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"A room or two in an insula will be more than enough," Teutus pointed out. It didn't need to be a run-down sort of insula in the depths of the Subura; there were decent neighbourhoods in other parts of Rome, after all. The problem would be paying for it - Teutus thought he'd find it just as hard to live on his father's good will in an insula as he would under his father's roof. Even the Imperial family didn't spend their days doing nothing, they had careers in the military or the political sphere, so Teutus himself had to find honest work doing something, somewhere. "It's more than just getting away," he admitted. "Even Quintus Augustus doesn't use his son as his secretary, I need to do something useful." And if all this is going to go to Charis' son, I need to have my own income and home anyway by then. "But I might go there, just for a stay, thank you." This whole thing was turning out to be a lot harder than he had anticipated. Despite everything, Tertius had been a constant in Teutus' life, and the vague promises he'd made had built towards some sort of certainty that no longer existed just because he'd got some British girl pregnant and was going to raise her son the way Teutus should have been raised. Why couldn't Juno have given the pair of them a daughter? Thinking like that was going to do nobody any good, though, and Teutus let out a quiet sigh. He needed to get away somewhere - even if only to the villa! - and sort through his jumbled emotions and figure out what his life was going to look like now he'd had everything pulled from under him yet again. @Atrice

Davus missed an awful lot about his home (if it could really be called 'home'), but he wasn't about to spill any of that to someone he'd only just met. Especially when one of those things was his mother. Beer would do as a substitute for any of that, at least for now. "I don't think I've found anywhere outside Egypt that knows anything about making proper beer," he said instead. "And... yes. Though it was rather a while ago." Hopefully that would explain some of his hesitation over some words; it had been rather a long time since he'd had a full conversation in his mother tongue with anyone. He wasn't entirely certain that the other would appreciate describing a slave as a friend, especially a slave who was as low in the household pecking order as Davus was, and anyway, could anyone really be friends with someone they'd barely met? Friendly, maybe. "So, how long have you been in Rome?" he asked after a pause during which he sipped his beer while trying to think of something to say - Davus didn't often have conversations with people he didn't know, after all. @Liv

Davus favoured her with a shy smile. "I can manage Greek and Egyptian as well as Latin, but that's all the Hebrew I know." The Jews had kept pretty much to themselves, after all, or at least had not wanted to socialise with a child slave much, which was fair enough - they had looked different enough from everyone else (though all the different people in Alexandria looked different enough that it was pretty easy to work out whether someone was Egyptian or Roman or whatever). "Thank you," he said, accepting the offer of even the small expenditure that a cake was. "Yes. Six years - like I said, I haven't been anywhere else that long since I left Alexandria, but I'm nothing special in the house, not like a body slave or a secretary or anything." He took the cake she handed him. "Your mistress must like you, if you've been there as long as that." He was still a bit shy but she was easy to talk to, and non-threatening, and she had been nice enough to spend some of her money on him. Of course he could sit and chat with her for a bit - it wasn't as though the house steward knew ho long his shopping trip was going to take, after all. @Echo

"There you are, master!" From the way his master sprang to his feet, it seemed that his good mood hadn't deserted him quite yet, which was a good thing. "I'm good but I leave miracle-working to the gods, I'm only a lowly slave, and it would have been a hovel if I hadn't taken as long over it as I did. Palaces are in short supply around here - something to do with being a democracy, I think. But it should suit you, and I left it stuffed to the rafters with beautiful Greeks of all descriptions, one for every night of your stay, and two for the Kalends." He held his hand out, expecting to be dumped with the bag Longinus was still carrying. If he'd known that all it would take to restore his master's good humour would have been a fall from a horse, he would have done it months ago. @Sara

"One of those is a hundred sestertii," he said, giving voice to his thoughts of a moment before. She had sat down in the ground, arranging herself to sit cross-legged, and Rufus felt he was towering over her, which wasn't helping his train of thought. He dropped to the ground to have this conversation more on the same level. "If we're trying to justify how to explain it away how we got one of these, then the only thing we can do is put it all back and not take anything." Which was the most honest course, but also hurt because he knew how that sort of money could change his life, and presumed it would be the same for Didia - if they had an honest, justifiable explanation for coming into possession of it, which they didn't because they were trespassing even being in this house at all. If Didia could ever buy the house they were sitting in, she would then have the right to all its contents, including that money, but somehow Rufus couldn't see that happening. @Sara

