Attis

• Face Claim

  Anthony Higgins

• Location

  Roma

• Activity Level

  Fast

Recent Posts

1. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   21 hours ago

   "I don't know why she won't," Attis returned with a shrug, stepping past his master to knock at the door. He wondered sometimes, privately, what would happen if all the slaves in Rome somehow vanished overnight (not run away, just... weren't there in the morning). Three-quarters of Roman patrician would probably end up stuck in their rooms, unable to operate a simple door!
   "Maybe she'll think differently after the baby's born? I can hope." The door's spyhole opened. "My master Lucius Cassius Longinus to see your master Aulus Calpurnius Praetextatus."
   He'd quiz the other senator's secretary about how he got his master to sign paperwork but secretly suspected that the answer was simply that Calpurnius Praetextatus was a more organised and efficient man than Longinus. He'd been a Consul after all, and Longinus was still dithering about becoming Praetor.
   "If she's happy the way things are, who am I to upset that?" he asked, stepping back into his place as the doors swung open.
    
   @Sara
   
2. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   Saturday at 10:33 PM

   "May I point out that I'm supposed to be wherever you are, Domine," Attis said. "And I doubt you'll want to have Metella and a baby in tow if you get posted back to Britannia, or anywhere else." It was highly likely that Cassia would be left in Rome, again, and as Metella was in that limbo somewhere between being Cassia's nurse and her body slave, she would be where Cassia was, and of course the baby would be with Metella.
   "If I fucked off anywhere just because I couldn't cope, I'd probably have a slave catcher or bounty hunter on my tail before I was halfway anywhere - and it's not like I have anywhere to go. Metella would kill me even if you didn't, too."
   What was worrying him? Everything, and there were some things no senatorial patrician would be able to advise on. Like, how to ensure a child didn't make itself too known to people to whom slaves were part of the furnishings. Well. Not that Longinus was really one of those, especially when it came to Attis and (probably) Metella, but it was never wise to risk it.
    
   @Sara
   
3. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   Saturday at 10:09 PM

   "I'm sorry," he returned, with a shrug. "It's not usually a good idea for a slave to assume anything - and you joke about selling me often enough, after all." Not that those were anything but jokes, yet there was always that ring of truth to them - Longinus could do it if he chose to, after all. He had every right, as Attis' master. Something that a slave forgot at their peril.
   "And I'm not sure I'm going to be very good as a father," he added. "I mean... Well, you know me, Domine. I'm going to be a terrible example for a child to follow."
   Especially a child who had to learn to navigate the cruel and unfair world of being a slave in a Roman household, however benevolent the master was. And Longinus didn't have a cruel bone in his body, not when it came to those close to him... even on his pessimistic days, Attis knew that it wasn't wishful thinking or mere sycophancy to think that he was close to his master. There was probably nobody else anywhere who had seen Longinus in every temper and every state.
   "You'll find a nice wife and get yourself a whole gaggle of Senatorial brats for us all to chase after, just you see if you don't," he added.
    
   @Sara
   
4. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   Saturday at 09:25 PM

   Attis grinned. She hadn't changed much, then, not really, except she was rather less likely to tell Longinus where he could go, or what he could do with himself in the meantime.
   "I'll tell her, Domine," he said, not sure whether to be amused or impressed that Longinus was apparently willing to do anything for her. He wondered how far that 'anything' might extend, and whether Metella would request anything she didn't already have.
   It was easier to picture Metella as a mother than to visualise himself as a father; she had always been a motherly sort, and had been more of a mother to Cassia in her own way than her Cassia's grandmother, Longinus' mother. Attis was not ready, in any way, shape, or form to be a father, and wasn't entirely sure how he felt about having a child in slavery. Too late for regrets, though, and he would at least make a good attempt at being a father.
   "How do you feel about it, Domine?" he asked, wishing he knew Longinus' thoughts about it all - he had his master's reassurance that the three of them would be able to be a family, but he still didn't really have a reading on what his master actually thought about it all.
    
