Sara

December - three months after the villa It would be Saturnalia tomorrow. The crowds hemmed the streets, getting in their drinking and dancing a day early - warming themselves up for the main event. Ovinia's husband was doing similarly, although mercifully not at home - he was at some senator's house, drinking and whoring undoubtedly in the bland way that most men his age and class did. It left the house empty and her twiddling her thumbs. Tadia and her step-brothers were already at the villa, where herself and Spurius would be journeying tomorrow morning. She glanced over at the chest with her clothes, neatly packed and sighed. Another year gone, wasted and what did she have to show for it? She slammed the chest shut and moved out into the peristyle. Noise filtered in from the streets around them as it always did, but this time it was different. There were yells, but not the yells of joyous revelry as was usual at this time of the day. There were screeches and the air was thick with an acrid smell. She glanced across at one of her slaves, stood nervously fidgeting a few feet away. "I thought the wind was due to blow south? Put it out?" The girl nodded and bit her lip. She knew there was a small fire on the Esquiline earlier in the evening - probably some stupid pleb that had lit a fire on the top floor an insula to beat the winter chill, but such things weren't unusual. She was sure the vigiles would have it under control soon enough. They always did. Spurius had agreed - hence his decision to venture out for a night of frivolity. She bit at her lip and sniffed again, smoke lying heavy in the air. "Fetch me when the air clears." It wouldn't clear. As the hours ticked by, the fire was spreading. It jumped from insula to insula - shop to shop, domus to domus. The slaves were in the house and those that did venture out said that there was still a path to one of the city gates from their house in Regio VI. She paced the floor of her room, snapping at them that she wouldn't leave the house - that Spurius would be back and then they'd leave. She wasn't going to up and run in the night for a fire that would likely never reach them. She wasn't going to wander the city alone like a pleb whilst her husband was undoubtedly on his way home to get her. She didn't know he wasn't until it was too late, and the fire was only a few streets away. The air was thick with smoke and she felt as if she was in a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. TAG: @Chevi

I know. She wished he didn't. She wished he'd make the move for her, however selfish that thought might have been. She'd always been crippled by expectations, and it meant in a moment as important as this, when her heart was telling her one thing and her head another, she was paralysed and sunk back into old habits; compliance with the norms. "It's not alright." She swallowed and sunk her cheek into his palm, moving her spare hand up to wrap around his wrist to keep it there. "But thank you." She meant it, genuinely. Despite the ache in her heart, this had been the most exhilaration she'd had since...well, since she could remember. "I'm sorry. I should go." Her eyes were watery now and she sighed, dropping her head. She should get out of here, out of the vat, out of his company. She hadn't the courage to follow through after coming, what was the point in sticking around? TAG: @Chevi

She choked an incredulous laugh and shot him a glare. But the moment of joviality passed as soon as it had come and she was left staring into his deep eyes after a fervent tug on her hand. She felt her heart leap into her throat, suffocating her for a moment. Her mouth ran dry and her feet stopped their rhythmic stomping. She, in her most shameful of moments, had dreamt he'd say something like that. It had been years, but those images came flooding back to her, heating up her cheeks. She wanted to make a funny quip about how you shouldn't call the woman you're trying to impress old, but she didn't dare. She just stared at him and then swallowed, feeling like she was on a knife edge. "You know I'll never tell you to." her heart was beating furiously, raging at her mind for having sense in a moment like this. It was like she was being pulled in two very different directions by her body. Unfortunately the straight-laced, fearful, good girl Ovinia won out, as it always tended to. "I'm married. I have a family. I have so much to lose." TAG: @Chevi

Ovinia rolled her eyes and stomped extra hard so the grapes splattered upwards. Petty? Yes. Necessary? Also yes. "I've met plenty. Most of the men in the senate think women speak out of their chests, judging by where they stare at parties." She rolled her eyes again and exhaled sharply. She stomped again and squeezed his hand firmly as he foot skidded a little again. "Of course, of course." She shook her head. "You had absolutely no ulterior motive about forcing your sweet sister to invite me, and then asking me to come to the vineyard alone. How could I have thought otherwise." She was only jesting, really. He'd explained his rationale for inviting her, after all, but she couldn't help the small glance she shot in his direction...she just needed to double check. TAG: @Chevi

