Sharpie

She was relaxing into it, enough that he felt her begin to move under him, meeting him. He had not really dared to hope, before this evening, that he could make it pleasurable for her - far too many women merely endured the marriage bed, leaving their husbands to find solace elsewhere if they wanted a good time. Horatia was, perhaps, unusual in this as she was in her tastes in literature, but Aulus did not mind - he appreciated her slightly unusual view of things. And she made him smile, which was always a positive. Eventually he couldn't hold back any longer, and reached his climax with a shudder, finally rolling off her, breathing heavily as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him "You are an astonishing woman, Horatia Justina," he managed, smoothing hair away from her face. How had he managed to get so fortunate? @Sara

"It's fine, I don't mind," Teutus said, and sighed. "Look, really, I think we were mostly both startled at seeing each other here - I honestly don't have a problem with her seeing you, or you seeing her. I'm not about to tell my father." Gods knew Tertius didn't tell Teutus half the things he knew. He took the jar from Alexius' hand. "If it helps at all, we talked. Charis and me. We've probably needed to talk for months, and haven't, and meeting here just made it so we couldn't avoid each other the way we have been. You don't need to feel guilty or - or anything like that." The conversation with Charis hadn't been entirely comfortable, but they had needed to have it, and it had cleared the air between them. Teutus still probably wouldn't feel completely comfortable around her and her baby, but that wasn't Alexius' fault at all. "Please don't tell me you've been trying to get drunk just because of us two, though - we're not worth that." @Atrice

"It's not like I have a slave I can send anywhere with a message," Teutus pointed out. "And no - I'll get my own," he added, just in case his father was about to suggest buying one for him (or worse, giving him one of his own slaves, who Teutus had been enslaved alongside until recently). He sighed. "I don't have all that much to say," he said. "I have a warehouse, and my first few shipments from Hispania arrived safely and sold well; I'm hoping to hire another ship so that I can buy and sell from the east - things from Aegyptus that will also find a good market, that I can buy relatively cheaply, transport easily and that will make some sort of profit here." He didn't need anything from his father, nor did he particularly want anything from him, either, but looking at Tertius made him see, maybe for the first time, that it hurt for Teutus to exclude him, keep him out. Part of him was glad for it, because maybe now Tertius would understand a little of what Teutus felt. A bigger part felt guilty for causing it - though both emotions were duller than perhaps they should be, mere curiosities of emotions, shadows the way a stuffed bear was a shadow of the living creature. "I don't know - I don't need you to do anything," he said, slumping a little. He definitely didn't need or want the interference that would probably resurface at some point, but that was incidental. "I need to make my own way. I have no claim on anything of yours, it's all for -" he couldn't say the baby's name and shrugged. Tertius was fooling himself if he thought Teutus had any claim at all on it - and that was what had hurt so deeply, that day, the realisation that everything Teutus had been promised would go to the baby Charis had laid at Tertius' feet. @Atrice

Teutus couldn't help looking Alexius up and down. He looked terrible - the tunic he was wearing seemed to be the same one he was wearing yesterday and if Teutus wasn't mistaken, Alexius had probably slept in it, too. He smelled of wine, which was something that Teutus could completely understand. He accepted the invitation and stepped through the door. "Wine? I suppose I should, it'll mean there's less for you - please don't tell me you've been drinking all on your own?" Of course he had; yesterday had been... Well, yesterday had been pretty bad for all of them, because none of them had expected both Teutus and Charis to be in the same apartment at the same tie, east of all Alexius. "I guess I should apologise for yesterday," he said. "I should have at least warned you I might come round about something, after we talked about working together, anyway." @Atrice

"May we did," Teutus allowed. "But I still wish I hadn't walked in on you. My father makes things awkward because he likes to, I think. I make things awkward just by being me and being around, and I always have done. I don't suppose that's going to change, however much I'd like it to." He wished he'd had a chance with Charis, but that was another thing his father had done, made any sort of relationship between them supremely awkward just because he'd got there first. Perhaps it was better that he hadn't had that chance; what sort of life would his son have, if he'd slept with Charis and got her pregnant instead of his father's doing so? "I think Alexius is good at saving people from themselves," he said, willing to take her lead in the change of direction for their conversation. Jupiter knew he needed the distraction. Though what Alexius had saved Teutus from would lead right back to awkwardness between himself and Charis - it had been the day Tertius had declared her son free. @Sara

