Jump to content

All's fair in love and war [M]


Sara

Recommended Posts

She let out a deep exhale and nodded, offering him a slight smile in thanks. His exasperation didn't even touch the sides of her relief. She knew he could break  his word, but she doubted he would. She'd been here two weeks, after all, and remained utterly untouched. 

"Opium and wine." She muttered, shaking her head and turning back to her task to unpack the room - causing a trail of chaos in her wake as she removed his belongings into a heap on the floor. "Oh yes," She rolled  her eyes, not that he could see, "I'm so looking forward to playing a nurse slave to a man so miserable he..." She smothered the insult and cleared her throat, "That's been my life's calling, clearly." Her voice had an amused lilt in it. 

"Did you want to start now?" She offered with a glance back at the bed and him, "Or can I sort my room?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Oh yes. I'm so looking forward to playing a nurse slave to a man so miserable he..."

Lucius' eyes flashed, not that she'd see that. More with pain than with anger. He did not like to be seen as miserable. He hated pity. And he really did not know what to do about it, other than his damn job, the best he could.

"That's been my life's calling, clearly." 

She did not realize what he was offering. Learning that skill would help him for now, and it would give her a room. But Lucius was still a tribune of the vigiles. Anything could happen, if the civil war was any indication. And if anything did happen, she would be sold or given to someone else. He doubted she had realized that yet.

"Did you want to start now? Or can I sort my room?" 

"Whatever." he sighed, getting off the bed. "I'll go talk Marius off a ledge."

That was going to be fun.

@Sara

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It had been a week and it had been a torturous week. As it turned out, looking after Lucius was not unlike caring for her toddler of a nephew. Once she had visited the medicus and taken his advice, filling up two tablets full of information she had settled on trying to write a schedule. She'd started with the exercises he could do alone; both to ease him into it and herself. Familiarity was a novel concept for her, and she didn't want to start it by manipulating his arms and such. She did, however, nag him mercilessly about whether he'd done them or not - and dosed down on the opium - or at least tried to. She couldn't tell if he'd noticed, she'd yet to sleep in her little box room. It was ready - it had been ready for a couple of days now, but she'd made excuses and gone back to the dormitory to suffer through another night awake. 

Considering that her patient might be losing motivation for the regime, however, she'd broached a new therapy. Water had helped her mother, and whilst it wasn't on the medicus' proscribed list of remedies (not that she'd told anybody that), she had a feeling the warm water might soothe the residual aches that plagued him. She'd wanted to use the domus' baths but Marius had shooed her, and her dominus, out of the house to the piscina publica. She pursed her lips as she surveyed the scene and kept up the veil over her hair, dropping it so low as to conceal her face. She didn't recognise anybody here, but that wasn't to say people wouldn't recognise her. She'd rather they thought she was dead than enslaved. 

She tried not to let that show though and cast him a glance. She'd never been here beyond to socialise back when...things were more sane, but she surveyed the mix pool - quiet, but a few men and women bobbed around. "It'll help." She offered. "Even if you just move it a little." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For all the fuss she had made about the room, Ovinia sure took her time moving into it. And yet, she did put in the work as promised. Annoyingly so. She made a schedule and everything, and reminded him regularly to do the exercises. They were a pain, both literally and figuratively, so when she told him they were going out for a new kind of exercise, Lucius was already apprehensive.

Apparently, they were going to the piscina.

"You want me to... swim?" He stared at Ovinia. He had been a good swimmer before, but no one was any kind of swimmer with only one arm. What was he supposed to do, flail?

"It'll help. Even if you just move it a little." 

He looked at the pool, then her again. Was this a thing the medicus had said? Not like he didn't like the water, but he hated the idea of people seeing him struggle. He frowned.

"You will need to help me take the tunica off."

@Sara 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Not swim." She rolled her eyes and glanced at the pool. "Stretch it in the water; do your exercises. The warmth will help the muscles." She hoped. She didn't want to deal with his grumpiness if it didn't work on the walk back. 

She scoffed at his request and glanced sideways at him, although her veil was so low she wasn't sure if he could actually see her face. "You can get in with it on, nobody cares here." And she didn't particularly want to see him naked or...get him naked herself. She folded her arms across her waist and then without a word, awkwardly sat herself own the edge to slip off the clunky wooden sandals she'd been given, before dropping her feet in the water. It felt good. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stretch in the water. Alright then. The closer part of the pool was shallow enough to do that without drowning. However, that was where Ovinia's helpfulness ended.
"Seriously?" he frowned at her. It wasn't like he was asking her to get naked or anything. But since she declined to help, he couldn't either. "I do care." He would have to walk all the way home all wet. Ow.

