#[FORMAL DOCUMENTATION]

[the-most-humble-blog]

A Humble Unofficial Document for Weak Dogs and Loud Women🚨

Issued by: The Apex Council of Homo Sapiens, Rulers of Earth and Beyond -

Seal of Authentication: 🏆

A Formal Reminder of Humanity’s Superiority, Intended for Those Who Mistake Animals for Equals and Forget Their Place.

Whereas:

The dog, though loyal, remains a beggar at humanity’s table, content with scraps and belly rubs, forever unable to craft art, wield fire, or vote (not that we’d trust it).

The chimp, though clever, will tear a face off at the drop of a banana, proving once again that raw instinct cannot rival intellect.

All beasts, from the majestic tiger to the lowly ant, lack the ability to write poetry, invent memes, or reflect on their cringe teenage years.

Be it resolved:

Those who elevate animals above humans shall henceforth be referred to as Beast Apologists.

Beast Apologists are advised to refrain from intellectual debates, as their arguments hold as much weight as a bird’s nest in a hurricane.

Should they persist, Beast Apologists are encouraged to “live as the beasts do,” which includes, but is not limited to, eating raw carrion, sleeping in filth, and forfeiting access to indoor plumbing and Netflix.

Official Seal of Hilarious Authority: 🏆 Humanity remains undefeated, despite the misguided squeals of weak dogs and loud women. Should any Beast Apologist wish to contest this document, they are invited to do so in the nearest jungle, face-to-face with a chimpanzee.

Signed: The People Who Actually Build the World.

⚖️ LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This post is written for the purpose of artistic expression, cultural commentary, and psychological exploration of social and gender dynamics. It does not condone or encourage violence, harassment, or discrimination of any kind. Any references to power, strength, restraint, or critique are metaphorical, symbolic, and rooted in historical and cultural analysis. This is not a call to action — it’s a cultural mirror. If you feel offended, ask yourself if it’s from actual harm — or from seeing something you hoped no one would say out loud.

✨ TL;DR: If you're mad, it’s probably not because it’s wrong — it’s because you know it’s true.

[thegreatcrowdragon]

Shadow milk takes control of Pure vanilla and when he wakes up they’re getting married. Shadow milk is wearing the frilliest fanciest wedding dress known to man

[gristlegrinder]

okay so at this point i am 99.9% sure the wizard timeline is like

be isgarren during the last dragonrise

meet waiting sorrow. she’s doing bad. perform seer ritual on her to protect her from jormag

leave her to figure things out on her own

get disowned by your people for performing wizard ascension on a bear (it’s probably more complicated than that but it really doesn’t help)

get wizard tower. become hermit(?)

meet eparch. invite him back to your house. have a situationship with him for a good bit

he may or may not take you home to his nightmare dimension at some point to meet his family. (peitha overhears whatever this was)

tell him about sorrow, the reason you got kicked out of the fhogos. he seems really interested in becoming a wizard with you. it’s kind of gay. you say no. he keeps asking.

eparch breaks and slaughters an entire village after starving himself to prove he can be a good wizard. freak out. kick him out of your house. block his number.

go back to being a hermit

meet mabon. take pity on him like you do everybody you bring home. you let him ascend because he hates himself and therapy isn’t an option. this time you’re going to not fuck it up

be extremely nervous that you might have made a very very bad mistake with your last ex. start telling mabon the two of you need to fortify tyria’s defenses. this is mostly not about the dragons

run into waiting sorrow, who definitely remembers you more than she should and is very skilled at magic. she’s dating the forgotten you’re into. unclear if you or sorrow met vass first

you gotta keep an eye on her so you don’t have two dangerous exes running around behind your back. surely turning this into an immortal polycule won’t make a mess of all of your interpersonal relationships.

convince sorrow to live with you and mabon. ascend vass because she’s also here. officially create the wizard’s court

(akeem joins them at some point after this)

mabon and sorrow rescue dagda from her extremely bad living situation, she also becomes a wizard. things are normal.

SURPRISE! EPARCH’S BACK, BABY! vass and akeem get murdered and it sucks and sorrow starts questioning basically everything

sorrow leaves without talking to you. have a fucking meltdown

throw yourself into fixating on your demon ex because this has turned into a centuries-long war and increasingly isolate yourself from your loved ones and colleagues in the process of picking at your wounds and sitting in your guilt

mabon and dagda get themselves a dwarf boyfriend

????????

