Manius Rutilius Gallus

Freedmen

Posts
86
Last visited
August 21
Player
Atrice

About Manius Rutilius Gallus

Troubled Soul

Custom Fields

Face Claim
Francois Arnaud
Location
Rome

Quote

If only, if only it was so...
Face Claim

Francois Arnaud
Location

Rome

Topics I Participated In

Broken Open

Started by Manius Rutilius Gallus · August 21

July, 76 AD
He was not a slave, on his way to the slave market to be sold to another household. That’s not how it happened, when you were a freedman in Rome. No, when you were a freedman and the man who originally freed you had died, you were entirely free. And since he sold his old home, the one he inherited from his father… and his wife was still missing… and he now lost his job, he had nowhere to go. All he had was the sack with his things in it and the money he’d been given when he left the family and the domus.
It had been interesting to work for the Tusca family, although also challenging. He could see why the young lady had needed a bodyguard – she was beautiful and easily tempted and he would never trust her half-brother, whose words were as smooth as butter and his eyes full of mischief. But the family had no need for him anymore and so he ventured into the streets of Rome again, considering what to do.
Maybe he should find himself an insula to live in? He didn’t have a lot, so it would be a simple room in the top floor or something. It would have been easier, had he been a slave. Then he would have known where to go. The slave market or a new owner. But now he needed so much more; he needed a new job and a place to stay.
He sat down on a step, thinking through his options. What could he do? Maybe return to the market as he thought about and ask for his old job back? That was the best option. He didn’t want to look for an insula before he had a job. So he stood, but as soon as he’d taken a step, the knot in his sack (which was really just a large piece of linen tied together as a sack) fell apart and everything spilled onto the ground. He cursed and sighed deeply, before beginning to pick them up quietly, because this was his lot in life. Things falling apart. As they always did.
One Night in Rome (M - V)

Started by Atrice · August 19, 2020

August, 75 AD
It was dark out. Late and dark. Marcus had been out for a special event, a nobleman had desired a shaving and it had to be Marcus and it had to be at this hour. Why, no one knew. But Marcus was not one to say no to such a job, not when it paid so well and ensured the man would use his services another time too. Now was the time however to return to his home and his slaves. Marcus had a bag over his shoulder, with all the important shaving equipment. He’d brought no slaves with him, the nobleman had his own, after all.
He cast a glance at the Elysium as he passed it. He had a friend there and a whore he thought he might return to sometime. Not because he liked her or anything, but because she’d bled in such a lovely way and it had felt so good to finish in her afterwards. But not tonight. Tonight he might have Aculia, with the pretty new scar on her face, proving that she was never to fail him again.
Marcus decided to use a shortcut down a darker alley nearby. He heard someone walking behind him then and the footsteps were coming closer. Oh really? Marcus smirked to himself, reaching for the small blade in his purse and it was about time, because moments later, there was a hand on his shoulder.
Though before the stranger could beat him up or try and steal his bag, which was what he assumed they would do, Marcus had swung around and pinned them up against the nearest wall. He might not be huge and overly muscular, but he was fast and agile and he wasn't weak either. He held the blade to their throat, “And what exactly was your plan? You picked the wrong victim…”
O Ye, of Little Faith

Started by Echo · August 12, 2020

August, 75CE
Apparently, Livia had been in a good mood this morning, for whatever reason. That was the only conclusion Aglaea could come to that could explain her day off. Perhaps Livia had received a letter from her lover, or Secundus had been away and not bothered her. But whatever the cause, the point was that Aglaea was free for the day and was taking full advantage of that freedom. Of course, her first stop had been to synagogue and to talk with some other converts, covertly, of course. Next, she had visited the honey cake stand which she had shown Bassus a few months ago, purchasing a few. She would eat one now and keep one for Livia, and had bought a few extra just in case.
Moving away from the stand, Aglaea took a leisurely walk through the Emporium Magnum, taking in the sights and smells of the marketplace. She decided she wouldn't purchase anything else, choosing instead to save her small sum of money for future needs. Maybe even freedom. As she walked, she noticed in passing a man walking in front of her. Just as she was about to look away at something else, she noticed the coin purse at his belt fall on the ground. Apparently he hadn't noticed it.
"Excuse me!" As she passed the dropped coin purse, she scooped it up and broke into a trot, following the man. Once she caught up to him, the Jewish woman tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir. You dropped your coin purse."
@Atrice
Modern Girl

