Trips and Tricks

[Sara]

November, 76AD

Ione tried her best with the bucket but she really was the worst possible choice to be sent out to fetch water from the pump. Her arms shook even heaving it - empty - further and further up the queue of chattering slaves. At this time of day she could be spared from the brothel, but that meant only for other errands and refilling their water was a key chore that everybody hated, and somehow seemed to always fall on her shoulders. The queue was long and she cast a worried glance back over her shoulder, debating whether it would be worse to be late back or to come back with no water. She bit her lip, glancing nervously between the queue and the Elysium which she could see only a few hundred paces down the street. 

It wasn't hard to work out that, that was where she came from. The thin cloak she wore overtop of the toga wasn't exactly concealing and nor was the split lip she was sporting but few paid her much attention. The only people here were slaves or freedmen, and given they were in Regio IV, they had no right to look down on a whore. Nobody here was rich, and nobody here was in the business of judgement. For the most part. She still felt an errant hand tug on the corner of her toga as she moved out of the line and glanced around to see a man, leering, clearly still drunk from the nightmare. "Even that will cost you I'm afraid." And he immediately let go. It always seemed that she was enticing when considered free, but the second you mentioned coin she became about as interesting as mud. 

She figured it would be easier to explain the absence of water by a grabby customer than spend an hour waiting for it, and so moved back down the street, straining under the weight of the empty bucket until she was a few paces away from the Elysium. She took a moment, leant against the wall to catch her breath. This early there was no need for a man on the door. She bit her lip, trying to fashion her excuse as best she could and set the bucket down on the floor...unfortunately, right in the path of an oncoming pedestrian... 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

It was late in the year. Wulfric was getting tired of all this. He'd been here more than a year now and he had not come any close to his family. Only his half-brother Teutus seemed open-minded enough to welcome another brother, at least Wulfric had nothing to do with the Roman family and was almost Teutus' age. But Tertius didn't seem to care for his German-born son. Wulfric had gone knocking many times since that disastrous dinner and he was constantly told that Tertius wasn't there. He was working, he was at a social event, he was out walking with Charis and Peregrinus. There were a ton of excuses. And none of them led him any closer to getting to know his father. It was as if they thought he was stupid or something. As if he couldn't see through the excuses. He was being ignored. And now he'd leave Rome when spring came again. All he had to do was get through the winter and figure out if he could take his little brother away from Rome.

In the meantime, he still had his job at the markets. And the simple room, insula, that he stayed in. It wasn't far from here, they called the area the subura and it was apparently where some of the poorer Romans lived. It was also the area that had the most brothels in Rome and you wouldn't be caught wandering here at night, unless you were able to fight or had a guard with you. But right now was not night, it was daytime and Wulfric was on his way home for a rest. He'd been up early for work in the morning, since that was the time of the day many of the goods from the countryside came in. And now it was past midday.

He decided to take a shortcut past a water pump, with quite the queue. Glad he didn't have to stand there right now. Instead he moved on towards his own home, at least for a little while. But only until he stepped into a bucket in the street. The bucket tumbled across the street and Wulfric stumbled and fell over, landing on his front side with a yell and a curse in his own language. He hadn't seen the girl. As he sat up, he cursed again, seeing his good old trousers ruined as both of his knees had been scratched.

@Sara

[Sara]

She saw the man tumble, almost as if it was in slow motion and she covered her mouth to keep from yelling out. The bucket careened to the opposite side of the street and she was stuck about whether to fetch it or to check if the man was alright. He was speaking a language Ione didn't recognise, but cursing in any language sounded similar and she winced, bracing herself to be struck. "I'm so sorry." She choked and held at a hand - hovering over him as if to try and offer him help but not knowing how. 

"I just placed it down, I didn't look, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" She winced and watched him. A few others did too with mild interest - it was a break from the monotony of their days, and entertainment whilst standing in line for the pump. She glanced back behind her at the Elysium, and nobody had come out - which was fortunate. She didn't know who was working the door and didn't want to be clipped round the ear for this. 