??????????????????

anyways enter the pact commander—

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 9 "signs and wonders" thoughts

reading this episode’s description… a guy who plays with snakes gets bitten by snakes? this i do find to be quite believable.

after some silly episodes with the EXCEPTION of orison (my beloathed), i am expecting some serious mode kind of stuff to take place here today. 

i have also been wondering where my friend skinner is. and what he has been up to. as well as my acquaintances CSM and mrs. mulder and krycek. but this seems like it will be a monster of the week type of gig, and will likely not provide any answers as to their whereabouts. 

(post-episode thoughts: woah... i liked this one. it had so much to say on religion that i will analyze at length. it had silly agent time. it had SERIOUS agent time. it had super protective scully. it had a rather absurd snakey plot that somehow still managed to make interesting cultural commentary. a solid episode! i enjoyed watching it and following along with the twists and turns! and then i giggled at the end with the cheesy CGI! i really can't ask for much more than that!)

well! let us begin without delay!

we open in a thunderstorm in tennessee. i see a bug in someone's room. and test results in a guy’s hand. he rips them up. and begins praying to the holy ghost. repenting. as he holds a photo of a girl.

AH! someone is outside his window. OH, i did NOT like that!!! no ma’am!

where is bro going and why does he have his gun?

oh shit!! it wasn’t a bug of some sort i saw. it was a rattle!! of the rattlesnake variety! i guess he keeps a loose one on his dresser? uh. weird.

he cocks his gun. runs with his suitcase out to the car. frantically buckles himself in. but he drops his keys!!! and he hears more rattling!!

snake!!! in the car!!! this is not where snakes are supposed to go!! bro is scared af. many snakes!!! they approach from all angles!!! he cannot escape!!

he asks jesus for help, but idk man. things aren’t looking great.

he shoots at the snakes! but they just keep rattling!!

it’s unclear if he lacks enough bullets to kill all the snakes, or if they keep multiplying somehow in some sort of divine way.

well, this isn’t too outlandish. i happen to find snakes getting into a car on the more believable side of things we have seen on this show. even if it did seem like that creepy window guy put them in there. which is also pretty believable, all things considered.

intro time!!! you better dance!! and cheer!!

ooo, very short intro!! 

is it agent time? yes, it is!!! they’re looking at snakes on the internet!! which is what the internet was practically invented for!!!! look at this old school snake website!!! 

well, actually, it’s just mulder looking at the snake website and talking to someone on the phone. but scully arrives. so don’t worry. 

LMAOOOO HE SPINS THE MONITOR AROUND TO SHOW HER AND SHE DECLARES “snakes” <- WHY IS THAT KILLLLLLLLLING MEEEEEE

“lots and lots of snakes” is his genius reply…. okay, i see the callback to that one beloved s3 exchange: “files” “lots and lots of files” 

i love when they say stupid stuff <3

AUGH, mulder shows her a photo of a dude has been snake… uh… idk? bitten? but he’s all puffed up. and honestly, he looks more like he was put in the oven and lightly toasted than attacked by an animal. his name is jared chirp. must be the fellow who we saw earlier with the test results and infested car.

he was bitten 116 times!! by 50 different snakes!! mostly copperheads and rattlers.

he died in his car. scully asks a great question: what happened to all the snakes? the answer: NOBODY KNOWS!!! a snake mystery!!

and mulder will have you know that he just got off the phone with a herpetologist who is very confused because those snakes are supposed to hibernate in the winter. nerd. he looks handsome today, though.

so… a murder? seems it. but there’s no evidence of anyone placing the snakes in there for it to be considered foul play!

scully says that it could be symbolic- snakes are a symbol of religion and evil- and mulder seems to be making eyes at her as she says this. which, well, same. maybe these snakes really WERE serving evil, he proposes.

sorry man. i’ve gotta giggle a little. snake murder. the things we have seen with these agents….

down in tennessee, a funeral takes place. “jared is in a better place now, gracie” says the reverend. well buddy, gracie looks pretty pregnant, and jared being in a better place ain’t gonna put food on the table, so let’s address that concern. 

wait, that’s the girl from the photo that jared was holding! she looks so young… 

the agents are here to see reverend mackey, who is the fellow who rather unhelpfully pointed out that jared is in a better place. scully watches gracie walk away….

mackey regrets talking to the sheriff about the way jared died. BUT. before jared came to their church, he belonged to a snake handling church. so. you can see how things look. 

at this snake church of signs and wonders, they think the holy spirit protects them. this just reminds me of the verse about not tempting god. when the devil says to jesus to throw himself off a tall building, and jesus says no. maybe they skipped that one in snake church sunday school.

jared grew up in that snake church!! he left it with gracie. and they were persecuted by the members after their departure. it is led by enoch o’connor.

why does mulder look so good today... do i need to be put down?

they take the rental car off to snake church- just another day for mulder and scully! the building looks old and scary af.

