Sharpie

"Did you?" Jason wondered for a moment what his life would have been like if he'd come here as a child. On the other hand, Azarion had been a child and he was as Sarmatian and sarcastic as ever - if you could read his face and his signs. "I'm from north and east of here - more east than north, though," he said. "Sarmatia, if you've ever heard of it." Even in the closed-in streets of Rome he could face his homeland with unerring accuracy, though from here all he could see was the façade of one of the hundreds of temples dotted around the city. Juno Sospita, or something, he thought. There was something of his own longing in the other's face, though Jason was probably imagining it. 'A long way north' spoke of his being German or Gaulish or maybe even British, from the islands at the edge of the world which were where Jason's blood-sister came from. @Insignia

"I'm not sure about 'amazing'," Jason confessed. If the truth were known, he found it exhausting to be so continually surrounded by people and noise and high buildings and steep hills... He wondered, just for a moment, if it was the quietness of the steppes' vastness that he missed more than the wide open spaces. It was all tied up together, though - and the encampment wasn't silent, by any means. Horses, and sheep and people of all ages weren't exactly a quiet thing, after all. "So, you're from Rome, then?" he asked, for lack of anything else to say now that they were apparently going to have this conversation despite not knowing one another, having never met before. "I'm - they call me Jason," he added, feeling that they should probably introduce themselves. @Insignia

"If you're not going to buy anything, move on and stop blocking other people," the stall-holder said, getting irritated that the two slaves seemed intent on having their conversation right in front of his stall. Jason rolled his eyes and led the taller slave away to a slightly less congested part of the market where they could talk without being in anyone's way. "The weather... a bit. The winters aren't so cold here, though the summers are hotter and longer," he said. "It's the people more than anything - I never knew there were so many people in the whole world, never mind in one place." And the buildings. He was used to a country of big skies and open plains, low hills and wide horizons. It wasn't the fact of his slavery that made him feel trapped at times quite so much as being hemmed in by everything. @Insignia

It was getting late. Jason was about to suggest that they head home and try again in the morning (though only the gods knew if Tiberius would spare him for a second time, especially first thing in the morning!) when a young man of about his own age approached, looking somewhat wary. "I... I heard you're looking for the killer?" He looked between them both before settling on speaking to Alexius. "Please... come... I must show you something." Well, that was a result. Quite what it meant, though, Jason couldn't say, even as they got up to follow him out into the street again and down just a few doors. "I'll give you the count of a hundred," he said. "If you don't come out or call me by then, I will go and get help." He gave the slave a warning look, and couldn't help wishing he had at least a dagger or something. The fact that nobody was supposed to be armed in the streets of Rome merely played into the hands of the less than scrupulous, of course - though nobody would let a slave have weapons, even if people could go armed in Rome. @Atrice @Chevi

"New here?" Jason adjusted the rough woollen cloak pinned round his shoulders with a sigh. "Not all that new, not really. I've been here for... four years now, though I've been in Italia for nearly nine." For far too long, in other words, with home just as far away as ever. The other man's accent seemed that of the native Latin speaker, unlike Jason's own which still carried some of the lilt of his native Sarmatian. The other man was taller than Jason, with the same blue eyes as Tiberius', though his hair was as dark hair as the Romans - most of them, anyway; Jason's master had dealings with last year's Consul Prior, whose hair was as golden as wheatfields at harvest time. There was something rather melancholic about his demeanour, for some reason, which brought out a fellow feeling in Jason, for whom thoughts of home were never far away. @Insignia

"He would tease me because that is what brothers do," Gaius pointed out, somewhat dryly. "And Lucius isn't known for passing up the opportunity to tease anyone, if he can help." He wondered which of them would have the last laugh once Lucius' adoption was finalised. "I was Quaestor in 70," he said, not surprised she seemed not to know that - it was seven years ago, quaestor was the very lowest of rungs on the cursus honorum, and she was a woman and a relatively young one at that - she had probably been far more concerned with her pregnancy than with remembering all the various names of junior officials, after all. @Chevi @Atrice

