A Peddler of Foxes

[Chevi]

"I need no bath! I'll just scrape some dirt off and splash my face in the Tiber. Baths are too noisy. I only have them when I need to. Romans make cleaning oneself so complicated!"

"The Tiber?" Thessala looked at her in shock. It was not a look that she displayed very often. "How are you still alive, woman?"

Bestia truly was a creature that not fit into the neat mosaic of Roman life.

Thessala shook her head, filling two cups with wine and handing one to her. Then she turned her attention to filling a bowl with water from a pitcher, and dapping a clean cloth in it.

"What is it that you do when you're not conquering hearts or trying to rip them out in the Coliseum? Preparing for the next war with Troy? No, wait - that's the Greeks. Silly me."

"I am not Greek" Thessala chuckled "The name... that's just for the show. I'm Thracian actually. Or... I was, a long time ago. And you?"

@Kah

[Kah]

"I make do," Bestia said. She took the wine, nodded, and tilted her head back. Despite her wild presence thus far, she was delicate and restrained with her drink. Polite, even. Her sip was quiet, she wiped her lips with the tips of her fingers, and she thanked Thessala quietly.

"I'm exotic," Bestia answered next. "Or so I've been told. I couldn't tell you where, exactly, I'm from. Just that there were a lot of trees." She shrugged. It wasn't so uncommon a situation for oneself to be found in. How many slaves entered the trade as children, never remembering who they came from? How many orphans were the result of war, famine, disease, or sudden abandonment? How many people turned up somewhere they didn't expect, their mind blurred by drink?

"But I've known Thrace," she said, after taking another drink.

 

@Chevi

Edited March 26, 2022 by Kah

[Chevi]

"I'm exotic. Or so I've been told. I couldn't tell you where, exactly, I'm from. Just that there were a lot of trees." 

"You certainly are." Thessala dug up the bandages she kept in a chest, and moved over to sit on the bed next to Bestia. Wherever she had come from, she was definitely exotic.

"But I've known Thrace," 

"Have you?" she chuckled. "Haven't been there for a long time. Then again, I haven't been to Thessaly at all... May I?" she held out a hand for Bestia's, to tend to her scratches.

@Kah

[Kah]

Bestia, surprised, nonetheless held out her wrist for Thessala. She watched with a curious expression, sipping at her wine. The wildling never winced, but she did frown a couple of times, making no sound save her gulping. She was used to small aches and pains, and even worse - all hurt led to a greater ecstasy in her line of work.

"Really now?" Bestia answered. "I bet that makes small talk with the noblewomen a pain. They're always so interested in the strange and far-away. I don't blame them - they're all cooped up in their homes, traded around like commodities, never allowed to be rowdy.... We don't even vote, for Jupiter's sake."

She sighed a dramatic sigh, then tipped her head back and downed the wine like it was fresh water. Bestia smacked her lips together and let out a quiet, "Ahhhh." She put her drink down on the nearest hard surface, which one would hope wasn't the floor.

"But I digress. Politics are boring. I wonder if letting the gladiators fight a lion in the senate might liven things up a bit."

 

@Chevi

Edited April 12, 2022 by Kah

[Chevi]

"Really now? I bet that makes small talk with the noblewomen a pain. They're always so interested in the strange and far-away. I don't blame them - they're all cooped up in their homes, traded around like commodities, never allowed to be rowdy.... We don't even vote, for Jupiter's sake."

"Just because I have not been to Thessaly doesn't mean I don't know how to fake it. Worked for Herodotus, didn't it?" Thessala grinned. She treated Bestia's scratches in a surprisingly gentle way, making sure they were thoroughly clean and dabbing some ointment on them before she started bandaging.

"I agree with you on the other part, though. Roman women... a lot of them wish to be me, secretly or not. And even more of them wish me to bed them" she added with another grin. That was, of course, not always possible. But it was always fun.

"But I digress. Politics are boring. I wonder if letting the gladiators fight a lion in the senate might liven things up a bit."

"Definitely would. Even better if the senators have to fight it" she chuckled. "Don't tell me you also supply lions."

@Kah