The Tempest

[Sara]

Ovinia lay curled on the floor the grove, wracked withs sobs for what seemed like hours but couldn't have been more than one. Every emotion at everything came tumbling out in one fell swoop; about the physical pain, the anguish of being stranded, the loss of her companions, the fear she felt over her company...she couldn't stop wailing and she couldn't stop shaking. When it finally did draw to a close and her sobs turned to sniffs, she was hoarse, red-eyed and with blotchy skin across her face. She wanted to go home, but there was no home to go to. The beach and the man were as far away from comfort as anything and so with a great, great deal of effort she pushed herself up and trudged further into the grove. 

The island, she figured out on her walk, was not big. She came out of the grove onto the other side of the island in under twenty minutes. This side had no beach - just jagged grey rocks that launched out straight into the sea. There were no buildings here, no boats, no signs of life. There were fish popping up on the horizon and seagulls swooping and another spring that she found a short distance away from the first, but that was it. Desolate. She now understood what Julia the Elder felt like on her exile. She sniffed and swotted away more tears with the back of her hand and set off around the perimeter of the beach, keeping her eyes peeled for anything of value. Nothing. Just a few more bodies propped against the shore - and none of people she knew. She walked slowly, limping, wobbling her way across the grass and sand until she spotted the smoke. She must have walked half the circumference of the island and it had taken less than an hour. Still, from the time she had left Lucius to her now gradual return, it had been over two and as she loomed into view in her ill-fitting tunica, she looked defeated. 

She didn't say anything at first as she saw him and instead moved to sit herself on the waters edge, far from the fire and staring out to the sea. When she heard him approach she swallowed and said; "There's nothing here. Nothing on the west side of the island at least." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Lucius pulled the bodies to shore. Searching them felt wrong, but he did anyway, and found some flint and steel on one of them. He also took a tunica - from a traveler, not a crew mate, somehow that would have felt worse - and then lined the bodies up, covering them with stones from the beach to the best of his ability. It was hard work, and left him completely exhausted. By the time Ovinia made an appearance, he was washing himself in the shallow water, and the wading back out to shore.

"There's nothing here. Nothing on the west side of the island at least." 

Small island, then. She looked more defeated than before, with her eyes red. Lucius, still only in his underwear (he had washed the tunica and set it out to dry), kept a polite distance as he sat next to her.

"We have water." he noted simply. "I found some figs, there's fish... judging from the gulls, we could find eggs too. We won't starve. We just need to keep the fire and the smoke going."

@Sara

[Sara]

"You are terrible at offering comfort." She observed with a flat voice and flatter gaze that cast far out to sea, searching for any chance of a rescue. There was obviously none to be found. 

"Nobody is coming, are they?" She asked, the thought sinking in. She couldn't think of it before - when everything felt so fresh and real and sore but sat here now - as the sun edged closer to the horizon, it seemed more likely. In any case, even if they did come, it would be a week or two before that happened. A fortnight here would feel like an eternity. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"You are terrible at offering comfort." 

"Same as you" he shrugged. Who said he had to comfort her? They were both in the same situation.

"Nobody is coming, are they?" 

"Not anytime soon. Unless we get very lucky. Maybe we should pray." he sighed. Even if they started looking for her after a while... it was going to take days, likely weeks. "The good news is... the island has water. Sailors always know where to find fresh water. Someone is bound to stop here, sooner or later..."

@Sara

[Sara]

"Do you wish me to comfort you? You seemed quite intent on making me loathe you." She snapped and then mumbled a half-hearted apology into her knees as she hugged them. She grew petulant and her words more barbed when she was afraid. 

His words were what she already knew, but hearing them aloud made them all the more painful. She sniffed into his tunica and nodded slowly. Her smile was dark and wry; "Pirates, perhaps, to carry us off as slaves?" She cast him a sidelong look. "I imagine I'd be worth a great deal more than you so should that happen, will you kindly drown me in the sea? Or use one of the flints for the fire?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

She snapped at him again, but then mumbled an apology. Gods, the woman was difficult. Lucius knew they had both had a hellish day, so he gave her a break. And offered some hope.

"Pirates, perhaps, to carry us off as slaves? I imagine I'd be worth a great deal more than you so should that happen, will you kindly drown me in the sea? Or use one of the flints for the fire?" 

He would have been lying if he said he had not considered that possibility before. Not even Rome could get id of all the pirates.

