Jason

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Sharpie

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James D'Arcy
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Roma

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James D'Arcy
Location

Roma

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Assemble

Started by Lucius Vipsanius Roscius · January 2

December 22, 76AD, evening (after The hunt begins)
In retrospect, they could have tried to find a bigger place for this, Lucius thought. They barely fit inside Alexius' apartment, and his son was not even home yet. But it was still better than nothing, and the place was inconspicuous enough not to raise any suspicion of the ragtag gathering of slaves, freedmen, plebeians, and one former patrician. They really looked like an unexpected group of people as they all filed in. Lucius, still in his vigiles uniform (he had to go on patrol while the others looked for more clues, and he jut got back for the evening). Alexius, the ex-gladiator, towering over the rest of them. Jason, the imperial body slave, and his cousin, the mute charioteer, who was leaning against a wall with his arms folded, sizing up everyone. A girl - Didia? - who had been attacked by the killer, and apparently also lived next door. And she brought another, soft-spoken older man along, who introduced himself as Theodorus. Medicus for a ludus, apparently. Well, Lucius thought, there was a possibility that a medicus' services were needed before this was all over.
Lucius had brought some wine for everyone, and also a rolled-up map of the city. It was a little dated, and barely marked more than the main streets and the regions, but it was the best he could rustle up on a short notice. He also had a new writing tablet, instead of the one he'd borrowed.
"Is this everyone?..." he asked, glancing around at the assembled people. How were they even... supposed to do this? "I know we don't all know each other, but apparently we have a common enemy. Someone who has hurt... and killed... a lot of people." he glanced at Didia, and cleared his throat. "Someone no one has paid attention to, or connected the dots, for too long. And we need to find him, fast. Before he hurts someone else."
@Sara @Atrice @Sharpie
The hunt begins

Started by Lucius Vipsanius Roscius · December 27, 2021

December 22, 76 AD
It was early morning, the carts just having cleared the City. Lucius stood at the door of the insula, watching the first people wander out into te light of dawn. Workers hurrying, merchants carrying their wares, women running to the fountain for water. The city slowly waking up. He had left the barracks an hour earlier, and now he was waiting by the door, wrapped in his cloak, dressed like all the other rank and file vigiles in the city.
The slave girl could tell him the insula where Alexius lived, but not the door. So he was determined to be there before the man would leave (or come home) in the morning. There was no time to waste. Ovinia trusted this man; all Lucius knew was that he was her bodyguard, used to be a gladiator of some sort, and that he knew someone else who had been attacked. And that he had saved Ovinia from an attack before.
Maybe, just maybe, they could hunt down the attacker together.
@Atrice
Another Time Then [M - V]

Started by Ovinia Camilla · December 20, 2021

20th December (third day of Saturnalia)
Saturnalia felt like it would never end and it was intolerable. If it wasn't the fire that had almost burned down her domus, or the maddening encounter with the newest recruit of the vigiles then it was the hangovers that seemed to infect her house and her city that drove her mad. The smell of stale wine had lingered even after the previous nights festivities and she'd needed to get out to get some fresh air.
She'd sent the slave girl she'd been with ahead a few paces as they made their way back from the markets, arms and baskets (well...hers) laden with food given they couldn't prepare anything in the smoking ruin of their kitchen. They'd taken the long way back to their house on the Esquiline but Ovinia had relished the peace and the chance to clear her head. The sun was a few hours off of setting but the grey December day cast the streets in an ominous light. The fresh chill, however, cleared out her lungs as she followed twenty or so feet behind her slave, taking in the view as they circled round the Colleseum and the derelict insulae near them.
Her pace slowed further as a few passers by - drunk from the night before no doubt - almost barrelled into. "Watch where you're going." She muttered as she stretched her legs and lengthened her stride to try and catch up with her slave girl, disappearing into the slow-moving, hungover mass of people coming the other way. "Lusia, slow down!"

