Sara

She chuckled. "True. I'm not being so serious right now." Granted, she could also be light and amusing and flirtatious when in polite company - she had made an excellent study of how to be a joy to her parents and a charming addition to the social scene. It did get exhausting though - being witty but not sharp, flirtatious but proper, clever but not intimidating. It was why she tended to...lash out when in private. It should have been seen as a badge of honour though; to be subject to Ovinia's tempers suggested you were close to her. She didn't lash out in public after all. She let out a heavy sigh, drawing in the contentment she felt at the dream. Even if on the other side of the coin it was heartbreaking. "I still don't know why you like me." She murmured. "Awful as I have been to you." TAG: @Chevi

Charis snorted in amusement, interjected as he paused after his question. "No. I told you, I'm a barbarian. From Britannia." The very farthest reaches of the Empire - a beautiful place, rich in heritage and history and love and life...but to Rome it was a rainy, mud-flattened wasteland of barbarians and savages. But he continued and her eyes flashed. He'd hit a sore point. She bristled, her back straightening although with her diminutive height it wasn't as if she was particularly threatening. All the same she took a step closer to him, her gold jewellery glinting in the light of the sconces in the garden. "You should watch your tongue, Marcus Junius Silanus. You have no idea what you are talking about, and just quite how disrespectful I find you. Would you like to face the consequences of that disrespect?" TAG: @Atrice

Zia arched a brow. Well then. She saw Gallus glance in her direction, an amused smile on his lips. It was mirrored by a feline grin on her own lips. The talking one was irritating, and she was now grateful the younger one couldn't speak. It was a shame, she'd liked him - in an odd way he'd reminded her of home. It was a pity he kept such poor company. Still, she understood better than most that one couldn't choose their family much as they might like to. "If you doubt it then leave. Or...actually, either way you can fuck off." She said with a chuckle and a limp shrug, glancing between the two men. "I don't sell to arrogant, jumped up shits." Her voice was apathetic and she tilted her head to watch Azarion and then Jason. "I don't care if you're Sarmatian, Egyptian, Roman or anything else. Go to a different regio if you want to buy. If you've been smoking it since before my mother gave birth to me, you'll figure out where to get it. Or how to grow it yourself." TAG: @Chevi @Sharpie

She gave him a pleading look but just nodded at his instruction. She wanted him to fetch one now, before it got worse. What if it would be too late? She remembered her mother - coughing and wheezing and burning with a fever. Within a week she was dead. She blinked watery eyes but didn't cry. And then he left the bread and pushed himself up hurriedly, pacing away to the latrine. Ione bit her lip and stayed where she was kneeling, staring at the bed. She moved the bread, setting it down on a plate at her side. By the time he came back, her knees were aching but she didn't move. She glanced up as he sipped the water. Good. He needed to drink more though..."Yes domine." She said, nodding. She'd curl up in the corner. She was still confused why he wanted her here not working rather than one of his house slaves. She didn't understand but didn't ask why. She knew better than to question him. She did give him a slightly more pleading look though; "You should try and drink more domine, it will make you feel better, quicker. I promise." TAG: @Atrice

He nodded and she smiled, speaking more to herself than to him. "Imagine somebody like me meeting a famous charioteer...The other girls won't believe it." With good reason because clearly Azarion wasn't famous. She was focused on Tabitha as the apple collided with her chest. She blinked at Azarion and then with no negativity, bent down to scoop it up - holding it out hesitantly to Tabitha...who munched it down delightedly. From the corner of her eye she saw Azarion gesturing between himself and another horse. She was happily stroking Tabitha and so didn't move to look at it but she understood the gist. "So...you chariot race these two and ride that one?" She gestured at it. "Are you allowed to take them out to ride when you want? Into th ecountryside?" TAG: @Chevi

She chuckled and shook her head, turning her face up to give him an amused look. "Oh don't be ridiculous, the villa I'd make you buy me would have a private cove, love." Smirking she settled back again and turned her attention to the window as he continued to speak. She felt his kiss on her shoulder blade and shuddered - he had evidently read her mind. Or sensed the slight tensing in her movements. "Three boys and two girls." She said confidently. "And the girls would take after you - brave and charismatic but idealistic, and the boys would take after me - serious, cold and proud?" She chuckled and let out a deep soft sigh. "Maybe we would have lived abroad - Hispania, or Achaea or somewhere else entirely." TAG: @Chevi

