#I'll answer questions in bit!

[mctyevent-shop]

6 days left for interest checks!

Okay new interest check as I needed more data. Yup, I’m going good at this.

[tothelasthoursofmylife]

Countess Cloudia Phantomhive and Victorian Inheritance Customs

With the snippet of the Phantomhive family tree now having been shown in the anime, I decided to make a little post to hopefully answer some of the questions that might come up!

Could a 19th-century English noblewoman...

... inherit her family estate? Yes, she could.

There was no law that stipulated that someone had to bequeath their possessions (estate, wealth) to a male relative. The rich and the noble wanted to protect their possessions, of course, and created wills that ensured that their estates and wealth would not fall into just anyone's hands but remained securely within their (close) family. If there was no close male relative (or none they wished to make their inheritor), it was not uncommon for people to will their possessions to a close female relative instead.

In Jane Eyre (1847), she famously inherits her paternal uncle's entire wealth of 20,000 pounds (the book is set sometime during George III's late reign, making the last possible (full) year 1819; this would make her inheritance 2,32 million pounds nowadays (she only keeps £5,000 = £580,000)) because he chose to will it to her, overlooking, i.a., a nephew simply because he once had a terrible fight with said nephew's father (his brother-in-law/his sister's husband). In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Helen is the heiress to her uncle's fortune, not her brother (who inherited their father's estate already). Wuthering Heights' (1847) Catherine Linton (Catherine Earnshaw's daughter) was the heir of Thrushcross Grange.

Female heiresses were not restricted to fiction though:

(Women and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England by Joan Perkin; Ch.3)

The rich and the noble had access to a private law system that was administered by the Court of Equity. This allowed noblewomen to have their own estates and incomes, albeit secured by trust funds/trustees. This system protected their inherited family wealth from their husbands even under coverture. (While single women, feme soles, could possess their own property, they would usually lose all rights to it to their husbands upon marriage because of coverture laws. The trust system prevented this.)

Marriage settlements (marriage contracts that, due to their complexity, could only be afforded by the rich) could also protect the daughters of noble and/or wealthy families as they, i.a., stipulated how much money she would receive monthly or annually (pin money), and how much money she would receive upon her husband's death.

(Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England by Jennifer Phegley; Ch. 1)

This was the best case scenario for women of the upper classes (and the wealthy middle class).

(Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England by Mary Lyndon Shanley; Ch. 1)

Nevertheless, the rich knew how to protect their wealth, then as now. The aforementioned private laws also helped to pave the way for women of all social classes and statuses to have their own possessions.

Little excursus:

Their vast fortunes also granted certain freedoms to rich heiresses, i.a., the freedom to choose a husband as they pleased. After all, they did not have to think about "making a good match" anymore. They were themselves filthy rich already after all! The fact that their wealth was protected also kept them safer from vultures.

(Women and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England by Joan Perkin; Ch.3)

"Love" emerged as a reason for marriage in the late 18th century and became more common and popular throughout the 19th.

(Love as Passion: The Codification of Intimacy by Niklas Luhmann; Ch. 14)

However, that never stopped matrimony from being a serious business. No matter what, many people put a lot of care and thought into deciding who to marry. After all, divorces were an expensive hassle until 1857 (previously, one needed a costly Act of Parliament to obtain a divorce, and the process of obtaining a divorce was particularly difficult for women too: between 1827 and 1857 only three divorces that were petitioned by women were granted; the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 established a civil divorce court and expanded the rights of women). It was easier for rich women to choose to marry for love; still, many opted to remain cautious nonetheless.

(For example, what about the children one might have within a marriage? Upon a wedded union's dissolution, women had difficulties getting custody of their own children. The Custody of Infants Act 1839 allowed women to petition for custody of their children if they were 7 or under. It took until 1873, with the Infant Custody Act, for the age to be lifted from 7 to 16. It also removed the 1839 Act's stipulation that she would not be given custody if she had committed adultery. Before 1839, the father always got full custody. Caroline Norton believed she made a "good match," only to get stuck with an abusive husband who, i.a., beat her and did not let her access their children upon their separation for years.)

