Not Looking For Trouble

[Atrice]

Even Cynane wasn’t exactly sure what they were doing, but something with inhaling smoke? And it made you feel relaxed? She’d heard about it before, but she never tried it. Quietly she came along while Tiberius promised he’d only join for a little while and then go back to the palace. Gods, they were all so young, weren’t they? Especially Azarion and Tiberius. Cynane, now more than 30 years old, almost felt a little out of place as they walked. She wondered how this was going to go.

 Then they came to a small tent and Azarion went in first. Jason followed and Cynane let Tiberius enter before she did. It looked nice and cozy in there and she watched as Tiranês took a seat. Cynane sat down near Tiranês, since that’s whom she felt most comfortable with. Azarion had a little box with him and gestured something to Tiranês, who told he’d done this before.

 She couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable with Tiberius there. Hopefully that would change, once they began doing the thing with the smoke. If it really was as relaxing as Tiranês said it was. Quietly she waited.

@Sarah @Chevi @Sharpie

[Sarah]

It wasn't often that Tiberius felt out of place, or like he was intruding. After all, he was an Imperial born and raised, a certain arrogance came naturally to those of such backgrounds. But he was well aware that this festival was sacred to Saturn and that as the God of creation, plenty, wealth and agriculture, one irked him at one's own peril, and that these slaves had a right to do as they pleased and not have to worry about him, this one night.

On the other hand, the nature and situation of slaves had been much on his mind of late; perhaps Saturn in his wisdom was giving him an opportunity for insight, and it would be unwise to refuse it.

He wasn't certain what he expected inside the tent, but it certainly wasn't the anything like the large campaign pavilions that Roman officers used whilst in the field of war. It was close and even slightly cramped, yet comfortable. Cushions and blankets were simple strewn on the floor around the central brazier, and Jason led by example, lounging on them comfortably. At his gesture Tiberius reclined himself to one side of Jason, Roman style, and shortly afterwards Cynane settled to the other side of him. He said nothing, resolving to simply observe unless one of the others asked him something.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men...

@Atrice@Chevi@Sharpie

[Chevi]

They all filed into the tent. Jason seemed to like it; he had done this before, so it would be familiar to him. They all reclined on the pillows, finding comfortable positions in the small space; even the chief did not complain. He just looked curious. Well, Azarion was curious too.

He opened the small box he had stashed away in the tent. Back home, the hemp was often a part of rituals; since it was a festival now, in a way, in honor of the gods - even if they were Roman gods - Azarion's lips moved as he silently sent a prayer to their own gods far away. Then he took some of the dried plants, and placed them on the embers.

Smoke began to curl up as the hemp caught fire. The unmistakable scent filled the air inside the tent. Azarion inhaled, rolling his shoulders. He glanced over the brazier at his cousin, nodding towards their royal guest.

How much does he know about where we are from?

@Atrice @Sarah @Sharpie 

[Sharpie]

How much does he know about where we are from? Azarion's question was obvious from his glance and raised eyebrow.

"Some. He knows we're Sarmatian," Jason replied quietly. "He likes to know things, but mostly knows them from books."

Cynane didn't look all that comfortable, which was perfectly understandable; this was not her ritual and probably Tiberius' presence was putting her on edge.

It was the sort of time to tell stories, if he could think of anything at all to begin to tell. Something would come, eventually, he was sure of it. For the moment, though, he just shifted his position a little and breathed in the sweet smoke that rose from the brazier.

 

@Atrice @Chevi @Sarah

[Atrice]

She had settled down in the comfortable pillows next to Tiranês, attempting to relax, but she wasn't sure if she could. Not with Tiberius here. Maybe what Azarion had brought and planned would help? Nobody said anything after they sat down and Azarion opened a small box and placed the dried hemp leaves on the embers in the brazier in the center.

Smoke began to curl up from the embers and Cynane leaned back, taking a deep breath. Azarion looked at Tiranês and they spoke quietly together.

"So... what now?" Cynane then began, wondering if they were just going to sit here in silence and inhale smoke, or what? She'd never tried this before. And it was Saturnalia, it felt odd to just sit here quietly... "We could play a game of sorts?"

@Chevi @Sharpie @Sarah

[Sarah]

Tiberius wasn't certain what to expect, but he was interested in this practice from Jason's people, even if he wasn't really certain what it entailed. But he had decided that he was going to learn, without spoiling the others' fun. So he settled back into the blankets and cushions on the floor and watched.

