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[randomfoggytiger]

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XXV): The Mulder-Scully Family, a Convergence of Fate and Freewill

Philes, we have arrived at the last part of the Scully Family series-- and what better way to end this than on a victorious high note?

A SYZYGY

Scully's journey to motherhood is complicated. In The Jersey Devil, she hasn't seriously considered children because she doesn't have a serious relationship. In Home, she draws pointed parallels between her mothering considerations and Mulder's genetic makeup (post here.) In Detour, she brings Mulder a celebratory cheese platter (assuming he'd taken the case to get out of the conference with her.) In Dreamland I, she longingly rambles about other people living normal lives with their houses and children and dogs. In Milagro, she uses Padgett as a means to grab Mulder's attention (posts here.) In The Unnatural, she brings tofutti rice dreamsicles, flirts about her partner's childhood, and happily joins him for a very early or very late birthday gift. (I posit that after The Unnatural, she runs to her doctor in hopes of discovering some slim chance to become pregnant; and this kicks off the IVF arc-- to be discussed below.) She and Mulder keep the family planning book in his office after their attempts fail (as glimpsed in Amor Fati and Brand X.) And she finds out she's pregnant right after her partner has been abducted by aliens.

That's not the full tangle of the IVF and William arc, though-- lest we forget who she was trying to have a baby with... and that Mulder has consistently refused to consider "a normal life" (and parenthood) each time the potential stared him in the face.

The Jersey Devil sets him up in direct opposition to "a normal life", Home shows him reinforcing that decision quite clearly (video here), and Detour and Emily double and triple down. Yet... he wants to be the father of Scully's baby during the IVF arc ("The-the answer is yes.") And he knows William is his-- "What we feared were the possibilities. The truth we both know"-- and is proud of that fact (in spite of the PTSD and drama at play, post here.) When, and why, did he change?

And because this is The X-Files, the tangle doesn't end there. In the previous part here I explored the failed convergence of fate and freewill in the birth, life, and death of one Emily Sim-- all in all, a failure to launch for Scully’s dreams of motherhood, normalcy, and partnership. In the wake of her daughter’s death and the loss of the X-Files, Mulder and Scully are forced to reassess the parameters of their relationship: Mulder has to confess (in his own way) to the nature of his reliance on and feelings for Scully, or lose her forever (Fight the Future); and Scully has to work through her self-doubts and trust to whatever lies between them (The End-Fight the Future.) Therefore, when Season 6 begins with a below-the-belt punch to both, they squabble and feel hurt (The Beginning) but ultimately magnetize back together (Drive.) Repeatedly (One Son-Agua Mala; Milagro-The Unnatural; Field Trip-Biogenesis.) It’s a push-and-pull, back-and-forth, give-a-little-get-a-little routine they settle into, allowing both the space to breathe, to test some boundaries, and to draw back and regroup whenever they so choose. This contributes to the buoyancy and low-stakes struggle of their personal relationship, especially compared to the world-ending tribulations (or professional bug bears) that dog them day in and day out. There are personal struggles of course-- massive ones-- but nothing that does not glue itself back together as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Still, there's one last key component in the Emily Sim, IVF, and William arc. Fate and freewill carry a huge, huge role in Mulder and Scully's work: particularly, the ways both view their work. @nachosncheezies put it quite succinctly: "That Mulder looooves free will, but especially when confronted with the big things he tends to falter - Samantha might have been taken by men based on his parents' choice; Scully's continued presence on the Files and beside him is a choice (and the horrors she suffers are not an inescapable Fate caused by her proximity to him, but something she chooses to endure and continue to risk, because she values the rewards). That Scully wants very much to believe that there's a greater power guiding things, but gets so shook when directly confronted with the notion that God might indeed have more control than she or the people around her." It's how Mulder chooses to view his work (telling Scully “I don’t think this is about justice, Scully. I think it's about fate" in Paper Clip); and how Scully chooses to view not just the work ("I need something to put my back up against"), but her choices and Mulder's choices and life's good and bad, gruesome and beautiful realities. Fate and freewill themselves are constantly locked in battle, weaving themselves into the narrative before getting snagged against each other and having to be unpicked. This is mainly due to the markedly inconsistent writing; but it's there, on purpose, to serve as the show's backdrop.

And under the fate vs. freewill heading, there is one last snarl we need to take into consideration: Melissa Scully and the impact of her legacy on Scully's personal journey. It's Melissa who encourages her sister to "follow your heart, and it'll take you where you're supposed to go" in A Christmas Carol; it's Melissa who speaks for her sister in One Breath, it's Melissa who tells her sister Mulder is still alive and warns her she's "shut off from her own intuition" in The Blessing Way, it's Melissa who died in her sister's stead, it's Melissa who leads her sister to her daughter from the afterlife, and it's Melissa's influence that leads her sister to her own voice and conscience in all things. Melissa acts as the bridge between Fate and Freewill: the heart is destined for something, someplace, somewhere; but you must choose to listen to and follow it to find where you're supposed to go. As @deathsbestgirl put it (post here), "but missy's presence is still felt, her influence on scully outlives her. scully is always trying to reach melissa, to feel her. melissa is always guiding her, and as scully moves further on her path (with mulder), allows herself to learn more about what happened during her abduction/because of her abduction (something melissa wanted her to do shortly before her death), like with emily and the red & the black...every step brings her close to melissa."

So: when do these ideas-- Scully's journey, Mulder's journey, the battle of Fate and freewill, and Melissa Scully's legacy-- culminate and begin to manifest in the Scully Family Series?

The answer: the IVF arc.

THE STARS ALIGN… AND FALTER

Where does the IVF arc fall? That can be debated until the end of time; but for me personally, the only math that maths adds up to a late Season 6 timeline (post here)-- right in the midst of rule breaking and negotiations; and right after Mulder’s perspective begins to shift, allowing him to see the possibility of “life on this planet.” 

Scully’s second attempt at motherhood quickly devolves into the same pattern as the first. Struck one day with the urge to retest her fertility (after a very early or very late birthday present, I suggest), she rushes off to a (seemingly last minute) medical checkup. Scully books an appointment without telling her partner (despite her hopes immediately revolving around him when she gets a positive second opinion-- which means, he was on her mind when she booked the first one, as well.) Further, when Scully returns to the FBI, dispirited, she attempts to deflect his inquiries after Mulder catches up with her in the elevator. But he won’t let this go; and she sighs, admits she’d been at the doctor’s office, then drops into silence. 

“Don’t make me guess,” Mulder quips, afraid it’s cancer. 

Skipping over Per Manum’s dialogue gaffe-- one which contradicts Emily’s timeline-- we arrive at the revelation: “I am not yet ready to accept I won’t have children,” she admits. 

Mulder begins to walk away, but gives in to his conscience, turning back to explain, “Scully, there’s, um, there’s something I haven’t told you-- and I hope you would forgive me and understand why I kept it from you.”

Tense and confused, Scully asks, “What?”

“During my investigation into your illness, I found out why you were barren. Your ova were taken from you and stored in a government lab.”

And while this, too, could fall into showbible blunder, Scully’s next line salvages it: “What? You found them?” puts the stress on 'found', implying her shock comes from his discovery more so than the details he’s sharing. 

“I-I took them directly to a specialist who would… tell me if they were okay,” he replies, softly, head down and unable to meet her eyes: because they weren’t okay. Scully is too distraught to make this connection, yet. 

“I… I don’t believe this--” 

“Scully, you were deathly ill and I… I couldn’t bear to give you another piece of bad news.” Mulder finally looks up, ashamed but sincere. 

Devastated, she’s pulled up short. “Is that what it was, it was bad news?” 

He nods, blinks, maintains eye contact as he slowly explains, “The doctor said that the ova weren’t viable.”

Immediately, Scully distances herself from this pain, punching the elevator button and insisting, “I want a second opinion.” 

Mulder, knowing what his partner’s doing, tries to stop her-- physically reaching out to block the doors from closing-- but gives in when Scully flinches, then shoots him a pleading look: if she doesn’t collect herself alone, she will fall apart. Giving in (what else can he do? his actions have hurt her deeply), he lets her go. 

Scully’s quest for family is once again stymied by the Consortium; and she is spared, once again, from the traumas of tampered motherhood. 

After an undetermined time later, Dr. Parenti joins her in the waiting room with good-- for him-- news: “Ms. Scully, I’ve got a good report for you. I’ve looked at the ova you’ve given me and consulted with some of my colleagues; we all feel that, with the proper approach, it might be successful.”

And that’s the insidious, despicable underbelly to the IVF arc: Dr. Parenti spoke with his colleagues about one Dana Scully-- i.e. he, the Consortium plant, knew exactly who she was and exactly what this vial of ova meant. 

And he, Dr. Parenti, was likely going to use her ova and her womb for his benefit; and if he and his colleagues felt generous, he'd grow her real, replacement child in a tube somewhere to swap with at birth (like he did with Kathy McCready.)

Now: could Scully have had a perfectly normal IVF pregnancy, a one-in-a-million shot that wasn’t tampered or interfered with?

Put bluntly, no:

Dr. Parenti’s clinic was an extension of the arm of the Syndicate, either carrying out his own experiments with their permission or carrying out a niche of their experiments for them. 

The Consortium crumbled in One Son, but vestiges remained-- carrying out CSM’s directives in En Ami and Requiem, and leaving their research facilities scattered, here and there, undetected. 

Parenti worked out of one of these research facilities; and, whatever his "research" had been before the Syndicate’s collapse, it couldn’t have been much different than it is when Scully and Doggett investigated him in S8. 

Further, even if Scully came to his clinic sometime before or after One Son, his purposes were already set in place; and like Scanlon and Calderon, he could, in all probability, take the evidence and disappear into thin air if detected. Meaning, he is ruthless and one-track minded. 

Meaning, Scully’s chances-- which were nil because of the ova’s unviability-- were most certainly tampered with: either to produce another half-formed alien child-- which he might swap with a test tube baby with varying degrees of health-- or to sabotage any chance of success. And, unfortunately, if he wanted to do the latter, he would simply have said there was no chance of success, at all. 

As much as the IVF arc appeals to me, the fact that Parenti walked into the room with a malicious glint in his eye, declared there to be a chance after he consulted with his colleagues, and knew full well who those were and how Scully factored into their equation… there is no way, shape, or form that Scully’s pregnancy would have avoided trauma of some sort: miscarriage; induced labor, perhaps unconscious C-section, and a baby swap; or death. 

Unaware of these odds, Scully collapses in a chair; and before she can process this news completely, Dr. Parenti begins to pressure her for a now, now, now timeline: the odds would be better the sooner they started. Another hint at his greedy machinations. 

“We can start right away?” she asks, stunned-- and, again, her pattern kicks in: hurry, hurry, hurry; don’t think; this is the right thing to do; run; go, go, go. 

“Well, you’d need a father,” the doctor advises; but Scully’s face falls at ‘anonymous donor’, her eyebrows pinching and her eyes dropping at the realization that she’s going to have to ask Mulder to be that donor. Of course she is; and that certainty makes her immediately uncertain of his reaction. “Unless you have someone in mind?”

“Yeah. I, uh….” The music drops, uneasy. “I just have to figure out how to ask him.” 

Mulder’s acceptance, Scully’s reaction; and Mulder’s comfort, and Scully’s tears I’ve already been recorded here; but it bears repeating for this analysis, if in brief. 

We aren’t shown the moment Scully asks for Mulder’s help; but we are shown his shiny eyes and shy eagerness, her anxious timidity and teary delight when he accepts. Mulder comes through that door ready to have a part of that “more” his partner is seeking-- in short, to be a father. Scully mistakes his breathless premise as rejection, and reveals (with her down-turned eyes and crestfallen, “I should have known” expression) that she doubted he’d ever accept this request; or, more accurately, doubted he’d want to change their partnership. It’s part and parcel-- she believes-- of the one step forward, two steps back jig they’ve been doing recently; but it also hits her in the pain point that his turn-aside in Emily (“Are you two the parents?”) created.  

“Th-the answer is yes,” he assures, poking at her arm; and her face transforms into varying stages of overwhelmed delight, unable to believe he wants this, now, with her-- that he wants to share this with her-- quite literally wants to take part in this with her.

And, I believe, both know what this truly means: that Mulder is signing on to be an active father. Despite turning aside from Emily Sim, he did his utmost to protect and save her. That was a responsibility he was thrust into, and one he didn’t turn away from... but one he chose to keep distance from, as well. There is no distance here: “the answer is yes”, after all. 

Again, I shall briefly touch on the moment they receive devastating news (and, again, the post is linked above.) 

Mulder is napping on Scully’s couch, waiting for her return from her appointment. She isn’t surprised, necessarily, to see him there; and he makes no bones about the fact he “must have dozed off” as time crawled by. Seeing her sad face, hearing her defeated, “I guess it was too much to hope for”, he gathers her up in his arms, comforts his partner during her wailing, “This was my last chance!”, and promises her, “Never give up on a miracle.” Mulder has learned to believe in this possibility, and he doesn’t want to let that belief go. 

Already, we see the blurred lines of their partnership: 

After her request and his acceptance, Mulder greets Scully at her apartment-- a marked change in routine from their usual meeting spot (his apartment or the basement.) 

Mulder is just as anxious and excited as she is at the possibility of success. 

And though her “last chance” has failed, he refuses to let the idea of her having a child and achieving her dreams go-- they came this close, he assumes, on the rarest of chances. What’s to say they won’t again? 

