Joaquin

Gaia stepped out of the Elysium and into the cool night, pulling a cloth close over her head, both to keep herself warm and to keep any clear view of herself obscured from sight. She was used to travelling alone back and forth between her home, the brothel, and the homes belonging to expecting or new mothers at late hours, but the familiar streets often grew rowdy after the sun went down, especially as men and women began to stumble out onto the stone-paved roads, drunk off wine and shouting into the night. Enough trouble came where there was a mixture of drink, boredom, and bravado, and she’d learned to keep herself largely invisible, where inebriation might draw them over to her. As she walked, Gaia glanced over her shoulder, a habit that she’d made when she’d started to realise her brother was getting people to follow her and her son. Even though what he intended to find out from either of them evaded her. She caught sight of tall figure directly behind her and at first, didn’t think anything of it until after a few steps and deliberation, she slowly began to wonder and second-guess. She stopped in her tracks and waited for the man to come nearer, it became clearer that he was a slave, though one could never be too certain with the way some dressed. “Are you following me?” she asked frankly. @Chevi

Hector smiled as Tertius did but only partly because his instinct was to return Tertius’s happiness. Much of his own happiness was because he had been given what was the official go-ahead to ‘keep an eye’ on the other two. Even though, ‘keep an eye’ was more synonymous with words like snoop, spy, eavesdrop, or meddle than it was with attentive observation and that had been predetermined as it was. Hector would have done it even without Tertius’s blessing because ultimately, as he saw it, he was being cheated. “Of course, it is never any trouble,” Hector assured Tertius pleasantly with a wide smile and a nod. There was no lie. He wanted his master to place his approval and trust in him and he felt fulfilled knowing that he did. And it seemed that he did when he brought up his promise, which was at least one thing amid everything else that Hector looked forward to, and asked after what he wanted. “Well, there is one thing,” Hector said, brushing under his jaw as if he were contemplating, even though he had a good idea of what he wanted. He liked to play humble at times. “I do find myself parched in the night and it would be wonderful to quench my thirst with some wine.” Hector could drink like a sea sponge, but the gods knew he would need a drink at his disposal. As he spoke, there had been a slam. He might’ve shrugged it away as a result of the other slaves arranging the new room, but it didn’t sound incidental. Rather, it seemed purposeful due to the way it resounded, but he only swung lightly and inclined his head towards the doorway to acknowledge it in his face when he sensed Tertius had heard it too. @Atrice @Sara @Sharpie

Hector understood Tertius’s perspective enough and superficially was on his side in the matter, even if he didn’t necessarily share the frustration. He had never been fond of Teutus, and neither did the idea of freedom ever cross his own mind, so as far as he was concerned Teutus was or should have been pleased with the news. Still, when Tertius had asked him if he thought Teutus had stopped believing him, truth be told so did Hector. Teutus’s release from slavery had always felt more like a rumour or fancy, hence even Hector’s shock when it was announced. It had always seemed that perhaps Tertius had no real intention with it or that Teutus’s manumission wasn’t that much of a priority to his father, either way it always made Hector so smug. “I noticed the same,” Hector admitted, trying his best not to smile because he disliked both Charis and Teutus greatly at the moment. His mind didn’t go to lovers, mostly because he had missed a lot of their gripping at each other, and instead wondered if they were in plots together: Teutus would get his manumission and Charis would get whatever she was after. Hector still couldn’t quite place what it was that she wanted. “I was vaguely aware the two were friendly but by how much or how far, I couldn’t say. Certainly, they show more interest in each other than compared to the other slaves.” He wasn’t about to outright lie to Tertius, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t fan the fire just a little. “Should I keep eyes on them?” he innocently asked. @Atrice @Sara @Sharpie

“He’s happy,” Hector stated with inexplicable enthusiasm once Teutus and Charis were clean of the door. He felt that perhaps Tertius wanted to hear that, being almost like a parrot on his master’s shoulder repeating everything that was desired, but genuinely, he assumed Teutus would feel happiness. It also didn’t help that ‘Hector, stay a little longer’ had revived him well enough from his self-pitying and gave him a sense of value. He paraded towards the doors and closed them, feeling more secure now that the suffocating discomfort had passed. He had been watching the other two as they left with a studious expression, only because he had recognised their trading of whispers back and forth as they entered and wondered if it would continue now that they were dismissed. The most he had caught from his angle was Charis’s gesture and that was the end of it. Now the doors were closed and he was back at his master’s side, fingers clasped, and eager to ‘stay a little longer’. @Atrice @Sara @Sharpie

@Sara I love both of those ideas, they're great! I'll be hitting you up on Discord late tonight!

Despite the eager nod at ‘get along’, if it hadn’t been for Tertius being in close proximity, Hector would have made gargling sounds of pain, but instead kept silent, patient and attentive. Of course, she had to speak. It must’ve been a part of her act, ignore that slaves never had anything to add, play coy, redirect Tertius’s attentions back to her, and reap the rewards. And for all he wanted to condescendingly say “yes” simply to make Charis feel dense, truthfully, he didn’t know what Tertius wanted out the arrangement with Antonia except perhaps to have Charis even closer to him which was how he interpreted it. He was so displeased with everything that he took every decision as slight after slight against him. Admittedly, he’d have thought Teutus would have demonstrated more… energy given the announcements. At least, if he had been in his place, he would have been sauntering and bouncing with his steps. @Atrice @Sharpie @Sara

Updated to include Valeria Flacca.