Charis gave Marcus a bemused look. Part of her did feel bad - he had been funny and flattering. Another, larger part of her did not feel bad at all. He thought her barely better then a slave, she was sure, and fair game for a young, rich man. But Charis of Britannia - when she'd been free - had taken no quarter with young men that thought they could try their luck. In Rome, as a freedwoman, she had no such respect for facing down men. But she could rely on the name of her husband. That was something at least. "Who says he'll believe me?" She scoffed, frowning. Tertius was many things but he was not somebody who suffered insults well. She was confident he'd jump on this - even if he didn't trust her entirely. "He freed me? And married me?" She tilted her head to watch him. "I would suggest that shows how much faith he has in me. I suspect more faith than in a young man trying his luck." She chuckled and sighed. "It's a shame Marcus - you had been so pleasant to me. Until you realised who I was. Do you truly think you are any better than me?" TAG: @Atrice

She watched him eat, herself silent, for a few moments with relief. Maybe he was on the mend? Maybe it had just been the bad food or wine at the man's house and it would pass? But then he dropped the spoon with a clatter back onto the plate underneath the bowl. She bit her lip as he moved to lie down again. She could see beads of sweat on his brow. She swallowed. "I...I have some bread as well domine, plain bread." She moved to set down the bowl and pick up the plate with two hunks of bread, holding it out to him. She knew what she wanted to say but it took a few more moments to work up the courage. "Please...may I fetch a medicus for you domine? I-if this gets worse..." She swallowed and flicked her eyes to him, anxiety clear in them. TAG: @Atrice

Oh. She grimaced and chuckled, still gripping his hand as she softly stroked Borena's nose. "Yes...I suppose we can't really own anything." She sighed and shook her head. "I do have a lamp though." She said with a small triumphant grin. Courtesy of Spurius' coin. This one hadn't been smashed in part due to the better clientele her dominus was now bringing into the brothel. She finally released the grip on his hand as he moved to the next storm. Dutifully she followed him and saw another horse, a beautiful chestnut colour. Ione was happy with Borena but a new horse piqued her anxiety and she was more hesitant in reaching her hand to stroke her mane. She glanced at him as Azarion gestured and then her eyes widened, understanding. "These are the ones you race?" She grinned. "The famous charioteer's steeds?" TAG: @Chevi

Zis was familiar with the signs they were using - or some of them at least from her time with visiting traders and border excursions. She was just very adept at not showing it. It was how she'd understood Azarion the first time and she chuckled at their words, glancing as they fished out coins. Good. She had absolutely no time for slaves with nothing to offer. Bundled up in her cloak though - high enough to hide the slave collar she herself wore - she gave the air of somebody who rarely dealt with the lower classes. "You don't need to know my name." She responded with a lightly quirked brow. "Gallus," She gestured at the man to her right who gave a sarcastic little wave, "Deals with customers. I'm just here to see the accounts." She watched the pair of them lightly. "You are Sarmatian too?" She asked Jason. "You're both a long way from home. I never got the story from this one." She flicked her wrist at Azarion as Gallus held his hand out for the coins to count, "How did you end up here." She flicked her hazel eyes between them. "You do know how to smoke it yourselves, yes?" She asked Azarion. TAG: @Chevi @Sharpie

"I am not interesting." Titus responded deadpan, with no enthusiasm whatsoever about being the focus of this mans attention. He was everything he loathed about the city. Or mostly everything. If he had been rich and a conman that would have been worst. He set off walking, slowly, through the crowds of the forum making very little progress. "Don't you have more people to con?" He asked, presuming the man was following him although he couldn't be sure and so he glanced back over his shoulder. "Sorry, more stories to tell?" TAG: @Chevi

She laughed. It was heart-breaking to think about but in an odd sort of way, also comforting. He could imagine a life with her as she could with him. There had been hope, or a dream at least. She listened with enthusiasm, still laughing at his quip as he kissed her shoulder. "I don't know, I'd say the vigiles is making you rugged enough." She said with a little smile and breathed as she relaxed back against his chest, staring out of the window at the late afternoon sun. Listening to the fantasy. She shook her head though as he finished with a chuckle. "I don't think I'd care." She admitted. "Once, probably before I met you, I would have wanted to be the most important, the greatest matron in Rome - an Augusta maybe." She chuckled, "Now..." She swallowed. Not now. In the fantasy. The dream. "But I think in that life I would have been content with what I had...although I would obviously expect you to buy me a villa of our own so we could swim and laze on the beach and I could get angry that you taught the children to swim in strong currents without my permission." She chuckled. Children. They had such similar colouring and features their children - dream children - would probably be the spit of each of them. She shifted and their hands - intertwined - caught on the scar on her hip. He'd never mentioned the long, still pink scar that ran the length of her shoulder blade nor the smaller more uneven line on her hip. She found she didn't care that he saw them. TAG: @Chevi

Ione jumped, skittering to the side as he spoke angrily. She hated when men rose their voices and she wound her arms around her slim waist. She swallowed and felt his eyes on her. "You can trust me, domine." She affirmed. Because what did she have to gain from lying? It wasn't as if he was going to hoist her out of the brothel and into a life of luxury if she did. Ione was glad when he found a distraction. Food. Eating. That was better. She nodded and moved hurriedly to pick up the food, and then gently knelt in front of him to hold it. She could have fetched a table for him but it seemed as natural as anything to serve him. She did in every other way, after all. He really should see a medicus though, she maintained but she wasn't going to raise that...right now. TAG: @Atrice

