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[wellmyself]

AO3 Top Relationships Bracket - FINALS

This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

[wellmyself]

AO3 Top Relationships Bracket - FINALS

This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

[wellmyself]

On this day, 30 years ago, The X Files premiered and we first met this dynamic duo that would change our lives forever. When Dana Scully walked into that basement and introduced herself to Fox Mulder, she didn’t know but she would start a long journey and we would be there right beside her. Together they uncovered many secrets, unraveled conspiracies and fought against the system. But they also found each other and the deepest kind of love and commitment one can only dream of. It’s my favorite show, my comfort place and my refuge in hours of sadness. I miss them every day but I’m forever grateful for all we have… every episode, two movies, behind the scenes, photos and videos. I wouldn’t change a day.

Happy anniversary, philes!

[wellmyself]

So…

It’s not like anyone, even myself, really cares anymore, but… I guess that it’s the moment to say something, even if it means barely a thing.

Yesterday, the show I grew up with, the show I learned to love and care so much and that has become such important part of my life to the point I marked it on my skin (I have two tattoos related to the show) celebrated its 30th anniversary. There was a big convention organized by a nice group of people that took effort in making this dream come true. It was not easy but apparently things worked well. I’ve seen fans happy, sharing their pics, saying how special it was for them to be able to meet cast and crew, as well as other philes who love the show was much as they do. I could not attend for financial reasons, but I’m happy to see all that love directed to The X Files and to people who created it.

It leads me to why I’m writing this. The two absent lead actors, David and Gillian. Yeah… I know the relationship fans have with a beloved show is completely different from the one actors have with their job. It’s not as emotional as we wish it was. It’s mostly business. But we all have to work and we know we get attached to elements of our job, friends, memories, the experience itself. So it makes me incredibly sad when none of them mentions the 30th anniversary of the show that make them who they are.

Am I disappointed? No. Am I frustrated? Nope. I’m just sad. I know there is the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike to consider, but I feel like something went missing. It’s Mulder and Scully we’re talking about… and there is this void, this empty place of their missing this milestone. And it makes ME sad.

I know David is not very active on social media. I know he isn’t good at promoting his own work. I can understand his not posting about it. He has talked about how important the show was for him to become the author/actor/director he is, its importance in his life, he joined the writers of the show at the picket line with that funny sign saying The Residuals are Out There. It’s not the same and I wish he had a better team to take care of his SMs. We know he could use a better promotion.

My real problem is with Gillian, and it’s nothing new, unfortunately. The fact that there is a post about the 10th anniversary of The Fall and nothing for the 30th of The X Files is just one the things that pisses me off. She even had her SM girl online yesterday to reblog Connie’s post, but nothing about the show. And we know she could make it without saying its name, without breaking any rules if she wanted. And that’s my problem with her… she only uses the show for clout, for its money. Just a little reminder: Netflix pays no residuals for all her shows. That alien show she dislikes so much and she wants so badly to erases from her filmography is exactly the one that pays her the residuals actors are fighting so hard to get. That bizarre beverage company she pretends to work hard with drinks - sorry for this pan - from The X Files likes nothing else. Why don’y they have Sex Ed or The Fall featuring in their posts? Why Scully? Let the show be… or at least show it some gratitude for the fans and the most iconic character she will ever play.

I’m sorry if I sound bitter… it’s just bc I cannot with the lack of love Gillian displays for Scully. And Scully deserves so much better. She is such a decent person. As a phile, I wish Gillian could appreciate her more than she actually does.

Anyway, I hope, one day, Gillian gets herself a better team, people who really care about her image and her legacy, people who will advice her to do the right thing in order to preserve her name recognition and the career she built so hard without the help of any bf.

Stay sane, folks!

Bye

(P.S.: sorry for my broken english… I typed at the gym. I may correct it later)

[wellmyself]

THE X FILES 30TH CELEBRATION ANNIVERSARY

day two — favorite season

favorite episodes of season 5 + VHS covers (insp).

@lgbtqcreators creator bingo 💖 poster design.

[id in alt]

[wellmyself]

Happy Birthday to David Duchovny.

August 7, 2023 is the 63rd birthday of my favorite writer of the 21st Century. David Duchovny has written four novels, one novella, co-written a graphic novel, three albums of original music and scripts for movies and television plus a chapbook of poetry. Why do I like his writing so much that I celebrate his birthday? He has a style that fits my world view in a way like no other writer.

