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#part vii
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Random Names
Part VII
A list of random names that I’ve come across to give you some variety for your next characters.
Gülcan (f)
Lars (m)
Aris (m)
Greta (f)
Renate (f)
Tilda (f)
Roberto (m)
Lola (f)
Bobby/Bobbi (f/m)
Leonhard (m)
Erin (f)
Cleo/Kleo (f)
Leona (f)
Wilhelma (f)
Parisa (f)
Mika (m)
Hosna (f)
Iordanis (m)
Kamala (f)
Fernando (m)
Markéta (f)
Paris (m/f)
Gordon (m)
Rosamund (f)
Alejandro (m)
Justus (m)
Felicity (f)
Jolina (f)
Georgina (f)
Lennox (f/m)
More names!
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seirindono · 1 year
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Update
Hi everyone!
It's been a while, hasn't it?
For some of you, this may be the first time you've actually seen me on your feed since I'm on my annual hiatus so... Hi! I'm Seirin, your friendly skeleton lover and author of The Missing Scarf, that one Undertale comic (o´▽`o)
If you were not aware, this blog is usually only active in the summer and/or during the holidays as I'm a student, but I figured I should still write a little smth as I really haven't given any news for a long while now.
So, um, this blog is still very much alive, and so is TMS!   DEMON AU TOO
Truth is, I didn't anticipate back in September the sheer amount of work I'd have to pull off this year as well as the crazy schedule, house mouves, and many, many group assignements... I've always managed but this year is just rough, both physically and mentally (that was new). I had a serious slump around new year and didn't even have the motivation to draw or open social medias for a while. 
But you know me, always ranting that health comes first and that I’ve seen enough burned out artists to know not to go beyond my limits. (* ̄▽ ̄)b  So knowing that I had this 30 pages+ lore doc, unfinished sketches and pile of unanswered asks just waiting for me whenever I wanted to work on TMS, I knew I wasn’t up for the task and had to put it off for later. And later. Again and again. 
That's about it for the venting section.
As of today, I'm still short of time but I've got some of my energy back, enough to write this anyway. But also *drum roll* to work on the next part of TMS! 
And this is where the real announcement comes in: while I'm still on hiatus, I'm planning to adjust the publication schedule a bit for this part. Until now, I'd post a chapter (1 page per day) only after I finished drawing it in its entirety. For this part however, I've decided to try a monthly (or bi-monthly) publication, to give me some leeway, and for you to have actual updates.
We'll see if I can keep up with this pace, but it seems much more satisfying for everyone  ( ´ ▿ ` )
So there you go. Sorry again to those who kept sending me Asks and dms I never got to answer. I just kinda turn into a hermit when overwhelmed or don’t notice them at all (I feel extra bad when I eventually do but every drop of energy needs to be salvaged for irl emergency), but I really appreciate the thought! And, yeah, I haven't disappeared into thin air. I’m just... Lurking here and there.  
Thanks for your patience and I'll see you soon!
Updates will be on the 1st of each month (and occasionally on the 15th)
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randomfoggytiger · 9 months
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How the Ghosts Stole Christmas In-Depth (Part VII): Mulder Will Never Let Go
The last part is here at last-- here we go!
We pick up with either Maurice or Lyda popping on a background vinyl as the ghosts prepare for the FBI agents' lethal gun down (my bets are on Lyda.)  
Scully wakes with another flash of lightning and crack of thunder, turning her head and slowly coming to life. Immediately, she gets up and starts crawling back to her escape: she’s a fighter, she won’t give up, she won’t let this thing beat her. 
Mulder, meanwhile, crumples his way downstairs… which means he somehow crawled up that ladder, mounted the second story, and wobbled his way through the door, down the hall, and to the stairs with a gunshot wound (perhaps that should have been the giveaway.)
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Also: I noticed brown patches on the front of his pant-thigh… did he have those before? They disappear after this scene... so, are they blood stains or padding for David Duchovny? 
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Fatigue and desperation warring for supremacy, Mulder drags himself face-first down the rest of the steps; and, after scraping himself along to the main foyer, finds Scully’s snail trail of blood nearly beating him to the exit. 
The song the ghosts chose just happen to be singing “From now on our troubles will be miles away--” as the two agents' paths collide with their weapons handily close by. 
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Even with all this bad blood between them, Mulder still calls out a hesitant “Scully?” when he sees her collapsed body. This effort is too much for him, and as he collapses as well.  
Snail Scully is on the move, not responding as adrenaline gives her a little boost to get going again… especially since Mulder-- the (as she currently sees him), raving lunatic-- is inch-worming his way closer. 
“Scully,” he calls out again in agony.
