#soss

The X-Files: What We Know About the Season of Secret Sex

I did read confirmation of that claim at some point; but lost it to the internet void. To add insult to injury, I can't remember if it was CC or Spotnitz or another writer or the actors or a reporter who discussed it in an interview or X-Files book somewhere. So, unfortunately, that assertion can no longer be heralded with full throated, meritorious authority.

However, I proffer three evidences in its defense:

Твинк Глускин и какие-то камерамены with my baby boi jeremy blaire

Artfight

@doodledrawsthings

Summer Of Short Stories #2: Drink The Moon & Mysterious Ways

Welcome to the Summer Of Short Stories event!

. . . Though it turned more into the Fall Of Short Stories, as you can see.

Summer was extremely busy.  And when I finally finished the posts for SoSS, I kept wanting to post them at the “right time”.  Except the “right time” never seemed to come, and then I was even hospitalized for a while, delaying things further.  But we’re finally doing this, damn it!

Today’s stories are both about holiness and God.  Enjoy!

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Story 1: Drink The Moon

Our first story, a short & sweet tale by by @tales-from-nocturnaliss , is Drink The Moon.  It follows a woman named Lua, sent as a pure sacrifice to the temple, an offering.  The mother gives Lua the Light (which, from the description of it being “liquid” appears to be an actual substance).  Worshippers wait in anticipation to see if Lua will be received by the Goddess, the Moon, as an offering, and when she is, it is a very sensual experience.

The descriptions of the Goddess are enrapturing but also terrifying.  Lines like, “The Goddess flung Her hands to Her sides. Lips distended from within Her palms – lips that opened into eternity, glistening with rows of fangs as infinite as Her glory through time,” tells us of the beauty & horror of the holy Mother.  She is described as a being of “empyreal beauty, clad in light and blood and the silent screams of Her worshippers” with “the blood of the Worshippers trailing behind Her like a nuptial veil.”  The story is a short glimpse into something both familiar in its holiness, but also unfamiliar and strikingly terrifying.  I love that!

The ending, where Lua finds herself in a “new world, rife with water and life. A world ripe for the drinking,” eludes me a bit.  The Mother drank of Lua, so has that caused Lua to also become a holy goddess, able to drink in mortals herself?  A very intriguing ending to be sure, if that’s the case. 

All in all, Drink The Moon is a lovely glimpse into a strange, unfamiliar holiness that I quite enjoyed.  I would love to see more of this story.  If you want to support the author, you can do so here or here!

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Story 2: Mysterious Ways

The second story, Mysterious Ways,  is by a mutual of mine, @1000dumplings , and is a backrooms tale.  For those unaware, the backrooms is, within its fiction, a liminal space universe anyone can unwittingly fall into, full of bubble universes called “levels” that contain a variety of environments, monsters, and entities.  Once you fall into the backrooms, it’s nearly impossible to leave.

This story features Jesus as the main character.  Yes, Jesus.  It’s written in scripture verses and split into 5 chapters.  You could easily consider this fanfiction of the Bible, as quite a lot of the early verses elaborate on verses that are already in scripture.  However, things do take a turn later on.

We open with the crucifixion.  Jesus is suffering on the cross.  When he dies, he wakes up not to heaven, but in the tomb.  Eventually, he is able to get out—but then, he falls into the backrooms.  A place beyond God’s reach.

Jesus wanders.  He encounters Hounds and flees in terror.  He recognizes them, and doesn’t at the same time.  “They were twisted distortions of God’s creations. The LORD created all, but how could He create a place like this?”  He also enters a church and sees a stained glass window of his crucifixion, which disgusts him—I thought that was amazing.

Eventually, a faceling named Mia finds Jesus and brings him to her group.  There, a name named Theo explains Jesus’ predicament to him, how you can’t just leave the backrooms.  Jesus stays with this group, but does not reveal he is the son of God.  Because of this fact, when Theo asks him to grab a stash from a cathedral level, Jesus is wary.  But he agrees to go, because these people have helped him so much, and he wants to return the favor.

There, he finds a woman who is praying and says, “In Jesus’ name, amen.”  This baffles Jesus—how does she know his name?  Why is she using it in a prayer?  So, he asks her about it, because as far as he knew, he just “died” on Earth.  She tells him about Jesus, and reveals that Jesus died over 2000 years ago, which is “unfathomable” to our divine protagonist.  The revelation that “billions” pray to Jesus is even more so.

Jesus ponders this.  Thinking about his death, his sacrifice, and how this stranger chose to be good even in the backrooms, he concludes, “Maybe this is what was meant to happen all along.  This was the forgiveness that he suffered for. Their forgiveness was their choice.  Perhaps, even if not in the way he intended or thought, humanity was still saved the day he was on that cross.”  He hugs her, and thinks to himself, “God truly works in mysterious ways.”

From then on, even though he has doubts about whether God is still with him, or if he’ll ever return home, Jesus vows to “explore the depths of this strange realm, and to aid all whom he met.”  This is how he becomes The Robed Wanderer, a backrooms entity.

I really like this story.  It’s very well written, is paced very nicely, and mixes real scripture in its chapter openings well with the fictional verses.  I feel like anything I disliked are just little style nitpicks, personal preferences, so I won’t mention those.  All in all, this is a great read.

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