"I'll have to take your word for it. That you do it well." She chuckled and stomped a little, "I don't think I ever want to be in a position when I need your services," She realised the innuendo that had unintentionally slipped out and chuckled again, "The vigiles services, that is." She was sure she would though, if her daughters absconding habit continued into her teenage years. "I'm glad." she said with a genuine, soft smile in his direction. She was more confident on her feet now, less terrified by the prospect of slipping and breaking her neck, but she still kept clinging onto his hand, her fingers enveloped in his. How chaste, but thrilling the sensation was. "I'll try and get to know her a little," She offered as she stomped again and splattered more errant juice on both herself and him, "Least I could do in recompense for her being forced to invite me by her lascivious brother." TAG: @Chevi

Mid-February, 76AD Charis glanced across to her son, sleeping soundly in the crib next to her. He'd be down for at least an hour, or she hoped so given the night she'd had with him. The afternoon sun was low in the sky as she glanced out of her little room into the gardens. She missed it, working out there. As much as she loved her son and tending to him, her fingers still itched for something practical and useful to do. She'd been that way since she was a girl, always planning her next scheme or enterprise or pitching in when somebody needed a hand. Now she was left to care for her son as her primary duty, she often found herself at a bit of a loose end. Take now, for instance. Peregrinus would be sleeping for a while and she had nothing else to do. His clothes were folded neatly, his toys were organised and stacked away. So she simply sat on the little stool next to his crib and watched him. She glanced again at the garden. This time of day, she trusted she could count on one visitor who she needed to see. Running into her dominus in the gardens was far less formal than a conversation in his tablinum - and in any case the place held too many sour memories for her to ever be comfortable visiting it. She glanced back down at Peregrinus briefly before deciding he was content to snooze in peace. Pushing herself up, she padded silently through the bustling house into the winter sun. It wasn't as cold as Britannia in the winters, far from it, but she still felt a chill and wound her arms around herself. Maybe this was a sign she was finally getting used to being in this city. It'd be two years in a couple of weeks time, after all, since the day Tertius had sprung her from her cage. She studied the winter foliage and flowers, pursing her lips at the poor job the general household slaves had done in her absence from the garden, at least to her trained eye. She was distracted a moment later, however, when the target of her venture out here came into view. She flourished a soft smile and then dropped her eyes and inclined her head, speaking quietly in greeting. "Dominus. I trust you had a good morning?" TAG: @Atrice

She gripped his hand as her heel skidded out from under her, although she was in no real danger of falling. "Reminds you of being young?" She arched a brow, not meaning to infer he wasn't young, at least not on purpose. Time had been kind to him, she'd give him that. "I feel like that about raspberries. My mother, when she was alive, when I was a girl, used to demand they were imported for her every summer." She smiled fondly at the memory. "Makes me feel like a kid again whenever I see them." She squelched the grapes under her feet and more juice trickled out into the barrel. "I'm glad Vipsania and Gaius let you come back here still," she admitted quieter. She knew he'd grown up here and looking at him now, saw that he was in his element, "I was...worried for you. When you made your decision, that you were cutting off good people." TAG: @Chevi

She glanced across at him. No. If she hadn't wanted to be alone, she wouldn't have come. She merely offered him a sad smile in return and shrugged. She wanted to be alone, but knew she shouldn't have been and he knew it to. Yet the pretence was off; she'd admitted her sad little life and her regrets to him only a few minutes earlier, she could hardly go back now and claim that she was happy, that she didn't want his company. She lifted one foot up after another, stomping down gently as if afraid she'd slip. She wrinkled her nose as she did, still finding the sensation unpleasant. "You'd think Bacchus would make it a little easier to make, no?" She stomped again and the juice from the grapes underfoot spurted up to cover Lucius' leg a little. She chuckled and stomped again, with the same result. "Okay, maybe this is a little amusing." She was sure she wasn't supposed to find the process funny though. TAG: @Chevi

Ovinia glanced at his hand and debated it for a second. "I'm not bored." She rolled her eyes, "I apologise if you are." She tentatively reached for his hand, snaking her fingers through his for stability, she told herself, more than anything else. She still didn't let her other hand drop though. "And don't remind me we're alone," She said as she peered down at her feet, smothered by grapes, "I thought I was going to have a heart attack leaving the house." Reluctantly, she let her other hand drop and stood on her own two feet, gripping his hand for support. She took another tentative step. "Aren't you going to show me how it's done then?" TAG: @Chevi

