Priorities

[Chevi]

"I think you're being modest. Am I to think you don't socialise with anybody rich these days? Not even those silly boys from the party at the Palace?" 

"Are you referring to the caesar's brother?" Lucius quirked an eyebrow. Yes, he socialized with Tiberius, although not in quite that capacity anymore. And he highly doubted that Tiberius would want to invest in running a brothel. Although, who knew... But Vibia probaby had other dreams, and better options.

"Music, probably. Maybe for the theatre. That's the problem with being beautiful - everybody is just looking at me, rather than listening to my music. I want to be remembered... Infamous, maybe. You?" 

"Oh I am definitely infamous" he grinned. He knew that this time Vibia had been telling the truth. "I plan on going all the way to praefect, so I can change things a bit... And for the record, I have heard your music, and it's excellent."

@Sara

[Sara]

"He's one of them." She offered with a grin, "And the blonde you were with at the party. He didn't look poor." Poor Vibia, she was firmly barking up the wrong tree if she thought Marcus Junius Silanus had any money he could throw her way. 

"And as Praefect what would you change?" She studied him with genuine interest, "More fire ladders and buckets in the insula's? Don't you think you could do...a little more than that?" She tilted her head to the side, curious. In her estimation Lucius could achieve more than simply putting out fires for the plebs and slaves of the city. "And thank you, all self taught I'll have you know. Maybe you could let your rich friends know that I'm available for other services, beyond what I'm famous for?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"He's one of them. And the blonde you were with at the party. He didn't look poor."

"I'm not going to speak for Silanus" Lucius held up a hand, chuckling. He knew better. And Vibia probably knew better too.

"And as Praefect what would you change? More fire ladders and buckets in the insula's? Don't you think you could do...a little more than that?"

"Both of those are good ideas. And helping the city not burn to the ground every other Saturnalia is good enough for me." he noted. And he meant it. Lucius was not a generally ambitious person; rank only mattered as far as he could use it to make a meaningful change.

"And thank you, all self taught I'll have you know. Maybe you could let your rich friends know that I'm available for other services, beyond what I'm famous for?" 

"I'll do what I can." he nodded with a smile. He doubted most would hire Vibia just for that... but she also had her ambitions, and she was the kind of woman who would make them come true. "Seriously, though... as praefect, I could change so much about how the vigiles work. It's not as ambitious or consul, or legate... but you saw that mess today, back there. It shouldn't happen."

@Sara

[Sara]

Aaaand the conversation was back to him. Not that Vibia minded, really, she didn't much like to talk of herself - or her real self as it were. She gave glimpses to people she liked here and there, but never the full picture. She wasn't the young woman who had first walked into Rome and she was keeping it that way - she was Vibia, the legendary lover. That suited her just fine for now. She didn't want to dwell on what happened when that infamy ran out.

"It's the way things always have been though." She shrugged with a little wince of sympathy, "Don't you have to be like...the emperor to actually change anything? And you really think the rich lot," by which she meant Senators, "Will let you save some plebs when a rich mans house is burning over on the next street? Won't they just cut your funding?" Vibia wasn't stupid, she picked up things from conversations she overheard. She'd had a man last week who wouldn't stop complaining the vigiles were overfunded. Best not tell Lucius that though.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"It's the way things always have been though. Don't you have to be like...the emperor to actually change anything?"

"No. Just on very good terms with the emperor" Lucius smirked. Which, arguably, he was not. But he had the ear of Tiberius, which was the next best thing, if the young imperial knew how to stay on his brother's good side. A lot of if's, but it was a start. Lucius sipped his drink, and rested a hand on Vibia's leg.

"And you really think the rich lot... Will let you save some plebs when a rich mans house is burning over on the next street? Won't they just cut your funding?" 

"If we do our job well, we won't have to make that choice. I'm not just talk about giving different orders. It might need a whole different system. All the way up from the foundations. Literally. Much of the city is built like a tinder box. And we are not living in the era of Romulus anymore."

@Sara

[Sara]

Vibia eyed him and moved her fingers to softly trail over his jaw and neck, a small, impish smile on her lips. "Lucius Vipsanius Roscius; hero of the city." She didn't believe he'd achieve it, but then again she'd always been a hardened cynic. She knew who controlled the empire - it was the men that came to her bed and she knew that few of them would likely care a jot for what the man currently stroking her thigh did for the people of the city. 