Ovinia exhaled a shaky breath. She knew she shouldn't have left him hanging - she should have had the courage to answer the question but she knew if she did this would be over. She couldn't see him after she married and she knew that would mean it was over before it needed to be - before they'd eked out the last of these few stolen moments. So she stayed silent and she let him hold her in love and in care and with every bit of affection that she'd come to relish. "Tell me what our future would have looked like." She murmured quietly as her tears dry. "Give me that." She wanted to know what he pictured, in another life, in another world where they had been allowed to be happy. Together. TAG: @Chevi

Zia chuckled at the man in front of her. How could she forget the mute Sarmation? He was certainly...unique. But he had a talking friend this time and she quirked a brow up at the other one - older, but with accented Latin. Another Sarmatian then. Curious. Cousins. Even more curious. She folded her arms over her chest and shrugged. Gallus was silent, watching the trio with interest. "I am." She inferred with a quirked brow. "But I gave your cousin a free sample last time and I don't do charity, so show me your coins." She tilted her head and watched him. "What's your name? And his." She gestured at Azarion. TAG: @Chevi @Sharpie

She swallowed the thought: you might have been. It was a small hope, but he might have been. Had she put her foot down and extolled his virtues - one day her father might have acquiesced to her choice. But that time had come and gone. She blinked tears away although a couple of errant ones slipped down her cheeks. She gripped the hand that held her waist and turned back to face the window. "I love you too." She said although upset was clear in her voice. She did love him, and it was agonising that she did. She oscillated being crushed that she'd ever met him, ever felt like this and then overjoyed at the love and light he'd brought into her life. She didn't want it to end. She didn't want to answer that question. She swallowed. "We have some time. We don't have to talk about it n-now." She breathed and gripped his hand. TAG: @Chevi

She sighed and curled closer to his chest, a sad smile on her lips. "I would have chided you for coming home late, and prioritising your work over my parties..." She smirked. She could picture it. A domus - not large and grand like the one she lived in now - but a happy place. Full of laughter and...occasionally fire. And children. She swallowed the planet sized lump in her throat. "I..." She blinked tears from her eyes. He'd run away for her. She breathed deeply, exhaling the pain from her chest. "I wish we had figured this out before you made your choice." she spoke quietly, on a whisper as if it was too painful to discuss openly. But it needed to be said. "You'd give it all up now for me but...if you hadn't taken the step down there could have been a chance...we could have...maybe..." She didn't finish the thought. They could have married. She tilted her face up to look at him finally, her eyes searching. "But I do not regret what we have. I am...happy too." And crushed. Utterly, utterly crushed. TAG: @Chevi

Ovinia was in a cloud of contentment, curled against the chest of the man she loved, basking in the afterglow of what they'd done together. They'd kept the line they'd mutually drawn in the sand about what they could and couldn't do by the skin of their teeth. But what they had done had been more than pleasurable enough. And now they were contentedly curled - Lucius having fetched the cithara, savillum and wine. And then the contentment was shattered with his murmured words. Ovinia's breath caught in her throat on a lump the size of the Tarp. They'd not spoken about the inevitability of her marriage - it had been the elephant lurking in the shadows of the room. Nor had they spoken about what might have been. She stilled for a moment, struggling with how to respond, her lips parted as she curled closer to his chest. When she did speak, her voice was quiet. "Me too." She moved to tug his arm around her and settled back against him, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't want to talk about it but she needed to say something. "It's getting closer for me. My father has to pay the tax now and...he's started arranging visits with suitors." It pained her as much as it undoubtedly pained him to hear. "Do you think we would have been happy? If it had worked out?" TAG: @Chevi

Titus smirked. "Yes." Was his gruff reply - yes he was leaving. He was bone tired - every step was an effort at this point and all he wanted to do was check on Caius and then collapse onto the uncomfortable cot he'd set up in the small room he occasionally shared with his brother. And then the man had the audacity to...buy him a drink? The scoff that left Titus' lips was one of utter bemusement. Yet again he paused on the bottom step with a deepening frown. "You want to...buy me a drink?" He frowned, not sure if he'd heard the man correctly. In any event he thought he'd answer to just be safe: "I don't go for drinks with conmen. Why don't you try some of your adoring crowd?" He gestured to a few people still lingering. TAG: @Chevi

