LET'S DRINK, DRINK, THIS TOWN IS SO GREAT (open)

[rathercommon]

WHO: Kitty
WHAT: Catch-all open log for those who want to thread!
WHEN: Oh, any time either before or after the Mire.
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: There are hideous sweaters in here.

1. Ugly not-Christmas sweaters.
[ There are three things, Kitty has learned, that the Inquisition likes. First: thick socks, heavy cloaks, and warm clothing of all sorts. Second is loud shouting matches over the fate of mages - which, truth be told, Kitty likes to hear; this is something that needs to be figured out, and shouting is good for a person, in her opinion. Third is drinking.

Today she's seeing to the first love of the Inquisition. A month ago, she'd had a few days off from the tavern, and so she'd taken her pony out exploring. She'd found a little freeholder far out from Skyhold, a widow with a few sheep and a spinning wheel who wasn't willing to venture out to sell her wares. Kitty had traded provisions for the promise of future work, and so a few days she'd gone out and picked up the fruits of the woman's labors: a stack of lumpy, ugly, undyed, but very warm pullovers.

And Khalena Jonos might not have been born merchant caste, but she bloody well knows how to bargain when it comes down o it. She takes over a table out in the courtyard, snuggled down into her own (smaller) jumper, making a grand show of looking warm and cozy and comfortable next to her stack of woolen goods. ]


2. Getting turnt.
[ She also has regular work in the tavern, of course - seeing to love-of-the-Inquisition-number-three. She's no doubt a familiar presence here: a small, bustling, cheerful figure, standing on a stool so she can see over the bar to take orders, teasing the regulars and greeting newcomers.

In moments when she's not interacting with others, though, she listens. Intently. She positions herself near conversations that interest her, and finds a task to busy her: wiping down the counter, polishing mugs, tending to the stew that's always burbling above the fire. And she listens, as much as she can, and she commits everything to memory.

Still - she does her job. As soon as someone calls for her attention, she breaks away from the conversation she's listening to - no matter how interested she is - and calls out, cheerily: ]

I'll be right there! [ And then - ] What do you need?


3. Bookssssssssssss
[ Of course, when Kitty isn't at work, she's trying to learn. She can often be found skulking about the libraries, reading vociferously, anything she can get her hands on. She gets lost in it, too, going on for hours on end. That's why she's perched in an odd place - sitting on the table and stretching her book up against the wall so that the last of the cold, late-afternoon sunlight will fall on it and illuminate its surface. She wants to eke out a few last minutes of reading before night falls. ]


4. Every step you take etc.
[ And a good portion of her day, also, is given over to spying. On whom? On just about everyone. Her favorite targets are mage leaders and Inquisition bigwigs and Tevinters, but anyone who seems the least bit interesting, she'll follow around. And if they bump into her as she's following them around, find her out, well - she acts natural, hoisting the sack she's carrying up on her back and cheerily saying before they can ask any questions - ]

Oh, thank goodness. This is too much for me to carry - I don't suppose you could help me out?

Comments

1

[sistertohermen]

[It gets chilly on the surface, and it feels like it's getting colder every day. So...gosh but those woolen clothes look warm and comfortable. Rachette hovers for only a moment before coming up and feeling the material. Who cares what it looks like--one learns very quickly that there's no such thing as being picky in Dust Town.]

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty's smile flickers only the slightest bit when she sees this potential customer. Of course she knows that brand. How could she not? Her parents, good loyal stolid exemplars of the servant caste, had always taught her not to even look at the casteless. They'd acted like it was their duty to just reject those rejected by the Stone, but Kitty's quite sure they just enjoyed having someone to lord their positions over. They liked showing off that they were better than someone else. It had been foul.

(Maybe. Or maybe they'd just been doing their duty. Kitty's never wholly sure.)

So she hesitates, just a little. And then the smile redoubles. She stands up - a gesture of respect, because to hell with all the expectations of her caste; she's damn well going to stand up and show respect to a casteless. (The gesture matters a little less, maybe, considering that she's considered just as low now as anyone born casteless - but still.) And she says - ]

I'm trading for those, if you're interested. They're ridiculously warm. Do you have anything to trade away?

[sistertohermen]

[She doesn't expect much. She doesn't expect anything, in fact. A casteless and a former criminal (and former soldier, but who's going to know or care about THAT part), and most importantly, poor.

Well. No, that isn't true. The surface Carta did try to be as lucrative as those down below. And she saw her own share of coin. She didn't have much now, but it's still something. That this dwarf stands has her instinctively reaching for a blade, but her hand never makes it to a handle before she realizes nothing is going to happen. Just...standing for this potential customer.

That's...strange. People on the surface are so strange. But it's nice? Not to be spit on. Rachette lowers her hand, trying not to look embarrassed about the potentially violent gesture.]

I might have some armor to trade. [Maybe. Possibly. Even if it's mismatched, it's hers, and it's done its job in keeping her safe. But surely she could get more here? Would they let her? She's still not sure about this Inquisition and how it works.] How cold does it get here?

[rathercommon]

[ To Kitty's credit, she doesn't react when the Casteless goes for her weapon. Or maybe to her discredit. She's not sure whether it's self-control, some deeper understanding that she didn't mean harm or just insufficiently honed instincts, but she stands there and blinks instead of moving very far away when the woman makes the first, abortive gesture of attack. ]

Um -

[ She clears her throat and tries to stop ruminating over that when the woman speaks. ]

Really quite cold. I don't know what it'll be like up in the mountains in winter - I've only lived a bit lower down, on the plains - but almost certainly it'll get brutally cold. When did you come topside?

[sistertohermen]

[She makes no apologies otherwise for her movement. Shouldn't be so jumpy around her own kind. (Or...she should especially be jumpy, maybe.)] A year or so? I was a little farther north and a little less in the mountains.

...What would you take for a sweater? I have-- [She makes a quick inventory of what's on her person. Not a whole lot she'd give up. But she muses at her gloves. Supposedly she could get something free of charge that's a basic armor replacement, just for being in the Inquisition, but she's still not sure she trusts that promise.] These gloves, perhaps? A sturdy enough leather, not much for warmth but still offers a bit of protection.

[rathercommon]

[ The gloves aren't of much use to Kitty, truth be told. They are sturdy, fairly formidable, but when she fights she fights without anything on her hands. She needs to feel the blade in her hand to strike with precision, to throw true. Leather offers protection, to be sure, but it also gets in the way of feeling in tune with her knives.

But she still looks at them, peering at the construction, reaching out to examine the stitching. In this weather, she could bargain ruthlessly for these sweaters. She could wring people absolutely dry, because she knows just how desperate they are to be warm. She could get three pairs of gloves like that for one of these, if she was really cutthroat about it. But -

Well. Kitty decided long ago not to be cutthroat. Especially not to a Casteless. ]

Good work on those. Good stitching. What sort of leather is that - nugskin?

[sistertohermen]

[She has precious little coin on her, most of it confiscated by the Inquisition when disbanding the Carta branch she was in, but she'd almost rather pay for a sweater than give up armor she'd gathered herself. But she'll respect a dwarven merchant. Who isn't miserable to one of her kind.]

Double layer. A bit of reduced flexibility in the fingers, but still decent protection. Not much for warmth, but despite the scuffs, they'll be true to whoever wears them. They served me well enough.