Lucia Safinia

[Liv]

LUCIA SAFINIA

17 | 28^th February 57 | Plebeian | Cook’s assistant | Heterosexual | Original | Kaya Scodelario

 

 

Personality.

Safinia has never experienced fiery passion or all-consuming hatred. She has never screamed her heart out in grief, had her belly hurt from laughing too much or cried at the misfortune of a close one. The emotions that guide human behavior come to her only in muted, diffuse forms, like shades of grey in a world of colour. She does not know if she was born faulty like that or if it was a consequence of the fire, as her recollections of childhood are few and blurry; she remembers her father’s hands more than his face and her mother’s favourite red dress more than her voice.

As a result, she is guided more by physicalities like cold and hunger than virtuous ideals or fanciful desires – the exception being a mixture between old habit and greed that has her stealing small things here and there, sometimes to sell immediately or to keep and admire until she tires of them and trades them for coin.

Safinia’s loyalty is to first and foremost to herself, and she goes about daily interactions putting her own interests first. Despite this, she does not participate in plots or schemes, because she has trouble seeing more than face value to words and promises. That is not to say she does not lie or deceive; she will if it’s convenient to her, but her lies are spoken with the same bluntness as her truths, and more like plain denials than convoluted stories.

Social niceties are anything but intuitive to Safinia, and in spite of years of observation and ‘training’, she is able to successfully fake them only about half the time, and even then rarely for more than a few hours. To make matters worse, she is unceremonious and straightforward in speech too, seldom running her words though her defective social filter. This causes much irritation amongst the more sensitive of her peers, but has earned her a reputation of frankness with others.

All in all, Safinia feels no special attachment to other human beings; they’re often more trouble to figure out than they’re worth. Her plans for the future do not extend beyond the next couple of months, at least for the time being, and essentially consist of keeping herself clothed and fed with a roof over her head.

 

Appearance

From her Romano-Lusitanian father, Safinia inherited her dark brown hair and average height of 154 cm; from her Gaulish mother, fair skin and vivid blue eyes – which do not provide a window into her soul, or if they do, show only a flat and undisturbed surface. Light freckles appear around her nose and lips and under her eyes when the sun is strong, and dimples form on her cheeks when she smiles, but few have had the chance to notice the latter.

She has an oval face with a small nose and thin lips and a penchant for looking people straight in the eyes, which makes many uncomfortable. Objectively, she is a pretty young woman. Slimly built, Safinia usually wears whatever she get her hands on, which given her station and wealth tends to be well-worn and cheap. Although she works for the White faction, her work guarantees dirtying of any white garments she were to wear, so Safinia sports the colour on hair ribbons instead.

Her back is covered in burn scars from a fire in her youth; they are usually hidden from view by clothes, but when they do have to be on display like at the public baths, Safinia is thoroughly unbothered by it.

 

Family

Father: Lucius Safinius (b. 14 AD, d. 64 AD)

Mother: Safinia L.l. Flora (b. 20 AD, d. 64 AD).

Siblings: N/A

Spouse: Marcus Dellius (b. 52 AD, d. 74 AD)

Children: N/A

Extended family: N/A

Other: Paula, surrogate mother (b. 18? AD, d. 74 AD)

 

History

57 AD: Safinia is born in Pax Iulia, Lusitania to a Plebeian scout for the White chariot team and his Gaulish freedwoman. According to family legend, her paternal great-grandfather was a veteran of Augustus of southern Italian roots who was settled in Emerita Augusta; her grandfather, in turn, moved to Pax Iulia, where her father was also born and raised. Perhaps due to her parents’ age, she is the couple’s only child to survive birth.

57 – 64 AD: Safinia grows up in Pax Iulia. She is taught the rudiments of reading, writing and mathematics. More experienced parents might worry about their daughter always wanting to play alone, but Lucius and Flora are just grateful that Safinia is an ‘easy’ child.

64 AD, February: The Safinii travel to Rome as Lucius has some very important report for the leader of the Whites. He has been to the capital before, but it is Flora and Safinia’s first time in the eternal city. They rent a tiny house not far from the White stables, and Safinia celebrates her seventh birthday and her first outside her hometown.

64 AD, March: The house where the Safinii are staying is set on fire in the middle of the night and burns to the ground along with a few neighbouring houses. Her parents perish in the fire, but Safinia survives with some burns on her body. The arsonists are never caught, and the incident is deemed a random act of vandalism as no suspects are identified.

65 AD, early spring: After roaming the streets of Rome and stealing to survive for roughly a year, Safinia is taken in by Paula, a childless widow who pities her.

65 – 73 AD: Safinia works as centonaria alongside Paula, sewing rags and patches into a semblance of clothing. When she delivers garments to their customers at their houses, small valuables like jewellery and statuettes mysteriously disappear, although it occurs sporadically enough that nobody associates her with the missing objects.

73 AD, November: Safinia marries Marcus Dellius, a neighbour and roofer five years her senior. It is arranged by Paula, and Safinia goes along with it out of something resembling filial duty, despite having zero feelings for Marcus. He is shy, does not drink excessively and cries when Safinia dispassionately tells him the story of the burn scars on her back. Coins start to disappear from Marcus’ money purse at random intervals, but he never suspects his new wife. Safinia continues to work as centonaria, but from her new home.

74 AD, January: Paula dies of infection following a rotten tooth. Safinia follows mourning rituals and traditions, but the loss impacts her as much as what Caesar had for lunch, which is not at all. Her eyes stay dry throughout. Whatever valuables Paula possessed are subtracted from her house by someone who knew where they were hidden.

74 AD, August: Marcus and Safinia fall ill with Roman fever (malaria). Marcus dies after a few days; Safinia recovers but loses the child she was carrying. As before, she does not shed a single tear, and misses the small comforts afforded by Marcus’ pay more than the man; the miscarriage is similarly dismissed with no consequence.

74 AD, October: Safinia starts working for the White faction as cook’s assistant, name-dropping her father and his connection to the team; she makes it sound like she was taken in by a relative after the fire, and neglects to mention her sewing skills, keeping them as a card up her sleeve in case she needs to find a new employer or gain favour with the Whites. Safinia moves to a different neighbourhood, cutting contact with everyone she knew from before. Trinkets and small objects of little value start disappearing from the stables and mess hall.

 

 

Liv | GMT+1 | PM/DM (Liv#5452)

 

@Gothic

Edited January 26, 2020 by Liv

[Gothic]

 

This is to let you know that the staff have been your application and it will be reviewed shortly!

 

 

[Gothic]

 

Your application is currently pending.

Please check your PMs for an application review.

 

 

[Gothic]

Your application has been accepted.

Please make sure to update your necessary claims and feel free to make your plotter.