#Three of a kind

[bakedbakermom]

txf+text posts (17/?)

[rayar32]

might I interest y'all in a Symphogear rareship, bordering on crackship? boom it's Three of a Kind

listen the show kept pairing Elsa up with KiriShira for fights and also they're kinda, really accepting?? and that's like one of the main things Elsa wants?? so like, y'know. polycule of weirdoes. also Shirabe can be her moon and Kirika her light the cheesy theming writes itself

[perenians]

DAY TWO - FRIENDSHIP

they're shittalking batman ♠️♥️♣️

[teiasviago]

She’s gonna kick our ass.

THE X-FILES 6.20 | “Three of a Kind”

[nachox84]

[singeart]

Did you know those things are called Ghillie suits.......oh yeah it's all coming together....

[randomfoggytiger]

All IVF Roads Lead Away from The Unnatural and to Millennium

After spending too much time batting back and forth various IVF theories (post here for the hall-of-fame-ers), I'd settled on early Season Six because of the factored-in procedure requirements.

And then a discussion with @welsharcher and @agent-troi made me reevaluate everything... and I realized, with dawning horror, that the facts concluded upon not only upended what I believed about Per Manum's time crunch but also pushed back Mulder and Scully's dating timeline from The Unnatural to Millennium.

What Canon Presents as Facts

Per Manum was a patch-on episode; and there are a few restrictions it imposes on the flashbacks with Mulder and Scully.

The IVF arc must take place after the episode Emily because that is when Scully learns her infertility was caused by medical experiments robbing her of her ova.

In Per Manum, Scully is awkward about asking Mulder for her request.

When the IVF fails, both are not stingy with their hugs-- never have been-- but Scully stops herself from fully kissing Mulder, instead placing it tentatively on his cheek.

The greater implications of points #2 and #3

Point 2: Scully's awkwardness in these flashbacks is absent from her behavior all through S7, especially after Millennium. From then on out, she flirts and pulls Mulder's tie (Rush), makes cracks about going home and making all things right with the world (The Goldberg Variation), shares a personal, traumatic story from her childhood and is unfazed that Mulder collects her and her things to go (Orison), takes it for granted that Mulder would want her to spend the night and advocate for him (Sein und Zeit), is openly jealous of his attention (Rush, First Person Shooter), keeps him guessing (Theef), denies CSM's pop psychology but not his claims about her love (En Ami), and pouts openly while calling Mulder (Chimera.) (See post here for flirty gifs (collected from @settle-down-frohike.)

Point 3: Scully's miss-kiss is how we know this precedes Amor Fati: then, she passionately and unhesitatingly gives Mulder's bandaged head a kiss after his dream recitation; but in Per Manum, though both are tender and grieving, there is still a hesitancy in her behavior. That hesitancy is born from Scully's insecurity in Mulder's life post The Beginning, after her hallway forehead blessing was replaced by his frustration at her refusal to believe. She and Mulder were in sync in S6, and she knew he loved her... but where was she in the order of importance? Still under the Truth? (It's a question she is still asking in S8's Essence.) Amor Fati was the turning point in their relationship: Mulder finally showed his partner that any better life, any better ending paled in comparison to the chaotic and brutal and beautiful one they shared together.

The Requirements for IVF (specifically the FET Timeline)

There would have had to have been a lot of downtime for Mulder and Scully to attempt IVF and continue a pregnancy.

Flying while pregnant, in the 90s and now, is not unsafe; but frequent flyers are heavily discouraged from taking as many trips because of possible health concerns (blood pressure, early risks, radiation, etc.) with mother and fetus-- particularly in the first and third trimester-- and even more so if the mother has a preexisting condition or previously challenging medical concern. Not only that, but the demands required for the IVF process would have put a further strain on travel.

