#twin peaks anniversary

[wingedog]

Happy birthday twin peaks

[aridante]

Diane, it’s 4:10 in the afternoon at the scene of the crime. Here’s something we haven’t seen before: a mound of dirt, approximately a foot and a half in diameter. On the top is a gold necklace with a gold heart—correction, half a gold heart. At the base of the mound of dirt is a torn piece of news print written with the words, which appear to be in blood: “fire walk with me.”   

TWIN PEAKS dir. David Lynch 1.01 – “Northwest Passage” (April 8th, 1990)

[gloriadenton]

Twin Peaks (1990-91) | The Price of Salt (Patricia Highsmith)

[kylemaclachlanfanatic]

It’s been 32 years since Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. So I made this edit to celebrate it! Enjoy. ❤️‍🔥🖤

[cerealla]

Chug-a-lug, Donna

Oil on canvas, 32 x 22 inches

Ko-fi link if you’d like to help out.

Image ID under the cut

[Id/: Laura Palmer and Donna Hayward are sitting back-to-back against a calm mountain scene during the beginnings of a sunset. A large storm cloud floats behind them with four birds flying to the right of the frame. Telephone wires stretch from end-to-end of the scene. Laura’s left arm is lifted above her head, obscuring most of her face. In her right hand is an unlit cigarette pressed between her lips. A hand from the far left side of the frame holds a lit red Bic lighter, level with Laura’s hand. Donna is hunched over, resting her head on her knees and wrapping her arms around her shins. The expression on her face reads either boredom, annoyance, loneliness, or all three. Laura is wearing a black sweater and a small red skirt. Donna is wearing a purplish-white shirt with a deep-pink star pattern, and dark gray shorts./]

[4eternal-life]

Ronette Pulaski walking the railroad tracks

In a series filled with haunting scenes, the long, slow shot of Ronette might be the most unforgettable. Between Badalamenti’s score and the blank look on Phoebe Augustine’s face, it underscores just how much trauma she and Laura really experienced — and it’s devastating.

[louisegluckpdf]

me watching twin peaks for the first time: omg that's the girl father john misty would have done tons of cocaine with and kept alive forever

[cas---2y5]

i’m like less than 12 hours away from leaving for Seattle for my TwiPeaks trip and I’m so fucking hype you guys

[wolgerrswraith]

What can you say about an entire year of *peeful theme playing* but

Also bonus themes

Meanwhile, on the boxed set of Twin Peaks I paid $49.99 for with the worst captioning I've seen in my life

[morganas-pendragons]

grief | elrond peredhel

a short little thing about helping Elrond through his grief over Elros. Think I may release one more drabble tonight as I am really trying to clear my drafts out. This is an actual drabble this time!!! It's less then 1K LOL

"I not only live each day in endless grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief." - CS Lewis, A Grief Observed

For someone who has believed until this point that you knew Elrond Peredhel well, this may be the only time you can confidently note that you cannot find him in any of his usual hiding places.

That is what causes you to go seeking Galadriel and The High King. To you, it is a normal day. A normal day in Lindon among comrades and friends in which you spend weeks preparing for the next event featuring the court of musicians that Gil-Galad employs for such an occasion. Your free time is spent with Elrond, lingering amid the trees within each other's embrace and whispering poetry among the rays of sunshine and flowers that scatter along Lindon's fields.

You do not find him there today. Not there, not at the waterfall, not in the garden. He is nowhere to be found. The thought of something having happened to him concerns you, and that is what leads you to GIl-Galad's courts where you find him and Galadriel conversing with one another. Their conversation is hardly perceptible enough for you to hear. It does not matter. You stride towards them with haste, intent on finding Elrond before the sun reaches its peak of the afternoon.

Gil-Galad seems to have been waiting for your arrival. He does not look surprised that his violinist has come to meet with him.

"High King," You begin, bowing lowly to him and Galadriel. “Forgive me for the intrusion.”

“It is not an intrusion, dear friend,” Galadriel’s calm voice responds. She is always, to you at least, the perfect picture of composure. You envy that ability. “What ails you?”

“I cannot find Elrond.”

You know something is wrong by the way that Gil-Galad and Galadriel look at each other. Your gut has been telling you all morning that Elrond’s sudden disappearance has a purpose, and it seems you are right.