"The only cause I know of right now is the Augusta's plan to build some sort of orphanage or home for the children left orphaned by the civil war," Aulus said. "Admittedly, the youngest of them would be twelve or so now, so I think the plan might expand to cover any and all orphans in the city, which is not an insignificant number." He wondered, idly, how many of them might have found themselves sold as slaves - might still do so - if there was no relative to claim them. "I can certainly pass on word that you might be interested in helping, if that is the case. Or maybe you have your own ideas?" If she did not, no doubt she and Horatia would put their heads together and be able to cook something up between them. Gods knew there were enough potential causes within the city to furnish both of them with enough work for a decade or more! @Chevi

"Remind me never to make you angry," Attis said, the admiration in his voice clear. "Though I daresay the old biddies deserved every word of it." She was beautiful when she was angry, Attis would admit that much. She was beautiful anyway - he was very much enjoying the view of her curves as she set to the task of washing the blood splatter from her face and arms. It might have been his imagination, knowing she was with child, but he thought there was a slight thickening at her waistline. "I'm guessing you were able to catch and the consul's baby didn't land on the floor?" @Chevi

"Would you like a girl, though? Or a boy, if it came down to it?" Rufus asked, and grinned as Azarion bent to pick up a sharp stone from the ground before indicating the wall. That would be as handy as any nail or piece of chalk, or paint, for them to leave their own message. "All right, let's find our own blank bit of wall, then - I don't suppose you've got any message in particular that you want to leave?" he said. Maybe Azarion didn't think of anyone like that, maybe he didn't know how to think of people like that - he sure as Hades couldn't actually tell someone he liked them. Poor sod. @Chevi

"No, but you'd think people would have heard something about a man going around picking on innocent girls... cutting them for no reason," Jason added, leaning his forearms on the table and trying not to look as obvious and self-conscious as he felt. They could hardly go and speak to every single person in Rome on the tiny chance of finding the person, or people, they needed to speak to, who might or might not know something and who also might or might not feel able to talk to two perfect strangers about it. It was a complete and utter mess, was what it all was. There must be some logical approach they could take, but Jason didn't know what it was - his master might be able to come up with something (his master was weirdly thoughtful and philosophical about things)... but he could hardly go and talk to his master about this whole mess. @Atrice @Chevi

"I don't think so," Jason replied with a shrug. The other had been off somewhere in his own little world, which Jason could understand to a degree. He handed the coin over - it might not be a lot to Jason's master, but it was rather a lot to Jason, and probably the other slave and maybe even the other slave's master, too. "You could hardly help being that close, though," he pointed out, trying not to roll his eyes. Who knew that there were this many people in the world, let alone in one city! Back at home on the steppe, it was easy to ride away from the camp and be the only person you could see, with the horizon a huge circle all around you and nothing else except your horse, the blowing grass and the hunting hawks. Better not to think about that, he missed it too strongly and would never get to experience it again. "There are far too many people in Rome," he added. @Insignia

"Still. I should have been looking where I was going," he said with a shrug, though nobody had eyes in the back of their head. Slaves needed them more than most, though from his appearance and the fact he was straightening up after retrieving a cabbage, the other seemed to be a fellow slave. Jason's own simple clothing probably gave his own status (or lack of it, rather) away in turn. The brief encounter would have remained just another moment in a Roman market if Jason's sharp eyes hadn't spotted a gleam in the dust at their feet. He stooped to pick it up. "I think you dropped this," he said to the other slave, holding out what proved to be a silver denarius. @Insignia

If Tiberius was drawing parallels between his body slave and Ignis, Jason chose to ignore it, focussing on the horse in front of him. "Do you think Ignis is afraid of us, or what we might do?" Tiberius asked, and Jason shook his head. "No - but I think he might become so, or grow confused and frustrated if people apply the wrong methods for too long. He's high-spirited, and that can be a good thing, taught the right way." He stepped to the side enough to give Tiberius room to join him. Teach him...? That could make for an interesting month! "Talk to him - he is a prince among horses as you are a prince among men. He is your brother, so. And let him get your scent. Horses listen and smell as well as look, after all." It didn't even register that he had dropped the honorific domine. Ignis snorted and Jason smiled. "Patience, my friend. This is Tiberius - you know him, surely? We will go for a ride soon, but you need to be patient just a little longer." Whether or not they would go for that ride rested with Tiberius, but Jason could hope, and in the meantime the prince seemed to want to learn the things that Jason just knew. Well, that wasn't going to be easy, but they could make a start, at least. @Sarah

