Sara

She kissed him softly. It was chaste compared to the kisses they'd shared full of burning need and a desire - even when Ovinia hadn't been able to name th feeling. This was different. And altogether more meaningful. She frowned, brushing her nose against his as he apologised. She felt a wrench in her chest. Me too. Because for all of the fact they couldn't be together in large part being down to the fact Lucius had abandoned his birthright he was not the one that would walk away from this into another marriage. That was all on her, and now she was twenty, the day was drawing closer. She swallowed and shook her head, moving her fingers to either side of his face to hold him. Her thumbs swept arches over his cheekbones. "No apologies." She murmured back, kissing him again - the faintest of touches of her lips against his. "This is our happy place, remember?" Let's both forget reality. TAG: @Chevi

She smiled as he slipped on the band and ran her fingers over it. It wasn't her finest piece but she'd loved it. And now knowing he was wearing it, she loved it more. She watched him fumble at his cloak and blinked as he presented the fibula, his voice adorably sheepish. She brushed her fingers over his as she took it and ran her thumb over the shape. It was beautiful. Made moreso because it was his. She glanced up at him as she fastened it to her palla. It didn't go with the outfit but she didn't care, and it was small enough that it could be secreted in the Pallas folds when necessary. She smiled at him and noted sadness in his eyes. She wondered if he was thinking the same as her. I wish it was a ring. She leant up on her knees to meet him, kissing him gently. TAG: @Chevi

Ovinia glanced down at her hands and her wrists. Decorating both arms were an assortment of bangles and on her upper arm was a circlet of gold. It was fine, but plain. She preferred it to the snake armbands that seemed fashionable (but tacky) nowadays. She slipped it from her upper arm down her wrist until she held it in front of him. Any of her actual bangles would be too small for him, but this was large enough to (hopefully) fit over his wrist. "Wear it." She glanced at him. "You can wrap it in leather so it doesn't look gold...and get robbed off of you, or wear it under a cuff on your wrist." She added in an uneasy smile. Leather cuffs were fashionable for men of his age, or so she'd learned. "And you give me something and I'll wear it." It wouldn't be a wedding ring, but this might be as close as they'd get. And whenever she looked down or up or wherever at whatever he'd give her, it would make her think of him. TAG: @Chevi

She swallowed, aware that a dark cloud had descended on this little bubble of joy they'd created. She tried to shake it off but she couldn't and didn't know why. She'd seen Lucius annoyed before and generally it was because of something she'd done but this time she had only been joking. He'd taken it well last time. She swallowed and let him squeeze the hand that wasn't clutching the cithara. She flicked her eyes to him, watching his face as he apologised. She exhaled heavily, letting all the air leave her lungs as she curled back against the couch, setting the cithara down carefully on the table next to the savillum. Such a beautiful gift. One she could never admit the provenance of. "I know how much it means to you." She swallowed, speaking quietly. "And...I promise I was joking. I don't care about her." she did, a bit, but more because she was an odious woman and she didn't know what Lucius liked about her. "I...have an idea." She swallowed, watching him. "For us to prove it." TAG: @Chevi

"Because I'm not having fun anymore Marcus." She said with a little devilish smirk and she shrugged her shoulders. "And because I'm just a freedwoman, as you pointed out." And ergo, not of his class - not by any stretch of the imagination. All the men and women here (besides the slaves of course) were wealthy and he must have been too. Born into a life of luxury, bred to look down on people like her. It made her blood boil, but she kept her face carefully neutral. Slavery had been good for teaching her that, if nothing else. "Why would you even wish to spend time with me?" She tilted her head and watched him closely, her blue eyes narrowed on his face. "Either you think you'll get something out of me or..." A-ha... She grinned. "You fear what my husband will do if he thinks you've insulted me?" TAG: @Atrice

She blinked and straightened up. She'd been joking but his snapping hit a sore point and her struck dumb expression quickly turned into one of annoyance. "Are you? Really? Risking life and limb?" She tilted her head to study him, but her questions were rhetorical and she left no room to answer them in any case. "I hadn't realised what we were doing was so serious. I'm so oblivious, you see." She gave him a glare and ground her jaw. "I was joking." She shifted awkwardly, further away from him on the couch. "It was just a joke." She repeated, more quietly as she fiddled with the cithara, not looking at him, her annoyance turning to embarrassment. TAG: @Chevi