"I'd be worth a lot because I am strong and good-looking" he noted, without an attempt to brag. "But you, they'd most likely ask a ransom for you. I'm sure your father or husband would be happy to pay. You are worth more that way than being sold. Patricians are lucky."

@Sara

 

[Sara]

"Oh how exciting," She mumbled, "Being kidnapped and ransomed by pirates, just like Caesar. How fortunate I would be, how comforting." She smirked against the skin of her knees and rolled her eyes. "You could just lie and say you're a Patrician too. Would your business not pay for your safety?" 

She let out a heavy sigh and moved to stretch out her legs in the sun. She'd get an unrefined tan this way, but short of staying in the shade of the trees permanently there was no way to avoid it. "Would your family not come looking for you, as mine will? Your father..." She grew awkward, "Of course, but your mother? Wife? Siblings?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Oh how exciting. Being kidnapped and ransomed by pirates, just like Caesar. How fortunate I would be, how comforting. You could just lie and say you're a Patrician too. Would your business not pay for your safety?" 

"No one would pay a patrician's ransom for me, even if I could pass for one" Lucius chuckled. At least Ovinia was smiling now,even if it was a sarcastic one over the possibility of being taken by pirates. If Caesar survived it, so could they.

"Would your family not come looking for you, as mine will? Your father... Of course, but your mother? Wife? Siblings?" 

"I don't have a wife." Lucius admitted. "I have a mother, a brother, and a sister... my brother works on his own ship. If anyone comes looking, it will probably be him. And then I'll never hear the end of it." He glanced at her. "How about you?"

@Sara

[Sara]

She gave him a much softer smile as he spoke of his family. A full family, a full life. He wasn't just some man stranded on an island he was a person with a history and a future. She sighed contemplatively, her fingers tracing soft shapes in the sand. "You two don't get along?" she quirked a brow and glanced across at him. "I sympathise." She said with a slightly conspiratorial chuckle. 

"My father and mother and three full brothers and a half brother..." She smiled and then almost immediately added, after forgetting herself, "And my husband of course." She contemplated adding a fake child or two on but decided against it. She could lie for a little while, she knew what marriage entailed (vaguely) but nothing about motherhood. "One of them will come." She said with a nod of her head. "I'm...important." She added, more sheepishly this time before adding more quietly, "I'm sorry for your friends on the ship..." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"You two don't get along? I sympathise." 

"He is... better at being the man of the family than I am." Lucius admitted. He loved his brother, but he would never live up to him.

"My father and mother and three full brothers and a half brother... And my husband of course. One of them will come. I'm...important." 

Lucius nodded. She probably was. Important in a way he would not be, because she was born into a different kind of family. "Good." Their best chance at a rescue.

"I'm sorry for your friends on the ship..." 

"I'm sorry about your companions." Lucuius sighed. He glanced towards the piles of stone where he had buried the bodies. "Honestly... we work, we pray, we do out best, but... it is always a good chance we'll die at sea. I've always kind of expected it."

@Sara

[Sara]

She swallowed and shook her head. "They might be fine still. As I said," she sighed, "Other islands." That was hollow but she didn't wish to look too deeply into it. She'd already shed far too many tears today and felt utterly wrung out. 

"But you're not dead." She gave him a small, lopsided smile over her shoulder and then averted her eyes back to the sea. "Instead you're stuck on an island with a woman you do not respect and cannot stand. Which fate do you imagine is worse? A watery grave or weeks at least, with me?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"They might be fine still. As I said. Other islands." 

"Sure." Lucius kept his eyes on the sea too, hoping against hope he might see sails in the distance. 

"But you're not dead. Instead you're stuck on an island with a woman you do not respect and cannot stand. Which fate do you imagine is worse? A watery grave or weeks at least, with me?" 

"You." Lucius smiled at her, glad to see her in a better mood. "I can't stand you, but I do respect you. And at least I got someone to talk to." He got to his feet, brushing off the sand, and offered a hand to her. "Come on. We need to keep the fire going."

@Sara

[Sara]

She managed a mirthless, dark laugh at his comment and shot him a glare although there was no heat in it. She was feeling lighter - as if the horror and ridiculousness of this situation had given way to a feeling of peace. Because there was absolutely nothing to be done. Nothing at all. 