Scully's ova were collected and stored (and recovered) frozen, meaning she would have had to use the FET method for her IVF cycles. Frozen Embryo Transfer takes up to 32 days from start to finish (starting the count from Day 3 of a woman's period up to the day she takes a pregnancy test); and Scully would likely have had to use the medicated FET method rather than the natural one, which is not a difference in timeline so much as convenience. Not only does the medicated FET method require additional supplementation, but the changes from estrogen and progesterone to embryo transfer-- in other words, forward progress-- hinge on how successfully the lining of the uterus thickens: if it's slow, the process drags on longer; if it's unsuccessful, the process starts from scratch. And despite all these measures, the "success rate of an untested frozen embryo transfer can go as low as 20-30%, decreasing with increasing maternal age." Hence, its failure.

The only times The X-Files had enough downtime to meet these stringent requirements were twice, and both in S6: the grounding under Kersh's disciplinary thumb and the unaccounted-for months between The Unnatural (April) and Biogenesis (September.)

The Clincher: A Purposefully Placed Family Planning Book

While the mind melding events of Biogenesis-Amor Fati are unfolding, Scully scours the office before jet-setting off to Africa. In the background is a clear glimpse of a blue family planning book amidst Mulder's various piles that he uses to feather the nest (grabbed from @dreamingofscully's post here~.)

Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, the writing team, and the actors knew David Duchovny was leaving the show after the finale of S7; and they planned for the miracle baby early on in the season. (For any lingering doubts about William's paternity, see here for Frank's own words on the subject.) Because of that, the gang split up and left some clues: not just the family planning book mentioned above, but also David and Gillian's decision to act as if Mulder and Scully were dating off-screen post Millennium and the writers request to incorporate William's conception into All Things. Because of those decisions, fertile (heh) ground was sown for anyone willing to look back and fill in the gaps... which they did in Per Manum; and which I do now.

The family planning book serves as the definitive timeline marker for Scully and Mulder's IVF journey. If they had attempted IVF early S6, then the book would have shown up with Mulder's things when he "feathered the nest" post One Son. If he and Scully had attempted IVF after Millennium or any time S7, it would have made an appearance then. But it doesn't: it only appears on the end of season six after Mulder and Scully have grown closer, when an IVF success or failure makes him clarify that it won't "come between us." When there is more that is between them but not technically enough for them to do this journey as a couple (yet.)

It also bookends the conclusion of the IVF arc: by joining Mulder's stash, the book has become another totem of his life in the vein of Samantha's picture, the cloth hearts, and Karin Berquist's "I Want to Believe" poster (and even Queequeg's collar and Scully's keychain.) It'll be packed away out of sight once he gets the cleaning bug or Scully asks him to; but, until then, it haunts the basement with the ghost of its lost potential.

Why IVF, Why Now, Why The Unnatural?

As mentioned above, there is a pocket of downtime post The Unnatural's April and Biogenesis-Amor Fati's September (thank you to @dreamingofscully for pointing that out in this post), with only one legitimate case in-between.

(With that in mind, The Lone Gunmen's ask of Scully is doubly stupid since they asked her to fly out to Las Vegas in Mulder's name sometime during her IVF process and triply stupid because Scully-- who likely went against medical precautions-- was drugged.)

But why did Scully seek a second opinion after The Unnatural?

Because Mulder's baseball date and uplifted banter reawakened that dream in her: "What you may find as you're concentrating on hitting that little ball, the rest of the world just fades away. All your nagging concerns, the ticking of your biological clock, how you probably couldn't afford that nice new coat on a g-woman's salary, how you threw away a promising career in medicine to hunt aliens with a... crackpot, albeit brilliant, partner." Because Mulder signaled that he was noticing her, her new suede coat, her ticking biological clock... and that those were important to him.

So, Scully went in for another checkup, to seek hope for both of them.