"Oh, uh - Shabbat shalom?" he said, stumbling a little over the Hebrew; he'd heard people greeting each other that way in his childhood. Alexandria had a large Jewish population, after all. His memories of Corinth were somewhat coloured by his experiences, but he'd been there for about five years or so, and it hadn't all been bad. "Corinth was all right - it's a really busy city like Alexandria, and Rome. It's got the port and everything, you see." She'd only had two mistresses, and had been with her current one for fourteen years? Davus could only wish for that sort of stability in his life; he was starting to get nervous about being sold again, just because he hadn't gone as long as this without being on the block, not since he was young. But his current master hadn't seemed displeased with him, or wanting to replace him, so he could hope. "I wouldn't mind," he said, in response to her suggestion. "I can get my own, though, you shouldn't have to spend your money on someone you've only just met." Slaves didn't have a nice disposable income, after all, not in Davus' experience, anyway, and he could spare a few asses for something sweet. @Echo

No paperwork can change the fact that you are my son, no matter what is written... Well, that didn't alter the fact Teutus didn't feel like that, nor would anyone say he was, in any legal sense whatsoever. It would be easier if Tertius hadn't freed him at all, but he had, he'd finally kept that years-old promise only to be stymied now. He released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "I don't want you to think I'm planning to walk out of the house right now and not come back for years," he said, and forcibly relaxed his hands where he'd been gripping himself too tightly for the whole conversation. "I don't mean to do that. And I need to look into exactly what I want to do. So, maybe six months?" He didn't dare leave it open-ended, or it would never happen - or happen only when the baby was old enough to take his toga or something stupidly late like that. And six months would give his father fair warning, and time to find a new secretary to replace Teutus' slave role in the house. "And - I promise I will, Father. If I'm needed here, I'll come." @Atrice

There was one problem with such riches - well, two. One, it wasn't theirs (but the real owner hadn't come back here in years) and two, all the coins Rufus could see were gold. Sestertii or even denarii would be easier to explain - easier to spend - being silver coins, but gold... Rufus hadn't ever even seen a gold aureus from across the room, let alone from as close as this. "Um. I'm not that good," he said. Even one of those coins would put him further ahead in his savings than he could probably get in a year. One aureus was a hundred sestertii - the largest value coin he had in his peculium was a denarius, and one of these was twenty-five times that. It was a fortune that shone up at them from the ground. "I don't know. I'm not good enough to want to leave it all, but I'm not criminal enough to want to take it." If they took it and were caught, he'd end up on a cross without a trial. Didia would at least have a trial, of sorts. "It belongs to the owner of the house, though. Um. Could you even explain away a few of these coins? We could take a couple and leave the rest - a few would be easier than all of it, after all." @Sara

"I don't..." Davus began and was overruled, a hand on his shoulder guiding him inside the popina that the other man had only just left. "I don't bother the gods and they don't bother me," he added as a cup was passed to him. Well, it wasn't as if there was any rush to get back home - he'd only end up sweeping the floors again, that the Dacian woman never bothered her head about, or dusting statues that didn't need it. His master would hardly need him for at least another hour or so. "I'm only here because, well," he shrugged. "I miss hearing people speak Egyptian." Greek was all very well; he spoke it better than Egyptian, but he'd heard that every day until he'd come to Rome, and could still hear that almost anywhere because it was a language of culture and even the Roman citizens spoke and read it. His own childhood tongue, though, he could only hear in this area of the city, and at certain times. "What about you?" he added, feeling awkward at this whole conversation - he wasn't very good at talking with people he didn't know. @Liv

So it was happening. Teutus' nightmare was reality, even though he had hoped that I wouldn't come to pass. He barely heard his father acknowledge him, confirming his place as the children's guardian if anything should happen to Tertius. He couldn't take any more and abruptly turned on his heel, walking away quickly and quietly, heading for the garden door and the streets beyond, needing to be alone with his pain. @Atrice @Sara

"Oh... Juno!" Didia's instincts had been right. She lay down on the ground to fumble around in the hole revealed by moving the chunk of stone, as if she knew precisely what she was looking for and where to find it. And as she lifted the bag out, the seams gave way and it spilled coins, bright shining gold coins, into the grass at his feet. A half dozen or so of those could buy Rufus. The bagful could probably buy half the slave market. "Well. Now what?" It wasn't as though they had a good explanation for having come into such riches so fast - especially Rufus, but presumably Didia. "I don't suppose you can say you won it betting on the chariot races?" @Sara

