Sharpie

"Well. I shouldn't have upset you, or annoyed you, or caused you to be less than happy with me," Aulus rejoined, and sighed even as Horatia cupped his cheek. "I know. I can't make things be predictable, though. But let us say, I shall promise to take July if I can, and if it turns out that I can't, you and Titus and Calpurnia will enjoy the time at Baiae together, just the three of you. I am sure they will like to spend time with you out of the worst of the summer heat in Rome, even if I can't be there too." He took her hand from his face and clasped it within both of his. "You will always be a priority to me, you and the children both. But I do have a responsibility to Rome - although admittedly not as great a responsibility as the consuls had during the years of the Republic." He sighed. "Quintus Augustus is getting older and needs men in the Senate who can guide it when he can't be present, so I have to consider that. But I will talk with you about anything that may affect you, or the children, or your plans for the future. I hope you know that - I am not one to issue edicts to my family and expect that they will be obeyed without question, not unless it is a matter of life and death." And after everything that they had gone through during the past year, Aulus hoped that Horatia knew and appreciated that, at least. @Sara

"I..." He what? He hadn't planned on telling Tertius anything, but the sudden thought that he could, that he could cast a shadow over whether Charis' baby was Tertius' son was tempting. But Tertius had already claimed paternity; whether or not the child was his barely mattered. He suddenly registered that he was holding a beaker of wine, and found that he desperately needed some. It was rougher than the wine he routinely drank now, but no rougher than what he'd been used to as a slave, and he took a second mouthful, taking the time to try to think. "I'm not going to get you in trouble," he said eventually, and then, to both of them, "We've been friends." They couldn't continue to be, not really, but Teutus couldn't blame her for any of the mess his father had created. He added, striving to sound neutral, "You shouldn't sneak out of the house and -" he gestured, meaning, you shouldn't sleep around. Because even if it was the first time, it would only take one nosy neighbour. Or Teutus himself, if he were more Roman (ha!) and less torn over everything. He should tell his father, really. Probably. @Atrice @Sara

"Licky, stop it," Attis said to the dog which had seemingly been the cause of Longinus' getting up. He couldn't ignore his master, of course, and turned to look at him in the moonlight. He seemed concerned, but Attis wasn't about to presume anything, even after all the years they'd been together. Just look at what had happened the last time Attis had dared presume anything. Still, there was a look of something in Longinus' face, and Attis sighed. "Just a bad dream, Domine." Like any child would have. "I didn't mean to wake you." Longinus had had enough broken nights, especially since his wife-to-be had vanished without a word of warning. Attis really hadn't meant to disturb him; he could do with a proper night's sleep, surely. The dog plopped onto its hindquarters and pawed at Attis' knee, whining in the back of his throat. "Oh, don't you start, too, Licky!" @Sara

Attis had been woken by others' disturbed sleep and nightmares more than once in his life, but it had been a long time since he had been woken by his own nightmare. Tonight's dream was vivid, though. “Hold him down,” the Centurion was saying from somewhere out of sight above him and the two soldiers holding him tightened their grasp as another came to hold his head still. Attis' eyes were fixed on the sword that was being brought closer and closer to him, its tip glowing red-hot... He woke with a gasp, sitting up, one hand going to his forehead even as he glanced over, hoping that he had not disturbed his master. The scar was still there, of course, but cool to the touch, painless now but still visible to everyone who looked his way – as it had been intended to be. Attis was lucky he hadn't simply been killed for his stubbornness, but the soldiers (whoever they were) had toyed with him as a cat did its prey – and that had been Attis' saving grace because they had no sooner completed branding him than another group of soldiers came riding up, giving Attis time to get away. The room around him was pitch-black, it was still the middle of the night, and he threw back his blanket, finding that he was desperate for some air and to wet his throat, both of which could be found out in the garden, where he could slake his thirst at the fountain, hopefully without disturbing anyone. As he straightened up from the fountain, a sound behind him made him turn. Obviously, he hadn't been as quiet as he had hoped. “Domine! Did I wake you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.” @Sara

