Application: Quintus Lentulus Batiatus (Spartacus : Blood and Sand)

[masteroftitans]

((WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS for Spartacus: Blood and Sand, season 1.))

A middle-aged man of unimpressive stature, dressed in the garments of a successful Roman and drenched in blood, appeared on the floor of the Sorting Room. After a moment, he stood up, looking around. There was supposed to be a river. And a ferryman. And a three-headed dog. But

Comments

[j_whitlock]

For Jasper, one of the hands down coolest things about being at Hogwarts was that if you saw someone dressed in ancient Roman garb, it was generally a good indication of when they were from.

Ancient Roman garb covered in one's own blood helped to explain why they were in the Sorting Room, considering a large percentage of Hogwarts' populace counted themselves among the formerly dead

[masteroftitans]

Batiatus was not only clad in ancient Roman garb, it was expensive ancient Roman garb- he'd been in the middle of a very important event marking a triumphant moment for his house when he'd found his ambitions interrupted by death. His very high-quality tunic of an exceptional shade of robin's-egg blue was definitely not looking its best at the moment. The tunic wasn't only soaked with his own blood- that of quite a few fallen Roman soldiers and citizens was mixed in, along with with some of his beloved wife's. He'd suffered one of those exceedingly melodramatic ends which involved a veritable pool of blood by the end of it- which was what came from slaughter in the middle of a villa containing a shallow pool of water. So, it was somewhat watered down, but not enough to diminish the assault on Jasper's senses

[j_whitlock]

((I never mind, I know longer replies require more time and thought. And it's hard for me to avoid going into TL;DR when I see a plot in the making, like above with Joachim. :p I hope you're feeling better now!

And yes, Jasper is always wearing the signet ring+his wedding band. There's also the Cullen crest on a wristband beneath his sleeve that Bati can notice or not when Jasper raises his hand. Haha I love how Jasper gets mistaken for a servant due to his helpfulness.))

To Batiatus' credit, he was being a lot more subtle than most were when checking out their first sparklepire. Jasper was mildly surprised that the man appeared more interested in his rings than anything else, and simply kept his hand where it was so he could get a good look. Come to think of it, signet rings were important in Roman society, so perhaps that explained Batiatus' interest. But would the emblem of House Harkonnen have any meaning to him

[masteroftitans]

Batiatus gave Jasper's rings a brief but observant glance- the wedding band meant little, plain as such things were, but the other ring was definitely a signet of some sort. It bore enough of a resemblance to complex signet designs that its function was evident, even if the design itself was unknown to him. Although it was impossible for Batiatus to know exactly what the ring meant, but it did make it event that Jasper was not a slave despite his helpful offers. Beyond that, he could tell little- it could be a relic of wherever Jasper had been drawn from, or it could relate to something at the strange school. But, it definitely meant he wouldn't be for sale.

Jasper's confidence wasn't missed, and Batiatus watched with intent interest as he passed his hands over his clothing and murmured some odd words. "Jupiter's cock!" he exclaimed, startled and astonished as the gore simply evaporated from his garments completely. It seemed there was something to this magic he kept hearing about. As Jasper's hands moved, he caught a glimpse of yet

[g_wormtongue]

Grima examined the bloodstained man who looked as if he'd spent the day hunting Orcs. He gave a small smile at the cranky responses. "I have known few dead men who have been so talkative" he said mildly. (Clearly he had not gotten around enough at Hogwarts. Too busy holing up in his room and searching the rune-box.)

"And as far as I know cheese has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this castle. Though you can certainly have some if you desire." The Hogwarts grocery store and great hall were constant sources of astonishment to him.

[masteroftitans]

Batiatus examined Grima in turn, who to all appearances seemed like a rather cleaner and somewhat better dressed specimen than usual of some barbarian tribe like the Getae. Barbarians were nothing new, he'd trained many of them, and, knew that some could adapt to civilization extremely well. "Neither have I, and I've known many dead men. But after speaking with some the residents of this supposed 'magic school', I've come to the conclusion that I didn't stay dead. It's fucking inexplicable, but, everything about this situation is." It was actually easier to accept the not-staying-dead part than the time-traveling part. The former was easily explained by divine intervention, but the latter was perplexing, and all too difficult to wrap his mind around

[g_wormtongue]

"Strange to be sure. But the effects of sourcery seem unpredictable. We are all detained at the whim of a wizard whose soul resides in a hat." His mouth skewed. "Strange questions about cheese are only to be expected- but the place is rich in hospitality- such lavish wealth! Such a storehouse of knowledge! And not a single flea.