Ovinia sat down on the edge of the pool. She was keeping her head down, hiding her face. No doubt she was worried someone would recognize her. Lucius was too annoyed to care. He went to the steps that led into the pool and walked in. A few people raised their eyebrows at him going into the water tunica and all, but not many really cared. Lucius walked in till he was up to his shoulders, allowing his arms to float.

"You could get in. Nobody cares here" he smirked at her.

@Sara

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She quirked an eyebrow at him as he came back to face her having descended into the pool before casting her glance up at the others here. It seemed like a mixed pool, which was a rarity in itself but she thought she could ascertain why judging by the clothes that had been dumped at the side; gaudy togas that even from a distance, smelled like cheap perfume. "The only women in here are prostitutes," She gave him an eye roll, "Which I am not, so no thank you." She folded her arms over her chest resolutely as if emphasising the point.

Kicking her feet in the water, and dipping her fingers into trail through it, she nonetheless studied him. "You need to actually move your arm if you want it to help. You should run through all the exercises." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The only women in here are prostitutes. Which I am not, so no thank you." 

"Too bad. The water is quite nice" he chuckled, dipping under the surface before he came up again. If he was going to get soaked, might as well soak properly.

"You need to actually move your arm if you want it to help. You should run through all the exercises."

"Yes domina" Lucius had to admit, Ovinia was taking her nursing task very seriously. He rolled his shoulder, grimacing. The water helped hold his arm up, but it was still not easy to move. He went through the motions slowly, as much as he could before he needed a break. "Here is the thing, though, how do we do the exercises I need help with?" He knew there were some, but so far she had been avoinding them.

@Sara

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She watched him grimace with a grimace of her own. Domina. It had only been a few weeks, months ago that she’d been called that. She wondered if he knew that his flippancy hurt. She also wondered if he’d even attempt her instruction, and had been pleasantly surprised that he had. Now he was in the pool though, she saw the pain on his face and wondered whether this was such a good idea.

On her helping him, she only had one answer at first: “Good job there’s a whole group of people who’s time and services can be bought, just over there.” She gestured to a blonde and brunette, splashing around with irritating, amorous moans. When had she become so crude? Discussing prostitutes as if they were worthy of her time? Probably around the same time her wrists were clapped in irons and she was walked back to Rome. It was, nonetheless, embarrassing and she chastised herself.

She exhaled sharply and withdrew her fingers from the water, flexing them. “We can do those exercises when you’re out of the pool. Unless you want to see me drown, I’m not sure a veil is conducive to swimming.” She eyed him. She’d been putting off actively helping him manipulate his arm, but in her defence, so had he. “How does it feel?”

 

TAG: @Chevi

Edited by Sara
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

“Good job there’s a whole group of people who’s time and services can be bought, just over there.”

Lucius glanced over at the women splashing around nearby, and sighed. Ovinia was not going to let this topic go. Which made sense, it had to be near impossible for her to get used to her new position in life. Which she was doing with some success, although she still talked back way too much for someone who was not free.

"They don't look like they were trained by a medicus." he noted, wiping some of the wet hair out of his eyes.

“We can do those exercises when you’re out of the pool. Unless you want to see me drown, I’m not sure a veil is conducive to swimming. How does it feel?”

"Like shit" he replied honestly, his arm floating in the water at the moment. Even with the easier movement in the pool, the exercises were still excruciating. He had a very limited range of movement. "I mean, the water makes it a bit better, but..." he frowned. Would the exercises help, eventually? He was beginning to question that. Remembering that he used to swim only made it worse.

@Sara

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"You shouldn't be so quick to judge people, domine; they might be apprentices to a medicus." She reproached with a look of mock indignation before she smiled a little. She really shouldn't be so quick to judge given her current position in life. But old habits were hard to break. 

She pursed her lips as he said it felt like shit. Judging from his mood, that much as obvious but his slight relent that the water made it feel better garnered a slight smile from her. "You see? I'm not totally useless." She kicked the water a bit with her legs, hitching her tunica up to her knees to keep it from getting wet. Unfortunately for Ovinia, she did not notice the end of her veil trailing into the water to her right until she felt they wet creep up and begin to touch her hair. She choked, trying to pull it off (she'd set her hair in a style far more becoming to a patrician than a slave and the wet veil was ruining it). She finally managed to wrestle it free and before she could grab it, it floats into the water. No amount of stretching out her leg to try and hook it back helped and she gave him an imperious and wholly inappropriate look. "Pass it back." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"You shouldn't be so quick to judge people, domine; they might be apprentices to a medicus." 

"You judged first!" he pointed out, but was somehow glad to see the smile. The women probably were prostitutes, all things considered. But honestly, that was a profession too. The free ones paid taxes and everything. And the enslaved ones couldn't help it.

Ovinia was fully prepared to take credit for the water.

