Tertia Charis

Freedmen

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About Tertia Charis

Concubine of Tertius Quinctilius Varus

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Alexandra Dowling
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Deos fortioribus adesse

Started by Teutus Quinctilius Varus · August 28

January 77
Teutus had some extremely mixed feelings about his family and the situation and arrangements around them. His feelings for Charis could have developed into something more romantic if it had not been for his father's unwitting intervention there, but had transmuted into something more fraternal, as if she were a younger sister. It felt distinctly odd that she was now, technically, his step-mother - it would be more than technically if Tertius had not been limited to simple concubinatus with her and had been able to marry her properly and legally.
Technical mother-in-law or not, the son she'd borne was his half-brother and Tertius' full acknowledged heir, and that still hurt. Though not as much as it had done once. He'd poured it out to his mother and listened to her own story and thoughts and found some solace, even though nothing could really heal the wounds inflicted over so many years.
Still, none of it was Charis' fault and certainly none could be attributed to any actions of Teutus' half-brother, who was still barely a child. He felt more enthusiasm for Charis' presence this evening than he did for her son, but allowed her to bring her son because his mother would like to see him and would no doubt chide Teutus in her own quiet way if he made Charis leave the boy at home.
It was to be a quiet, private, meal with the three of them - he had little doubt that Proserpina could take care of the child for a short time if he needed a nap or anything.
It took more effort than he'd thought it would to remain seated when a knock sounded at the door. He was no longer a slave, he had slaves of his own now, in fact, and it wouldn't be seemly to answer his own door. Olipor moved to open it, standing aside to let Charis enter.
"Charis," he said, getting to his feet and crossing to offer her a brotherly kiss on the cheek.

@Sara @Sarah Title translation: The gods are on the side of the strongest
Sacrifice and Stalemates

Started by Tertia Charis · May 15

January, 77AD
Charis stirred softly in the early morning light, grumbling against the pillow as it disturbed the peace of her sleep. She would never quite get over how comfortable this bed was, or how people lived in such ardent luxury all their lives. Even as a free woman, back in Britannia, she hadn't been able to afford anything like this. She doubted they even had beds like this in Britannia...at least not amongst her people. No doubt the Romans who colonised it imported this sort of stuff for fun. Still, she was fully prepared to bask in the luxury in Rome, at least for ten more minutes.
But life had a manner of getting in the way and the sun was burning against her closed eyes. She grumbled again and turned her back to the shutters window to the sound of Tertius sleeping next to her. She blinked one eye open sleepily, and then the other. Even after a month it was still...uncomfortable for her. New. Not altogether un-pleasureable, but that itself brought a whole host of complex feelings to the fore. To see him sleeping there, it was difficult to imagine that such a man could inflict such cruelty and such joy on a woman such as herself. He had forced her, locked her up, given her a son, freed her and married her. Not even the greatest authors could imagine such twists and turns she was sure.
Sighing softly, she pulled the sheet up, tighter around her chest and shifted to sit up a little as she reached for the cup of water on the side she usually slept on. She felt him stirring next to her and offered a soft smile down. "Good morning."

TAG: @Atrice
No Idea

Started by Tertia Charis · May 2

April, 77AD
Charis had absolutely no clue where to start. She had been a free woman for closing in on three months now and had still not mastered what that actually, practically meant. She had slipped into her new role fairly seamlessly in the house but pastimes still eluded her. She had been told that most women liked to shop, and fashion. Charis had never cared for such trivialities - not in Britannia when she was free, not when enslaved and not now. Still, she didn't wish to raise Tertius' ire by complaining of boredom so she had taken herself (and a full coin purse) out of the domus and into the markets to try and find something to buy.
The stall was full of overflowing fabrics from every corner of the empire and beyond. Vivid colours and impossible textures assaulted her senses as the trader tried his best to upsell her; "Won't you be needing more than one stola, domina? Or a few palla's for the changing seasons?" Charis didn't know. The clothes she'd been wearing for the last few months had been gifted to her. She didn't actually know what she needed, and didn't know what she liked. She frowned at a bolt of pink fabric. "Is this my colour?" She asked the stallholder, holding it up to see if it suited her complexion. Gods this was mind-numbing.

TAG: @Chevi
Something New

Started by Tertia Charis · May 2

January 77AD
Charis fidgeted on the marble bench, trying to act cool, calm and collected when she felt nothing of the sort. She'd been unable to see her closest friend in Rome for close to two months now - their schedules hadn't aligned and their precious few days off were spent apart. She felt her anxiety increase as people shuffled past. The change felt monumental even now, after a couple of weeks.
She hadn't told Cynane of Tertius' plans - she still half-believed that it would never happen, right up until Saturnalia had rolled around and she'd been forced to wear that stupid hat for her manumission. She tried to make herself believe that she hadn't told her friend out of caution - why get her hopes up? But now she realised she had just been a coward. She didn't want to explain what the freedom was costing her to one of the only women in Rome she could count on. Anxiety and nausea seized her insides again and she gripped the bench with her fingers.
It was frigid today and she'd tried her best to conceal the expensive stola she was wearing under a thick cloak, pulled up over her head. The winters were nothing compared to those back home in Britannia but the cloak served a duel purpose. She'd shoved the palla she had been wearing into the bag at her hip that also contained honey cakes she'd purloined from the kitchens before she'd left that morning.
She heard sandals against the dusty track that led past the bench and looked up into the low winter sun to see her friend. She moved to embrace her immediately, forgetting about her worry just for a moment.