“This is one day of the year that Elrond does not wish to be found,” Galadriel murmurs, sadness tinging her tone as her eyes fall to the floor. Her fingers skate across where she used to keep Finrod’s dagger at her hip. “We are never able to locate him.”

“Why? What is important about today?” You ask. Dread bubbles in your stomach as you fidget with your fingers. The King will not meet your eyes.

Elrond has been forthcoming about most of his upbringing to you thus far. Being the son of Eärendil The Mariner and Elwing, the Silmarils, Maglor and Maedrhos... All of it.

The one thing he has told you little about is Elros.

For the first time in the time you'd known her, sympathy flickers across Galadriel's face as she crosses the gap between you to take your hands into her own. You are dearest to Elrond. Due to that, she feels a deep obligation to look after you when he can't.

"This is the anniversary of Elrond's twin's death," Gil-Galad interjects before Galadriel can reply. Your fearful aspects crumples into something akin to sadness and a familiarity of grief that makes your heart ache. "I often do not call upon Elrond on this day. I never have found where he hides, but he sits in his solitude to ruminate over the loss of his brother on this day every year."

You square your jaw and squeeze Galadriel's hands before stepping away.

"If you will grant me leave, High King," You remark. "I wish to find my beloved before nightfall."

Of all the people Gil-Galad would expect to successfully find Elrond, you may be the only one on that list who could offer him comfort and bring him home before he caught ill in the chill that lingered in the air. Gil-Galad knows the depths of which Elrond loves you. It is a depth that far surpasses the weight of his upbringing, which he has endured.

He nods.

You are bounding up Lindon's staircases and out into its golden forests before you can hear their farewell, keen Elvish eyes peeled for the familiar form of your lover as you seek him out in all of your secret hiding places.

The lake, the waterfall, the garden, the library. All are empty.

"Where is it that you go to grieve, love?"

"Where the song is heard the quietest, where all the world comes to a halt, and where the heart falls somber."

You find him at the edge of Lindon where a single statue stands amid a small graveyard. You've seen it while coming and going from the city, mostly to Eregion to meet with other musicians and artists. No one would pay attention to it if they were not looking.

You have never truly taken the time to recognize it for what it is.

Elros Tar-Minyatur.

You don't say anything as you approach. Elrond is knelt at the feet of the statue, hands wound in the fabric of his cloak as he weeps. Not a sound escape his lips. This must be what grief feels like. Silent suffering over a face, a name, a heart that the rest of the world will never come to know again because you are what remains of their memory.

You hum softly to acknowledge your presence and rest your hand on his shoulder. He leans into it, seeking out the touch of your comfort, while his hands move upward to hide his face and the tears that stain his cheeks.

You do not shush him. You simply kneel in the dirt and take Elrond into your arms, kissing a head of damp curls as he slides into the part of your legs and clutches at you so hard that you're sure his fingerprints will leave bruises. His grief will slip into your bloodstream, and you too will feel the aching hole that comes with the loss of one so dear to him.

You do little but hold Elrond there. Press a kiss to his temple, to his hair, to his forehead.

There, wrapped in the warmth of the embrace of one who loves him still and will continue to do so, Elrond allows you to see the heart of him that bleeds over a twin who chose mortality, who chose men.

You wonder if Elros would choose him, were he allowed to live again.

You stare up at the statue as if Elros will speak to you.

I will live to love him for you. I promise.

[maxybabyy]

Daniel watches on as Max dodges him for the third time today, shimmies away from Daniel’s hands as he hurries to catch up with GP.

Daniel knows Max likes GP better than most people, knows they’ve been together longer than he and Max have. Max will bring it up sometimes when Daniel’s being needy and won’t stop touching him. He will go, “He is of course my race engineer, Daniel. Always I will have to see him more when it is a race weekend, no?”

Daniel will whine, call them work husbands with no love left for their real spouses. The words will taste sour even to his own tongue, but in the moment it will feel better. Max will say as he did once, “If you do not like this, GP being my husband. You can of course change this also, Daniel.”

So Daniel doesn’t call them that anymore, has taken to kiss him silly instead to keep him put.

