Scout wrinkles his nose at the question. "No, we don't do slaves here. Slavery's bad."
"It's just normal copper stuff," Gavroche says with a shrug, swinging his feet. "You have coppers, right?"
Scout frowns, because being moderately older and more educated than Gavroche, it occurs to him that Podarkes might not have actually had any police system when he was alive.
"It's uh... it's a thing where, if you're hurt by someone, instead of trying to hurt them back yourself, you tell someone what happened and they make it right. Gav, you remember Buckle?"
"Oh yeah!" Gavroche brightens in recognition.
"Buckle kept pinching girls on their chests and bottoms, and they really didn't like that, so they went to Miss Ember to make him stop. She said that he had to do a lot of hard and embarrassing work for them to make up for it, and Lamb watched and made sure he did it."
"And then Buckle was better for a while, but he started pinching again!" Gavroche says, clearly eager to tell the next part of the story. Scout, on the other hand, starts looking a little green again. "So Mama Ember came down and broke his kneecaps, took him to her house, and hung him in the air by a meathook through here!" Gavroche gestures to his pelvis. "And right through the family jewels! Let him hang there for a long time before killing him so he'd reform whole again."
"Miss Ember has a three chance rule," Scout mumbles, looking at nothing. "If you do a bad thing, you have to make up for it by working and fixing the bad thing you did. If you do the same bad thing again, she'll make an example of you, and it'll hurt a lot. If you do the same bad thing a third time, you have to leave and you can't come back."
"And she usually pops out an eye or something before you leave," Gavroche says, just as gleefully admiring as he was when talking about Ember prior.
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"It's just normal copper stuff," Gavroche says with a shrug, swinging his feet. "You have coppers, right?"
Scout frowns, because being moderately older and more educated than Gavroche, it occurs to him that Podarkes might not have actually had any police system when he was alive.
"It's uh... it's a thing where, if you're hurt by someone, instead of trying to hurt them back yourself, you tell someone what happened and they make it right. Gav, you remember Buckle?"
"Oh yeah!" Gavroche brightens in recognition.
"Buckle kept pinching girls on their chests and bottoms, and they really didn't like that, so they went to Miss Ember to make him stop. She said that he had to do a lot of hard and embarrassing work for them to make up for it, and Lamb watched and made sure he did it."
"And then Buckle was better for a while, but he started pinching again!" Gavroche says, clearly eager to tell the next part of the story. Scout, on the other hand, starts looking a little green again. "So Mama Ember came down and broke his kneecaps, took him to her house, and hung him in the air by a meathook through here!" Gavroche gestures to his pelvis. "And right through the family jewels! Let him hang there for a long time before killing him so he'd reform whole again."
"Miss Ember has a three chance rule," Scout mumbles, looking at nothing. "If you do a bad thing, you have to make up for it by working and fixing the bad thing you did. If you do the same bad thing again, she'll make an example of you, and it'll hurt a lot. If you do the same bad thing a third time, you have to leave and you can't come back."
"And she usually pops out an eye or something before you leave," Gavroche says, just as gleefully admiring as he was when talking about Ember prior.