The Timeline: A Culmination

The Unnatural-- Mulder, for the first time in their partnership, turns away from the heart of the mystery to gaze at the mystery of his heart; and Scully is giggly and hopeful (having pressed hints about "a normal life" over and over since early S6.) For the first time he mentions something between them that is personal beyond near kisses and love confessions: he brings up her habits, her coats, and her fertility, showing her that he sees her. And after that night, Scully gets another checkup with her doctor and kicks off Per Manum.

Per Manum, the elevator-- Scully runs into Mulder after her appointment, depressed and down with more negative results. Seeing how devastated this fresh reminder is (despite the episode's very clunky reiteration of her infertility-- which both she and Mulder already know about and know each other knows about), he admits to having her ova on ice. Scully is both hurt he'd kept this information from her for over two years and desperately hopeful-- again-- that there is another last chance.

Per Manum, the clinic-- Doctor Parenti tells Scully there is a "good chance" that she can get pregnant if they get started right away. She's barreling onward, not thinking two steps ahead of her (noted here in some deleted lines-- thanks to @dunhamhairograpy) except for the fact that she has to ask Mulder for his participation.

Per Manum, "The answer is yes"-- "I don't want this to come between us" is pivotal. Yes, it could refer to their recent peace over Mulder's noncommunication; but that seems to have been swept aside by both of them in their heady anticipation. So, it has to refer to their personal relationship, one which just blossomed beyond loving partners into partners focused more on each other than the Truth. Mulder can't let go completely until his Closure; but he'll explore living a variation of normal with Scully post The Unnatural's moral lesson and Amor Fati's revelation and Millennium's permanent shift.

Three of a Kind-- Scully hops on the rare plane to join "Mulder" in Las Vegas, being pulled into The Lone Gunmen shenanigans and ending up getting drugged, flirting up a storm, and planning her revenge. Luckily, it seems Scully isn't too worried about what happened, meaning she was either between rounds or hadn't begun her first (or only?) cycle yet.

Field Trip-- A more personal episode for Mulder and Scully: he is unusually hurt and angered by her normal level of skepticism, which hurts her in turn as he's devalued herself as well as her abilities for the work. The two of them dance around these feelings until they fall right into hallucinogenic mushrooms. (An interesting note: @iconicscullyoutfits noticed here that Scully does not drink at Mulder's wake, slotting in perfectly both with her denial of this reality and her on-going carefulness with the IVF tries.)

Per Manum, "It was my last chance"-- Regardless if it's their first and only or last of many tries, Scully is unflinchingly scooped up by Mulder, though diffidently shy about crossing too many lines herself in grief (shying away from her impulsive smooch to instead hesitatingly place a kiss on her partner's cheek.) "Never give up on a miracle", Mulder intones; and holds onto the family planning book for a while more.

Biogenesis-- Mulder may have the book in his office; but Scully has lost hope, asking him "Look, after all you've done, after all you've uncovered... I mean, you've won. What more could you possibly hope to do or to find?" Her question is more in-character with another fruitless endeavor behind them, a wish to see this journey, too, to its end; and this informs her arc in this three parter: rebuilding herself and her identity in Africa, at the military base, in her apartment, and outside his.

Amor Fati-- Mulder dreams "another life, another world" where Scully can live safer and freer from him while he gets a built-in idyllic life, wife, and children: "Don't give up on a miracle" echoing around in his head. (An interesting note: @cecilysass's post here about the meaning behind Mulder's Temptation is amazing.)

But that miracle is a false illusion; and Scully saves him from himself ("You were my constant, my touchstone") just as he saves her from her self-distrust ("And you are mine.") It's now that Scully brands Mulder's forehead as her own just as she had in Fight the Future: diffidence gone, courage and confirmation found.

From Brain Surgery to New Years Celebrations

Mulder would have been too weak for much while recovering from invasive brain surgery, as evidenced by his and Scully's (mostly) hands-off approach in the next episode Hungry.