... keep her surname?/give her surname to her husband? Yes, she could.

The nobility and the rich, naturally, were very attached to their surnames. After all, it was their family marker, and they were proud of their family history, may it be because they came from a long line of nobles and/or because their ancestor created the family business that gave them their wealth.

When there was no (suitable) close male heir and a female one was chosen instead, the question arose, "what of the family name?" Women often took their husbands' surname upon marriage after all; in this case, however, it might mean the "end" of their old, history-charged and/or important family name.

So, people simply decreed in their wills that, whoever their heiress married, would have to take her surname upon marriage.

Further, men who wanted to marry rich heiresses, of course, thought the wedding to be an honour and did not want to offend their powerful and wealthy in-laws. They, thus, often chose to hyphenate their surname with their wife's. (And the more important surnames you can show off, the better too!)

(Women and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England by Joan Perkin; Ch.3)

Some examples:

Charles William Stewart took his wife's surname Vane (not even hyphenated!! it fully "replaced" his) when they got married in 1819 because Frances Vane was a rich heiress and her father stipulated in his will that her future husband had to take her surname, period.

In 1811, John Ward changed his surname to Ward-Boughton-Leigh after marrying Theodosia de Malsburgh Boughton-Leigh. "Boughton" is the maiden name of Theodosia's mother, "Leigh" her father's surname. She was the only heir to the fortunes of both her parents, so all families had to be honoured.

The marquessate of Salisbury belongs to the Gascoyne-Cecil family. Up until 1821, the family name was just Cecil. "Gascoyne" comes from Frances Gascoyne who married James Cecil; James hyphenated his surname with hers. She brought a considerable "Liverpool fortune" into the family. The Cecils were (and are!) very powerful and they still changed their surname.

Men also retroactively changed their surnames to their wives' maiden name if she suddenly received a great inheritance. (This could lead to some fun names like "Cresswell Cresswell.")

... hold a noble title in her own right? Yes, she could.

Henrietta Godolphin was the Duchess of Marlborough in her own right (suo jure) because of an act of parliament in 1706. (Her younger brother was meant to inherit the title but he died before their father and it went to her instead.) Henrietta's eldest son William became heir apparent to her dukedom (and his father's earldom, but that would only have been a "secondary" title because dukes > earls). Unfortunately, her son predeceased her, and the title went to her nephew instead.

This was not the first or last case of a woman holding a title in her own right. The Wikipedia article on suo jure lists more such cases.

Also: Vincent and Francis are full siblings! (Yana's tweet/Ducky's translation)

No matter whether Cloudia was married to Cedric or not, Vincent and Francis would never be bastards and always legitimate children in the face of the law.

*Note: Laws on women's property rights/custody/divorce/etc. changed multiple times throughout the 19th century; their effects on women also differed amongst the different social classes. As this post is about Cloudia's (possible) situation, it mostly deals with laws and such that would have applied to her as a noblewoman (late 18th to mid-19th century/1866).

A chronology on English marriage law:

(Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England by Jennifer Phegley)

[rosesocietyy]

lmao danny is so angry about that ruse he's so unbelievably angry at being blindsided by that glorified role play he almost can't believe his anger. hiding underneath the bitterness of his words is barely distinguishable tremor at that very clear reminder at just how much power he holds communing with two predators that kill to live

"I mean hey whatever it is they're trying to hide I'm probably not gonna crack it which is, you know, who cares" said the man who's never cared more in his life and lashing out at real rashid? really??

[xxplastic-cubexx]

adding 'tentacles are in the walls' to my list of vague x mansion facts

(X-Men #25)

[sonnshine441]

No offense but why u fw waycest like genuinely what do u tell yourself that makes u think its justified to ship two people who are related by blood

This is judgey but also I do really want to understand how your mind works

Well, to be honest, I ship waycest because they're my top two favorite of the band members. In all fandoms I'm in, most of the time I ship my two favs together. And I ship all of the mcr members together.