Scully, meanwhile, has her own tells: 

She is not (too) surprised to find Mulder in her apartment, despite both of them meeting (more often than not) at his place. 

She clings to him and cries on his shoulder-- the third time in their partnership (Irresistible, Fight the Future, Per Manum.) 

Not only does she cling to him and cry openly, she does so in stark contrast to her previously closed-off emotions (in Emily, and in the beginning of Per Manum’s flashbacks.)

She almost kisses his forehead-- a callback to her authoritative claim in Fight the Future; and one she does not repeat until she reaffirms that claim in Amor Fati-- but ducks at the last second, and vaguely lands on his cheek. 

She allows herself to be consumed by his soothing hug.

In conclusion: neither person was denying what this was to them-- a chance at their own form of a normal life, a bit of hers and a bit of his all blended together in one perfect, successful last chance. But, alas, that was not to be. (And, considering Dr. Parenti’s intentions, that was a good thing.) 

A second attempt; but the first joint failure. 

A “NORMAL LIFE” DEFEATS FATE

And here we reach the grand conclusion of the question of freewill versus fate. 

As previously discussed, Mulder views his quest in righteous terms-- Fate-- to bear up under it; while Scully decisively argues her position in factual terms-- Freewill-- to make sense of it.

“This child was not meant to be,” he warns about Emily; and “Don’t give up on a miracle”, he encourages after the IVF: both statements are lacking perspective and personal agency.

“I don’t see what choice I have," she responds about the adoption; and “I guess it was too much to hope for," she mourns after the IVF: both statements are laced with insecurity and defeat. 

The lingerings of these resolutions are resolved in Amor Fati and all things, respectively. Mulder solidifies his “life on this planet” after being dragged into the bowels of “another life, another world.” It is Conscience, personified by Scully, who confronts his weakness, calling him a coward and leaving him to make an active choice of his own freewill. Mulder chooses to leave behind bigger aspirations, higher callings, greater, inactive purpose to open his eyes to the true world-- the truth-- and cling to her: an integration of freewill. She is, he realizes, his touchstone. Scully solidifies her decision to stay with Mulder-- not the files, not the work, not their romantic relationship-- after being given a chance to take another path. And it is Conscience, personified by the running woman-- revealed to be Mulder-- who confronts Scully’s self doubt and directionless spiral, leading her one step at a time to her own resolution and peace. Scully chooses to let go of her doubt and indecision, trusting in her instincts to guide her: an integration of fate. He is, she realizes, where she belongs.

Both of these journeys finally sync up in all things: Scully tells Mulder about talking to God and falls asleep, Mulder rambles about paths not taken and tucks a blanket around her. And Scully of her own freewill joins Mulder in bed; and together they create their own miracle-- a sprinkle of fate and a boatload of personal choice. 

William, then, is a perfect combination: not because he is an alien super soldier or a divine proof of God or a result of the corrupt, freewill actions of other forces or "the key to everything" fated into existence through White Buffalo prophecy to save the world (@deathsbestgirl thoughts and post here), but because he is human. Normal. A miracle because he is not at all what anyone except Scully and Mulder expected him to be.

“We feared the possibilities,” Mulder acknowledges while holding his days-old son. “The truth we both know.” 

“Which is what?” Scully asks-- also one guided by definitives. 

And he gives her one-- a kiss-- to mark this new chapter of their lives. 

What is that new chapter, you wonder? 

In Requiem, Mulder and Scully miss sign after sign of her pregnancy, fearing she is suffering from close proximity to an abductee ship. She shuffles to his hotel room, sick and weak; and he tucks her up and whispers, “There has to be an end, Scully.” 

Mulder is a man of half-sentences and vague meanings: there has to be an end for Scully, for all she’s sacrificed.

“I want you to go home”, he admits.

“Oh, Mulder, I’m fine,” she whispers; but it’s not the full truth. 

"No, no, I've been thinking about it: looking at you today holding that baby... knowing everything that's been taken away from you. The chance for motherhood--" Scully's face scrunches in pain: she can't pretend this wound has healed, "--and your health and that baby. I think that... y'know, maybe they're right." Mulder speaks gently, contemplatively: and though this moment is focusing on Scully's losses, there is more going on-- particularly in Mulder himself.

"Who's right?" Scully asks, waveringly.

"The FBI," he answers plainly, sorrow and realization blending together."

Scully doesn't respond, brows wrinkling in confusion.

"Maybe what they say is true-- but for all the wrong reasons. It's the personal costs that are too high."

Scully doesn't respond, again: more importantly, she doesn't deny. And although she doesn't agree-- although she's stuck in worried limbo, afraid for her health, stumbling over the fact of her infertility-- she seems to be considering his words, or the intent behind them. Even more importantly, Scully doesn't know what Mulder's point is: that she resign? That they resign together? Is he turning over a new leaf just when she's learned to accept her choices and his ways for what they are?

Like Elegy, both are “afraid of the same thing”: that the final toll of this quest will consume Scully. (Just as they "feared the possibilities" in Existence.) She tries to escape this sense of doom by working, by nearly fighting her partner to go back to Bellefleur when Krycek and Marita show up dangling special intelligence. Mulder, however, is tired of loss, tired of years and years without closure. He floats the idea of leaving, for her sake; and doesn’t push it farther. But it’s on his mind, her health and her happiness; and her health and her happiness, he ruminates with mature clarity, might not be sold in bulk at the FBI. On the flip side, Mulder doesn’t float the solid idea of him leaving, too: he hasn’t let go: he's yet to make a decisive choice to leave (ala Vienen.)  

Mulder returns to Bellefleur; and Mulder is abducted right before Scully finds out she’s pregnant. 

There’s a deeper dive to be had regarding Mulder’s rewritten demise in Requiem and second rewritten death in Three Words. Be that as it may, Mulder is forced onto the alien spaceship; Mulder is tortured for long months against his will; and Mulder is “killed” and buried before he can learn about the existence of his child. Here, again, is the Fate conundrum: Mulder's "fated" quest lays claim to him now that he begins to contemplate another path. As for Scully, she decides to fight-- and fight hard-- to get her partner back, railing against Kersh’s edicts, throwing water in Doggett’s face, asserting her authority over extraterrestrial life, and leading the charge in her own efforts to locate the spaceship.

She almost loses her baby, three times, due to the stress and drive of her choices; yet, Mulder still “dies”-- Fate, it seems, has won. But Mulder is alive (through Skinner's choice); and her hard work pays off when he blinks awake. 

In short: Mulder and Scully beat the machinations of Fate-- he outlasted the torture and death intended for him; and she fought back against others’ intent for her partner, the files, and their child.

A brief note on Scully’s Season 8 pregnancy: in A Christmas Carol, Emily, and Per Manum, we see her throwing caution to the wind to grasp after second chances, unwittingly falling into traps in a vain attempt to capture happiness. In Requiem, Within, Without, and Roadrunners, however, she's pivoted priorities, ruthlessly upping the ante to reclaim her partner, thrusting herself into dangerous situations without first taking the baby’s life into account. It's the same, though inverted, psychological underpinnings: desperation, motivation, and determination. She had to face motherhood alone with Emily Sim; and she was able to face the IVF failure with Mulder’s support. But carrying Mulder’s baby to term and raising it, alone, is another thing; and one she is aware comes with a predetermined end date on the files. Scully justifies the risks and peril-- at first-- in Mulder’s name. Scully bandies about the country trying to keep the files going in her partner's stead, for his return; but the truth is, she is using the files to escape from her reality. And as she finds out in Alone, Scully’s also unable to let the files go-- which surprises her (even though she'd previously refused to let them go during the three months her partner was buried. Perhaps Scully's self-awareness was out to pasture, as often happens when she's buried under stress and grief, e.g. Beyond the Sea, Irresistible, Memento Mori, Elegy, etc.)

This proves a few things: 

As much as Scully proclaims she “wants to settle down, have something approaching a normal life”, and as much as Mulder insists she should go (Fight the Future, Requiem), Scully can’t or won’t leave until it feels right. “Follow your heart, and it’ll take you where you’re supposed to go,” Melissa told her, once (post here); and she was completely correct about her sister. 

As much as Scully committed to leaving the FBI for Emily or the IVF’s sake, she wasn’t ready either time; and was pushing that thought away with countdown clocks and ticking time bombs. 

Scully chose to stay on the files for the entirety (or most) of her pregnancy; and drifted back on maternity leave, conflicted. Saving Doggett’s life one last time and meeting Agent Leyla Harrison assured her that there will always be more believers to take up the cause. She is convinced her decision to leave was the right one, and lets that part of her life go in good conscience.  

It's Three Words, and Mulder is alive! All, however, is not smooth sailing. He is alive but withdrawn, riddled with wounds and PTSD; and Scully is confused and hurt, riddled with guilt and expectations. 

Three Words unfolds, and they get through it together; Empedocles unfolds, and Mulder begins to embrace his role as ‘the father’; Vienen unfolds, and Scully is vexed that her partner ran off to a potential death without remembering his child; Vienen resolves, and Mulder quits; Alone unfolds, and Scully is drawn back to her work while Mulder keeps drawing her away from it; Alone resolves, and both have relaxed into their role as X-Files retirees and impending parents. Mulder chooses to leave, and has taken steps to solidify that choice; Scully realizes she hadn't let go, and makes with her transition.

Yet, we have the madness of Essence and Existence.

The question-- for Mulder at least-- of Fate or Freewill hasn’t been sufficiently settled: in Essence’s opener, he ponders, "But has our ingenuity rendered the miracle into a simple trick? In the artifice of replicating life can we become the creator? Then what of the soul? Can it too be replicated? Does it live in this matter we call DNA? Or is its placement the opposite of artifice, capable only by God? How did this child come to be? What set its heart beating? Is it the product of a union? Or the work of a divine hand, an unanswered prayer, a true miracle? Or is it a wonder of technology, the intervention of other hands? What do I tell this child about to be born? What do I tell Scully? What do I tell myself?" Scully, predictably, doesn’t want to entertain more doubts or heartbreak after her previous scares; and has stuck her head decidedly in the sand (i.e. The Blessing Way, Memento Mori, etc.) That child is his, he knows (post here); but Fate, he feels, has played cruel tricks before. There are already two metaphorical graves for Scully’s children; and another one either grown from a tube or destroyed with Calderon’s abominable experiments. 

The show boils the entirety of (then) canon down to its essential themes: the truth they both know, but the possibilities they fear; Mulder wants to believe, and Scully's afraid to believe.

As previously mentioned, Mulder is caught up in doubts, then conspiracies; and he flails around for answers. When he rushes to her apartment and tries to help her pack, Scully becomes more and more heated at his non-answers.

"No, just stop! Can you tell me what's wrong? Is it something to do with my baby?'

"No," he assures gently, "your, your baby is fine." Then his gravitas shifts, and he adds hurriedly, "It's you who's in danger now, Scully."

"From who? Mulder, from what?"

"I don't know--" that's not enough for Scully, nor her anxiety, "--I'm not sure. I'm not sure about anything. I just know I got to get you out of here."

Finally, she yells, “Look, Mulder, look, I can't take this! I can't live like this—as, as the object of some unending X-File.”

Mulder, pushed to his extremis, finally tells her what she needed to hear for most of their partnership and especially after her pregnancy, his death, and his resurrection: “This isn't about the X-Files, Scully. It is only about you. Now, you are going to have this baby and I'm going to do everything I can to protect it.”

These two statements speak volumes: Scully and Mulder have both chosen to put the files behind them.

Why is this so important? Because for the first time in each pit stop towards parenthood-- towards expanding the Scully family, if you will-- this baby and its safety is not an x-file for Mulder, is not another life that wasn’t meant to exist; and this baby is not an x-file for Scully, is not tied to a traumatic, stolen moment from her past. She wants one area of her life to be free from conspiracy and collusion; and he wants the baby (and Scully) to be safe, once and for all.

We’ll keep Existence brief because its nonsensical, illogical, and frankly stupid writing decisions could be studied as a “How Not To” guide. After sending Scully away due to his fears (and relapse into a Freeze response, post here), Mulder comes to his senses and flies out to Georgia, arriving too late to prevent any real danger and missing the birth of his child. Scully, meanwhile, gives up; and allows herself to be schlepped away to the middle of nowhere, giving birth before an audience of unfeeling monsters. Suffice to say, despite multiple factions breathing down their necks and insisting this child is a proof of God or a weapon for or against the planet, William’s birth confirms that he is, indeed, a normal child: a plot twist to Fate and the creatures who attempted to play god. 

If we tune down the unnecessary noise, one key detail sticks out: Scully did not know the sex of her baby. When trying to barter for her baby's life, a mother will do anything to humanize her child to its threat. That action is one with the highest chance of success-- and a medical doctor trained in the FBI would know this. In fact, we've seen Scully use this technique before (ex. in Monday with Bernard.) Yet, she doesn't: she pleads for "my baby" and "please don't let them take it." 'It' is the clearest sign of her ignorance (and was purposefully written that way, I believe-- a two-fold "What is the sex?" and "Will the baby be taken before Scully herself knows?" dose of climax anxiety.)

But does this theory hold up under closer scrutiny?

We know Scully is shown the sex in Per Manum, but that is revealed to be a false result intended to deceive her. There was so much confusion afterward about real babies and alien babies that it was a mess to sort through; and Scully switched doctors, regardless, to ensure her safety.

She likely didn’t want to know anything more after this point, refusing to acknowledge that something might be wrong. This is in line with many, many other examples of her almost blind avoidance when confronted with a truth she doesn't want to face.

