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Practical Philosophy, Thursday

"Last weekend, many of us were suddenly deprived of something we rely on every day," Ender said, once everyone had arrived on the scene. "For some of us, clothes are no greatly important business - they're just what we put on in the morning to escape the cold and public indecency."

He smiled wryly, picking up a bottle of water out of the grass. "For others, though, they are vitally important. They can indicate class or status; employment and culture. Even outside of this, clothes are often considered indicators of our personality-- a way for us to show the world who we are without having to start speaking, first."

He took a sip of water. "Now, some peoples have absolutely no problems with nudity, while for others it is one of the greatest sins possible. I don't know where your people fall on this scale, or how you feel on the matter. What do clothes mean to your society? Do they mean the same thing to you? Was last weekend a troubling experience, or no big deal?"

He put the bottle back down. "Or, if you're not interested in talking about that, just tell me how your week's been."

This class was easy like that.

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Dressed.

Hyacinthe

(STOP OPPRESSING MY CHARACTERS)

Mara Jade

Chat beforehand or during, whichever you prefer.

Hyacinthe was enjoying this class. He got to eat sandwiches (and pocket a few for later) and talk. It worked for him.

"Now, some peoples have absolutely no problems with nudity, while for others it is one of the greatest sins possible. I don't know where your people fall on this scale, or how you feel on the matter. What do clothes mean to your society? Do they mean the same thing to you? Was last weekend a troubling experience, or no big deal?"

Or just talk about your week. Whatever works.

"I still do not understand why it happened," Hyacinthe said with a shrug. "I haven't a great deal of clothing to go around in the first place."

He didn't mind being all-but-naked, but he generally preferred having a choice in the matter.

"It did not touch my galb, however, so it was not as bad as it could have been."

"I take it your galb is your underwear," Ender said, with expertly-repressed amusement.

"Huh?" Hyacinthe looked startled for a moment and then laughed. "No, not at all!" Oh, Ender, like he cared about silly things like undergarments. "Galb is jewelry wrought from coins. It's how Tsingani carry their wealth. My mother wears our galb at home, but since I have come to the island, she made me some to wear as well." He extended his arm, to show a bracelet made of gold ducats encircling his wrist, holes bored in the top and dangling from fine wire. "I do not ordinarily wear it, but after clothing began disappearing, it seemed wise to hold close the things I did not wish to lose."

Edited 2016-05-19 19:48 (UTC)

"Sorry," Ender said wryly. "In my culture, that would be in a wallet, and we wouldn't think of it as clothing."

He nodded towards it, though. "How is it used?"

"It's more jewelry than clothing," Hyacinthe admitted, "but I did not know why my clothes were running away, nor how broadly that might have been interpreted, so I thought it best to be safe."

Hyacinthe didn't have a whole lot of money in the first place and this had been the top string of his mother's necklace. He was not inclined to let it vanish.

"It is money," he said with a shrug. "Usually, galb is not spent unless it is to make a significant purchase. A new wagon, a herd of horses to sell, financing your own kumpania, paying the bride- or groomprice for marriage, that kind of thing. Coins can be plucked from it and spent that way, but it is almost...disrespectful? And a sign that you haven't enough funds handy to make a purchase, but must resort to tearing away your galb."

Ender nodded thoughtfully. "So it's a kind of tender that has cultural value as well as the monetary kind," he said. "Do you know where the practice comes from? And do you ever add to your galb as you go along?"

"We are Tsingani, the Travellers," Hyacinthe said with a shrug. "We spend our lives following the Lungo Drom; we don't settle down in homes or own businesses or invest in banks."

Generally speaking, anyway. Hyacinthe and his mother were saving up to purchase the building they were living in, but theirs was a special case.

"So we needed a way of carrying money that was as mobile as we are. Galb allows us to have funds at the ready no matter where we are. And yes. When I was a stripling, my mother's necklace was only a single row of coins. Now it is seven! Six," he corrected himself, absently stroking his bracelet.

That was an interesting correction, though Ender didn't poke at it. "Is it a cultural choice, not to settle?" he asked. "Or enforced by a majority culture of some kind?"

"A mix of both," Hyacinthe said. "We came from Bhodistan, once. It is said that the first Tsingani encountered Elua on his travels there, but would not give him shelter. And so now we roam the Lungo Drom, the long road. We travel in small clans, called kumpania. We are welcomed everywhere and nowhere, we call no country ours. Gadje often call us thieves, though mostly because they cannot hold their wine and count their cards. Even Terre D'Ange, which lets us move about freely, offers up prejudice. And many kumpania are scornful of settled folk and even among allies we keep to ourselves." Worried he'd said too much too solemnly, he adopted his Prince of Travellers smile, giving Ender a shameless wink. "But our coin is good and our horses better, so no country refuses us entry, though many are gladder to see our backs. Mostly out of fear they'll lose their handsome sons and pretty daughters to the delights and mysteries of the road."

Ender ignored the winking like it had never happened at all. "I see," he said. "Cultures frequently use - or abuse - religion to repress those they find undesireable." He took a little swig of his water. "I'm sorry, for what it's worth," he said. "You grew up in Terre D'Ange, am I correct?"

He actually had a fairly decent French accent on the words.

"I did," Hyacinthe said, slightly unsure where that was going. "The City of Elua."

Which he'd never left until he came here. His knowledge of the road and kumpai were all theoretical and second-hand.

"So what was it growing up there?" Ender asked. "Were you as isolated as you imply?"

Cultures were big stories. People were smaller ones, but they added up to more.

"Isolated?" Hyacinthe temporized, uncertain how he wished to answer. "The City of Elua is one of the largest in Europa and I grew up in Night's Doorstep, the most colorful part of it. How could I have been isolated?"

"You said your people kept to themselves, and with good reason," Ender said, no particular judgment in his voice. "I was simply curious if that had been your experience as well, considering you said Terre D'Ange was a more lenient place."

"There were few Tsingani where I grew up," Hyacinthe said shortly. "And most were Didikani like me. Half-breeds. The few kumpai that came through year by year did not know aught to do with us."

Ender had a feeling he might be threading close to getting Hyacinthe to clam up, but that also said its fair share.

"So life was complicated," he surmised. "But then it usually is."

"Enh, not so bad," Hyacinthe said, stretching out and adopting a more casual pose. "My mother took in washing and kept us housed, I kept my hand in and ran odd jobs to keep us fed. We lived near a tavern, that's entertainment, employment, and education all in one. And there are none so beloved as the Prince of Travellers on Night's Doorstep, regardless of his blood."

"I prefer to be wearing comfortable clothing that I choose myself, but that's not always possible," Mara said. "This weekend was...trying, but not hysteria-inducing."

Very few things would really break Mara's stride for long.

"Why isn't that always possible?" Ender asked. "And do you mean 'trying' just in a practical sense?"

He's still around for clean-up after class ends.

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Practical Philosophy, Thursday

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