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She knows she’s not going to make it out of the house; but that doesn’t mean she won’t go down without fighting for her dignity, even against Mulder (perhaps even for Mulder.) Scully may not live, but her death will be on her terms; and she’s not going to let Mulder make that choice for her, half out of his mind or not. 
Abdominal crunches are no joke, and a shot to the gut on top of it makes everything worse… but none of that matters to a Scully in survival mode. 
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As Scully pulls up her gun, Mulder raises his own gun-- not surprised so much as stressed and frustrated with the seemingly insane choices his partner keeps making. 
“Pfff… I’m not gonna make it,” Scully admits, eyes fluttering in defeat. 
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“Nno, you’re not,” Mulder snaps, repressed anger surging to the surface; and he refocuses with deadly intent, “Not without me you’re not.” 
And here we see the touch of madness to old Spooky: drawn to the romanticism of a Lover’s Pact, he was betrayed by the only person he trusted; and his corpse was about to be left for dead. Maurice so effectively got into his head and twisted his darkest fears-- Scully leaving him-- that he cannot see past his own pain and fear to notice that he’s acting out what his partner is afraid of: dragging her down into the depths of madness with him.  He WILL be avenged: Scully’s shot (unlike Anasazi) was an act of selfishness which robbed him of a chance to find closure for his sister, the ultimate treachery. The one person he relied on to be selflessly steadfast and loyal (which the ghosts spun into purely consuming and self-absorbed motives) was, again, the one who gutted him, like all the others before her. 
But does that stop Mulder from wanting Scully for all haunted eternity? No: just as Mulder fell for Phoebe’s tricks and settled for Diana, so too will he cling to Scully until there is nothing corporeal left. And Scully, ordinarily, feels wanted and needed and “whole” being consumed; until she looks about, finds half her life gone and nothing to show for it except an ouroboros. Mulder is satisfied with second (in this case, hundredth) best, clinging unhealthily to what he believes makes him happy, or at least secure… or at least is close enough to happiness that he can endure it and try to be content. 
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Scully lets out a gasp of pain (and fear); and decides to get to the heart of the issue. It takes guts (heh), but there’s no denial left to hide behind. “Are you afraid, Mulder?” 
Maurice has told her he is; Lyda has told her he is; and Mulder has been told he is (and he is, to an extent.) But Scully asks him if he is: she must have proof, yes, but she also will always ask and listen to Mulder when no one else will.
He says nothing, only grips the gun with both hands and inches even closer. 
With another gasp of pain, Scully falls back and, metaphorically, breaks the first part of the curse with her courageous and trusting admission: “I am.” 
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Mulder turns away, his hands loosening their grip as her confession seeps in, hurting and healing at the same time. “I am, too,” he says in a soft, vulnerable murmur. 
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Scully takes another first step, clunking her gun down (with safety in mind) and fully giving in to the pain of death. Mulder turns on his back, too, mirroring his partner’s actions.  
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His anger has not abated, however, redirecting itself into chastisement-- bickering over the truth to the last. “You should have thought of this.” 
“You should have,” Scully bites. She is not taking the blame for this sordid misadventure when she did nothing wrong and advised him against it.  
“YOU SHOT ME,” Mulder yells, enraged that the truth is being denied even on Death’s doorstep. 
“I didn’t shoot you, you shot me,” Scully counters, her voice even, unwilling to be taunted into a screaming match during her final moments… but not willing to have Mulder’s ridiculous assumptions be the last word on the matter.
This is a full-blown domestic fight, courtesy of Chris Carter. 
Mulder’s brilliant mind makes all the connections in literally four seconds, staring at himself, then Scully; then back at himself to test his theory. Poking at bloody, gooey crime scenes has always been a pastime of his, anyway. 
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“Scully,” he perks up, way too much zest in his voice for a man who took a slug to the stomach. After Scully’s “What?”, he upgrades from inchworm to upright seal, plopping his gut to the floor with careless abandon; then rises to his knees, a jubilant smile on his face as he slaps the illusion blood on his chest. 
Ahh, Lyda, you almost got ‘im.   
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“Get up,” Mulder commands, slip-sliding his way to his feet. 
Scully immediately protests. “I can’t,” she stresses, emphasizing the last word as a pointed reminder. 
Looming over her triumphantly, Mulder visually demonstrates: “We’re not shot." 
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Scully, covered and rolling around in her own leaking blood, asks, “...WHAT?” 
Ecstatic (and a little bit crazy with relief), Mulder gently reaches for her. “C’mon,” he cajoles, helping his partner off the floor.  
Her mind starting to implode with all the hoops it's jumped through in the last hour, Scully passively lets Mulder hoist her dying body up and slap his bloody mitts to her wound, proving to her rational mind that this, at least, is real enough.  