“snake handling. i didn’t learn that in catechism class” “that’s funny, i knew a couple of catholic school girls who were expert at it” <- JAIL TIME. NOWWWW.

he looks at her to see if she laughs and she doesn’t, LMAOOO

why is bro in a big coat in tennessee! truly living up to my url, which i appreciate, but he has to be hot!!

the door opens and they let themselves inside. HAHA! YES!! i love when they do that!! just enter places without any sort of permission. one of their most endearing qualities. it’s super dark. and the door shuts behind them.

YEAHHHH, THEY BUST OUT THE FLASHLIGHTS, LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO!!!!

“rattlesnakes and medieval visions of damnation. well, i, for one, feel a whole lot closer to god” “i don’t know, scully. when you… when you get right down to it, is snake handling any harder to buy into than communion wafers or transubstantiation….?”

why is he like this... why can’t he just LISTEN FOR ONCE? must he always poke poke poke at scully for having faith and be like "well, you're not THAT different from these snakey freaks" GRRR.

“or believing in flying saucers, for that matter” <- he had that one coming. get his ass, scully.

“i’m just saying that-that your faith and o’connor’s seem to be based off on the same book” now what do you mean by that. 

AHHH! A SNAKE BY HER FOOT. she doesn’t see it!

“uh-oh, scully, what do you think o’connor keeps in here?” “something slithery?” <- THESE IDIOTS….. they’re killllllling me. her voice was so silly when she said that. excuse me, you two, stop joking around while investigating a murder.

(please never stop joking around while investigating a murder)

mulder shakes the box and says it’s okay, it’s empty. which scully realizes is not a good thing because... where tf are the snakes, then? an average moment of scully common sense.

ahhh! ratting everywhere!!! they pull their guns!!! and in comes a guy. this must be o'connor.

he says they have nothing to fear if they’re righteous people... and mulder asks for help just in case they’re not, LMAO

he picks the snakes up with his hands, which is pretty crazy. do you think they hired an actor who worked with snakes? or did they get specially trained snakes who are good at listening to directions and being picked up?

o'connor claims chirp died in a test of righteousness. he says the agents don’t know which side they’re on and that they can leave. creepy!!!

scully does NOT seem to like snakes!!! she does not like being here either, lmaoooooo

back to gracie…. who is being handed some tea by a woman later revealed to be named iris. in walks the reverend mackey. iris tells him that jared called the boardinghouse before he died!!! she didn’t wake gracie up, because she was asleep. and he sounded like he’d been drinking. ranting about the devil and his sins.

the reverend mackey asks (very sensibly) why she didn’t tell the police this crucial information. because how tf is she supposed to tell gracie that she kept her from speaking to her husband the night he died??

well. i think the police still would have liked to know that, regardless of how uncomfortable of a conversation with gracie it would be! 

he says he will help her talk to gracie. but now it’s study group time.

back at the snake church (it's really called something like the church of signs and wonders, but snake church rolls off the tongue and gets to the point), they’re strumming the banjo, hollering, reading from revelations. that was some nasty imagery of god vomiting people up. god hates the lukewarm, says o'connor. 

the other church is going over the same verse!! mackey puts the verse in a historical context, saying it’s not as harsh as it seems. iris is stapling some programs.

oh lord. at the church of signs and wonders, they’re doing the thing where o'connor touches people and they start convulsing. very pentecoastal.

and then they get the snakes out. he says he handles the snakes because scripture says to. i don't remember reading that in the bible.

taking the snakes out…. yelling…

the overlapping of the snakes and their fangs and iris and her stapler remover… now what is their connection?