If Ione had done something unexpected by taking Azarion's hand, she didn't realise it and instead just threaded her fingers through his. For a girl as naive as she was, the one thing she wasn't shy about was intimacy. How could she be, with what she did? Then again, she'd always been affectionate - lounging in hugs and kisses and being held. So she gripped Azarion's hand as she held open her spare one with the apple in it. Borena took it with almost no disagreement and Ione gasped, a delighted, shocked look on her face - accompanied by a plastering grin. "So gentle!" She exclaimed and then tentatively moved her hand to stroke the horses nose. "...and soft!" She grinned at Azarion. "They are not so bad close up I suppose...I see why you like them. Is this one yours?" TAG: @Chevi

Ione grimaced again. It felt...wrong to be telling on Marius like this. What if he found out? What if he made things worse for her? She could well imagine that her dominus was more likely to believe him than her. She was nothing, after all. Swallowing and steeling her reserve she spoke quietly with a little almost apathetic shrug. "He says we do but...it's things like not sweeping the cells but we can't always because it's busy...or taking a rest between clients to clean ourselves." She wrinkled her nose. No man wanted a used whore...or the new clients the dominus was trying to bring in didn't in any case. "I...think he likes to do it." She admitted more quietly with another little shrug. "To show us he is powerful. Compared to us at least...that's why he sometimes has us for free. He's not...powerful compared to you though, domine." Hence why he was far more reserved when Armenius was around. TAG: @Atrice

Charis watched his face. He was clearly unhappy with the way this conversation had turned but Charis well...she was revelling in it. She had so rarely, in her time in Rome, got to get the better of somebody. And now she had the influence...thanks to Tertius...to do just that. She gave him a small smile and merely shrugged her shoulders as he started to speak. He shouldn't fear Tertius? She arched a brow. Oh...oh Marcus...Thank the Gods - for his sake - said husband couldn't hear this conversation. "Shall we go tell him that then?" She offered and pushed herself up to stand, sweeping her arm to indicate that Marcus and she could enter the domus again. "If you think you have nothing to fear, should we go and tell him?" Obviously not. Because surely Marcus should realise that yes - technically - he was right, but there was a reason Tertius was allowed to carry on the pretence. Because he was influential and important and rich. "Oh Marcus." She said with a deep shake of her head. "This wouldn't be fun, for either of us." She sighed and tilted her head at him. "I'm just a freedwoman who is tied to my husband. I should hate to see what he'd do to you if he thought you were taking advantage." TAG: @Atrice

Zia prayed Titus Sulpicius Rufus never came back from whatever Godsforsaken spit of land the Emperor had sent him to. Not only because she very much would like the man to suffer a slow death in the heat of the desert, but also because his absence had given her freedom unbound. He hadn't sold her - which had been confusing at the time - but now she understood. Instead she was now to care for the shut up domus under the auspices of some distant cousin. Except the cousin was a lazy shite who preferred his villa which meant Zia had freedom like she hadn't known in years. Soon though, a few more months of saving, and she'd be properly free once again. It was why she was down here tonight with Gallus. She generally let him handle their mini-empire that had exploded in popularity. People, it seemed, loved to get high. But now it was evening and she had nothing to do so why not have a little fun with Gallus (perfunctory but satisfying) and then see how business was going. She was sat on a perch in the corner of the room they now rented for business (they still had runners but they at least now had a permanent base) as somebody ducked through the door. She flicked her eyes over the man and then smirked. She remembered him clearly. She didn't know the new one behind him though. "My Sarmatian friend. It's been a while." TAG: @Chevi @Sharpie

Ione nodded as he said he'd eat the food later, and stood back from the table, folding her arms across her waist as he posed his question. She fidgeted though - wringing her hands and shifting from foot to foot. She didn't like telling tales, although now her dominus expected it of her given she had to give him reports on all the men that graced her cell at the Elysium. Still, this sat unnaturally to her. Marius was powerful in his own way. "He...does things differently." She said quietly, "Sometimes he does not let the men pick us but just makes us go with them so the girls on the top floor end up with good patrons and we..." With the lowest of the low. She wrinkled her nose at the memory. "I...don't think the patrons mind but...I..." She knew it wasn't what her dominus intended when he decided who could live on the lower floors. "And..." She hesitated awkwardly, still wringing her hands. "He's hit some of the girls once or twice...not hard, and not on the face." Herself included. She watched Lucius' reaction carefully. He'd never hit them. TAG: @Atrice

"You." She chuckled. Cheap answer, but he did make her happy. She grinned as he moved her onto his lap effortlessly as if she was a feather. Her heart was beating frantically against her chest, her blood slamming in her veins. She shuddered. Dammit. "Would you think me a woman only interested in one thing if I said I very much enjoyed how...comfortable the bed was last time?" she said with a slow, sly smile and moved her fingers to brush his cheek again as she ducked in for a slow kiss. This was better. Much better. She wanted to enjoy this, enjoy him and bar the gates from any semblance of reality and the sorrow it would bring from getting into this haven. That was healthy...right? FTB TAG: @Chevi