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And now for a tenderly romantic scene from Mulder’s perspective and an absolutely mind-melding one from Scully’s: 
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Mulder has a dark thought-- this happy ending might have a twist to it-- and leaps for the door, pulling a barely-processing Scully firmly along with him. 
By the time they bolt outside, she’s gained her independent stride, both awed and spooked with her partner over their fresh, clean clothes. He, wisely, continues their winning streak and runs with her across the lawn, booking it to his car without looking back (but waiting until Scully’s car is turned on before hightailing it away from the mansion.) 
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Midnight strikes-- another failure for the year. 
“Two such lonely souls…” Lyda ruminates, contemplative and moody. 
“Can’t let our failures haunt us,” Maurice says amicably, self-awareness at an absolute zero.  
Lyda admits to the game: “Do you wonder what they were really out here looking for?”
“Hard to say. People now… this is just another joyless day of the year.”
“Not for us,” Lyda reflects, the bitterness of her talk with Mulder melting away. She’d rather be dead and old with Maurice than playing eternal mind games with handsome, haunted young men. 
“We haven’t forgotten the meaning of Christmas,” he agrees. 
It’s Lyda who reaches out first, Maurice clasping her hand tenderly with his own; and the two vanish, awash in the glow of love and Christmas joy. 
It’s their own twisted way to bring love together, seeing eternal restless and devious acts as a conspiracy all their own; one that Mulder and Scully had to beat together.  
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Back in Mulder’s lonely apartment, he’s interrupted from his dreary, morose mental contemplations (where he sits in front of while not watching an old black-and-white Scrooge laugh over not deserving so much happiness) by an unexpected knock on his door. It’s so unexpected that Mulder’s sudden happiness is doused with suspicion. He peeks from his living room warily, mulls over his next move, and decides to investigate. 
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Doubling back, Mulder clicks off the tv, taps his living room doorway posts (for good luck-- knock on wood? nervous energy both?) before launching into the unknown. 
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It’s Scully-- and she looks both annoyed and amused with herself over her inevitable pitstop. 
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“I, uh…” she casts about for an excuse, pivoting her eyes away from Mulder while scrambling. Finally she gives up, surrendering to the clumsy truth (hunching her shoulders up, squinting at her smooth ineptitude, knowing her upcoming question will be awkward for them both.) She heaves a big, dramatic sigh-- “Can I come in?” 
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“Yeah--” Mulder says too quickly, guiding Scully in by her shoulder, a soothing gesture for the both of them (in fact, for him it passes from soothing straight to thinly concealed joy.) 
Still. Mulder has to know, ever dedicated to finding the answers: “Aren’t you supposed to be opening Christmas presents with your family?” 
And here’s the set up to unwrapping presents between the two of them as an acknowledged family. Mulder and Scully have yet to claim or label the family tag-- Mulder because he doesn’t know what he can claim of Scully or even what he can offer, and Scully because she doesn’t know how much Mulder will let himself claim and she’s not going to be rejected ala The Beginning again-- but their confessions and unspoken affirmations by the end of the scene seal the deal in a way only the two of them can do. It's a little extra gift of their own. 
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“Mulder,” Scully begins, swinging away from his dark and undecorated living room (another sacrifice to his Spartan living for his quest-- better to chase aliens or look into haunted mansions than to wade the holiday lines at the nearest department store. Besides, who would stare at the tree with him? His fish?) “None of that really happened out there tonight. …That was all in our heads, right?” 
Mulder can work with denial, especially because he was gutted (metaphorically, but also) all night; and he’d rather not get into his new, sinking opinion of his actions. 
“Y…must have been.” 
“Hm.” Scully mulls over her next thought, not too satisfied with her own experience but feeling she owes Mulder at least a half-baked apology… though for what, she isn’t brave enough to say (yet.) She may be filing the ghosts under hallucinations or paranoia, but Scully is going to dismiss what she thinks are repressed and untrue thoughts of her partner. She pokes a little at herself-- “Not that, uh… my only joy in life is proving you wrong”-- and hopes that Mulder will reassure her that those thoughts never entered his head. 
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Her teasing brings out Mulder’s natural banter-- “When... have you proven me wrong?”-- but it, too, butts up against Maurice and Lyda's poisonous words. Mulder can be stubborn about his opinions, willing to chase them and ditch Scully if need be; and it leads to her hurt at his dismissals and his anger at her scoffing (ex. The Beginning and Field Trip) That selfish tendency to forget all for the chase ultimately tightens the noose of stagnation around Scully's throat: when he does so, it leaves her foolishly floundering for answers, feeling like she contributes nothing and only slows down Mulder's work.