WHAT THE FUCK her staple remover turns INTO A SNAKE and bites her?? she’s bleeding onto the paper, but it’s back to just being a staple remover! eeeewwwww!!!! DID NOT LIKE THAT.

the church of signs and wonders is handing out snakes, the people are holding them, jumping up and down, singing, wiping off sweat. this reverend o'connor is scary asf. this actor is eating his role. i wonder if he is a good actor and a guy that works with snakes for a living. i imagine there aren't many who overlap between those two groups. 

iris rinses out her wound…. grabs a bandaid.  but hears more snakes!!! they’re showing up from all over!!! one slithers up the drain!! and they bite her!!!

hmm… lets check in about halfway through the episode. this episode is intriguing me. anything to do with culty fundamentalism, hollering and convulsing as the spirit runs through you, wiping the sweat off your brow as you yell "yes, sir, hallelujah, god hates the lukewarm" is gonna get me interested because... it’s just. so uniquely american. or at least it feels that way to me. aside from the snakes, i can name people i know who really live like this. it is the exact kind of horror that i get sucked into as a result of the fact that PEOPLE REALLY DO THIS and see it as the only right way to lead a life. everyone else is wrong and will face the wrath of hell. talk about terrifying!

BUT. the appearance of sudden snakes getting iris in the bathroom is kinda making me laugh a little. i can be multifaceted!

mulder is here at the non-snake church! the reverend mackey is saying he doesn’t understand how this happened- he heard iris scream and that was it. he explains how he and iris had just talked about gracie. mulder says that maybe it was on purpose that they couldn’t finish their conversation.

scully is with gracie. trying to explain that they’re investigating o’connor. she is certain he didn’t do it because it is satan’s work, not man’s. scully says that sounds like what he would say, and gracie left his church because she thinks for herself- scully is very gentle with her. it makes me feel things. but gracie still denies that he would have any involvement. 

oh shit! o’connor is her father! well. that’ll do it.

he kicked her out of the church when she got pregnant :( AND her house :( oh, poor girl :(

the agents are always involved with some scalding hot local drama.

they go to sneak back into the church of signs and wonders, but scully goes to check around back instead of coming in with mulder. it seems she’s scared as fuck! them separating never ends well.

mulder finds a wall of photos under the caption “we pray for the souls lost to us” and there’s a photo of jared!! and gracie!! and... someone else.

scully is alone and i am scared…  she’s looking into the windows of a trailer. ah, the dark lighting and flashlight and bold silhouette… i am nostalgic for early seasons.

she pulls a pistol. and opens the door.

inside are lots and lots of rats! oh. poor things. and also sooooo many boxes of snakes. who rattle at her. 

AUGH, and the reverend is there too!!! he grabs her!!!!!!! UNHAND HER NOWWWW, I’M SERIOUS. he’s saying she must be judged and he puts her head in with the snakes!!!!! telling her to pray!!!

mulder comes in with a gun and cocks it. bro is gonna fuck him up. 

“your FBI partner could have learned something about herself if you hadn’t stopped me. some powerful good news, maybe” <- we need to put this guy in JAIL. and people need to stop making backhanded comments about scully's beliefs, implying she isn't believing enough. first the dude from orison, now this guy. and also DO NOT PUT HER HEAD IN A BOX OF SNAKES, YOU FUCKING CREEP???

OH! mulder asks if that’s what o'connor did to his wife!! who died of snakebites a few years ago during a church service. allegedly. 

mulder is keeping a very level head as he asks o'connor why he did it. what was wrong with his wife, and his daughter’s boyfriend, and iris? “no one quite passed muster with you, huh?” <- oh, he is doing a very good job. he is a pro. had i just caught a guy trying to do that to scully, my reaction would be more… volcanic. but i guess they’re kinda used to catching someone nearly killing their partners by now. and i guess they have to keep an even tone if they want to get information for the case.

he asks what his plans for gracie were. o'connor accuses mulder of thinking he’s too smart. 

gracie says to scully that she doesn’t want to see her father. “it don’t matter what i believe. he’ll be judged as he deserves. can’t nobody avoid it” <- that’s a crazy thing to say to someone your father just tried to kill in this earthly life 😭😭 like girl... what if he had succeeded?

reverend o’connor is sleeping in jail… wakes up…. looks around. hears snakes. prays and prays. but they’re coming. get him. eat him. are they gonna bite him?!?!

the next morning he’s in the ICU!! so i guess the answer is yes. 

scully comes in to see him.

my guess…. somehow it’s gracie?? people she loves get eaten by snakes?? the biblical idea of women going hand-in-hand with temptation and womanhood being related to the serpent/devil, or something or other?? 

mulder thinks maybe o'connor did the snake righteousness test on himself. well, if so, no one knows if he’ll make it or not. 

ohhh… gracie won’t let him receive treatment on religious grounds…. saying it’s up to god. this is interesting. does she want him to die?

scully asks: what if gracie did this? she told her that her father would be judged. maybe she can handle snakes, too, if she grew up around them…. but what about the others? why would she attack them?

they go chirp’s place to look for clues. he left in a hurry. what is it he was scared of?