Teutus tried to filter through his thoughts for something to say that wouldn't sound bitter, or angry or accusatory, and gave a gesture of helplessness. "I took your name," he said simply. "I should have styled myself Tertius Quinctilius Teutus, like a proper freedman, but I took your name as if I was your freeborn son." He swallowed thickly. "But I'm not, and I can't be, and I... don't think I could bear to see Charis' son grow up with the rights and everything that I will never have. I live here, I eat, drink, sleep thanks to your generosity - even the clothes I wear have been paid for with your money. And I am grateful, truly. But I can't continue to live here on sufferance. If I had the rights of a freeborn son, I would probably have already left to serve as Tribune somewhere. This... this wouldn't be any different." And the bitterness had escaped despite his best intentions. He tried to rein it back in. "I don't want..." His voice nearly broke and he swallowed to try again. "I don't want you to think that I want to leave because I don't want to be part of your family." That wasn't how families worked - even if he had no blood relationship to Tertius, he was still the man's freedman and that would bind him to Tertius' family for life. "I just want... a chance to find a path for myself." @Atrice

"Yay, I'm on holiday." Attis's voice was flat, but there was a grin on his face, should his master turn to look. Longinus was on holiday, Attis was a slave and unlikely to get much of a holiday at all, though he might get an entire afternoon off if Longinus was feeling particularly generous, or lethargic. An hour? Finding a decent place to hole up for their stay, plus a couple of slaves, was going to take more than an hour - Attis didn't think that hours here were much different in length to hours in Rome, but he could stretch a point. And at least they had a meeting place now. "I'll see what I can do, Domine," he said cheerfully and went to see what he could do. What he could do, in the end, took half as long again as he'd been given, but secured a nice house with a garden, a half-decent kitchen that was supplied with its own pots and pans, with a fountain a mere few yards up the street. The slaves included an older woman that the hiring agent said was a decent cook (though Attis hadn't taken him at his word but had asked the other slaves; hiring agents couldn't ever be trusted!), a man for the heavy lifting and general work and a teenage boy for other housework and running errands. Attis had moved them into the house and gone to find his master but not before ducking his head in the aforementioned fountain. @Sara

"Mine's Titus Sulpicius Rufus," he said - the slave tag he wore just gave his master's initials (he thought) and those could refer to almost anyone. "I don't suppose you know him, though - he's a senator, though, so you might." There were over six hundred senators so the chances of her knowing his master, out of all of those, was pretty slim. "And I didn't come straight here from Alexandria, either - I was in Corinth for a bit." It was nice to have someone to talk to, someone who understood his journey and where he'd come from, even if neither of them had been to the other's birthplace. She must be a bit older than him, he thought - maybe four or five years older than him? It was hard to tell, with her hair covered. "I hope you don't mind me asking," he said, speaking a little quieter. "Why are you wearing that?" There were slave women who covered their hair, but most of the ones he'd seen didn't bother - it was far more common for upper class ladies to cover their hair when they went out. @Echo

Attis didn't know why he'd thought Longinus might have been here before, but there they were, he hadn't. And after suggesting they might leave their baggage here, Longinus had picked his bag up and left some coins on the table to cover their food and drink before heading back out into the sunlight again. Attis hastily shouldered his own bag and followed - not a moment too soon, as he intercepted the glance Longinus threw over his shoulder. At least that was a smile on his master's face, where there hadn't been a smile in far too long. "It seems so, Domine," he said, settling his own bag more comfortably on his shoulder as he prepared to follow his master to the central area of this ancient city. He could only hope that it would be easier to find his way around Athens that it was to find his way around Rome, once he was cut loose to find them somewhere to stay. @Sara

"I can't be guaranteed to get evenings regularly," Rufus pointed out, although surely Didia would be aware of that even if she didn't know the precise nature of Rufus' job in the house that meant he was to be available to be called at any hour of the day or night. "Even a few minutes a week will be better than nothing, and you're intelligent - it shouldn't be any problem for you once you know the basics. Like I said, you can practise when you're out and about, anyway - there's writing all over the place from graffiti to temple inscriptions." The garden looked a sad sort of place now, overgrown and with weeds making themselves known, winding around columns and creeping to poke up between flagstones. "The hypocaust? Nobody would look there," he added, realising what she meant and hurrying over to help. The pallium he was wearing was in the way and so he pulled it off, more comfortable in just his tunic if physical exertion were to be needed. @Sara