But tonight is not about the noose for Scully: tonight is about stamping out Mulder's joy just to get a cheap thrill of self-importance: “Well… why else would you want me out there with you?”  
Fascinating: it’s early S6-- after The End shattered her confidence and FTF restored it, after The Beginning struck away her importance to the work and Drive reestablished it, after water boy tossed an “I love you” in Triangle but dropped the “normal life” cue in Dreamland I-- so this episode isn’t about Scully’s stagnation like Never Again-Milagro-All Things are: it’s about realizing her lonely, lovely man knows that, yes, she’s sticking around… but can only guess at how long. 
Mulder is touched by her Starbuck-ism: wanting to always be there, his helping hand, lovingly spieling away about the connections between lonely people and footsteps in the attic while waving her gun ready to cap anyone that threatens him. 
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But her lukewarm, unsteady answer only sloshes at the wound’s vicinity rather than cleaning it: “You don’t want to be there?”  
Scully sees two options before her: 1. wiggle her way out of a confession or 2. admit. While she is ruminating, torn on her next action, Mulder misinterprets her silence. 
“Oh, that’s…um,” he pauses, closing his eyes to search for Maurice’s exact wording. “...self righteous and…  narcissistic of me to say, isn’t it?” Mulder adds in a low and burdened voice as he grimaces and swivels his head in self-reproach. 
The manipulation of his higher impulses cuts deep, casting his need for Scully in the same box as his thoughtless, single-minded actions. They are not equivocal; but the camaraderie he was enjoying melts away as he sinks back into that self-lashing low his partner had interrupted. 
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“No, I mean…” Scully trails off, diagnosing the problem she and Mulder are suffering and, like a good doctor, deciding to disinfect it as quickly and efficiently as possible. She’s not used to being the candid open-book in this partnership; but some of the blame does fall on her shoulders; and she won’t let Mulder take his undue share (while she shoulders perhaps more blame than she deserves, too.) “Maybe I did want to be out there with you.” 
She turns her earnest little face up, giving Mulder a complete and unprotected look into her soul.
Mulder here completes the role-reversal: he keeps his guard up-- a defensive half-smirk cloaking his reserve-- as he tensely probes Scully’s expression. When she doesn’t waver, he softens, loosening his tense posture and smiling more deeply, touched and honored. 
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Scully’s had enough ungainly revelations for one night, scrunching her face in discomfort and briefly opening her mouth to answer her partner’s “You know…” while Mulder takes the opportunity to nip over and grab a surprise Christmas present. 
“I know we said we weren’t going to...“ Mulder begins sheepishly, swiping it off the tv and shyly avoiding his partner’s eyes, “exchange gifts…but, uh…” 
Scully melts, posture slumping and face shifting to touched and inept in the face of his tender-hearted little gift. 
“It’s, uh, a little somethin’,” he beams, a little less embarrassed at her reaction. 
“Mulder…” she croaks, turning up his gigawatt smile even more. 
“Merry Christmas.” 
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Scully has a little surprise of her own, too-- and boy, does she love surprises-- but not before rolling her eyes, again, at her own antics. She’s hopeless. 
“I gotta a little somethin’, too,” she adds, digging his present from her coat; and Mulder’s contentment at her happiness transforms into conspiratorial delight, chuckling deeply in anticipation and of course we both did, Scully.  
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Shaking the present like a teasing little boy, Mulder entices Scully to the couch-- who takes after him with the same gleeful, naughty delight she had when unwrapping presents with Melissa-- where we get a glimpse of his only decorations: a stocking hanging by the fish and what appears to be a reindeer paperweight to hold it down. Ever a hopeful man, is Mulder. 
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The camera pans out as Mulder continues to rattle his gift until Scully smiles; and the two of them begin their celebration by tearing into their gifts together-- as it should be. 
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Thank you for reading~
Enjoy!
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seoul-bros · 5 months
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My hope is that you experience a moment of joy and happiness at least once a day - GQ Interview Part VII
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Post Date: 18/10/2023
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dangerous-drabbles · 1 year
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some snippets from the upcoming part vii (may be subject to change):
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(Image description below cut.)
(uhhhh link to fic ig?)
[Image ID: Two images, both displaying screenshots of unpublished text. The first reads, “It was a desolate, empty place, more so in the stark light of a new morning. Here, distance was relative. The only direction that seemed to matter was away, a mass desertion from a single focal point: the city. Any other sense of goal or purpose would be at odds with the land itself.” The first screenshot ends here.