Well, their earlier conversation had gone less than swimmingly, thanks to Charis' presence - not that Teutus blamed her. If he'd known she was there, he wouldn't have turned up there himself, at least not until she'd left to return home. He sighed to himself; he really needed to get a slave so that he didn't have to do all the wandering around Rome himself. Even if he had a slave, though, he'd most likely have to make this trip himself, this was not the sort of conversation or discussion he felt he could trust to a slave, not this early on in proceedings. Anyway, they lived in the same insula, and he wasn't damn lazy enough that he couldn't climb a few stairs from his apartment (several rooms on the first floor, and far too big for just him - but his father had insisted!) to Alexius', two floor above. So it was just a few minutes later that he found himself knocking on Alexius' door, hoping that he wasn't disturbing anything untoward this time. @Atrice

Even with the strange absence of real emotion, Teutus managed a smile. "And as a true Roman, I am mortally offended at such an insult to our cuisine, but I will allow that a British barbarian can't possibly know any better," he said, keeping his arm around Charis' shoulders as he steered her back out of the dead-end alleyway. "Honey cakes are as plain and simple as you can get, there's no skill required in making them and they are absent of all the most exquisite flavours." He liked them himself, of course, but a little friendly teasing wouldn't hurt. He grew serious again, sighing. "I told him it's not his fault, and I'll go back and see him tomorrow - I really do want his opinion on this warehouse and chances are if I don't get it, someone else will. It's in a good position for what I need, and it's not too big, or too small. But he might see issues that I haven't. A second opinion is always good to have, I think." @Sara

He could feel her tensing under him, which wasn't unexpected, and he gave her time to adjust. She slipped her arms around his neck and he nuzzled her neck, which she had left accessible when she'd turned her head away. Eventually she relaxed under him again, though he thought there was some residual tenseness or nervousness there, even as he began to move. Her smile did look somewhat strained, and he kissed the corner of her mouth. "Ah, Horatia, my dove," he murmured, and found the soft skin below her ear, leaving another kiss there. @Sara

"Not to you, maybe," he allowed. She had always been a woman of simple tastes, at least to his knowledge. "Come on, then," he added, and gave her a brief hug, such as they hadn't shared in too long. "I'll buy you a cake fresh from the oven, if you like - you need to have something for breakfast, it might as well be something nice." And if Tertius said anything to her, Teutus would just claim he'd sent her on an errand or something. No need to make his father any more suspicious than he already was likely to be, after all. "What would you like - globi, placenta, a honey cake?" @Sara

"I daresay my finances can stretch to a purse of sesterces for the winner," Aulus replied. "And there are generally two consuls in Rome, even in these strange modern days that we live in - although I will admit that my fellow Consul found that he had other demands on his time and couldn't be present this evening." At least those present seemed to be enjoying themselves - even his son Titus was talking with Sulpicius Rufus' son, who must be four or five years younger. "Well, first blood goes to the Thessalian witch," he added with satisfaction, although the older Lexus was not slow in returning the favour - or attempting to, scoring a hit on the woman's leather belt, which sent the crowd (those not supplied by the Venus, anyway) into roars of ecstasy at the hope that such a strike would end in baring the woman's lower parts to the view of all. Leather being more durable than cloth, they were bound to be disappointed. "I have no objection at all to bringing them up here," he said - they had all been thinking what he had, apparently. He wondered which of them would gain the Thessalian's favour (or at least, get in there first with a monetary offer to make it worth her lanista's lending her out) and which would have to do with one of the beauties from the Venus - there were bare breasts a-plenty for those who found their attention wandering from the two on the sand below. @Sara @Atrice @Liv @Chevi

"I tried," Teutus said,recalling the conversation he'd had with his father when Tertius had told him his plans for Charis' baby. "But you don't trust anyone, at all. A word when I came into the house would have been enough - any slave could have brought me to you. Just a word and I could have been prepared for it." He felt wrung out like an old dish-cloth. It didn't feel good at having vented like that, but it had been somewhat cathartic, at least. "Do yourself and - Charis' son a favour. Don't make him promises that you won't keep, or won't be able to keep." At least half of the anger and disappointment he'd felt in his life stemmed from having promise after promise forgotten, delayed or outright broken. It should be easier for his father to not make the same mistakes with his youngest son, who didn't have to wait until he was grown to be manumitted, and could therefore follow in Tertius' footsteps in a Senatorial career. "And, I don't have secrets. I haven't got anything worth hiding, after all." He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness, defeat. He just felt drained, all the energy he'd had a moment ago leached out of him to leave him feeling empty and exhausted. @Atrice (and @Sara)