   @Sara
   
5. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   May 16

   "He'd have a lot less grey hair, Domine," Attis pointed out cheerfully. He wouldn't know what had happened if Longinus decided, for once, to leave his 'to do' pile vastly smaller than his 'done' pile - well, no. He'd probably call a medicus in a tearing hurry, convinced the master was sickening for something dreadful!
   He wondered if he could persuade Longinus to do it, just once, just to see what the outcome really would be.
   "She told me - Metella, not the ex-Consul's lady wife, Domine! - that the priestesses were completely unhelpful, so much so that she thought they'd disappeared completely off the earth at one point. She's not a trained midwife, either." And agreed with his master that yes, being able to ask for any favour at all from the lady was a powerful thing, if she only knew it.
   He rather suspected that the only thing she'd want to ask for would be completely outside Horatia Justina's power to grant: an easy birth for her own child.
    
   @Sara
   
6. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   May 16

   "You always tell him it'll be this afternoon, or tomorrow, Domine," Attis pointed out, running both hands through his hair to attempt to make it look vaguely presentable - he hadn't expected his master to be going anywhere today and certainly not quite so precipitately. He was lucky that he'd put on a clean tunic that morning and people didn't pay much attention to other people's slaves anyway.
   "Um, no, you didn't, Domine," he said. "What did she say - if I can ask, that is."
   How had it managed to not get buried in the rest of his unread correspondence and paperwork?!
    
   @Sara
   
7. 

   Leading a dog's life

   May 16

   "Only when I've been out and he wants the world to know I was away for about, oh, five hundred  years and nobody's paid him any attention at all in that time," Attis replied. "He's never met anyone he didn't like, sir, but if anyone wants to do anything he doesn't want, they'd better know how to bribe him - not that that's awfully hard, in most cases." It also depended on what it was they were trying to get him to do, or not do, and how urgent it was that he do, or not do, the thing.
   "Can I ask why you got him?" Why he'd been summarily passed to Longinus was more readily apparent, of course. He hadn't thought Sulpicius Rufus was particularly a dog person - possibly why the animal had been gifted to Longinus, in fact - especially when it came to dogs the size of a small elephant.
    
   @Liv
   
8. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   May 16

   "What, now? Right now this instant?!" Attis hadn't expected that his words would produce quite so sudden a decision... although Longinus had been doing paperwork and had never once, to Attis' recollection, passed up an opportunity however meagre of sliding out of tackling said paperwork. He couldn't help wondering whether Vitus might really be only in his thirties despite appearing easily a decade or more older. He'd have to ask the next time they had a moment to talk.
   "You can ask to see your friend's new baby, too, Domine," he added. Metella would like to know how the baby was doing, probably, and it was always amusing to see his master going gooey over other people's children. Not that it happened very often, but there was some sort of proprietary link to this particular one.
   He shrugged and turned to go and find his master's outdoor shoes; he wouldn't want to go even the short distance from his house to the ex-Consul's in his indoor slippers, after all.
    
   @Sara
   
9. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   May 14

   "Thank you, Domine," Attis said, meaning it sincerely. It was one less thing to worry about, although no slave could ever quite dismiss that fear from the back of their mind, and Longinus joked entirely too often for comfort about selling Attis, or otherwise getting rid of him from the household permanently. Though they both knew he'd be lost without Attis to ensure he was scrubbed and turned out properly. Metella didn't even have that sort of assurance, not really, although she was gradually beginning to fill the role of body-slave to Cassia Antonilla rather than merely her nurse.
   What role she would have once she had a baby to care for was anyone's guess.
   "If all theatre is drivel, Domine, maybe you should sponsor some writers to come up with something that isn't pure drivel - that would help empty a strongbox or two." The idea of a palaestra was... it was a good one, in fact. "That sounds perfect. I'm sure your friend the Consul probably scouted several sites when he was considering where to put his baths, one of those might be a good place for a palaestra."
   And probably the big hulking Dacian, Celsus, would prefer to throw medicine balls at their master than to go running half around the city before the break of dawn. Attis certainly would!
    
   @Sara
   
10. 

