Sharpie

Marcus did not answer immediately, letting the ink dry before rerolling the scroll and replacing it in its niche and then sitting back down again. His own position depended on the goodwill of the current Augustus, so he took a necessary interest in who that was, but that was his only real interest in politics outside of the racing world. The Whites had been left alone during the civil war - Marcus' own knowledge of it was as more of a background event to the events of his own family. His father had died in 61, nothing to do with the riots and fighting but simply his heart giving up (at least from what he understood from the medicus) and Marcus had retired from racing himself to concentrate on running the faction and looking after his family. "I think that Quintus Caesar has show wisdom in deciding to retire while he can hand the reins over himself to his chosen successor," Marcus replied, slowly. "It remains to be seen what sort of a leader Titus Augustus will be, but I understand that he has appointed a council made up of some of the most experienced members of the Senate, as well as family members, to advise him. Whether or not he will take the advice given is another thing, of course, but the potential is there for this to be a smooth stable transition without the fighting and rioting in the streets that we had fourteen years ago." He looked up at the other man, still standing there. "I don't know if you remember that civil war, but we have as good a chance as any to avoid another, if the young man is sensible. And a son of Quintus Caesar must have as much chance of being sensible as anyone." @Járnviðr

Teutus honestly wouldn't mind going through the whole thing but Alexius' needs trumped his own, and he was used to following along - he should be more assertive in his life, really, but it wasn't as though he minded following others at times. Just, not all the time, especially among equals. "If you need a cold bath, we'll do that then," he said. A cold plunge might help clear his own head, too, though he wasn't the one who'd spent the morning drinking. "If he knows more about you than you do him, that's a good reason to ask him about himself, find out about him - and he won't know you and the things you like. Just the stories he's heard about you the gladiator. It's the difference between knowing all about a senator - like one of the consuls - and actually meeting him to talk to. Except for longer than just a social occasion or something." He led the way into the plunge bath. "Don't laugh at me for not being able to swim properly," he said, managing a smile. "The baths I used to go to don't have a proper size natatorium, after all." @Atrice

Well, there it was - they had totally run out of all possible innocuous subjects and it was only natural that Antheia try to sound Volusa out about her background and her own place here. "Yes," she said simply. "My parents are both slaves here, I was brought up in the Palace." It made it easier and harder at the same time - and she had been witness to some of the events leading up to the civil war, although she'd been very young and kept as much out of view of the principal members of the household as possible, whoever wore the purple at the time. Even now, she rarely saw the Emperor himself ever, and when she did it was usually at a distance. Though that might change with the new Emperor being Titus, Quintus' son. Nothing that Volusa needed to worry about, anyway. "What about you? You, uh, sound Greek." Which meant very little, really, except that she'd lived in Achaia, but whether as a free person or a slave, Volusa couldn't tell. @locutus-sum

"Oh good," he said and sat back down, though he couldn't quite relax as he had before. The relationship he had with the other members of his family was an awkward one, he was related to them by birth but, also by birth, he was subservient to them, being a slave. Of all the various members of his family, somehow his relationship with his cousin was one of the most awkward; he always had the impression that she didn't quite know how to treat him, when nobody else bothered to treat him as anything other than a slave and Tertius' secretary. The atmosphere was a little more tense suddenly than it had been and he eventually sighed and set his tabula aside, pausing in planning his next lesson for Antonia. "I'm making you uncomfortable by being here, Domina," he said quietly. "I can go, if you prefer to be alone." @locutus-sum

August 76 It was rare that Rufus was sent on an errand by his master; he was his master's personal attendant and errnads were generally given to house-slaves to run. This one had been deemed important enough to dispatch Rufus himself, though, and he was glad of the little bit of freedom to leave the house and take the message, which was for the lanista of the Ludus Magnus. The only reply he'd been told to wait for was a 'yes' or a 'no' (and Rufus' master being who he was, the expected and only acceptable answer would be 'yes') which answer he'd received. He was on his way home and hadn't managed to get very far when he had to move out of the way of a litter that was being carried along the street with little regard for the pedestrians already in it. He hastily stepped backwards and, as he did so, caught his foot on the edge of a pothole caused by a missing paving stone and went down, hard. It was a moment before he could gather himself, and look down at his ankle, which was throbbing. He hadn't heard or felt anything break, but there was a definite swelling at the joint, and he sucked in a breath. mehercle but it hurt! @Chevi