I also got introduced to mcr through waycest fanart, not that I knew they were related at the time, of course. I was like "Waow these ocs look cool."

But the biggest part of it, I suppose, is that I don't really get how sibling incest, especially between people who can't make kids together, is that big of a deal. Maybe that's just me being an only child showing, but I just don't get it? Like the power dynamics between a parent and a child make it realistically impossible to have a consensual relationship, but those power dynamics don't really show up in this scenario, especially considering them as adults.

Boss/employee relationships aren't seen by the majority of people as bad in fiction, even though if the employee wanted to break up, they could risk getting fired for "unrelated" reasons. Imo that's a much larger power dynamic than between two siblings. And yet no one deems those problematic, even though irl, you're often banned from dating in the workplace unless you were beforehand (though this seems to be mostly an american practice)

Also Waycest shippers haven't called me a slur and told me to kill myself.

TLDR: I'm an only child and I don't understand why it's such a big deal because Mikey and Gerard are both adults who can't get eachother pregnant. I don't feel the need to justify it to myself, I just ship it because I like it.

[aceinacloset]

Another wip because I'm finished with Ft Freddy's character profile. 🥳

[mayasaura]

For some reason, the dnd:hat movie has been living rent-free in my head for over a week. Xenk is just rattling around in there right now, having a long talk with Kira about morality, mortality, personal sacrifice, and being a child who saw the Beckoning Death unleashed on their home.

I feel like Xenk would have a lot to say that Kira needs to hear, and be a good listener for the things Kira needs to talk about that she can't tell her dad or Holga. He'd probably benefit from talking to her, too. Kira almost experienced the same tragedy he did when he was her age. It would be cathartic for him to help her through that, knowing he helped save her from ever experiencing what he went through

[kris-performs-surgery]

Keep on trucking Kris boy. What’s an adventure without existential horror?

[marythequeen]

i've been feeling awful lately so i drew something new!! enjoy my simple crap

[ladyphoenix404]

Drifter`s Diary#5

"Hint"

Day in Duviri: ????

Kalani: Hey, Lodun, how long do I need to roast the nuts….For a person to confess everything?

Lodun: Just put them in a hot pan-WAIT, WHAT?!

[literaryhistories]

I survived the interview ✌️

[paizau]

Thinking on how to adapt the Akka-tą́ sctipt of Ngįout to fit Kshafa.

It's not going to be a very hard proccess tbh, The vowels are going to be the easiest part, which is funny because they are imo one of the most complicated parts of Ngįout orthography, but not very suprizing considering it needs to represent 10 basic qualities for the language it was made for as opposed to just 5 when used for Kshafa.

The more compliceted part is the consonants. These are the consonants of Ngįout:

And these are Kshafa's (at the point of time I'm having Kshafa spelling be solidified):

The main difference is Kshafa's full palatal series, and the extra sibilant /ʂ/. Haven't thought yet of a solution for /ʂ/, but I do for the palatals.

There is already a 2 way destincition in coronal consonants in Ngįout - the stops vs the affricates. So what I have is use the letters for the affricates for the palatal stops (it also works historically because they arrose from palatalized alveolars):

Now because the letters for the affricates are basically just the stops plus a diacritic under them, this strategy spreads for most other palatals:

There is just one problem. /lʲ/. Because the diacritic is already used on the letter for /l/, and it turns it into /z/!

So, a different strategy has to be used - just having a digraph with the letter for /j/ 👍

This makes a very fun and ~quirky~ system, where all the palatals are just the alveolars + a diacritic, except /lʲ/, which is instead a cluster:

This system also shows a nice layering in the historical orthography, because the voiceless stops are actually historically also clusters - of the basic stop + a glottal stop. The thing is this is an old convention, and so they are just juxtaposed, as opposed to the new /lʲ/ cluster where the /l/ letter has the vowel deletion mark (Akka-tą́ is an abugida), and so is more transparently treated as a cluster. Very fun stuff indeed :)

[saxandviolins77]

Would you be open to talking about your process and art style a little bit? It's so impressive how you use shapes in your art in this expressive and non-naturalistic way ~arceespinkgun

Of course!

