God, Help the Outcasts

[Sara]

Charis swallowed her righteous anger at Aglaea's mistress. To be complicit in something like this was beyond comprehension, but if she was ignorant then...well, Charis felt sorry for her too. Gods what a mess this family was! "He was wrong to...make you keep it a secret, I mean." She sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear with her spare hand. Tertius was many things, and often the subject of Charis' fury but in his favour - he'd never told her to keep his fathering of the child a secret. Small mercies, she supposed. 

She couldn't help but let out a little laugh, dry and hoarse as Aglaea once again turned the conversation on her. "What?" She asked with a blink and a frown, almost genuinely confused for a moment. "Aglaea," She said slowly - mispronouncing the other womans name with her Brittonic accent, "You cannot tell me something like...that and expect to gloss over it. I'm fine," She shook her head and waved her free hand - the other still gripping the older womans fingers, "I am where I am and what has happened has happened but...for you...it's not yet set in stone." She glanced with her big blue eyes cautiously at the other womans face. "Suppose he never had a child off of you, what do you think he'd do?" 

 

TAG: @Echo

[Echo]

Aglaea felt a brief flash of gratitude to Charis - how good she was to be righteously angry on her behalf! She shrugged at Charis's statement about Secundus being wrong. "I suppose so. But he isn't likely to go to his wife and tell her outright. I expect he didn't think this very far ahead." Aglaea had very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Her urge to have a partner and a child independent from her master and mistress was tangled up with her fear of Secundus and discomfort in the whole situation. She wondered if she would ever feel alright again. 

Charis wouldn't be placated, it seemed, as Aglaea tried to change the subject back to her. She felt suddenly very hot and had a moment of panic. "I- I shouldn't have told you at all, it's too much. If my master ever found out, he would have my head," she said very quickly, looking around as though for an escape. But Charis wasn't a bad person. "Please, Charis, you must promise me that you won't tell a soul." She stared back into her friend's eyes. Her question was an interesting one, and one that Aglaea had pondered for some time. She forced herself to calm down with a few deep breaths. "I don't know what he'd do," she said truthfully. "He's such a mystery. I hope that he would eventually give up, thinking me barren, but... who's to say?"

@Sara

[Sara]

"Men never think." She said with a wry smile and a little look at Aglaea, "At least they don't think with their heads." She managed a little grin and then the dark cloud of seriousness fell again as her friend panicked, in not a dissimilar way to Charis herself a few moments before. 

"Of course, of course I won't say anything." She said with a frown. Who was she going to tell anyway? She hadn't seen her friends in months, and even if she could speak to them - or any of the other slaves in this household, what would they do? They'd only be able to commiserate with a slow sigh and nod of the head and a 'poor woman' comment thrown in there. It was the general attitude of those in her position that if one was pretty or young then one would be at the disposal of a man. It was just a fact of life, depressing though it was. Even more depressing was the thought that neither herself or Aglaea were in any special sort of position - their situations had likely happened thousands, hundreds of thousands of times over since Rome's expansion. Gods, how morose. 

Charis nodded at Aglaea's words and sighed, "I tried to...stop myself becoming pregnant," She admitted in a hushed tone, "Yarrow root, it's what we used at home but it didn't work...but some say there are more potent ways, better ways. Maybe...maybe you should visit a herb wife?" 

 

TAG: @Echo

[Echo]

Aglaea gave a short laugh at Charis's comment about how men thought. She was right, though; Aglaea had much experience with Roman men, and though most of them had treated her with enough respect, her position afforded little else. She was simply a vessel, either to carry wine or hairbrushes, or, like now, a child for her mistress. And men never thought that women like Aglaea might not be happy with this lot in life. They thought only of their own momentary pleasure or how a slave could be used as a means to an end. 

Aglaea allowed a moment of relief as her friend confirmed that she wouldn't tell anyone. She had feared that Tertius might come to find out, and then the whole affair would unravel in the path of the less-than-friendly rivalry between the Varus brothers. "Thank you, Charis," she said earnestly. "I appreciate your... discreetness." Charis then had a suggestion - ways to prevent pregnancy. "Oh, yes. My mistress takes a plant called silphium... it is more effective, I think. I've skimmed a little off the top, just enough so that she doesn't notice. I hope it is enough." She glanced over her shoulder to see that they were still alone. "Once your child has come... would you like me to bring you some? If you don't want this to happen again..."

@Sara

[Sara]

"Sil-phi-um." Charis repeated in her accented Latin. She'd never quite got the hang of certain words or phrases. She offered a gentle smile to Aglaea as the other woman continued talking, slowly nodding her head as she drew to a stop. "Good...that is good. Rich women, I'm sure, don't notice things disappearing and...you must protect yourself."

There were further words on the tip of her tongue; a warning that no matter how tempting, should Aglaea fall pregnant then the tisanes that the herbwifes peddled to end a pregnancy were not worth the risk, but she couldn't say it. She didn't wish to scare the other woman, and she was not yet at that point. With the Gods mercy the other woman never would be. 

She managed a little laugh though at Aglaea's question. "I...I hope I will not need it." She exhaled a little, "O-of course it's up to domine whether he wants me in his bed again but..." She swallowed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. "But...but he didn't wish for me to fall pregnant this time, he didn't wish for another child born by a slave, I-I imagine that means he won't...want me again, after." If I live through it. "Men are fickle, are they not?" She managed a slight, hoarse laugh, "They want you, crave you, until you bloom with the natural consequences of...the act and then..." She shook her head, "They can never quite look at you the same way again." 

 

TAG: @Echo