Writerverse: Mini Table of DOOM! (Escort)
I wrote more The Church and Its Orbs. Enjoy!
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“It’s the annual Purity and Love Speech for our school -- time for a nap,” Wren says.
Since I’ve known Wren for a relatively short period of time, it still stuns me to hear someone talk of the Purity and Love Festival with such a cavalier tone. It’s supposed to be one of our most sacred celebrations -- though, to be honest, it’s never been a favorite of mine. I can’t pin down why, but this particular celebration discomfits me. It makes me feel like I’m being judged and found wanting, though I’m as pure as anybody. I’ve never so much as looked at a guy like I wanted to do anything with him.
Alright, I’ll admit that’s a little odd -- nobody says it, but girls are kind of supposed to look at guys, if just to keep anyone from thinking the wrong thing about their sexual preferences. My mind flashes back to Marty the odious jogger, and I shudder. I like guys, just not ones like him. When I’m old enough for supervised dates, I know I’ll find a guy I like -- I simply haven’t found the right one yet.
People often refer to the Purity and Love Festival as the PAL Festival or even just “PAL” since “to be pure is to be a pal of the Church.” That always seemed silly to me. If I think about it too much, the festival seems less a celebration of sexual purity and more a chance to condemn those who aren’t pure. Some things are celebratory, like the “Purity and Love dance” schoolgirls do. Some Third Schools and Universities do “pure mate auctions” where boys can bid on select girls who are “shining examples of sexual purity” to be their dates for various Festival functions. Apparently, many marriages come out of such auctions. More rarely, Second Schools will hold such auctions with the girls who’ve gotten their orbs already.
Such auctions are divided by orb color, most of the time -- purple orb boys bid on the purple orb girls and green orb boys bid on the green orb girls. In some cases, purple orb boys can choose a green orb girl -- she’s expected to be especially grateful when a purple orb choses her. I shudder again -- as unChurchly as it may be, I don’t want to go up for auction like I’m a cow to be sold for breeding or slaughter.
“Something wrong? You look like you’re a million miles away,” Wren mutters, waving a hand in front of my face.
I blink, trying to bring myself to the present. “I wonder if our school will have a pure mate auction this year for the girls who got their orbs,” I say, unable to keep myself from speaking about it.
“Oh gross, I hope not,” Wren mutters, shuddering. “If you ever catch me onstage at one of those things, please put me out of my misery.”
Kai smirks. “I can’t imagine you’ll let yourself be roped into that,” he says.
Wren’s dark brown eyes disappear into shadows, for just a moment. She brightens quickly, though. “Well, I’d have to get my orb first before anybody would even want me. Not that I’d want anybody who’d bid on me.”
“I know I wouldn’t want anybody who’d bid on me,” I say, shocking myself with how emphatic my voice sounds.
Wren raises an eyebrow. “A good Church girl like you wouldn’t want to meet your dream guy at what’s supposed to be the most romantic holiday of the year?”
I shake my head, hard enough to send my hair flying out around me. “No, I wouldn’t. I don’t want to be like some...mistress of temptation out of Scripture.”
“You think ‘pure mate auctions’ are like ‘evil prostitution’ from our Most Holy Scripture?” Wren breathes, eyes wide.
“Yes,” I say. My face flushes, but I can’t stop myself from talking. “I mean -- you’re paying money for someone of the opposite sex in a...sexually-charged context. Even if the auctions explicitly don’t involve sex...you might marry the girl you bought, and that involves sex.” The words spill out of me in a torrent. “You’re paying for a mate, even if you don’t marry her, and the Church girls chosen to go up for auction have as much choice as some of the women in Scripture -- that is, none at all.”
My outburst leaves me hyperventilating and staring at nothing. How could I speak against the Church like that? They present the auctions are the opposite of traditional prostitution, only I struggle to see the difference right now. I’ve read the Church’s current version of Scripture, too -- the ‘mistresses of temptation’ don’t always have a choice in their occupation, yet the text usually condemns them for leading men astray, anyway -- unless they nobly commit suicide.
These pure mate auctions don’t seem much different to me -- the girls don’t get to refuse a place in them. If the girls don’t play their part, they’re punished and considered impure. I bark in laughter at the idea of someone being considered impure for refusing to associate with the opposite sex in a romantic context.
“What’s so funny?” Wren asks, her forehead creased in worry.
“I’m...not even sure,” I say. None of this stuff should be funny, and, besides, I don’t feel like explaining why I’m laughing about the pure mate auctions.
Kai grins. “I wouldn’t mind going up for auction,” he says.
I stare at him -- what is he even going on about?
“But girls never get to bid on guys,” I say.
“The gender configurations of these things aren’t exactly fair, are they?” he says, pulling on his rainbow scarf.
“They’re not,” I mutter, not that I’d want to bid on a guy any more than I would want one to bid on me.
Wren chuckles. “Well, we have a bit of time before we’ve gotta worry about being part of a stupid auction,” she says.
I nod and shudder again. For some reason, I just hate the idea of ending up onstage in a dress, offering myself to whichever boy decides he wants me. Not only do girls get no choice in being part of the auctions, they get no choice in partner. When it’s my time to pair off, I want at least some choice in the matter. That may not be Churchly, but is it so wrong to want to be more active in deciding my future?
My thoughts have gone all over the place today -- I know very well they’re not proper. I do want to be a good Church girl, but...I can still be good even if I sometimes question things? The Church discourages questioning, but I just can’t help myself right now. Maybe I’m falling ill or something, and that’s why I’m questioning so much?
I try to push the rebellious thoughts out of my mind -- even if they make sense to me, they’re not going to do me any good. Unfortunately, I don’t succeed so well at getting rid of them.