But Max’s already been in two meetings with GP, and Daniel has barely seen him today, didn’t even get a morning kiss in before they had to leave for the paddock.

GP is picked off by one of the engineers, young and sweet as he works up the nerve to interrupt Max’s latest rant, hands vivid in the air. Daniel is quick to swoop in, bullies Max into a small alcove with his knee pressed against Max’s thigh to keep him in place.

“Daniel? What is this?” He says, wiggles in his hold. “I of course do not have time for this. Rupert wants me to look over the food that he will order, and I have to –“

“You’re a busy boy, Maxy. I know, just,” Daniel says, digs his knee harder into Max when he still hasn’t stopped moving. “Why are you being weird? I’ve barely seen you today, baby, and now you’re trying to do a fucking runner on me.”

“I am not weird,” Max says, crosses his arms over his chest.

Daniel smiles, sweet and soft to keep his lips from twisting. “Annoyed then? Frustrated? Did I do something to piss you off, babe?”

Max keeps looking at him, steady blues as he doesn’t blink. But his chest starts to move, deep, fast breaths that make his tits strain against the polo he always wears. The wind is chilly too, makes the nips peak out. “I am of course not this, annoyed, frustrated,” he says, voice curt.

“But I did do something,” Daniel guesses. “Baby, whatever I did to make you mad, please just tell me and I will –“

He leans in to touch Max’s waist, face close enough to kiss if Max just gave up the last few inches. But instead of leaning in like he always does, Max twists away from him with a glare, “Always I will see you later, Daniel. You can think maybe about how to not be a stupid idiot then.”

Daniel doesn’t know what to say, watches him walk away with his back against the wall.

“’A stupid idiot’? That’s what he called you?” George asks, digs his fork into the leafy greens Daniel had been too weak to order. “And you’re sure you haven’t done anything bad? Did you forget an anniversary perhaps? The cats’ birthdays?”

Daniel shakes his head. Max doesn’t care about shit like that. Sassy had her birthday back in April, and Jimmy will have his turn after the summer break. Siblings, but not twins. “They of course deserve their own birthdays, Daniel,” Max had said, coaxing a small hat onto the head of a patient Jimmy.

“He was fine last night, had a nice dinner. The hotel room is meh, but that’s not my fault, yeah?” Max had been tossing and turning all night, sweaty where he was pressed Daniel’s chest. But he’s dealt with a tired Max before, and this wasn’t it.

George watches him for a moment, eyes sharp as he stabs his fork through a tomato. “Reckon it’s that thing women do sometimes?” He asks, voice unnaturally casual like he knows it’s a shit thing to say.

“What, George?” Daniel says and abandons his spoonful of chickpea curry. The coriander tastes odd on his tongue, and he wonders if maybe they put nuts in it anyway. “What is it that women and Max do sometimes?”

“I don’t – you know that wasn’t.” Geroge breathes out, in, and then out again. “Carmen obviously doesn’t do this, mind you. And I don’t think Max would either, but there are like, these stories on the internet of women getting mad at their boyfriends because they dreamt about them cheating on them.

“Obviously, Max wouldn’t do it either, but.” George shrugs uncomfortably, the corner of his mouth pulled to the side.

And like, but indeed.

Max barely looks at him during dinner, talks about the press conference like Daniel wasn’t there next to him, and doesn’t answer when he asks about going out for drinks tomorrow.

He’s about to storm back into the bedroom, when Daniel says, “Reckon we should talk about this? Or do you want to keep being mad about something I did in your dream?”

The way Max’s head whips back to look at him is confirmation enough, but the deep, scarlet tint to his cheeks makes it all the more obvious.

“Maxy, why didn’t you tell me you had a bad dream? We could have talked about it together, yeah?” He says. He closes the distance between them cautiously, hovers awkwardly at the edge of Max’s personal space until Max nudges their feet together.

“You were of course a very stupid idiot in my dream, so I thought it would be good maybe to have you think about why it is so bad to do,” Max says, and he sounds so sincere it makes his chest feel tight.

“I reckon that’s fair. It did feel like shit though, thinking you were really mad at me, baby,” Daniel tells him. Max opens his arms, and Daniel is quick to fold himself into them, bury his head in the crook of his neck. The scent of their shared cologne is faint under the day’s sweat. “But you have to know I would never do that to you, yeah?”