When Mulder mentions the connections to Parenti’s clinic in Essence, she tries to shut the conversation down; and when he replies, "That's-that's all I'm trying to do. Just make sure nothing happens to you; that this baby you're carrying is born without any surprises”, she stares him down angrily-- further proof Scully won't entertain these thoughts willingly.

“What we feared were the possibilities,” Mulder confirms in Existence: Scully had those fears, too. Avoiding the sex would be a way to put her fingers in her ears and experience a “normal”, profoundly uninteresting last two trimesters-- “Didn't you have to wait with us?” she tells Maggie. 

An that brings me to another interesting note: her behavior is not dissimilar to Bill Scully setting up shop in an exact replica of his childhood home, trying to copy and paste those traditions for his own family-- which included decorating the nursery in his sisters’ “old” room. In other words: he was recreating Melissa’s past (their past) without referring to her death, just as Scully is escaping fearful possibilities by recreating a the ignorance of the nostalgic past. “You keep things so bottled up,” Maggie worries (post here); and she is deadly accurate. 

Back at Scully’s apartment [x] days later, Mulder arrives; and, for the first time that we see in the series, opens her door with his own key (post here.) 

This is incredibly significant. It cannot be overstated. Scully’s own mother hired a baby nurse to assist her daughter because Scully’s privacy is so finely tuned that Maggie knew she wouldn’t want guests over. Mulder himself only ever dropped in after a knock at the door, even after his resurrection. And, although he had things of his at her place (in all things, @unremarkablehouse and @touchstoneaf's post here) and she had things at his (in Orison, post here), the two hadn’t solidified their cohabitation. Until now, when he waltzes in, greets her guests comfortably, and strolls in to meet and hold his son. And Scully looks up, smiles blissfully, and hands their child over. 

Mulder is enamored, is in awe of his baby; and that look of bliss and wonder is everything Scully could have hoped for.

“William,” she names, after Mulder's father-- a man who bucked the Consortium as much as he could (post here), who gave up and gave in (post here), and who decided, of his own freewill, to own up to his mistakes at the last (post here.)

In short: a shot at Fate. 

After laughing at her partner's shot at Skinner, Scully questions, "I don't understand, Mulder-- they came to take him from us-- why they didn't."

“I don't quite understand that, either. Except that maybe he isn't what they thought he was.” Another shot at Fate. “That doesn't make him any less of a miracle, though, does it?” A third shot at Fate. 

Encouraged, she smiles. It slips as she admits, "When I became pregnant, I feared the truth." More evidence of her head sticking firmly in the sand. "About how. And why. And I know that you feared it, too."

Mulder has an answer already-- he's given this thought since William's birth. "I think what we feared were the possibilities. The truth we both know."

“Which is what?” she asks; and he leans forward and shows her: the final blow. 

Fate is soundly defeated: Mulder, the boy who lost his sister, who set aside a life to find the Truth, has found happiness away from it-- has chosen his own truth. Scully, the woman who chose then doubted her choices, has obtained peace-- has chosen to leave the files after finding her truths, too.

Not only is this ending the culmination of their journey to parenthood, but it also resolves their character arcs: life on this planet, something resembling a normal life, and a manifestation of a bond and willpower stronger than death. 

Last but not least, it also encapsulates the journey’s of each of their family’s legacy-- and on a more personal level, the culmination of their sister’s legacies: Samantha Mulder’s gifted closure (post here) and Melissa Scully’s intuitive guidance (posts here, here, here, and here.)

(But what if William had been inexplicably magical? What if he had had alien powers; or was a creation for and fulfillment of higher purposes? What if he was, in short, the key to everything? 

Then Fate would have won the debate: William was the key to everything; and would be hunted down or chased until evil is defeated, or he saves the world. As Mulder and Scully conclude in The Truth's ending speech:

“I want to believe… that if we listen to what’s speaking, they can give us the power to save ourselves.”

“Then we believe the same thing.” 

In other words, Fate is predetermined; and humanity will be destroyed if they don't listen to and heed its warnings and thunderings. Which would effectively destroy eight years of build-up and resolution: Fate as a tempered option, Freewill as a vehicle for growth and change, Conscience as the deciding factor. It would destroy Mulder and Scully's individual and mutual arcs, their son's conception and birth, their sisters' losses and legacies, their families' virtues and faults, failures and victories. In short: it would be a complete mess.)

CONCLUSION

And that brings us to the conclusion of the Scully Family In-Depth series! 

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy~

[whenmuldermetscully]

“The truth will save you, Scully. I think it’ll save the both of us.” - Memento Mori 4x14 // “I think what we feared were the possibilities. The truth we both know.” - Existence 8x21

[numinousmysteries]

Devil's Advocate

What if the Jersey Devil didn’t die? Or, the Mulder/Jersey Devil fic no one asked for. With MSR undertones because I’m not a monster. (This started as a joke in this post and then wouldn’t leave my brain.) 

Note: This story contains mentions of non-consensual sex.

[on Ao3] @today-in-fic

Scully glances through the rearview mirror at the detained suspect in the backseat. The woman’s nakedness is concealed by the emergency blanket from the trunk of their car. A pair of handcuffs around her wrists is the only thing stopping her from attacking them. They’ve rolled down the car’s two front windows, but her fetid odor still permeates the air.

The park ranger managed to take her down with two powerful tranquilizer darts as she retreated into the woods. While Scully cuffed her and checked her pulse, Mulder convinced Detective Thompson that the woman belonged in federal custody and that they’d be taking her back to DC.

The tranquilizer wore off after a few miles on the road and they’ve been listening to her growl and struggle against the seatbelt. Mulder called the woman beautiful earlier and now, as she observes her in the mirror, Scully feels inclined to agree. Even with the thick layer of dirt covering her face, Scully can see she has elegant, almost regal features: high cheekbones, plush lips, and strong eyebrows, perfectly shaped without ever having made the acquaintance of a tweezer.

“Dr. Diamond should be back before us, should we take her straight to him?” she asks Mulder, her voice low even though she doubts the woman in the backseat can understand language. “I think he’d want a chance to examine her.”

Mulder nods slowly but hesitates. “Maybe she’d like to get cleaned up first. I can take her to my apartment to shower.”

“Your apartment?” Scully gawks at him. “That would be incredibly dangerous. She already tried to rip a chunk out of you.”

“You can help me, Scully,” he says as casually as if he’s asking her to fill out an expense report.

“I have a tub at my place. That might be easier.” This is partnership, she thinks. I bail you out of jail. I bathe your captive neanderthal.

“Perfect,” Mulder replies, crunching a sunflower seed between his teeth.

***

That’s how the two of them end up on their knees, their clothing soaked through with splashed water, wrestling the Jersey Devil into submission in Scully’s clawfoot bathtub. She’s injected the woman with enough pentobarbital to kill a man three times her size, but it’s only weakened her enough to let them get her into the tub without any fatal wounds.

As the dirt washes off her skin—and collects in a grimy, black film at the bottom of the tub that Scully knows will take a while to scrub out later—she can see the woman’s skin is a rich, tawny color. She’s lean, all sinewy muscle without any extraneous fat. Thick, dark hair cascades midway down her back, and also covers her legs, arms, and pubic area. There’s a primitive, untamed grace to her. Her long limbs move like a dancer’s, even as they kick and swipe at Mulder and Scully.

“Easy now,” Mulder says as he positions her head under the faucet to wash her hair. Scully watches as he tenderly shields her eyes from the water with one hand while running the other through her matted mane.

Even though she’s clearly never taken a bath in her life, and must be completely overwhelmed by the sudden exposure to modern plumbing, the woman softens under Mulder’s touch. Her shoulder blades ease down her back and the muscles of her face relax. Scully’s about to warn him to be gentle with her hair, to avoid pulling at any of the knots, but she can see he’s already slowly working through them without tugging at her scalp.

“I used to have to detangle Sam’s hair after a day at the beach,” he explains, noticing her consternation. “My mom was too rough so she’d never let her do it. But I just plopped her down in front of the TV and took my time. Hers was thick, like this.”

Scully watches in silence as he weaves his fingers through her strands. The Jersey Devil’s fists are clenched as she cautiously surveys her surroundings for threats, but she appears calm otherwise. She even bows her head slightly, giving Mulder better access to the lengths of her hair.

“I think that’s as good as we’re gonna get,” he says finally. “Do you have anything she could wear?”

“She’s much taller than me and her shoulders look a lot broader,” she replies. “But I’ll see what I can find. Are you okay alone in here with her for a moment?”

Mulder nods, pulling at the chain to drain the tub. The sudden movement of the water jerks the woman to alertness, but Mulder calms her down as he helps her to her feet.

When Scully returns with an old nightgown that she thinks originally belonged to Melissa, the Jersey Devil is standing nude in the center of her bathroom and Mulder is toweling her dry. She notices a soft rippling of skin beneath the woman’s navel—diastasis recti—and wonders how her children will survive without her in the woods.

“This should do,” she says, holding up the flannel nightgown for Mulder’s and, she supposes, the woman’s approval.

She helps Mulder pull the nightgown over the woman’s head and thread her arms through the sleeves. The fabric strains across her chest and back, and the hem falls just above her knees, but it’ll work for now. The woman grabs at the foreign material against her torso, more in curiosity than anger.

“Her hair is still wet,” Mulder says, lifting the weight of it off her back to keep the nightgown dry. “I doubt she’ll let us blow dry it.”

“Here,” Scully says, reaching for an elastic tie next to her sink. She twists the woman’s long hair into a low bun at the base of her neck, securing it with the tie. “At least this’ll keep her clothing dry.”

Scully steps back and takes a long look at the woman. With her face clean, and her features visible now that her hair is pulled back, she looks even more beautiful than before. Stunning, actually. Scully looks over at Mulder who’s staring at her, mesmerized.

He slowly takes her by the shoulders, turning her around so she can see herself in the mirror about the sink.

“Look,” he says, pointing in the glass. “That’s you.”

The Jersey Devil takes in her visage with a confused stare. She brings a fingertip to the reflection of her forehead and seems surprised that she touches glass and not flesh. She touches her cheek and watches as her mirror image does the same. Without losing eye contact with her reflection, she reaches out to run her fingertips over the image of Mulder’s face next to hers in the glass. Then she repeats the same gesture on his skin.

“That’s me,” he says quietly. “Mulder.”

The intimacy of the scene brings a blush to Scully’s face. She feels as if she’s watching something she shouldn’t be witness to.

The Jersey Devil’s hand is still on Mulder’s face when a growl erupts from her stomach.

“She must be hungry,” Scully says. “Let me see if I have anything she can eat.”

Stepping out of the bathroom, she lets out a deep exhale and feels the tension loosening in her neck and shoulders. She hadn’t been aware how rigidly she’d been standing until after she walks away. Opening the door to the fridge, she nearly gasps as the cold air hits her skin, still flushed from the hot steam of the bathroom. In the fridge, she finds a package of raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts. These were supposed to last her for a week’s worth of dinner, but the Jersey Devil’s hunger seems more pressing.

She peels off the clear plastic wrapping and places the package on her kitchen table.

“Bring her in here,” she calls out to Mulder. He emerges shortly after, leading the Jersey Devil slowly to the kitchen.

Her nostrils flare when she catches a whiff of the meat. Leaning over the table, she takes a chicken breast in each hand and shoves them into her mouth.

“Can she eat this raw?” Mulder asks.

“She’s been eating raw human flesh,” Scully shrugs. “From an evolutionary standpoint, her teeth are clearly sharper than ours, and she likely has stronger stomach acid for better digestion. Besides, she’s probably been exposed to far more germs and parasites in the wild than we’d ever encounter in commercial meat.”

The Jersey Devil quickly devours all four chicken breasts. She brings the styrofoam packaging, still wet with juice from the meat to her mouth but Mulder pulls her hand away. She growls and lunges to bite his wrist but he’s able to pull back quickly enough to dodge her.

“I think we’re going to need a lot more meat,” he says. “I can pick some up on the way back to my place.”

“What?” Scully snaps, startling the Jersey Devil. “You can’t be seriously thinking about taking her back to your apartment. This woman belongs in some sort of facility. We should take her to Dr. Diamond.”

“Come on, Scully,” he says quietly. “It’s 8 p.m. on a Friday night. Let’s wait until Monday to bother him again.”

She gives him a confused frown. Since when has Mulder cared about not bothering anyone when it comes to the paranormal? Right after their first case, he called her nearly at midnight. He’s called even later since then on more than one occasion and she’s had to convince him the FBI forensics lab wouldn’t appreciate him demanding an analysis of purported ectoplasm at 3 a.m.

“You don’t have a bed, Mulder,” she says, exasperated. “Where is she going to sleep?”

“She can take the couch. I’m sure it’s a lot more comfortable than wherever she typically spends the night. And I can sleep on the floor. I’ll be fine.”

Scully sighs. “I have an air mattress you can borrow.”

***

After helping Mulder secure the Jersey Devil in the backseat of his car and load the air mattress (along with a few more syringes full of sedatives just in case) in the trunk, Scully doesn’t see him until Monday. She calls to check in a few times over the weekend and each time he promises her he’s fine, and that his guest is behaving.

She worries when he isn’t at the office when she arrives on Monday morning. He’s usually there before her, preparing a slideshow or digging through old files. She’s about to call him at home when he staggers in, cradling his right forearm with his left hand.

“Mulder, are you alright? What happened?” she asks, standing to meet him and reaching for his arm.

“It was an accident,” he says.

