) 

Scully still clings to her naysayings. “Mom, there was a right choice to make. And I didn’t make it. I went with Mulder to New Mexico--” 

They’re both interrupted by the door opening abruptly, her eyes blinking in vexation as she prepares for a domestic intrusion.  

Melissa barges in, halts, and treads carefully forward as Scully seamlessly picks up the thread she’d dropped a moment ago: “I never should have let him go off by himself. He was in no condition…” 

This sets up the dynamic present not only in The Blessing Way but also throughout the show: Scully is reluctant to offer up information unprompted to her mother, but does not seem to share the same reticence with her sister (no matter how meddlesome or pushy Melissa tends to be.) 

Melissa pulls a psychic prediction out of her hat-- “Something happened to the man you work with, hasn’t it?”-- and smiles, elated, over the talent of her sixth sense.

Maggie, as usual, tries to cut off her older daughter’s intuitions… which means that even a woman who believes in her own loosely psychic dreams barely tolerates Melissa’s enthusiastic tirades (post here.) 

“Melissa, please.” 

“No,” her daughter continues, “no, I’ve been feeling it for the last couple days. He’s become ill or something.” 

Scully, predictably, looks annoyed at her wound being so blindly poked at. 

Melissa predictions raises an interesting point: if Melissa can sense when Mulder is gravely ill or on the verge of death, does she channel it through her sister, like Maggie did when predicting her daughter’s abduction? If so, that further proves my "Scully is a conduit" theory (posts here and here.) 

Maggie, noticing that Scully has shut down after Melissa’s speech (and fed up herself), announces “I’m going to go make coffee” before stalking away to take a breather. 

Melissa hesitates, reading the tension in the room while internally debating if she should probe further; but, incorrigibly, she decides not to let the matter rest.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” 

Scully keeps her sister in the peripheral, sighing as she prepares herself for the impending conversation. ��

“Melissa, Mulder is very likely dead.” Even after seeing the smoke billowing out of a train car, even though she believes it herself, Scully still won’t admit to what can’t be proven. 

Melissa pauses, stares into the middle distance as she searches for something, and pronounces, “No-- you don’t believe that.” 

“No, I do.” Scully insists. 

“I’m getting very strong feelings otherwise.” 

Scully looks almost frightened by her sister's denial. The fear of the unknown is driven by Scully’s fear of not truly knowing herself; and she avoids what she cannot understand-- her father’s death, her memories, her endless line, her cancer, etc.-- but can’t stop feeling until her concerns are addressed (in this case, through Melissa’s insistence; in other cases, through Ed Jerse or Daniel Waterston's false leads or Mulder's insistence that she face facts.)

“I wish it weren’t true…” Scully begins, wobbling over gathering tears. 

“No! No, Honey, it’s more than that--” Melissa ecstatically reassures, kneeling beside her sister and rambling in her enthusiasm. Here, she can help; and she intends to do so. “You’re radiating, Dana.”  

However, the bonding moment is lost when she mentions, “You have a connection with him that’s still strong, powerful,” hitting on two things Scully doesn’t want to own: the depth of her love for Mulder and her current disbelief in her own intuition (which is still whispering that Mulder alive.) 

“Melissa. Don’t do this.”  

Melissa recalibrates, but insists. “Well, I know what I feel.” 

“Fine, we’ll leave it at that,” Scully snaps, getting up as fast as she possibly can, “because you have no sensitivity to my feelings.” 

“Oh, Dana.… I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t feel so sure.” After a second of empathetic silence, Melissa again insists, “You need a second opinion.” 

“This isn’t a medical condition, Melissa. It is a statement of fact-- it is either true or it isn’t.” 

Melissa tries to salvage the conversation, but accidentally hits nerve after nerve in her unwieldy use of the truth: “...you may even be feeling responsible right now, but if you could just see through your guilt and your anger, then maybe you can look past this Western empiricism.”  

Predictably, her sister does not relent: “I’ll make sure to consult my taro cards when I’m out looking for a new job, thank you.” 

Casting her eyes to the heavens (a tic often used in fractious conversations with her sister), Scully doubles back to chastise and more accurately vent her feelings. “Melissa, I have lost somebody.”  

Even though Melissa wisely shuts her mouth rather than doubling down, the brief second she'd pondered it nettles her sister further.

“I would like to deal with it in my own way.” 

Again, Melissa stays silent (against her better judgment), allowing Scully to have the last word before following in Maggie's footsteps by walking swiftly away.  

Once Scully is no longer in sight, Melissa grips her forehead, clasps her arms around each other, and turns inward, reflecting on Dana's throbbing wound and, perhaps, how she could have handled the situation better. 

DENIAL AND UNWIELDY TRUTH

When Scully finds the chip in her neck, her desperation drives her back to Melissa, another proof that she and her sister's bond is tighter than any temporary annoyance or fight between them.

But it also begs the question: Why not her mother? 