Max nods against his shoulder, kisses the crown of his head. “I of course know this, Daniel. It would be very stupid to do this, and you would end up dead also,” Max says. He cups Daniel’s cheek, strokes his thumb along the edge of his jaw, and Daniel knows he’s going to get kissed, soft lips against his, but he cannot –

“Like, yeah. Obviously, I would never cheat on you, Maxy,” he says, covers Max’s hand with his own. To keep him in place, to stop him from moving closer, he doesn’t know. “But, killing me because of it is a bit much, don’t you think?”

Max watches him with a frown, head tilted to the side. “Cheat on me? Why would you do this? Daniel, is this what you dream of? We should talk maybe about this more also.”

Daniel digs his fingers into the dip of his waist, wills Max not to step away, “Hey, it’s your fucking dream, babe. I just think we maybe disagree on whether it deserves the death penalty, but it’s all hypothetical, no?”

Max scoffs, “This is a very stupid dream you have, Daniel. In my dream you were stupid also, so there is maybe something to think about.”

“If it wasn’t – Maxy, love of my life, whom I will never cheat on, ever,” Daniel says, kisses him softly. “Why were you mad at me in your dream?”

Max’s eyes sharpen, and the hand on his cheek drops to hold his shoulder, “Because never would you listen to me, Daniel. We were in the apocalypse, and always you were going to get yourself killed! You did not want to stay with the very nice, very big dog that I told to protect you, and you did not want to eat the food I made for us.

“Always, you wanted stupid Scotty to stay with us, when you knew, you knew of course that he was bitten and would try to eat us. And then I will have to kill him, and you will of course be sad. But I have to save us also, Daniel, so you have to stop being so stupid!”

Max looks so fucking worked up about this, chest heaving and red in the face, and Daniel wants to fucking eat him alive. Kisses him instead, takes what he can get.

“You’re gonna protect me in your big, bad dream, Maxy?”

Max huffs, lets himself be led into the bedroom, “I will of course always save you, Daniel. When you are being so very stupid, also.”

[togrowoldinv]

The Meeting

Wanda Maximoff x Female Reader

When you meet a fellow mom at the PTO meeting, you soon realize just how much love she needs

Warnings: Smut! 18+ please! Kissing, fingering, oral (W receiving), mommy kink, general fluff at some parts

Note: I just woke up thinking about milf Wanda lol. Follow my library blog @togrowoldinvlibrary for updates! Enjoy!

Wanda Maximoff Masterlist, Main Masterlist

Your hands shake with nerves as you enter the school. You’re not one for group events, but your daughter’s teacher had asked you personally to help with this year’s spring events. You couldn’t say no.

You follow the other parents to the sign in table. Recognizing a couple of the parents, you smile at them and have some small talk as you sign your name.

And then you see her. A mom who’s new to the town, and everyone is curious about.

She sits next to you. You figure it would be impolite not to introduce yourself.

“Hey I’m y/n,” you say, holding out your hand for the woman to shake.

She turns to you. You could get lost in those eyes.

“Wanda,” she supplies simply. She shakes your hand gently.

Before you can ask her any questions, the meeting starts. Pepper Potts leads the conversation and explains that you’ll be divided into teams for the process.

You’re uneasy at the idea, but when she pairs you and Wanda as a team your curiosity is peaked.

The meeting comes to an end and it’s time to talk to your partners to make schedule arrangements.

“So, we can meet here on whatever night works best for you,” you start the conversation with Wanda.

“The boys keep me pretty busy,” Wanda explains.

“Boys?”

“Yes, I have twins,” she clarifies.

“Oh wow. I thought one was exhausting,” you say. Wanda laughs a little at that. “We can meet anywhere at anytime. I’m open as long as I have time to get a sitter.”

“Would you mind if we did it my house?” Wanda asks. “I have to wait for my husband to drive to me places and it’s just easier if-“

“Sounds perfect,” you cut her off. You didn’t need to know anymore than that about her husband. “Just text me your address.”

You hand her your phone to put her number in and shoot her a quick text that it’s you. With a quick goodbye, you and Wanda go separate ways. She texts you the next morning with her address and the time to be there.