What’s wrong with me?
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“It’s the annual Purity and Love Speech for our school -- time for a nap,” Wren says.
Since I’ve known Wren for a relatively short period of time, it still stuns me to hear someone talk of the Purity and Love Festival with such a cavalier tone. It’s supposed to be one of our most sacred celebrations -- though, to be honest, it’s never been a favorite of mine. I can’t pin down why, but this particular celebration discomfits me. It makes me feel like I’m being judged and found wanting, though I’m as pure as anybody. I’ve never so much as looked at a guy like I wanted to do anything with him.
Alright, I’ll admit that’s a little odd -- nobody says it, but girls are kind of supposed to look at guys, if just to keep anyone from thinking the wrong thing about their sexual preferences. My mind flashes back to Marty the odious jogger, and I shudder. I like guys, just not ones like him. When I’m old enough for supervised dates, I know I’ll find a guy I like -- I simply haven’t found the right one yet.
People often refer to the Purity and Love Festival as the PAL Festival or even just “PAL” since “to be pure is to be a pal of the Church.” That always seemed silly to me. If I think about it too much, the festival seems less a celebration of sexual purity and more a chance to condemn those who aren’t pure. Some things are celebratory, like the “Purity and Love dance” schoolgirls do. Some Third Schools and Universities do “pure mate auctions” where boys can bid on select girls who are “shining examples of sexual purity” to be their dates for various Festival functions. Apparently, many marriages come out of such auctions. More rarely, Second Schools will hold such auctions with the girls who’ve gotten their orbs already.
Such auctions are divided by orb color, most of the time -- purple orb boys bid on the purple orb girls and green orb boys bid on the green orb girls. In some cases, purple orb boys can choose a green orb girl -- she’s expected to be especially grateful when a purple orb choses her. I shudder again -- as unChurchly as it may be, I don’t want to go up for auction like I’m a cow to be sold for breeding or slaughter.
“Something wrong? You look like you’re a million miles away,” Wren mutters, waving a hand in front of my face.
I blink, trying to bring myself to the present. “I wonder if our school will have a pure mate auction this year for the girls who got their orbs,” I say, unable to keep myself from speaking about it.
“Oh gross, I hope not,” Wren mutters, shuddering. “If you ever catch me onstage at one of those things, please put me out of my misery.”
Kai smirks. “I can’t imagine you’ll let yourself be roped into that,” he says.
Wren’s dark brown eyes disappear into shadows, for just a moment. She brightens quickly, though. “Well, I’d have to get my orb first before anybody would even want me. Not that I’d want anybody who’d bid on me.”
“I know I wouldn’t want anybody who’d bid on me,” I say, shocking myself with how emphatic my voice sounds.
Wren raises an eyebrow. “A good Church girl like you wouldn’t want to meet your dream guy at what’s supposed to be the most romantic holiday of the year?”
I shake my head, hard enough to send my hair flying out around me. “No, I wouldn’t. I don’t want to be like some...mistress of temptation out of Scripture.”
“You think ‘pure mate auctions’ are like ‘evil prostitution’ from our Most Holy Scripture?” Wren breathes, eyes wide.
“Yes,” I say. My face flushes, but I can’t stop myself from talking. “I mean -- you’re paying money for someone of the opposite sex in a...sexually-charged context. Even if the auctions explicitly don’t involve sex...you might marry the girl you bought, and that involves sex.” The words spill out of me in a torrent. “You’re paying for a mate, even if you don’t marry her, and the Church girls chosen to go up for auction have as much choice as some of the women in Scripture -- that is, none at all.”
My outburst leaves me hyperventilating and staring at nothing. How could I speak against the Church like that? They present the auctions are the opposite of traditional prostitution, only I struggle to see the difference right now. I’ve read the Church’s current version of Scripture, too -- the ‘mistresses of temptation’ don’t always have a choice in their occupation, yet the text usually condemns them for leading men astray, anyway -- unless they nobly commit suicide.
These pure mate auctions don’t seem much different to me -- the girls don’t get to refuse a place in them. If the girls don’t play their part, they’re punished and considered impure. I bark in laughter at the idea of someone being considered impure for refusing to associate with the opposite sex in a romantic context.
“What’s so funny?” Wren asks, her forehead creased in worry.
“I’m...not even sure,” I say. None of this stuff should be funny, and, besides, I don’t feel like explaining why I’m laughing about the pure mate auctions.
Kai grins. “I wouldn’t mind going up for auction,” he says.
I stare at him -- what is he even going on about?
“But girls never get to bid on guys,” I say.
“The gender configurations of these things aren’t exactly fair, are they?” he says, pulling on his rainbow scarf.
“They’re not,” I mutter, not that I’d want to bid on a guy any more than I would want one to bid on me.
Wren chuckles. “Well, we have a bit of time before we’ve gotta worry about being part of a stupid auction,” she says.
I nod and shudder again. For some reason, I just hate the idea of ending up onstage in a dress, offering myself to whichever boy decides he wants me. Not only do girls get no choice in being part of the auctions, they get no choice in partner. When it’s my time to pair off, I want at least some choice in the matter. That may not be Churchly, but is it so wrong to want to be more active in deciding my future?
My thoughts have gone all over the place today -- I know very well they’re not proper. I do want to be a good Church girl, but...I can still be good even if I sometimes question things? The Church discourages questioning, but I just can’t help myself right now. Maybe I’m falling ill or something, and that’s why I’m questioning so much?
I try to push the rebellious thoughts out of my mind -- even if they make sense to me, they’re not going to do me any good. Unfortunately, I don’t succeed so well at getting rid of them.
What’s wrong with me?