When Scully reaches out to Maggie-- The Blessing Way, Wetwired, Redux II, A Christmas Carol, etc.-- it is only when she is on her last leg and has given up and given in, seeking maternal comfort in a "weak" moment of strong, human emotion. These moments, however, are fleeting when compared to the times she reaches out to Mulder and Melissa; but if we look closely, a pattern emerges. When Scully needs to be encouraged to fight her battles, she seeks out Mulder or Melissa; when she needs to bind up her wounds and heal, she finds Maggie. Overtime, Mulder takes on both of these roles, becoming both tender protector and immovable truth pursuer; but the shift truly begins after Emily Sims's death, carrying through the events of Season 5 and onward (and widening the gulf begun between mother and daughter during Memento Mori.)

“I don’t even know how long its been in there,” Scully tells Melissa, shaken by another layer in the many unknown layers lingering from her abduction. “I have absolutely no recollection of it being put there.” 

“That is frightening,” her sister agrees, while Scully visibly shakes at the opposite end of the table.  

Both sisters know how terrifying this: Scully relies on what she knows and can prove; which ties her memory directly into her understanding of the world, either through knowledge of its mechanics or direct, first-hand experience. To have that taken was one of the greatest evils inflicted on Scully; but the fear of recovering even more traumatizing memories keeps her in a paralyzing stasis, too fearful to face how much she has lost and too fearful to reclaim what little she can.

“Dana, this is very serious-- you’ve gotta find out… what this is.” 

Scully’s shift from shaking tower of strength to bothered and inflexible little sister goes unnoticed-- or ignored-- as Melissa twists the chip back and forth in scrutinizing study.

“I don’t have access to the FBI labs,” Scully begins before Melissa, stunned at her sister’s priorities, redirects with, “No, I’m talking about access to your own memories.” 

This is stage one Melissa: so focused on uncovering a particular truth that she obliviously steamrolls over the other person’s silent objections-- tactless in her fervor. Any attempts to cut her off only escalates her feverish insistence-- “I mean, obviously you have buried this so deep you can’t consciously recall it."

Scully visibly struggles to press her emotions and fears down in order to shut the conversation down-- “Melissa.”

“I know someone who can help you--”

“NO!” yells Scully, slapping the table hard enough to shake the dishes. In her anger she betrayed weakness; and both she and Melissa know it. 

Melissa, hurt but sympathetic, swallows her own frustrated feelings and shifts into stage two: purposeful pushing of another person’s boundaries (ala confronting Mulder in his apartment in One Breath)-- measuredly pointing out a weakness with an honest rebuke.  

“What are you so afraid of, Dana?”

“You’re afraid you might actually learn something about yourself?”

This pulls Scully up short, tapping into the perpetual struggle she’s warred with since Beyond the Sea (and that won’t put to rest until ourobors tattoos and Buddhist temples.)  

“I mean, you are so shut off to the possibility there could be any other explanation except for your rigid, scientific view of the world.”  

Scully swallows down her fears once again, angrily ping-ponging back and forth between rebuttal or allowance. Ultimately, the words stick-- perhaps echoing her later partner’s own confrontations or guidance-- and she slowly lowers her defenses, walking closer to (but not toward) her sister. 

Melissa continues: “You’re carrying so much grief and fear that you can’t see that… that you’ve built up these walls around your true feelings and the memory of what really happened.” 

Scully is too exhausted to keep fighting, having flailed nonstop against herself and her beliefs and her convictions since Mulder’s death; and at Melissa's “Just do this for me" she acquiesces, expelling more fear in a rushing outtake of air.

Melissa isn’t satisfied with a non-answer, pressing further with an “As your sister. Please” until Scully’s face shifts into firm resolution. 

As we know, Scully bails on the regression hypnosis; but this this scene highlighted a key aspect of her of her relationship with Melissa, especially when contrasted to her ones with Maggie and Mulder:

It established her sister as the person Scully gravitated to for advice: even if Melissa's words were chafing or unintelligible, she still sought out that comforting, “bigger picture” perspective, the same one her partner has provided since the Pilot. Before she even met Mulder, Scully had a thirst for other perspectives, and was more open to taking in and heeding “out there” opinions than she liked (likes) to let on.  

Maggie Scully was not her daughter’s confidante. Throughout the series, Scully avoids life-changing decision talk with her mother (joining the FBI, giving credence to her mother’s dreams, telling her directly about the cancer diagnosis or the baby’s sex, etc.); and, as previously mentioned, that begins to widen the gulf between mother and daughter. Maggie feels loved when her loved ones share their personal feelings and struggles with her-- which Melissa and Bill Scully seem to do more freely (we’ll get to that) and Dana does not. Why is this the case? Perhaps it has something to do with Maggie's gossiping tendency (which we shall hit upon in Gethsemane), or perhaps it's because of the strict lines she draws in and around her personal life.

Scully does not want crossover in her life: her family and friends are organized into two categories-- comfort or confidante-- and stay in those categories for their protection and her sanity. Maggie Scully is her mother, not her confidante; Melissa is her confidante, not her mother; and when the two try to cross into areas not offered to them, Scully gets annoyed and withholds even more information. Mulder, it seems, is the only person to peel back the dividing line between the two; and even then, not without resistance and patience (Memento Mori, for example.) It’s part of Scully’s fear of letting her walls completely down (as explained in her monologue to the social worker in A Christmas Carol); and part of the mystery of Mulder, who is the perfect combination of Maggie’s comfort and Melissa’s persistence: helpful and supportive but truthfully exacting. 