"You see? I'm not totally useless."

"I never said you were."

The veil came off somehow, floating into the pool. Ovinia had her hair done up, and looked annoyed at her head being exposed. Lucius was not even sure where she had gotten the veil. The dignified look was counteracted by the way she tried to fish the floating veil back with an outstretched leg.

"Pass it back." 

Lucius arched an eyebrow at her from the water. Giving orders, really? "Sure." He pulled the floating veil into his hand,  twisting it into a bundle before he did just that. Tossing it with his left hand was a little awkward, but it did fly all the way to Ovinia, carrying a fresh splash of water with it.

@Sara

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She offered a genuine smile of thanks as he pulled at the floating veil. It was hot today, it should dry out in the sun if she let it outstretched. She was about to say thank you - politely and properly - when she was instead met with a face full of water. The force of the throw wasn't painful but it was a shock and she choked comically, scrabbling to pull off the soaking material from her face and her chest. 

"YOU!" She screeched and immediately, with absolutely no regard for her position, began splashing him with her legs, kicking as hard as she could so waves and ripples of water sloshed over to him. It was wholly unbecoming but she was furious. When the kicking wasn't producing enough water, she knelt up to dig her arm into the water and splash him harder. By the time she was through she was panting from exertion and annoyance. 

"I need to go and lay this out to dry on the bank of grass. You've probably ruined the fabric." She glared daggers at him and stood to stand...but the side of the pool wasn't even and in three...two...one...splash. She ended up in the water.

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"YOU!" 

Any pretense that she was a slave and he was her dominus evaporated in a burst of fury. If anyone was paying attention, they would have guessed it was the other way around, if anything. Ovinia kicked and splashed, throwing water at Lucius with no regard to the fact that she was getting soaked herself. Lucius held up his good hand, sputtering, but entirely too amused (and too wet) to be annoyed.

"Maybe think about the orders you give next time?" he grinned, once again wiping the wet hair out of his eyes.

"I need to go and lay this out to dry on the bank of grass. You've probably ruined the fabric."

"How is this even my f..."

Oh, this was almost too good. The gods were smiling on Lucius, as Ovinia stood and then immediately lost her balance, falling into the water. She was only a little shorter than him, so she would not drown, as long as she managed to find her footing. And not act like a wet cat. Lucius laughed, reaching out with his good arm to help fish her out.

@Sara

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She choked, spluttering water as she surfaced, his arm around her waist dragging her out. Her hair was plastered to her face and neck, the curls and waves she'd spent hours on perfecting now utterly ruinied. Not to mention her tunica. She knew how to swim, although before...everything, had kept it as the preserve of the women's baths. It didn't make the fact that she was now submerged up to her chin in water with a perfect stranger, prostitutes and their clients.

"This is not funny." She snapped at his laughter. She tried dragging her fingers through her hair in an effort to get it off of her and sort it out...but it was a little bit of a lost cause. She felt heat come to her cheeks and glanced around; mercifully it was still quiet and besides a few curious glances shot their way, mostly people ignored them. She suspected they'd seen much worse in the piscina. 

"I'm getting out." She scoffed but her face was no longer angry, merely embarrassed. What had she become? She glanced round; she didn't have the upper body strength to lift herself out of the side closest to her and the stairs would be in full view of everybody else. She wished she had her veil still; at least then it could act as some sort of shield. "Are you doing this to punish me?" She snapped, eyes blazing and wholly unreasonable - refusing to see this as an accident and instead as some great conspiracy. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"This is not funny." 

Oh, it kind of was. Ovinia was soaked to the bone, with hair plastered to her face and shoulders. He held her steady, since her chin was barely above water. Some people snickered, but it was soon business as usual around the piscina.

"I'm getting out." 

"Yeah. We should go home." he agreed. He was also soaked, and his arm was sore. Enough pool for one day. He headed to the stairs, wading through the water.

"Are you doing this to punish me?" 

"Doing what?" he blinked, looking back at her. "I didn't pull you in." He waded out of the pool, shaking his hair and dripping copious amounts of water from his tunica that stuck to his skin. Leaning down, he picked up the veil from the edge of the pool. "Come on, before we both catch a cold."

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ovinia stayed resolutely where she was, even as he waded out - indignant that he hadn't done anything wrong. Rationality, however, was a foreign concept for her at the moment and she didn't believe him. She just stood there - chin scraping the water as he got out. She blinked and then swallowed - heat rising to her cheeks. Clearly there was little actual difference between swimming in the nude and swimming in a tunica once one got out. She realised with a pit of dread that she'd probably look similar. 