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

"Your father Quintus Caesar had always taken a great deal of care with everything he has turned his hand to," Aulus said in agreement, and smiled. "I spent my time as tribune in Achaea, if you can believe it - serving under your father while he was legate there. While it was not the frontier of the Empire, I spent time there too, later on, in Germania and then Britannia. The Empire has rather a lot of border and not everyone on the other side of it is friendly." He tore off a chunk of bread to give him something to do as he thought. "Is there anyone in particular you would wish to serve under, or anywhere you'd like to serve your time as tribune?" he asked, and smiled. "And no, I won't be offended in the least if you didn't want me - there are some extremely capable legates in Rome right now, any one of whom would be good for you career." He wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up serving under Quintus Flavius Alexander, but it had absolutely been the making of him - he would follow Quintus into Hades itself should the need arise - as it was, the circumstances fourteen years before had been close to Hades, and Quintus had been the only chance Aulus could see for a positive outcome and a stable Rome. And here was his son, wanting to carry that legacy on. Having seen what could easily be, without a firm hand on the helm, Aulus would do what he could in support and encouragement for the younger generation now that it was his turn to pass on his hard-won wisdom and to give advice. @Sarah

Bear. Yes, a bear was a good approximation for tha animal, though Attis didn't think bears liked meeting new people and slobbering all over them by way of saying salve. He wondered if Sulpicius Rufus had had any idea how much of a ridiculous thing it was - no, of course he knew. He'd done it on purpose. Roma Dea, he'd probably been the one to suggest Attis should be the one to look after him. Cock! "It's a dog. He just wants to say hello, he likes new people," Attis offered. "I'll put him away if he's going to be a nuisance. He won't bite or anything though, sir." @Chevi (I'm so sorry; I thought I'd tagged you here!!)

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

"I've been here for..." he had to pause to think and work it out. "Ten years. Is it really that long?" It didn't seem like it - he'd lived in Rome as long as he'd lived in Alexandria, by his reckoning. And the five years in Corinth too - it did sound about right. "I don't mind at all, thoug I don't know about teaching you about Rome, Lady - I'm not likely to know the bits you'd find most interesting." Gods help him if they went to the sort of places he was most familiar with from errands and the like. She'd be more interested in the sights and the gardens (which required payment to enter which meant that Davus had been there a grand total of once in his life, accompanying the mistress when she'd decided to treat the children - and they'd had a small entourage of which Davus was only one member). "What sort of things would you like to know?" he asked. He might know something, at least, even if he didn't think it seemed impressive. @Atrice

A week later than planned due to some completely unforeseen circumstances (namely, the death of the hard drive everything was saved on!) but it's finally here!! A couple of things to note: I have done my utmost to get at least one character from everyone currently active on the board. In one case this means I've had to use a character not currently in play because the only played character doesn't have any suitable footage and I wanted to keep things coherent. I've also included two or three canon characters who aren't in play but who have been and who have ties to characters who are in play. With all that said, please enjoy!

The Romans were a truly unimaginative bunch when it came to naming people - and Attis' master was no different when it came to naming pets apparently. But then again, much the same could be said for Attis himself, who'd bestowed a very literal nickname on the big wrinkly mutt. It was kind of a cute thing, if big and clumsy. He wondered if the dog would ever figure out just how big he was and tone his enthusiasm down. He looked down at it as it rested its chin heavily on his knee, huffing a contented sigh as he continued petting it. "Obviously," he said in agreement. He didn't think he'd ever learned Florus' actual name - he hadn't had all that much to do with Longinus' captives while in Britannia, and even once they'd all come to Rome, Attis had been focussed on his master and the kid had been half terrified of him because he was so close to the master and he (the kid!) was utterly terrified of putting so much as a toenail out of place. All the stories about how the Romans dealt with misbehaving slaves had obviously got to him. It was nice that he was able to unbend enough to admit his actual name. "I can't imagine what it must be like to have to answer to a different name, specially one from a completely different language," he said thoughtfully. Which wasn't the sort of thing he'd normally think about, much less say, but Tranquillus had a way about him that pulled Attis' usually very well hidden serious side a little closer to the surface. @Chevi

Aulus' estimation of the young man as a serious and thoughtful person who would give things their due consideration was borne out by his words. Everyone of his age had a lot to learn, whether or not they knew it or were willing to admit to it. That Claudius Sabucius admitted both spoke volumes. "The direction of the Empire's future is not something to be taken lightly." "Indeed," Aulus said, accepting the implied compliment with an incline of his head. "And not least among those role models is your adopted father - he was such to me, when I was not much older than you are now, in fact." And if he could return that by being a role model to Quintus' sons in any way, he would - he owed the previous emperor a great deal. It seemed wrong to think of him as the 'former emperor' or anything along those lines while he still lived, but there had been wisdom in his unprecedented decision to retire. It was the sort of wisdom that characterised Quintus Flavius Alexander and coloured all his actions, the wisdom that had drawn Aulus and others to him, to offer their support in whatever way they could. He would be very much missed as ruler - though if Titus showed anything like the same sense as his adoptive brother was currently demonstrating, the Empire would be in safe hands. "It is a lot of work, of course, although I can imagine that it would have been more work a hundred years ago. But to achieve the pinnacle of your ambition - that is something not everyone can say they have done." He would not be hunting for anything further; his ambition was not for power in and of itself, but for power to serve Rome, and to serve Rome meant to serve the emperor. Titus Augustus could be as sure of Aulus' loyalty as Quintus Augustus had been. "And what about you? What will you be doing once your term as vigintivir comes to an end?" There was something about Tiberius that reminded Aulus very much of himself at a similar age. He would do everything in his power to ensure that the young man, and his own son, did not have to live through a period of turbulence and unrest such as that which had marred his own early career. @Sarah