TAG: @Atrice
Not Looking For Trouble

Started by Cynane · December 19, 2021

Saturnalia, 76 AD
Cynane was waiting just outside the palace and hoped that Tiranês would show up soon, as they had decided. It was, after all, Saturnalia! The one holiday the Romans got right, at least. The one holiday where slaves got to feel like free people and could do (almost) anything they pleased. As long as they’d show up for work the next day. Well there was always the next day. Sometimes she’d thought it was a way to mock the slaves, tell them to go and have fun, but remember, you are still slaves. There’s always tomorrow!
But tomorrow was not now. She was unsure of where they were going, but her blood-brother said he had a good idea and she’d happily see what he had in store. And keep him safe on the way. She had tried to dress up, but she still didn’t want to look like someone she wasn’t. So she still wore breeches and a thigh-long tunica, easy to move around in. She’d dropped the leather armor for tonight, but she still wore her braids. Maybe a bit fancier than on a daily basis, since it was Saturnalia. She recalled Tiranês speaking of many smaller braids in the hair, she didn’t know if it was a style the women among his people kept, but she’d tried to recreate it.
Casually she leaned against the wall, ignoring the stares of anyone passing by, like she always did. If they glared at her and she did look back, they’d wish they didn’t. She didn’t want their attention. All she wanted was the company of someone she liked, and she didn’t like many people in Rome. And luckily, soon enough it was Tiranês who joined her and she greeted him with a smile, “Finally! Shall we go? And... where are we going?”
@Sharpie @Chevi ( @Sara )
At the edge of the world

Started by Jason · December 15, 2021

Sarmatia, 76AD, near the border of the Roman province of Pannonia

Tiranês' clan and his cousin's tribe had come together, as they did occasionally, to trade and meet with friends and relatives. It meant that Tiranês and Azarion could spend some time together, go riding and hunting together. Today was going to be different from usual, though - they were close to the Romans and Tiranês wanted to see them, to try to understand what all the fuss was about them, and he had persuaded Azarion to join him. Not that it took all that much persuading, Azarion being who he was.
Tiranês swept his hair out of his eyes and tended to his horse, Burdukhan, as he waited for Azarion to join him over the brow of the hill from the encampment.
"There you are! I thought you weren't coming," he said as his younger cousin drew up to him.

@Chevi
When in a Roman bath

Started by Azarion · December 15, 2021

Early December, 76AD
Even though Azarion had been living inside the city for more than a year, there was still a staple of Roman urban living that had eluded him so far: the baths. Sure, he knew how to bathe, and kept himself clean using the facilities that belonged to the stables. But if everyone else could be believed, that was a far cry from the bathing culture the Romans invented. In the eighteen years of his life, Azarion had only been familiar with washing, first in the rivers and lakes of Sarmatia where he learned to swim, and then more or less improvising as much as slaves were allowed.
Now that he was a charioteer, slowly rising out of the masses of slaves in the city, Marcus kept reminding him that he was allowed to go to actual thermae if he wished. A real Roman bath house. Azarion avoided the issue as long as he could, but eventually Tiranes found out too, and somehow now here they were, in the doors of the part of the thermae that was open to slaves, and the freedmen of the nearby faction stables. Azarion frowned, but very enthuastic about the visit. He looked at his cousin, shrugging. Do we have to?
@Sharpie
In The Darkness [M - V]

Started by Marcus Barbatius · November 14, 2021

Early October, 76 AD
It was dark in Rome this night. The moon wasn’t shining, there was not just a veil, but a thick blanket of clouds over the city for once. That made it all seem quite dark this time of year and Marcus enjoyed it. He had gone out with a purpose tonight, the usual purpose, wearing a cloak over his head and a proper knife by his belt, hidden by the long cloak that went all the way to his knees. He was ready for something to happen. Something he would like.
There had been a few attacks he’d failed at recently and he wasn’t very happy about it. At least none of the women had been talking about him, no one had found out about him, so that was good. Even if they escaped, the next best thing was them not talking. He preferred that. Else he’d have to find them again and make sure they wouldn’t talk. He’d like to find them anyway. Maybe he’d find one tonight?
Quite randomly he was walking around for some reason, ended up near the racing court. Not that he had any connection to the place, and yet… as he walked by a certain house with a few barrels in front of it, he stopped. Didn’t he once kill a girl there? It had felt so good. He didn’t mean to kill her, but she struggled and she hurt him and she wouldn’t shut up. So he made her. He’d slit her throat. And stabbed her chest.
He realized he was standing still, as the memories flowed through him. He licked his lips, thinking about it made him want more of the same. There had been so much blood. Maybe some of it had sprayed onto the side of the house or something… without thinking twice, he walked closer to the scene.
@Chevi
Taken for granted

