We Didn't Start The Fire...

[Chevi]

"Night patrols as well. Thieves, rapists, murders, fires...we get the lot." 

The work no one else in their right mind wanted to do. The seedy underbelly of the greatest city in the world. Lucius shivered. Men like Titus, they were putting up with all of that to keep the city safe?

"What do you do then? When you're not catching yourself on fire in insulas." 

"Me?" he jolted out of his musings. "Absolutely nothing useful." he smirked, shaking his head. "My brother's a senator, though. He has been on my case to start the cursus honorum. It has become a bit of a standoff between us."

@Sara

 

[Sara]

Titus let out a whistle at 'Senator' and smirked. Rich boy playing dress up. If he hadn't of been as helpful as he was, he would have made a snide remark but instead he kept it trapped in his mouth, biting the end of his tongue. 

"Cursus what?" He asked with a scoff and a frown. His lungs were clearing and he only coughed once as he tried to ask the question. He pulled himself back up to sitting though and leant his forearms on his knees. "Is that something for citizens or just rich citizens?" He arched a brow and took back his skin, downing a glug of water. He was in a standoff of his own with his own brother, although for far less banal reasons he was sure. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Cursus what? Is that something for citizens or just rich citizens?"

Lucius chuckled, and the chuckle turned into another cough as he handed the water skin over to Titus. Damn, he1d barely spent minutes in that building, and his lungs were already protesting. How did the vigiles do this day in and day out?

"It's for patricians. You start off as a tribune in the legions, and then you climb the ladder, one rank to another, until you end up as consul of the empire. If you play the game well."

Lucius shrugged. It was clear he did not much care for the whole thing. "Aedile, quaestor, censor, praetor, consul. And then you get some post in a province if you want." He ticked them off on his fingers. "it's politics."

@Sara

[Sara]

Titus grimaced, and not just because of the burning sensation in his chest or the bruises blossoming over his upper arms. He only vaguely knew what a patrician was, and certainly didn't know what any of the other posts mentioned were. Besides Consul, he'd heard that in passing. And they had a Tribune in the vigiles although the man was as an ineffectual as he was rich. 

"It sounds pointless." He commented mildly with a shrug, "Pointless games for pointless rich people." He glanced sideways at Lucius; "No offence of course." There was a small, subtle smile on his lips and he chuckled. But enough talking. With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself to his feet - wobbling slightly as he did. The  heat of the fire always made him dizzy after; or maybe it was the lack of air in the buildings. "You should get outta here before the Centurion sees you." He jerked his head at the man still standing with his back to the pair, "I'm already in for a bollocking, you don't need to be." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Absolutely none taken" Lucius smirked. He knew it was pointless. Which is why he did not want to do any of it. But it was good to be reminded that the whole theater of the cursus was something so foreign and strange in the eyes of the everyday people of Rome.

 "You should get outta here before the Centurion sees you. I'm already in for a bollocking, you don't need to be." 

Lucius doubted the centurion would dare pick a fight with a patrician, but he stood anyway, dusting himself off.

"Well then. Take care, Titus" he nodded. Something felt... different. Like he had just happened on an idea that the gods had sent his way. "Maybe I'll see you around."

Maybe he would.