OOO, this conversation is worth analysis:

“though i don’t understand it, o’connor’s church exerts a strong pull on these people”

“it’s not so hard to understand. it’s a culture with a very well-defined set of rules.”

“it’s an intolerant culture, mulder”

“i don’t know, scully. sometimes a little intolerance can be a welcome thing. clear-cut right and wrong, black and white, no shades of gray. in a society where hard-and-fast rules are harder and harder to come by, i think some people would appreciate that”

“you’re saying that you, fox mulder, would welcome someone telling you what to believe?”

“i’m just saying that somebody offering you all the answers… could be a very powerful thing”

he’s definitely right. some people love being told exactly what to think. if god or their church says they ought to hate this person or do this action, there’s no reason to question what they're told. not thinking for yourself in any capacity or questioning your own beliefs- it does sound welcoming to people who don’t want to do that work.

i think mulder possibly envies the idea of having a belief system that claims to have all of the answers because his lack of one leaves him to figure it all out for himself. sure, maybe it’s what you and i would consider the morally correct option instead of blindly following along with a snake cult, but the folks in the snake cult have no questions about morality. they do what their snake cult leader says they ought to. and then they sleep easy at night because they have total faith they made all the right choices. while others who do not have a snake cult dictating their every move have to wrestle with their choices and morality.

and scully also struggles with always wanting to do the right thing. she has a faith to guide her, but sometimes the lines get blurry.

without someone telling you exactly what to think on every single subject ever, you have to ask yourself hard questions. and no one likes to ask themselves hard questions.

he makes a good point. i get what he’s saying, even if trying to explain it makes what he is saying feel less profound.

(it reminds me of that scene in fleabag where she’s emotionally lost, uncertain where to go with her life, and she tells the priest she wishes she had someone like him to tell her what to think, how to feel, how to dress. to do all the hard parts for her. she doesn't believe, but there would be comfort to take in knowing what to do next if she did)

((also, you must know that while this whole rather vulnerable exchange is going on, mulder is playing with the rattle like a fidget toy. i like that. i love him. something to hold in your hands probably makes the rawness easier to communicate. shake shake shake))

anyway. mulder finds the lab results that chirp has tossed on the floor.

i love that he asks scully if he’s reading it right :,) but!! it’s a serious matter on this here medical test. chirp was testing himself for sterility! and it turned out to be positive!! as in, he cannot have children!

so… who is the father of gracie's baby…..? maybe chirp was killed because he learned the truth….

the reverend mackey comes to see gracie as she waits by her father’s bed. she begs him to reconsider and allow him to receive the medicine for the venom, but she insists it’s what her father would want. she had seen him bit before, and he always said it was up to god if he lived or died. mackey argues that you can trust god by trusting the doctors. she says she can’t risk his soul. 

mackey reminds her she wanted to live her life for herself. is she living her beliefs or her father's? she cries. and nods. he goes to tell the doctor to give him the medicine. 

but!!! o'connor's heart is going crazy!!! he’s dripping pus!!! and shaking!!!! he reaches out and grabs her!!! 

they’re both gone!!! 

oh god. it’s just as i feared. mackey tells the agents that o’connor is the father of gracie’s child. god. that’s so fucking sad. which is why she wanted to get away from him... and the reverend mackey says she taught her to forgive him.

o'connor grabs gracie, says he’s bringing her home, and hauls her into the church, where all the other members are holding candles. watching. ignoring her as she begs for help. 

he plunges her underwater and she says something is wrong with the baby. they hold her down.  pray over her. demand the evil be expelled. she begs for help. 

ARE THEY GONNA CUT HER OPEN??? is she birthing snakes?????

what the fuck is going on….

the agents arrive after this whole thing goes down. an ambulance is here. scully strides in. she finds gracie and whispers to the paramedic, asking how is she. she asks where the baby is, but the others from the church won’t talk. it’s so protective. i am emotional.

well. mulder has found... something.