Tiberius sounded thoughtful. Probably nobody around here had ever tried actually teaching horses before. "Is there ever a situation where you would punish a horse?" was his master's next question and Jason gave him a quick frown. "No. They wouldn't understand it, they don't think like humans to have a concept of bad behaviour and punishment," he said. "The very closest would be something like this..." He clicked his tongue at the horse again. "Walk on, Ignis." He backed up, keeping in front of the horse and a few steps later he put his hand out on the horse's chest. "Woah there," he said, still using the quiet gentle tone of voice, and offering another slice of apple as the horse stopped. "It's... pressure, and the release of pressure when he moves the way you want," he said in explanation, thinking the demonstration might have been too subtle. "You want the horse to trust you and he won't do that, he won't give you anything except trouble if he's afraid of you and what you might do. You want to make it easy for him, pleasant for him, to give you what you want. You work with a horse to get what you want, rather than driving him to it - you will never get the best from a horse that's driven." Romans would never understand, of course they wouldn't. It was something that Jason had never really been taught; he'd seen the example of his father and the other tribespeople and just knew it, the way you followed the north star at night to keep the right direction, the way the wind blew the grass and the sun rose in the east. "It's hardly surprising you wouldn't wait for a Roman if he left you alone, isn't it," he told the horse quietly, revelling in being able to speak his own tongue to such a magnificent creature. Latin was such a clumsy language in comparison. He glanced at his master's face, to see curiosity written there, and something else, something that prompted him to add, quickly, "Give me - give me a month, to work with him, Domine, to show you what he can do." @Sarah

Jason's master had taken up residence in the villa attached to the Gardens of Sallust, but he still attended the Senate meetings regularly, and slaves still couldn't enter the Curia. Jason had wandered further, from the Forum Romanum towards the Forum Holitorium, the vegetable market. Why the vegetable market? He had no real idea, except it wasn't the meat market closer to the Palatine and the huge structure of the Circus Maximus. Thoughts of the Circus made him think of his cousin and he wondered for a moment what Azarion was up to right now - though if he went to see him, chances were good that he'd end up spending far too long with him and get into trouble when he finally recalled the time and went to find his master. It wasn't worth the risk, especially as he got to see Azarion on a fairly regular basis now. So, it would have to be apples and carrots and cucumbers and gods knew what else. It wasn't really worth getting any carrots or apples; if he had another chance to visit the Imperial stables, or the new stables at the new villa, the stable master would surely have something to hand. He stepped back from the stall and jostled someone who'd been standing perhaps too close without realising. "Oh - sorry," he said, though it was a little late. @Insignia

"Me?" Rufus wasn't entirely sure what Azarion was asking, but it probably wasn't a million miles away from what they'd been talking about, so he took a stab in the dark. "Have I got someone? No. The last time I got laid was... about two years ago. Wow - I didn't think it was as long ago as all that!" I must be, though; he hadn't had anyone since his master's cousin had come to stay with his then-master, and had borrowed Rufus for a short while. It had been good sex, though, which was something. "How about you, though? Got your eye on a girl?" He paused for a moment and gave Azarion a quick look. "Or boy?" He shrugged. "You don't have to tell me if you'd rather not, though - I'm sure I can find something else to talk about if you'd rather." @Chevi

(Just gonna say that Teutus would let Varinia have Jannus if she needs him for the day) Street or market could be a good place, @Insignia - I'm gonna go freshen up a bit and then I'll try and get something up for you!

@SarahMy Gaius got turned down by your Lucius' sister which could make things interesting! But there's no reason they couldn't be friends!

Let's go with chance encounter - and I'm pretty bad at coming up with plots too.

