Annotated 23-9
So as I mentioned earlier, Rachel blurting out that she loved E-Merl instead of the other way around had not been my plan or Phil’s plan. But a general goes to war with the army they’ve got, and it did suggest some interesting nuances we could throw into Rachel’s generally joyful character. Things have been going pretty smoothly between Byron and Syr’Nj since B’ial Vezk, so it’s time for these two to angst a bit.
I may have related more to E-Merl then, but I definitely relate more to Rachel in panel 4 now. Nursing wounded self-esteem back to health is a worthwhile process, but there are some real tough parts, especially during the times you’re not feeling so great yourself. Yelling always feels like a failure, but every once in a while it’s the only thing that gets through.
Phil honed the last panel: I had “That is a problem.” Definite improvement, even though I know it causes an allergic reaction among the areligious. Let’s give her a chance to explain where she’s coming from!
As an areligious person, I think it is the right word for her to use: it is/feels wrong in her view of her religion. So what other word would a religious person use for something they do/feel that are against their religion?
“Against my convictions?” But that doesn’t really work in this instance.
Well her religion was practically born like a few weeks ago, they can probably still amend a few of the rules. Not like they got ancient holy books telling them what’s what and can’t argue about it. It’s a WIP.
You don’t get it. You’d need a conclave for that kind of retcon, or at worst, a schism.
She can’t have either of those, because she’s gone and lost track of her religious body.
Your religious idol is literally around the corner of the building. Go ask if she disapproves of you liking him. After she is done laughing at you I’m sure she’d give you the go ahead
“Hereth beginneth the Book of Rachel:
1.1 And the Lady Frigg said:
1.2. Fuck him Rach, fuck him, fuck him like you’ve never fucked anyone before.
1.3. Oh wait, you haven’t. All the more, fuck him!
1.4. On top, on bottom, doggy style.
…
Commentary: Obedient to the holy command, but unable to bring herself to use low language, the priestess Rachel took the prophet’s name to use. And that is how ‘frigging’ began.
I kinda feel it’s unfair of Rachel to be blasting E-merl here. If he’s blaming himself it’s only because she’s not communicating.
He’s blaming himself because he has a self-esteem so low it requires scientific notation. I don’t think it’s right to say it’s only because she’s not communicating, it pins all the blame on her. I feel the situation here is a bit more complicated and realistic than that, it’s closer to a venting than a blasting.
Being a guy with low self-esteem and a tendency to blame myself because I don’t want to look like I blame others for my failures (not that I don’t do that either), I empathize here with both sides.
– E-Merl, for finding himself in a tough spot and spiraling down into self-recrimination. I get his frame of mind. The universe in general and Rachel in particular didn’t own him anything, so he has no right to expect anything from them. So he feels he is the sole culprit here. Or if he feels he isn’t, blaming himself is his clumsy of trying to confort Rachel and lighten her own burden of guilt.
– Rachel, and more precisely Rachel’s outburst? Do you have any idea how annoying people like me can be? Here she is, trying to sort out her own moral concerns and feelings, and E-merl is just going on his usual self-destructive and self-centered behavior. So of course she had to yell to shut him up and bring him out of his self-pitying act.
If allergic reactions are sympathetic facepalms, I don’t wanna be healthy.
I‘ll never understand how a religion inspired by Frigg can lead to thinking that loving someone is a sin.
Same. Though, I always figured it was a holdover from their pre-Frigg-worship nun days. Plus, the Sisters of the Unyielding Open Heart didn’t seem to realize that Frigg had a voracious sexual side, based on how Rach acted when she was first getting to know Frigg.
I don’t think Frigg would have a philosophical position on love beyond “that’s gay as hell.”
Not “Loving someone” but “Loving ONLY one” is the sin in my headcannon view of the Akerfedltian holy works. Though it could also be seen as a Love vs Lust sort of thing. Like, getting your rocks off is fine (even encouraged!) but getting ATTACHED is not. Nobody likes a clinger in Frigg’s view of the world.
Cheers,
Cote
Yaaaaay, Pet Shop Boys! ^_^
See, that Rachel is experiencing is an issue with her moral compass.
That her moral compass is based on her faith’s scriptures is secondary.
That most areligious people are allergic to, is the affirmation that you cannot have a moral compass if you have no religion, and conversely, that you have a perfect moral compass just by being somewhat religious.
The reality? You demonstrate that you have a moral compass by how you act. In particular, by recognizing that your compass needs a recalibrating, because life handed you a moral/ethical issue.
And in the case of Rachel anyway, “sin” is a perfect cromulent word to summarize this issue.