“she gave birth to snakes?” “the devil has been cast out” 

the absurdity of this situation is not lost on me. classic x files. "she gave birth to snakes?" needs to go in the hall of fame for wildest lines out of context. yeah. that's network tv, baby!

mulder tells scully to stay behind with gracie because he’s gonna go find o'connor. and presumable throw hands

the reverend mackey is placing programs in his church. OH! it’s a reverend vs reverend showdown. mackey tells o'connor that gracie left on her own because she wanted to escape a life of fear and intolerance. o’connor is mumbling, mumbling. he pulls out a KNIFE?

mulder is here just in time. and trust that he is gonna kill that guy. or at least shoot him. and he certainly does.

oh, god. scully is in the ambulance with gracie. she’s calling for her father and scully tells her its her, agent scully, she’s going to the doctor, can you tell me what happened? 

but gracie says she doesn’t understand- he saved her.

that was a very good shot on mulder's behalf- right in the collarbone, just like scully must have taught him. mulder is holding o’connor down, saying help is on the way- but o'connor says it isn't- mulder still doesn’t know which side he’s on. is it…… the other reverend???

OH!! it must be!!! mulder pulls out his gun… mackey denies killing chirp…. was iris catching on?? “is that was this is really about? ruining o’connor? seducing his daughter? destroying him by any conceivable means?”

mackey asks if mulder is a righteous man. he slams all the doors with some sort of power??? and summons snakes!! they’re all over mulder!!!!

mulder calls for help!!!! scully (who is now here just in time!) is asking o’connor where he is, but he grabs her, says it is his test alone. this obviously does not deter her from getting to her man.

he’s dripping in blood, snakes slithering all over him, and she kicks down the door. but as she opens the door, all the snakes are gone. they’re leaving!!! 

she finds him, unbuttons his shirt. blood on his jaw. blood all over….

cut to a hospital. mulder in a bed. there's no trace of mackey anywhere. “people think the devil has horns and a tail- they’re not used to some kindly man who tells you what you want to hear”

mulder says if it was a test, he must have failed. “i’d say you passed with flying colors. you’re alive, aren’t you?” “proud and fancy free” (they smile at each other)

jump to connecticut… where mackey is now going by the name reverend wells! someone thanks him for having an open and modern view of god. when she leaves, he pulls out a mouse…… and feeds it to the snake inside his mouth. 

i love you, CGI mouth snake.

the end.

i had no idea where this episode was going next, but in a good way. so i was really invested. 

at first, i thought that that the writers were positioning mackey as the "bad guy", and o'connor as the "good guy"- almost like the writers were trying to say that progressive christianity is actually of the devil, and the fundamentalist fire and brimstone path is the way to go.

but then i thought about it for longer than 5 seconds and realized that there was no good guy in this episode (beyond, of course, mulder and scully). o'connor kicked out his daughter, endangered his parish, and also attacked scully, shoving her into a ton of snakes to try and test her faith. who the fuck does any of those things? so even if he did one act at the end of merit- getting gracie out of an abusive situation- he is, in no way, a "good guy".

even his way of getting her out of said situation was terrible- he kidnapped her and then subjected her to traumatic religious ritual in front of a crowd that ignored her cries for help. so while she described herself as "saved" by him, it was still pretty damn awful. and had she not been raised in such a strict and intolerant environment, the idea of fleeing to mackey wouldn't have ever occurred to her.

and i enjoyed that mackey seemed like a genuinely good guy, especially in contrast to o'connor, but still turned out to be an awful person. he seemed to be so clearly the safe place for gracie, but that wielding of religious authority still allowed him to be abusive and hurt those he was placed in charge of. at times, he seemed like he really did care about gracie, like when he was trying to convince her to administer the antidote to her father. maybe he thought he really was doing good, but still took advantage of the power he had and did terrible things with it. and, of course, he was also some sort of snake demon, which didn't help.

it didn't seem like mackey was aiming to take down o'connor as mulder proposed as much as it seemed he was there to lure people into a sense of security- for many of those in his church, that sense of security seemed genuine- but the idea of taking power was too tempting for him to pass up. if it was just about taking down o'connor, i don't see why he would bother to change his identity and go to another community to presumable repeat the cycle. it seemed more like he wanted to give people a sense of safety and community and love (and again, to what extent he believes what he is saying is hard to tell), but doing so would give him a position of authority over people who are especially vulnerable and allow him to do what he pleases.

