12- Her Resplendence

Dane: [GM] It is day one of your two day train-ride to Colton. So far, it's very much peaceful as the rolling hills of the mainland give way to the slightly-snowy fields of the north. Your car is lavishly appointed and it's likely far nicer then anything you're going to encounter once you get there.
Ian: [Mari Shasho] Mari rocks back and forth by the window singing a little mindless song to herself about trains. Her only consideration for the cold weather is to put on a pair of wool socks with her sandals.
Kyle: [Bailey Hunt] Bailey walks in from the bar car, holding a full bottle of cheap table wine. He sits down in one of the comfortable armchairs and sets the bottle on the desk beside it. "If anyone asks, this was in here when we boarded, okay?" he remarks.
Joe: [OOC] Why is everyone getting more descriptive?
Kyle: [OOC] Easier to type long-form when I'm not racing to stop you from doing something.
Soo: [Kali dVostog] Kali is sitting on one of the other armchairs and sipping something of far better vintage then Bailey's swill. She's taken to dressing a bit simpler for this trip. Not so much that she no longer seems like a lady, but less ostentatious in light of heading to a rough coal mining town.
Kyle: [Bailey Hunt] "So, I think we're doin' good so far Lady dVostog, but there's some concerns we ought to address before we get to town tomorrow." Bailey says, tilting his head in Mari's direction.
Ian: [Mari Shasho] Mari looks over, knowing full well what Bailey means. 
Soo: [OOC] I'm not exactly following...
Dane: [GM] I'll clarify, since Soo is kind of a newcomer to the setting lore. Mari is a mage, someone born with magical proficiency, which in the Imperia voids her civil rights. Magi are so useful to nobles as military tools, advisers  and servants that they casually make them into effectively property. A spellcaster on his/her own is effectively begging to be kidnapped, arrested, or otherwise sold off to a noble. 
Kyle: [OOC] And Ian's character is a pyromancer, one of the more 'showy' types, so it'll be hard for Ian to be helpful AND keep being a mage out of the way.
Soo: [OOC] Oh, I see. And we're going into a rough, lawless area, so we should figure some sort of plan out.
Ian: [OOC] Yeah.
Joe: [OOC] Soo could make Ian her slave.
Soo: [OOC] What?!
Kyle: [OOC] Here we go again...
Joe: [OOC] I mean Kali could make Mari her slave. I have a logic behind this.
Dane: [GM] I'd love to hear it... oh wait, no I wouldn't.
Joe: [OOC] Issue 27 of The Eldarian had a side article on the mechanical effects of class and station, to flesh them out better then just the Status trait can. A character who is a slave to another character loses all Resources and Status they have, but gain a fixed Status equal to half the owner's Status because they're connected to them. Ian, what's your current Resources and Status?
Ian: [OOC] Mari is a vagabond freelance adventurer, she has Status 2 and Resources 1.
Joe: [OOC] Kali has Status 9. If Kali starts calling Mari her slave, Ian will lose a measly 1 Resources (which is irrelevant given Soo can pay for all of us all the time), and actually GAIN 3 Status by rounding up half of 9 to a 5. Basically by having Mari kiss-boot in public, we reap all the perks and none of the downsides.
Dane: [GM] I had to go look it up, but he's not bullshitting.
Joe: [OOC] Also, the party is a noblewoman, a combat robot, a commoner gunslinger, and an outlaw wizard. There's a lot of places of usefulness (like fancy parties) that ONLY Kali can get into. Kali's a socially built character, not a fighter. If Mari is her attendant, she can come along with her to those sort of things. She's the ideal back-up because she's a spellcaster so she can't be disarmed. Also, being her property will mean no one in their right mind will fuck with our mage since that'd be fucking with a noblewoman.
Kyle: [OOC] This is making a terrifying amount of sense...
Ian: [OOC] Joe, is it possible you're somehow humiliating me AND helping me?
Joe: [OOC] Emo-hair, when I say I love torturing you, I'm still technically saying I love you.
Ian: [OOC] That sentence makes no sense.
Soo: [OOC] Ian, we'll discuss this in-character, but I like to be addressed as "Her Resplendence".