THE LAST CONVERSATION

Melissa calls after the mytharc plot kicks up to dangerous levels for Scully, eager to help her sister process whatever was uncovered in the (ditched) hypnosis session. 

"Hello?" Scully asks, on-edge; but walks back from her paranoid greeting when Melissa responds, “Dana? It’s your sister.” 

Melissa’s “Hi-- where’ve you been?” implies she’s been calling for a day, maybe more, in worry when Scully left her high and dry after their talk.

“I, uh, I had to go to Boston. For a funeral.” 

“Well, I was worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Because I haven’t heard from you since you saw Dr. Pomerantz.” 

Scully immediately tenses, knocking herself mentally over the head for forgetting; then realizes she either has to face Melissa's scrutiny now or slough off her concerns for a more convenient time.

“Missy, something strange happened to me today," she says, admitting her panic over strange events that were unfolding in her life.

Anticipating and accepting her sister’s offer to drive over, Scully ends the call with renewed resolve: having turned a new, hopeful leaf after her vision from Mulder, she is-- more than ever-- ready to listen to her intuition, open her heart, and confide her fears and feelings to someone else. 

That openness follows her to a reunion with Mulder… but clams up, once again, after her innocent decisions lead to the death of her sister.

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

[agent-troi]

How has it never occurred to me that at the beginning of Dod Kalm, Mulder explains what wormholes are to Scully, a literal physics major

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Season Two Masterpost

That's a wrap on season two! From Flukeman to Albert Hosteen, we explored 25 of the characters that helped make season two of The X-Files so iconic!

Here's a look into all the characters we've met so far!

2x01 | Little Green Men - Senator Richard Matheson (@monikafilefan)

Soon, secrets will snowball. Good people will suffer. Even senators will lose much more than their seats.

2x02 | The Host - Flukeman (@gaycrouton)

Fluke.

2x03 | Blood - Sheriff Spencer (@admiralty-xfd)

Based on the fact that there was simply no reasonable, logical explanation the man would have to do something like this, Spencer knew he could only turn towards the illogical – and that happened to be the X-Files.

2x04 | Sleepless - Salvatore Matola (@fridaysat9)

He could hear their screams, just like every night when he laid down in his bed and stared at the ceiling until the sun came up.

2x05 | Duane Barry - Duane Barry (@gaycrouton)

Someone had his implant. Someone… a woman in Georgetown.

2x06 | Ascension - Dr. Takeo Ishimaru (@admiralty-xfd)

He misses the quiet. Now it seems all he hears is drilling and beeping and yes, sometimes screaming.

2x07 | 3 - Kristen Killar (@fridaysat9)

There’s an emptiness inside her that needs to be satiated with blood… or something else.

2x08 | One Breath - Melissa Scully (@monikafilefan)

Melissa reaches out to gently smooth a stray tendril tangled within one of the many strips of tape stuck to Dana’s porcelain skin. The brittle hair snaps in two, and Melissa swears she can feel a piece of her heart snapping right along with it.

2x09 | Firewalker - Dr. Daniel Trepkos (@admiralty-xfd)

Albert Einstein was known for changing the world, he would say to Jessie if he could. Daniel Trepkos would only be known for destroying it.

2x10 | Red Museum - Old Man (@fridaysat9)

He may have been the only person in town who was making such a connection, but maybe these FBI agents had open minds and might consider it. Something had gone wrong in this sleepy little town and no one, not the townspeople or the sheriff, was doing a goddamn thing to fix it.

2x11 | Excelsis Dei - Dorothy (@monikafilefan)

If Leo tells these nice people that orderly Gung gives them special pills he makes to help them feel alive again, then maybe Gung will get in trouble. Maybe he won’t be able to free any of them from the confines of their minds like this anymore.

2x12 | Aubrey - Danny Valladeo (@gaycrouton)

Working in the lab felt like helping them put together a puzzle while blindfolded. The catch was, you never got to see the end picture until their case reports were finalized, and even then, the final image was abstract beyond recognition.

2x13 | Irresistible - Dr. Karen Kosseff (@fridaysat9)

In all her years working as a therapist for the FBI, Karen had learned that partnerships, be they successful or not, were integral in how an agent functioned, both inside and out of work. An open and trusting partnership could make an agent feel secure and safe, leading them to a successful career and a well balanced life. Without trust, accidents happened, careers ended, and lives could be lost.

2x14 | Die Hand Die Verletzt - Andrea (@monikafilefan)

There’s a presence here, they say. A consistent darkness that lingers like the gray haze coating Milford New Hampshire before sunrise. It’s an old story, whispered about in covert corners of community potlucks and PTA meetings.

2x15 | Fresh Bones - Chester Bonaparte (@gaycrouton)

In voodoo, it’s believed that the dead will come back again, that we should not be afraid of death.

2x16 | Colony - Bill Mulder (@admiralty-xfd)

Fox’s eyes glint with the sparkle of curiosity Bill still remembers from when he was a boy; way back when they watched their first episode of Star Trek together. Back before he knew he wasn’t his boy.

2x17 | End Game - Alien Bounty Hunter (@monikafilefan)

There is an extraterrestrial race war rising within his world: a rebellion in the making. A faction of clones and shapeshifters rallying against the oil that made them. Fools, all them. Hybridization cannot be tolerated. Purity of the alien race must be maintained.