Attis had rejoined his friend on the bench, and the dog flopped onto its hindquarters, looking up at him hopefully before putting a paw on his knee. He grinned and began to fuss it. "No - he called it Rugam - you can see why. I'm the one who calls him Licky, because he is, very." He shrugged. "I've never really been around dogs, I haven't the first clue how to actually begin to teach him anything. At least, anything really useful, though he shakes hands now." He turned his head, giving Tranquillus an inquisitive look. "Who's Samorix?" It sounded barbarian, vaguely British. @Chevi

"Very well, thank you - and I will." Many people vied for a consul's attention, most of whom could be deflected to a more appropriate and more junior official, but other than his own family none had better claim to his time than Tiberius Claudius Sabucius, save only his brother Titus Augustus and their father. He caught the eye of his chief lictor and gave him directions in a low voice to disperse the others but for them to stay in view. Being this close to the Forum and the Curia Julia, presumably the proprietor was used to official and their entourages, but that was no need to overwhelm anyone, especially when there were several establishments where his lictors could spend his money and still be close enough to hand should anything untoward happen. He would keep the chief lictor with him, just in case, though - the man had been a Centurion in Legio XX Valeria Victrix and could be perfectly discreet and very handy in case of any trouble. It wasn't long before they were seated at the establishment's best table with a decent range of food spread before them, and Aulus could properly take stock of the young man. Quintus' adopted son was a serious-looking young man, young but determined - he had already taken his place among the vigintiviri, which was not a necessary step to beginning the cursus honorum, especially for a member of the Imperial family, but was a useful one. "How are you finding political life so far?" he asked, helping himself to a sprig of grapes. @Sarah

The Curia was slowly emptying of people after the most recent session of the Senate, and Aulus found that he was one of the last to leave, having been waylaid by some ancient senator who must have been twice his age if he was a day, who only wanted to talk his ear off about taxes, the grain dole, the cost of games these days and other inconsequential things. He turned to head from the august chamber, pausing before he emerged into the sunlight and the presence of his lictors (Horatia had a point about them, even if Aulus wouldn't admit it - they did rather get in the way when you wanted to be a private citizen... on the other hand, part of the thing about being Consul was that you weren't a private citizen for the entire time you were in office. It was rather the point, after all!) There was someone else taking a momentary breather in the shade of the Curia's colonnade, a young man who must be just starting out on his political career. At first Aulus thought it was his son, but Titus was still a few years short of joining the Senate. "Claudius Sabucius," he said, once he caught a better look at the other. "Good afternoon - I trust you didn't find today's session too tiresome?" @Sarah

@Sarah (and @Kali actually!!) I play Aulus Calpurnius Praetextatus, one of the current consuls, and I'm absolutely desperate for him to have a thread with someone in the Imperial family before the end of the year (and of his term of office) - especially as he's part of the new consilium while he's in office, to help guide and counsel the new Caesar.

"I don't know. Talk to him, not necessarily about things that'll make him uncomfortable, but about things that are important to you." Teutus unfastened his belt and pulled his tunic over his head before folding it and putting his clothing in one of the empty niches, soon adding his loincloth to the small pile. "If you're open with him, it's got to make it easier for him to be open with you," he said, and shrugged. It was how he wished things were between himself and his father, though they never would be. He wondered suddenly if Tertius knew how to be open with anyone at all. "Don't close yourself off from him, though. That's... Well, that's how me and Charis ended up in the mess we're in." Alexis was a very different person from Tertius and Teutus hoped that he'd be able to create a better relationship with his son than Teutus had with his own father. It must help that Alexius' son wasn't a slave. @Atrice

Teutus managed a small smile of his own at the compliment to his secretarial skills; he had had an exacting master and had tried to be the best secretary he could be. It had obviously worked. He could not continue in the role, though plenty of freed secretaries did. He was more than just a freedman, after all, he was Tertius' son (despite their rocky moments and disagreements) and he had his business to run. If it weren't for that, and other things, he'd probably stay in the role a little longer, at least until Tertius could find a replacement. "I will," he said instead - and he would. He was the only person other than Tertius who knew exactly what would make someone a success in the role, after all - he might know even better than Tertius did, because he knew, as Tertius didn't, what he'd needed to do to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. Quite how one went about finding someone who would be trustworthy in the role was anyone's guess, though, and Teutus had little experience of buying slaves for such a senior household position. "How is everything in the Senate?" he asked instead, trying to make it sound like a casual question, the way it had used to be when he had been just a secretary, before Charis, before Peregrinus, before his manumission. @Atrice