It was Charles Dickens who wrote this passage, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-“

It is David Duchovny that writes in a way that seems to claim that this is every day. He knows in the depths of despair, a person can find something funny. In the celebration of joy a bittersweet wish for someone gone surfaces. He instills frailties and flaws in all his characters and then celebrates resilience and the way we find connections. Those who might criticize inconsistencies in his tone of written books, films or television are missing the point. We all walk around daily with tonal dissonance. We yell at the people we love while being kind to strangers. We relish the beauty of a sunrise after a night beside a dying relative at the hospital. We worry over things that won’t matter a month from now and, yet, seem to pay little attention to the significance of action and thoughts of today. We are intellectuals who make foolish decisions and we are fools who intuitively do the right things. We are selfish and generous. No writer expresses this reality of life as well as Mr. Duchovny. He tells good stories which cross genres and forms. He is interested in the way stories get told and how we connect to them. He paints with words a reality of life that contains so much tragedy and fairy tale, it feels real even when it is about a cow’s journey to India or a man’s fevered dream before death due to COVID. He is interested in how we all write the narrative of our own life and that inspires me, when I frequently fail to achieve or have done something stupid, to consider what the narrative of my own life should be, to forgive myself, to seek a reason for joy.

I truly hopes he writes more in the years to come. So, with that selfish wish that he has a long life so I can enjoy his words, I wish him a Happy 63rd. .

[wellmyself]

the eyes say it all

[wellmyself]

This is officially a sexy darkest timeline. Krycek doing some dirty work before being assigned to work with Mulder. 😏

[wellmyself]

Hi, long time no see, you guys! Since Gillian has been nice to the show in her interview I decided she was no longer banned from here. So if anyone wants to read her last article and haven’t been able to here it is… enjoy!

[wellmyself]

Hi, long time no see, you guys! Since Gillian has been nice to the show in her interview I decided she was no longer banned from here. So if anyone wants to read her last article and haven’t been able to here it is… enjoy!

[wellmyself]

Hi, long time no see, you guys! Since Gillian has been nice to the show in her interview I decided she was no longer banned from here. So if anyone wants to read her last article and haven’t been able to here it is… enjoy!

[wellmyself]

THE X-FILES | Darkness Falls (1.20)

I told her it was going to be a nice trip to the forest.

[wellmyself]

My Top Ten Mulder & Scully Hand Holds

Because on X-Files holding hands is the equivalent of 1st base. So here is a list of my favorite times Mulder and Scully held hands. (I should be doing real work, but fuck, this important too, right?) 

Disclaimer: none of the gifs our mine. Message me I’ll happily give any and everyone credit where credit is due. 

10. Dreamland - The “Forearm Grab/ We’re Partners” Hold

I’m actually not a fan of this episode, (read more on that here) but I can’t deny the power of this shot. Mulder and Scully holding hands on the Area 51 highway as mysterious lights pass overhead. It’s so iconic and so perfectly X-Files that it has to be on this list. (If anyone has a gif of this moment please send my way.)

9.  Tithonus - The “Thumb War in the Hospital” Hold

It’s so sweet and friendly. thetvmouse referred to it as a secret handshake and I think she’s onto something. I like to think they do this every time one of them is in the hospital, which is a fuckton. (Funny that the FBI’s health insurance never audited Mulder and Scully, but the end of the series their deductibles must’ve been a fortune!)

It’s classic Mulder and Scully: communicating through loaded gestures only they understand and leaving the rest of us to fill in the blanks.

No doubt about it, this is their secret hospital handshake. 

8. Post-Modern Prometheus - The “Take My Hand, We’re Gonna Dance” Hold

Is this technically a hold? They clutch hands then it leads to dancing. If this does count as a hand hold, it’s the one that yields the best results. 

7. Field Trip - The “Reaching for Each Other in the Ambulance” Hold

There are multiple ways to look at this. At face value, this hold represents the strength of their connection. They were almost digested in the earth, locked in hallucinations from their own minds, and the thing that broke them out was how well they knew each other. Deep down they need each other exactly as they are. Mulder doesn’t want Scully to unquestioningly accept aliens and Scully doesn’t want to have to go back to living in an ordered and conspiracy-free universe. The truth they both know is that as long as they have each other, warts and all, they can survive anything. 

Then there’s the alternate theory of this episode: that Mulder and Scully actually did die in the field and that everything after this episode, the season 6 finale, seasons 7, 8, 9 and I Want To Believe are all an elaborate hallucination conjured up by their dying minds. If we buy that interpretation there’s still beauty in this gesture. If they are dying, then they are dying together, connected for eternity. 