"So far, merely Hispania, sir, although I am looking at the potential of expanding to the east as well - there are always good needing transportation and of course there are all the spices to be found to the east," Teutus replied to his host's question, striving to sound easy and interesting. "I would rather build on a sure foundation and expand naturally than over-reach myself and fail for no reason. Is there much of value to be found in Britannia, do you think?" He had very little interest in expanding into the slave trade; there were enough merchants transporting slaves around the Mare Nostrum, and of course slaves had to be fed and watered and kept clean, which all required an outlay Teutus would rather not spend - and there was the risk of illness and all sorts of other factors. Inanimate goods which were easier to transport and store before sale were where Teutus' interests lay. Besides, he'd been a slave himself - he had no qualms in owning slaves (he would need to think about buying some for some of the heavier work) but he drew the line at trading them. @Járnviðr @Atrice @Liv @Sara

"Just enjoy yourself," Aulus told her. He would get his own pleasure soon enough, and thought she might just expire of embarrassment if she had to actually help him along - she didn't need to, anyway. He waited for a little longer before adjusting things. "I'm going to -" he said, and shifted until she was fully on her back and he was kneeling astride her. This would likely hurt, a little, but if he didn't do it now, the moment would pass and she would be far too tense. "You're beautiful," he said, lowering his head to kiss her, pausing to let her get used to the new sensations. @Sara

"I don't know - I don't want much, I don't need much." If his father had been less closed off to him, Teutus might have stood a chance, but as it was, he didn't even have a measurable metric for what he did any more - at least as a slave he'd known how to produce good work, could measure his success as a tutor in seeing how Antonia learned what he taught, could see the visible letters he'd written for his father. None of that mattered any more now that everything was so nebulous and Tertius made him - and everyone in the household, really - jump through hoops to attain his commendation, which he rarely gave. Teutus had been left floundering like a man swept away in a flash flood, and had no way to express it in words. He had to find his own way of producing and measuring his work, and that meant living his own life outside of Tertius' domus, even if he was still at Tertius' beck and call as his freedman and client. "I need to find myself, Charis - I don't even know what I like," he said, trying to smile for her. "Simple things - hot cakes fresh from the oven, sitting in the garden. Stupid things, maybe." Maybe they were, but maybe he should take the chance to indulge them a little more? It might be a start. @Sara

"I'm glad he does," Teutus said. And he was, obscurely, despite his own personal feelings about it all. He wasn't likely to ever want to hear updates about him, but at least Charis had something to brighten her days, at least. What Teutus deserved... He'd dreamed, sometimes, of the day he would be free and able to pursue what he wanted to do, and now that it was within his grasp, he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He didn't deserve it, though; he couldn't see that he deserved anything nice, not really. He'd get there if he worked for it - maybe he would have the nice house and the family, and feel differently about it all, but right now, he just didn't feel anything about anything. "I'm glad you can be happy." He was, too, she needed good things in her life - gods knew she hadn't had that many in the year and a half since she'd come to Rome. "Maybe I will have all that, one day. Something to work for, I think." @Sara

He couldn't help chuckling. "No, it isn't all, not by any means." He slipped his hand down between them, keeping his eyes on her face to judge the results of what he was doing, whether it was too much, not enough, or even if she was just uncomfortable beyond the fact this was the first time she'd ever been with a man. @Sara

He wrapped an arm around her, kissing her even as he pulled her closer to him, bodies touching. Perhaps if he wasn't looking at her, and if she wasn't looking at him, she'd be less embarrassed, if not less nervous. He let his free hand stroke gently down her back and side. "You are beautiful, I hope you know that?" he told her, lifting his hand before it went anywhere she would not appreciate yet, and wrapping his arm around her shoulders again. @Sara

Horatia seemed confused, or bemused, or something. Not amused, though. Ah well, he'd tried. Sometimes he got it right, and sometimes he didn't - this might well prove to be one of the latter times. He let Felix unwind the toga he was wearing; it was a cumbersome garment at the best of times and unnecessary in the house among his family. "Bring some wine into the tablinum, will you?" he said to Felix. "And yes, that would be helpful - perhaps she could help organise your library, Horatia?" Although, being Horatia, it was probably organised already - poetry in this section, history here, with a subsection dedicated to military history; architecture here and another subsection specifically for the architecture of siege engines and the like (yes, he had found her complete set of de architectura by Vitruvius. Whether she had read it, or understood it, he didn't know, but she had it in her collection). They would surely work something out between them; his wife was always very good at that. He ignored the fact that he might be a bit biased - it was the prerogative of every Roman husband to think that his wife was a goddess reborn, after all. @Jenn @Sara @Chevi