The first time going there you were nervous. You didn’t know anything about Wanda other than her first name. Every week you learn more about her and start feeling yourself really drawn to her.

Today when you show up at Wanda’s, she answers the door wearing her best dress. But her eyes are sad.

“Hey Wanda. You look nice,” you tell her. “I was supposed to come here tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah, come in,” she replies.

You walk in and sit your stuff down on the couch like usual. Wanda sits next to you, but her focus is on her phone.

“Is everything okay?” You ask her.

Wanda drops her phone onto the couch and turns to you.

“He isn’t coming home tonight. It’s our anniversary and he isn’t coming home,” she says. She starts crying.

You move closer to her and wrap an arm around her shoulder. She leans into you and cries into your chest.

“I’ve got you, Wanda,” you say. “I know how hard this is.”

“You do?” She asks through her tears.

“I do. I went through the same thing. Hence why I’m a single parent now,” you explain.

“I didn’t know. You always seem to have it together,” Wanda says.

“Yeah well, truly I don’t. But that’s alright.”

You wipe Wanda’s tears from her face with one hand and rub your hand over her back with the other.

Wanda’s tears begin to subside. She shifts in your arms and is now inches from your face.

“Wanda,” you whisper just before she leans forward and kisses your lips.

You can’t help but kiss her back. She’s so beautiful and so deserving of soft love. After a few minutes of kissing, Wanda seems to realize what’s happening and she pulls away a little.

“I’m sorry,” she says, her breath hits your lips.

“Wanda, when is the last time someone kissed you like this?” You ask her.

“I don’t know.”

You run your hand through her hair and Wanda’s eyes close in comfort.

“Can I kiss you again?” You ask. She nods. “I need to hear you say it, baby.”

“Yes, please, yes,” she breathes out.

At her words, you kiss her deeply. She melts against you. You pull her into your lap, and kiss her neck. Wanda moans and moves her hips as you pay attention to the soft skin of her neck.

“Bite me,” she mumbles. You grin against her neck and do as she asks.

You pull away and look at her. She’s so beautiful.

“Wanda, you’re so gorgeous,” you tell her.

The smile she has on her face makes your heart swell. You lift up her dress over her hips to reveal red lacy panties.

“Fuck, Wanda.”

You run a finger over her panties and feel her wetness. She grinds against your finger and you take that as a sign to slip her panties to the side.

“Oh god,” Wanda moans.

“Be good for me, baby,” you say. “Already so wet for me.” You run your fingers over her folds and slip them into her.

She rides your fingers as you continue to kiss anywhere you can reach on her body. It’s not long before Wanda’s hip movements become erratic.

“Come for me, Wanda,” you say.

“Fuck,” she moans as she coats your fingers.

You work her down from her high. And she falls against your shoulder. You kiss her temple and she smiles against you.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” You ask her.

“I haven’t felt this good in so long,” Wanda replies. She kisses your neck. You hold her tighter against you.

“You deserve to always feel this good.”

Wanda shifts in your arms to look at you again. You kiss her and reach behind her to unzip her dress. She stands up and the dress along with her panties fall to the floor.

You take in the sight of her standing there with nothing on.

“My god, you’re so beautiful,” you tell her.

She smirks and reaches her hand out for you to take. You smile and take it. Wanda pulls you off of the couch and into her bedroom.

You kiss her as she falls back onto the bed. This time you bring your lips to her nipples and suck them.

“You feel so good,” Wanda says. Her hands push you further into her chest.

“All for you, mommy,” the word slips from your lips. You stop sucking on her due to the feeling a little embarrassed. But Wanda doesn’t let you hesitate for long.

“Mommy needs you,” she says. The term makes you both so amped up and ready.

“I’ll take care of you, mommy,” you say. You move down her body and drop kisses along the way.

You lick her folds and she makes beautiful sounds. Taking her clit in your mouth, you bring her close almost immediately. She definitely hasn’t been touched like this in a long time, if ever.

“Fuck baby,” Wanda says.

“Come for me, mommy,” you say against her.

And she does. You wish you could remember the sounds she makes for the rest of your life. So beautiful, so pleasant.

You clean her up and move up to lay next to her. Wanda kisses you in a way that feels like she’s thanking you for helping her feel so good.

“I’m so glad I met you, Wands,” you say.