    Leading a dog's life

    April 30

    "Oh, he's a perfectly useless guard dog," Attis admitted cheerfully. "He'd knock any intruder down and lick them to death, though. But he does bark to let people know he's happy to see them - we'd all come in to find him making friends with the man who'd only come in to try his luck with the master's strongbox."
    Longinus' slaves were no worse at their jobs than any of Sulpicius Rufus' were - probably better; that Dacian girl Zoe or Zia or whatever it was could hardly be lazier and less apt to do a stroke of work. He wondered if Rufus knew just how little she actually did around the house.
    "Then he does - did anyone bother to offer you any refreshments at all, sir?" They should have, of course, especially as they should all know Titus Sulpicius Rufus was one of their master's inner circle and closest friends, along with the ex-consul. If they hadn't, Attis was going to give them an earful!
    As for whether or not the dog had finished growing yet, he didn't have a clue, and shrugged. "I don't know when dogs stop growing, to tell the truth. He'll be able to pull a donkey-cart, easily, by the time he's full grown, and the kennel will be about the size of a small house."
    He was just hoping that Licky would manage to destroy some of the less tasteful things Longinus had collected over the years, although he'd taken a peculiar liking to the moonfaced nymph in the garden, judging by the way he made a beeline for her every time he wanted to relieve himself.
     
    @Liv ( @Sara @Chevi )
    

Topics I Participated In

1. 

   Sweet like chocolate

   Started by Attis · April 21

   May 77AD
    
   Attis had felt somewhat peckish and tried to resist giving in to the urge to find something to eat. He'd even managed to resist... for all of maybe half an hour, before giving up and going in search of sustenance.
   He'd come away with three honey cakes, one of which he'd deposited in Metella's hands (along with a kiss on her cheek) before wandering along to Longinus' tablinum.
   The relationship between the two was mostly repaired since the trip to Greece - repaired enough for Attis to slide back into old habits, though not quite so much that he'd walk straight in and deposit one of his acquisitions under his master's nose.
   "Domine? Are you busy?" His tone implied that he rather hoped Longinus wasn't - or that, if he was, he wouldn't mind being interrupted.
    
   @Sara
   
2. 

   You'll never guess what!

   Started by Attis · February 21

   January 77AD, a few hours after Juno, bless us
    
   Metella had gone out earlier to pray at the temple of Juno Lucina, with the full blessing of Longinus. Attis was still trying to get his head around the fact that he was going to be a father - the only person in the house who was an equally unlikely paternal figure already had a daughter of ten. He was trying to teach Rugam to lie down and roll over when a commotion from the slaves' side entrance caught his attention, and he turned to see what was going on.
   "Oh... Um."
   Metella had returned, looking more as if she'd been bathing in the blood of her enemies than praying at the temple of a respectable goddess.
   "Who did you murder, and do you need help to dispose of the body?"
    
   @Chevi
    
   
3. 

   Leading a dog's life

   Started by Titus Sulpicius Rufus · February 7

   Early winter, 77 AD
   It felt like a lifetime since he last had paid Longinus a visit, but surely it could not have been more than a few weeks - or months. Not much had changed as far as Titus could tell, the decoration still as exotic as always and the slaves just on the verge of slacking off.
   Well, one thing was markedly different.
   He watched in morbid interest as the dog scratched its ear with a paw the size of a toddler's head, somehow not ripping it to shreds as it did. The thing was humongous, really. He had done the right thing by passing it on to Longinus; a creature this big would definitely have a voracious (ergo expensive) appetite. The puppy of a few seasons ago was no more, in its place a one-headed Cerberus who was now deeply engrossed in nibbling at its own tail, presumably to scratch an itch.
   It wasn't even that old - a year or less by now if he recalled correctly. Was it even finished growing? A child could ride it like a horse. Titus had a blissfully brief vision of his youngest wreaking havoc in his domus with such a dog as her mount, and again told himself he had absolutely done the right thing. Whatever damage it caused would probably go unnoticed amidst all of his friend's dubious ornaments.
   A rustling noise coming from the right caught his attention, and he peeled his eyes from the dog only to find himself with the empire's cheekiest body slave. "Well met, Attis. Tell me, who is in charge of this four-legged giant?" Please let it be you went unsaid, although the expectant smirk on Titus' face betrayed his thoughts rather eloquently.
   @Sharpie (and @Saraand @Cheviif any of your people want to join in at some point)
   
4. 