She raised a hand to blot out the sun and stared up at him as he stood. This angle was flattering. She quickly dropped the hand so she was squinting, but nonetheless accepted his assistance - her whole body hurt and ached as if she'd been thrown around in a litter for years. "I shall keep the fire going," She cleared her throat as she stood and hurriedly let go of her hand, wiping it down on the misshapen, baggy tunica. "You shall find us some dinner. And I'll do the fire and find a vessel for some water. There must be something around here I can use." Not waiting for agreement, she set off in a slow, shuffling pace back towards their makeshift camp, eyes scanning for anything she might use.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

He helped her up. At least she was ready to keep going now that the reality had sunk in.

"I shall keep the fire going. You shall find us some dinner. And I'll do the fire and find a vessel for some water. There must be something around here I can use." 

Lucius quirked an eyebrow.

"Do you even know how to... You know what? Never mind. Just... don't let it go out."

He returned to the camp site some time later, carrying the now dry tunica filled with figs. Not all of them were completely ripe yet, but they would have to do.

"We'll figure out the fishing tomorrow." he sighed, taking a look at how Ovinia had fared with the fire.

@Sara

[Sara]

As it turned out, Ovinia was more resourceful than she gave herself credit for. After making her way, slowly, back to the fire she'd scanned around for anything she might use to carry water and settled on an ingenious solution using Lucius' discarded belt. She set off into the copse of trees armed with it and on the hunt for the enormous leaves she'd passed on her way here. She found them and then set about filling each leaf with a gulp or two of water, before carefully puckering the tops so they were closed. Then, she wound the belt around the tops of each until she could carry them all securely and set back off to camp.

Fire completely abandoned, after setting down her store, she went to examine her chiton. It was bloodied and salty but dry at least now. She cast one quick glance round and stepped closer to the trees, facing them and away from the beach. Hurriedly, she tugged Lucius' over her head, leaving her in just her subligaculum...right as Lucius came bandying back saying they'd figure out fishing tomorrow. She screeched, although mercifully he couldn't see anything but her bare back and tugged on her own chiton furiously, ignoring the pain caused by the movement of her shoulder. She turned around to face him, eyes furious and embarrassed and set about dejectedly adding twigs to the fire...which was now more of a smoulder than anything. 

She didn't look at him and just pointed a finger to his discarded tunic. After a few more moments she said, in a dejected voice; "There's water over there." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Of course just as he arrived, Ovinia was undressed. Lucius cleared his throat and she squealed, a very amusing sound, tugging on her dress. As if. These patrician girls, thinking everyone was always out to get them.

The fire was almost out, Lucius had expected nothing less. He sighed, crouching by it and bowing on the embers carefully, adding twigs and kindling until the flames sprang up again. He glanced in the direction of the water she indicated, and arched an eyebrow at the bunch of leaves. Well... that was certainly a solution. "We'll move closer to the spring tomorrow."

The sun was setting now. The first night on the island. Lucius unfolded the tunica, and spread out the figs; then he put on the other tunica that she had just discarded. "I should take a look at your wound."

@Sara

[Sara]

"You could also say you're welcome, Ovinia if you so chose." She muttered dejectedly and glanced at her contraption. She felt safer on the beach, as if somebody would simply glance across the water and see her. Being buried in the foliage of the trees was not nearly as comforting, but she didn't wish to seem pathetic and so stayed silent. 

She sighed in relief as he donned his tunic. Finally. She could now, at least, meet his eyes although colour was still high on her cheeks from their unfortunate incident. He was the only person to have seen her undressed beyond her mother and slaves. She flushed more at the thought. "My wound is fine." She muttered and poked the fire with a stick. "You fuss like a woman. What of your own wounds?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"You could also say you're welcome, Ovinia if you so chose." 

"You did good." He was honest about it. For someone who had never carried water or tended to fire in her life, she managed to figure one of those things out.

"My wound is fine. You fuss like a woman. What of your own wounds?" 

"Isn't that a bit demeaning to women?" Lucius wondered, amused. "Fine, you can change your bandages alone for all I care. My wounds are not as serious as yours. Here. Have some figs."

[Sara]

"Everything is demeaning to women." She countered with a roll of her eyes, "Yourself included." She hadn't forgotten the comment he'd made of her fictitious relationship with her fictitious husband. And the horror she seemed to produce in him over the fire and the water and her...well...everything. She maintained, however, it was absolutely not her fault that she was never taught any practical skills. It would hardly be becoming for a woman like her, after all. 