2x18 | Fearful Symmetry - Sophie (@gaycrouton)

Willa not understand. Sophie scared. Baby go flying light.

2x19 | Død Kalm - Captain Peter Barclay (@admiralty-xfd)

He doesn’t know how or why but he knows what’s happening, like a road map for his mortality is written on his insides. He can see the end, and it’s close.

2x20 | Humbug - Mr. Nutt (@fridaysat9)

He didn’t need a suit and a hideous tie to make him matter. He wasn’t a caricature of a man, all handsome features, strapping physique, and perfectly placed sarcastic remarks. No siree.

2x21 | The Calusari - Golda (@gaycrouton)

Golda knew it was a matter of time before the Devil caught up to her. She’d looked into his eyes.

He knows her now.

2x22 | F. Emasculata - U.S. Marshal Deke Tapia (@admiralty-xfd)

Tapia grimaces. “You mean… ew.”

“Yeah," Mulder replies. "Ew.”

2x23 | Soft Light - Detective Kelly Ryan (@fridaysat9)

She tried to file everything away– the questions they asked, the things that seemed important to them, the way that they seemed to be able to converse without words.

Watching them made her feel like a novice, but at the same time, made her excited for her future as a detective.

2x24 | Our Town - Jess Harold (@monikafilefan)

Jess smirks. Chaco has no idea just how close he is to being the entrée in the same stew he’s so eagerly served the residents of Dudley for decades.

2x25 | Anasazi - Albert Hosteen (@admiralty-xfd)

There is a saying in Navajo tradition: that true love is like the wind; you cannot see it, but you can feel it.

There was true love between the FBI man and woman. I could fee

Stay tuned for more perspectives coming in Season Three!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

[housefreak]

they love to point out just how much mulders body hates him

[foxwmulder]

I just found my list of when I categorized every xf episode (mostly through s7) during quarantine lmao

MONSTER OF THE WEEK CATEGORIES

Cultural

Shapes

Fresh Bones

The Calusari

Teso Dos Bichos

Hell Money

Teliko

El Munda Gira

Theef

Prison or Military

Deep Throat

Space

Sleepless

The List

The Walk

Unrequited

Trevor

Religious

Miracle Man

Revelations

Grotesque

Kaddish

All Souls

Signs and Wonders

Millennium

Cult or Satanists

Gender Bender

Red Museum

Our Town

3

Syzygy

Die Hand Die Verletzt

Sanguinarium

Terms of Endearment

Nothing Lasts Forever

Lone Gunmen- or CSM-Centric

Musings of a CSM

Unusual Suspects

Three of a Kind

First Person Shooter

This

Skinner-Centric

Avatar

Zero Sum

SR 819

Brand X

Hollywood AD

Kitten

Arthur Dales’s Tales

Travelers

The Unnatural

Agua Mala

Scully Side Quest

Irresistible / Orison

Chinga

Never Again

Milagro

En Ami

all things

Home Again

Ghouli

Mulder, They Already Destroyed the Evidence!

Ice

Firewalker

Dod Kalm

F. Emasculata

Wetwired

The Pine Bluff Variant

Drive

Wait, It’s Actually Aliens?

Pilot

Jose Chung

Control the Elements

Fire

DPO

Soft Light

Schizogeny

Rush

The Rain King

Medical Anomalies

Young at Heart

Eve

Home

Small Potatoes

Postmodern Prometheus

Founder’s Mutation

Guys Who Need to Eat Weird Stuff

Squeeze / Tooms

2Shy

Pusher / Kitsunegari

Leonard Betts

Hungry

Switch Lives or Linked Brains

Lazarus

Roland

Oubliette

Paper Hearts

Mind’s Eye

Dreamland I and II

Fight Club

Plus One

Time Travel or Warp

Synchrony

Monday

Lost Art of the Forehead Sweat

Ghosts or Past Lives

Shadows

Born Again

Excelsis Dei

Elegy

Aubrey

The Field Where I Died

Triangle

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas

AI Is Out To Get Us

Blood

Ghost in the Machine

Kill Switch

Rm9sbG93ZXJs

Half Man, Half Monster

The Host

Jersey Devil

Humbug

Detour

Bad Blood

Folie a Duex

Chimera

Mulder and Scully Meet the Weremonster

All Monster, No Man

Darkness Falls

Fearful Symmetry

Quagmire

War of the Coprophages

Alpha

Arcadia

Field Trip

X-Cops

Magic, Psychic, or Lucky

Beyond the Sea

Clyde Bruckman

Unruhe

Tithonus

The Amazing Maleeni

Je Souaite

The Goldberg Variation

MYTHOLOGY CATEGORIES

They’re Closing The X-Files!

The Erlenmeyer Flask / Little Green Men

The End / The Beginning

Fight the Future

Uh…Samantha?

Colony / End Game

Talitha Cumi / Herrenvolk

Sein Und Zeit / Closure

I’m Literally On Board Already, Scully

Fallen Angel

EBE

Nisei / 731

Piper Maru / Apocrypha

Tempus Fugit / Max

Tunguska / Terma

Agent Mulder Is Dead! Or Is He?