   The law of surprise

   Started by Metella · January 6

   End of the year, 76AD
   Metella was feeling miserable. Saturnalia came and went, with feasts and merrymaking all around the house, everyone had slept off their hangovers and were back to their everyday work... except for her. Because she still felt sick. She would have blamed it on Longinus' cooking, but she knew better. She had not eaten any of that this year. And yet, here she was. Was she getting ill? It would be just her luck.
   Leaving her room, Metella made a decent effort to start the day. She made it all the way to the atrium before she faltered, her stomach turning, and her face turning even paler than usual. Her breakfast was not sitting well at all. She wavered, catching herself against one of the columns of the atrium.
   "Oh, sh..."
   @Sharpie
   
5. 

   A study in Brythonic

   Started by Attis · September 14, 2021

   Britannia, 67AD
   Attis had grown used to the life of a Legate's personal slave with the Legions in Britannia. He was still growing used to the weather and the wet and the mud, but after that first time tripping over a grass hummock, he hadn't manage anything quite so ignominious again, certainly not where anyone could see. Oh, for paved roads again, though - they were building some outside the fort, but the fort itself was still a ditch, a wooden palisade and rows and rows of tents, with one or two more permanent structures like the bathhouse and the Praetorium and prison.
   It hadn't taken him too long to find his way around, Roman army camps were laid out in nice neat straight lines with all the important buildings (or tents) in the middle and the less important ones outside of them and so on, right to the edges of the camp by the palisade. Which meant that at least his master's tent, one of the nice big ones, was near the middle of the camp.
   Longinus was elsewhere at the moment, either on the parade square or in the Praetorium, and Attis wasn't needed, so once he'd finished his current chores, he ducked out of the tent for some air somewhere. He pulled his cloak around his shoulders; autumn here might be pretty but there was a chill in the air that he really wasn't used to, and he'd been told it would only get worse as winter wore on.
   There was a familiar slight figure up ahead, the interprex Aius - Attis had seen him around, of course. Longinus didn't always dispense with Attis when he was doing Legion business, and occasionally had need of an interpreter while doing Legionary business.
   "Salve," he said, stepping out of the way as Aius approached - Attis the slave was marginally beneath Aius the free peregrinus in the grand scheme of things. It seemed they were both going the same way, to the cookhouse for food. Of course.
    
   @Chevi
   
6. 

   Of dogs, slaves and Senators' brothers

   Started by Attis · September 13, 2021

   June
   76
   The gardens of private houses being relatively common areas for householders' friends to wander around in, somehow Attis was not surprised when his master's friend's brother came out into the sunshine after his conversation with Attis' master. He had enough warning to be able to take a firm grip on Rugam's collar and plant his feet; the dog was friendly and enthusiastic, and probably going to be the size of a horse when it stopped growing, juding by the size of its paws. He wondered if it would fill its skin out as it grew, or if the skin grew with it so it would end up just as wrinkly as ever. Like someone wearing a badly-arranged toga.
   "I hope you don't mind dogs, sir," he called, trying to give fair warning (as if Rugam's barking hadn't been enough warning). "He's friendly."
   He'd shut him away if he needed to, he didn't really know the man to know whether he ought to allow the dog to say hello, or not. (He tended to reserve the dog's most enthusiastic greetings for people he wasn't overly fond of, if he had some warning - the other day with Tranquillus had been more or less a fluke.)
    
   @Chevi
   
7. 

   cave canem

   Started by Attis · July 14, 2021

   It wasn't at all unusual for Longinus to have a friend, or friends, come to visit, even unexpectedly, and on this occasion as on others previously, Attis had taken Ragum out to the garden in an effort to keep the dog from knocking the visitor over with the force of his wagging tail. He was a friendly dog (and therefore probably a completely useless guard dog) but he was the size of a small pony by now. Attis looked at the thing and reconsidered; he wasn't that big - yet! The size of a small donkey? Large goat?
   He would have realised he wasn't alone much earlier except the dog had started barking from almost the moment the front door opened and the ostiarius admitted today's visitor, who turned out to be Sulpicius Rufus. He wasn't alone, and Attis couldn't help smiling as Tranquillus came out to see the garden and get deafened by the dog. And probably knocked over by him, too; Attis couldn't hold him.
   "He's friendly!" he said, as the dog finally escaped his grasp and ran to greet the newcomer with a furiously wagging tail and deep joyful barks. And a very wet tongue.
    
   @Chevi
   
8. 

