"No, thank you," you say politely. The jerky looks old as hell, and Hinnom's hands are dirty, streaked with blue that you hope is just dust and dirt from the tombs. You're liable to catch something just from being near them while they eat: you'd probably just die if you actually ate it yourself.
Hinnom shrugs, and shoves the entire strip in their mouth instead.
Living down here must be lonely, because they seem desperate for conversation. Half of the questions you asked, it was clear they had no idea what you were talking about, but they tried to answer them anyway, in any manner that they could.
("I dunno the age," they said, wrinkling their nose at you, "but, like, we could go down there and check!")
It's a shame you're going to have to leave soon. Usually, you don't interact with wrigglers, apart from selling to them, and occasionally buying: while they have to survive as much as anyone else, and there's a large number of them in the AHRC, their immaturity tends to grate on you.
Especially with the higherblooded ones, who wouldn't know manners if it bit them on the knee, and have yet to realise that treating a vendor disrespectfully is an excellent way to get sold faulty goods.
Hinnom has the same frantic immaturity as the rest, but the fact they saved your life, and they seem so happy to have your attention, makes it a little more tolerable. And if they realise that they're two castes above you, well. They're not showing it. They're treating you with what amounts, with lowbloods, to respect.
Maybe you'll check in on them, next time you're in Capitol City. It's not like you can ever have too many contacts.
The conversation lulls into a comfortable silence. You're going to have to leave, in a moment, but for right now, you'll let them eat.
Or, at least, you were going to.
"What's that noise?" There's a rat-tatatat coming from below, but there's no downstairs: you checked.
[pheres "this kid was a racist brat to me so i sold him faulty armor so he'll DIE" dysseu]
Hinnom shrugs, and shoves the entire strip in their mouth instead.
Living down here must be lonely, because they seem desperate for conversation. Half of the questions you asked, it was clear they had no idea what you were talking about, but they tried to answer them anyway, in any manner that they could.
("I dunno the age," they said, wrinkling their nose at you, "but, like, we could go down there and check!")
It's a shame you're going to have to leave soon. Usually, you don't interact with wrigglers, apart from selling to them, and occasionally buying: while they have to survive as much as anyone else, and there's a large number of them in the AHRC, their immaturity tends to grate on you.
Especially with the higherblooded ones, who wouldn't know manners if it bit them on the knee, and have yet to realise that treating a vendor disrespectfully is an excellent way to get sold faulty goods.
Hinnom has the same frantic immaturity as the rest, but the fact they saved your life, and they seem so happy to have your attention, makes it a little more tolerable. And if they realise that they're two castes above you, well. They're not showing it. They're treating you with what amounts, with lowbloods, to respect.
Maybe you'll check in on them, next time you're in Capitol City. It's not like you can ever have too many contacts.
The conversation lulls into a comfortable silence. You're going to have to leave, in a moment, but for right now, you'll let them eat.
Or, at least, you were going to.
"What's that noise?" There's a rat-tatatat coming from below, but there's no downstairs: you checked.