i also thought mulder's commentary on the appeal of an intolerant culture to be really interesting. it comes down to having all of the answers given to you. no need to question the way things are when someone is telling you that a divine power says this is how you live and how you die and why that is right. there are people who really do live like this. the whole raving, guitar strumming, thumping, hollering hallelujah and laying of hands while the churchgoers convulse... it is a real tradition. one that feels so vividly american. one that, in this story, just like with mackey, raises questions of how much of what he preaches o'connor actually believes, or if he is doing all of this so he can hurt people- like his wife mysteriously dying in a snake accident or the feeling of power her gets from shoving scully's face into a nest of snakes (he seems to have a real issue with women, huh?). regardless of what it is that he personally believes, to those who are part of his church, his power is absolutely real and undeniable.

and it also brings up a very interesting point in regard to gracie leaving such a community- she was immediately vulnerable to being taken advantage of because she had parted with every person she had ever known. escaping a situation like that is incredibly dangerous.

so there was a lot of really interesting commentary on religion, on how the fundamentalist and progressive movements alike can be used to lure people in, give them a feeling of safety and community, and then people in power can prey upon them. and when that is all you ever know, the idea of leaving seems either entirely impossible, or, if it is done, can open doors to further danger.

overall the episode, at least to me, didn't seem anti-religion- more of a warning on how anyone can use their power for evil, no matter their outward appearances or what they say. even mulder seemed less anti-religion than usual. usually he would just tear into scully about how stupid it is that she believes in god or something along those lines, but today he just pointed out that her beliefs and that of the snake church are based on the same book. which was still pretty insensitive, all things considered- is it that hard to not make a condescending comment? but it was one of the LEAST condescending comments he's made so far when it comes to religion, so, progress, i guess?

even though that aspect of mulder is probably always going to annoy me, and i need to just come to terms with it, it was still a great episode for our agents. his stupid joke and then watching her to see if she smiles... him bursting in to save scully from the snakes and then keeping his explosive temper under control while interviewing o'connor because he wanted to get the answers for the case... and then his realization at the end that it was mackey who was hurting gracie... scully getting there right in time... mmm! all good stuff.

and scully! an amazing episode for her, too! what stuck out to me the most was how fiercely protective she was of gracie. god. she was running in to find her, staying with her in the ambulance, telling her she was safe, and the way she just YELLED at those bystanders "where is the baby?!" like she was NOT messing around. do not get between her and the latest person she has been tasked with protecting. gracie seemed like she was really young- maybe still a teenager- and scully always seems especially protective of those she encounters in that age range. it is very interesting.

and then she kicks that door down to get to mulder, the words of this freaky reverend be damned, she will NEVER leave him to be "tested" by himself. opening his shirt to see his snakebites.. yeah. that's intimacy.

and the hospital scene at the end... he thinks he's failed some sort of test on his righteousness, but she tells him he passed with flying colors. because she believes in him. even when he doesn't believe in himself, or in anything at all. and they smile. OOOH!

wow… this episode gave me a lot to chew on, and i enjoyed it. 

[rookanis-de-riva]

a Rook who romances Illario like

Rook: FREE MY MAN HE'S GUILTY!!

[kintatsujo]

I'm always gonna love that poor little old woman from the start of Dracula she's trying so hard to keep Jonathan alive but he's too British to listen to her

[shikai-the-storyteller]

One of our HR lady just sent me a message like "hey I'm about to send you something really formal, don't be put off by the tone lol" and I'm like hey I love you for warning me ahead of time, you're a real one for that

[handweavers]

i have this issue where i understand languages a lot easier than i can speak them/make my own sentences in them and i'd say it's the biggest issue for me with french and malay specifically because if people are conversing in either language i almost completely understand what they're saying but i can't explain how or why and it's largely due to a lack of grammar knowledge, i have the vocab but no idea how to string the words together on my own outside of small phrases and learned sentences. also my french pronunciation sucks my mouth just doesn't work like that, but i've been told by language teachers that my malay pronunciation is like a native speaker (which makes sense because i've been hearing and speaking it my entire life lol) and i just need practice which is affirming and reassuring.