She helps him out of his suit jacket. There’s blood seeping through the white of his dress shirt just above the wrist. She guides him to his desk chair and unbuttons the cuffs on his sleeve. He winces as she rolls the sleeve over his wound. She removes a layer of blood-soaked gauze pad that he seems to have tried to hold in place with Scotch tape. Underneath, she sees what looks like two rows of teeth marks cut deeply into his skin. Upper and lower incisors.

“She bit you?”

“It was an accident,” he repeats.

“Mulder, this is bad. You need stitches. Antibiotics, probably, and a tetanus shot. Maybe even rabies postexposure prophylaxis.”

“You can do it, right?” he asks. “I can’t exactly waltz into an ER with human teeth marks on my arm.”

“Let me get my kit,” she says. This is partnership, she supposes. I don’t turn you into the authorities when you harbor a prehistoric beast woman. I dress your wounds when she attacks you.

“Besides,” Mulder calls out to her as she assembles her medical supplies from the other side of the office. “She doesn’t have rabies.” He sounds offended that she would suggest such a thing. “She liked her bath, remember?”

Scully rolls her eyes as she returns to him and elevates his arm on the surface of the desk. He winces as she cleans the wound with antiseptic solution.

“I don’t have anything too strong to help with the pain, but this is better than nothing” she says, injecting a local numbing agent into his forearm. “Just give it a second to kick in.”

“How did this happen?” she asks.

“It was—”

“An accident, I know,” she cuts him off. “But what were you doing when she bit you?”

“We were, um, on the air mattress together. It was a…” he trails off, brow furrowed as he searches for the right word. “A moment of passion.”

“Oh no, Mulder,” she sighs. “Please do not tell me you had sex with her.”

“She instigated it,” he says, defensively. “I was sleeping and I thought it was a dream…a very pleasant dream, mind you, but then I woke up and there she was. On top of me. When I tried to maneuver her off, she bit me. So I just kind of…went with it.”

“And I’m assuming you didn’t use protection?” she manages to ask through the shock.

“She didn’t give me much of a chance. Think she’s on the pill?”

Scully shakes her head. “I don’t need to tell you how irresponsible, dangerous, and downright stupid that was.”

She takes this moment to jab a gloved finger into the bite mark, a little more firmly than she might have otherwise. He doesn’t flinch. “Numb?” she asks.

“Mmmhmm,” he nods. “She lost her mate. I guess she thinks I’m her new one. Honestly, I know how strange this is going to sound, but I think we have a connection. A real one.”

The blood drains from Scully’s face. She isn’t sure if she should arrest Mulder or have him committed to a psychiatric hospital. She certainly isn’t going to congratulate him on this new relationship (not that she would ever call it that), which seems to be what he expects as he gives her a dumb grin.

“You can’t be serious,” she says after regaining her composure, keeping her eyes on the sutures she’s threading through his flesh and not his face. “Mulder, she raped you.”

“It wasn’t like that,” he angrily objects. “I’ll admit I was surprised but once I got my bearings, I can assure you I was a very willing participant. It was incredible. Totally animalistic. No self-consciousness, no self-awareness, nothing performative. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

In the short time that they’ve been partnered, Mulder has had his memory wiped at a top secret military base and convinced her to believe in a 100-year-old liver eating monster. He told her his sister was abducted by aliens and insisted that they’d lost nine minutes. And yet this is the first time he’s rendered her completely speechless. She avoids his eyes as she finishes stitching up his arm and dabs away the remaining blood with a cotton ball.

“Come over for dinner sometime,” he says, as he rolls his sleeve back down. “You’ll see, she’s changed a lot. She’s more…evolved, if you will. I haven’t had to use any of the sedatives. Bring someone. It could be a double date.”

“Mulder, are you insane?” she hisses. “I’m not bringing anyone to meet your beast woman.”

He smiles and taps at her hip with the back of his index finger. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Agent Scully?”

“I’ll come,” she says, ignoring his last comment. “By myself. And only to make sure she doesn’t kill you.”

***

She puts off coming over for dinner until later in the week when Mulder finally wears her down. Standing outside his door, she feels nervous but isn’t sure why. She and Mulder have eaten meals together before, although usually at greasy roadside diners and never at one of their apartments. They haven’t spent much time together off the clock. If it weren’t for the presence of the Jersey Devil, she might think this was a date. Well, she reminds herself, it is a date, just not hers. She’s the third wheel in Mulder’s romantic evening with a neanderthal.

“Hey Scully, come on in,” he says, opening the door and taking her coat. “I ordered us a pizza, but she started without us. I hope you don’t mind.”

Scully peers into the kitchen and sees the Jersey Devil gnawing on what looks like a raw T-bone steak. Her hands are stained red with the myoglobin-tinged moisture dripping off the meat. On the table in front of her is a tray of more raw, red meat, piled high.

“I suppose that’s for the best,” Scully says.

“Come sit,” Mulder says, pulling out a chair for her. Before he can sit down himself, the buzzer at the front door rings. “Perfect timing,” he says.

When he leaves to get the pizza, Scully watches the other woman at the table. Mulder has managed to keep her clean and even changed her clothes. Instead of the nightgown she was wearing the last time Scully saw her, she’s dressed in an oversized gray t-shirt and a pair of men’s nylon basketball shorts that sag at the waist. Mulder’s clothes, she realizes.

Mulder returns, sets the pizza box on the table and fetches plates for them. “Help yourself,” he says.

“How’s she doing?” Scully asks. “How have you been?”

“We’re good. We’re figuring it out,” he responds between bites. “Now that she knows I’m not a threat, she’s much less violent. We spend a lot of time together. It’s nice to have a relationship that’s free of all preconceived societal expectations.”

Scully arches her eyebrow.

“Aren’t you the one who implied I should get a life?” He challenges.

“I guess I meant something more conventional, but I shouldn’t be surprised with you. Seriously though, Mulder, how do you see this working long term? Do you plan on introducing her to your parents?”

Mulder laughs. “I actually don’t think she’d be the most objectionable girl I’ve ever brought home.”

He reaches over and gently rubs the Jersey Devil’s back. She looks over at him but doesn’t move to attack. With his hand still resting on her back, she returns her focus to the food in front of her.

“See?” He asks proudly. “She likes me.”

“You bring her food and have sex with her,” Scully says skeptically. “Is that all it takes?”

“I’ve got good meat,” he says, and Scully nearly chokes on her pizza.

“Jeez, Scully, the steak. I’m talking about the steak. Get your mind out of the gutter,” Mulder smirks. “But really, if you think about it, it’s essentially your typical heterosexual dating ritual without any of the window dressing.”

“I think you’re grossly oversimplifying things,” she says. “What about communication? Companionship? The art of conversation? You’re an intelligent, verbose guy, Mulder. I’m having trouble picturing you in a relationship where there isn’t any intellectual discourse.”

“No verbal volleying, debating, or constantly being second-guessed? I get enough of that at work.”

Scully’s about to protest but he winks at her and any offense she felt melts away. She feels heat rising within her and she has to remind herself he’s her colleague and that his girlfriend, who has the capacity to physically rip her apart, is sitting in between them.

“I’m assuming you still don’t have any intention of taking her to Dr. Diamond,” Scully says, trying to change the subject. “Studying her could have major anthropological implications.”

“She’s not a science experiment,” he says. “That’s not the life she deserves.”

“And this is?” Scully asks. Next to her, the Jersey Devil picks pieces of meat out from under her long fingernails.

“I think she’s happy here,” Mulder says. “We’re both happy.” She isn’t sure if he’s trying to convince her or himself.

After dinner, Mulder gently cleans the Jersey Devil’s hands and face with a dampened washcloth. She seems to like the attention, or at least doesn’t resist. Once he’s done, she brings a finger to the corner of his lips, wipes away a spot of pizza grease, and then takes it into her own mouth. It’s somewhere between a sexual gesture and a primate grooming ritual.

Mulder asks Scully if she wants to stay and watch a movie with them, but she politely declines. He gets up to walk her to the door and Scully can feel the Jersey Devil’s eyes on them, as if she’s ready to fight for her mate.

On the drive home, Scully thinks there’s no way this can possibly last.

***

Somehow, though, it does last. For a while, anyway. Mulder jokes about having to pick up a second job to support her carnivorous diet, but he doesn’t show up to work with bite marks again. He spends less time at the office now that he has someone to come home to. Sometimes Scully catches him calling his apartment from the phone on his desk and leaving long-winded messages on his answering machine. “She likes to listen,” he tells her.

He leaves the Jersey Devil in his apartment with a fridge full of raw meat while they investigate a poltergeist in Philadelphia. When they return, she miraculously hasn’t torn his place to shreds.

It’s soon after the Eurisko case that Scully finds Mulder mopey and despondent in the basement office one morning. He’s working on paperwork and barely looks up when she arrives.

“Everything alright?” she asks and only gets a shrug in return.

“I’m sorry about Jerry,” she says. Caught up in solving the killings at Eurisko, she realizes he's barely had any time to mourn his former partner.

“It’s not that,” he replies, still glancing downward. “It’s…her.”

“Her, as in your…girlfriend?” Scully asks, the word like acid on her tongue.

Mulder nods. “She misses her children. I don’t think it’s been fair of me to keep her from them.”

“She told you that?”

“We have our way of communicating,” he says.

“Dating someone with kids can be challenging,” she says as if he’s in a relationship with a divorced working mom and not a nonverbal neanderthal.

“I think it’s time for her to go back to the forest,” he concedes.

***

They drive back to Atlantic City mostly in silence, the same trip they made weeks earlier but in reverse. The Jersey Devil is in the backseat again, free of restraints this time. She’s wearing a dress Scully hasn’t seen before: a short-sleeve, A-line dress made of soft cotton with thin pastel stripes. Mulder must have bought it for her. It's a good choice, she thinks, loose and comfortable without any buttons or zippers to fumble with. She’s surprised how normal the woman looks. Her hair is in a braid down her back which she can only assume is Mulder’s doing. Another thing he must remember from having a sister.

When they near the edge of the woods, the woman eagerly grabs at the child-locked door handle before Mulder even stops the car.

“She knows where we are,” he whispers to Scully. She nods in response.

They both get out of the car. Mulder walks around to open her door and unbuckle her seatbelt. She tentatively steps out of the car and towards the woods. Then she turns around and brings her hand to Mulder’s cheek. It’s like the first day in Scully’s apartment, when the Jersey Devil watched her and Mulder’s reflection in the mirror, only now they’re face to face. He leans in and kisses her.

Scully knows she should look away, but she can’t. When they pull away, they both have tears in their eyes. They nod at each other, and then she turns around and scampers away. Mulder comes to stand next to Scully and they watch until she disappears into the trees.

“Come on,” she says, taking him by the arm and leading him back to the car. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

He turns to her and smiles weakly through the tears. “Thanks, Scully,” he says. “Thanks for understanding.”

She doesn’t know if she’ll ever fully understand what this woman meant to Mulder, or what he possibly could have meant to her. But this, Scully knows for sure now, is partnership. I help you say goodbye. I bear your pain.

[twogravesinsomecemetery]

Not to be incredibly uncool about this or anything but !!! Twenty-Five Years and Counting is now complete!!! Here's the final chapter <3

(To all of you who think your fic isn't good enough: Don't Delete It. For the love of God. You'll regret it. I promise you you'll miss it. And you'll only end up rewriting the whole damn thing later word for word as best you remember it. Exactly like I did. Exactly like what this is.)

[writeouswriter]

I accidentally deleted all my safari data and closed all like 300 tabs I had oh my god no no no

[cutemothman]

i can't bring myself to finish s11 quite yet so tonight i'm gonna rewatch fire and make a photoset i think

[scullys-scalpel]

Where are all my fellow fandom community members in my personal life?

Me talking to my coworkers: yeah I just re watched my favorite show of all time

Coworkers: oh yeah which one?

Me: The X Files

Coworkers: "crickets" yeah I may have heard of it

[tender-rosiey]

can i have more gojo fluff plsplsplspls i crave for more gojo fluff

gossip — gojo satoru xf!reader

a/n: gossip with husband gojo is here everyone! next up is sick gojo ;)) ( also sorry to all the stacy's out there; i am sure you are all wonderfull <33)

you and your husband love shit-talking people and the thing is you don’t even have to say anything. one look at each other and you both know what you’re both thinking.

consequently, it makes you guys absolutely terrible in a meeting.

and this is something that happens ever since you were students.

for example, yaga was lecturing you and the others about something. you and satoru locked eyes for a single moment, looked at yaga, then at each other once again.

both of you are barely able to contain your smiles.

in this relationship, you’re supposed to be the mature one, at least, before gojo mouthed a “tennis ball” pointing at his own head.

it looks like that was your breaking point because you started cackling loudly and almost fell off your chair if it wasn’t for satoru teleporting beside you and holding you up— barely holding back a cackle of his own.

yaga merely sighed, pinching his nose.

you tried your best to breathe out a sorry, but satoru is merciless as he continues joking about his teacher’s hairstyle which makes you laugh even louder.

yaga could smack gojo across the head and lecture you both separately.

but he guesses that with the way gojo’s eyes are brimming with adoration and the way you’re laughing and making the others around you laugh as well, he can let it pass.

even if it’s at his own expense this time.

everyone needed a laughing break every once in a while, especially as sorcerers.

now nothing has changed. you’re both married, completely in love and are teachers.

and you’re supposed to be teaching your class, at the moment.

but your dumbass of a husband thought it would be better to teleport to your favourite café and judge every poor soul out there.

