CLOSED | there's no place like home

[pittance]

WHO: Holden, Mhavos, Sawbones + Vance
WHAT: Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass.
WHEN: Vague timing.
WHERE: Orzammar.
NOTES: HMU in Discord with any questions.

Comments

[acreage]

He'll wait for the response on this one before speaking up again.

[okayimin]

It's good Holden waits, because Sawbones might not have been able to hear him over the laugh that bursts out of her. She manages to smother it quickly, shaking her head.

"Stone no," she says, "He's Diamond Quarter. That's nobility." She shakes her head, "If both of us had stayed where we were, the only way we'd ever meet is if I took up noble hunting and he decided to try and get a son by me."

[murderbaby]

Mhavos nods, looks uncomfortable, opens his mouth, closes it. He looks to Holden, as though this makes up his mind. "Is that what it sounds like?"

[acreage]

At almost the same time, Holden asks, "Noble hunting?"

[okayimin]

Their reactions are almost funny. Almost.

"Casteless women who sleep with upper Castes to try and get pregnant," she says, her smile looking more like a threat, "Bit like brothel girls if they didn't get paid for the service. The only time a Casteless woman ever gets into the Diamond Quarter is if she's a noble hunter. The only time a noble man ever talks to a Casteless woman is if he's looking to lay her."

Perhaps an oversimplification, perhaps a generalization, but also she isn't wrong. She pre-empts any further questions by expanding: "Orzammar has a low birth rate. And Caste is inherited, father to son, mother to daughter. If a Casteless mother has her son recognized by his father, she and her family are elevated to that Caste. They have an opportunity to have a life that isn't scrounging in the trash piles for food."

[murderbaby]

Mhavos nods. "Yes, I've heard of something similar win Orlais with the elf-blooded, but less..." He makes a distasteful expression, "formalized."

[acreage]

Oh good, that was even worse than he expected.

"The caste system," he says after a moment. "How does that work?"

[okayimin]

"Can't tell you much about the Caste system itself," she says, blandly, "I only know what I've read from books written by Surfacers. The Casteless aren't part of any of it. The Shaperate doesn't keep record of our family lines and we're not allowed formal burials, because it's believed our bodies would weaken the Stone. We don't exist, unless someone from a Caste needs a disposable body. Then it's grunt work in the Carta or noble hunting."

[murderbaby]

Mhavos doesn't look surprised; it's about what he's read. He nods, respectfully sorrowful, but keeps quiet. Adding his voice will only insult.

[acreage]

That's absolute bullshit, he thinks. He has the presence of mind not to say it.

"Or," he says at length, "the military."

It's a prompt, more than anything else. The case they're here about, after all, has to do with a Casteless soldier.

Still, that's clearly more of the same: a disposable body.

[okayimin]

She nods, "Low rank. Makes sense, given the Carta work most Dusters end up in is enforcing. Already suited for being front line fighters. Behlen's been making reforms, but that's not gonna change how folks act, especially after the way things were. Used to be if they caught you with a weapon, they'd execute you for disgracing the weapon."

Sawbones sighs, rubbing her forehead, "Wouldn't be surprised if this business had something to do with the Carta or worse. I'm more surprised something like it hasn't happened already."

[murderbaby]

A sigh. "If there's anything I can do to help... And I understand the unlikelihood of that. The offer remains. I am but a whisper away."

He taps his crystal once more.

[acreage]

"That goes for both of us."

As even more unlikely it is that he'd be able to help, he can't not offer, as well.

[okayimin]

It's a kind offer from both of them, enough to pull a small smile from her. Still, she sets her hands on her hips and huffs at the both of them.

"Oh I'll be in touch, but don't forget, I know how this place works. You lot just watch out for yourselves. The Warden's all right, but I'm not inclined to trust anybody else involved with this."

[murderbaby]

Mhavos gives his best attempt at a gracious nod, while privately wondering how easy it will be to move in the dark in a city with no night. "Of course, Sister."