LJ Idol, Season 11 - Week 13

[tsuki_no_bara]

Title: Disrespect in the Goddess's Service
Topic: fan death

Comments

[adoptedwriter]

I was hooked right from the start. I see how this happens in a lot of religions when the rules become too intolerant.

[tsuki_no_bara]

thank you! and yeah, if the rules, or at least the rule-keepers, become too inflexible, people leave.

[kittenboo]

Sounds like something from the Greek gods, Artemis maybe? Regardless, well done.

[tsuki_no_bara]

that's actually where i got the idea! i was reading about callisto, who was a follower of artemis. zeus raped her and got her pregnant, and when artemis found out she kicked callisto out of her group of virgins. and i thought what if there was another virginal follower who thought that was wrong, and artemis did the wrong thing? and this happened. i'm glad you liked it.

[static_abyss]

This was intense and full of relevant references to what women experience in our day to day. Nice work!

[tsuki_no_bara]

thank you! and yeah, it's kind of disappointingly applicable across time periods.

[halfshellvenus]

How sad for that other girl to be doubly betrayed, first by the man who attacked her and then by the religion she served! And it's so common to blame the victim, technically 'impure' now through no fault of her own.

I hope both of these women found better lives outside of the group they once pledged themselves to.

[tsuki_no_bara]

i've been reading a bunch of retellings of greek/roman myths, and there's a lot of "god sees a girl, girl puts him off, god tricks her/rapes her, she's blamed for tempting the god even tho she wanted nothing to do with him and said so" in the original. and it's just frustrating that that's been a thing for a couple thousand years. so i wanted the poor girl (who in this case wasn't raped by a god, just some garden-variety mortal dude) to have someone stick up for her and blame the guy.

i don't know what happens to the girl who was kicked out, but the narrator eventually makes peace with her goddess and figures out how to honor her in a more individual kind of way.

[bleodswean]

Such a wonderfully told metaphor. I loved every word and the sentiment!! The hard choice is always just exactly that - difficult!

[tsuki_no_bara]

thank you! and yeah, it is a hard choice - your sisters who you love or your organized faith which you also love? i think the narrator eventually figures out how to honor both in her own way.