Aulus noticed his wife's frown, even if she didn't realise she'd done it - he was used to looking for weaknesses in his opponents, both in the civil courts and in the field of military operations. While his wife was neither an enemy soldier nor a defendant in a court case, Aulus still saw her tiny tells. In this case, it must because he'd slipped up - of course he had, he knew he had as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "You are, very conscientious - I hadn't meant to suggest that you weren't, whatever I said to the contrary." She had pointedly turned her back on him, obviously upset, or annoyed. "I can't make any promises; sometimes officials can get away during their term and sometimes they can't, it all depends on what's going on. Though things are stable enough that I should be able to sneak a little time away. If you want longer than I can take, you can always bring Titus and Calpurnia and I can join you later." And she had rightly guessed that he would then be appointed the governor of some province somewhere - it would be very unusual if he were not, in fact, and not being given some further appointment would hint that the Augustus was displeased with him somehow. He got up from his perch and mover around the loom - he didn't need to have something between his wife and himself. "I am sorry I upset you, Horatia," he said quietly, kneeling beside her and looking up into her face. Others might say it was a sign of weakness in a man, to apologise like that to a woman, whether she was his wife or not, but Aulus cared little for such opinions - if it was scandalous for him to apologise, let the neighbours be scandalised. Admitting to weakness had helped forge steel into their marriage, though Horatia was the only person on the gods' green earth that he would ever allow to see him in a position of vulnerability. @Sara

It seemed Teutus was following right along in his father's footsteps as far as the ability to make things awkward went. The difference was, of course, that Tertius didn't seem to notice - or to care, if he did notice - whereas Teutus did. It was all his father's fault anyway, as always. "I won't interrupt, I can come back later, or we can meet up in a wineshop or something," Teutus said, trying to extricate himself somehow. It hadn't escaped him that Charis had gone silent and passive, precisely the sort of behaviour a slave ought to show around their master - except that they had been friends and even now Teutus didn't particularly feel like her master. Not that his feelings about it mattered, one way or the other. @Atrice@Sara

"Thank you," Aulus said, stepping inside. "Are you after anything in particular?" the slave dealer enquired. "I'm not sure. I want to get something for my wife, but I have nothing particularly in mind." Horatia had her own body slave, of course, and various girls for all aspects of her domestic sphere, from a girl to do her hair to... He thought she might like something a bit different from everything else she had. He would get her a book or two if he had any idea what she might like and did not think that he would end up giving her a duplicate copy of something. Books could be impersonal and he wanted something she would like. @Jenn

Marcus clasped his hands behind his back, nodding at the charioteer's words. "And what do you think of Azarion's progress?" he enquired, unconsciously lifting a hand to stroke the nose of a curious horse that had put its head over the stall door to huff at his head. He was still not sure whether or not he should allow the boy to enter the bigae race that would be the precursor to the main races in celebration for the new Caesar. The mute boy had surprised him and seemed to have flourished in a way neither Marcus nor Azarion's master had expected. @Járnviðr

Charis was a common name among slaves, and therefore freedwomen - or at least, it wasn't an uncommon name. So Teutus didn't put two and two together until he'd accepted Alexius' invitation and crossed the threshold into the small apartment. "Charis?" he said, in response to seeing her. He had not expected to see the mother of his father's heir here. He wasn't about to blame Alexius, the man might not even be aware she was a slave. But Tertius wouldn't be best pleased if he found out his slave had been sleeping around. @Atrice @Sara

"A holiday would be nice," Aulus allowed. "Though the position is only for a year, as I said. A short enough time, after all." That he might well be appointed governor of some far-flung province after his term was up was neither here nor there. "Unfortunately, Consular duties are very bad at allowing you abandon them - and I thought you would be conscientious enough not to encourage me to do so, even for a short break at the villa? Although I will allow that I wouldn't be the first consul to abscond from Rome for a month or so in the summer." Summer in Rome was an awful hot, sweltering season where tempers frayed over the least little thing, and sitting on hard marble benches while swathed in yards and yards of woollen toga did very little to help the average Senator remained sweet-tempered. "You may tell my secretary from me, to make it no more than a month - I do not wish anyone to think I might be shirking my work," he told her, watching her pick up her own work again. @Sara

Marcus had always found it best to regularly visit the various workshops and stalls of the stables. Although he trusted his charioteers, workers and slaves, it was and ever would be only to a point. Once he took his hands off the reins, so to speak, the place could easily run amok. To know that the faction leader could, and would, descend upon them without a moment's warning kept them on their toes and didn't allow any of them to get too slipshod. And so it was that Marcus, walking with his usual unhurried deliberate tread, came upon one of his best charioteers taking a breather in a quiet corner of the stables. "Menelaus. How is training going?" @Járnviðr