If it was any of the other girls from her home, she didn't doubt that they'd be trying to leverage this into an opportunity to earn their master a bit of gold. Ione, however, had no such intentions right at this second as she took in the injured man. 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

He didn't bring a lot of clothing with him on the way from Germania, but these trousers were part of those clothes. His mother had made them for him, with the aid of her thralls of course, but they were a gift from her. And now they were ruined. He could feel the pain on his knees and feeling of the blood cooling down as it hit the air. For the first few moments, he had no time to pay any attention to his surroundings, but then there was a voice - a young woman saying she was sorry and he looked to see a hand near him. She apologized, so it must be her fault? But how? She was just... young and surely had no ill intentions? 

She explained herself further and apologized again. Wulfric sighed and glanced around, there were people watching, he didn't like that very much. 

"I am bleeding." Wulfric pointed out, as he still sat there on the ground with his knees bent up in front of him, so he could examine them. He was unfamiliar with being in a situation like this in Rome. The streets of Rome had drawn blood from him. Was this a sign? Was Charis right after all? That not even the city would welcome him.

But there was the girl, and apparently this was her fault, "You should look." He then said, he didn't mean to scold her, but it did hurt! She apologized though, he should not be so harsh... surely she had not meant for this... "But, it is late for that, now. I need... water? Wash wounds?"

@Sara

[Sara]

Ione felt dread pool and settle in her stomach. He looked cross, rightly so, but still. She had experience with angry men, violent men, but it didn't make it any easier. She winced and nodded, doing as instructed and crouching down to inspect the wounds. "I'm so sorry, sir" She said in a quiet voice but as he asked for water she nodded and moved hurriedly past him, picking up her bucket and trying to barge to the front of the line at the pump. Few people moved out of her way and she got an elbow to her side for the effort. "Please, somebody is hurt, I need water to wash his wounds..." She heard a jeer of; "Back of the line, slut!" and a few snorts and laughs and realising she'd have no luck, moved back to the man on the floor. 

"We can go inside?" She offered, gesturing at the door of the Elysium behind them. She'd rather face the wrath of her dominus and his men than leave the man out here to slander the establishment or worse, take his frustration out on her himself. She could deal with her dominus. Maybe if she was kind to this man, he'd forgive the accident? Maybe if she got his custom as well, she'd be thanked? Such a naive hope, but it was all she had. "I have water in my room," Or the dregs of some anyway, "And cloths." People were still staring and she felt her heart hammer against her ribs. She extended her spare hand, her other gripping on to the bucket, her arm sagging even at its empt weight. "Please? I'm so sorry sir." 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

Wulfric wasn't exactly an angry and violent man, but he had just fallen over and hurt himself in public and it wasn't exactly delightful. The girl crouched down and looked at his wounds too, apologizing again. Wulfric looked at her, "You already said." He said. She seemed so inferior. He looked at her clothes, not exactly the best sort either. Was she some kind of slave? She must be. She reminded him a little of some of the younger girls his grandfather kept in his household. The thralls that would lay with him at night.

The young girl then attempted to go and get some water for him, while Wulfric pushed himself over to lean by the nearby wall so he'd not be in the way. People yelled at the girl, using a name he'd heard only here in Rome. It was a bad word for a young woman to be called. And she came back to him without any water. He looked at the queue, people really weren't nice, even when someone had been hurt. Rome was so big, it must be difficult to feel any kind of relationship with someone you never met. At home, it was easier to know everyone. Here, people simply didn't even care to try.

She suggested they went inside and gestured to a nearby door. He'd walked by that place many times before, it was a brothel. And not a good one, or so he heard. Everyone always talked about the Domus Venus. And about how this one, the Elysium, was more directed at the lower classes. He'd never gone in there though. But the girl was offering her help and as a stranger, he should accept it. That would only be polite. 

He used her hand as support to get up, not that he got much, she was petite and skinny in his eyes. Pretty, but young and skinny. Still, he got up on his feet. 