“he looks like he eats deodorant.”

“he looks like he has a body pillow for a wife.”

“she looks like she thinks babies come from storks.”

“she looks like she eats soap and chia seeds for breakfast.”

“satoru, please,” you wheeze, hand over your mouth to muffle your laughs, “I c-can’t take it anymore!”

“but y/n, I can’t help myself! also that couple over there looks like the ones that wear matching hello kitty pijamas.”

you perk up at that, “satoru, we did that too.”

“I know, honey,” he quips, eyes locking with your own, “it’s cool when we do it, not anyone else,” he argues with a proud smile.

you shake your head as you mumble, “hypocrite,” and satoru gasps while trying to defend himself.

another instance is while training the first and second years.

naturally, you were sat beside satoru, but the idiot could not keep his mouth shut and you were, too easily, dragged into it.

he leans towards you, “I can’t believe that that yuuji went into the water with socks. what’s wrong with him?!”

“I know, right?” you whisper, amidst the yelling of nobara and maki.

after that, you and gojo don’t leave a student without making a comment about them—ruthless you are.

yuuji, self-esteem dragged through the mud and having enough, heads snaps towards you both, “can you stop bullying me?!”

satoru smiles while the both of you raises your hands in innocence then looks at you, “sweets, you know how megumi said todo’s head is like a pineapple?”

you nod and he gladly continues, “don’t you think it’s ironic that it’s him, out of everyone, that said that?—“

“DON’T DRAG ME INTO YOUR GOSSIP!”

and even though you talk about the kids, you also talk with them about everyone else.

you can never forget that time you went with the first years to get some sushi.

you had left no one in the restaurant without butchering their entire life or alternatively said: you made up stories for every person you saw.

but that shall be the story of another time.

along with judging every creature that has come to existence, you and your husband love to gossip, a lot.

nothing happens without one telling the other; you always keep the other updated about everything.

so today as you slam the door open, you are barely able to contain yourself as you yell out, “satoru, you will not guess what just happened!”

in an instance, he gets all the snacks and sits in front of you on the couch, face eager as ever.

he is wearing that bunny headband you got him for the self-care nights and you smile: you have both a best friend and a husband in the same person.

he leans forward, eyes wide, “is it about stacy?”

“how did you know?” you gasp before taking a bite from one of the many snacks laid on the table.

he shrugs, “lucky guess, plus! I’ve been curious ever since you told me about what she did! it’s hard to believe that she is dating 4 guys at the same time and they don’t even know that the other exists.”

“right? I’ve heard about two-timing but never four-timing, and speaking of them not knowing about each other,” you smirk and his eyes light up in excitement, “they found out today!”

satoru cackles before pulling you in to cuddle you, “I bet a story like that will take the entire night to tell.”

you look up at him, “and you don’t mind?”

he kisses your cheek leaving an obnoxiously loud sound, “of course not! I get to listen to some juicy and hot tea and I get to hear your gorgeous voice for a really long time! so practically heaven for me, sweets,” he grins.

a giggle escapes your lips, “gossip is heaven for you, my dear husband?”

“gossip with you is heaven for me, my dear wife,” he murmurs as he peppers your face with kisses before abruptly pulling back, “now tell me! I am dying to know!”

you laugh, “okay, so one of them…”

and so you tell the story of stacy, the four-timer.

satoru is hung up on your every word and you’ve yet to figure out whether it’s because two of the boyfriends end up fighting each other or because of something else.

to satoru, it’s clear, your voice and the way you’re so excited while telling him about how the third boyfriend ended up being the son of the ceo makes him smile contently as he hugs you closer.

he doesn’t know what else to do, but he has a feeling that he should thank stacy for providing the both of you with a very interesting story like that.

taglist: @magenta-cat-drawingss @pompompurin1028 @scul-pted @dazaisdeathwish @requiem626k @nameless-shrimp @shinys-bsd-world-1 @sonder-paradise @ravenina14 @jessbeinme15s-notebook @todorokichills @ginneko @missrown @shrynkk @simplyxsinned @beautiful-is-boring @starlostlaiba @izukus-gf @irethepotato @thekaylahub @dazaisbloodybandages @aeanya @sweetcloudsimp @moon-catto @the-midnightskies @pianopuppygirl @gojosblackqueen @jisbizarre @kunikida-simp @fiona782 @kisakitwister @imjustasimpxd @psychopotatomeme @dreamcastgirl99 @watyousayin @doobiebochana @laylasbunbunny @hojicha-expresso @4sat0ruu

copyright © tender-rosiey

do not copy or plagiarize or you will be reported

[randomfoggytiger]

100%.

Scully either kept William or was never pregnant, meaning Jackson Van de Kamp would've been Emily-adjacent.

But my real answer: obliterate canon post Season 8.

okay, I'm curious. if you could change one thing about txf canon, ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY, what would it be?

it can be anything from changing one conversation to eliminating a whole character or the entire myth arc.

[randomfoggytiger]

Mulder Becomes a Father

When the fatherhood hits

the hums come quick.

[ccrisntok]

Your Masterminds, Whit Young, and Ace Markey! (mm! whace au)

(Spoilers lol)

what normal fellas ahahahahaha (I have poured my entire soul into these two there is nothing left of me)

A basic summary of their relationship:

Whit has spent like, over a year manipulating Ace into being complacent in his plans. In his own eyes, Ace is a sorta-stupid lacky, who he's constantly love-bombing to keep obedient. Although, he is a bit glad for the company... it was sorta empty when Ace was "dead" and they couldn't really talk. And maybe Ace almost dying from his fake execution was a bit disturbing. But he's sure its nothing! (He fell in love with him like a moron.)

Ace has fully fallen in love with Whit. He's not happy about it, but it happened. As a result, he's basically ruined any semblance of his own morality, just so he doesn't lose Whit, or the affection he knows is mostly performative. He's more than happy to kill his fuck-face classmates, after a... bit of prodding, and honestly, he'd do anything Whit asked at this point, even die. He'll still complain about it, though.

i tried to be as original as humanly possible, but I'm def giving credit to @talkativeanonymous, @acethehorseishere, and @a-blog-for-kat all for inspiring these two in one way or another (esp. a-blog-for-kat lol).

anyway there's the art, here's the promised lore. warning for like a million words. I'm serious. It's 1,400 words. you can stop here i don't blame you.

also sorry for the odd looking bullet points, didn't realize you couldn't have gaps lol!

This au operates on a probably un-canon assumption that I pulled out of my ass. That is that Mai Akasaki is both a student in the class of 27, and that she is the "time loop" student. She is usually a part of the killing game, but she isn't this time, for reasons I'll explain in a sec.

This specific loop, Mai is attempting to dissuade the (usual) mastermind from wanting to start a killing game in the first place. That mastermind is Whit Young.

She goes about this by trying to curb Whit's main reason for his descent into despair, his resounding loneliness, by giving him championship. Charles hasn't softened up to the others in any regard yet. But that wasn't the main reason, unbenouced to Mai.

In this loop, and this loop alone, Mai sets Whit and Ace up to be friends. She hopes they can help each other, since they usually end up more or less alone in their school life.

Surprisingly, it works. They get along decently well, although a codependency starts to develop on Ace's side.

Around this time, Whit takes up an internship at XF Future, which Mai doesn't realize. He innocently wants to explore other job options, "Matchmaking" not really being a stable career forever.

Obviously FX Future isn't a normal Tech Company. Whit starts to change, in a barely noticeable fashion, the longer he works there.

Ace notices Whit's contacts start looking a lot more vibrant after Whit takes a couple weeks off school for a "company trip." He thinks it's... sort of pretty.

(Whit's time at XF Future showed him a side of humanity he didn't realize existed. Insane levels of greed, using the concepts of "ultimates" to guide a stupid pubic where the Government wanted them, generally a dystopia. It feeds into his existing detachment from humanity, until he hits a breaking point, setting his sights on ending the "Ultimates" concept by killing the newest class in the public eye, including himself.)

(XF Future develops a new sort of technology, prosthetic "eyes" that basically turn you into a living remote control, able to connect to an entire building if its connected via a computer system. Security cameras, doors, fucking air conditioning- everything.

(Whit offers himself as the test dummy, and it goes perfectly.)

Anyway, Mai decides to talk to Ace, since she's starting to realize he's becoming a bit... softer after hanging out with Whit so much? And hopes like, for once, he'll actually accept help for his mountain of problems.

He doesn't take this conversation very well.

Mai, with knowledge from dozens of loops, accidentally brings up an extremely traumatic event, simply mentioning the name "Tyler" once.

In a blinding mix of rage and horror at Mai's knowledge of the event, that Ace has literally never even spoken about in this timeline, Ace shoves her away from him.

She falls backwards, and splits her head on a desk, killing her instantly.

Ace, in a horrified frenzy, calls Whit, literally his only friend.

Whit shows up. Ace expects him to freak the fuck out, call the cops, or something like that... But he doesn't.

Whit simply tells him they were going to hide the body together, not even remotely caring about Mai's death.

yeah that's a little fucking weird, and its terrifying, but going to jail is scarier sooo Ace goes along with it!

After this, Whit wraps Ace into uncharacteristically cruel pranks against some of their classmates and others at Hopes Peak, oftentimes resulting in physical injury.

He acts like these are completely normal and funny, while Ace is both freaked out by it, and sort of enjoys enacting pain on people he didn't like.

Along the way, Whit notices Ace starting to fall for him. Horrible news for Ace, since Whit plays into those emotions by becoming much more physically and emotionally affectionate. Which he doesn't enjoy, like, at all... not a bit...

Whit convinces Ace to assist him in greater and greater acts of violence until Whit just straight up kills someone (not a classmate, a stranger.)

Ace is of course tied into everything way too deep to stop now, and after all this... he doesn't really want to. So he stays as Whit's accomplice for months, up until Whit's weirdo behavior arrives at the idea of the killing game. He references the "First Killing Game", which Ace had never heard of.

The idea is a bit intense for Ace, but at that point, he didn't have anything beyond Whit. If it took this to stay with him... He'd do it. Even if in the end, they both were going to die.

So they get to work!

Ace had been taking engineering classes at Hope's Peak in hopes of getting out of jockeying, and he'd helped his family build sheds and shit since he was a kid, so he focused on the construction and executions.

Whit wired the building an all-encompassing computer system he could control, as well as stealing "Mono-TV" from XF Future, a robot he can fully control to be the "host" of the game.

He also steals the "mind wiping" technology from XF Future. It's weirdly easy to steal stuff from this company, hm? It's almost like they aren't protecting it...

Whit also uses another piece of experimental biological technology... on Ace.

A screen connected to his brain, a lottt less invasive than Whit's eye surgery. It doesn't impact Ace mentally, it just gives him the ability to produce visible projections for easy construction, communicate with Whit remotely, (and give Whit a way to always know what Ace's condition.)

The screen is unclipped when the game starts, but the brain implant is still connected to Whit, so he can detect Ace's condition.

After kidnapping the class of 27 and wiping their memories... It all starts. A killing game, streamed live to the entire nation.

Whit and Ace start off as a part of the class, interacting with the others like normal, a pretty decent show. Things go roughly as planned, putting everyone in the positions Whit wanted them. Untilll... chapter 2.

Ace gets his ass jumped, and almost dies prematurely. This is fine, Whit privately makes sure the wounds properly cleaned, but it does fill Whit with an... ominous feeling.

Ace still kills Arei, a part of the plan, and gets "executed", so he can more easily upkeep the executions and such behind the scenes.

After the screen playing the fake execution turns off, Whit checks to make sure Ace didn't get injured in his running around... but can't detect anything.

At all.

Ace's heart wasn't beating.

He actually, seriously, had a fucking heart attack.

(Ace's heart attack was for a combination of reasons. Firstly, his heart was actually in pretty bad condition as a result of his eating disorder, something Whit had figured was "over" by now. It wasn't!)

(Second, in that moment, the idea that maybe, just maybe, Whit could have been double-crossing him came to Ace. What if Whit loaded the guns? What if Ace's use was done, and Whit was finally getting rid of him? It was terrifying because he could die, and terrifying because... It'd make sense. It was all that ever happened to him.)

So he had a heart attackkk lameeeeee

This makes Whit tweak the fuck out, internally. (lol pretend his spooky ass sprite happens AFTER the execution, not before. shh its all made up its all pretend)

After Levi gets taken to the infirmary, Whit drops Charles off at his room as quickly as he can, then fucking BOLTS IT to a hidden passageway in his room to the like... Mastermind area, with the execution chamber.

Whit manages to resuscitate Ace in time, barely. And even after that, he's in pretty bad condition. But he's conscious and mobile.

Whit gets him as comfortable as he can, and after spending the night, he sort of... has to leave. He does some tweaks to Ace's brain screen thing, creating a functional heart monitor that Ace (and he) can watch.

As often as he can, Whit sneaks off to the Mastermind area at night to make sure Ace doesn't fucking die in his sleep. But Ace gets... decently better quickly, and returns to his duties overseeing the killing game.

Whit still visits almost every night to make sure Ace wakes up, which he can't really explain to himself. Ace was... supposed to be disposable anyway. Why would it matter if he died?

Anyway yeah the rest of the game happens. No clue there.

In the end, Whit and Ace come out as masterminds (happy pride).

I have a comic planned for how the end goes, soooo... that's it!

holy fuck! my fingers! hi the whole 2 people who made it down this far... uh... did you like my lore.....? do you want me dead now for having you read 1,400 words of two evil homsexuals...? 😅 love you thank you im sorry.