"Why would I know this?" She rolled her eyes and released one hand from her death-grip on the vat. "Do I look like the sort of person who knows where their wine or food comes from?" Or cared about it? She did as she was bidden and stomped around a little, making red liquid spurt up and cover the hem of her dress above her knees. That would be a bitch to get out. The peculiarity of the sensation was easing a little but soon any squeamishness merged into concern that if she let her other hand go from the edge, that she'd immediately slip and fall down. TAG: @Chevi

"Stop smiling," She huffed - transforming herself back into the entitled, spoiled teenager he had known. As he moved to lower himself in, she moved her hands to grip onto the side of the vat, fingers blanching against the edge from her death-like grip. "I am trying." She took a tentative step and felt more grapes burst under her feet. The sensation made her nauseous and she wrinkled her nose. "I'm never going to look at wine the same way. Dirty footed slaves stamping on it, and then vendors charging hundreds of denarii for a cup." TAG: @Chevi

Titus wiped his face with his hands, smearing soot across his palms and fingers. He coughed again and felt his throat burn. "They would have, yes." He agreed, almost sounding dispassionate. He'd seen enough death in the six months he'd been on the job to know the outcome had he not gone in. Unfortunately, he'd also learned that his seniors were sticklers for their cost-benefit analysis. If they saved 2 upper floor plebs but it cost 2 vigiles it wasn't worth it; the loss of equipment and trained vigiles made it more profitable to let them burn. The thought made his stomach turn. He retook the waterskin and gulped down a few more mouthfuls before drawing his knees up to rest his forearms on them, hanging his head. His heart was still thrumming in his chest, and would be for hours. Few understood what this role was like, what it did to a person. "Why did you come in?" He queried as he pulled up his head. "You didn't have to." In fact, he was an idiot for doing so. TAG: @Chevi

She could pick a thousand holes in his plan if she really wanted to. But she didn't really want to, a small, odd part of her did want to do this. The most pathetic act of rebellion against her perfectly straight-laced life, for sure, but an act of rebellion nonetheless. The only other times she'd come close to something like this had been with Lucius in her youth, or perhaps snatched kisses with Decimus all those years ago. She screeched as she was scooped up and leant out an arm to swot at his cheek in a feeble slap in protest. The screech was only doubled, however, when she was deposited in the tub. The sensation of the grapes made her squeal and curl her toes. It was awful. She refused to let go of his shoulder as he started to move away, clutching on to his tunic. "Don't you dare leave me here!" She took a tentative step and felt something squelch under her feet. She wrinkled her nose. "This is horrible, why do you do this voluntarily?!" TAG: @Chevi

"I wouldn't have missed it." She grinned at Marcus, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Most of the parties she went to were dull, drab affairs - either hosted for women and therefore devoid of a lot of entertainment, or hosted by men twice her age who thought the gatherings a perfect opportunity to talk politics, which interested her as much as mud. As Tiberius rattled through introductions, she kept her eyes on him and then the young woman. Two Imperials for the price of one? Perfect. Ovinia offered a friendly enough smile to Rutiliana, although kept an attentive ear on the conversations around her. Sosia did look enchanting - almost irritatingly so - and she cast a self-conscious glance down at herself when she pulled her attention away from Ru. That was the problem with these sorts of events, there was always going to be somebody funnier, prettier, more charming and it didn't take much to sour Ovinia's mood. As conversation turned to Lucius she had to disguise her chuckle in her wine cup, taking a delicate sip. She was thankful to every single God out there that she'd finished her sip when Lucius threw in his snide remark about singing1, lest she choke and splutter like a fool. She pressed her lips into a thin line and tried very hard not to shoot him a glare. "What would be the most interesting pleb that you've met, Lucius Vipsanius?" She turned her face up to him, "Enlighten the rest of us with your adventures." She'd never really dealt with them, and doubted the imperials had - nor somebody as proud of his lineage as Marcus, or as sheltered as Sosia. TAG: @Eris @Atrice @Sarah @Chevi 1Lucius goaded Ovinia into singing in public when they first met, although mercifully nobody important overheard...she's nonetheless embarrassed.