But what of your own time and place? Perhaps Castle Hogwarts is not so perplexing to you."

[masteroftitans]

Despite Grima's rather sickly and unkempt appearance, Batiatus begin to take an immediate liking of sorts to the man. It was something about his general demeanor, one that suggested he didn't waste time on frivolities, combined with his manner of speech. He had a brain, and it was probably a good one- he didn't miss that Grima lauded the knowledge of the weird magic school. He also noted that Grima assigned an intelligent controlling power to the Hat- a 'wizard' manged to render as a 'magus' due to the translation spell, which was a more sensible attitude than a literal talking Hat. He expected Grima might have some quality advice regarding the castle in general. Little could he know that the potentially-mad Sorting Hat had already inflicted a role of advice-giving upon Grima

[redhead_temp]

"Oi! I didn't want to come here. I've already been here. I need you to take me to the Popcorn room." A curvy redhead was lecturing a house elf, enuciating slowly and likely a bit louder than was necessary considering the elf's rather large ears. The elf shook it's head and pointed firmly at Batiatus' application.

Donna shook her head, already exasperated with the school. She had been trying since her own Sorting to find the Popcorn room and find the Doctor. Of course, she was having no luck and was going to give that skinny spaceman a piece of her mind once she found him.

"Oh honestly! All right, let's have a look at you. Roman, eh? Were you from Pompeii?" she asked, toying with a gold locket the Doctor had given her before the volcano and everything went to hell.

[masteroftitans]

So there were indeed women to be found here- this was good to have confirmed with his own eyes. The red-headed woman was certainly not unattractive, although oddly dressed- Batiatus observed her briefly before examining the hideous, deformed midget she was lecturing. Batiatus had yet to meet a house-elf, and so thought it the creature was some human specimen that probably should have been dealt with at birth, but had instead been kept alive as a slave for someone's amusement. He had no idea why the deformed midget was trying to draw her attention to the stupid list of question he'd had to answer.

When Donna came over, he was somewhat taken aback by her brusque manner, but not offended. He could appreciate a direct approach. He shook his head, noting the golden locket- it seemed a small bauble, not necessarily a sign of any significant wealth. "No, Capua, which is not far distant. I am, or was, dominus of a ludus near the city."

[redhead_temp]

Dominus? Ludus? She shook her head, "Sorry, my Latin's a little rusty and the bloody translation charm seems to keep shorting out. Not that I'm surprised, this is a sodding loony bin."

The house elf shot her a dirty look before vanishing with a pop. "Hmf. And not that they're any help at all."

[masteroftitans]

"Translation charm? Is that why I can understand the speech of those here, despite being from a place- and perhaps time- far distant?" Interesting, that. "A ludus is a school, I trained and traded gladiators, before finding myself here. I am head of both my familia and my ludus. . .or was. I suppose it doesn't fucking exist anymore." He glanced briefly at the house-elf, blinking in disbelief as it vanished. "What the fuck was that? Some sort of midget slave?"

[ugly_old_hat]

Golden aureus? The Hat already had oceans of bling. One coin didn't do much for the Hat.

Luckily, it had other interests easily piqued.

"I just love your fashion sense!"

[masteroftitans]

Batiatus blinked incredulously- it was indeed a talking hat. An ugly, old talking hat, at that- he squinted, attempting to detect some strings manipulating it, but failed.

Being addressed by a fucking hat was just bizarre, and, he merely stood there for several seconds before he could manage a reply. "It is fortunate that a thoughtful resident of this strange castle took a moment to assist in cleaning my garments. I was not so fashionable when I arrived." He smirked slightly, and waited, a bit tensed, as he wondered what the Hat might say or do next.

[ugly_old_hat]

The Hat swooped around in the air -- did a full circle around Batiatus, in fact, so that it could get a good look at his outfit from every angle without requiring the man to turn around.

"I think this fashion should be revived. Such quality!"

[masteroftitans]

Batiatus attempted to stand still, and maintain his dignity, despite the talking Hat circling him in the air. Without strings. Which was absolutely ludicrous. But, here it was, and, he'd he'd watched Jasper mutter a few words and magically clean his clothes.

Agreeing with the talking Hat was even weirder than talking to it- but, Batiatus did agree with the hat's opinion. He attempted to sound as nonchalant as possible as he replied, "It is also comfortable. At least, it is comfortable when you're not in Caledonia in the winter."

Slytherin!

[ugly_old_hat]

You are the most fun! Your bribe has been accepted!

Welcome to Slytherin!