"Well..." She said, utterly gratified at the reaction she provoked and a feline grin stretched on her lips. "You buy me a cithara - an instrument she plays - and you bring me to a beautiful, richly appointed domus - much like the one she has I imagine for her...dealings." She wrinkled her nose and leant her chin on the cithara, watching him with narrowed, dark eyes full of amusement...and a hint of jealousy. "I wondered if you had a type, is all, and whether you'd prefer it if I were an exotic blonde?" TAG: @Chevi

She chuckled as he moved to cut the cake, and sniffed back her tears. Instead, she shuffled to rest the cithara in the crook of her arm so she could play it. She strummed her fingers across the strings and her face was a picture of pure concentration. She'd never had any lessons but Ovinia had an oddly prodigious talent for music and heard chords easily enough. She was playing softly, testing the waters as she glanced at him after several long, long moments...as if she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Do you want me to fetch a blonde wig so I look the very image of your friend from Tiberius' party?" She asked with a sly smile. TAG: @Chevi

She swallowed and nodded, staring down at the present, running her fingers across the strings to produce a small chord. It was a beautiful sound. And a beautiful gift. She felt tears well in her eyes. She had wanted one for years, begged and asked and had never been rewarded with one. The hydraulis was a beautiful instrument but it wasn't this. Her parents had never trusted her with this. Nor had her friends or her brothers. She exhaled and stared up at him with an awkward little smile. "I love you too." And then she glanced down at the cithara. How was she ever going to explain this gift though? Perhaps she could say she sold some jewellery to buy it for herself? She glanced at him. "It's too generous, Lucius." And then she leant across to kiss his cheek softly, lingeringly. "You have such a good heart." TAG: @Chevi

"I am not stubborn." She protested...stubbornly. With no hint of irony. Maybe she was a touch...but she wasn't going to admit that to him. She gave him a slow, sly smile and tilted her face up to his. This close to him she could feel his heart against her own chest and she swallowed a shudder. It was probably for the best he stepped back to slip the bag off of his shoulder. She arched a brow and frowned, holding out her hands to take it. It was heavy. She frowned and moved slowly to sit down on one of the couches before pulling off the cloth slowly. She choked, her eyes wide. "I...I had been joking!" She glanced up at him as her fingers brushed against the burnished wood and the strings of the cithara. "T-this must have cost you a fortune!" she glanced up at him in panic. "All I got you was a savillum..." TAG: @Chevi

She blushed. Damn him. She swallowed the smile on her lips and the lump in her throat and tilted her head as he stepped back away from her but her fingers held firm on the nape of his neck. "Oh no." She said with a shake of her head. "I am a woman who knows what she wants." She grinned at him wryly, "Remember?" She had always been a woman of conviction. But now the target in her sights was Lucius himself. "But you are ancient." She chuckled and crossed the step between them before trying to tug him closer to her. "I'm also a woman that likes presents." TAG: @Chevi

"Of course I remembered." She chuckled and moved back around so she could loop her arms around his shoulders and take him in properly. Now she could touch him - or felt she had licence to touch him - she didn't ever want to stop. Her fingers moved to brush his dark hair from his forehead with a soft sigh of pure contentment. "Your company was terrible but your cooking was very good, I will admit." And then he wrapped an arm around her waist to bring her closer for a kiss. She smiled against his lips and kept the kiss relatively chaste, tilting her head to study him with a narrowed gaze and pursed lips. "And do you think it will live up to my very high standards, Lucius Manius Victorius Roscianus?" TAG: @Chevi

"You." She confirmed as she withdrew finally although on hand still swept across the expanse of his chest and across the muscle of his arm. "And I did." She chuckled and finally stepped away but one hand took one of his to tug him to get closer. "I felt bad you were going to get me something for my birthday, but you are far older and more decrepit and I didn't get you anything." Granted, at the time of his birthday she had been recovering from the attack...but she blinked it from her mind. "Come here, it's not just flowers..." She tugged on his hand to lead him deeper into the house and around the peristyle to the triclinium where there were more flowers and on the small table, some honey cakes, dates, breads and cheeses and then in the centre a savillum. With honey to the side. "I remember you making me one of these. Thought you could add the honey." She chuckled. TAG: @Chevi