"Just don't knock down the Venus for a fire break," She chuckled and shifted in the seat, "You'll have all the rich folk hammering at your door if you do." She sipped her drink and then let out a languid yawn and stretched out, draping her legs further over Lucius'. She felt exhausted, and relaxed into her seat with her jaw resting in her palm. When was the last time she actually relaxed? "So," She offered sincerely, "What else is new with you besides saving our plebs and trying to get into my bed?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Just don't knock down the Venus for a fire break. You'll have all the rich folk hammering at your door if you do." 

"Technically, they'd be hammering at yours" Lucius chuckled. She felt relaxed against him, draping her legs across his. She was not putting effort into flirting as much as she was... enjoying his company? He decided not to call her out on it.

"So. What else is new with you besides saving our plebs and trying to get into my bed?" 

Lucius arched an eyebrow.

"I think you have that the wrong way around. I am tying to get in with the plebs, and I just saved your bed." he grinned. "But if you're offering..." She wasn't not for free. He knew that, but he teased her anyway. "Otherwise... I might have managed to set my brother up with someone."

@Sara

[Sara]

She groaned audibly at his terrible joke and squirmed on his lap. "I might be offering. Perhaps we could work out a payment plan?" she tilted her head to the side and then smirked. "But I charge very high interest rates, I'm afraid." Being a freedwoman rather than a slave in the Venus meant she had some leeway in who she bedded and didn't, but she didn't think the domina would be much impressed with her taking a penniless vigile to her bed. 

"I had thought your brother was going to marry the girl that liked you?" She arched a brow, her eyes narrowing, "The plain one that threw the hissy fit at the Imperial party?" She smirked again and tapped a finger to her temple, "I remember everything Lucius." that was part of her job, after all.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"I might be offering. Perhaps we could work out a payment plan? But I charge very high interest rates, I'm afraid." 

Lucius chuckled, running a hand along he leg. He knew she was teasing; he did not have the money to carry a payment plan, even if she did mean the offer. They drifted to another subject.

"I had thought your brother was going to marry the girl that liked you? The plain one that threw the hissy fit at the Imperial party? I remember everything Lucius." 

"Plain?" Lucius caught himself a moment too late. Right. Ovinia. "No, she... that's done now. They broke off the engagement."

@Sara

 

[Sara]

"Aha!" She grinned and then smirked at him. "But yes, for the record, plain." She smoothed a hand over the silk of her dress and chuckled, "I find the dark hair, dark eyes thing a little overdone here in Rome. No offence, of course." She gestured to his own colouring. 

"And why may I ask was it called off?" She tilted her head to the side, studying him with the satisfaction of a cat with a bowl full of cream, "No wonder you don't need me - you have somebody else warming your bed, perhaps/" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"None taken" Lucius groaned as Vibia's face lit up in excitement. No matter how he tried to avoid the topic, they kept circling back to it somehow.

"And why may I ask was it called off? No wonder you don't need me - you have somebody else warming your bed, perhaps" 

"I am not sleeping with Ovinia!" he stated, a little too hastily. His argument was somewhat weakened by the fact that he did have a few dreams where... Um. "She just... I don't know, her family decided she needed a better match or something."

@Sara

[Sara]

"Mhmm." She said, utterly disbelieving that he wouldn't like the opportunity to bed the prissy girl. She'd seen enough love-sick men in her time in the Venus and the one sat in front of her was no better than most of them.

"And how good of a match is a penniless vigile who disgraced his family's name and got adopted?" She tilted her her head, amused. "Would you like some advice, Lucius?" she as going to give it, whether he wanted it or not; "I thought perhaps the girl liked you and I can understand that. I didn't know you liked her as well but...take it from me, sweetness,"  She raised her finger to stroke the side of his face softly, "It's never going to happen. So you'd best find yourself a pretty young pleb girl to distract yourself with. Or I hear the Elysium has some new stock." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"And how good of a match is a penniless vigile who disgraced his family's name and got adopted?"

Lucius frowned at Vibia, who marched straight into territory he did not want her to go to. And she was right, as usual. If Gaius was not a good enough match, neither was he.

"Would you like some advice, Lucius?"

"Not really" he grumbled, reaching for his wine, but he knew she would give it anyway.

"I thought perhaps the girl liked you and I can understand that. I didn't know you liked her as well but...take it from me, sweetness. It's never going to happen. So you'd best find yourself a pretty young pleb girl to distract yourself with. Or I hear the Elysium has some new stock." 

If only it was so easy.