   Here Goes Nothing

   Started by Lucius Cassius Longinus · June 13, 2021

   June, 76AD
   Longinus wasn't, by his nature, a nervous man but by the Gods he was skittish now. The meeting with Seconds and Tertius had been odd and disconcerting to say the least, but he'd persevered - sending his compliments to Secundus for a lovely afternoon and pressing his desire to meet the man's niece. He didn't know what to make of Sergia - he'd glanced her once  or twice throughout the years at various functions but couldn't recall much beyond dark hair, blue eyes and a pretty face. If he'd spoken to her, he couldn't recall it and he hoped to the Gods he hadn't because the Longinus trying to court a young woman was likely to be different to the Longinus enjoying himself at a party. There was a significant chance he'd acted like an oaf back then, and winced as he paced the atrium. 
   The house was deserted - his mother and daughter at the villa in Formiae for the next few weeks, which suited him fine. No need to frighten the poor young woman off with his overzealous mother and miserable child. That did, unfortunately, leave Sergia in the company of only men so he'd extended the invitation to Secundus' wife Livia. But tales were told and deciding he'd rather not have to face the couple who spent most of the year oddly isolated in Tibur, he'd also invited Tertius. He liked the latter, more than he liked Secundus at any rate and was hoping the Praetor would be able to temper the moods of his guests. 
   Dinner was being prepared and the slaves hurried around the place, straightening a few of his odd collectibles here, and a vase of fresh flowers there. He fidgeted as he drew to a stop, tugging at the folds of his pallium and wishing he'd had a good long drink before this. How was it that facing down the Brigantes in Britannia hadn't made him sweat but the prospect of arranging a marriage did? He swallowed and waved a hand at a slave; "Wine." His throat felt as parched as a desert and he gulped it down as it was handed to him. He didn't have long to wait and stew further in his misery though, a slave entered the atrium with a guest trailing behind him. 
    
   TAG: @Járnviðr @Liv @Atrice (and @Sharpie and @Chevi if you want Attis or Mets to make an appearance at any point!)
   Also figured we could jointly NPC Sergia? And come up with an excuse as to why her mother isn't at the dinner... 
   
9. 

   Bad moon on the rise

   Started by Attis · May 27, 2021

   Attis had been woken by others' disturbed sleep and nightmares more than once in his life, but it had been a long time since he had been woken by his own nightmare.
   Tonight's dream was vivid, though.
   “Hold him down,” the Centurion was saying from somewhere out of sight above him and the two soldiers holding him tightened their grasp as another came to hold his head still. Attis' eyes were fixed on the sword that was being brought closer and closer to him, its tip glowing red-hot...
   He woke with a gasp, sitting up, one hand going to his forehead even as he glanced over, hoping that he had not disturbed his master. The scar was still there, of course, but cool to the touch, painless now but still visible to everyone who looked his way – as it had been intended to be. Attis was lucky he hadn't simply been killed for his stubbornness, but the soldiers (whoever they were) had toyed with him as a cat did its prey – and that had been Attis' saving grace because they had no sooner completed branding him than another group of soldiers came riding up, giving Attis time to get away.
   The room around him was pitch-black, it was still the middle of the night, and he threw back his blanket, finding that he was desperate for some air and to wet his throat, both of which could be found out in the garden, where he could slake his thirst at the fountain, hopefully without disturbing anyone.
   As he straightened up from the fountain, a sound behind him made him turn. Obviously, he hadn't been as quiet as he had hoped.
   “Domine! Did I wake you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.”
    
   @Sara
   
10. 

    Minor wrinkle (Attis)

    Started by Metella · March 17, 2021

    Spring 76 CE
    The concept of pet dogs was a new one for Metella. She had had dogs around before, back in the village, and even in Rome sometimes, but they were usually dogs for hunting, or for guarding, or strays. This one... well, this one was here to stay. It was dominus' dog, a tiny bundle of blinking eyes and wrinkles, hence the name. 
    "I am still not sure what the purpose of an inside dog is supposed to be." she admitted to Attis as they watched the pup sniff around the atrium. He moved with a waddle, and seemed interested in everything. "I mean, it is adorable, but it's gonna leak everywhere. And why are we watching it again?..."
    @Sharpie
    

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