I started drawing Transformers in early 2023 but only started posting at the end of said year, aaand this is going to sound a little embarrassing and VERY self-defeating, but... my art sucked. A lot. No use saying otherwise. I had a really hard time adapting my style to drawing mecha (or at least robot-shaped people), and the fact that I had a really rough transition to using a drawing tablet didn't help (I used to draw using the trackpad, my finger, or just traditionally).

Most of the art I'll use here will be old, since that represents my capabilities at the time better than my old Transformers art does. It's also an honor for y'all because I purged all my art from my socials way back in 2022, ahahaha.

I'm self-taught, so most of my explanation is vibes-based. If a professional artist were to read this, they'd hurl in agony.

First off. My thought process behind how I draw things... I really like drawing things flat.

That's it, basically. When I draw, I try my best to show the least possible volume, and even when I show volume, I still think of it as a flat shape (it's psychological). This applies when I think about faces (the flattened facial features thing I talked about a few months ago). I think about shapes as 2D planes stacked on top of each other rather than shapes existing in a 3D space. You see this when I draw Hook's nose when he's facing forward; I keep the dorsal hump. Or when I draw side views (I LOVE drawing side views), this was actually inspired by Mickey Mouse's ears and how they're always facing forward, so he can always have his iconic marketable silhouette. I thought it was genius at the time.

Some of my main inspirations are UPA animated shows (put Clone High here too), Bruce Timm's character designs for Freakazoid and BTAS, phase one Gorillaz art (that's Jamie Hewlett), Rebecca Sugar's work on SU, and Vernon Grant's magazine covers. I also have been getting into medieval art, so let's see how that'll turn out

Things I try to avoid like a plague are thick line art and organic shapes. If I'm going to draw a square, it needs to be a polygonal shape, not just a suggestion of a square shape (this sounds confusing, ik).

Here's some art from March 2021 and how I'd approach it today. I had a somewhat distinguishable art style, but it still needed polishing and a clear vision of what I wanted to do. I kept it a very unpolished sketch so you can see a little bit of my thought process when I draw (and because I'm lazyyyyy). Notice how I try to do singular lines and defined shapes anywhere I can. Also, a stronger line of action and silhouette—silhouettes were/are a very weak spot of mine.

Around 2022, I had already hit a very nice spot with my art.

Ignore just how stiff my poses were and the awful proportions (eugh), but see how I push the shapes and the obnoxiously thin line art. I did change my rendering to be gradient-based instead of this vector shading approximation. I like both, though.

It's not JUST about having an angular style; it's about the flow and consistency of the strokes. I really like this little doodle from 2023, made almost entirely out of curves, BUT they are DEFINED curves. That's the thing.

My current process consists of: rough drawing (gesture) -> sketch -> clean sketch -> line art -> flats. When I'm feeling fancy, I render it using gradients.

Some things I really improved in 2024-2025 were the same-face syndrome, drawing detail, HANDS, and 3D shapes + perspective. Still haven't gotten over my hangups with drawing lineless art... IT LOOKS BAD WHEN I DO ITT.

[sysig]

Go play pretend on your own (Patreon)

[throughpatchesofviolet]

I found the perfect stickers for my planner!! They're so cute ... I only ordered two sheets, since I want to make sure my idea works ...

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 14 "grotesque" thoughts

okay, i didn’t watch an episode yesterday. so the thought of being reunited encourages me. although i’m still a bit bitter about the last episode, i guess considering it some sort of cosmic “opposite day” makes it more palatable. still. new episode!! 

well. new to ME, at least!

and it mentioned gargoyles in the description?? the stone fellows? i actually think gargoyles are cool as hell. some of them look wretched on purpose- which i am less fond of- but others are very cute.

but i’m unaware of them possessing any sort of life or supernatural capability beyond being funky little guys. and to me, they don’t look like creatures who have a craving for blood. perhaps mulder knows something i do not…

we open on a naked man. he’s quite beautiful. posing for some art students. good way to make some decent money, if you’re comfortable doing such a thing.

a guy in the corner is drawing furiously and trembling. but he’s drawing a spoooooky creature and not the handsome man we see on the screen!