She blinked as he planted his hands either side of her hips and reeled off his instructions. She mumbled. "I'm a thirty-four year old patrician, matron and mother, I'm not going to go stomping grapes." But she was, and she knew she was. It was why her fingers were itching to unlace the high straps of her sandals and why she had already unconsciously started shrugging off the palla from one of her shoulders. "I suppose you have thought of a plan for how I'm going explain my state when I get back to your sisters villa?" She scoffed and braced her palms against his shoulders to push him up and away as she stood. She leant down to begin unknotting her sandals (and wish she'd had the sense to bring a slave with her to do it for her). She grumbled as she managed to get one off and fingers aching, decided to tackle her palla next, unwinding the length of the gauzy, intricately decorated fabric from around her waist and shoulders, folding it neatly and placing it on the barrel. "I'm not doing this for you," She mumbled as she lifted her stola and tunica through her belt as she'd seen slaves do until they sat just above her knees, before she leant down again to attempt the second sandal, "I'm doing this for me." TAG: @Chevi

She glanced down at the moment he looked up and she felt her heart stutter before it juddered back into a normal rhythm. She sighed and shook her head. She thought that she didn't know, but she did. She wouldn't admit that part to him; the part that had wanted to be seduced against her better judgement, had wanted to know what it felt like to be wanted and desired and all of the things she suspected Lucius could have given her in another life. He didn't need to know that. Instead she rolled her shoulders back with a sigh and dropped a hand to lightly play at the neck of his tunic, just for a moment, just for the briefest of seconds before she pulled it back to her lap. "I...think you're interesting." She looked almost shy for a moment, "Always have and...my life isn't very interesting anymore Lucius. The most exciting thing I get to do now is invite a new matron to lunch or meet another family if my husband takes on a new client. That's it." It was one endless day on a loop that never ended, her life. "You always had a way of making things exciting, and...I suppose I've missed that." TAG: @Chevi

She sank further into his touch and hated herself for it. I'm sorry for us. She sighed. Me too. She managed a shadow of a smile though as he brought up Neptunalia and she nodded, her smile becoming more genuine as she raked back through the years to those memories. "I do. I remember you were terrible at building your hut, and that you almost gave me pneumonia from soaking me." She also remembered thinking he was going to kiss her under the aqueduct, but she dared not bring that up right now. "I take Tadia every year you know." She chuckled, "Thought I'd induct her into the little known Roman traditions." It should have felt wrong to mention her daughter in his company, but it oddly didn't. It felt normal. TAG: @Chevi

It was different for women. She couldn't get away with half the things Spurius did. He didn't like her anymore so he took his pleasure elsewhere with the women of the Venus or his slaves. He found his work dull so he took up gambling and frequented the theatre. She had no such opportunities for vice or an outlet. She sighed. Her breath hitched in her throat and she shuddered unconsciously at his touch. She should bat him away but she made no move to, and leaned her ankle into him instead. She could pretend this was chaste whilst it still remained at this sort of level. "I don't need your pity," She glanced down at him and fought the temptation to brush his hair from his forehead, "I'm not going to cry myself to sleep because I can't stomp some grapes in a vat." TAG: @Chevi

Ovinia sighed. She knew it was something like that. At least he was honest...that...meant something to her; she was half expecting a silly quip or some banter, but the softness in his voice and the way he glanced at her was much more real. And much more painful. She bubbled a laugh and shook her head. "That wouldn't help the dress problem, and no, I'm not taking it off." She shook her head, predicting the quip before he could say it. "I don't know...I used to think how I acted around you wasn't me at all," She shook her head again and wished she had a glass of wine to sip, "But now I am a matron with all that, that entails...I suppose I regret not doing more fun things when I was younger. I was in such a hurry to be serious and grown up. I guess you never felt like that?" TAG: @Chevi

She almost felt bad as he heaved himself out of the vat. She wondered what it felt like, she genuinely did, but how could she? She'd have to trek back to the villa with a dress drenched in grape juice with an equally drenched man that was not her husband. She swallowed and willed the thought from her head. She shot him a little glare as he moved to sit, almost dripping said grape juice on her dress. She snatched up the material to her knees to prevent it. "I remember your savillum wasn't much good," She gave him a sly smile, "I don't think I could have made it through a full meal of yours." She could have, and would have loved to. But such things were well in the past unless he fancied hosting a dinner for both herself and her husband at Saturnalia. Dress still bunched up in her fingers she shifted her position on her barrel, looking down at him. "Why did you invite me out here Lucius?" She sighed, her voice softer. TAG: @Chevi