Anasazi / The Blessing Way / Paper Clip

Redux I and II

This Is Not Happening / Dead Alive

Mulder…You Good?

Demons / Gethsemane

Biogenesis / The Sixth Extinction

The Syndicate Hates Scully

Duane Barry / Ascension / One Breath

Memento Mori

Christmas Carol / Emily

Patient X / The Red and the Black

Why Was This Made

I Want to Believe

Discarded Categories

Creepy White Guy Predator

This Is a Small Town, We Don’t Lock Our Doors

A Nice Trip to the Forest

[baronessblixen]

Fictober 2023

All the stories in one place. A huge thank you to everyone for their support this month.

Day 1: Secret Spots - This is cotton candy-flavored fluff set after "Millennium": Mulder and Scully go to Mrs. Scully's house and find themselves all alone for a moment...

Day 2: Just in Case - This is angst/hurt/comfort with a dash of hopeful cheesiness. Starts off in Dod Kalm (yes, you read that right). Mulder decides to be brave in what he believes to be his last moments on earth.

Day 3: The Deepest Cut - Diana/IVF angst (with a soft ending): Scully is already upset about a colleague's pregnancy and then Diana shows up and makes things worse.

Day 4: Always Expect The Unexpected - Some soft, fluffy silliness today: Scully and Mulder see her mother out on a date with... A.D. Skinner?

Day 5: If I Were The King of The World - Fluffy-fluff set in Detour: We get to see a bit more of Scully singing to Mulder...

Day 6: In The Blink Of An Eye - Angst/Mulder in peril: Mulder happens to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time...

Day 7: Glimpses of October - Post-IWTB/Pre-Revival vignette: Mulder watches his son play in the fallen leaves. Or is he?

Day 8: A Very Queequeg Morning - Hurt/comfort AND humor after "Pusher": Mulder doesn't mind Scully showing up at his apartment after the case at all. Only problem: she's not alone.

Day 9: Talk Vanilla to Me - Rated M/banter/humor(?): Mulder can't sleep, but luckily, Scully is there to listen… and maybe more.

Day 10: Wishes - Fluff(?) post "Je Souhaite": Mulder wants to know what Scully's wishes would have been.

Day 11: Always Partners - Set in season 6, hurt/comfort, some angst: Kersh puts Scully on another case without Mulder and once again she gets hurt.

Day 12: The Easiest Choice - Fluff, rewrite of the last scene in "Existence": Mulder asks Scully what she's going to name the baby.

Day 13: Don't Forget The Cake - Fluff-ish, season 6: Diana throws Mulder a surprise birthday party. Chaos ensues.

Day 14: Preparation is Everything - Fluff, set after "Alone": With Mulder being unemployed, and Scully on maternity leave, they spend their time thinking about furniture, baby names, and all the ways their lives will change.

Day 15: Temporary Insanity - Angsty first kiss fill-in for "Paper Clip": What happened on that elevator ride?

Day 16: Mothers Always Know - Post-ep (sort of) for "Chimera", fluff: It's the Sunday morning after Mulder stayed over at Scully's and he has a somewhat awkward run-in with her mother.

Day 17: In Sickness And in Health - Hurt/comfort post-"Arcadia": They're on their way back home from The Falls at Arcadia when Scully gets sick.

Day 18: Beautiful In My Eyes - UST-filled post-ep fic: Mulder thinks Scully is the most beautiful person wherever she goes. She doesn't believe him so he tries to make her see it his way.

Day 19: It's Us Against The World - Angst, canon divergence for "Nothing Important Happened Today": No matter what Kersh said, Scully doesn't want Mulder to leave her and the baby. But what choice do they have?

Day 20: Shooting Stars - Mulder and Scully sharing a bed during two nights in The Rain King. After a first awkard night, what happens during the second one after the party ?

Day 21: No Longer Stuck In The Past - A different kind of post-episode fic for "The Unnatural": After his and Scully's baseball date, Mulder runs into Diana.

Day 22: Cookie Theft and Other Crimes - How the Ghosts Stole Christmas post-ep, hurt/comfort, angst, fluff - all the fixings: Bill Jr. runs into Mulder in the middle of the night and it goes as well as you might expect.

Day 23: You're Not Welcome Here - AU in which Diana didn't die and Mulder didn't leave after "Existence": Scully and William are waiting for Mulder when no other than Diana Fowley walks into the basement office.

Day 24: Rules Are Rules - Set in season 7, fluff: They're not supposed to share a room while on assignment. But aren't rules meant to be broken anyway?

Day 25: Another Banner Year - Set after "Our Town", before "Anasazi": Melissa shows up at her sister's apartment, demanding a few answers.

Day 26: I Saw Your Face In A Dream - AU where Mulder and Scully meet on karaoke night at a bar.

Day 27: Christmas With You By My Side - Sequel to day 22 "Cookie Theft And Other Crimes" but can be read as a stand-alone: What happens when Mulder wakes up with Scully in his arms?

Day 28: The Truth Is (Not) Found In A Glass of Whiskey - All Mulder wanted to do was drop off a report. Now he has to deal with a drunk Skinner.

Day 29: Glass Half Full - Sequel to "The Truth Is (Not) Found In A Glass of Whiskey": It's the morning after and Skinner wakes up with a hangover - and remembers way too much from the previous night.