"I'm in here now," She shrugged (not that he could see it), "We could try the exercises where you need help?" She was stalling for time; trading one uncomfortable thing for another. She'd rather help him though, than be stared at. She wasn't ashamed of her body - she'd been nude plenty of times in the privacy of the women's baths but this was different - this was in public, in full view of curious men who were glancing between the woman in the water and the man on the edge. 

"Get back in? I'm not getting out." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I'm in here now. We could try the exercises where you need help?" 

If Lucius had learned anything in the past few weeks, it was that Ovinia was usually being useful when she had something to gain. In this case, it seemed like she was not ready to get out of the pool. Judging by the blush, and his own state od being, wet tunica clinging to his body, he could imagine why. 

"Get back in? I'm not getting out." 

Lucius sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Ovinia, you can't live in the pool. Come on out. Let's go home."

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"And you won't help your arm if you don't do the exercises, which you need my help with. And I'm in here." she gave him a smug little smile and shook her head. "I'm not getting out." On that, she was resolute. 

As if to prove her point, she moved further away from the edge, not exactly swimming, but bobbing in the water down the other side. If he wanted her out, he'd have to catch her and she was was in no hurry. She took in the sites of the pool at a leisurely walk in the water, coming to stop about two hundred yards from where they had been, facing another edge of the pool. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lucius stared at the girl, baffled, as she flat out refused to come out of the pool. Instead, she bobbed away in the opposite direction. It was still strange to realize that he had the authority to drag her out of there, or send people to drag her out, for everyone to see. Not that he ever wanted to humiliate anyone that way. But gods she was just so...

Lucius groaned, walking into the pool, and wading over to her.

"Fine. We do the exercises, then we go home. Well, I am going home. You can stay for all I care."

@Sara

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She was counting on the fact that he disliked his authority as a dominus as much as she disliked the subservience required of her as a slave. And it worked. She gave him a little smirk as he waded back into he pool. She felt safer here - which was peculiar given this was just about as intimate as she'd ever been with a stranger, or a man or...anybody really. 

She stood, water lapping at her shoulders and cleared her throat. "We should do the one where you move your arm down and out1." She glanced at him and her fingers hovered a few inches away from his arm. She steeled herself and then with a sharp exhale, tried to snap herself out of it. She moved her fingers  to his arm and tried to help him push up his arm.

 

TAG: @Chevi

1Bottom exercise on page 5

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The pool was still shallow enough to stand in; Ovinia was still up to her neck in in, and it came up to Lucius' shoulders enough to help move his arm. Gods knew he needed the help, because it was already sore from the exercises earlier, and what she wanted to do was... a whole large range of motion. Lucius grimaced, waiting for her to decide if she was actually going to help. The bandages on his arm were soaked through, so he barely felt her touching him. But eventually she gathered her will to push. Lucius winced as his arm rose higher; he had not been able to raise it above his shoulder since the injury. It still stopped there, at the surface of the water, and he he frowned, his body fighting the pain of moving it higher at all. He bit his lips and followed her cue, because she was not going to let him live it down if he started complaining.

@Sara

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She sighed as his arm stopped and looked at him. He looked in deep pain, not that he was saying anything about it. Foolish man. She took his silence as agreement though and used the palm of her hand under his bicep to push it as high as she dared. 

"The medicus said it will hurt before it gets better," She winced, watching him carefully as she pushed a little more.

---

By the time they were through with the limited exercises he needed her assistance with, she didn't know whether he was going to be grateful or furious. She found him difficult to read, probably in part due to his irreverence...but also because she refused to look anywhere else but the arm she was helping to manipulate. They'd been in the water long enough now that her fingers had become prunes and not even the warmth of the sun was helping to keep her completely warm. 

"How was that?" She asked tentatively.

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The medicus said it will hurt before it gets better,"

Well, in that case it was definitely going to get better, because it hurt like hell. Ovinia helped move his arm, pushing just a little beyond what he was normally willing or able to do. Which resulted in the arm hurting a lot by the time they were through with the exercises. Lucius was not sure how he was going to move his arm again at all, once they were out of the water.

"How was that?" 

He looked down at her, both worn and stubborn. He had faithfully done everything she prompter him to do.

"You are good at this. But your lips are turning blue. We should go."

@Sara

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"A compliment? From my domine? I'm flattered," She deflected with a small, false grin as she backed away from him a couple of paces. 

The sun would be going down soon which meant the pool was emptying out. The splashing, nude prostitutes were gone which left just a handful of people, mostly men talking amongst themselves and a few sparse, poor looking families with harried looking mothers and infants toddling about at the side. She narrowed her eyes on the distance between the edge of the pool and her veil. It looked damp, but had mostly dried in the sun. At least it would offer her some protection. 

"You first." She indicated to the steps as she stalled for time, "And pass me my veil when you get out." She added with a slight pause. "Please." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Sara changed the title to All's fair in love and war [M]

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...