Vibia had the annoying habit of being right. Gods, she knew how things stood before either Lucius or Ovinia realized it. It was terrifying that she did (he imagined Ovinia finding out). And it was never going to happen now. The words, being said out loud, made his stomach sink none the less. He drank.

"I know it's never going to happen, I'm not an idiot. Someone will come along." Someone else.

[Sara]

He clearly did  not believe that, and for the first time she considered Lucius not only as an ambitious, irreverent young man but also as...an optimist. Naively, optimistic. There'd be no sane way of being with a woman like that yet she thought she saw hope in his voice or heard it on his voice. The fool. 

"They won't just come along," She tutted - trying to cheer him up, "You have to go looking. Find some beauty with big blue eyes and enormous breasts who hangs on your every word. I'm sure there's plenty of them in the insulae you save." She gave him a rueful smile. "Nobody likes a man that mopes, and it'd be a waste of good looks and a big..." She glanced down him for a brief second, "...heart, if you waste it dreaming. The sooner you shake yourself out of it the better." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"They won't just come along. You have to go looking. Find some beauty with big blue eyes and enormous breasts who hangs on your every word. I'm sure there's plenty of them in the insulae you save."

"You mean one for free?" he smirked a little at her over the edge of his cup. She was the most famous pretty blonde, after all. And yes, he had met many pretty women grateful for being saved, although the general mistrust of the vigiles had dampened their chances somewhat.

"Nobody likes a man that mopes, and it'd be a waste of good looks and a big...heart, if you waste it dreaming. The sooner you shake yourself out of it the better." 

"I am trying" He wasn't, not really, or at all, but he wasn't telling Vibia that. He caught her double meaning and glance, and grinned at the compliment. "What can I say, I like a challenge in a woman. It will take some searching."

[Sara]

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, with skills like yours you could charge, let alone get a girl for free." She grinned and reclined back in her seat now he'd perked up and stopped moping. At least for a moment. Ovinia. She committed the name to memory - she wasn't much in the business of selling secrets, the Collegium rather she gave them information on the Syndicate, but information was power and Vibia was like a magpie in that regard, collecting useful scraps as much as she could.

"Fine," she tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and peered around. "Any of the women in this place would be a challenge now they've seen you with me." She smirked. She had a powerful impact on men...which meant, in turn, she had an equally powerful but overall far more negative effect on women. "Which one takes your fancy?" She scanned over their faces until she caught one. "What about the red-head at the bar?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, with skills like yours you could charge, let alone get a girl for free."

"I do like hearing it again." Lucius smirked at her. He knew she would have to compliment her clients to make them feel good about themselves. But he was... fairly confident in his skills.

"Fine. Any of the women in this place would be a challenge now they've seen you with me. Which one takes your fancy? What about the red-head at the bar?" 

"Oh." Lucius blinked "You mean like... right now?" He had not been planning on starting something like that. He glanced over at the redhead Vibia had indicated. He did not feel inspired. "What makes her think she's free?" A woman at a popina, alone? Lucius was stalling, but it was a valid question. It was not easy to find a Roman woman who was willing to have a fling with a vigile while risking her social standing...

@Sara

[Sara]

Vibia quirked a brow at him and then rolled her eyes dramatically. "You must be the only young man in Rome that doesn't have sex on his mind all the time. Yes, right now." 

She considered the woman - all big dark eyes and long red hair, freckles and a fantastic pair of breasts not very well hidden in the folds of her chiton. She didn't look like a prostitute (Vibia had an eye for that sort of thing), so perhaps the poor beleaguered wife of somebody currently drinking themselves to death in here? Or a girl out for drinks with her friends? She narrowed her eyes. Yes. "If she wasn't free, she wouldn't be in here - no husband is going to let a woman like that out alone in a popina. I think she's waiting for some girlfriends, probably to commiserate one of their husbands or a shitty day at work." She grinned. "Why?" She narrowed her eyes at Lucius, "Not your type?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"You must be the only young man in Rome that doesn't have sex on his mind all the time. Yes, right now." 

Lucius rolled his eyes. Vibia was turning this into some kind of a game, and he was not sure he wanted to play yet. Or that the woman pointed out would want to play, either.

"If she wasn't free, she wouldn't be in here - no husband is going to let a woman like that out alone in a popina. I think she's waiting for some girlfriends, probably to commiserate one of their husbands or a shitty day at work."

She was not wrong. Most Roman men would not allow their wives to hang out at a popina like this. And if the woman were a prostitute, Vibia would have known. She was probably a plebeian, daughter of someone who had not found a suitable husband yet. Or maybe a young widow.