"I will come with you, away from street. If you stop say, you are sorry." There was really no need for her to repeat it over and over, "You have name?" 

@Sara

[Sara]

She winced as he put a little bit of his weight on her to pull himself back and nodded silently at his request. "Yes sir." And she took a few paces to the door. "Ione." She offered a smile over her shoulder at him, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. She didn't mind the name. It was better than some of the others people had been given and in any case, she didn't feel like Hilaera anymore. Hilaera wouldn't work in a brothel; she was a potters daughter from Crete. Ione was a whore in Rome. Two different women, it was easier for her that way.

She pushed open the heavy door and saw one of the dominus' guards standing there, lazily picking muck from under his fingernails with a knife. He saw her and was about to say something when he spied Wulfric behind her. He smirked instead. "Interesting catch." Chuckling, he extended his palm to the man, moving her out of the way with the motion, "This one costs a ten asses for a full service." Ione winced. Her price seemed to fluctuate depending on the time of day and how busy it was. Judging by the relative silence in the brothel, it was dead and her dominus' man didn't want to lose custom by making her too expensive. She shook her head, glancing up at the man and then the poor stranger she'd brought into this dank place. "No, no he's not here for that - there was an accident, I injured him," She gestured at the mans legs, bleeding now through the torn trousers. The man muttered and swore, glancing between him and Ione. "I have water in my cell, I can clean him up-" The man grunted, "Keep your curtain open. No free lays." He glared at her and then at the man before jerking his head for them both to leave.

She flashed Wulfric a smile over her shoulder and gestured for him to follow her into the little room she usually used. It was sparse, with a stone bed laid with a straw mattress on top of it - a dim lamp burning in the corner and a spare toga hung up on a hook. A small pitcher of water lay on a small wooden table and she dipped a spare cloth rag into it. Beyond that - and the wall paintings of every imaginable position a woman could contort herself into - it was empty. "Sit, sit...I'll clean it up for you." 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

She agreed to stop apologizing, there was no reason to do it so many times he thought! He heard her the first time and saying it more didn’t change what happened. He asked for her name once he stood, as steadily as he could, while he felt the cloth on his trousers being soaked by the blood, now he was in an upright position.

 “Ione.” He said to remember the name, “I am Wulfric.” He added and followed her towards the door to the Elysium. It was daytime and it didn’t seem busy at all. Once inside though, there was a guard and he smirked and commented on Wulfric being with her. Wulfric looked at the man, as he claimed money for being with Ione. But he wasn’t here… for that. He thought it a bit odd to pay for such things, but on the other hand, that’s how it was done here in Rome. He hadn’t tried it yet though, a brothel. This was his first time entering one.

 Before he could respond, Ione explained why Wulfric was here and the guard seemed to accept it. As they walked past him towards her cell, Wulfric looked at the guard again, “She explain, I am not here for that.” He said firmly and followed her. It was a bit weird though, to be in such a place. He couldn’t help but look around, so different from an insula or the warehouse or the finer houses or the temples. This place seemed… oddly filthy. Not because it was very dirty. There was just something about it. And Ione lived here… and worked here.

 Soon they arrived to her little room and looked around here… seeing the simple bed and then the walls. Interesting. Fascinating. But she interrupted him, telling him to sit.

 “I must remove breeches. Else you can not clean.” Wulfric said and before she could answer, he’d begun removing the trousers. Still, not because he wanted her to do anything but clean the wounds. But she couldn’t have proper access to his knees, when he wore the torn fabric over it. Once they were off and he wore just the thigh-length tunica, he pulled said tunica a bit down and sat down. Attempting to keep some dignity in this odd situation. Strangely, he felt almost more naked now than he did when he visited a bathhouse.

@Sara

[Sara]

She looked over her shoulder and nodded, smiling softly. "Of course." It was not as if she hadn't seen much, much more from men who had sat as he did now on her bed. The thought should have revolted her but...it was normal; mundane in fact. She dipped the rag into the water and moved to kneel down in front of him. 

