The Underbelly
Dec. 21st, 2014 12:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: The Underbelly
Year: Various
Characters: Vor, Taz, Mel, Kes, Kit
Warnings: Downsides to a close-knit, strictly heirarchical society, references to violence, prejudice, and disowning. Also, Kit.
Notes: This takes place in canon, so Vor and Mel never meet.
vor
he's a profit and a credit to his clan, to his line, and that should be enough.
it isn't
not because he's lonely. not because the feud with artwick never seems to end. not because his promotions come too slow
it's because his favorite cousin married out-clan, and now he's not supposed to talk to her. it's because even when the feud with artwick ends, another one will crop up in its place. it's because every promotion means losing friends who are pissed they didn't get it instead.
it's enough to make him just want to retire and walk away.
taz
sometimes, people just make her so mad.
people who hate her father, and her sisters, 'cause they're unthreaded. hell, people who are pissed at her, 'cause she's better and richer and more favored than they are and doesn't have the pedigree to justify it. people who do neither of those things, but don't seem to care when half the rest of the clan does. those people are the worst.
it makes her blood boil.
sometimes, people make her so mad that her favorite part of being captain is that she can keep them the hell away from her crew.
mel
he misses it. all of it. even the parts he hated. hell, he'd even put up with getting stabbed again, if it meant he could go back.
but he can't. not ever. not because his brother wasn't who he thought he was (though that didn't help).
the downside, he supposes, to the kind of world that the clans built. as long as you stayed in your place, you would never go wanting. but once you stepped out of line...
he tries to talk himself into not wanting it anymore. so maybe it would stop hurting, just for a little while.
kes
she sees the way they look at her.
she gives her orders, takes her stance, remains crisply correct in everything she does. because the moment she steps out of line, it won't matter the reputation her sister left her with. it won't matter the favor she has with the head and his husband.
the moment she steps out of line, they'll throw her air-mage no-rank pretender body to the sharks, and tell the rest of the clan it was an accident.
because accidents happen, to people who don't fit seamless into the clan.
so she has to be absolutely perfect.
kit
it's so easy.
it's not satisfying, not really, not the same way, but it's so easy to find the cracks the blood can seep through, like red hibiscus dotting garlands of more common pink and white. the low-caste, no-line, blood-feud casualties he can drink and drown in. all it takes is a whisper here, a hint of scandal, and he can find the ones that no one really cares about anymore.
it's how he gets through dry periods, between stops on the continent where he can hunt. finding the cracks in the clans, and digging 'til he draws blood.
Year: Various
Characters: Vor, Taz, Mel, Kes, Kit
Warnings: Downsides to a close-knit, strictly heirarchical society, references to violence, prejudice, and disowning. Also, Kit.
Notes: This takes place in canon, so Vor and Mel never meet.
vor
he's a profit and a credit to his clan, to his line, and that should be enough.
it isn't
not because he's lonely. not because the feud with artwick never seems to end. not because his promotions come too slow
it's because his favorite cousin married out-clan, and now he's not supposed to talk to her. it's because even when the feud with artwick ends, another one will crop up in its place. it's because every promotion means losing friends who are pissed they didn't get it instead.
it's enough to make him just want to retire and walk away.
taz
sometimes, people just make her so mad.
people who hate her father, and her sisters, 'cause they're unthreaded. hell, people who are pissed at her, 'cause she's better and richer and more favored than they are and doesn't have the pedigree to justify it. people who do neither of those things, but don't seem to care when half the rest of the clan does. those people are the worst.
it makes her blood boil.
sometimes, people make her so mad that her favorite part of being captain is that she can keep them the hell away from her crew.
mel
he misses it. all of it. even the parts he hated. hell, he'd even put up with getting stabbed again, if it meant he could go back.
but he can't. not ever. not because his brother wasn't who he thought he was (though that didn't help).
the downside, he supposes, to the kind of world that the clans built. as long as you stayed in your place, you would never go wanting. but once you stepped out of line...
he tries to talk himself into not wanting it anymore. so maybe it would stop hurting, just for a little while.
kes
she sees the way they look at her.
she gives her orders, takes her stance, remains crisply correct in everything she does. because the moment she steps out of line, it won't matter the reputation her sister left her with. it won't matter the favor she has with the head and his husband.
the moment she steps out of line, they'll throw her air-mage no-rank pretender body to the sharks, and tell the rest of the clan it was an accident.
because accidents happen, to people who don't fit seamless into the clan.
so she has to be absolutely perfect.
kit
it's so easy.
it's not satisfying, not really, not the same way, but it's so easy to find the cracks the blood can seep through, like red hibiscus dotting garlands of more common pink and white. the low-caste, no-line, blood-feud casualties he can drink and drown in. all it takes is a whisper here, a hint of scandal, and he can find the ones that no one really cares about anymore.
it's how he gets through dry periods, between stops on the continent where he can hunt. finding the cracks in the clans, and digging 'til he draws blood.