However, Mulder joined Scully in California for Christmas-- on a case, of course-- and got himself from one mess to another. They avoided death, saved the world from the Apocalypse, and, most importantly, patched a family back together. There might never be a child to welcome them home from a dangerous case; but they have each other.

And Mulder seals that realization as the ball drops.

And that concludes the IVF arc~!

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Three of a Kind

"If you control 3 or more monsters with the same name, except Tokens: Target 3 cards your opponent controls; destroy those targets."

[klcthebookworm]

How is the BMFM/Trigun story coming along? How about the updates to Wars Are Won and Evil Jack? <3

Oh boy, my current events.

I got the edits finished on Star Wars: Rescue the Farmboy: Mission on Mimban and started posting it on Ao3 starting on Oct. 18. I finished up rereading Shadows of the Empire for Star Wars WIPs in the rest of October.

When November started, I started on taking my beta's edits to make the third draft of Trigun: Three of a Kind, which is the crossover with Biker Mice From Mars. And then on Nov. 6th, my father ended up in the ER with a brain bleed and seizures from that.

He's doing incredible well and is going back to short-term rehab hospital tonight. But I have only edited 15 out of 21 days so far this month. I was hoping to start posting Trigun: Three of a Kind after Mission on Mimban but it's kind of out of my complete control.

I have gotten Evil Jack: Till Death Do We Part back from my beta, so next up is making the third draft and then publishing. Wars Are Won: Sacrifice of Happiness, the first draft wasn't working so I had to start over giving it some conflict. And then I ran out of August.

When do I pick BMFM WIPs up again? Some months in 2025 that I haven't decided on yet. December 2024 was set for me to work on BookWorm's Library updates, which should be limited to cleaning up dead links and adding new stories. I don't think that will take all of December, so I should have free time to keep plugging at edits. But it all depends on real life not destroying my free time.

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

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Three of a Kind (6x20)

It’s no secret Byers is a dreamer. Has been since the day he’d entered inside Baltimore’s Computer and Electronics Convention a decade ago. The same day he’d met his partners in crime — his best friends. 

The day he’d met her. 

It all started with Susanne Modeski and her incredible tale of deep-state conspiracies hidden from the American people. Since the first moment her pleading blue eyes had latched onto his, John Fitzgerald Byers had never dreamed more desperately.

“She’s here,” Byers mumbles, dazed. Of course she’s engaged. Of course it’s to someone else. “And with him…”

Ten years of searching… of dreaming. How damn delusional he’s been.

Frohike taps the surveillance tape from Susanne’s room against Byers’ hand covering his face. “Hey buddy, you sure you wanna go through with watching this? I know you care about her. I get it, but this might not end the way you hope.”

“I’m not hoping—” Byers chokes, tugging at his tie, irritated. What little hope he’d held for a future with a woman he wasn’t even certain was alive vanished five minutes ago when he saw Grant Ellis kissing her. “My intentions are good, whether Susanne believes so or not.”

“Hell is a road paved of good intentions, my friend,” Frohike retorts. “Uh, speaking of intentions, when Mulder finds out we impersonated him to get Agent Scully here, he’ll intentionally kick our asses if she hasn’t done it first.”

“I know.” A bead of sweat trickles down Byers’ back at the thought of an angry Scully and her protective Mulder. “But he’ll understand.”

Frohike chuffs. “Mulder’s understanding when it comes to manipulating Scully stretches thinner than a fat man’s tighty whities. And you know it.”

“We had little choice. If Agent Scully finds any evidence of wrongdoing during Jimmy’s autopsy, then an asskicking will be worth it.”

Frohike arches a furry, incredulous brow. “Speak for yourself.” 

The door opens and Langly strides in, looking pale and smelling like antiseptic. John cringes at the thought of Jimmy’s autopsy as a fresh wave of worry for Susanne’s safety washes over him.

They debrief their lack of findings and watch the tape taken from Susanne and Grant’s room. John’s stomach sinks at their on-screen domesticity. “She would not marry that man.”