"It will sting, I'm sorry." She said with a wince as she gently tried to clean the blood off of his shins from where it had run down his leg, before she got to the scrapes on his knees. She couldn't believe she had been so foolish. Her dominus would be furious, she was sure - causing a scene like that in front of his establishment. Gently, she placed the scrap of material over his knee to stem the last of the bleeding before she could scrub it clean. She looked up, curious. He was not unfriendly - she thought - just a little...curious, more than anything. She saw how his eyes followed the pictures on the walls. She smiled to herself. "They were modelled on the girl that lived in here before me. Mola. But I can do those three." She gestured to three of the crude drawings with her small smile still on her face. "The others are a bit...advanced, I think." She'd tried to practice but her body just didn't seem to want to bend that way. 

"You haven't been here before, sir?" She said as she began to slowly clean the wounds, watching his reaction, "You are not from Rome?" 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

He felt a bit bad for thinking it, but at least a woman like Ione had seen a man without his breeches many times before. At least she would not be embarrassed. He almost felt like he was though, but he sat down and attempted to appear somewhat neutral. Ione approached him with a rag and the water and knelt in front of him.

 Wulfric looked down at where she sat and then took his eyes away, those walls did grab his attention. They didn’t have such paintings at home. And this was a bit different from what he saw on the house walls outside. He winced when she began cleaning closer to the actual scrapes, but he didn’t complain. At least she didn’t just run away, when he fell – at least she’d apologized and now she was trying to help him. That was good.

 She noticed that he was looking at the paintings and with her soft voice told him about them. He looked at those three she gestured towards. Right. It was what she did. Not because she wanted to, but because she was told do so. And someone profited from it. Maybe not so much her, but whomever owned her. At home, you’d sometimes sleep with the thralls too. But you didn’t pay for it. She interrupted the silence again, thankfully speaking about something else. Not that he usually felt embarrassed, but in a brothel and with a girl like her, it was just different. 

“I have not. And no, I am not from Rome. Germania is my home.” He’d found it was easier to just say Germania, than trying to specify where and which tribe he belonged to. Half of Rome didn’t know anyway. He glanced at her, “Are you from Rome?”

@Sara

[Sara]

"Germania..." She repeated as she attentively cleaned the scrapes, going lighter when he winced or his body tensed. She'd always liked healing - had admired the old, widowed herbwives who helped women like her in the backstreets near the forum and the midwives that came to the brothel. It seemed a peaceful art, certainly more fulfilling than sex. "Is it in the Empire?" She asked with a curious expression, genuinely intrigued. She'd serviced Gauls and Raetians, Greeks and Italians and even a couple of Britons but as far as she could recall - or at least from what people had said to her, she'd never had a Germanic man. 

She shook her head with a smile, "I'm from Crete. It's an island, not too far from Achaia. Some people say my accent is strong but I've known Latin since I was a girl." Spoken, anyway. There was not a hope of a girl like her knowing how to read or write. It was all she said on it. People didn't care to know the backstories of slaves, and certainly not slaves like her, after all. 

So few men though, that came in, actually spoke to her that she seized on the opportunity with interest and a warm smile. She'd have to be careful but she could hear the nagging voice of her dominus in her head and the other girls; you didn't even try and get a lay? Her hands moved to his thigh, ostensibly to get some of the dirt off but she wanted to test the waters. She always had to sell, even if she'd rather not. "Are you a trader?" She asked, to offer them both a little distraction in case he genuinely wasn't interested, "Is that why you are in Rome?" 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

They talked and she carefully tried to clean his scrapes and while he sometimes winced or let out a little sound, he otherwise sat quite still. He was a grown man, not some kid running crying to his mother to have her patch the wound. She didn’t seem to know about Germania, so he shook his head at her question, “It is not. Germania is not even province.” Wulfric said. Thanks to his ancestors on his mother’s side. And his fathers, considering they lost that battle.

 He’d asked the question back to her, she was a slave, so she might not be from Rome. She explained that she was from an island called Crete, but he wasn’t sure he’d heard about it. Wulfric gave her a smile, “I think your Latin, is better than mine?”