Started by Atrice · August 12, 2020

Late August, 75 AD
Boring, boring, boring… the lessons with Aia had ended for the day and Marcus didn’t have any plans for the day. He could of course get into a litter and go visit one of his friends, or he could practice his fighting skills, but it was high summer and it was too hot to do anything. He lay on his bed, on his stomach, with Silvanus massaging his back. It felt nice, but he couldn’t do this all day. Maybe a trip to the thermae? That might be nice, to cool down. Or maybe a dip in the Tiber, far from where people lived, so the river wouldn’t be disgusting.
Or… maybe Caecina had an idea on what to do! She often did, he thought. Or else they’d just get some alone-time and kiss. He could spend a day doing that too. It had been a few months now, since their little escapade to the Poppina Via Lata and the Gardens of Sullust, where they promised they wanted each other, but also kept it a secret so far. And a secret their relationship remained all summer. Marcus would sneak kisses from her whenever he had the chance, fighting to control himself to not push for more than what she wanted. She was just so… beautiful and alluring, wasn’t she?
He pushed Silvanus away and had the slave hand him a light blue tunica to wear. Marcus walked though their home in Rome to Caecina’s chamber. The curtain at the door frame was drawn, so he stopped outside and ran a hand through his hair, which most likely fell perfectly as it always did.
“Caecina… are you in there? Can I come in?” He asked out loud and waited as patiently as he could.
@Echo
You!

Started by Sara · August 8, 2020

A few weeks after Another Day
Didia mumbled to nobody in particular as she counted off the bags of supplies Appius was lugging into the domus. It was well before sunrise, so they could get round the restrictions on cart, and Didia still held a sleepy look on her face as she picked up one of the lighter bags to carry in through the slave entrances into the kitchens. Appius deserved a rest, the boy was going to have a heart attack and so she left him keeping watch. After a few trips in and out (oh how the rich could eat so much was beyond her!) she entered the domus again with flushed cheeks but a warm smile.
This house was one of the newer ones on her call list, but conveniently close to Rufus'...or his masters, so it didn't add a great deal of extra time to their route as they made their way up here regardless. The slaves were an unknown quantity, really, although friendly enough and they gave both herself and her brother a cup of cheap lora and a little bit of bread and honey to set them up on their day (and as thanks, she supposed, for carrying in the produce themselves). Appius took his outside whilst she ate hers quietly in the kitchen, the slaves flustering around unpacking. She'd need to sign off the receipt at some point but it was so horribly early that she could use a bit of a rest.
She sat with her back to the external door, facing the curtain that divided the kitchen from the main, fancy portion of the domus (the portion she was never invited to see!). She was glancing about absentmindedly when somebody pulled the curtain aside and stepped in. Her heart leapt into her mouth and she choked at the face that greeted her. A wide, broad grin spread on her face and she laughed, "Manius!" She moved to stand hurriedly to greet him properly before she stopped herself and frowned, teasingly reaching out to swot his arm softly, "I was worried sick! Don't you ever leave a woman waiting for you again!"

TAG: @Atrice
Wasted Youth

Started by Atrice · July 28, 2020

August, 75 AD
Despite everything that had happened to him, he was still here. Since Salacia was gone, he’d been thinking about her a lot. And about what happened when they first met and even before that. He remembered his first wife, his son… he remembered it when he gave himself to slavery, because he had nothing. He remembered his first owners, and then the second. He remembered the beautiful Domitilla, whom he made the mistake of falling in love with and telling her. If he had never told her, he might still have been with her. But he had been passed off again, to Cyprianus, who gave him the undeserved freedom, which he still had.
And so much had happened since then. The past decade had however been quiet for Manius, right until the earthquake, where his life fell apart again. It was slowly rebuilding now and he even got himself a job - but he had all the memories and they weighed him down.
He had always liked to take walks while thinking and that was the same case today. A good, long walk through Rome to clear his mind. Still on his own, of course. As always. That’s when he saw it. A young woman near a market stall, picking something up when the stallholder was looking away. Then she hid it in her purse and hurried away.
Manius shook his head, this wasn’t good. It really wasn’t his job to follow her, but it wasn’t right to steal like that. And maybe the stallholder would pay Manius a reward for helping.
He decided to follow her until she stopped.
@Liv
Another Day