AUGH he sliced his finger and IS DRAWING with the BLOOD?? no ma’am. no ma’am. 

the trembling blood artist is rushing out and running into people. and we see a gargoyle on top of the building he is leaving!!! an ominous sign? or a nice little guy?

handsome model man is getting in a car in a back alley. we hear a thunk. oh no. i see where this is going…. someone in a mask jumps on him

the artist wakes up. his name is john. and the FBI bursts in, mulder included! john bites someone who is arresting him!! yowch!

his room is full of very spooky drawings, covering the walls and everything. all gargoyle looking creatures. hey, maybe he’s goth??? you thought about that?? maybe he streams the cocteau twins and doodles some creatures... can’t a guy have hobbies?

not defending the killing of people. just the freaky drawings.

some guy takes a picture off of the wall, then he finds john's artist knife thingy and it’s covered in blood. the question is: is it his own? because we did see him slice that finger.

mulder's office time. so this john is an immigrant from uzbekistan, but he spent almost a decade in an insane asylum.

SCULLY IN RED!!! SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. WOW! 

she says this guy killed at least 7 people. and apparently he claimed to be possessed, which is a thing that lots of killers do to distance themselves from their crimes. seems plausible to me.

skinner name drop!!!!!!!! he was the one that put them on this case. good to know he’s still around, tasking them with things. 

(it seems i have grown fond of skinner, despite our tumultuous time together. i am sure my feelings towards him will continue to fluctuate)

so john has been in custody for 5 days, BUT yesterday, another killing took place with the same signature face gashes. who did it!!

off to da prison. scully asks john why he isn’t using his bed. and it is because john is drawing on the floor. also the light hurts his eyes, but i think that would make sense if you were stuck in a dark room for many days.

he says that this creature he’s drawing was the one who killed those men and everyone knows his name. perhaps the devil, mulder suggests? no no, says john. it. scully’s like “well it’s fingerprints weren’t on the murder weapon; yours were” gag him a little…

but john calls them both fools. rude! 

scully asks if that is what happened yesterday- that it attacked again, and killed another victim in the same fashion- and john starts really freaking out because that means “it found somebody new”. so if it keeps jumping from guy to guy, i’m not sure we can ever really stop this thing short of an exorcism. if it really exists, that is.

the agents get called out by bill, who was the dude taking the drawings off the walls at the crime scene and who found the knife. he’s being mean to mulder, asking him if it was aliens. hmm. not sure i’m supposed to like his guy. 

but scully knows who he is, and says it’s an honor to meet him; he's famous for his FBI work. he asks if she also thinks it’s spirits, and she says no, and bill says well that’s strange company you keep. a shameless dig right in front of the man they speak of!

mulder looks sad more than angry, and says that no one would ever guess how mean-spirited bill is. and yes! maybe he can write a good book but damn, he’s being a jerk!

bill is offended by the possession theory because he worked on that case for three years and blah blah blah. doesn’t explain the second murder. bill claims that both murderers were acting alone. um okay?? that doesn’t make sense because then how would they have the same markings…

mulder is pissed at this guy and i don’t blame him. bill says john draws the gargoyles to keep the evil spirit away, mulder points out that is what they have been used for in the past, which pisses bill off further. scully is watching all of this like wtf. and he’s with some other dude who is staring at scully in a manner i don’t care for. we later learn that this second man is named greg.

mulder says bill has always hated him because mulder never worshiped him back when they worked together, even if everyone else did. ohhh, mulder says that to bill, catching a monster meant becoming one yourself. that’s juicy. i wonder what he means by that. 