She chuckled but made absolutely no move to join him. Instead she took a purposeful step back away from the vat. "I can see it perfectly well from here. Do you have any idea how expensive this stola was?" And the palla, and the jewellery and even her sandals. She shook her head and laughed, "No. I'm fine here and you can make me a nice cold cup of wine from your work. That suits our positions, doesn't it?" She moved over to take a seat on upturned barrel (after carefully inspecting it for detritus and flicking it off so as not to stain her dress). It was risk enough to come here alone with him, but it could be explained away (she hoped) if she got caught. Coming back sweaty and covered in grapes was not so easily explained. "And what were your other plans?" She called out. TAG: @Chevi

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You shouldn't have any authority to do that." But she didn't mean it in any sort of disparaging way, more in exasperation that he had the charisma to dictate to people he really had no business dictating to. It was exasperation against herself as well, given she was just as easily influenced by him as the slaves and she dutifully followed him through into the vineyards. Her eyes widened as they came to a stop. She should have guessed it. She tried to keep the smirk from her face and effect an air of indifference, or haughtiness. She cast him a glance. "Is this how you planned it?" She arched a brow and then moved away from him to lean up on her toes to peer into the vat. "The seduction, I mean." She kept her voice light and jovial, but she was genuinely intrigued. Had he imagined this, when they were younger? TAG: @Chevi

"Most of the guests had the sense to head to rest after our long journeys." She scoffed and cast an eye sideways at him. He'd cleaned himself up. She didn't know why but she was half expecting him to still be dressed as a slave, ferrying baskets of apples around, rather than as a genteel Roman man. Then again, she supposed he wasn't really that either and this estate was technically no longer his. "Are they finishing for the day?" She flicked her wrist at the slaves who milled around, "I thought the harvest happened through the night?" She took an unconscious step away from him to inspect an apple tree and the haul in a basket at its foot, feeling awkwardness creep back in. She really shouldn't have come. TAG: @Chevi

"Nothing but your praises." She grinned with a chuckle as he pulled out of her grasp. She'd wanted to chide him for being so familiar a moment before, and she saw the way her slave's eyes twitched and that he'd taken a few paces forward, but she dared not. She seemed already on loose footing with Marcus and didn't want to give him anymore fodder to be used in gossip about her. Influential men often had loose tongues, she'd learned, and she was absolutely not going to test that theory with somebody like Marcus. "But I'm sure I'll be seeing you again," She glanced up to the domus they'd drawn to a stop outside - jerking her head at it, "This is me. But I presume you're going to Rufria Hilaria's party next week?" She was an odious little woman about their age who had married suspiciously well to a fabulously wealthy older Senator. Ovinia might not like her, but she wasn't going to spurn the attempts to buy friends from somebody like Rufria given who her husband was. Maybe he had single friends, after all. TAG: @Atrice

Dinner passed Ovinia by at a glacial pace. She gossiped and giggled, sipping at her wine as any good matron did at these sorts of events but she was distracted, naturally. Every few minutes she cast a furtive glance to the fields beyond the gardens and the orchards that she knew lay out there. The sun wouldn't set for a little while and the late afternoon sun was casting the place in a beautiful orange glow. It was intoxicating and that, mixed with anticipation, made her feel tipsier than she ought to given her moderation on the wine. She shouldn't go. Of course she shouldn't go, and she repeated that to herself in her head as she left the women - claiming she wanted to get a walk in before sundown given she hadn't been able to exercise today. Most didn't question it - they were tired out from their journeys and retreating to their own rooms, but Vipsania cast her a knowing, peculiar sort of look that Ovinia couldn't read. She merely smiled in response and asked for directions to the orchard. A handful of slaves milled about in the groves, picking apples and chatting between themselves. Or they were chatting, before they saw her and immediately got back to work. She supposed she wasn't particularly conspicuous, dressed as she was and weaving her way through the neat lines of the trees. She glanced around to try and spot him and failed. He really should have been more specific when he said 'the orchard'. TAG: @Chevi