"Very well," Marcus said, and dipped a reed pen into his inkpot to make a note at the bottom of the last column of text. Of course Menelaus would be honoured; he was a decent charioteer with a rather large fanbase that would probably be sad to see him retire from racing, but would be pleased for his freedom (probably - doubtless not all of them would be, but they would get over it soon enough). "It's only right that you should have the opportunity; you have been a good racer for the faction, after all." If he didn't win, he would still have the opportunity for his freedom, of course - Marcus would not snatch that away from such a deserving man. It just might play out a little differently than it would were he to win in front of the crowds that would be present for this particular race. "Do you have any questions for me?" he asked, wiping his pen off and looking up at the other man. @Járnviðr

"I miss it," Davus admitted, before he quite realised that he'd said the words out loud. It wasn't the sort of thing he'd say to a free person, not usually, but then, he'd never really had this sort of conversation with a free person before. Well, there had been that conversation with Artemon, but that had been a conversation with a fellow Egyptian and wasn't quite the same. He shifted as she asked what gods he worshipped; it probably wasn't a good idea to admit he was thinking more and more about the Jewish God and the recent sect that was gaining popularity. "There are all sorts of gods worshipped in Egypt," he said (which was only the truth). "I was down near the temple of Isis here in Rome recently - did you know she had a temple here?" It wasn't a lie, prceisely, but wasn't the entire truth - he had been near the temple of Isis, which was where he'd met Artemon. He hadn't been in the area to join the worshippers there, though. @Atrice

"You're welcome," Aulus replied, a little out of breath himself. He adjusted his own position, letting her pull the bedclothes over them to hide her nakedness, though he found himself on his side facing her. "I hope that whatever you were expecting, the reality wasn't a disappointment," he said, and had to hide a yawn - good sex often left him feeling sleepy afterwards and it had been good sex, whatever her expectations had been. He rubbed her cheek softly with his knuckle. @Sara

"Much warmer," Davus said, and shrugged. "At least, much warmer in winter and about the same in summer, though there's nearly always a breeze at least that makes it feel cooler." Probably because it was by the sea and Rome wasn't. He was in no hurry to go anywhere; it was nice sitting and talking like this. He wondered if she scolded her own slaves for not hurrying home when they'd had errands that took them out of the house. "No, Domina, you're not." Well, strictly speaking, she wasn't - he'd already dropped the laundry at the fuller's and ought to be heading home. He'd probably only be set to sweeping everything the Dacian woman hadn't, or scrubbing the floors or something. It could wait, anyway - though he was likely to get a scolding if he was out for much longer. He'd had worse. "Are you out shopping or something, Domina?" he asked, as if they were friends of the same status, which it seemed she was pretending they were, as much as possible. @Atrice

Aulus was practised at going through the motions when it came to drinking, so the boy only had to top his wine up, rather than fill an empty cup. He didn't think the same could be said for Horatius, though. There was something sad about seeing a man such as he succumb to the wine; Aulus would try to keep him from getting too drunk - especially here in a common popina during the day - though he was not willing to bet a bent quadrans on whether he could manage it completely. If Horatia needed a project to focus on, it seemed that her father did too - he probably needed it more, in fact. Aulus picked up his cup and swallowed a mouthful before lowering it back to the table. "How is Lucius getting on these days - you'll have to remind me where his current posting is." It was worth an attempt to redirect his attention from the wine, anyway - he had four children whose accomplishments he could rightfully boast of, and Aulus was willing to listen to them, at least for now. @locutus-sum

"We have all been doing well." Whatever that meant, with regard to Tranquillus and Florus and their dancing around one another as far as affection and relationships went. Attis didn't think he wanted to pry into all that - they had each flushed practically incandescent when he'd had The Talk with each of them, and if they hadn't figured it out and got together, well, he was back in his own house with his own issues and they had to do something on their own. Speaking of his own issues - "Licky!! No - don't dig that up! Not again, you'll kill it!" The dog had been pawing at the ground beneath a decorative orange tree and ignored Attis, who sprang up from his seat to attempt to drag the dog away. "I wonder if your master had any idea how big this thing was going to get when he gifted him to mine," he said, dragging the dog over by the collar. "Sit. Stay!" He turned back to Tranquillus. "I've known slaves who were more obedient!" He'd known free people who were more obedient, in fact, but it didn't seem politic to say so. @Chevi