6. Little Green Men - The “I Still Have You” Hold

Is this the first time they held hands? I’m not sure. It certainly is the a big gesture for their partnership. The bureau may try to keep them physically apart, they may try to destroy Mulder’s work and break his spirt, but Mulder and Scully are in this together, partners through and through. It’s also a demonstration of a powerful hand holding theme we see later: Scully choosing to stand by Mulder.  (I’d love a gif of this too)

5. Redux II - The “I Don’t Want to Let You Go” Hold

This is such a beautiful vulnerable Scully moment. She usually doesn’t let her emotions control her actions which is what makes this hold all the more heartbreaking. She’s dying and this could be her last moment with Mulder. She knows has to let him go do his thing, fight for his quest, but deep down she wants him to stay with her until she slips into the dark. So she has a moment, just a moment, where she wants to be selfish, she wants to beg him to stay, wants to hold onto him as long as she has breath in her body. But she knows she can’t stand in the way of him or his quest, so she slips her hand from his fingers and releases him, letting him continue fighting the fight without her. 

4. The Truth - The “Hold and Kiss”

There are very few moments we get to enjoy Mulder and Scully openly expressing their love for each other. This is one of the finest, especially the way he locks eyes with her. They never verbally say the words “I love you” but Mulder is saying it here and Scully knows it. We all know it. 

3. Red and Black - The “Reaching for Mulder in the Dark”  

Her mind is in another place. She’s on the bridge with a score of fellow abductees, watching as strange lights fly overhead and rebels surround them for the slaughter. But even when her mind is elsewhere, facing the unknown alone, her body instinctively reaches for Mulder, subconsciously aware that he’s next to her and she needs him. This is important for Mulder too, this session comes in the season where Mulder is questioning his beliefs, more skeptical of the alien conspiracy and his memories than we’ve ever seen him. After Scully gives her account of the events, Mulder remains unconvinced, unable to believe that Scully’s ordeal actually happened. Yet, in this moment, even if he doesn’t believe her, he’s there for her. Mulder’s always there for Scully. 

2. Pusher - The “Delicate Finger Grab” 

I love this for so many reasons. Nothing in Mulder and Scully’s relationship is conventional, not even the way they hold hands. Scully’s reach is tentative: her searching, delicate fingers hoping to offer comfort but not fully committing. Mulder needs to complete the gesture, if he doesn’t want it, she’ll move her hand away. But he does. He reaches out and clutches her fingers tightly, reassuring her that they feel the same way. They just faced one of the biggest threats to their partnership and they passed. This is a confirmation of their connection. “Are we okay?” Scully asks, with her tentative hands. “Yes,” Mulder says with a squeeze, “we’re okay.”

What’s also great about this hold is according to Vince Gillian, who wrote the episode, he had to fight for it. Apparently both Chris Carter and Frank Spotniz where reluctant to put it in fearing it’d was “too soap operay.” But Vince fought for it and rightfully so. It’s a testament to the strength and power of the MSR ‘ship, even in the early days of the series. 

1. Fight The Future, The Beginning, I Want To Believe - The “Side Hand Grab” aka The “If I Quit Now, They Win” aka The “Scully” aka The “Hold to End All Holds”

The one and only. So much conveyed in such a small gesture. But it’s not a small gesture, it’s massive, more powerful than a kiss or an embrace. This, the way Scully grabs Mulder’s hand, is the essence of The X-Files. 

The X-Files is the story of a believer and a skeptic who come together searching for the truth in an uncertain universe. They are equally matched but they aren’t always equally balanced. The quest is always Mulder’s, it originated from him and he is the primary driver. Scully is always following behind him. Even in later seasons, when Mulder is gone and she’s leading others, the path she walks is one blazed by Mulder; she’s still following the idea of him, continuing his work.

And that’s a tricky dynamic because if it’s done poorly it could threaten Scully’s agency. It could seem like she has no goals of her own, she just spends her time following after a man who believes in monsters with no thought of herself or her wants and needs. But the X-Files never falls into that trap (unlike say, Doctor Who). Scully never feels like a directionless character. It never feels like she’s just a supporting player in the Mulder Show. This is because every step of the way Scully CHOOSES to be there. Again and again she is given the chance to walk away. Walk away from the X-Files, walk away from the bureau, walk away from Mulder, walk away from a chaotic universe where her precious science and logic hold no power. 

But she doesn’t.