 She seemed happy to talk to him, which was nice. He barely noticed when she began to cleanse further up the thigh, because she also just kept talking, wondering why he was in Rome, “No, but I may trade now.” With Teutus, since they had discussed it, “I come to Rome to find family. My father is Roman. But I will leave in spring.” There was no need to try and explain the complicated family and his complicated father to her. She was nice and pretty, but he didn’t expect this to be a lasting friendship. Even if her touches felt kind of nice. He glanced down at her again, as she sat there on her knees in front of him. This was a strange situation. Strange and oddly interesting, despite the scrapes.

@Sara

[Sara]

Ione laughed gently, shaking her head as she continued her ministrations; "It just takes practice. I think your Latin is very good." Better than some of the workers and clients here who were fresh off the boats at Ostia as slaves or sailors. "Better than my...Germanic?" She grinned up at him, hoping that was what his language was called.

Her hands on his thigh stilled for a moment at his words and she nodded. "You had better enjoy all Rome has to offer before then." It was a cheap line, one which sounded more like Eris or another of the long-standing girls from the brothel than herself, buts she knew she had to sell, and he was quite literally, a sitting target. She let her fingers lightly graze over his thigh again, with no pretext of cleaning this time. "Are you sure there is nothing else I can do for you, besides cleaning your wounds?" He had kind eyes, she thought, and a smile. That was more than most men she had. 

She watched him carefully, waiting for a rejection as she always did. He'd said no before, but maybe the wall art he was so curious about had changed his mind...?

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

He smiled when she said his Latin was good. He knew he'd improved after he came here. Wulfric knew a little from home and had tried to learn more on the way. Once in Rome, where so many spoke the language, it went faster. It still wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. Then he chuckled when she added that it was better than her Germanic, "I think so. I think you don't know Germanic." He replied, at least his mood was better than when she brought him in here. 

Wulfric barely noticed she stopped working on cleaning the wounds and the blood off his legs, but she said he should enjoy all Rome had to offer. Wulfric looked at her again. Did she mean he should enjoy her? But that wasn't why he was here... besides, his knees hurt like they'd been touched by the dead. And he'd never been with someone like her before. He forgot to speak and she touched his thigh gently, wondering if there was nothing else she could do for him. 

"I..." Since when did anyone offer it to him so freely? So... bluntly... "I think, now, wounds need healing." He then said and looked to them, there were still small traces of blood trickling out, but it was slowly stopping and turning hard. He hated rejecting her though, it felt so strange to do so. As if he was telling her she wasn't good enough for him, but at the same time, he didn't know her. Ah, he had an excuse! "Also, I did not bring coin for this." 

@Sara

[Sara]

Ione didn't falter at the rejection and instead turned her attention back to the wounds, moving onto the other leg to clean away the blood. For as many men that came through the doors of the Elysium or she hooked when out soliciting, there were plenty more that rejected her and her fellow workers. Many, she assumed, had their own slaves to use or wanted a higher quality of whore. Some though did it with nastiness and spite. Wulfric seemed more embarrassed than anything. 

"That is alright." She gave him a half smile and nodded. She really was useless - she couldn't even get a customer when she was literally on her knees in front of him. It wasn't Wulfric's fault though, it was hers. "Maybe you can visit another time, when you have coin?" She asked - trying not to let the hopeful lilt in her voice show too greatly. She cleared her throat. Any sale was better than none though - to her dominus...maybe it was her? "Or there are others here if you want somebody different, somebody more like Mola." She gestured to the wall paintings of a woman contorted in seemingly impossible positions with a man, and two men in the last - the ones she couldn't do. 