[lizzy06]

Naruto Fic Recs!! (AO3)

Fandom Masterlist

Hey guys these are my favorite Naruto fics!! Hope u enjoy them too <3!!

No Paring

becoming the memory✨💖 by iinsomniatic(Time travel fix it, Jiraiya raises naruto) Out of options and about to die, Jiraiya writes a seal he’s sure isn’t going to work anyway. Then he wakes up, and damn it all, it’s October 10th. [ONGOING] From me to you: Unsent letters ✨✨by Lady_Ye(oneshot, suicide note)This made me cry so hard!! [COMPLETED]

Naruto Uzumaki x Sakura Haruno

Artistic purpose ✨by StormyInk (one shot, fluff) sai gets his new inspiration of drawing from his friends with which he also sets something off!! [COMPLETED] Just like me by bendingwing (oneshot, fluff)The beginnings of narusaku [COMPLETED] The Children of Omelas byFangirlJo (oneshot, Utopia, Dystopia, inspired by the one who walks away from omelas)She was 8 when she noticed the blonde boy in ragged clothing with bruises, sores and cuts all over him. She doesn't think the adults ever noticed him despite his bizarre looks, but she did.[COMPLETED] Date Night by TwinEnigma(oneshot Wingman sasuke, funny)In which Sasuke tries to do something nice for Naruto and Sakura's first anniversary. Hilarity ensues. [COMPLETED] Of pink and orange by FairyLetters (oneshot, reader is a spectator, fluff and angst)You watch as Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki come to an understanding that Sasuke Uchiha has left again.[COMPLETED] What now? by Kameodash(oneshot, after war)Naruto and Sakura try to cope with the trauma of the war together.[COMPLETED] Leaving You by THE_MAN42(oneshot, Love confession ,Sad ending)Naruto dies in her arms.[COMPLETED] Shinachiku and the Multiverse of...Wait There's a Multiverse?! by DuchessofChaos (time travel,falling in love) shinachiku travels to a world where his parents don't exist[ONGOING] Open Hearts by gabriella0807(post war,fluff)After the war there is a lot of work left to be done and many problems to be solved in the Shinobi world, while our heroes need to heal and move forward with their lives. [COMPLETED] Baby its you ✨by Behla(fake dating, friends to lovers, crush's wedding, single bed) Haruno Sakura finds herself in desperate need of a date for the wedding of a man she's been pining after for over eight years, in order to convince him and his bride that she's getting over him.[ONGOING]

Nara shikamaru x Ino Yamanaka

Red Ribbon by amuk(one shot,humour, friendship)They made a promise and Ino spent three years searching for Shikamaru to keep that promise. Time changes everyone, though, and Shikamaru looks cozy with his coworker, Temari. Some promises can't be kept. [COMPLETED]

In the forest 💖💖💖✨by SenkaHitomi(LadyTegan) - (post war, mission gone wrong, slow burn) shikamaru returns in catatonic state from a mission and ino must go into the labyrinth of his mind to bring shikamru back! [COMPLETED]

Its her again... ✨✨by atmymercy (Highschool au, pinning) Ino gets jealous of the girl who sits beside shika on his train and this leads to a whirlwind confrontation of her feelings..[COMPLETED]

Uchiha sasuke x sakura Haruno

Before the storm ✨by crissy_writes_garbage(Time travel to past, pregnant sakura)Sakura is pregnant and lost, a combination that leads to more trouble than necessary. Specially when you're lost in the past. [COMPLETED]

Gaara x Sakura Haruno

words that tie, ties that bind by Binxxx(soulmates, angst,SHUKAKU THE THERAPIST)During the chaos of the Chunin Exams, Sakura discovers who her soulmate is. [ONGOING] The four heavenly treasures by IRinna(arranged marriage, politics, friends-to-lovers)Princess Sakura of the Land of Fire is offered in a political alliance to the Land of Wind to help survive the incoming war. There she meets Gaara, leader of Wind and one of the champions of the Four Heavenly Treasures. [COMPLETED]

Uchiha Madara x Sakura Haruno

The Black bull by Vesperchan (oneshot, beauty and the beast elements)Based on the classic Scottish fairytale The Black Bull of Norroway.[COMPLETED]

Itachi Uchia(xf!reader)

Ikigai ✨by MissWriter97(arranged marriage, senju reader, alternate au) Uchiha Itachi gets married to the women he does not love to prevent the massacre! This is a lovely fic...[ONGOING]

Senju Tobirama(xf!reader)

A Step in Time by MizzGinger (senju tobirama x Princess! reader ,arrange marriage, time travel, second chances) This is and alternate au story with a lot of war time drama going on!! It has a brilliant set up!![ONGOING]

The Home I crave✨✨ by cafeinthemoon93( arranged marriage, angst, slowburn, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers )I really loved this fics, the detailing and pacing were chef's kiss!![HIATUS]

Some other pairing stories

Iruka x reader

Growing along the line✨✨💖 by FreakyPseudWriter(fake dating, strangers-to-friends-to-lovers, fluff)After a really bad day at your workplace you meet Umino Iruka, who quickly makes you open up to him. But you certainly didn't expect him to suddenly claim you two were romantically involved! [COMPLETED]

Sasori x Sakura Haruno

Bait and Hitch✨✨ by Aelynthi (fake dating, coworkers, crush's wedding)When Haruno Sakura finds out Sasuke is engaged, she does the only thing she knows to do in order to save her pride—she lies.[ONGOING]

[hayleymarriedjakurai]

mouthwashing x drdt

NOT a situation where im like "ok whit = daisuke" no. this is a different situation. their own scenario, trust. XF-Ture Express, despite its reputation for being one of the most reliable delivery services across the galaxy, has a terrible inside system. They have one of the lowest failure rates of the space freighters, being at a whopping 5% chance. Employees are paid a hefty amount, motivated by good working conditions on each ship with quality leisure activities and meal plans. But only the ones who earn it get such treatment. The hierarchy in which employees are forced to participate in never leaves the walls of the building. You do your job right and kill yourself working, you get assigned better ships with better shipments. It is as simple as that. So it is unfathomable when Captain Xander Matthews, considered one of the best, is assigned to a ship that is just barely allowed to launch. The "Fatebringer", is what it is called. It just scraped by inspection and is subpar for an XF-Ture ship, but supposedly it is necessary. Xander's job is not an easy one, but simple enough for someone of his caliber. He is to take this crappy ship, along with a shipment, to the exoplanet where the the better functioning ships are maintained and created. He and his crew will turn in this old junk ship for a sleek, modern one and move the shipment to it. Then on their way back, they will deliver it and return to Earth. Simple, they said. Child's play for a captain with so much experience. So it only makes sense for the best of the best to be assigned with him. Rose Lacroix. Her job is what is called 'the documenter'. She has no real purpose other than to keep track of supplies, as well as record daily minutes regarding every single thing that happens on board that is important to note. Due to her memory, she is considered the best to keep track of large quantities of items/the best to spot minor inconsistencies or things that are misplaced. She only needs to walk around a ship once to get it down properly. She has worked with Xander once before. Arturo Giles. The medic. He is apparently not new to this field despite being so young. He is usually quite unbearable and does not prefer to speak to his fellow employees, as most are deemed "too hideous". Despite his terrible personality, he is undeniably the best medic to have on a long assignment due to his quick efficiency. He claims that one day, the company will realize that he deserves better than what he has. (Despite being named the best medical employee.) He has worked with Rose twice, David once. J Moreno. The best mechanic for any ship, especially one as crap as the Fatebringer. When nothing needs to be fixed, she prefers to help out others if they need it (only if they deserve it, of course.) As much as she would prefer to stay on her own, she knows teamwork always comes first on long hauls. Her true identity is known to the company; they still put her actual name on all official documents and tech. She has to manually hide these things, as well as her ID card. Mariabella Rosales and XF-Ture collaborate a lot for financial purposes. She will advertise them with her existence/commercials/whatever, and they will pay her. And of course, never make J's employment public. If J weren't so good at what she does, they would not have cared. But they really like Mariabella's money so. As of now, Julia Rosales is considered MIA. David Chiem. Xander's co-pilot and good friend. David is usually the morale booster of his crews, always keeping spirits up and energy high despite the monotony of long hauls. He is usually who people will go to for advice or mental health discussions in place of the medic for two reasons: He cannot medically document anything, AND he is just such a fantastic listener! He always knows what to say! Xander and David have lost count of how many shipments they have done together. Teruko Tawaki. The stowaway of the Fatebringer who was not meant to be there. She was never meant to be there.

Teruko is usually assigned co-pilot. She has never worked with anyone else on the ship, so it is unclear whether or not her strange misfortune is known to any of them. Every ship she has ever been on has failed to bring their shipments on time- or at all. She has even seen crew members die in front of her. There have been near crashes, close calls...always when she is there. Nobody can terminate her. She has technically done nothing wrong, and firing her for no reason could mean a lawsuit or her spreading rumors about the company. So when Xander is given his assignment, he can only be dumbfounded when written in pen, he spots it. "Kill Teruko Tawaki. Find a way." And so Teruko is brought onto the ship, unconscious and hidden away. When she awakens, Xander will tell everyone that she is a surprise extra crew member. The excuse is that while she is usually co-piloting, XF-Ture is interested in having Teruko's skills expanded by having her shadowing the best of the best. Teruko, not remembering much, accepts this and trusts Xander. David's true personality is the same in canon: cold, cruel, manipulative. He feels threatened by Teruko's presence. After learning that her usual role is his, his theory is that she snuck onto the ship to prove she is better suited/to get him terminated. He treats her as normal UNTIL the crash. Xander is aware of Teruko's past jobs in vivid detail. He has been given reports, seen the documents...how much happens wherever she goes. He wants to get rid of her as soon as possible to keep the crew safe despite his guilt. Things go smoothly...until he receives word that XF-Ture is done for. It had only been two months, so what happened? The Rosales family suddenly stopped funding them, and everything crumbled after that. Nobody ever realized how much of their funding came from them. Xander felt mild relief. He truly does not want to kill a seemingly innocent woman for the company. After all, if she were truly responsible for any of those terrible things, they would have fired her with no hesitation. There must be a reason why she's still employed. But now they're all out of a job. What does that mean for them? Xander's mental health starts to plummet. Small things on board start to go wrong, and his first paranoid thought is to blame Teruko for being there. He becomes obsessed with reading over the reports from the crews that suffered in her presence. They were right; she's the cause. He confides in David, panicked and drained. Xander was a good man; far too good to kill anyone. Even if the people who told him to do so were technically no longer in charge of them...Teruko still needed to go. There's no reason to do the delivery, and there only thing they can really do is go to the exoplanet to swap out ships for a comfortable ride home. But with Teruko on board, there is no guarantee that they'll even get back to Earth. Xander tells him everything- too much. David decides that Teruko cannot make it back no matter what. Whatever field she gets to next will be riddled with destruction and possibly worse. Everyone here is at the top of XF-Ture, the best in a dead company. It is too late for any of them to climb to the top of another wage slave ladder. So he crashes the ship. Teruko Tawaki must die. If Xander cannot do it, he does not mind staining his filthy hands with more blood. What else happens? Who knows.

[vibratingskull]

Hello dear👋

Can I as for a Thrawn xF!reader

Reader Is force sensitive, and when she was young, she was kidnapped and used for her abilities .

At some point, the ascendancy "rescued" her only to put her in service as a Skywalker .

Now as an adult, she serves under Thrawn and they fall in love, but she has plans to run away. she feels like the chisss are treating her like something beneath them, only good for her abilities not much better than those that have taken her before .

Hi dear ! Will they be strong? Will love prevail? Well you just have to read...

Thrawn x F!reader

Tags : enslavement, casual xenophobia

You shudder. 

And the lights subside. 

You deeply breathe and take out your sensory-depriving helmet. With a resounding thud, the Springhawk leaves hyperspace to regain normal space, a massive green planet taking half of the bay. Slowly you are coming back to your senses, feeling all the Chiss around you agitating themself at their tasks and duties, blatantly ignoring you. 

You don’t really mind. In fact, you prefer it that way, it allows you to come back at your pace and in peace without having to pretend to be polite to someone else. Descending from that high takes a toll on your body and mind and you usually don’t have it in you to be nice and agreeable to your colleagues. 

Colleagues... 

Jailers would be more appropriate. 

“Congratulations, Navigator (Y/n)’(F/n). You successfully guided us to our destination in record time.” Your Senior Captain’s voice rises in your back. 

You discreetly turn your head towards him. Senior Captain Thrawn is already focused back on his questis, already forgetting your existence. 

Your job is done. 

You are not important anymore. 

“Thank you, Senior Captain.” You reply for the form, not loud enough for him to even hear you. 

 You sigh, rolling your head from side to side, slowly allowing sensations to course through your nerve endings again. Like muscle numbness melting away, you recover control over your limbs and senses.  

You feel weaker than usual. This is not at all surprising, you just performed a 20 hours shift with very short breaks to keep you up to speed, chasing after that group of pirates. Your goal was to arrive before the pirates to lie in ambush. 

And you did. 

For all the thanks it gives you... 

Senior Captain Thrawn didn’t want to wear Che’ri in any capacity, and that is fair, she is only 9, a little child and you are an adult. 

Of course, your workload is going to be heavier. 

But it is still a 20 hours shift of an exhausting exercise both mentally and physically. You do not hope for a medal or a pat on the back, just a little more gratitude than a placide ‘congratulation’. 