Day 30: Feelings You Can't Hide - A post-ep for "Bad Blood" obviously. A jealous Mulder, an attempt at humor and the hint of angst may be found here.

Day 31: Trick or Treat - IVF arc, angsty fluff: They're supposed to go to the Gunmen's Halloween party, but there's something they need to make sure of first.

[scullysexual]

Guess The Ep #12

Correct answer under the cut. Check to see if you got it right after you've voted and let me know in the tags.

Answer: Dod Kalm.

[aloysiavirgata]

Continuing my rewatch. Some notes.

1) Peggy O’Dell is the wife in Fresh Bones

2) Penny Northern is the mom in Red Museum

3) Karen Kosseff is a social worker in The Calusari

4) Dod Kalm is so much better than I remembered! Scully talks about her abduction which like…lmao darling process those traumas while you can.

5) Soft Light - bisexual Scully remains canon because are you kidding me? She and Kelly are like smoldering at each other.

6) My brain overlays all the bloopers on relevant scenes

[batmanego]

mulder dod kalm image i need you now more than ever

[randomfoggytiger]

Dana Scully: a Fear of Death Rooted in Eternal Judgment

I think Scully's fear of death is rooted in a fear of judgment.

According to her faith, one either gets into Heaven or Hell (with a pit stop here or there to atone for their sins.) One would think that would be a comfort to the morally unbreakable Dana Scully.

But it isn't.

During her atheistic arc (Season 1 through early Season 2), Scully was determined to do her job and do it well. The paranoia of death didn't cling to her as it does in later seasons.... until Beyond the Sea. Her father's ghost visiting her right after his death and being channeled later through Luthor Lee Boggs, twice-- it takes its toll, unwinding the foundational principles of her life: that Death is final; and that there are no ghosts or psychics or even angels or demons, just sick men and women who abuse others through their superstitions. Scully chooses ignorance, reverting away from this new territory because "I'm afraid... I'm afraid to believe." The rest of Season 1, she didn't want to die, panicked in the face of it; but wasn't as paranoid as, again, later seasons.

Then One Breath happens: Scully experienced something she "couldn't find the words" to explain, even when facing death alongside Mulder in Dod Kalm. It's Scully who is fearless as their end approaches, reassuring Mulder he has nothing to fear based on that experience. Thus, One Breath began her agnostic arc-- where she believed, deep down, but was afraid to fully accept that belief (i.e., her shaken projections on Pfaster in Irresistible and her activated voodoo curse in Fresh Bones.) Death is a place of peace, hence why she denies it to Pfaster (we later learn in Orison.)

When we reach Season 3's Revelations, Scully's agnosticism turns to religious terror. "God is speaking, and no one is listening", she confesses to the priest-- what she means is, that God has been speaking to and judging me, and I've been failing. Thus, her paranoia of Death: not because of its finality (Season 1) or promise of peace (Season 2), but because it could find her at fault and deny her a blessed eternal life.

In Season 4, Scully doesn't want to "run back to God" in Gethsemane; but faces her fears once Death becomes inescapable in Redux II.

In Season 5, she battles with her religious fragility, struggling for peace after her daughter is stolen before her Christian burial (Emily) and after her spirit returns during a case with angels and demons. Scully may be more vulnerable to religious manipulation, but she is also more secure in her beliefs of a peaceful afterlife.

By Season 6, Scully continues to look upon Death as God's judgment: eternal reward or eternal torment. But then Tithonus happens: Fellig shakes Scully's convictions that eternity is a good thing, showing her the soul of an eternally tormented man... making her wonder if she is guaranteed a happy ending, after all.

This brings up to Season 7's Orison, where Scully stands in judgment of Pfaster and the "Reverend" Orison. When she murders Pfaster in cold blood, her doubts and criticisms rise up against her, brandishing her with the same immoral code-- thus, making her fear eternal condemnation from God: the end meted out to both convicts, or an immortal torment ala Alfred Fellig. This was an extremely crucial moment for her development as a character... and would have been given no resolution if not for Gillian's all things.

all things is the resolution to Scully's paranoia: "God talks back", she comes to terms with herself, and makes a final decision out of principle and not panic, out of assuredness and not anguish. Scully is secure; and she finds the stability to embrace her beliefs, religion, and faith as it should be: a source of rest, a refuge from fear.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[agent-troi]

i’m watching dod kalm and i want to run my fingers through mulder’s hair it looks so soft

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Død Kalm (2x19)

It began with a light.

A dozen men abandoning ship at the 65th parallel, abandoning their posts… all because of a light. Captain Peter Barclay doesn’t know what else to call that besides mutiny. He was born to follow orders, he’s been raised to follow orders. Like his father before him. 

Their intuition had been better than his, as it turns out.

He wonders if they made it, if they’d found rescue. If their bones are brittle and their muscles are as weak as his.

“We’re FBI,” the man, Agent Mulder, says. The flashlight he’s aiming directly into Barclay’s eyes is brighter than the one they all saw on the surface of the sea, before everything went to hell. Barclay isn’t afraid of him; he’s afraid of only one thing now. And that one thing is something he won’t be able to escape. He doesn’t know how or why but he knows what’s happening, like a road map for his mortality is written on his insides. He can see the end, and it’s close.