(author's note: WE LEARN WHAT HE MEANS BY THAT!)

so now they’re at the crime scene, covered in gargoyle drawings. shoutout to props design. 

a cat jumps out and yells at scully!!! she is scared and i would be too! mulder says “it’s just a cat” like that makes it’s sudden appearance less terrifying, and she sighs and says she thought it was a picture coming to life. there’s a bit of a laugh in there, like she realizes how ridiculous that sounds.

mulder gets on his knees, peeks under the bed, and tries to call to the kitty LMAOOO AWWWWW but it sneaks away through a hole in the wall. they realize it’s hollow and it’s actually a door! 

scully still seems scared to go in there, asks to wait until there’s more light, and he pulls out a tiny flashlight lmaoooo 

meow kitty. and inside the door are horrific gargoyles sculpted out of clay. 

MULDER WIPES HIS FINGER ON THE CLAY AND LICKS IT? HUH??? then be starts digging in there. AND BLEH!! bodies. inside the clay!!!

he craves the minerals of clay i guess...?

he put the flashlight in his mouth so he couldn’t talk, and she kept yelling for him to tell her what the hell was going on in there, which he was not doing. too busy ruining some art that contains people to communicate what was in his line of sight, i suppose. but no explanation on the licking.

some guy is working in a glass studio when he is being approached. use the molten glass for self defense! but alas, something growls and grabs him. 

so now glass guy is in the hospital and greg is here. she tells him they found 5 bodies in the studio, all dismembered and with gashes on the face like this guy, the glass artist.

greg says that he thinks bill went to skinner and REQUESTED mulder on this case. and that bill tells him “mulder stories” after a few beers, about how he’s some kind of genius. HELLO? the vibes are weird here. why is he telling her this....?

and the victim in the hospital bed is gagging or gurgling a bit so the doctor asks them to please leave. i can imagine this would be distressing.

mulder is a library!! a big, nice library. reading about gargoyles, apparently named after a french dragon!! he’s flipping through old books and it looks like he has blood on his shoulder, which makes me concerned about his hands and therefore the condition of said books. he’s monologung about the nature of the human soul and taking notes. okay, a researcher! “is this the monster called madness?” <- how poetic!

AWWWW he falls asleep on the books. WAIT STOP :((( why is this so cute… he was working too hard again smh!

bill scares him!!! and wakes him up!! RUDE! i thought it was going to be scully and it would be sweet but it’s this loser. he’s asking what mulder is looking for, and he admits he isn’t sure yet. 

and bill is back on his yelling at people bullshit, saying mulder is wasting his time, that john is only doing all this gargoyle art because he is insane. and he is MEAN!! he tells mulder that he’s disappointed in him and he comes back with a “well, i wouldn’t want to disappoint you by not disappointing you”<- ooohhhh get his ass.

why is he here at this library anyway? it seems unprofessional and stalker-adjacent. bill leaves with some more parting bullying and mulder seems really upset honestly. he looks out the window and sees A GARGOYLE! they're haunting him!

scully at the door to his place. she lets herself in. she’s so pretty. but where is he?

oh. he has covered his place with gargoyle art. so that is not a promising sign… did he steal it??? or is this his own work? 

we then see him back at the crime scene, staring at the same drawing that is in his house. so does he possess a copy machine, or a photographic memory and a secret talent for drawing? or did someone break into his place and target HIM?

why is he back at the scene of the crime? pacing about. what is going through your mind, strange man. why is he touching the art. while there are voices whispering. HUH?? MULDER POSSESSION ARC??? 

now HE’S sculpting stuff?? okayyyy artist!! at 3 in the morning. at a crime scene. he’s SLEEPING in john’s bed??

but he wakes up!! to a creepy gargoyle looking creature standing over him!! he grabs his gun and starts running. climbing ladders n stuff. but then he loses him. 