At least it didn't seem as if Artemon would ever be embarrassed for long. Davus wondered if he ever suffered second-hand embarrassment or got embarrassed when remembering things - Davus knew plenty about that last one; he'd put his foot in it more than once in his life and got embarrassed all over again when remembering those situations. Several of them had happened years before and he was pretty sure that the other people involved didn't remember them at all. He laughed at his new friend's story; he'd be willing to bet that the man concerned merely nodded and went along with his wife's every suggestion ever after. "The wife sounds formidable," he said. It was a good thing that they didn't end up taking jobs as sailors and the like. He almost asked if the other had a wife anywhere, but that would get too personal too fast and probably lead to Davus having to answer the same question in return, which he didn't really feel like doing. "I suppose you've seen a great many places," he said instead, though the other had probably only seen the docks of a number of cities and they all looked much alike - at least, they did in Davus' admittedly limited experience. "What sort of cargoes do you usually work with?" @Liv

"There's a new warehouse for rent down near the river,I thought we might take a look together and see if it would be suitable," Teutus said, a little nonplussed that Alexius obviously wanted to keep him out of the apartment on the landing. Still, it wasn't a big deal, and he stepped back a little, making it clear he wasn't about to push his way in where it was obvious he wasn't wanted. He probably had a girl in there or something, he'd struck Teutus as the sort who brought his favoured people home, and who found several people who took his favour. "Is it a bad time right now? I can come back later if you want." @Atrice @Sara

Congrats on your graduation, and I'm so sorry about your cat.

Aulus did not particularly need to be anywhere near the Emporium Magnum but he had no real reason not to be, and no pressing need to be anywhere else. As Consul, he was preceded by a small army of lictors - personally, he though that enough prestige and entourage to go any man's head but it was only for the year and who knew what might happen after that. "You can stay outside; there's not going to be room for everyone inside," he said, privately thinking that he'd rather not have to pay if any of them broke anything. He relented at the expression on the chief lictor's face. "Just you, I don't need everyone." He wanted to buy something for Horatia. He didn't need to, but he enjoyed buying gifts for his wife - and he had just foisted a bodyguard on her, he really ought to make up for that with some pretty trinket or scroll (though her library possibly rivalled the new library being built by Octavius Flavius, and he didn't have a clue what she already owned). A new slave might be just the thing - maybe a girl she could train up for Calpurnia, or a new hairdresser or something? He turned towards the area occupied by the slave dealers. @Jenn

"Cats are friendlier. And softer, at least bodily. And they worship them in Egypt, or they used to." Attis grew disparaging. "Mind you, they worship a lot of weird stuff in Egypt, or they used to. What do people in Britannia worship?" He obliged Metella and showed her his arm. There was a nice raw scrape along the outside of his forearm where the mosaic tiles had caught him - half-assed artisans couldn't be bothered laying everything flat when they'd done the work in the first place. "The master is a big kid, really, I think. He likes playing soldiers and doesn't like old people spending all morning nattering about nothing, which is why he prefers the legions to the Senate." He shrugged. "Mostly he likes life to be simple, and it hasn't been that for quite a while for him." @Chevi

"Well, I won't stop you," Rufus said. "Though I'll confess to being a little jealous that's how you get to spend your Saturnalia - both of you," he added, as if he wasn't clear enough and saying as much wouldn't see him go flying out over the balcony to the ground below. Or wishing he could shrink small enough to disappear between the cracks in the floorboards. Bacchus, that wine couldn't have been as watered as he'd thought, if he'd actually come right out said it. Didia was probably going to hit him over the head with a saucepan or a rolling-pin. Theo, being a medicus, was likely to do something worse. "I think the quiet night in might have been the joke, this being Saturn's season," he said to Theo, thoroughly prepared to have to make a run for it and find somewhere to spend the night. Suddenly the flaking plaster of his own room didn't seem quite as bad as he'd first thought. @Sara @Chevi

"I don't think I'm very good at talking right now," Teutus admitted. He'd put his foot in it once too often in just this single conversation, after all. "Come home with you? I wouldn't mind that." He grinned, probably looking a bit stupid, but Hades, who cared? "I can think of better things than talking, too," he said. Alexius was pretty good-looking, after all, and if he was offering what Teutus thought he was offering, Teutus wasn't about to say no. It had been long enough since he'd slept with anyone, after all. He hadn't wanted to sleep with any of the girls his father owned, not really - that would lead to all sorts of complications and he certainly didn't want to risk fathering a child while he was still his father's property. Then Charis had arrived and everything had gone directly to Hades. Maybe a bit of good sex was what he needed right now, get the frustration out of his system - if he was right and Alexius was offering that. If he was wrong, well, they hadn't said as much either way, yet. Things could still be rescued before either of them died of embarrassment because they'd read the situation wrong. @Atrice