If it was Che’ri in your place right now, it would not go that way. Thalias would already be beside her with a snack and officers would be smiling and thanking her, proposing to her to help her to her bedroom where she would be pampered, feed, bathed and tucked to bed with good night kiss on the forehead. 

But you’re not Che’ri. 

You’re not a Chiss. 

You’re just human. 

You are not as precious as their dear Skywalkers, despite performing the exact same service, with just as many results as any of them. And despite not losing your powers when reaching adulthood. 

You are expendable, fully disposable. 

You learned it the hard way. 

If needs be they will throw you into the wolf’s maw and flee. 

You’re not precious enough to be protected. Your life doesn’t hold as much value as any of the Chiss onboard. 

You’re used to it now, you accepted it. 

It’s just... 

You really left a cage for another one. 

You clumsily untangle your legs to stand up, blood flowing back in. You leave your helmet on the chair, no need to take it back, Thrawn will surely call you back in one or two hours when the battle will start and he will need your skills to chase after the mothership of your adversaries. 

Ch’eri’s sleep is too precious to be disturbed, they can come and wake you up seven times in the same night, no problem. 

You shake your head. 

She is a little girl... 

You head towards the bridge door, praying to have at least the time for a quick nap. You feel red burning gazes on the back of your neck as you walk past them. You ignore them, you’re used to being looked at as a freak of nature by now. 

You wince a bit as you feel pins and needles in your legs. You take a guilty look at Senior Captain Thrawn, knowing that you are absolutely crazy. His focused expression only glorifying his dignified and harmonious features, presiding and commanding his men with a powerful charisma, leading expertly. 

Against your better judgment, you are terribly and irrevocably in love with Thrawn. 

Which is so far away from a sane move. 

He is the one treating you the best in the Ascendancy and by far, but Thrawn treating you right is being polite and distant. You do not have the pretension to be able to become his friend one day, but you are so lonely and isolated here... 

No one is giving you gentle and empathetic gazes, they are just judging and condescending, no matter your success. You remain a filthy alien in their eyes. Thrawn’s gaze is free of judgment but... Cold, distant, closed. Not inviting to get closer. 

You lower your gaze and head as you walk past him, not wanting to receive a scolding for daring to ogle a Senior Captain, but your legs wobble and give way under you. You prepare yourself for the hit but a strong arm slides under your body, preventing your fall. 

You raise your head to met Thrawn’s shining eyes. 

He... How is he here? He was away from you a second ago! 

“Are you all right, Navigator?” He asks calmly. 

You feel your mouth drying instantly under his gaze. You can only nod and mutter a silent thank. He helps you on your feet and chases a speck of dust off your uniform. 

“You have been guiding us for 20 hours. Take a break, go to sleep. You will not be needed in the next 10 hours.” He orders. 

10 hours? You pushed that hard? 

“Yes, Senior Captain.” You incline your head again. 

He lets you go and refocus on his questis. You embarrassedly leave the bridge. 

You enter your cabin with a sigh of relief. 

Finally, peace. 

You have a privatized cabin, which would be a high luxury for an alien like you if it had basic necessities and wasn’t purposely so far away from the common areas. 

You fall down your bed, too tired to head to the shared kitchenette of the ship to cook anything or walk to the closest messroom... 

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

You grumble as you hear knocks on your door. You throw your sheet off your body hungrily to be disturbed in your sleep. If they needed you for navigation they would have rang you or called you on high speakers, so for what goddam reason someone is knocking at your door right now?! 

Your door slides to let Senior Captain Thrawn appear. 

You open your eyes wide in surprise, taken aback by his presence. 

His presence here could only mean one thing. 

Troubles. 

You gulp, awaiting to discover with what sauce he will eat you. 

“No one saw you eat.” He simply says with a detached tone. 

You blink. 

“I... Sorry?” 

He extends his hand to you, holding a bowl filled with cut vegetables and a portion of meat. 

“No one of the crew saw you come to the messroom or the kitchen to eat.” He repeats. “This is irresponsible behavior, please correct it.” 

You clumsily take the bowl with the cuttlery off his hand. 

“Thank you, Sir.”  

You head to your chair to eat and you spin incredulously when you hear his steps entering your room instead of going away. Senior Captain enters your bedroom uninvited, walking like in conquered territories. He observes the room silently, his hands clasped behind his back as you look at him like a deer in headlights. 

What are you supposed to do exactly? It’s the first time one of them enters your room and it is the Senior Captain no less, you can’t just shoo him away. 

“Eat.” He orders as his gaze falls back on you. 

You nod, sit, and start eating. 

As you put a bite of meat in your mouth you realize that it is not the usual cut of meat reserved for the lower agents like you... It is a thick, rich, and tender piece, dripping with cooking juice. 

Did... Did he take a portion of his own menu to bring to you? 

Unlikely... 

He walks to your bed and sits down, letting his eyes travel freely before coming back to you. He ogles you without a word as you obediently eat, despite your stomach in knots. 

What the hell does he want? You feel stress rising in your blood, and after your 20 hours shift you have more than enough stress stored in your body! 

“Since when are you with us?” He finally asks out of the blue. 

He who has such a well-made brain didn’t even bother to remember when you entered his service? 

“I was already here when you gained the Springhawk’s commandment, Sir.” 

He shakes his head. 

“I mispoke. When did the Ascendancy adopted you?” 

You wince. 

‘Adopted’... Not the term you would use. 

“I am in the Ascendancy services since I was 15.” 

His eyes get lost in the void for some seconds before focusing back on you. 

“Do you appreciate your life here? With us.” 

No. 

How could you? 

“Yes. I have work and a roof over my head.” You lie. 

His shiny rubies dive into your human eyes. 

He is not buying it for a second. 

“How did you come to us?” He demands softly. 

“It is in my file.” You curtly respond. 

“I want to hear it from you.” 

What change does it make? 

“I was captured for my capacities when I was 10. I was a slave with a collar and cuffs. The Ascendancy defeated the ship I was in and took me in. You taught me how to read and speak Cheuhn and put me in a navigator chair as soon as you understood my abilities.”  

And since then basically held you hostage, never allowed on Chiss land, being passed around from one ship to the other, to the ones heading to dangerous territories to not risk losing a proper Skywalker. 

Skywalkers are paid for their services, the money is transferred into a bank account unlockable once they are adults. You are paid too, but you realize after some calculations that they deduct the price of food and maintenance of your salary and that you are paid a third of what a Skywalker usually gets, keeping you right under the poverty line, forcing you to remain enslaved in their service. 

“And here I am.” You shortly conclude. 

He slowly nods, understanding by your tone and demeanor that you did not wish to talk about it further. He looks again over your bedroom, flattening the cover’s folds with his hand. 

“Did Mid Captain Samakro assign you this room?” He invastigates. 

You nod. 

“It is smaller than regular.” He contemplates. 

At that point you’re not even surprised, of course, they would give you a smaller room than everyone else. 

Thrawn stands up elegantly despite also spending 20 hours on the bridge. He was present at each of your breaks and you’re not sure he took the time to nap while you were in trance. 

“I will ask that you are transfered to a regular room shortly.” He simply announces and leave without another word. 

You look at your closed-door, in silence. He promised ‘shortly’ but once they learn it is for you it will suspiciously drag on... 

But you will be far gone before that you hope. 

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

You lean at the corner of the wall.  

Nobody. 

You readjust your backpack on your back and cross the corridor rapidly. You sprint through the ship, knowing perfectly where the security cameras are. 

Tonight you will be free! 

Tonight you will take off and flee far, far away...  

You gathered the little personal belongings you had the right to own, pulled out all your money in a microchip and planned you escape. 

You take several turns, press yourself against walls to not appear on the security cameras, and rush to the hangar. They all think you are sleeping, docilely under the covers to await your next shift like a good little dog. 

But no more. 

You’ve been saving as much money as you could for several years and now you feel you can get out. 

You sneak behind operators’ backs, crawl under smaller ships until you see your target. You stay in your hiding spot until you hear the alarm signaling a break. Slowly the warriors and workers evacuate the hangar, leaving the field clear for you. 

You sprint to the shuttle’s door, type the code you pilfered earlier, and throw yourself inside. Without losing a second you enter the cockpit and throw your backpack on the passenger seat to observe the board. You never flew a ship, merely guiding them through space but you observed pilots with intents for years and feel confident in yourself. You will just need to- 

“I knew you would come.” A deep melodious voice, recognizable among thousands rises in your back. 

You jump out of your skin and spin towards Senior Captain Thrawn, comfortingly seated in one of the four other passenger seats of the shuttle. 

How did you manage to miss him?! 

He looks at you with detachment, almost uninterested despite catching you red-handed. 

He silently observes you, awaiting whatever explanation you might have for an act as dire as desertion. You gulp, your heart sprinting at 100 miles per hour, searching for an exit. 

“You realize I could order your death for desertion?” He casually continues. 

Oh so he jumps straight to the threats, I see. You slide your hand in your back and take out the Charric you took care to hide under your clothes , pointing it at him. 

“... And for theft.” He concludes. 

He is so casual, in complete control of himself like he planned everything since the beginning. He doesn’t even care about the weapon on him. 

“Let me go!” You say between your teeth. 

“Or what? What will you do I wonder?” He tilts his head. 

The tone isn’t even mocking or demeaning, it is infuriatingly placid. 

“Or I’ll shout you like a dog!” You muster the coldest voice you can. 

He shakes his head slowly. 

“You do not have it in you. You never took a life, contrary to me.” 

“I can always start today.” 

“Navigator (Y/n)’(F/n), if you lower your weapon and accept a time in a cell I am positive I can avoid you capital punishment. We can go back together.” 

“But I do not want to go back!” You spit, “I wanna leave! Flee away from all of you!” 

“And for what reasons?”  

You almost want to laugh. 

“For all the reasons of the universe, starting by my enslavement!” 

“You won’t last 5 minutes alone out there.” 

“I survived torture and mistreatment for years. And I managed to rob a weapon and a secret code of the mighty Chiss under their haughty noses! Not everyone can do that!” 

He considers you up and down a moment, and slowly stands up to walk towards you. You feel a jolt of panick, you never learned close combat and Thrawn is trained warrior, if he decides to lay his hands on you you’re done for! 

“Don’t come any closer!” You threaten, stabilizing your charric in your hand. 

He simply walks past you like you are invisible, presses a button on the board that lights up, and starts typing commands. 

“I can create a 1 minute blackout. It will be short but you should be able to take off and disappear.” He casually explains, focused on the buttons. 

“I... You... What?” You gasp, completely lost. 

“I observed you, Navigator. I know how you have been treated. I have tried to push back, but Chiss aren’t so easily moved. I regret not being able to do more.” 

You’re still the arm up, aiming in the void, looking at Senior Captain Thrawn finishing entering commands and the engines start. 

“There.” He concludes before turning back to face you, “You can go.” 

You look suspiciously in his eyes to be sure this isn’t a sick joke or a trick, but his gaze is clear and calm. Resolved. 

“Why?” You finally ask, “Why would you do that for me?” 

He seems to purse his lips as his gaze lowers for a split second before rising back. 

“You need not to know my reasons. You are free to go.”  

You squint. 

You aim at him again, with an assured grip. 

“The Chiss never helps without an ulterior motive. Especially aliens. They love to collect their debts. Explain yourself!” 

He sighs, like he wished to avoid that conversation since the beginning. 

“Before I answer, would you humor me and answer me first?” He asks, his hands clasped behind his back. 

You sniff with disdain. Each second passed is a second closer to a cell and a pilori. 

“What do you want to know?’ You spit. 

“I want to know how you perceive... me.” He inquires. 

You feel like your eyes will burst out your skull. 

“How do I... What the hell are you on about?!” 

“Answer me, please.” He insists. 

The tone is... Softer? 

You wince. 

“Disdain! Hate! Revulsion!” You let him know. 

This is a complete lie, you love him with all your heart, but he remains a part of your oppressors. You will not stroke his ego with a love confession. You will not give him that power over you, not so close to your goal! 

He seems to take in the info, his face slightly darkening. 

“I see... It was inevitable, giving our respective circumstances. I cannot possibly hold it against you.” He nods contemplatively. 

You huff, losing your patience. If he doesn’t disembark in the next 30 seconds you’re flying away with his corpse.  

“Not the response you hoped maybe?!” You hiss. 

“No, it was not. But it does make sense.” Any turmoils precedently on his expression already melted away to let place to the stoic mask again.  

“And why is that? You hoped i would see you as a friend despite how you treated me?!” 

His shoulders seem to drop, but you cannot be certain. 

“In a sense... Yes.” He sighs, and raises from all his height “I know it cannot do any good, especially right now, but I took a liking to you navigator (y/n)’(F/n). I simply hoped...” 

Your eyes widens like saucers and you lose track of all your thoughts in your brain. 

What... What did he just imply? 

“Nevermind.” He cuts short, “It does not matter anymore.” 

“What do you mean exactly by ‘taking a liking to you’?” You demand with a white voice, feeling your hand starting to tremble with the charric. 

He presses his lips in a thin line, either annoyed you didn’t got it the first time or silencing himself to not tell you the truth. 

“ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!” You shout at the end of your sanity, feeling like you were losing control of the situation as time flies from your grip. 

“I love you, Navigator (y/n)’(F/n).” He confesses without any ambiguity nor shame. 

You are losing your goddam mind and hallucinating that entire conversation. In two seconds you will wake up from that dream in your little cabin and realize what a fool you really are. 

This is the only realistic explanation. 

“We barely know each other!” You growl. 