He watched Cynane settle herself. He watched Jason and the dark-haired youth, noting that Jason spoke to him but the other did not speak. After a moment Tiberius realised he was using hand gestures, which Jason apparently understood. Was he mute? And what were the gestures? They were like nothing the Romans used. This must be his cousin, he realised suddenly. If the gestures weren't Roman they must be Sarmatian. Fascinating.

Something was added to the brazier, the promised herb for smoking presumably, as after a moment a sweet smoke began to rise from the brazier. Instinctively Tiberius took a deep breath, then coughed as the smoke irritated his throat. Best just to breath normally, he decided. A few moments passed in silence and he wondered what would happen when the smoke began to take effect.

So... what now? We could play a game of sorts?

Apparently he wasn't the only one who was wondering.

"What sort of game?" He asked, then closed his mouth, embarassed. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He'd meant to be the silent watcher.

@Atrice@Chevi@Sharpie

[Chevi]

They all breathed, and the chief coughed. Azarion smirked, lying back on the pillows. He was happy to enjoy the light feeling he got from the smoke, it was a peaceful time, a festival when one did not have to work. But he was sharing the tent with three other people, one of them a chief, and it was going to get awkward fast. Cynane must have thought the same, because she suggested games. 

Azarion glanced up at his cousin.

I have knucklebones, he noted, providing a small pouch from his belt. Saturnalia was also a time for gambling, and the easiest of all was throwing bones, like children did. We just need something to wager. To win or lose.

@Sharpie @Atrice @Sarah

[Sharpie]

"You might prefer something more...substantial," Jason said, thinking. "But what would you say to the loser telling a story?"

Trust me, his sign said to his cousin. He and Azarion were good at knucklebones, and he had no idea how good Cinnia and Tiberius might be, but this he could do. Stories were, surely, something they all had in common, from their own people or that they had learned from others.

It would be something, anyway. He glanced to either side to see how his master and his British blood-sister would respond.

 

@Atrice @Sarah @Chevi

[Atrice]

She couldn't help but smile when Tiberius coughed from the smoke, after he took too deep a breath to begin with. She instead looked at what Azarion and Tiranês, following their lead, just relaxing and breathing normally. But now that they were here, it felt kind of awkward and she wanted to do something to pass time with. Suggesting a game, Azarion looked at Tiranês and provided a pouch from his belt. Cynane eyed it, he had something in there for a game and by his hand movements she thought she could guess which one. Well Saturnalia was for gambling, she knew that after so many years in Rome.

Tiranês suggested the loser of the game should tell a story and she nodded, "That sounds like a good idea." She said, "I'm not so skilled though. So I hope you won't mind my stories." She chuckled, feeling a bit more at ease as time moved by and the smoke clearly made an impact. She looked at Tiberius, "Are you skilled at this?" 

@Chevi @Sharpie @Sarah

[Sarah]

As he breathed in the smoke, Tiberius sighed gently and shuffled slightly on the cushions, making himself more comfortable. Despite the initial feeling of awkwardness, this was actually really rather pleasant. And different. He'd wanted something different. And these three had kindly allowed him to join them. It felt... peaceful.

Jason's cousin produced another pouch, and Tiberius looked over with interest. It wasn't until Jason himself mentioned something about the loser telling a story that it was clear it was something to gamble with. Well, Saturnalia was a time for gambling.

Are you skilled at this? Cynane wanted to know.

"I wouldn't say 'skilled'." He admitted. "I can play dice, but Titus usually beats me." At least he assumed he could. Were there dice in the bag? Tiberius preferred certainties to chance, but that's the kind of person he was. The he chuckled. "But I don't need to lose to tell a story." If they wanted stories, he was happy to tell them.

@Chevi@Sharpie@Atrice

[Chevi]

"You might prefer something more...substantial. But what would you say to the loser telling a story?"

Azarion nodded with a grin. Stories were good. Better than seeds. Gambling for walnuts could get boring quick. Cynane seemed to approve of the idea as well.

 "That sounds like a good idea. I'm not so skilled though. So I hope you won't mind my stories."

Azarion was sure whatever stories she had to tell, they would be interesting. He already knew she had not lived a boring life. And Azarion was curious about whatever the young chief had to say. Sure, it was not new for Jason to be in the company of the imperial, but Azarion was still curious about him.

"I wouldn't say 'skilled'. I can play dice, but Titus usually beats me. But I don't need to lose to tell a story." 

Azarion sat up, fishing the knucklebones out of the bag. There was a handful of them. Back home, they played with them without scores, but since he had started playing here at the stables, he had scratched numbers on their sides to make it easier for the others. Lowest score loses? He signed to Jason, waiting for approval before he tossed the bones.