Attis wanted to say that he did it because he wanted to, not because he had to or because it was expected of him, but knew that wasn't, strictly speaking, quite true. He sighed. "You're right, and I wish you weren't, but you are, which makes you a lot wiser than me," he said. He wished there was something they could do, but of course they were only slaves and that meant they were limited in what they could offer. @Chevi

"I didn't, but it's Davus," Davus said. "You didn't tell me your name, either, though." Fourteen years with the same mistress? He could barely imagine that; he'd had three masters in the same length of time. "Judea? That's a long way away - even further than Alexandria." He thought it was, anyway, further towards the rising sun than his birthplace. "I've only been with my current master for six years, the longest I've been anywhere except my very first place." Only thinking about that reminded him of his mother and then he was reminded of the last time he'd seen her, when they were pulled apart in the huge slave market at Delos. @Echo

"If you're decrepit, Publius, that must mean I'm practically ancient," Aulus said, finding a seat. He raised an eyebrow in Longinus' direction. "I was unaware you'd returned home with a pretty Greek - Attis get too much for you in the end?" It was a wonder his friend had put up with his body slave's sarcastic tongue for as long as he had - though even Aulus had heard about Longinus lending his body slave to Rufus for a few months. He reached for the jug of wine and poured himself and Publius a beakerful, hoping that this evening would end better than the last time they'd got together for the same aim of getting drunk. @Echo @Liv @Sara

"Any time we get to meet - Latin's an easy enough language once you get the hang of it," Rufus said and followed her. "I could teach you the basics now - or go over them, anyway. If you want." He'd taught Azarion enough in their one conversation for the boy to write his own name, and it must be easier for someone who could talk and sound things out. He followed her out to the sadly-overgrown garden. "Dominus doesn't even have to know, if we just do it when we meet." It wasn't as though they often had the chance to spend time together, though, not like this. A few minutes at a time was about all that Rufus could realistically hope for. "I'm sure I could get one evening every week or so, if you wanted something more regular." It would be a crying shame if they couldn't, though perhaps she could find someone else to teach her, someone whose time was less constrained than Rufus. @Sara

"How much I... No, I don't think I do," Teutus managed, unsteadily. "But when you take that woman's child up, as I know you will, he will have all the rights and opportunities that I never could have, and how could you not feel more for a son who can follow you into the Curia than one who will forever be tainted with the stain of his slave past?" It wasn't Tertius' fault that Teutus would never be more than a freedman, but his paternal grandfather had long joined the gods and was forever out of Teutus' reach. Directing your anger and bitterness at a jar of cold ashes and bones was not going to help - but directing those same emotions at a living flesh and blood man wasn't much consolation either. "Surely it would be best for me to be elsewhere, so you don't have to divide your attention and affection, Father?" And I don't have to witness your care for my replacement every day. @Atrice

Teutus had not taken the position that he probably should have by right as his father's son, but had stayed on the periphery. He stared hard at the bundle in Charis' arms - in any other circumstances at all, he would probably feel sorry for the child, but right now, all he wanted was for his father to look down at the child and turn and walk away, ignore it, condemn it to the same fate Teutus had been - the fate that it should be left to, as the child of a slave mother. Even after the conversation he'd had with Tertius, he didn't think that his father really understood what it was going to mean for Teutus if his father took the baby up and claimed it as a freeborn son. @Atrice @Sara

He shook his head at her question. "No, I've been here for..." he had to pause to work it out. He'd been in the household of Titus Sulpicius Rufus for six years, and in Rome itself for three years before that... "Nine summers?" She looked at least a little interested, at least. "I was only about ten when I left Alexandria, I'm sure it isn't how I remember it at all." He shifted the shopping basket to sit more comfortably on his arm. "What about you - where are you from?" She had at least confirmed that she was a slave, like him, which meant he could relax a bit and not have to worry that he might somehow offend a free woman - he wouldn't want to offend anyone, even a slave, but free people were apt to get touchy when their dignity was somehow offended by a slave, and touchy free people were quick to lash out, even when the slave was someone else's property. He risked a sideways glance. This young woman looked altogether too gentle and kind for that sort of reaction - there was something about her that had drawn him and he couldn't even begin to say what it might be. @Echo