“You don't know him like I do.” The Gunmen startle, turning to see Susanne standing in their hotel room. “I need to talk to you, John, I need to try and explain everything.”

His friends don’t trust her, but Susanne had unknowingly helped create the men they are now. She’d opened their eyes to it all. The governmental secrets. The lies shrouded in half-truths. She doesn't owe him for any of that. But she does owe him an explanation. 

“C'mon,” Langly sighs. Byers blushes, loathing feeling like the lonesome lover-boy of the group. “Let's hit the slots.”

“Watch your back,” Frohike warns Byers before calling Susanne Mata Hari.

Trust or not, Byers refuses to believe she’s some seductive spy. His heart races as Susanne moves closer. His best-case scenario is that she pushes him onto the bed and they make love in a room around the corner from the one she shares with her fiancé. The worst case scenario is that she tells him to get lost and never think of her again.

“You said something about a friend being murdered,” Susanne says.

Byers explains Jimmy’s supposed suicide and alerts she may be in danger, too. 

“I am. Always,” she admits, pacing nervously. “So is Grant. I've thought about this moment so many times. All the things I would say to you if I ever saw you again. And then there you were, at my door, and I…” She trails off, but Byers is barely listening while her watery eyes lock onto his, and it feels exactly like it did when they first met. Like a lightning strike straight to the chest. “…He reminded me of you. Grant,” she confesses. 

Byers blinks back tears. 

“Susanne—” 

“John, I don’t want to hurt you, but Grant isn’t who you think. You don’t know him and I’m not brainwashed,” she pleads, and Byers isn’t sure if she’s trying to convince him or herself. “You’re paranoid.”

He scoffs, “You’re the one who warned us years ago, Susanne. It was you who pushed us to look past the placating façade and find the truth within the lie. ‘That no matter how paranoid we are, we’re not paranoid enough.’ Remember?”

“Of course. I wasn’t lying. But things have changed, John.” 

He purses his lips, frustrated. The lips Susanne had pressed the sweetest of kisses to once before, leaving him loose-limbed and love-struck just moments before she was forcefully shoved into the back of a car, never to be heard from again. Until now.

He’s spent ten years clinging to a fantasy of a future with her. A marriage, a mortgage, three kids and a dog. An entire life. What a fool he is. 

With a solemn nod, Byers clenches his eyes shut. “Of course they have.” 

“John?” Susanne whispers, suddenly only a breath away, her cool hand cupping the scruff of his jaw as her lips brush against his ear. “Someday you’ll realize you’re too good for me. So very good.” She kisses his cheek tenderly and his eyes fly open. “Someday.”

Susanne leans back to wipe away the tears rolling down her face. 

“Someday…” Byers mumbles back and wonders if maybe there is more for him than one woman. Maybe everything in his life has turned out exactly the way it’s supposed to. “Maybe.”

It all may have started with Susanne Modeski, but with Frohike, Langly, Mulder, and Scully in his life, John holds hope that spending reality with his friends turns out to be more fulfilling than a dream could ever be. 

***

Hours later, she stands before Byers under the glimmer of Vegas lights, her dead fiancé’s engagement ring within his palm, and her plush lips pressed against his own. 

“Someday,” she promises, and Byers smiles. 

Maybe…

Read the rest of All Eyes Lead to the Truth on Archive of Our Own!