Started by Atrice · July 26, 2020

July, 75 AD
He had nothing. Or, almost nothing. No work, no wife, no place to be and soon he might be out of coins too. Manius barely ate these days. He was trying to make the money last and trying to not go and gamble with the hope for gaining more. On the other hand, he might lose it all and be so indebted they’d take him because he had no coins and then he’d be a slave again. That might be the easiest way to go anyway.
But so far he had not gambled the rest of his coin away. He had spent a little of it on wine. Just a stupid attempt to forget his sorrows for once. That didn’t work all the time though. He was hungry. He needed food.
Manius had gone to the marketplace to see what he could find. The food smelled deliciously, from every taverna and place handing out food, but he didn’t think he was so poor he should get food from one of the places offering for the poorest. He had coins. And someone else needed it more. What could he get though?
He walked by a few stalls. The bread was too expensive. So were the sausages and the flat-bread and the honey-cakes. There was a fruit stall. The apples looked delicious and so did the oranges. He could smell them in the summer-heat. But they were shiny and fresh and there was no way he should spend his money on an apple just because it was shiny. He began turning some of the peaches around and picked one that was extraordinarily soft. Even its color was somehow... off. Overly ripe.
“How much for this?” He asked the lovely young woman in the stall.
@Sara
Drowning sorrows

Started by Chevi · July 26, 2020

Mid-July, 75CE
Thessala had a whole table to herself. Not that the popina was less busy than usual, far from it; but the last guy who came over and tried to start something with her got a glare and a hissed Thracian curse that made him retreat at double speed. Thessala did not look like her usual self - her costume destroyed in the earthquake, and her will to put on her witch persona drowned in the drinks she'd been having since that day - but the way she looked now, with her hair tangled and the circles under her eyes apparently looked even more threatening than an intentional performance.
Everyone could go fuck themselves. Even the gods.
Especially the gods.
The buried Rana. She was gone. So were others from the ludus, some she missed and some she did not care about except for the way the gods decided to do away with them. All of it was shit. Thessala drank like a barbarian, nursing her cup and nursing the pain she still had in her ribs.
Whoever came over to her table next better be very brave. Or very dumb.
@Atrice
Be Our Guuuuuessst

Started by Beauty · December 10, 2019

Blood mixed with water as Titus carefully rinsed his hands clean. Stepping away from the basin, he flicked his hands, spraying pellets, before a slave came running to him with a cloth to dry his hands.
“Stop your moaning,” said Titus as if someone else’s pain bore him, dabbing his hands gently with the cloth. “If he says he wants to fuck you with a club, you let him. So long as he pays me, you will spread your legs and let him do as he pleases.”
His fist spoke a thousand words, the woman wouldn’t displease another customer again. Titus was the heart of the place, his workers much like his veins and arteries, keeping the establishment’s blood pumping. Any faulty on his workers’ part was a faulty on his.
Without another word, he left the room into the greater brothel. The Elysium was alive, candle lights were flickering in its dark, winding corridors and the familiar sounds of desire sang through the air like travelling music. Soon, his eyes fell on a man. Titus’ hand fell and slapped the butt-cheek of a wandering prostitute, ordering her to gather a number men and women for display in one of the rooms.
Pacing towards the man with confidence, his lips upturned into a welcoming smile, the sides of his eyes crinkled in a joyful manner but his eyes were as empty as death itself. “Good evening,” he said, slapping two hands together. “What are you hoping for today? We have a number of girls and boys, young and fresh from past the Erytraen Sea, should that interest you. But, of course, you are welcome to choose your pick. I’ll have you know that we offer all kinds of services here at the Elysium, it’s the only place in Rome that allows your greatest, most wicked desires to come true.” And with that, he offered the man a wink. “And all for a decent price.”
@Atrice
The gif game

Started by Gothic · October 7, 2019

Basically reply with your character responding to the one above with a gif of their reaction to the person above.