Momentarily, he was able to be distracted by the talk on the preparations of the feast. It would be his time to shine, to hover over the other slaves and point mistakes while citing how they were failing to live up to Tertius’s vision. While soldiers were death’s emissary, Hector would gladly be Tertius’s, even when it garnered groans and eye-rolls. Hector had assumed that the announcements would be over but for whatever reason, the gods needed to play their tricks and have this drag along for a bit longer with a gathering in the tablinum. It felt almost akin to torture after everything to be made to share the same room as Charis or even Teutus for that matter. He didn’t exactly evade the slave’s annoyance. As Tertius left first, Hector skipped after him, though the nosey part of him did wonder what Teutus and Charis were whispering between themselves, if only because the recent events were morphing him into a cross grandmother. He closed the tablinum’s doors and approached the desk, standing in a way that made it clear that he was ready as ever to do anything for Tertius. He would even grab a writing pin and hand it to his master, so he didn’t even need to reach across the table for it. He pretended to not feel any eyes that fell his way once again, partly out pride, and instead worked hard to keep his face looking pleasant now that he was in a more intimate environment. @Atrice @Sara @Sharpie

Hector hadn’t yet recovered from the entire ordeal with Charis, despite the amount of strength and energy it took to literally be his master’s only cheerleader in the room, before Tertius unexpectedly continued. Hector did not think matters could get any worse, but they could, they always managed to. Tertius had more news to get Hector’s blood pressure rising through the roof of the domus. As the manumission was mentioned, Hector’s head briefly turned in Teutus’s direction, forgetting in that moment, to conceal his surprise or annoyance, whichever you’d like to call it. He had never believed that Tertius would ever adopt him as his heir and truthfully, Hector didn’t want that, if only for what it meant between the two of them. It didn’t just confirm that Teutus was above him, it made him above him and for that, he felt annoyance. It felt that everyone was being given something save himself. @Sharpie @Sara @Atrice

As Tertius indicated that no slave was above the other and looked to him, Hector become both temporarily deaf and blind. As his master continued to speak, Hector kept his head firmly forwards and his face stony, just in case any of the slaves assumed to gauge his thoughts from his expression. He was vain enough to assume they would look to him. It didn’t take an Aristotle to realise that his recent snappishness and prickliness might’ve have something to do with this news. As he felt Charis’s bewildered look in his direction in the periphery of his vision, he felt himself rage. As always, she was playing dumb, which she was if anyone asked Hector though naturally no one was, but she was playing far dumber than she already was. He was already displeased with having to listen to this change once again except in front of everyone else, including Teutus, which added more humiliation to the hurt, and her even daring to look in his direction was like salt in a wound. He heard Jocasta’s exhale and for once in his short life, he agreed with her. From the back, Hector uttered a “yes, domine” quietly in the sunniest voice, ready to cheer Tertius on, at least when he was in the same space. @Sharpie @Sara @Atrice

Characters: HECTOR Application | Body-slave to Tertius Quinctilius Varus Hector is an Anatolian Greek slave, he's a brown-noser, likes to think he's above other slaves out of a mixture of vanity and internalised classism. He's athletic, a typical young man and interested in the same things every cardboard cut-out of a 22-year old man is, but also interested in "feminine" things like fashion, beauty, self-care. RANDOM PLOT IDEAS Ain't got no shit here. Open to anything. RELATIONS/ASSOCIATIONS Tertius Quinctilius Varus - master Charis - fellow slave Teutus - fellow slave + master's son VALERIA FLACCA Application | Matron, Muscian, and Poet (including pseudonym of 'Landicus') Valeria is the daughter of a senator (Publius Valerius Flaccus). While she has circulated works under her own name, she has a whole secret career revolving around dick jokes and incredibly bizarre and obscene poems (all done to shock stuffy Romans) under the character of a raunchy old man named Landicus. RANDOM PLOT IDEAS Roman ladies' night out (or in), like a crazy hen party of ancient Rome, lots of wine and silliness without the husbands/male lovers. Poetic protégé, taking a younger woman interested in poetry under her wings. If not poetry, music could be another option. RELATIONS/ASSOCIATIONS Titus Sulpicius Rufus - husband Quintus Sulpicius Rufus and Scipiones, brother- and sister-in-laws Nymphia - slave

Hector limply approached the throngs of slaves with instant notion of what this was to be about, ready to hear some of his most unfavourite words of all time to be uttered. He was not in the least bit happy, part of him felt as if it were a punishment for some inexplicable thing he had done. He had spent the days going between re-evaluating himself to anger, primarily directed towards Charis, who he both mistrusted as some conniving temptress and also believed (somehow) to be as intelligent as a rock with how she articulated in Roman. Nothing she did would ever be good enough for him. Whenever he was within in Tertius’ peripheral view, he was the same: sycophantic and subservient but perhaps now amped up to eleven. In his eyes, Tertius might as well have been capable of ejaculating gold and it was too difficult to feel any level of annoyance towards him, even if there were firsts for everything. He kept his distance far from Charis and Teutus. @Sara @Sharpie @Atrice