Teutus had wanted to discuss something with Alexius regarding their new business venture. Knowing where the other man lived, it made more sense to him to seek Alexius out than to hope that the man might come up to the house - and Teutus valued his own time and the freedom to decide to leave the house when he wanted to, rather than only leaving when ordered to run an errand or after asking permission (Tertius had never been one for sentimentality and had treated Teutus in the same way as he'd treated any other slave he owned, while Teutus was still his slave.) He climbed the stairs to Alexius' small apartment, stepping aside for the girl who delivered the vegetables as she passed him on her way down, and knocked on Alexius' door. It was early, sure, but not so early that he thought he might be disturbing anything. @Atrice @Sara

Attis for his part had just glanced down at his arm and sucked in a breath as he realised just how much it stung; it had been scraped raw by the mosaic tiles. He splashed it with water from the fountain, which didn't particularly lessen the stinging. "I can understand the desire for a cat, but why a snake?" He wasn't sure whether or not the master would let her have a cat, but if it was proposed in the right way, he probably would. Cassia, though, would likely scream the house down if they tried to introduce a snake. Which might be a good reason to try. The puppy finished nosing at the nymph's feet and obliged Attis by cocking his leg as requested. "Good boy. Don't think the master likes this thing particularly - don't you think she looks constipated or something?" Surely the master could afford better statues than this one. @Chevi

The person who would say they don't is either a fool or a liar. Make all your preparations, and leave the rest in the lap of the gods. What is your favourite season of the year?

Teutus intercepted the look. Even drunk, he realised he'd managed to overstep, and it didn't take a genius to work out how - Alexius had been talking about knowing the people behind the armour. Obviously he had friends, and Teutus had just put his foot in his mouth. Just because he had no real friends to speak of, didn't mean that other people didn't. He patted the other man's arm. "I'm sorry. I must sound like a crass idiot - I didn't mean to upset you. And no, nobody at all." Not even next-door's pretty kitchen girl, that he'd spoken to several times in passing; he'd tried not to develop crushes on anyone because he didn't want to end up in a similar situation to his father - or worse, one where any son he fathered would automatically be a slave and remain so. Maybe he'd feel differently in a year's time, but right now, that sort of thing would lead to a worse situation than this morning's, which had just felt as though Tertius had stabbed Teutus right through the heart. And probably didn't even know it - he rarely ever thought about what other people thought or felt on a subject, and only cared about their thoughts if it affected him. "You talk, I'll listen - I'm only good for putting my foot in my mouth today, I think," he said. He'd rather just listen than try to come up with any cheerful sort of banter, anyway, and there was much less chance of him saying something truly idiotic if he just didn't say anything at all. @Atrice

"What the esteemed Horatia Justina was doing coming back in via the slaves' entrance, I cannot begin to think," her husband rejoined, with a smile "I shall make certain to kick them out a lot sooner in future. And I have never thought you a fool - far from it, indeed, my dear." She was definitely trying to put him off, yet her tone and was as it ever was - there was humour there, and the gentle sort of teasing that characterised a great deal of their private conversations. "I only have the position for a year, my dove, but I daresay we'll be able to take time together, just the two of us. We could take some time now, as well, seeing as we're unlikely to be interrupted for a while, and your weaving is not so urgent it won't keep until tomorrow." @Sara

It was just about eight months since the birth of Tertius' son and Teutus was no nearer to being able to get out of this house permanently than he had been this time last year. He was closer to setting up his business, though, so perhaps he was nearer getting out than he felt. It didn't help his state of mind that he'd had to consciously avoid Charis, because where she was, her son was too. Today, though, was a nice bright warm day and Teutus had gone to sit in the garden with his tabula and his thoughts, and found himself just enjoying the sun, thinking very little of any consequence. By the time he realised he was no longer alone, and realised who the intruder was, it was too late to be elsewhere without it looking as if he was deliberately evading her, as he had done his best to since the day Tertius had taken Peregrinus up as a freeborn child. @Sara

"I will get one of Father's clients to take him, I should think," Aulus said, equally amused. "I mean, can you imagine how awkward it would be for him otherwise, knowing it's his father waiting outside? Anyway, I am a perfectly virtuous man and I'm not even sure I know where the best lupanaria are, not since I shut down a couple that hadn't paid their fees back in my days as an aedile. Not that those lasted all that long." And yes, he thought that Titus ought to take his toga this year - really, could there be a better time for a boy to take on the rights and duties of manhood, than in the year his father was first named consul? "And it's as much your celebration as it is mine, anyway," he pointed out. "A man can hardly celebrate alone - that would lead to all sorts of gods know what! And I am not fool enough to think that I would have made it to this point without your support. I have certainly been grateful to have it, and your encouragement, over the years. Have I told you so before? If I haven't, it was not from the fact I didn't know it." He took her hand. "I would very much like to demonstrate my gratitude, and appreciation of you, my dove." @Sara