“I’m glad I met you too, y/n,” she says. She moves to straddle your waist and slips her hands under your shirt. “It’s your turn now, baby.”

You smile and let Wanda start to undress you.

You are so glad you went to that PTO meeting.

Wanda Maximoff is the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen.

And here she is above you, making you feel so good.

[bobbole]

Glenn Barr, Something In The Room

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 20th Anniversary Group Art Exhibition

[saelterlude]

Happy first anniversary to the Link Click Musical!! To celebrate, here is a list of all the specials official recordings that they have given us!

Kay so starting with

Chinese Musical Promo Special Livestream: (I forgot the name of the event hehe)

Faith of Friendship by Wang Minhui and Cai Qi

Words Can't Convey My Love by Shu Rongbo and Wu Yihan (they play these two songs straight, but no worries its not the case for the other proper specials held by encore musical)

100th Performances Countdown Specials: (Yes, this week was a blessing)

Words Cant Convey My Love with LG-CXS swap (roles not character if that makes sense) by WMH, Bai Zhuoming and Wu Hanglu (dont you love seeing wmh cocky confidence slowly and surely crumbles lol, bzm got the rights to get mad at him in the end)

Words Cant Convey My Love with LG->CXS->the girl and QL-> LG by Du Guangyi, Wang Yifei, and Qian Anqi (lets be real wyf took us all by surprise with that entrance and the oh~. its also the source of shy lg in cxs jacket. dont forget the failed streamer disaster lmao)

Faith of Friendship with a push up bet for every ball missed by Teng Chunpeng and DGY (aksnsjks the stupid star formation is great, and the multiple failed shots plss. i love their goofy asses so much)

Forget About It with LG->CXS->QL->LG by WYH, Ding Xingchen and Deng Xialin (i love dxc's twin sister, shes pretty shes great. wyh being a hyper orange cat on stage is also great, dont forget the meme that came from it)

Forget About It with various dialects by Guo Hongxu, Ji Xiaokun and Cai Lu (its the closest thing we've got to how the actual performance goes! special mention go cl needing to read the lyrics off her phone)

As The Saying Goes with CXS as Chen Xiao and everyone else as CX's mom by CQ WMH, DXL, Zhang Jiahao and Zhu Jiayan (chickenchickenchicken, peak comedy, i love wmh going all asian mom lmaooo, yess scold cq into a chokehold!)

Valentine Special:

Words Cant Convey My Love with LG->the girl QL->LG and CXS as CX by DGY, TCP and WHL (dgy wjth the high pitched voice, the almost kiss, the fckin succulent, the fake retching, its perfect)

200th Performances Special:

Words Cant Convey My Love with CXS->Liu Meng, LG taking the confessing role and QL->LG by WMH, GHX and DXL (i love how cheeky ghx looks, and how everyone burst out laughing when he enters. ghx is just terrorizing wmh this whole performance)

300th Performances Special:

Trump Card with CXS and LG hanging by TCP, DGY, WHL, ZJY and Zhou Bo (dgy core strength took me by surprise, its a mess)

1 Year Anniversary Special:

This 15 minutes video contains: (watch me struggle to describe this loveable mess here)

Words Can't Convey My Love by ZJH, Guo Zheyan, and DXL with mahjong cameos (shiguang is in the walls. i promise, it makes sense, its chaos, i love it) by GHX, BZM, ZHB, YHL

Faith of Friendship (doubled! theres too many of them!! and zhb is so tiny wtf. none of them can shoot, wheres basketball god when you need him) by GHX, BZM, ZHB, YHL

Back to The Past by CQ and WMH with WMH belting it whilst a group of raincoat wearing menaces (GHX, ZHB, YHL, CQ) does some cult ritual nonsense. (i am not joking, wmh is singing this angsty song on the verge of tears and getting bullied)

Also, Dive Back in Time with everyone!! (its very cramped lmao)

Bonus! If you prefer it to Weibo, here is a YouTube playlist for the specials posted by niebo! Happy 1st anniversary Link Click Musical! I know I haven't keep up with the clip list but damn I gotta do something.