Even when she loses so much: her sister, her health, her children, her chance for children, her safety, her career, her reputation, her chance of a normal life, SHE CHOOSES MULDER. Because while she may not always believe him, she’s always believed in him. She’s believed in him the moment she lay on his bed and he told her about his sister. That’s the moment when his quest became hers and something inside her knew that she couldn’t leave this man to fight in the dark alone. 

That’s what this hand hold is. It’s Scully choosing Mulder. It’s Scully reaching out and grabbing his hand and holding on for dear life. It’s her commitment to him, his quest, his beliefs. 

Because she wants the truth too. And she’s willing to fight and die for it a thousand times over. 

This is their connection.

We first see this hold in Fight the Future, but it’s used again in The Beginning:

Here she’s trying to ground Mulder, remind him that she’s here for him (and Fowley isn’t) and whether he likes it or not, she’s not going anywhere and she’s not giving up the fight. 

Then we see it again in I Want To Believe:

It’s from a different angle, but come on, we know this is “The Scully.” She “may be done fighting monsters in the dark”, but she’s never done with Mulder. Where he goes, she goes. And this time, Mulder closes his hand over her fingers and holds her back, acknowledging their bond, thanking Scully for choosing him over and over again. 

[wellmyself]

👽 Random X-Files Fic Rec

OMG THIS STORY! It’s a brilliant, well-written continuation of the season 6 finale “Biogenesis” that takes the storyline and characters into interesting places full of romance, intrigue, betrayal, and action. Mulder and Scully are the featured players, but tons of familiar faces show up in meaningful ways, including Skinner, Krycek, Maggie Scully, the Lone Gunmen, Cigarette Smoking Man, and Diana Fowley. Title: Pythagorean Harmonics Author: Vesalius Summary: What if Pythagoras was right and all IS number, and the universe is indeed harmonious? Post-ep study of the human condition. Length: 225k (~38,100 words) Classification: MSR, Story/Adventure Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: Biogenesis Favorite line: They were parched, and both drank deeply of the moment. Read the story!

[wellmyself]

Do you have any good au recs?

i’m assuming here that you want actual alternate universe fic, rather than just canon divergent fic, by the phrasing of the question. if that isn’t what you meant, feel free 2 correct me. actual au isn’t super common at the moment in this fandom, but i’ll link you to a couple that i’ve read recently and like! if any of my followers have any recs, feel free to reblog with them or comment. i honestly don’t know too many.

paracosm by softnow is an absolutely brilliant, albeit unfinished, college au. it’s so, so sweet and i will rec it as many times as possible.

au cafe pequod by @sunflowerseedsandscience is an excellent and engaging historical au set during in a french town during WWII. it also has a sequel!

cops and robbers by @wtfmulder is a fun and smut-ridden 70s au that’s currently in progress

the countess by @slippinmickeys is the regency era msr romance that you never knew you needed

the sprite universe by inkspl0tches is an two part fic involving a strange child and a semi-au post-apocalyptic scenario

close to knowing by @o6666666 is an emily au that’s i suppose closer to canon divergent, but has to be on any au rec list i make because it melts my heart

[wellmyself]

What kind of perfume does Scully wear?

honestly, at the beginning of the show, i don’t think she wears perfume at all, and she usually smells like her shampoo (which is almond or lavender, something sweet but gentle).

she starts around s4, when she discovers she might be dying and wants to be noticed and paid attention to — something amber heavy, warm, musky. she decides she likes it and keeps it up. mulder picks up on it immediately and obsessively, and loves it.

when they’re on the run, it isn’t realistic to keep it up. it’s back to her shampoo, now with his aftershave, too. she always smells as much like him as she does herself. he buries his face in her neck, her stomach, in between her breasts, breathes in her and himself and thinks, mine. when they’re living in the unremarkable house, they smell the same most of the time, clean detergent, and lavender sprinkled on the floor before vacuuming, the body wash they both use. there’s no place where he ends and she begins. just a never ending circle. an ouroboros.

when they split up pre revival, she starts wearing the perfume again, the same one she’d worn way back in the 90s. she doesn’t admit it to herself, but it’s because she needs something to take the place of their combined scent, and it’s what she’s familiar with. when they reunite, the scent of it drives him absolutely insane.

she still wears that perfume, but only because she loves the way his eyes darken when he gets close enough to breathe it in.

[wellmyself]

In my book, I’d written that Agent Scully falls in love, but that’s obviously impossible. Agent Scully is already in love.