She grinned, laughing into the crook of his neck as he swept her clean off her feet to sweep her around. She gripped his shoulders, savouring the feel of him, the smell of his hair, the way he grinned as he set her back down and before he ducked down to kiss her - wiping any retort clean from her mind. She made a soft sound of protest against his lips even as she sunk into the kiss. Her head was already swimming. But no time for that. She placed a palm flat against his chest to push him back. "Arrogant man." She finally retorted with a sly grin. "I didn't miss you a single bit. I forgot you existed, in fact." She grinned and stroke her fingers across his collarbone. "Happy birthday." She murmured as she stretched up to press a kiss to his jaw. TAG: @Chevi

Charis listened. And there it was. She arched a brow, sipping her drink. Well...here goes nothing. It would be worth it to see that look on his face wiped off - the sweet glint in his eyes, the handsome smile...all of it was a ploy, or it was genuine because he thought she was important. She wondered what his face would look like when he found out what she actually was. No time like the present. "We were. We were having so much fun sweet Marcus." She said with a small smile and then lowered her wine cup from her lips. "But I do know them. My husband, you see, isn't really my husband." She tilted her head to study him, a wry smile playing on her lips. "I was his slave. I was a barbarian savage. And now men like you...well...you have to be pleasant to me." She chuckled and sipped her drink again. "So scandalous." TAG: @Atrice

Two weeks after 'The Day that Never Was', a week after the nones of May, 77AD Ovinia stood in the atrium of the abandoned domus that had been the home of her most private of moments two weeks before. She'd arrived earlier than the time she'd indicated in her note - and Lucia had begrudgingly helped her to decorate - stringing flower garlands around the atrium, the triclinium and setting the savilum on the small low table in the room off the garden they had dined in last time. But now she was alone - Lucia waiting by the door outside until Lucius arrived and she would go to the bakery. She clasped her hands over her waist and let out a shaky breath, eyeing the door expectantly. She was dressed more simply than last time, in a plain dark blue chiton and a matching lighter palla, accentuated with gold details that matched her belt and earrings (gifts from her father and mother). Still, she was nervous and it showed on her flushed cheeks and the nervous way she paced. What if he didn't come? What if he'd got what he wanted and simply wouldn't show? Logic told her that was utterly ridiculous but the small, minuscule part of her that felt some shame for what she'd done suggested that maybe Lucius wasn't as good as she had hoped. Maybe he was the same sort of man all the women in her life complained about, maybe he was... He was here. The door cracked open and she saw him duck in. She didn't give him a moment to catch his breath before she was running into his ams, body colliding into his in a hug that almost winded her. TAG: @Chevi

Titus could see he had riled the man. Good. He smirked again, arms still folded across his chest as the man implored for tips. A perfect time for another interruption, perhaps? "Don't pay him anything." he barked out and a few of the crowds dispersed. A few still lingered, clearly angling to see the fight that was about to bubble up. "Get a real job." He glanced at Iophon, although his voice was loud enough that some of the crowd would have been able to hear the conversation if they wanted to. "You do realise that this is of no benefit to Rome? What would good old Marcus Curtius think?" He chuckled and started to move away back down the steps. TAG: @Chevi

He nodded and gestured at his calf. Ione squinted and then bent down so she could see it better. A tattoo. It was an animal, although she couldn't work out what one. In any case, it suggested he came from lands on the borders of the empire - she'd learned from her time in brothel that those from the farthest reaches were the most likely to have tattoos. She gave him a weak smile and nodded, still unnerved. And then he extended his hand and she glanced at him and then back up at the horse. So beautiful. Majestic, even. She bit her lip and then hesitantly reached for Azarion's hand, gripping it tightly as she drew closer. She could feel the horses breath on her neck and she fought the panic that told her to flee. She did whisper though; "She's beautiful..." Gently and with clear anxiety she opened her palm with the apple in it. TAG: @Chevi