"Don't go intimidating him, now," Jason said with a wry grin, looking up at Alexius with a grin. The ex-gladiator still towered over him, but that was somewhat comforting in the light of all this. Jason had no intention of winding up as another corpse in Rome's streets - he wouldn't get anything like the solemn dignified funeral this senator would. He'd be lucky if Tiberius didn't post his name up as a fugitive and actually do even a half-hearted investigation into his disappearance. Not that he was planning on disappearing. But then, this senator probably hadn't left home with the express intention of winding up with his throat cut in some back alley, either. He sighed and rearranged his cloak to hide the slave-tag better; he probably shouldn't, but who knew how slaves would get treated around here - appearing like any plebeian citizen might lead to people being more open than they might otherwise be. He needn't outright say he was a free person and misrepresent himself but if they chose to assume... Choosing to find a seat in a bar and let the gossip come to them wasn't how he'd prefer to do this, but it might work. He found a seat where he and Alexius could catch one another's eye if either of them heard anything interesting, and tried not to sigh as he prepared to spend some of his precious coins on a drink. @Atrice ( @Chevi )

Well, quite apart from Teutus himself, I think a thread between Jannus and my Jason )body-slave to Imperial prince Tiberius Claudius Sabucius) would be fun! Jason is Sarmatian, an ex-hostage sold into slavery for a perceived infringement on Roman territory by Jason's people. (Fun fact: I had originally included Jason's PB as one of the suggested faces for Jannus until I decided I wanted to use him myself... I like your choice of Hans Matheson!)

The medicus - Theo? - pulled the dead man's toga aside, enough to show his forearm, and Jason couldn't help leaning closer to see. There was a scar there, not a brand new cut but one that had begun healing recently. "Well. Looks like it was the same guy - but why would he go for a man? And a Senator, too - that's just asking for trouble. I mean, if it were me, I'd make sure to stick to people that don't have the money or influence, if I wanted to stay hidden." If the two had had a previous run-in, perhaps the murderer had taken the opportunity to silence a witness who could identify him and testify to it in court. Not that Ovinia or Didia couldn't stand up in court, but they needed a male relative to be with them. A senator wouldn't; he'd be that relative for his sister or niece or whatever. He looked up at Alexius. If they were going to start asking people around here, they really ought to start soon - it would be helpful to know everything there was about this incident, though. He was acutely aware of his lack of standing among everyone else present. It would be down to someone else to make the decision, really. @Chevi @Atrice

Someone put a hand in the blood... Jason couldn't help the shudder. That made it very likely indeed that this was a victim of the same man. And he'd killed a senator - that was going to cause a furore. And another one when it came out that the man who'd done it had been doing much the same for over a year. "You don't know him, then?" he asked the patrician vigile, and sighed. "You do know this is likely to get my master involved, personally?" If there was one thing Jason had learned about Tiberius over the years, it was that his master didn't like mysteries and unanswered questions, especially when there was no avoiding asking those questions. "You think he might have been protecting someone?" he asked. "If there were two people here, why wouldn't the killer just flee? People like him don't want witnesses, after all." He probably thought he'd killed Ovinia, that day, and of course it had been dark when he'd cut Azarion. He probably hadn't realised there had been enough light for Azarion to give even a basic description - or that he could; he must have realised Azarion couldn't talk and maybe he'd relied on that. "Together is probably a good idea," he said. "They'll know the man who did this was on his own - at least, he was every other time." @Chevi @Atrice

Attis was unabashedly watching Metella undress - she was a fine-looking woman, he would readily admit that. Even if sex wasn't in the immediate future, he didn't mind the view. He nearly choked as she spoke over her shoulder. "You... yelled at Juno's priestesses?!" He shook his head in disbelief. "I think Dominus might buy you a whole new wardrobe when he hears that - it'll make his day." Right up until he had to make reparations or something for it - on the other hand, they'd have to know which household she belonged to if they wanted to complain to Longinus. He'd probably just bar the door against them anyway. @Chevi

"Stomach wounds don't kill, not right away," he said. He hoped they wouldn't ask him how he knew that. "My guess is, he was stabbed in the stomach to stop him fighting back, then killed by the wound to the neck." And bruises took time to come up but he wasn't about to say that to a trained medicus who was a free man. Ask around? Well, the corpse was fresh, and a senator's - if people were going to talk and remember accurately, now was as good a time as any. He glanced down at himself; he was wearing a nondescript tunic with two faded violet stripes sewn to it in mimicry (or mockery) of a senator's crisp white tunic and bright purple stripes. The joys of belonging to a member of the Imperial household... at least he had a plain cloak over the top and round his shoulders, and it was nearly dark. "I don't supposed he's handily dropped another pot of that lemon-scented oil, has he?" Azarion's sarcasm was rubbing off on him. Oh joy. @Chevi @Atrice