The second screenshot reads, “He recalled those he had seen before, snapshots of shape and form moving off in the distance, and compared them to the person before him. They had been little more than a mirage, it was true, but there was a marked difference in the cadence of their motion. If they had shambled, then the phantom before him flew.” Then, the second screenshot ends. /.End ID]
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zoennes · 2 years
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Zoenne Fic ❥ Missing You
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bublinko · 1 year
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Cruel Youth / Teddy Sinclair, Prequell - Part VII. comic painting Size: 21cm x 15.7cm #TeddySinclair #CruelYouth #NataliaKills #trouble #prequell
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kashmiresims · 2 years
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A WEEK AWAY - PART VII - CHANGING COURSE A High School Trip! What could go wrong? There's a change in the cold air but what kind of chain reactions come with it? Rejected hearts change courses and the time for discovery is now. READ HERE (search ‘PART VII’ for newest update)
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haunted-xander · 2 months
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The rebirth demo has me so hyped how DARE you make me wait until the end of the month for the full game
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emblazons · 29 days
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"Looks like fun, huh?"
Cloud Strife & Tifa Lockhart Golden Saucer Date • Final Fantasy VII (Rebirth)
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priceofreedom · 2 months
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"She initially visited Gongaga after the reactor exploded as part of the relief effort, then ended up calling the village her home." Crisis Core Reunion vs. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
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rocketbirdie · 2 months
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ffvii text posts
[part 2] [part 3]
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classichorrorblog · 5 months
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Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
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randomfoggytiger · 9 months
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The Scully Family In-Depth (Part VII): Mulder, Maggie, Melissa, and the Snake
One Breath is going to be a monster deep dive.
Without further ado, here we go~!
One Breath
One Breath begins with Maggie’s monologue about her daughter: 
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“Once, when she was a girl-- a very little girl-- Dana was in the woods. It was autumn. She had always been a tomboy, unlike her sister Melissa. For her birthday, her brothers had given her a bb gun and were showing her how to use it. 
"Their father had told them only to shoot at cans; but in a patch of grass, Bill Jr. found a garter snake. And the boys began shooting. Wanting to fit in with her brothers, Dana also shot at the snake. It squirmed wildly, desperately fighting for life; but as the boys continued to shoot, the snake began to bleed.  
"When she realized what she had done, Dana began to cry with irrevocable guilt. Through her tears she was saying that… something was missing from the snake. She had taken something that was not hers to take. And although deathly afraid of snakes, Dana held the animal as if sheer human will could keep it alive. The snake, its blood in her hands, died-- there was nothing she could do to bring it back.”
The camera pans to Maggie, who is smiling despite recounting a tragedy from her missing daughter’s life. It fades as the memory does; and she’s recalled completely to the present when Mulder reads her changing thoughts and cuts in. 
“It’s too soon, Mrs. Scully. We can’t give up.”  
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She closes her eyes, sighs, and looks away. Maggie concludes the story, hoping Mulder will intuit why she has given up: “That day in the woods, I felt for my daughter. But at this moment…” she sighs again, then sharply cuts her eyes back to Mulder-- something she will repeat throughout this episode, establishing an unshakeable, undeniable connection to underline her statement. “I know how my daughter felt.” 
It's sad that Maggie watched her daughter grow and live and thrive and still did not understand that part of Scully. That aspect of their relationship starts to be defined this episode; and the rot slowly grows deeper and deeper as the series goes on.
Both Maggie and Mulder feel guilt for Scully's disappearance: Maggie had dreams she didn't warn her daughter about and Mulder failed to fully disclose the danger of their work to his partner.
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They both struggle with having "murdered" the "snake" (Maggie's impassioned speech about losing her husband and her baby girl; and Mulder breaking down and cradling Scully's metaphorical spirit back in his apartment.) This is why Melissa is so, so important to this episode: she is the voice of the snake.
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Before we move on, there are a few details about Scully and her childhood that are necessary to touch on. Scully and her brothers' early relationship is mildly fleshed out in Part I (post here) of this series; but one aspect that deserves a bit of spotlight is her interactions with Bill.
Bill and Charlie are the ones to buy her the BB gun for her birthday (either a very late or very early gift because it's autumn and she was born in February-- which is sweet; because it means they spent extra months earning up the money to afford this present for their sister.) Both wanted her to have fun with them; and Bill takes the time to teach her carefully how to use the weapon, bending over and running his fingers along the muzzle in his demonstration. It's a heartwarming touch from her older brother; but it also leads to the snake's untimely death and little Dana's chewed up guilt and misery.
I also dedicated a post to Bill Jr. (and Sr.) here; but long story short, he and Scully are wired naturally around responsibility. Bill took that seriously even as a boy; but the choices he made and justified differed wildly from Scully and her personal sense of justice, affecting her deeply after she'd joined in on their 'fun' to be part of the group (ala Squeeze before she tossed Colton aside.) This lays the groundwork for the cancer arc and Emily arc respectively: his care and "teaching" becomes overbearing when it goes against the grain of her own chosen duties and responsibilities.