Cold. Everything is cold. They don’t tell you that part, he thinks. Barclay shivers, clutching the bottle of Jack Daniels close to his chest like a talisman, as if he could somehow ward off the beyond. At least the whiskey has been keeping him warmer than he’d be without it. 

“Time got lost,” he tries to explain to the agents. The woman, Agent Scully, looks at him like he’s crazy, which he expects. Exchanges a skeptical glance with her partner. None of it matters anyway; he feels like his insides are wasting away, corroding just like the hull of the Ardent. His cough sounds like a death rattle.

They want to help. But there’s nothing they can do.

Read the rest on Ao3 | @admiralty-xfd

[ragnarockz]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack! XDDD

Season 2 or Season 3?

And the controversial: Season 4 or Season 5? :DDD

welcome baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack 😂

Season 2 or Season 3

Season 2 has a HOLD ON MY HEART - The Host, Irresistible, Dod Kalm, Soft Light!

Season 4 or Season 5

Season 4 for Paper Hearts ALONE! But there's so many goodies in that season, too! Home, Unruhe, Field Where I Died (I know that's a 50/50 ep with everyone), LEONARD BETTS FOLLOWED BY NEVER AGAIN! And of course, shoutout to Max 💔

[pizzasuckswithoutu]

xfiles episodes

s1e1 pilot

s1e2 deep throat

s1e3 squeeze really creeps me out

s1e5 jersey devil ridiculous

s1e8 ice 🙋🏻‍♀️

s1e13 beyond the sea 🙋🏻‍♀️

s1e17 e.b.e. alieny episode but good

s1e20 darkness falls 🙋🏻‍♀️

s1e21 tooms follow up to e3 squeeze

s1e24 erlenmeyer flask s1 finale technically important i guess

s2e5 duane barry first half of scully-centric 2 parter

s2e6 ascension second half

s2e7 3 mulder fucks a vampire its bad and funny🙋🏻‍♀️

s2e8 one breath scully episode <3

s2e16 colony two-parter about mulders arc

s2e17 end game second half of mulder two parter

s2e19 dod kalm not that good but mulder and scully get old

s2e20 humbug 🙋🏻‍♀️

s3e3 d.p.o. jack black

s3e4 clyde bruckmans final repose 🙋🏻‍♀️

s3e9 nisei alien conspiracy two parter

s3e10 731 part two

s3e12 war of the coprophages 🙋🏻‍♀️

s3e17 pusher

s3e19 hell money lucy liu but shes barely in it and episode sucks

s3e20 jose chungs from outer space funny 🙋🏻‍♀️

s3e22 quagmire love this one 🙋🏻‍♀️

s4e2 home

s4e7 musings of a cigarette smoking man jfk assassination?

s4e10 paper hearts 🙋🏻‍♀️

s4e20 small potatoes message me for warnings first please 🙋🏻‍♀️

s5e4 detour 🙋🏻‍♀️

s5e5 the post modern prometheus

s5e12 bad blood luke wilson 🙋🏻‍♀️

s5e19 folie a deux

s6e2 drive bryan cranston written by vince gilligan

s6e3 triangle 🙋🏻‍♀️

s6e4 dreamland funny two parter 🙋🏻‍♀️

s6e5 dreamland II part two 🙋🏻‍♀️

s6e6 how the ghosts stole christmas lily tomlin and ed asner 🙋🏻‍♀️

s6e14 monday groundhog day plot 🙋🏻‍♀️

s6e15 arcadia one of my faves 🙋🏻‍♀️ season six is so good wtf

s6e18 milagro john hawkes

s6e19 the unnatural 🙋🏻‍♀️

s6e21 field trip

s7e6 the goldberg variation

s7e12 x-cops cops crossover 🙋🏻‍♀️

s7e19 hollywood a.d. hollywood movie abt mulder and scully

s10e3 mulder and scully meet the weremonster rhys darby

[drzito]

En el episodio “Dod Kalm” de Expediente X Mulder y Scully se encuentran en un barco a la deriva en el que el tiempo parade trascurrir muy rapido. 

[baronessblixen]

Msr 5 on the kisses list plz and thank u ☺️

Another one from the list! This was: knuckle kiss

This is angst/hurt/comfort with a dash of hopeful cheesiness. Starts off in Dod Kalm (yes, you read that right). Mulder decides to be brave in what he believes to be his last moments on earth. (wc: 1,307)

Tagging @today-in-fic @xffictober2023

Fictober Day 2: Just in Case

He's not a gambling man, but he knows the odds are against him. Rien ne va plus. The house always wins. There won't be a cruise in his future. Well, at least he won't go bald as an old man. His body has immaturely aged and he just knows that the end is drawing near. Has he ever been this tired? He doesn't remember. Can't think.

With great difficulty, he forces his eyes open to glance at Scully. He's never allowed himself to seriously consider growing old, not with the life he's leading. But he thought he had more time. More time than this. And now, where he doesn’t have much time left, he allows himself to think about how it could be.

If this was happening 40 or 50 years later. Would Scully be there? He’s known her for less than two years, and yet, the part she takes up in his life is monumental. He wants more time with her. Wants to grow old with her. But this is all they get. Or all that he gets. There’s no future for him, but there might be one for her. 

