Was thinking about a character--I've been figuring he was from a society based somewhat on Heian Japan (just because I like it)--and today I started thinking seriously about what that means, and realized that I need to cut a stupid plot idea that was bothering me anyway, because I don't need it if he's from a Heian-ish type place.

The reason I was thinking this was because I remembered an entry in Sei Shonagon's diary, where a destitute man whose home had burned down had somehow gotten onto palace grounds (Sei Shonagon was a lady-in-waiting who lived at the palace). He was looking for the emperor; he was going around begging someone to please help him find the emperor, whom he was sure would help him. What he didn't realize was that, to the aristocrats, non-aristocrats were also non-human. So when he was stumbling around the buildings in distress, trying to find someone who would tell him what to do and where to go, Sei Shonagon and her friends saw him and thought his misery was hilarious. SS wrote him a mocking poem and handed it to him, knowing he couldn't read; she just did it to be funny in front of her friends. And since he couldn't read, he thanked her, thinking it was a receipt that would rebuild his house. SS and her friends nearly keeled over laughing when they realized that.

And that kind of society sets up situations that mean I don't need the other idea that was bothering me anyway.