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When the door opens and the headstone arrives, Maggie quickly stands and walks over, purposed and determined. She stares down at it (like she will her daughter in the next scene) crushed and processing. Pivotally, it’s Mulder who shakes his head and turns away while Maggie continues to stare, resolved and facing 'the truth' head-on.
It's an interesting parallel between the two Scully mothers: Maggie was ready to pronounce her daughter dead-- as that was the likeliest outcome for her missing girl-- and didn't fight Scully's living will, seeing it as her way to respect and protect her daughter. Scully, meanwhile, ate away at her conscience by putting Emily through unwanted tests before ultimately giving up, too, and letting her daughter go. Perhaps Maggie learned the futility of all those tests and second-guesses and groundless hope with the recent death of her husband: it was quick, it was sudden, it was Christmas; but none of those things mattered. Scully probably had to live through those same epiphanies while trying to adopt then save Emily before she, too, resigned herself to fate.
I have an unsubstantiated theory: Maggie relies on her dreams, especially in the aftermath of Duane Barry; and even more especially after Mulder assures her that even bad dreams are better than having nothing to hang hope on. But what if the nightmares had stopped? And what if Maggie had taken that as a sign that her daughter was dead, and ultimately decided to sign off on a tombstone? Later, she didn't want to pull Scully off of life support at first, genuinely torn up by the choice. So, her decision to pronounce her daughter dead was not willful abandonment, even if there is no specific reason given for her actions.
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Scully is returned, locked in a coma; and by the time Mulder arrives, Maggie has shut down, too, having eyes only for her daughter's rhythmically rising breathing.
An interesting note: Maggie had to have been called by the hospital first, since she's already sitting there by the time Mulder arrives; and that means either:
#1. Both of them were listed as Scully's emergency contacts or
#2. Scully had listed her mom as the contact and Maggie had called Mulder of her own volition.
(Personally, I think she phoned Mulder because she, at least, called up Melissa, too... unless Scully listed her sister as an emergency contact, as well.)
Panic and anger setting in, Mulder tries to speak before looking up and seeing a look of speechless horror on Mrs. Scully's face. The words die on his lips as he recognizes the look-- too often in his life he's experienced that frozen, devoid, horrified feeling. And it's in that second he snaps on her behalf. 
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Only once does Maggie look up-- when Mulder spits out “HOW DID SHE GET HERE”-- before turning back to her little girl. Sitting like a stone and mutely authorizing him to rage is the ultimate form of trust Maggie can display for this strange, passionate man: she cannot vent and scream and cry without compromising her ability to make informed decisions; but the violent anger in her soul can be displayed through Mulder’s own feverish wrath. (Note: @settle-down-frohike's post here from back in the day helped to nail down this scene for me when I first started watching The X-Files.)
Mulder knows how helpless she feels; and rampages for her, his partner, his own lost girl, and the boy who never was championed for-- himself. He also demonstrates his own version of sympatico with Maggie, taking for granted that she’d let him holler and scream without upsetting or unsettling her (and she proves him correct by later sitting next to him while Scully’s doctor reads off the medical prognosis, unfazed by his previous outburst.)
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But Maggie is not completely checked out, very much aware and listening to Mulder's rants. As he yells, “Is it paramedics?? FBI?? MILITARY?? ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!” her eyes lift from the bedspread, catching and processing his words. It’s a moment of dark realization: her daughter vanished and was returned, and her daughter’s partner has (seemingly) enough of a hunch-- not unlike her dreams-- that the evil done to Scully possibly extends into all branches of government, the very institution she, her husband, her sons, and her daughter put their trust in. It’s also this moment, (perhaps) when Maggie understands the gravitas of the work, its dangers, and its consequences more than her own daughter had. At the very least it would explain why she takes each new insane development (tv-induced psychotic breaks, cancer, abduction, death and resurrection, etc.) with grace and (mostly) without comment. 
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While Doctor Daily updates both loved ones about Scully’s condition, Maggie sits forward in the same posture of dejection, taking for granted that Mulder is scooted as close as possible. He is, both arms clenched around his roiling stomach. Maggie is still quiet and withdrawn, supporting Mulder silently while he gives way to his repressed denial, rage, and agony. 
It’s another wondrous aspect of their relationship. She, like Scully, has divined that Mulder compartmentalizes away his pain as if he isn't free to feel those emotions without bringing shame upon himself. It makes sense since he bears the blame of his sister’s disappearance (his own father too cowardly and withdrawn to offer absolution and his mother too cowardly and selfish to help heal those self-inflicted wounds.)