[scullysflannel]

hiiii apologies if i'm sending you too many asks lol, don't feel pressured to reply right away or at all tbh, but there's this thing ive been turning over in my head about the x files that's like... so in many ways it has these conservative ideas kind of baked into the premise and format of the show. these fears of monsters and monstrous others that have to be investigated and neutralized by our heroes who are these beautiful professional looking white people. and then there's the looming fear of alien invasion that comes up in the myth episodes. so theres a lot that could and should and does feel reactionary and conservative about it. but theres also such a palpable love for the strange and unknown? the "i want to believe" poster represents this so beautifully. i think this love tends to be expressed visually rather than in words so it's kind of hard to concretely describe but i'm sure you know what i'm talking about. and then the show also relies on us the audience having an interest in the paranormal and unexplainable, not because we want to see it defeated, but for its own sake. so i guess i want to ask how you square those two ideas, that the x files has all these anxieties about weirdness but also loves and yearns for weirdness? as i said ive been kind of ruminating on this for a while and having trouble reconciling the two ideas so i'd love to hear your thoughts!

Ooh I kind of just want to give you a reading list. Have you read “In the Dark” by Brian Phillips?? It’s a Grantland essay written for the 20th anniversary in 2013. It’s my favorite piece of X-Files journalism (actually my favorite piece of entertainment journalism in general) — kind of an essential text to me. It gets into all of this. But for me I don’t feel like reconciling the tension is the goal, or that it’s even possible. The tension is the show.

Likely thing for me to say, but I think the structure of The X-Files as a procedural is a big part of how and why it moves between fear and love. Phillips describes Mulder and Scully as representatives of a doomed but still operational status quo, “figures of a weird reactionary beauty, struggling to understand and then prevent the profound transformation breaking out across their world.” I’d say that last part (prevention) is especially true of the mythology, with the monster-of-the-week episodes giving space to sometimes complicate that. 

The X-Files is traditional in its basic formula; it makes assumptions about who gets to be the hero and what kind of job they should have. There are some assumptions it doesn’t interrogate, like its default whiteness. But its critique of the government can be shockingly pointed, even if it holds itself back in later seasons by keeping Mulder and Scully in the Bureau well past the point where they should go rogue. (Not that I think the show actually could have done that.)

Does The X-Files love its boundaries or want to blow them up? Both. The appeal of a procedural is typically that it gives neat answers, so being a procedural that denies easy answers is the point, which is to say that both sides of the show are dependent on each other. The whole show is sort of an experiment in fitting some of the strangeness of Twin Peaks into a procedural. I think it’s meant to be a go-between, the same way Mulder and Scully are. 

Phillips also writes, “In this show about not knowing, the agents confronted two distinct sets of frightening unknowns. On one side was the shadow government represented by the Cigarette-Smoking Man. On the other was the evil that lurked beneath the surface of every American hamlet. Often, Mulder and Scully’s role was simply to act as interpreters between their own antagonists, rendering chaotic eruptions of small-town horror comprehensible to men in marble corridors in D.C.” I think The X-Files works like that too — interpreting between what’s regimented and what’s odd — and in that sense it has to yearn for the same things it’s afraid of. And really, I prefer the honesty of that to something more ideologically consistent. 

I always think about “Home” as an episode that sums up a lot of The X-Files’ attitude toward progress (more on this here): It isn’t immune to the romance of the myth of Mayberry, even as it’s aware that it’s a grotesque lie built on violence, and that people are committing perverse acts to hold on to it. The show allows for progress to be scary but insists that it’s not as scary as what people will do when they fear it. Weirdness on The X-Files isn’t perfectly analogous for righteous deviance only. I believe the show sees what is weird coming from all sides, past (like the Peacocks) and future, so what’s weird isn’t inherently good or meant to signify inherent goodness; it only can be good. 

One of my favorite things about The X-Files is the way it respects the integrity of doubt. (I’ve written about this! But hold off on reading if you don’t want any spoilers.) I don’t think the show could be about the bravery of questioning your beliefs without letting those old beliefs be a little bit comforting to Mulder and Scully, even the ones that turn out to be lies. There’s a great New Yorker essay by James Wolcott written in 1994, near the end of the first season. He writes that in The X-Files, the Cold War-era obsession with UFOs and alien invasion gives way to the more inward-looking fear of alien abduction: “The X-Files is the product of yuppie morbidity, a creeping sense of personal mortality.” Later on, the mythology incorporates shapeshifters and alien colonization plans, but it never commits. That’s never the emotional core of the show in the way abduction is. The core of the show is personal annihilation: the fear of death and losing loved ones, and the fear of tearing yourself apart to get to the truth.