[chestersbraincell]

Graduation from Dress to Impress University

[mejomonster]

i'm stressed for the day the govt decides to make pronouns illegal, by which the law will actually be implemented as "if someone decides you don't look like the gender THEY think you are, you will be charged with a crime"

and how in some workplaces like mine, where people show their preferred pronouns in work emails, that'll result in many people with digital email trails that could get them arrested (which of course means trans people in the workplace get charged, people who look cis and use he/him and she/her in their emails to be supportive probably will just be told to stop putting it in their emails)

and like. i know i probably can't do anything, except maybe stay in the closet. i know the workplace is not guaranteed to fucking warn their employees to maybe remove the digital proof of their pronouns if there's a law at risk of existing soon. and i know people's gender identity is really personal and important to a lot of people, including cis people. But i kind of wish there was a widespread trend in these workplace situations of EVERY (or at least a majority) of cis people putting "they/them/their" in their email signatures. The cis people (particularly those who look very gender conforming) will be the ones in the least danger of being charged with a crime. They are at very low risk of being charged with a crime, so they're the perfect people to break the law by saying their preferred pronouns are "they/them" and then taking the law to court if such a law restricting preferred pronouns passes. And if a trans employee is charged with a crime, the cis employees all using they/them can say their trans coworker is only doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING ALL THESE CIS PEOPLE ARE (using a pronoun someone thinks doesn't align with the gender they're assumed to be), and then saying either ALL employees need to be charged with a crime (which can then go to court) or none of them should be. Yeah that would require solidarity... I know I can't convince a bunch of cis people to start putting "they" as a pronoun in their emails (or some other pronoun that would result in them breaking the same 'preferred pronoun' type of law like "ze/zim"). But god, I wish I could.

I think about this because in the last few years, my state tried to make a law against using preferred pronouns in schools and government jobs (you know... which likely won't charge any cis person using the pronouns that match their gender even though that's a preferred pronoun too). And now that my state govt is a majority republican, they'll probably try to pass it again. I worry about all my coworkers with massive email trails, because they were TOLD to tell people their preferred pronouns, because the workplace said it would respect them, but I doubt the workplace will Protect them if it's no longer legal. My workplace had the shittiest answer when I raised my concerns, they said "don't worry about it until it happens"... once it happens, a bunch of trans people will be breaking the law by existing, and they will not have had the chance to protect themselves in advance (and their workplace will have done nothing in advance to protect them - such as warn them not to leave proof of their preferred identity after X date, and promising the workplace won't consider any pronouns said before X date to be breaking the law as far as reporting goes).

[fictionadventurer]

✒️

[mxchineherald]

are there any dishes from my muse’s culture they know how to make? 

[ask meme here.]

In Zaun, there is a dish prepared by those of Viktor's culture called 'Balovi'. It is a type of puff pastry pie, traditionally made with salmon, boiled eggs, onions, sour cream, and dill. It can be cooked in an oven or slowly baked in a cast iron pan over a campfire. The most common dish served along side it is a form of creamed rice flavored with dill and paprika.

This dish used to be prepared as a gift to the hosts of a formal event, providing food for the festivities, though now it is more commonly used for weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays.

Viktor's mother, Anya, taught him how to make Balovi as a family tradition. It's one of the very few recipes he knows by heart, and has made for Jayce and Sky on occasion.

[kitkat-of-doom]

.

[botaniqueer]

A sea marigold (Calendula maritima) I purchased as seeds from @experimentalfarmnetwork! This is a very uncommon species of marigold from Sicily and I wanted to give it a go! I ran out of space so I put all the marigolds in random occupied planters hoping at least one would survive, and this one finally flowered! This species has a more trailing growth habit than other marigolds.

I somehow hadn’t learned until recently that marigolds are entirely edible, so I took a nibble and it was tasty! I’m not sure how to describe it, since it’s definitely different than most greens I eat, which tend to lean more grassy or spinachy. This was more resiny and minty I think? Most of my experience with Calendula has just been as general ornamental displays, so I’ve never handled them, but they also have minty, herbal scent as well!

Sea marigold is apparently perennial, so I’m excited to see if it’s able to survive the PNW winter or not.

[multi-lefaiye]

endlessly fascinated every time i realize i'm apparently better at being professional than a lot of my coworkers with more experience in professional settings

[pixie-skull]

Homemade meme number 6

Encase want the original image to switch out with any other letter.