Still, hearing Dana Scully’s comatose symptoms and the unlikelihood of her recovery snaps Maggie back into her own pain; and Mulder switches off with her, tucking his emotions away again to give her the space to process this new gut punch. 
“You haven’t told us why she’s like this,” Maggie asks, her voice hospital-low. 
 “We just don’t know, Mrs. Scully.”
Again, it sinks home for Maggie that Dana has gotten mixed up in some dark, dark forces, darker than her daughter or Mulder had let on. 
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Mulder almost rages again at the loss of trace evidence while Maggie instead focuses on the greater implication of Dr. Daly’s information, slotting it into the ugly bigger picture that is unfolding before her eyes. 
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Maggie receives her second blow, this time from her own daughter (the second of many, many secrets kept from her by Scully): 
“The FBI has notified us of the terms of Dana’s living will.” 
Mulder looks askance at Maggie, giving away he'd known this, too, but also kept from her (a pattern he will still uphold with her daughter.) His face, however, is unbothered: to him, that information doesn’t matter as long as he can rely on the family to keep Scully on life support. He shoulders in before Daly can finish reading Dana Scully’s terms; but it doesn’t stop the doctor from commenting, slightly shocked, “You signed the will as her witness.”
There is no reaction given for Maggie receiving this information; but her heartfelt and thankful looks to Mulder never cease throughout this episode, so we can assume she dropped any confusion or hurt since those feelings would be swallowed up in the chaos of impending death and miraculous recovery. But that doesn’t mean they were forgotten.  
As I've previously discussed in Maggie's Type Post (see here), Maggie is wired around grand gestures of loving and receiving, wanting to celebrate others' successes with open arms (and undesired baby showers.) When others keep secrets or cut her out from their "inner sanctum", Maggie feels unloved and rejected. Sadly, this clashes with Scully, who feels loved when given space and privacy. It's here that Maggie becomes aware how little her daughter has included her in the important details of her life; and, because of this, the rift between mother and daughter starts to slowly widen. Maggie then tries to "win" her daughter's love through support; and Scully then tries to "win" back her mother's dwindling trust while retaining her own privacy. (This comes to a head in Memento Mori-- another post for another day.) Both women love each other; but neither woman truly understands the other.
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Melissa Scully is introduced by her crystal-- a symbol of her unrepentant beliefs-- having walked in covertly and placed herself by Scully’s bedside to commune with her sister’s spirit. When Mulder walks back in, he’s immediately on alert, thoroughly sizing her up to assess if she’s a possible threat before we, the audience, have even seen her face. 
Twitching her head his way, Melissa seems to know who Mulder is before she even opens her eyes, slowly blinking into awareness and turning to him with a gentle, keen-eyed glance. 
“I’ve been told not to call you Fox,” she quips, the trademark Scully eyebrow lifting. 
“By who?” Mulder asks, hopefully tense. 
With a knowing smile-- the hallmark of a close, teasing older sister-- she replies, “Dana. Just now.” 
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Mulder is heavily disappointed when the EEG doesn’t indicate speech; and Melissa pauses, still too enraptured in her experience to comprehend what he means. When she does, she smiles-- a big, rare, Scully smile-- and tries to explain: “Her soul is here.” 
Melissa already knows Mulder, straight from her sister; and she believes she’s finally found an ally who will understand and believe her sensitivities and special abilities. Instead, her explanation is too simple for a wounded, flailing Mulder; and it rolls the ball on his distasteful impression of her hippy-dippy blind fanaticism.
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Maggie walks in and Melissa’s face falls. Her mother greets her with a polite, “I’m glad you could come, Melissa”; but doesn’t welcome her with a hug or move closer to mutually commiserate. Instead, Maggie sticks by Mulder’s side, avoiding her daughter’s gaze, already anticipating a classic 'live and let go' Melissa dogma that will grate on her heavy, sagging grief.
There is definite tension in this mother-daughter relationship. Apparently, Scully is not the only one to have caused problems with her life choices; but it appears that, while the stiffness has faded between herself and her mother-- for now-- it has taken deeper root between Maggie and Melissa. So much so that it seems Maggie does not put much stock in her daughter’s stability at all, her “glad you could come” the beginning and ending of her warmth. 
At Mulder’s “You're Scully’s sister?” Melissa truly smiles again, still counting on a fellow believer to bolster her against the disbelief of her mother and impending loss of her sister. Then she forges on ahead, not sugarcoating her methods in the face of Maggie’s ramrod posture and Mulder’s skepticism.