TAG: @Atrice
How have we ended up here?

Started by Tertia Charis · May 2

December, 76AD
The winter winds whipped the edge of her palla as she jostled through the streets towards the familiar building that hosted, at her last count, three of her friends; Alexius, Aia and Teutus. She hadn't been here for a year, not since last Saturnalia and she felt guilt and shame well up under her skin, flushing her cheeks. What a difference a year made. This time last year she was waking up in Alexius' bed, coddled in his arms and then discovered by Teutus. She remembered the ripple of fear that shook her to her core that Teutus would say something, jeapordize everything and yet now she was standing outside the businesses occupying the street-level, a free woman. His step-mother in all respects.
She cleared her throat, trying to summon courage she didn't feel and wrapped the pale pink palla tighter around herself. The stola she was wearing felt dowdy, ugly even, compared to the simple tunicas she'd grown used to in her years of slavery in Rome. The painful twirls of her her hair, likewise, sat uncomfortably under the palla. If she was supposed to look like the respectful wife (come concubine) of a Praetor, she certainly didn't feel it. She felt like an actress playing a part she was wholly unsuitable for. Still, there was no time like the present and she steeled herself to climb to the first floor, drawing outside of Teutus' door. It was only when she knocked once she realised his mother might be home and felt a wave of nausea rise in her stomach. She considered backing away but then it swung open and... "Io Saturnalia." She offered with a weak smile.

TAG: @Sharpie
Unexpected Arrival

Started by Hilda of the Chatti · April 27

April, 77AD
Hilda peered curiously at the door, eyes narrowed, hands on her hips and Gerfrid - the man that had accompanied her on the journey - standing nervously by her side. It didn't look like much to her - a door in a wall, but one of the men they'd spoken to had assured the pair that this was indeed where Varus lived. Whatever a Varus was (besides a fool who doomed some legions long ago). Well...she knew exactly who Varus was. Her mother had kept it from them for years, but it explained why she looked very little like her supposed brother. Half-brother. Gerfrid didn't know and she could tell his curiosity was piqued about why Wulfric would have come all the way to Rome to meet an important Roman citizen. The cover story she'd spun was weak at best, thready and full of holes and so to save any further questioning, she knocked firmly on the door.
She flinched as a slot slid open to reveal the beady eyes of somebody looking her over. "Yes?"
She cleared her throat. The benefit of marrying into a tribe so close to the Romans was that she'd learned Latin (out of necessity, mostly, to overhear conversations between her tribe and their neighbours). She wasn't perfect at it, but could hold a conversation; "I am here to see Varus. Tertius." She arched a brow, "You can tell him Frieda sent me." The man gave her a once over and Hilda scoffed. She knew her fashions weren't the Roman style but she was unmoved. She stepped a touch closer to the door and offered the slave a smirk. "I'm not a very patient woman." The man slammed shut the peephole and Hilda scowled, knocking harder until, after a long few moments it finally swung open and the harried looking man gestured for her to come inside. She glanced fleetingly at Gerfrid and spoke in their language; "Wait here." He was under no obligation to do as she bid him, but he did so all the same, staring gormlessly after her as she stepped inside.
Well. This was not what she was expecting. She tried not to let the wonder show on her face.

TAG: @Atrice
Take a chance on me

Started by Tertius Quinctilius Varus · March 11

Late August, 76AD - the day after I just called to say...
Tertius sat alone in his bedroom. Hector had been there, but Tertius sent him away, he wasn’t in the mood for pampering and his body slave trying to make himself important to Tertius. He had a lot on his mind. Varinia had been here, yesterday. He had not seen her since his brother sold her, so many years ago. And now Teutus had apparently found her at a slave market, bought her and of course freed his mother. Seeing her again brought up old feelings in Tertius, but honestly he wasn’t quite sure what to do with those feelings. Especially after their conversations concerning marriage… and why he had not married again.
Ever since his wife died, he’d thought that he should marry again. But it was difficult to find a woman as perfect for him as Antonia had been. Varinia could be perfect, he’d thought. Still beautiful, they had something together once, they even had a son… and he was sure that if he dared to take the step, there might be a spark there. But the more he thought about it, the more he thought it would be too weird for Charis and Peregrinus, if he married the slave he had a fling with, when he was so young? Then she would act like Peregrinus’ mother. And yet his actual mother would still live here, but as a slave. It felt wrong somehow. He couldn’t do that. Not to any of them. And his thoughts came to the point where he wondered, if he even could give Peregrinus another mother than the one, he already had.
He couldn’t, could he? It wouldn’t be right. Which meant there was just one option left, one had considered before, then forgotten and now it came back to him again. But he would have to talk to Charis about it. Because if he picked that option… everything would change, for both of them. For the entire household, really. And he had to know that he could trust her.
And so he went out in the hallway, where Hector was naturally lurking close by his own chamber… and he asked Hector to fetch Charis for him – without their son, if possible. Then Tertius went back into his bedroom and waited for her to show up.
@Sara
What Happens Next