"I wish I could give you a discount," She chuckled, "Because of this..." She carefully dabbed the blood off of his shin from his other leg and sighed. It was not her place to give discounts, it really wasn't her place to do anything but lie on the bed he was sitting on. 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

She didn't seem upset that he'd rejected her. See this was the difference between the thralls at home and girls like Ione. At home, sleeping with someone of importance mattered. It sometimes gave the girls more leverage over the others, except for a possible wife to the man the girl slept with... she might be upset. And the girls were always to blame, never the men. Even if they were thralls, which was more or less the same as a slave. But Ione did this for a living. How many had had her before? Wulfric had never thought much about brothels and whores, he knew they were there, but he didn't think much about them. It was just yet another Roman thing. Yet Ione made him think. And she did make him curious. He had been with someone in Rome, a few times, but they'd been someone he met at a taverna or something. Girls like Ione was there to be convenient and to be had every time you wanted something. Right now, he didn't think it that convenient.

But then she, as she returned to the work of cleaning him up, suggested he came back another time. Like it was nothing out of the ordinary. 

"Maybe I will. But I think, I prefer somebody I know." He added, looking at her. She wasn't exactly ugly, after all, very pretty. But young and skinny, like she wasn't fed well enough here. And she wasn't treated right either. It felt almost wrong to use such a girl, but if he didn't, someone else would. She spoke of a discount because of what she did.

"I do not think I need discount. I am not poor." Wulfric said and gave her a little smile, "Also, you apologize and help, now. That is good." He didn't want her to think he'd take advantage of her just because it was her fault that he fell. She had already made it up to him, he thought.

@Sara 

[Sara]

She smiled a little to herself; must be nice. She had a few regulars, but none she would choose for herself. She didn't even know what that would be like. There had been two that she could recall that didn't feel like...work, or a chore, who had put in effort and she had felt something akin to pleasure but they had never returned and the longer it went on, the more she started to think she had just been dreaming, fantasising. 

"I'm sorry I...didn't mean to imply you were poor. You're an important man? In Germania?" She said hurriedly as she dutifully scrubbed the blood from his knees. He couldn't have been that well off though, she surmised in her head, if he wore breeches and lived or worked in this part of the city. At least that's how she interpreted it. She knew there were nice parts of Rome - she'd walked through them once or twice when hired out for an evening but they always ended the same way, and really when it came down to it, there was very little difference between a rich man and a poor man in terms of wants and needs. 

She glanced up at him, nodding as he said she had done good. Praise - no matter how meagre - was like a tonic for her. But it was not enough to fill her masters coffers with; he needed coins. She gave him a soft smile as she slowed down her work on his knees, not willing this conversation to be over before she had tried everything. "You know, some men think they want somebody they know," She returned to their previous conversation, "But there can be just as much pleasure in the unknown." She was never particularly good at looking or acting seductive, but she was trying - parroting words she'd heard another girl use, "And I would be happy to. You know that?" 

 

TAG: @Atrice

Edited January 11, 2022 by Sara

[Atrice]

When he’d tried to excuse why he didn’t need a discount for her, should he decide to sleep with her, she apologized again for thinking he was poor and wondered if he was important. He nodded, “In Germania, I am. In Rome, I am only foreigner. My Roman father… is important.” Which meant that in Rome, Wulfric could be important, but because it seemed Tertius wanted nothing to do with him, he was just another Germanian in Rome. But she didn’t know that… “He does not want me here.” He added, just to be sure she understood why he was nothing here, but he could be. It was so irritating. Why couldn’t the man at least try? But he didn’t. He just didn’t.

 He praised her for what she’d done so far, since he didn’t need the discount. Her help was good enough for him, it was better than ignoring him or claiming it wasn’t her fault. Maybe he had been at fault too, he should have looked where he was going. So it really was kind of her to help him.

 She smiled softly at him and slowed down the work again, seeming to try and convince him to be with her. Said something about being with someone you didn’t know and she’d be happy to have him. Would she though? Was she happy with anyone? He imagined a girl like her, she’d tell that to anyone. She was here to sleep with men who paid for it and it probably pleased them more to hear she was happy than unhappy…

 “I mean, if I come back… I know you, now.” Wulfric said, it was so strange speaking about this topic! You didn’t discuss such things, normally you just… did it. But here there was a service and a price, as if you were being served at a taverna and that’s what you paid for. Still, that was not why Wulfric was here. Not today anyway. He wanted his wounds to heal properly. On top of that, it felt a bit strange, doing it here. On a bed where so many others did the same.  