NO! the creepy guy jumps out and slashes at mulder. and then knocks him into a big pile of something soft. very lucky.

scully is with mulder now, he’s getting bandaged up, and she’s telling him how scared she was. “you turned your phone off? why do you even bother carrying it?” <- lmaooo

he claims he was “working” in john's studio at 3 am, and scully is NOT happy because she hasn’t heard from him in 2 days, which is a concerning amount of time to be apart for them!

he’s insisting that whatever it is, it’s real. and she says she knows about his “new wallpaper”, and that bill is “testing” him. with some sort of psychological torment? yeah, seems in character. 

he leaves without telling her where he’s going and she is NOT happy. she marches up to bill. and starts asking what the hell he’s doing to mulder. bill says he wants to finish the case and to “let mulder do what he needs to do” because she won’t be able to stop him.

HELLO? the man is going off the deep end. his best friend (who is a doctor) is going to be trying to help him. that’s an unstoppable force (mulder's desire to finish his quest) meeting an immovable object (scully's need to keep him safe and healthy).

fuck you, bill you’re really making me upset. because you’re making scully upset. and fuck your little henchman greg watching all this. 

but she notices a razor stuck in a car nearby. wait, do you think this henchman greg is the killer?

she finds the handle underneath the same car….

mulder is back at the jail, talking to john. asking why “it let him live”. he’s asking john to help him get deeper, to help him find it.

OH! he punched john when his answers weren't helpful. his mouth is full of blood. john says that only it can find him, and maybe it already has. 

MULDER POSSESSION ARC!!??? or is it an exploration into the evils people can be driven to out of desperation and a quest for answers?

scully took the razor and handle she found to the lab for analysis and she’s putting on some sunglasses to look at stuff. okaaaayy. 

AND THEY ARE MULDER’S PRINTS ON THE KNIFE!!! she is shocked. she has to excuse herself. 

she’s going to the archives and someone gives her a box. she just gets on the floor and starts looking through it. no time to bring it to a table, we need answers NOW. it’s the evidence box from the crime scene, and that knife from evidence is missing. 

and skinner wants to see her right away!!! what is going on?? she looks soooo scared. 

but she looks good. 

anyway, skinner asks if the knife she found could be the same as the one from the crime scene, and also, how is mulder doing? well, i would say, not good. she says she’s not worried about him, but he can tell she’s lying, because he says “off the record, so am i” no :( what did they do to him?!

mulder is back at the crime scene again? looking at the clay gargoyles. 

WHAT IS GOING ON... THERE ARE ONLY TEN MINUTES LEFT. HOW IS THIS GONNA GET WRAPPED UP?

that CREATURE ATTACKS HIM AGAIN!!! and he sees bill and the other guy greg there???

but it’s just a dream. okay, well i was fooled. guess i’m gullible. he’s actually sleeping at his apartment on that damn couch again. once again asking for mutual aid funds to buy him a mattress. 

anyway, he wakes up covered in sweat and surrounded by gargoyle drawings all over his walls. clearly a very healthy man /s

now he’s getting up and leaving his apartment. creepy music is playing as he goes back to the crime scene. to do more searching. now he’s looking at the gargoyles IN REAL LIFE. and the music is getting more intense.

the cat is licking some blood on the floor!!!! he follows it to a hand??? but whose….. 

greg calls scully, and leaves a message saying to call her back. but we hear his phone ringing at the crime scene when scully calls it! so where is he? well, i have a guess. mulder picks up greg's phone.

she asks about the prints on the knife, and he says he wanted “to see what it felt like in my hand” which is deeply suspicious!!! you’re scaring me!!!

she says mulder needs to stay EXACTLY where he is, and that she will be there in a few minutes so they can “work this thing out together, okay?” and MAN she is a good friend!! she will wake up in the middle of the night to find you losing sanity at a crime scene after you stole a murder weapon, and she’s gonna do what it takes to help you out. he says “yeah” and hangs up. he seems unappreciative.

he’s looking at a sculpture with great intensity. it looks very wet. and then he DIGS INTO IT AGAIN and finds ANOTHER FELLOW IN THERE. is it GREG??? it IS!