"Do you think it will ever get better? Our lives?" He squeezed her hand back. "I don't know. I hope so." She deserved so much better than she would ever get from his father, but Tertius didn't have a good record when it came to freeing his slaves - Teutus couldn't honestly recall the last slave who was freed before him, and if he wasn't Tertius' son, he would still be a slave. Perhaps it would be better for Charis, being the mother of Tertius' freeborn son? Who knew! "You deserve all the good things in life, Charis, and I'm sorry you haven't had them." She'd lost everything, far more than Teutus had - he hadn't had anything to begin with, and now it seemed where his fortunes were improving, hers were not. He wanted to protect her, to get her out of his father's house, but that was an impossibility. She would just have to stay strong, things might get better for her in the future. @Sara

"Well, for what comes next, we ought to be on the bed," Aulus said, looking down into very blue eyes. Her fingers were tracing over his chest in a sensual erotic way that was leaving him weak at the knees (not that he would ever admit it!). He laid down on the bed, propping himself up on his elbow, and held his hand out to Horatia, inviting her to join him. @Sara

Oh, merda. He put his arms around her, offering what little comfort he could. He'd buy her, if he thought his father would let him, buy her, and free her, and couldn't say as much because he knew Tertius wouldn't sell, and he wouldn't want to get Charis' hopes up - and what would happen to her son? Tertius would insist the baby stay with him, which was absolutely break Charis' heart. "I couldn't bear to stay, Charis," he said. "It feels like torture, the death of a thousand cuts. I can't bear to be in the same room as your son and it would only make things worse between us if I stayed." And if he left, she might be able to come to see him, on ground that wasn't his father's, where they could be friends again despite everything. She needed a friend, badly, and so did he. "Of course you can visit. And I will do what I can for you, even if it's not much." @Sara

"The entire household?" Attis asked, careful not to mention Florus by name - who knew if they'd got it together, although judging by the fact Tranquillus was standing in front of him and hadn't combusted into a pile of ashes, chances were high that the pair had not got together, and maybe never would. Which was a great shame; someone in that house deserved to have a good time in bed, and it wasn't going to be their master, who could be a contender for the next available position as a Vestal Virgin. He found them a spot on a marble bench in the garden from where they could see the garden side of the tablinum but wouldn't draw the attention of either man within it. "Here, why don't you have one?" he said, holding out the plate of honeycakes. "They're as good as Betua's." Once Tranquillus had chosen one, Attis took the other. "Oh, we're all fine here - Dominus takes his new Dacian out with him when he wants to go running, so I don't get dragged out any more. Which makes things pretty well perfect. How are things back at yours?" @Chevi

Her hands on his face sent sparks coursing through him, though she gave the smallest of nods at his suggestion, her hands moving to the ties of her gown. The fabric came loose and slithered down into a heap at her feet, leaving him speechless - in the best way. "Beautiful!" The word left his mouth in an awed whisper he didn't even realise he'd uttered. Even in the light of the oil lamps, he could see that her face was crimson, and he took her hands in his, pressing them to his heart. "You are truly beautiful, columbina mea. I suppose it's only fair if I take my tunic off, too." He let her hands go and stepped back to give himself room before pulling his own tunic over his head, and then unwinding his subligaculum, leaving him in the same state of undress as she was in. @Sara

He allowed her to tug him back. "Be a good mother to him, he'll grow up better than me," he managed, and choked back a bitter laugh as she continued. "He wants me to be happy? He's got a funny way of showing it. He doesn't talk to me, or share anything with me and just expects me to go along with ideas I haven't the faintest idea about. You're not the only one who can't read him." He sighed; spilling his emotions, such as they were, was not going to help her - she seemed as lost and fraught with emotion as he was. "If I'm not in the house, won't it make it easier for you? You won't have to keep worrying I might walk in - it's got to be easier for you as your son grows up. And I can't keep on living there, not on my father's charity and good intentions. Not when he's got a real heir to think about." It might be running away, but he needed time and space, none of which were to be found in the Varus household. "If you need anything I can give you, I'll let you know where you can find me," he added. None of this was her fault at all, why should she need to be as miserable as he was? @Sara

"Well, that's good, I think," Aulus replied, allowing her to pull his head down so they could kiss again. "Would it help, if I said that you can touch me - we're married, it's fine." She seemed nervous of letting her hands come into contact with him, and all he could think was that she was somehow worried about doing so without being told she could. He was being silly, of course, but saying the words couldn't hurt if he was wrong, and if he was right, well... "Can we take this off?" he asked, tugging gently at her white gown. They would have to move to the bed soon, and that was best done after they were undressed or they'd just have to get up again. @Sara