@monikafilefan

[ferdieinceladoncity]

oh x-files episode three of a kind.... :) shooting straight up amongst my all-time favourites. There's just so much I love about it, that made me feel happy watching it. I love the lone gunmen and their comedic moments, they work so well together, and then you throw Scully in there as well: I just love whenever Scully and the gunmen work together. They are her annoying, infuriating besties... I think... it's just a neat episode all set in the same place, here's cool tech, and I'm sorry, I love it so much when scully get's drugged and she just turns into 'haiii !! :3!!! >;3" me when happy scully.. me when silly scully... me when flirty scully holding a cigarette in her mouth with upturned puppy dog eyes.. no mulder sadly but tbf I forgot he existed

[rayar32]

actually before I sleep I come back with more KiriShiraElsa thoughts because I'm Very Normal

In my own weirdo AU fanon, I imagine Noble Red is split up after the entire Shem-Ha fiasco, leading Elsa to wander alone for a bit (it's why I draw her with the big cost and also looking travel weary), which eventually leads her back into meeting the Zababies by sheer happenstance (think Chris and Miku scenario here). Kirika and Shirabe still remember the girl, and everything she did, but still choose to trust her and give her shelter while she gets accustomed to her surroundings because well, she did help them in the end, so they might as well return the favor.

This is where the insanity strikes, because here's the thing, these three aren't that different at all. If anything, Elsa, and her actions with Noble Red, are pretty much what they could've become, if things were different, so if anything I think Kirika and Shirabe would understand her position. And given how they didn't really have time to talk while fighting, this would be the first time they get to actually interact and realize that well, she's kind of a normal girl like them; traumatized and not doing too hot, but still a person at the end of the day. It's also Elsa's first time in a while interacting with people that don't, y'know abhor her existence, and that aren't Millaarc or Vanessa, which would probably be a moment of vulnerability she's not used to. Kirika and Shirabe are easy to talk to, even when they're trying to be menacing. They still end up coming off as silly and comforting, and it's something that Elsa is surprised, and reassured by. Here she is, lost, but not quite alone. She's not afraid of being by herself, because there are people who, despite being different from her, are comforting, and choose to not judge her. It's something she hasn't had before, but maybe it's a feeling she could get used to. If only things were so easy.

I'm very sane.

anyways here's a funny as thanks for reading my unhinged rambling

[agent-troi]

Fictober prompt #5: "You're the smartest person I know."

Fandom: The X-Files

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

------------------------------------

Security Questions

Chapter 11: Three of a Kind

Scully sighed, rubbing her forehead with the hand that wasn’t holding her cell phone. “The Gunmen. They– oh, I don’t believe this. I don’t fucking believe this. They’ve got some nerve–”

“Scully, wait. What did they do?”

“They called me– it must have been them, but they synthesized your voice so I thought it was you. They had you say they found something big in Las Vegas, and I needed to get there right away.”

“That’s all they told you?”

“Yeah… they were acting sketchy when I first got there, but before I could ask them anything, shit started going down and I had an autopsy to do and then… well, it’s an interesting story. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”

Mulder’s tone shifted from perplexed to anxious. “Are you hurt? Were you in any danger?”

“No– well– I’m okay now. There’s nothing for you to worry about, all right?”

His response was predictably irate. “I’m gonna kick their asses.”

“Not if I kick them first.”

Mulder chuckled. “Pretty brave of them to risk pissing you off, actually.”

“Mulder, are you implying something about my temper?”

“Not at all. I just know from personal experience that it’s a good idea to stay on your good side.”

Scully rolled her eyes and reached for the remote to shut off the television so she could hear him better, the mugshot of Timothy Landau winking out of existence. “I mostly just feel stupid for even falling for it. This is literally the exact situation, only in reverse, that prompted us to come up with those security questions in the first place, remember?”

“Vividly. Why didn’t you ask any of them?”

“It was two-thirty in the morning– actually, it was 2:34 A.M., as your voice so precisely informed me. I was still half asleep, for God’s sake. I wasn’t exactly at my sharpest.”

Mulder responded with fond amusement. “Scully, even at your most sleep-deprived, you’re still the smartest person I know.”

She snorted. “That says more about everyone else you know than it does about me.”

Read the full chapter on Ao3

Tagging @today-in-fic, @fictober-event, @xffictober2023

[sweetsoulmusic]

[jefkphotography]

3 pens.

Object photography.

[california-112]

Ok so that's a new favourite