 “You work here only? Or also, come to home of others?” He then asked. Maybe if he had her come to his simple room, he’d treat her with a meal too. He still really thought she needed it.

@Sara

[Sara]

She smiled genuinely then, and it lit up her face. She nodded vigorously. "Yes...yes we know each other now." Imagine that! She could get herself an important man - even a foreign one! Her dominus could charge him plenty then, for the privilege. She could still get a sale just...not today. Maybe that would offset the injury and the lack of water she'd been able to procure. As long as Wulfric followed through, of course. Promises were easily made and easily broken in this place. 

She looked at him curiously and frowned, nodding a little. "Usually only here." She was still new and untrusted, after all. "But I have been allowed to some people's homes, sometimes." Only a handful of times though; the cheap baths by the bend in the Tiber where men had come to relax and get serviced, and a handful of homes but they had been friends of the dominus and known to him. Maybe she could though? If she was followed by one of the guards, and could earn a proper sum for it? She imagined an important man like him must live in one of the grand, big houses that she passed sometimes when out for business. "Thank you," She said quietly as she finished wiping up the blood and sat back on her heels, looking up at him, "For being so kind. I would be happy to come to your home, perhaps you could speak to the man outside? Or my dominus?" She figured they might be better convinced by a man than by her to make an exception.

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

She was pretty when she smiled like that, he thought. She had very pretty eyes, even, not so sad and inferior. Apparently she was happy he thought they knew each other now, and then he had continued to entertain the thought of her entertaining him. Privately. Intimately. She was very pretty. And she seemed very nice and eager. Still he wasn’t sure if he trusted she’d really be happy to be with him, but again, if he didn’t, it would just be someone else. And the Romans could be mean to such slaves, he knew that.

 He wondered if he could get her to come to his home then, so he could treat her nicely with a meal too. She needed that, a proper meal. Ione explained she usually worked in the brothel, but she had been to people’s homes sometimes. He nodded, “Maybe you will be allowed for me.” He replied and she seemed to like the thought too. She finished what she could then with cleaning his wounds and sat back, thanking him for his kindness.

 “I maybe speak to your dominus.” Wulfric replied to her and stood. It hurt a little to move his legs again, but it wasn’t like he could do much about it. He picked up the breeches to look at them, they’d need to be sewed, maybe even with new patches on the knees. Where he came from, it was normal with patches. Every piece of fabric was saved and reused until it was falling apart.

 He sat down again to attempt pulling them back on, bending his knees to put them on while standing didn’t seem like a good idea. It felt a bit difficult and now he touched the breeches again and used his hands, he noticed smaller scrapes on his palms too. At least they weren’t bleeding though. Wulfric looked at Ione, “Maybe… you will give me hand?”

@Sara

[Sara]

She stayed kneeling as he retook his trousers and wrung out the cloth in the pitcher. It would need fresh water and she glanced back through the doorway to where she had abandoned the bucket in the corridor. She'd need to go to the pump still but hopefully the queue would have moved on by now and people would have forgotten the accident; there was always some sort of drama in Rome, people had very short attention spans for this sort of thing. 

His words made her blink up though, out of her distraction. Usually they paid the man on the door first before they were allowed in with the women. It made sense though - that if he didn't have the coins for a full lay, he might have enough for something less intimate. Few men requested it, why would they unless they were desperately poor and couldn't afford anything else? She nodded and quickly washed her hands with the water from the pitcher. 

"You can lie back," She offered with a small smile, "To make yourself more comfortable. And you can pay Darius outside after." She spoke as her hands lightly brushed over the skin of his thighs, moving higher...

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

Ione began wringing the cloth out in the pitcher while Wulfric moved about to get properly dressed again. Picking up his breeches, examining how ruined they were and then he would need to get them back on. He'd sat down on the bed and thought maybe she'd give him a hand to get them back on and carefully over the scrapes, so he asked her for that. But she looked up and then nodded and washed her hands. Not very clean water though. And then she said he could lie back and be comfortable and pay Darius outside after. It was Wulfrics turn to blink.