But some of the most affecting episodes are the ones that love and yearn for the weirdness in spite of it all. Like you said, it’s always in the atmosphere and the visuals (the poster, or Mulder looking up at the stars), but I think the show puts words to it pretty often, too, like “I guess I see hope in such a possibility” in “Quagmire” and especially all of “Humbug”: “Imagine going through your whole life looking like that.” There’s so much affection for peculiarity in that episode. Still, I love that ultimately it’s just a fact: “Nature abhors normality.” It doesn’t actually matter whether you like what’s “freakish” or not; it’s just nature. I think all of The X-Files kind of evens out into a neutral judgment like that, which is nice and even kind of radical in its own way. What is weird doesn’t have to be beautiful and desirable; it just has to be seen and accepted.

[thelittleangel]

how they would react to you coming out as trans (ftm)

warnings: mentions of transphobia, and misgendering.

tags: physical affection, coming out, trans reader, male reader, can be read as romantic or platonic.

Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Shane Walsh, Negan, Dale Cooper

Fandoms: supernatural, the walking dead, twin peaks.

authors note: if you like this one, I can write an MtF version.

Sam Winchester

trans ally Sam my beloved.

he probably already had a feeling.

he would see every time you would readjust the way you were sitting, or every time you would cross your arms over your chest.

he sees every time you stare into the mirror, wondering who the person looking back is.

so, yeah, he had a feeling.

he sits quietly with you while you say what you need to.

he wraps you in the tightest hug you've ever had.

immediate he/him, your chosen name, everything.

he takes you to every appointment and he's always waiting outside, or in the room with you.

he holds a party for every milestone

Dean Winchester

you're in the library, doing research.

he sits across from you drinking a beer, looking at something on the laptop.

"Dean I have something to tell you."

he looks up from what he's doing.

as you begin to tell him, he shuts the laptop.

Direct eyes contact the entire time.

"It ain't the weirdest thing I've seen."

he takes you out and gets you a more masculine wardrobe, if that's what you want.

he wants to be more respectful of what you want.

his father forced him to be a very macho type of person, and he doesn't want you to feel like you have to be this ultra masculine type of person.

Castiel

He knows what being trans is.

When you tell him, he stays quiet. he listens to what you have to say because he knows how important this is to you.

he keeps a mental record of your name, pronouns, what triggers your dysphoria, what makes you feel less dysphoric, and things of that nature.

Whenever you feel dysphoric, he gives you his trench coat to wrap up in.

Rick Grimes

you're going to have to explain it to him.

once he understands, he's like

oh

okay

if you wear a binder, he makes sure you don't wear it for longer that 8 hours.

he makes sure to use the right pronouns and the right name.

he tries to make sure that the others do too.

Daryl Dixon

"Wha'?"

once you explain it to him, it's all good.

he's so worried about messing up as far as pronouns or your name.

"You jus' tell me when I mess up, alrigh'?"

he keeps track of how long you've had your binder on and lets you know when it's time.

he goes on runs to make sure you have testosterone. he also makes sure that any of the needles and syringes are safe and clean to use.

Shane Walsh

he doesn't understand at first.

you're gonna have to explain it a few times.

"She goes by He/Him."

he makes sure you're not wearing your for more than eight hours, that you're taking your meds and generally taking care of yourself.

he will go on runs with you to get testosterone.

he tries his best to understand.

Negan

I am a firm believer in ally Negan.

he understands what being trans is.

it's an immediate switch.

he gets the pronouns and name right first try.

he gets the saviors to get you testosterone.

he makes sure you only wear your binder for eight hours and not a second more, especially in the summer.

he finds a doctor to get you top surgery if you want to do that.

Dale Cooper

the most ally to ever ally

probably the most supportive character in this entire list.

instant he/him

goes with you to pride parades

celebrates all the anniversaries with you

goes with you to all the appointments.

stays with you when you recover from surgery.

stays with you when you are feeling especially dysphoric.