mulder hears a noise behind him and its bill. he’s adding two and two together- or possibly being delusional- and saying that greg knew it was bill who did the killing, so bill killed him. and bill’s hands ARE covered in clay. bill seems really confused. mulder has him at gunpoint.

mulder says that bill imagined everything john (the killer) did as he got deeper and deeper into his profiling over the three years it took to solve the case. and when he caught john, it wasn’t enough. by then bill had become the monster like he always said to! and he brought mulder in on the case for subconscious help!

scully rolls up and pulls her gun out. because let’s be honest, it’s not looking great for mulder. he asks her to put the light away- also suspicious- but tells him to explain. and then bill shoves her down. mulder helps her up and says “it’s him”.

next thing you know, they’re searching on the roof. i’m scared someone will fall over the edge. 

everything is very tense. and then the gargoyle grabs mulder again. we hear a gun go off! scully screams "mulder!!" and she runs over. 

he shot bill! right under the roof gargoyle!

now bill is in jail and screaming about “not doing it”. 

mulder wrap up time. “if a man’s character is his fight, this fight [against evil] is not a choice but a calling” <- ooooh okay banger line. gonna have to think on exactly what it means but it sure does SOUND cool.

closeup on gargoyle drawn in blood on the wall, presumably by the jailed bill. while mulder talks about looking into the laughing face of of madness.

hmm. initial thoughts: hmm.

this episode was used to dive into mulder’s psyche. to examine his past and also his fragility. he throws so much of himself into a case, that he almost loses who he is. 

but it also could have been the influence of an evil gargoyle... so: ??? 

i think that, in general, sanity is a frail thing. and we see how delicate it is, how people who are capable of evil can manipulate and terrorize. if you assume that mulder wasn’t in any sort of actual demon possession, it’s scarier, seeing how people can lose themselves. if you go with the interpretation that there was no real demon at all, and the urge to do evil came from bill’s year’s long quest to catch the killer, then that proves the point even further. in that interpretation, the result is very scully-esque, how the real horrors of life are the unpredictably of fellow man. and we could see how terrifying it was to her, how scared she was of him disappearing, not communicating, covering his walls with scary drawings (that we never really got answers on if he drew himself?), how the way he acted started changing, and she was losing touch with the person she knew so well because of how he was being manipulated. how she was going to do anything, from confront bill to track him down at 3 am at a crime scene to try and keep him safe.

i think mulder wanted to prove himself to bill, and so he pushed himself as hard as he did. he seemed really hurt by his lack of approval, which probably stems from mulder’s reputation for getting results, even if others consider his approach unorthodox. 

but then why would mulder cover his place with those drawings?? and why did he want to feel the knife in his hand? was it because he wanted to see how the killer felt before doing something so awful? if so, why now? there have been tons of cases before in which he could have held a murder weapon and pondered its use on taking a life. was it his glance into the history of gargoyles that got him all contemplative on the human nature and what evil is and if it can be resisted, or if it is something that is inside of you and unavailable? was he tempting himself to prove if he could resist it?

i’m a bit puzzled. i guess you can take a bunch of approaches here on who really did the killing- bill and john, or a force of evil- and why. and whichever read you take will characterize the themes of the episode very differently. please share what you thought; i’m curious on if there was a popularly accepted interpretation or one that the creators intended us to get, or if the ambiguity was intentional. i feel like i'll be gnawing at this one in my mind for a bit, trying to reach whatever it was saying.

it was very tense, but overall a pretty good episode. things i liked the best: mulder pssting a cat, worried scully, angry scully yelling at bill for messing with mulder’s head, an apartment entrance (she still has the key to his place <3), mulder falling asleep in a library after going on a quest for gargoyle facts (art history nerd? library nerd? you decide), scully in a red suit, scully telling mulder very firmly to stay still so she can come get him and they can figure whatever situation he is in out together, brief scully sunglasses moment.

wouldn't it be funny if they both got pets from a case? if that cat wasn't feral, he could have adopted it. taken it around for walks on a cat harness. a lovely thought!