@Sharpie @Atrice @Sarah

[Sharpie]

Jason let out a quiet breath. If Cinnia and Tiberius were worse than him at knucklebones, he was going to have to be very good at losing without making it obvious - neither one of them would be at all happy if they learned he'd done it deliberately. But he wanted to give Azarion something from home and the only thing he had were the stories they'd used to listen to, and to tell, in the evenings. Azarion couldn't do the same for him, but that didn't matter. Winning or losing at dice was a far less certain thing, being utterly dependent on chance, but knucklebones were pure skill.

Actually, Azarion would probably join the queue to strangle him if he discovered he'd thrown the game by choice - but also, his cousin couldn't pay the forfeit he'd suggested. He'd have to do enough talking for the both of them.

"Lowest score loses, then," he said out loud for the benefit of Cinnia and his master. And there were numbers scratched on each of the bones. That might make things a little easier for him. Maybe.

 

@Atrice @Sarah @Chevi

[Atrice]

Tiberius said he was not very skilled at the game and that Titus beat him in dice games. She glanced at him. Speaking of the new Emperor so casually was not something she was very used to. Cynane tried to ignore her thoughts though, instead she watched Azarion fish the knucklebones out of the bag. She barely knew how to play it. She hadn't been a child when she arrived in Rome and she'd almost gone straight to the ludus... and there was no time for children's games there. 

Tiranês said the lowest score would lose and she nodded, watching then as Azarion tossed the bones.

"I think you may have to tell me what to do." She said, feeling a little embarrassed over that. Cynane was almost certain she'd lose. But she hoped she wouldn't. Until then though, they were now playing the game and they were relaxing... "Azarion, do you have any drinks hidden here?" 

@Sarah @Chevi @Sharpie

[Sarah]

Lowest score loses, then.

Tiberius nodded. Knucklebones was viewed as a rather unsophisticated form of gambling, even though it required more skill than dice, so it wasn't something he'd played much. But what did that matter? He was someone who'd already won at life, before he'd even started, and if he lost at bones he had stories he could tell. Titus would probably laugh at him, but he wasn't here. Neither was Claudia who might be slightly less sanguine about his activities. She'd been quiet recently, spending most of her time at the palace, and he'd yet to work out why.

Cynane asked Jason's cousin had brought any drinks, and Tiberius learned the man's name. Azarion. It wasn't one he was familiar with, certainly Tiberius couldn't place it in any of the classics, which was a common source of slave names. As was more recent history, for example Cynane had been the half-sister of Alexander the Great, and an accomplished tacticial and war leader in her own right, so the histories said. An appropriate name for his sister's Amazonian body guard.

"Azarion." He tested the name. "You brought the bones, how about you throw first?" Then the rest of them could watch his technique and, if necessary, refresh their memories.

@Atrice@Sharpie@Chevi

[Chevi]

Cynane asked about drinks. Azarion smirked, digging around behind the pillows. He had a pitcher of wine, and some cups. He had assumed that the smoke would be enough for a nice comfortable high, but just in case it did not do what it was supposed to do, he had also prepared drinks. He poured, and passed the cups around as Cynane asked about how to play, and Tiberius suggested he should go first.

Clearing a little space in the middle by the brazier, Azarion tossed the bones first. There were five of them. Fur landed on their sides, and one landed standing up on its narrow end. Azarion grinned, picking them up to see the numbers that had landed on the ground.* He counted, then held up is hands and moved his fingers. Fifteen.

(*In Roman games of knucklebones, it was the numbers facing down that counted. Each bone as 6 sides, the two narrow sides being the highest scores.)

@Sharpie @Atrice @Sarah

[Sharpie]

The only other thing that could have made this any better (apart from the absence of Tiberius, but he'd invited his master along so only had himself to blame in the first place!) would be the addition of food. And even Tiberius' presence wasn't quite as dampening as it could have been; he might be a serious sort of person but he did know how to enjoy himself and the smoke could only help with relaxing him.

Though he'd had to hide a smirk when Tiberius had breathed a little too deeply and ended up coughing.

He lounged back on the cushions, breathing the soft sweet smoke and starting to relax, the tension draining out of his limbs. He rolled over as Azarion produced kucklebones, though of course he had to play according to the Roman method instead of teaching them how to do it properly. Oh well, it was easier to play lying down if you just had to scatter them on the ground and count.

He accepted a cup of wine (the cheap stuff; of course Azarion couldn't get the good stuff!) and indicated that Cinnia throw next - she was lying between Azarion and him and he wasn't about to reach over the brazier!