“I know. Trust me, I know. And that is why I cannot explain it myself, but this is my truth, I am endeared to your work ethic, your willingness to push your own limits, your will... You. I have immense respect for you.” 

“Oh so now you are taking me for a complete idiot?!” You seethe, “A Chiss Senior Captain in love with the enslaved Alien navigator? You couldn’t even at least try not to insult my intelligence?!” 

He takes a step further, his burning rubies only fixated on your face, blatantly ignoring the charric aiming his sternum. 

“I know it must be hard to believe. I am not here to try to convince you of the legitimacy of my sentiments or to prevent you from grabbing your freedom. I simply wished to talk seriously with you for the first time... And the last.” 

Your nose flares, incredulous. Is he serious? Is he for real? The absolute nerve of the man! 

“I don’t believe you! You’re buying yourself time for your team to arrive and swat me! I should... I should shoot you down right now and flee!” Your second hand comes stabilize the gun. 

“Then please,” He gently says tilting the canon of the gun with his fingers and press it against his ribcage, “Shot me through the heart. It is the most fitting.” 

“You... You are playing with me! This is one of your strategies again!” You exhale in a painful whistle. 

“Not at all. But if I must meet my demise by your hand, I want you to destroy my heart for it is the way I failed.” 

You breathe deeply, focusing on your aim. You can do it. Put an end to everything and be free without any regret left behind... 

But your hands tremble so terribly... 

You... 

You can’t... 

His hand tilting the gun slides on the gun to delicately caress your hand and gently take the gun of your hand. You look at your trembling empty hand in disbelief. 

“You can’t kill me.” He whispers softly, “This is not in your nature to take lives.” 

You let out a single sob, lowering your shoulders and head in disbelief. 

You can’t even take a life to ensure your safety and freedom. What did you even hoped to achieve? 

He doesn’t release your hand, instead it snakes its way up your arm until he grasps your shoulder and pulls you to him. In silence he presses you against his chest, hugging you tight. 

“I am weak...” You let out  

“This has nothing to do with weakness. Choosing to spare a life no matter the odds is a difficult choice. You are not weak (Y/n).” 

“Are you going to force me back?” You ask in a tired voice, all will to fight escaping you. 

“No.” He gently craddles you, “I only hoped to say farewell before you disappeared in space.” 

“...You are not going to try to hold me back?” You sniff. 

“No” He kisses your hair, “That would be wrong to hold you hostage between my hands and my ship. You should be free. I want you to be free, even if it means I will never see you again.” 

“This is not the Chiss way.” You remind him. 

“My love order me to set you free. I could not look at myself in the mirror anymore if I tried to keep the shackles at your ankles.” 

You feel a single tear rolling on your cheek. To think that you dreamed of him embracing you for so long... 

He kisses your forehead with a subtle purr, characteristic of the Chiss and parts from you. 

“I took the liberty to add several more days of food, installed a cot behind your back, and left another microchip with money in the break room.” He tells you his tone becoming stern and professional again, his hand clasping back behind his back, “Go. Be free.” 

You look at him with hanging arms and for some reason beyond yourself, you take his face in your hands and kiss his lips. 

It is soft and short, but it robbs you both of your breath. 

You gulp as you lower back yourself, his hand tenderly caresses your cheek. 

“Please, remember me like I am today.” He demands, almost pleading. 

You nod. 

“I promise.” You say with tight throat. 

He gives you back your weapon. 

“Now, go! They will come back in a minute!” 

You spin towards the board as you hear him walking away. 

“What about you?” You ask, suddenly worried for the man of your heart, “What will become of you when they realize you let me escape?” 

He stops to look back at you, and a infinitely sad smile comes gracing his lips. 

“I will manage. Do not look back behind you and spread your wings.” 

And he disappears in the corridor. 

You throw yourself at the commands, remembering how the pilots proceeded and suddenly, all the lights of the hanger turns off. 

The black out. 

You push the shuttle’s engines to their max  

Take off... 

And disappear

@bluechiss @thrawnalani @justanothersadperson93 @al-astakbar @thrawnspetgoose @readinglistfics @elise2174 @debonaire-princess @twilekchiss @pencil-urchin@ineedazeezee @dance-like-russia-isnt-watching @obbicrystaleo @germie2037 @leo4242564 @davesrightshoe @holylonelyponyeatingmacaroni 

[1moreff-creator]

What are some dynamics (in terms of like, foils/parallels) that you enjoy in DRDT?

you’re staring at a forest and asking me for every tree i like. do you want me to write another 28k word post /lh

I jest, of course, but not about the number of interesting foils in this series. It does a fantastic job tying everyone into several key themes in ways that make their dynamics endlessly enriching for my silly little character parallel-loving brain. So, uh, get ready for a long-ish post?

CW: One mention of self-harm, self-loathing

Teruko-David: I mean, you gotta start at the center, yeah? David’s the closest thing to a “main antag” we have, and it’s no wonder; the guy’s built like a standard DR protag, obviously he’s gonna have a cool dynamic with the actual protagonist. 

These two could breathe a bit weird and somehow parallel each other doing it, that’s how much this foil permeates both their characters. From their fatalistic outlooks on the world (“my luck will always be terrible, I’ll always be betrayed” vs “people can’t change, the world sucks”), the ways they hide their feelings (Teruko was more distrustful than she first presented herself as, but cares about people more than she shows during most of CH2; while David has an entire different persona up to 2-11 and then pretends to be worse than he actually is), the self-loathing (Teruko refuses to think she could be a good person, David has the whole “inhuman” thing going on), down to the oddball sibling figure (Terubro “I know nothing about you” Tawaki vs Diana “I’m not even sure you exist” Chiem).

There’s their feelings about Xander and Min, too, which are all over the place. Obviously we all saw in 2-12 how much the British twink fucked both of them up severely, with Teruko rejecting any positive or yearning feelings she may have had about Xander (you can’t hide the cactus scene from us girl) while David vehemently defended him from any criticism. On the other side, Min is less of a narrative poltergeist (for now; XF-Ture exists), but she still comes up with them, with David calling her pathetic eleven episodes after Min hugs Teruko and Teruko’s internal monologue gives away how much she cares about the Student. 

And these parallels play into their weird-ass dynamic very well, because their beefing is founded on their similarities and their differences, out of projecting their self-loathing to someone similar at the same time they hate each other because of their disagreements on things like Xander. Crazy stuff.

Xander-Min: Mentioning these two second because they’re also Eternal Parallels. There’s almost not a single thing about these two that isn’t somehow reflected on the other. If you projected them onto each other’s direction, you would get no perpendicular component. Get it, ‘cuz they’re completely parallel- That is, by far, the nerdiest joke I’ve ever made, I apologize.

But come on. Their attitudes towards fate (the Rebel fighting it and Min resigning herself to the XF-Ture thing), the whole “holding on to the past vs wanting to move on from the past” thing, the similarities between how they actually feel about the education system (they have issues with it) contrasted with the things they actually do in respects to that (Min is still the Ultimate Student, but Xander dislikes that), their already mentioned contrasting connections to Teruko and David… Just, absolutely everything about them is a meaningful contrast. And it comes into play a lot, with their eternal beef being born largely out of these parallels. They’re awesome.

Teruko-Ace: Pretty topical for post-CH2. Ace’s entire arc is sort of a reflection of Teruko’s, yet taken to the extreme because of one particular point of contrast; Ace feared death, Teruko doesn’t think she can die. But he still basically serves as a demonstration of all the flaws in Teruko’s all mindset; the feeling of unchangeable fate, the complete lack of trust, all the good stuff. It basically allows an exploration of Teruko’s mindset from an outside perspective, which makes it easier to see the flaws in it.

Ace-Nico: Also topical, these recap foils go kinda insane. Their motives for murder, their contrasting talents (love for animals on Nico's side and fear of horses on Ace's), the way they relate to the rest of the cast, Ace's persecution complex vs Nico actively disliking how much Hu defends them, etc., it’s all very fun to see play out. 

Ace-Levi: The one who doesn’t care but protects others and tries his best to be a good person so he can be accepted in society without having issues, vs the guy that acts like an asshole because he’s scared of caring too much and he thinks the only way he can get out alive is by being the only one to survive. This leads to a fundamental misunderstanding between them that causes some of the most doomed yaoi of all time, which is the whole “Levi getting frustrated at not understanding Ace.” 

Arei-David: You’ve presumably watched 2-13, so I don’t think I need to explain all the awesome stuff that’s come from their shared themes of “good people” and self-betterment and all that. Not to mention, David’s little breakdown over Arei trusting the letter of the only friend she had being presumably born from the way he saw Xander as the only friend he had. Shit goes crazy.

Arei-Eden: Recap foils… Good people… The choice to be kind… Etc… Woah :O

Teruko-Charles: Ah, Teru’s recap foil. This one’s basically opposite of Ace’s, where Charles used to be sort of like Teruko acted in CH2, but later became a bit friendlier, if still somewhat prickly. Basically, if Ace highlights Teruko’s character traits from CH2, Charles post CH1 serves as more or less the “end goal” in a way. It goes beyond that, too, with the whole memory issues (prosopagnosia vs childhood amnesia) and, again, mysterious siblings (Terubro and Elliot what are your deals), so it’s always neat to rotate these two in the brain.

Veronika-Levi: We really don’t know too much about Vero, which always makes it a bit harder when analyzing these dynamics, but they already got some interesting points of contrast. Neither of them are particularly concerned about the deaths of the others, at least post-CH2 (Levi doesn’t grieve and Vero actively laughs at Ace’s death), but it comes from almost opposite ends of perspective. Levi doesn’t understand others because he doesn’t feel much empathy (if any at all), while Vero seems to treat the others not as people, but almost as characters to be analyzed (that’s the impression I get, at least), which makes her come off as very good at reading people but also occasionally causes her to see them as sources of entertainment first and foremost. Not to mention there’s also the fact they’re both very different people than they were in the past (Levi was some form of delinquent and now is a good person, Vero used to be outdoorsy and then no longer was). Wow that’s… more than I thought there was- How am I finding more interesting foils just by writing more???

Hu-Levi: I kinda talked about this in my CH2 PT2 analysis so read that ig.

J-Rose: A pair of recap foils who haven’t had too much yet, but a lot of their themes, in particular about fate and privilege and stuff, are pretty noticeable with them, so this is always a fun dynamic to consider.

Levi-Arturo: More recap foils, this one’s fun because of the dead family member :) Also things like their talents being related to aesthetics and both doing the things they do for a better life.

Veronika-Hu: This one’s kinda more hypothetical, since Vero in particular hasn’t had as much direct focus as other characters yet, but that’s part of what makes them fun. Past history of self-harm (even if brought on by very different feelings) is just the first of many parallels they could have, and it’s fun to see the contrast between Hu defending Nico to the ends of the Earth and Vero talking about how much she likes Arturo because of how awful he is. They’re really silly.

David-Whit: All the recap foils are fun, but I've always struggled to see this one in particular. Partly because I feel like I know less about Whit than I know about Mai :v Still, certain things like Whit ignoring anything that upsets him which connects to David constantly lying about his real feelings for his fans, which is probably what leads to David's outburst at Whit in the second trial.

Teruko-MonoTV: Because fate. Really this is here plainly because it’s just a funny as hell dynamic to even consider lol.

Teruko-Mai: Have they interacted? Has Mai had enough screen time to truly determine that this parallel truly exists? Do we even know a single theme that Mai’s character touches on for certain? No and it doesn’t matter! Because these two are clearly connected somehow and the whole “someone dearly loved - someone dearly unloved” thing makes me ill. Mai is getting mentioned in this post and you're not stopping it.

Mai-Whit: Fuck it! “We tend to idolize the dead” dynamic!!! It's very speculative, but this one’s just fun to ponder even if we have even less idea of what could be going on between the two than with Mai-Teruko.

Anyways ready for a few themes that run through a lot of characters?

David-Levi-Nico-Rose: The “feeling disconnected from the rest of humanity’s experiences” gang!!!

Min-Rose-Hu-Veronika-Arturo: The “wants to move on from the past” gang!!!

Min-Arei-Teruko-Ace: The “trying to fix mistakes” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Eden-Arei-Levi-Xander: The “what makes a good person?” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Xander-Min-J-Whit-Ace-Rose-MonoTV-Probably everyone else: Fate!!!!

And there’s more than I’m probably forgetting because I can’t possibly check every conceivable connection between these guys. At least I hope I covered most of the major ones. Thanks for the ask, these dynamics are always fun to think about!

[cecilysass]

I was thinking about how back in the day there was a really popular genre of fic called MulderTorture. I don’t hear this commonly anymore, but it used to be huge. Do you remember this?

And there was ScullyTorture, too, although I feel like MulderTorture was way more popular, or maybe that’s just me remembering it better because I enjoyed it more.

I think now people would call this whump. The style of fic definitely still exists, although I feel like it used to go WAY further than it does now, sometimes disturbingly so. (In XF fanfic. In other fandoms I think it goes plenty far.) It’s just fic with Mulder suffering physically, mentally or emotionally for angst purposes and then usually hurt/comfort. It could be MSR or slash.

It was VERY popular. Sometimes very extreme. For sure a kinky dimension to some of it. And authors used to brag in notes and in atxc posts about how much they hurt Mulder, which I feel like read out of context now seems kind of weird, but I mean people talk the same way about pretty guys in really popular AO3 ships now, so I guess same same.

Here is the fanlore page about MulderTorture.

Here’s one MT fic page.

You all remember this, right?