"Mulder," she murmurs with a raspy voice. "We could still be saved." He smiles, but this time he knows she's wrong. It doesn't give him satisfaction. 

"You might be," he replies, his voice unrecognizable to his ears. "I'm- I'm so tired, Scully."

"Just hold on," she pleads with him. She takes his hand in hers and it feels just like it always has. One last time. If this is the end - and what else could it be? - shouldn't he play his last card?

"Hey," he whispers and she lowers her head. His heart beats with the vigor of a man in love. "If this ends badly-"

"No," she cuts him off.

"If," he repeats, staring up at her. "I want to you to know that-"

"I know, Mulder," she says, unable to hold in her tears.

"Just in case." He gathers the strength he has left to lean up and capture her lips in the sweetest of kisses. A moment later, everything goes dark. 

When he wakes again days later in his hospital bed, Scully smiling at him, he's convinced it was all a dream, a hallucination his mind conjured up as he lay dying. It's not until later that he remembers the feel of her lips, the softness despite it all. He smiles to himself.

Their first kiss. It had been just in case. Now he has to get it right.

But they don't. 

*

He tries to kiss her before he goes in to face Robert Patrick Modell. His lips brush hers and all he tastes are tears. She turns away from him, gently shaking her head. 

“No,” she says. “You’re not… nothing is going to happen, Mulder.” He nods, making it a promise. Even after, his heart thumping in his chest, his thoughts only his own, he doesn’t dare to try again. Scully is with him, squeezing his hand. He could kiss her again, make it right. Celebrate that they won. That they’re going to live another day. But he doesn’t. 

Fear rattles him and almost paralyzes him as he stands in the coroner's office, preparing himself. As soon as he opens the blinds, he will know. He thinks about Mrs. Scully. He’ll have to call her after this, no matter what. If this is her daughter then… he swallows hard. His fingers are weak, his hand shaking. He needs to know. He needs to see. One last breath before he opens the blinds and a million bricks fall off his chest. 

“It’s not her,” he says to the coroner.

It’s not her. It’s not his Scully. But he knows it’s someone. As he rushes to Mrs. Scully’s house, he decides he will tell Scully. Take her into his arms, kiss her silly, and ask her to spend the rest of her life with him. Or the rest of his. Just in case next time it is her on that table, pale and ripped from life.

Once again, it doesn’t happen. 

Scully gives him a peck after he returns from Siberia (and after he’s showered). Her smile is radiant, her lips as soft as he remembers. It’s a promise, nothing more. And he hopes. He dares to hope in the weeks that follow. His hopes are trampled down by a tall, dark stranger in Philadelphia whose name tastes like acid on his tongue.

Just as he thinks they’re moving toward something again, Scully calls him from the hospital. Says it’s cancer. It’s terminal. Nothing they can do. Except Mulder doesn’t accept it. Can’t accept it. They can kill him, but not her. He won’t let that happen. He thinks of the ship and remembers what it was like to feel old and feeble. He would have done anything to save Scully. Against all odds, they both lived. He’ll make damn sure they’ll both live again.

But just in case he kisses her eyelids in a hospital hallway. 

Just in case, he kisses her nose. 

Just in case, he kisses the corner of her mouth, because that is all he dares to do. 

*

The oncology ward is as quiet as a graveyard as he sneaks in at night, ready to flash his badge if anyone wants to stop him. No one does. His shoes squeak on the linoleum floor as he makes his way to Scully’s room, the only sign of life. He peeks inside the room and his eyes need a few seconds to get used to the darkness. There she is. The light of his life. His Scully. She’s fast asleep, curled into herself. He marvels at how peaceful she looks while the cells inside her body are raging a deathly war. The house always wins, he thinks bitterly. 

He touches her hair and gently brushes it away from her face, not wanting a stray strand to wake her up. His knees buckle and he sinks to the floor, as if ready to pray. His hand is on hers and it’s warm and soft. So soft. His tears fall silently as he forbids himself to make a sound. He puts his cheek on her hand, and lets himself calm down while she slumbers on unaware.

“I want to grow old with you,” he whispers against her skin. He kisses one knuckle, then another, and another. He kisses every single one of them. With each kiss, he makes a promise. This is not how it ends. You will win this. I will love you as long as I breathe. I will be there for you, always.

“Just in case, Scully. One day we’ll get it right.” 

She doesn’t wake and he leaves her side, convinced he’s leaving a part of his soul right there with her. Much, much later, she tells him she’s in remission and it’s the best news he could have heard. She grabs his face, staring into his eyes, and her face is blurry before him through the tears. 

“Go home,” she says wih a smile. “And get some sleep. You look worse than I do.” They both laugh as if they’ve just heard the greatest joke in the world. 

“I don’t want to leave you,” he says once he’s found his voice again. 

“Mulder, I’m not going anyway. My family is coming over, too. I won’t be alone. Just- go take a shower, eat something.”

“Always the doctor, huh?”

“Someone has to be.” 

“Okay, fine,” he relents. “But I’ll be back.” His terrible Schwarzenegger impersonation makes her laugh again and what more could he ask for? 

“One more thing, Mulder, before you leave.” Her hands are back on his face and she tugs him down to her level. “Just in case,” she whispers against his lips.