Creature Of Mad Enthusiasms

Option one: The murder victim was innocent while the killer was an abusive bastard, see Speckled Band. Conclusion, arrest and have the killer charged (Or in the case of Speckled Band, indirectly murder him yourself then shrug and go home)

they were POPULAR

the Victorians LIKED reading about women who won out over shitty men in their lives, even when that plotline reaffirmed a woman’s power and agency or put an active sexist in his place (ie Irene Adler besting Holmes)

of critters in clover

The short, simple version is this:

There’s a splinter group of ultra conservative (religiously and politically) “Catholics” who have for several decades claimed that the Church has strayed from the true Catholicism since the Vatican II reforms of the mid 20th century. They have been warned about their actions by multiple popes at this point.

The breaking point this week was that they consecrated bishops within their sect after being expressly forbidden to do so by Pope Leo. Essentially this group is denying that the current pope is truly part of the succession of St Peter — more or less they’re saying the pope isn’t Catholic enough.

This may not seem like a huge deal from the outside, but it is essentially treasonous in terms of severity. So they have been kicked out of the Catholic church.

Whereas the SSPX lot's main areas of difference are disagreement with the whole Vatican II reforms of the 1960s. Among other things, these reforms included the Church officially releasing the Jews from any culpability in the death of Jesus and stating persecution of the Jewish people was contrary to church law (I know, what took them so long).

-The Society of St Pius X (SSPX) is founded by, basically, a Nazi. It attracts a whole lot of Nazis who, as fascists do, claim it’s about Tradition and Traditional Values like the Latin Mass and not about being virulently antisemitic.

- SSPX schisms in 1988 by ordaining bishops without permission because Pope John Paul II is too liberal. If they expected to actually start a new church or get the majority of Catholics to come to them, they are disappointed.

- So disappointed in their Holy War that wasn’t, the SSPX bishops that got ordained (and were defacto excommunicated although nothing specific was said by the Vatican about that) asked for permission to return in 2009 and were allowed to.

- The popes in that time had no taste to deal with this mess, so they basically allow the sect to continue while making pleas for unity.

- As part of that unity, in 2017 Pope Francis decreed that marriages and confessionals performed by the SSPX were legal and canonical because otherwise there would be a hot mess.

- Now in 2026, SSPX decides that the time has come to test Pope Leo’s resolve and announces that they’re going to confirm their own bishops without papal permission.

- The Vatican puts out a bunch of announcements that boil down to “No, no, think of unity.”

SSPX: Sounds weak and woke to us. Time for Holy War II, Electric Boogaloo! What do you think of that, Chicago Bob?

Pope Chicago Bob: You pull out a knife, I pull out a gun.

At this point in time, the Vatican has announced that ANYONE who remains in or supports SSPX is excommunicated, right down to & including the laity who go to their churches. No SSPX weddings or confessions taken are blessed by God.

Now, there’s an out for people who just showed up at one of their churches for Easter & Christmas - they can just quietly go elsewhere and that’s cool. And probably laity who were deep in SSPX will do the same and keep their heads low.

But it’s my understanding (via Claire Willett) that if you’re SSPX clergy who want back, you need to find a non-SSPX bishop to vouch for you, essentially be on probation for a while, and send the Pope handwritten letters of repentance and reconciliation.

The SSPX has come back with the usual “You’re so mean, we just really truly CARE about tradition and you were So! Mean! to us, why are you so cruel?” response of a bully facing consequences. If it was supposed to bring people flocking to their side, it hasn’t. If it was supposed to make Pope Leo even dignify it with a response, it didn’t.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

I’m not trying to be like “ohoho look at me I’m such a good friend”, I’m saying the second I stopped going “I wish I had friends who would invite me to tea parties” and just. hosted the tea parties myself? I still got to do the thing. I still got to see my friends. I still got to be happy with them.

It’s a lot of energy, I get that. Especially if you’re putting in all this effort, but not getting any back.

But I think that’s the reason no one does it. I mean we’re so worried we’ll start doing all these things and our friends won’t like it or won’t be into it, so we just don’t.

Only last week my friend messaged me, asking if I wanted to go stargazing with her. When I forget about our weekly virtual tea party, another friend called me to ask if I wanted them to host it this week.

I’ve been invited on hikes and picnics and pie making competitions over zoom, and it all sort of started with me going out of my way to be “that friend”.

Thank you @ennas-aesthetic for writing the most beautiful and moving script about what should have happened with Josh and Adam. Everyone, please show her tons of love on the uploaded drabble here!!