"We have no bandages to change," She said with a sigh and tested the pain by moving her arm in a circle. It was agony and she dropped it down with a mewl of pain. She took a fig and toyed with it, her appetite utterly diminished all of a sudden, even as the sun was sinking closer to the horizon. She stared at the fig in her hand and sighed. She shouldn't ask but she couldn't keep imagining. She needed to know. "What happened?" She glanced up with wide, dark eyes. "How did it happen? The ship? I remember the evening, it was so dark and then...nothing." She moved her hand to her face where a bruise was blossoming over her cheek. She must have hit her head, it would explain it. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Everything is demeaning to women. Yourself included." 

Alright then. Lucius sighed, and let the argument go.

"We have no bandages to change,"

"I'll get you clean moss tomorrow." The bandages were in short supply, but at least they could change the moss soaking up the blood. Without stitches, her wound was bound to ooze for a while. They sat together, Lucius eating some figs, and watched the sunset.

"What happened? How did it happen? The ship? I remember the evening, it was so dark and then...nothing."

"There was a storm" Lucius was hazy on some of the details as well. "Something... must have broken in the hold. The cargo shifted, the ship tilted... we couldn't steer it away from the rocks." He frowned. All of the crew, lost, for something this simple.

@Sara

[Sara]

"And the ship broke up on them." She finished his sentence with a heavy sigh and a shake of her head. Everything was lost for something as simple as not tying down some cargo, or the leather of a strap breaking. What a waste. The story made sense though and explained the scrapes and bruises that decorated them  both, and the shard of wood now abandoned on the sands from her back. Whatever had happened, it had been violent and merciless judging from their conditions. She didn't dare wonder how the other bodies fared.

"Tomorrow we should look for shelter." She opined, trying to make herself useful. "I only looked at one half of the island and in any case there's wood we could...fashion something. A hut." Said the woman with absolutely no construction experience but...how hard could it be?

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Lucius nodded. The girl had no experience whatsoever, but at least she was trying. It could have been a lot worse if she was lying face down on the ground, wailing. Maybe they could hold out a little longer, if she didn't just collapse.

"Tomorrow, we'll explore the rest of the island" he nodded, agreeing to her plan. Tonight... we need to keep the fire up." He stood, pulling on the piece of sail he'd rescued from the water. It was torn and rough, but it was larger than a blanket. "At the risk of you threatening me with your husband again, I think we should share this."

[Sara]

"I'm not cold." She lied and wound an arm protectively around herself. She was trying to act kind and generous, like all the good, virtuous Roman women in the stories did. "You can have it, if I get cold in the night I can sleep closer to the fire." The risk of singing her hair or setting her chiton on fire outweighed the risk of waking up in a strange mans arms. She trusted him more as the afternoon had worn on, but she was absolutely nowhere near believing he wouldn't try anything.

She finally started to pick at the fig, trying to summon the energy to behave normally in...very abnormal circumstances. She moved to unfurl one of her leaves from the belt and drank generously. Every movement hurt, and she felt utterly, utterly wrung out. Still, it was polite to make conversation at dinner even as sleep was tugging at her mind. "Did you always want to be a sailor?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Suit yourself." Lucius was too tired to argue, so he had settled on that answer for the foreseeable future. He pulled and wrapped himself in it as the sun set and the air began to cool. He was not responsible for Ovinia. Sure, her family might reward him one day for treating her well, but that was a far away thing. They drank and ate, and Ovinia felt compelled to make conversation.

"Did you always want to be a sailor?" 

"I've always been one." Lucius shrugged. It ran in the family. "I like sailing. I like the sea. Even when it's angry." There was something beautiful about it. "What about your husband? Is he a senator or something?"

@Sara

[Sara]

"Since you were how old?" She pressed with a brow furrowed in genuine interest. "You're not Greek." He spoke it, obviously, but with an accent. How had a man like him ended up in the southernmost tip of Greece, sailing on a merchant vessel? Peculiar. The thought gave her mind something to work on other than thinking about her impending doom, a potential assault, and the pain that ravaged her body. 

"Yes." She swallowed and nodded hurriedly at his own question. She really should have taken the time to concoct a backstory for the fictitious husband. Dammit. "He's a Senator. An aedile, like a magistrate." She explained. Thank the Gods her ear had been talked off the week before last by a man vying for her hand who was an aedile. "He served in the legions as well, he was famed for it actually - all over," She hesitated just for a second before continuing, "Britannia. He was a Tribune in Britannia." She sniffed, satisfied with herself and continued to pick at her fig. "I doubt you'd have met him, but he'll reward you handsomely I'm sure when I'm returned. Love pays well." 

 

TAG: @Chevi