Ione grimaced and bit her lip, wondering what to say. She decided - for once in her life - to be bold. "He...he sometimes acts like it. At night. After you have gone home, domine. He...orders us around." And had even been known to slap those who got in his way. Always on the chest or the backside though. Bruises there were easier to explain, after all, even with the new clientele Armenius had brought into the brothel. But she was soon darting out again with a nod to see the cook sweating as he ladled food into a bowl. "There you are!" He snapped and pushed it forward to her on a tray. Ione hurriedly added a spoon and then carefully, so as not to drop it, padded back to Armenius' room. Her arms were shaking and she took careful steps with it before she finally laid it on a small table. "Chicken broth." she smiled triumphantly at him. "My mothers recipe." TAG: @Atrice

Charis was grateful she didn't have a mouthful of wine when he spoke because had she, there was a chance she would have spat it back in his face as she choked and glanced at him. Her face was a picture halfway between amused and horrified. His chuckle didn't help. "Well..." She cleared her throat and tilted her head to look at him. She chose amusement rather than annoyance. "I heard that her husband...lover...whatever...is very influential. I suspect that's why they let him." She arched a brow at him. "The thought offends you, Marcus?" she said with a grin as she sipped her wine. "Here I thought you were fun...what's wrong with this guest having his own fun?" TAG: @Atrice

Ione hesitated - for once not doing what she was told as she watched the horse suspiciously. She was a beautiful beast but...she was still a beast and only when Azarion fetched an apple and returned did she take two tentative steps closer. The horse was just out of her reach and made a neigh of protest that she couldn't have the apple that was handed to Ione. Ione jumped, skittish. "You are comfortable around them...you have worked with them before?" She asked, trying to distract Azarion and the horse with conversation as she wrung the apple between her hands. TAG: @Chevi

She smiled as he took the wine and gratefully took it back when he was done, taking a hefty sip herself before she followed him, still smiling gently at his chuckle. And then a horse poked its head out and she jumped, clutching a hand to her chest and her eyes were wide in panic. "I..." She swallowed and shook her head, hesitating far back as Azarion petted the horse. "I...I have never seen a horse this close." Her family didn't have them and the slavers that took her walked their slaves. She'd seen them in the distance and in carts that rumbled through the streets but...they always scared her. Their big eyes, their powerful bodies. "Is it...safe?" She asked anxiously. TAG: @Chevi

Titus rolled his eyes and audibly groaned with a shake of his head and his face in his hands. He could weep at the idiocy of the people still here, still watching and undoubtedly about to still part with their hard earned coins to this dolt. Who thought that spinning tales - ludicrous tales at that - was the equivalent of the hard work that people like him, and others here, did. Anybody could tell a story. The muscles of his jaw worked. "No." Titus shook his head with a smirk. "You're wrong." He interjected in the pause. "Rome gets its power from its slaves." He glanced at the crowd - a few of which murmured with nods - "And hard working people who get no reprieve or gold or garlands of flowers. Not young rich men. But nobody writes stories about the slaves or the plebs, right?" TAG: @Chevi

Ione followed Azarion wordlessly, oblivious to the danger she was putting herself in. As with most things, Ione was comically naive to the ways of the world that had cast her into slavery. Besides, the man was friendly. Sort of. The looks he occasionally cast spoke of annoyance but he was young and a charioteer and...evidently wanted to show her his work. Her eyes widened as they passed through the gates and she took in her surroundings. "I've never been to this part of the city." she admitted as she span on the spot, taking it all in. "Do you want more wine?" She offered him the wineskin but tilted her head, watching him carefully. "Are you going to show me all your gold from your famous races?" she offered him a gentle grin. TAG: @Chevi

Charis gave him a small, wry smile before she transformed it into a withering look in jest at his double entendre. She chuckled. He was funny. She'd missed laughing. She'd also missed being flirted with by young, handsome men. Even if Charis was sure that beneath it all he was insufferable he was at least flattering. And he made her smile. Her brows rose though as he explained his position. She still didn't have much of a grasp on the hierarchy of positions Roman men could do beyond that Tertius was almost at the very, very top. Surely this man wasn't so important so young? Then again, stranger things had happened. She tilted her head and studied him with her big blue eyes, smile wry. "That is very serious, Marcus. But fulfilling? You enjoy it?" She watched him and then as he leaned closer she arched a brow and glanced up at him. "Yes. Amuse me." She chuckled. Roman Gossip was generally boring as fuck but...why not? TAG: @Atrice