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However, her “Dana’s choosing whether... whether to remain or move on” riles up Mulder and sends Mrs. Scully flying from the room. Hurt crosses both family members' faces: Maggie because she knew Melissa would bring her New Age philosophy into the sick room, and Melissa because she sees that this part of herself is still rejected and scorned by Maggie; and the schism metaphorically (and literally) widens.
The elder Scully daughter sets that issue aside, for now, not wanting to poke at the wound in their relationship while another gaping one is ripping open; but she does not pause her 'outlandish' methods, either.
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“You can feel her,” Melissa insists, gently grabbing Mulder’s arm and slowly pulling it parallel to Scully.
He is skeptical, wary; but he wouldn’t be Mulder without a flickering flame of hope underneath it all.
Carefully avoiding his gaze-- not wanting to make this man feel uncomfortable or embarrassed by trying something he’s averse to-- she guides, “Here,” closing her eyes unselfconsciously again to demonstrate, a teacher to an half-hearted pupil. 
(Side note: Mulder has his hospital tag clipped to his pants pocket instead of his sweater. I don’t know why that amuses me-- I mean, it’s logical to do so... but amuse me it does.)
Her purpose here, Melissa believes, is to give hope: to give a voice to her sister, advocate for her decisions, and take the sting out of the family’s sorrow. Death is inevitable, ugly, torturous; but if the patient is dying on her terms, there is a peace which helps balm the horror of sudden and undeserving loss. Maggie doesn’t accept this comfort until later; but Mulder refuses it, quite literally having to be backed in a corner (or his hole-in-the-wall apartment) before setting down his cynical defeat to honor his partner’s wishes (which he’s learned by Redux II: “I knew you would talk me out of it if I was making a mistake.”)
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this post detailing Mulder's emotional growth in One Breath; but a lot of that change is rooted in Melissa's healthy pushes forward and tough love. Scully had already been slowly opening up his affectionate side (post here); but it is Melissa’s lesson that truly breaks down his first emotional barrier. Forcing Mulder to give dignity and respect to the dying-- no matter how tragic their decisions-- allows him to finally, finally confront and honestly deal with own pain. This takes a massive chunk out of that wall he's built to protect himself (as Maurice points out in How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, post here) and leads to his dramatic transformation into an unashamedly emotional Mulder eager to pour out his fears and devotion and love in voluminous caresses and unguarded expressions.
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The bridge to Scully’s soul unfolds before us. It’s the first glimpse of the world-between-worlds the episode shows; and I find it fascinating that there seems to be different realms accessible to different people. Those calling to her-- the living and her nurse-- try to reach her mind on the dock; her father-- the dead-- talks to her body in a white room while she lies, stretched, on an autopsy table; and Scully herself rests in a green thicket of woods-- like Skinner had described-- not perceiving her guests visually until the forest melts away and she regains consciousness. It’s a great touch that Morgan and Wong did for this episode-- what is the true location of this undeath? All of them? Are some of them only created to fit an individual’s role or perspective? That's another X-File, I suppose.
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“She’s not here,” Mulder states-- incredibly harshly. To him, Scully isn’t a free-floating aura that can be touched: she’s a mind; and that mind is shut off from him. She’s not “here.”
“Oh, your anger… your fear is blocking any positive emotion she needs to feel.” 
Mulder pulls away, breaking the illusion; and Melissa is bereft. He was supposed to understand, to help, to trust in and speak for Dana to a greater degree than even herself. Scully, after all, talked to her sister about Mulder “just now”: his role in her life is so important she spoke out through the paralyzing effect the coma has on her mind. But he won’t release his hold on that anger; and because of his refusal, he can’t help her sister.  
He and her mother see Scully as already inaccessible; but while Mulder will grasp onto a last hope by keeping her heart pumping even if her brain deteriorates, Maggie is more inclined to let the snake go, her self-blame weighing her down with listlessness instead of aggression and vengeance. Melissa's role is to represent Scully's pardon by lifting the guilt from both their shoulders, advocating for her sister’s wishes to her mother and railing against Mulder’s ruinous anger. 
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Mulder dismissively adds, “I need to do more than just wave--”
Melissa hardens, scowls, already knows what’s coming. She’s heard it all before. 
“-my hands in the air.” He dashes off, leaving Melissa Scully and her hurt behind him.  
There’s a split second where the Scully stoicism almost wins; but Melissa gives into the pain, allowing her anger to fade and the tears to well up and cleanse it away.
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Her emotions crumble only long enough to be productive before they are folded back up; then Melissa turns back to the bed, determined to be a steadfast, supportive rock for her sister.  
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Thanks for reading~
Enjoy!
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thelvadams · 10 months
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FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH • Early 2024
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lotuslate · 6 months
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“When a living person goes in here, both the body and the soul, they cannot return, unable to get out for all of eternity.”
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