Started by Tiberius Claudius Sabucius · November 1, 2021

Late September 76CE
"Jason?" Tiberius called lightly, as he carefully tied the scroll he'd been reading and set it aside. His body slave was usually around somewhere, discrete and out of view, but near enough to be summoned when needed. It was what one wanted in the best of slaves. He'd been a gift from Tiberius's Uncle Jullus some three years ago now, and proven entirely satisfactory.
The only times he wasn't around was when he occasionally asked to go off on his own, or Tiberius dismissed him as he did when he knew he'd be busy most of the day, such as during a Senate session. As long as he was back by the time he needed him, there was no reason to make him wait. And he always was.
He wasn't Roman born, Tiberius knew that; he had an accent, to go with his looks. But he knew little enough about him otherwise. That hadn't really struck him until his conversation with Cynane.
@Sharpie
Two barbarians don't make a horde

Started by Jason · October 30, 2021

It was the month the Romans called October, which mean that the city was cooler than it had been, though it was far from being winter - not that Rome had winters like those Jason remembered from his childhood, that forced his people to move for better pasture and when the steppe was covered in snow that meant they were confined far more to the camp.
He was in the garden today, the small garden near his master's quarters. Close enough to be to hand if he was needed, far enough away that he could feel he wasn't on a leash, or at least that the leash wasn't as short and tight as usual. Today, he was repairing a belt. Technically, he didn't have to, but it was something he wanted to do, and it was a skill he had, one among many. He'd had so many skills and things taken away he was not about to hand this to someone else to do when he could do it himself.
He looked up after a moment to find that he wasn't alone any more. He had been joined by his master's sister's bodyguard, a tall blonde slave called Cynane, who he hadn't really spoken to very much. He wasn't sure if she was sizing him up or merely watching out of curiosity, and offered a smile.
"Good afternoon."

@Atrice
Don't get all emotional on me

Started by Jason · October 26, 2021

Two days after the races at the Circus Neronianus (stupid name), and Jason had tracked down the boy he'd seen racing, that he thought looked remarkably like his cousin, last seen being hauled off, kicking and screaming and with blood everywhere, to be sold gods-knew-where to gods-knew-who. How and why he'd ended up here in Rome, the same city Jason was now living in, was a minor miracle. The fact that he'd seen and recognised him was a bigger miracle - how close had they been, for how long? They could have passed one another a hundred times in the Forum or the streets and never seen one another, and for Jason to have seen his cousin racing a chariot for the Whites... He had followed his master home docilely and slipped out to the garden during the night to give thanks to Tabiti for the preservation of his cousin, the last member of his family he had seen and to ask for her continued blessing on the boy (chariots were not horses, but it was closer to actual riding than Jason himself had come for several years), as well as for her favour when it came time to speak with his master.
He had left as an offering a bronze coin of indeterminate provenance, whose reverse showed a horse. Tabiti would understand.
That had been the night after seeing his cousin at somewhat of a distance. Today, he had permission to come to the Whites' stables to try to see his cousin from a lot closer up. Maybe even to actually talk to him, if the gods smiled on them and Azarion's masters would allow it.
He entered the stable-yard and was hit full-force with nostalgia - the layout was all wrong but the sounds and scents were all right. He hadn't been so close to this many horses for the best part of ten years, and had to swallow.
"I'm looking for Azarion," he managed in accented Latin, addressing the first person he saw who might spare him enough time to point his cousin out.
He was in luck; the other waved him towards a stall where he could see his cousin's dark head as he moved around the horse. Feeling relieved that he'd been right in thinking the boy was his cousin, and somewhat jealous that he hadn't been renamed - though how he would have asked for him if he had been was anyone's guess, he crossed to the indicated stall. He would not interrupt Azarion's work; simply waiting would allow him to spend that bit longer in an environment that took him straight back to his childhood.

@Chevi