"I must pay for help?" That was a strange thing, he had not expected that. She hadn't said he'd have to pay for all the rest, after all. And why would he need to lie down and be comfortable to... oh... she was touching him now, as if she was going to... oh... she thought he meant something else with her hand! 

But that wasn't what he meant at all! He still sat there with the trousers in his hand and now felt a bit embarrassed, "I mean... there is no need. For that. I do it myself." And he began pulling the breeches on, wincing as the cloth touched the only half-healed wounds.  

@Sara

[Sara]

Oh. Oh. 

She flushed, embarrassed and it was a rare thing for a whore to feel embarrassment and she hurriedly stood, retreating her hands and clasping them in front of her waist. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I thought that was what you meant." She winced as he did, albeit for an entirely different reason. And to think - he didn't think it would be any better than doing it himself! She flushed again and cleared her throat, still clasping her hands firmly to her sides. 

"You wanted help," She clarified with a little smile and shake of her head, "Not me. I...can help, I can help." How though, she wasn't sure - he seemed capable enough of putting the trousers on himself. 

It was a peculiar encounter, she had to give it that if nothing else. She had thought he would be beyond irate, but he was still kind to her and he had the willpower of the Gods! She knew she was not unattractive, even if she wasn't the most openly seductive of the women here but her gracile figure and young face seemed to bring in enough customers, and she was on her knees in front of him, touching and still it was a no. She considered that he might not like women at all - and felt the sting of disappointment; maybe he wouldn't speak to her dominus at all, maybe it was genuinely for nothing. 

 

TAG: @Atrice

[Atrice]

He had only asked for her help with the trousers because it might be easier for her to carefully move the cloth over the wounds, than himself doing it. But then it all turned into one huge misunderstanding because of his poor Latin. It didn’t work well in a situation like this, did it? He had to learn it even better, so he’d not make a fool of himself again.

 Poor Ione flushed and pulled her hands back. She apologized a lot, didn’t she? Wulfric didn’t reply, but continued pulling on the trousers, because then there wouldn’t be more misunderstandings. She spoke again, of how he wanted help.

 “It is fine.” He said, maybe he sounded irritated, but mostly at himself, because he felt a little embarrassed over the misunderstanding. Not that he thought she’d be bad at what she did – she must have done it countless times before, and since she was still here, it couldn’t be all that bad… but he just didn’t want it, now. Not here, not now, not like this.

 Soon he stood and tied the belt-like string of the trousers. Getting his tunica down in place and then looking to see where he’d put his footwear, he barely remembered removing it. Only after he’d found them and sat down to put it on, did he look at her again, “I hope your dominus will not be disappoint with you. Because I have been here, but not… paid.” He then said, “Is he nice dominus?" 

@Sara

[Sara]

She stood awkwardly, silently as he redressed himself after his irritated snap at her. She knew better than to provoke a man when he was annoyed, even if said man wasn't annoyed at her. So she stood, arms hugging her waist and watching the floor rather than him. Some of the girls and men who worked here may not have given up, even after his fourth rejection, but she was not that confident in both herself or her abilities and so she didn't. She let the silence linger, as he clearly wanted it to. She could hear Darius, the guard, whistling in the corridor and the moans of another prostitute in another cell. Such was life in a brothel. 

His voice startled her and she looked up at him as he started to place on his shoes. "I..." Her dominus would be disappointed. Of course he would be; he was disappointed at lousy tips and when there wasn't a steady stream of customers coming through and their makeup and their clothes and the building. If it rained, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't try and blame it on his whores. "We'll explain it again to Darius." She gestured to the man in the corridor with an unconvincing smile, "He understood and has heard that nothings happened." She tried to smile again at his question and nodded; "Yes," She lied through her teeth, "He treats us well. And he's very good at his business." 

 

TAG: @Atrice