"Why? Not your type?" 

Lucius rolled his eyes at the obvious goading. "I won't know if she's my type until I talk to her..."

@Sara

[Sara]

Vibia scoffed and tossed her long white blonde hair over her shoulder. "Please." She gave Lucius an amused look, "As if all you care about is personality. I have a terrible personality and yet you still like me." She gave him a challenging grin and then nudged him on his hip with her outstretched foot. 

"But if you want to be boring and not show our red-headed friend a good time then you shall have to be more entertaining company for me." She gave him a gentler smile. "Or else I shall have to scrawl on the walls of Rome that Lucius has been turned into a moping fool by...what was her name again? Olivia? Ovinia?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Please. As if all you care about is personality. I have a terrible personality and yet you still like me." 

"You are clever enough to be interesting." Lucius grinned back at her, patting her leg. She was fascinating because she was intelligent and outspoken. Sure, she was also very, very attractive, but being that alone would not have made her interesting.

"But if you want to be boring and not show our red-headed friend a good time then you shall have to be more entertaining company for me. Or else I shall have to scrawl on the walls of Rome that Lucius has been turned into a moping fool by...what was her name again? Olivia? Ovinia?" 

Lucius's smile faded as he gave her a more serious look.

"Don't." Scrawling things on walls had gotten him into trouble before. And he had not even been the one to do the writing. "I told you, that's nothing." He added, trying to make it sound lighter. "How shall I entertain you, then?"

@Sara

[Sara]

She arched a brow at the firmness of his words and met his serious look with a challenging one of her own. She was not a woman that (generally) stood for being told off. She'd remember this moment, and the name of the girl. Ovinia. Something was afoot. Maybe she should ask Helios, see if he knew anything. "Remember," She said seriously, as she bent at the waist to pick up her wine, "I'm here out of friendship. You should think more carefully about how you choose to talk to your friends." 

But the moment passed after another beat of stern awkwardness. "Oh I don't know," She chuckled, twisting back into the positive, seductive, upbeat Vibia she so often was. The mask had slipped though, just for a moment, "How about you escort me home and pick out somebody fun for my evening activity?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Remember. I'm here out of friendship. You should think more carefully about how you choose to talk to your friends." 

He could tell Vibia did not take kindly to the way he responded to her. No wonder; he had no right to talk to her that way. She had hit a sensitive spot. And she knew it. Dammit.

"I'm sorry. I just care about... friends' reputation." If Ovinia was just a friend, she still deserved better. Vibia easily moved back into her more flirtatious self.

"Oh I don't know. How about you escort me home and pick out somebody fun for my evening activity?" 

Lucius quirked an eyebrow at her, smirking over his cup of wine. "You'd hand me the power to pick a man for you?"

@Sara

[Sara]

Yes, he did care about his friends reputation. Oddly so. She stored that bit of information with the rest and gave him a tight smile that quickly morphed into a more genuine one as they fell back onto safer pastures. 

"As long as he can afford me, I don't mind. I figure you might have better taste than some," She grinned, "Seeing as you, yourself, were such a catch before you threw it all away." She stood with languid movements, sliding her legs from his lap and picking up the wine cup. It was a cheap clay thing and she felt no qualms about stealing it as she jerked her head for him to follow her back towards the Venus and the smouldering ruin of the place next door. 

Her eyes scanned the crowds outside. Drunk and middle aged and utterly uninspiring. She wrinkled her nose. "Can you not just...take out a loan for me?" She glanced up at him, "Surely I'm worth it?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"As long as he can afford me, I don't mind. I figure you might have better taste than some. Seeing as you, yourself, were such a catch before you threw it all away." 

"I am flattered you trust my taste in men" Lucius grinned, standing to follow her back to the Venus. Even the fire could not halt the brothel's business for too long. "And I'll let you know, I'm still a catch."

"Can you not just...take out a loan for me? Surely I'm worth it?" 

"You always are" he grinned at her as they crossed the crowd towards the Venus. "I'm just saving the chance for a special occasion." And trying to find a person to give the loan in the first place, because family was definitely out of the question. Mania would murder him, and so would Gaius. "But I'll write another poem about you if you give me a kiss."

Lucius' eyes scanned the crowd milling about, drinking, waiting, or loitering about the Venus and the neighboring building. "Him" he nodded towards a young blonde man who stood hesitantly across the street.

@Sara