Started by Tertius Quinctilius Varus · December 3, 2021

Late March, 76 AD
Life was pretty ordinary at the moment. Nothing big was happening, Rome was functioning well and so was the household. Teutus had moved out towards his new insula – a large one, of course, if Teutus was to move out, it better be to a good place. He was trying hard to make amends for all the wrongs he’d done Teutus over the years. He didn’t know if it worked. But at least he tried, right? And he also tried hard to do his best for his new son, Peregrinus, who was growing and looked like he had strings bound around his wrists at the moment. But that was only because he was nursed so well by Charis.
She had not gotten back to him yet, concerning what they spoke about last time they had a serious talk without Peregrinus there. She wanted to meet Wulfric and they had agreed she should try and find out what he was up to. Wulfric, his third son… with whom he was not trying hard to bond with at all. He didn’t trust his German son, didn’t know him and wasn’t sure he wanted to. He’d shown up so suddenly and he had brought chaos into something that was almost going well. Peregrinus was to be his heir, Teutus was freed and moving on to do his own thing, since he could not be made to inherit Tertius… so all was well, really. And then Wulfric came into the picture and ruined it all.
He often found himself sitting in the tablinum, just looking out the nearest opening but not really looking at anything. Lost in thoughts. Maybe it was his age. Maybe it was something else, he didn’t know. There was so much to think about. He’d almost forgotten what he was doing, when someone came in to block the view through the doorway. Charis. He shook his head, as if shaking off the thoughts and then focused on her. She was waiting politely, as the well-behaved slave she had become. Tertius smiled. At least one thing was going well.
“Charis, please, come in… and tell me what’s on your mind.” Tertius said in a friendly tone and waited. He’d not get more paperwork done now anyway. And he’d much rather talk to Charis than do that anyway.
@Sara
I just called to say...

Started by Teuta Varinia · November 30, 2021

Late August 76AD
She had to do it. It had to happen. Probably it would amount to nothing, but it would at least close a chapter in her life. The young girl she had once been, the one who still carried a torch for the young man who had seduced her, who had fathered her child, demanded it. The more pragmatic woman knew that the young girl was likely to get her heart broken one more time, but at least it would be the end of it.
She had to see him.
Prosperpine had done her hair in an elaborate and very modern style and even applied a little make-up. Not too much, she didn't want to look like she was negotiable, even though she was still an attractive woman with a good figure, just no longer an adolescent girl. But he knew that, they'd basically grown into adulthood together, or at least in the same household. Being unwed she wore not the stola but a rich, brown chiton, offset by a pale blue palla that she wore draped around her shoulders and pinned with a polished bronze fibula. It was the finest clothing she'd ever owned, and thanks to her son and her body slave, she felt like an Augusta.
That feeling slipped for a moment as she approached the family domus where she had been a slave for so many years, but she reminded herself that she was a slave no more, and importantly had not been freed by Tertius, so was not beholden to him. Taking a deep breath, she straightened up, caught the drape of her palla up in her left hand, and rapped smartly on the door.
@Atrice@Sara
Following Up

Started by Tertia Charis · November 23, 2021

Mid-March 76AD
By the time Charis had actually tracked Wulfric down, it was a month or so after her conversation with Tertius. It wasn't that he was exceptionally difficult to find: a couple of light enquiries at various stalls in the market had led her to this warehouse, it was more that she a) didn't have the time to spend on the errand, and b) had been putting it off. Being in league with her dominus was an uncomfortable feeling for her. She hadn't been on 'his side' of anything since she'd come to Rome, but their joint suspicion of his newfound son was something other than Peregrinus that they had in common, and it was an unpleasant feeling, but she knew she couldn't put this off forever. If she did try and ignore the fact that Wulfric was here for...unkown reasons, the curiosity would eat her alive.
So here she was, awkwardly standing outside of a bustling warehouse - stacked to high-heavens with produce, waiting to try and catch a glimpse of her...step-son? No, she wasn't married to Tertius...Peregrinus' half-brother sounded less awkward. She tried to ignore the fact that Wulfric was older than her, that made the whole thing all the odder and much more complicated. When she did spot his face, she had to do a double take. He really was the spitting image of Tertius - his parentage really couldn't be denied. She swallowed, and weaving through the big, burly men that stood around lugging crates or chatting, she moved to stand in front of him. She let out a small smile and inclined her head, "Dominus, sorry, I know you're busy but I thought I would stop by to see you, I was in the market and well..." Well, she didn't have an excuse.

TAG: @Atrice