"Or we could just tell stories anyway," he said, looking around the small circle of faces.

 

@Atrice @Sarah @Chevi

[Atrice]

Cynane took the cup of wine handed to her and downed a little bit of it, while Azarion cleared a space and tossed the first bones. Apparently the score was fifteen and Cynane looked at the bones, trying to understand the system. Which wasn't the easiest thing, what with the smoke and the wine. She blinked and watched Jason lounge back on the cushions behind him and and he then suggested it was her turn. But also said they could just tell stories.

"We could." Cynane agreed, "But who should go first?" She looked at the others, "How about... the youngest. But who is youngest?" She looked at Tiberius and Azarion, wondering if they were the same age or what. She had no idea. Tiberius didn't seem as bad as she'd thought. Hopefully it would not be too weird tomorrow. She downed a bit more wine. Hopefully this was not a bad idea...

@Chevi @Sarah @Sharpie

[Sarah]

"Probably me." Tiberius declared from where he lounged on the cushions Azarion had collected, now feeling quite relaxed. Or maybe Azarion was the youngest, but he didn't seem to speak so he couldn't tell them a tale. So it was still him. "What do the Gods say?" He asked, reaching for the knucklebones and throwing them somewhat haphazardly, then adding up the score on the second try. It was not a good score. "Also I can't toss bones, so it's still me."

There was one story that came to mind, one which he wondered whether or not his body slave had ever heard. "King Aeson ruled Iolcus in Thessalonica hundreds of years ago. But his throne was seized by his half brother, Pelias. To protect him, Aeson's son was sent away to be raised by the Centaur Chiron." He recalled his classical education. "Centaurs are half man, half horse, and Chiron was the wisest of them all." He explained. "When the Prince came of age he returning to Iolcus to claim his throne. It had been prophesised that he would be his uncle's downfall, so King Pelias told him that he would give the Prince the throne, if he brought Pelias the golden fleece that once belonged to the winged ram Chrysomallos, and was now held in the kingdom of Colchis. Which should be impossible." Like many things in mythology.

"But the Prince assembled a crew of heroes, battled giants and monsters and with the aid of a goddess whom Pelias had neglected to honour, sailed all the way to Colchis. There, with the aid of Medea, who was the daughter of the King of Colchis but also a great seer and cantatrix." He said, using one of the better words for a woman who practiced magic "he was able to overcome it's guardians and gain the Fleece. The prince married Medea, and they returned to his Uncle's court with the fleece, and he and Medea killed Pelias." He revealed. "The Prince's name was Jason."

He decided to leave out the bit where Pelias's son claimed the throne, exiled Jason, who then betrayed Medea to marry another and Medea then took horrible revenge. Probably his slave had been named for the centaur connection.

@Chevi@Sharpie@Atrice

Edited May 15, 2022 by Sarah

[Chevi]

Well, the knucklebones were a bust, but everyone liked the idea of the storytelling. Which sucked, because Azarion couldn't do it, but whatever. Cynane asked who the youngest was. Azarion glanced at Tiranes, pointing at himself and then the young imperial. Azarion was recently nineteen (give or take; some of his memories were fuzzy). The issue was solved when Tiberius took the initiative.

Azarion sat back on the pillows, feeling comfortable and light-headed. Smoke was circling up from the brazier, filling the tent with the sweet scent of the herbs. Azarion was happy to listen to the tale, even though it was a bit convoluted. A golden... sheep?

In the end, the hero's name was Jason. Well, that made sense. They renamed his cousin after that man. Azarion looked up curiously, gesturing at Tiranes. Why this name? For him?

@Sharpie @Sarah @Atrice

[Sharpie]

It's not who I am, Tiranês signed fiercely at his cousin, the only person present who could read his signs. He was still slightly cautious around Tiberius when it came to anything to do with his past since their conversation a few months before, and his own name was not something he really wanted to share with his master, even on a day when they were (supposedly) equals, because they wouldn't be tomorrow.

He adjusted his position a little and consciously let himself relax, breathing in the sweet perfumed smoke of the hemp as it curled up from the brazier, taking the opportunity provided for a pause to think what story he could tell in turn.

"I never knew the story," he said simply. The answer to Azarion's question was probably just that the slave trader had a stock of names suitable for slaves and assigned him one from that list, he hadn't struck Tiranês as being possessed of an imagination. He indicated Azarion, directing his question at Tiberius, trying to make it clear he was translating. "Why that name in particular, though?"

Not that Tiberius would know, not really.

 

@Atrice @Sarah @Chevi