"Gods above." Lucius would not admit it if asked, but he had avoided a return to the Compound after his first visit with the surgeon. Who, incidentally, had been a twig of a man, but strong enough to keep Lucius under thumb when he was injured, and convincing enough with needle and thread.
Lucius had steeled himself for the sight of the lights that burned without fire, and the air that never seemed to warm, but he had not prepared himself to see a lady of the Julii standing there in the open doorway.
Octavia heard the voice before she saw anyone, her head still resting in her open palm against the wall, but she glanced up and immediately straightened, brushing her hair flat and blinking, a few times, if only to make sure that she was still where she appeared to be. "I know you," she stammered, shakily, uncertain, trying hard to place the all-too-familiar face, though nothing came. "Don't I?"
Lucius' expression darkened, but only because he disliked the need to puzzle out from what point in time the lady had come. "Yes, domina." He held out his arm with great uncertainty. It was a soldier's salute - having spent but a handful of hours in their great houses, he did not know what courtesy to pay a sister to the Emperor. "Lucius of the Vorenii."
"You're-" Octavia's mouth dropped open. Whatever had happened in the atrium, this had to be some cruel trick, there was no other explanation. If she'd been angry back home, that had faded in the confusion, but this changed things even more than that. He couldn't have known, there was no way he could have, not unless Servilia's tricks had been worse than she thought. She swallowed, biting down hard on her lower lip in some weak attempt to try to stop from shaking, to get that almost fearful look off her face. "Oh, Juno's mercy."
The people of the island wore all manner of clothing, and none of it was familiar to Pullo. It was starting to grow on him, however, the sight of it becoming more familiar with each passing day. So, when he saw a woman in Roman attire it made him stop short. A moment passed before he realized that he knew the woman.
"Octavia?" he said boldly, too surprised to pay any proper respect. He did stand up a little straighter, it was almost automatic.
Octavia was still plenty shaken, not knowing what else to do save wander around looking as lost as the moment she'd first appeared, but inappropriate as it may have been, the voice she heard brought a smile, however tense, to her face. "Titus Pullo," she said, recognizing him only from their brief meetings. "You're here too, then." Wherever 'here' really was, anyway.
Octavia shook her head gently. "Lucius Vorenus found me," she explained, the encounter still too fresh in her mind, and she bit down on her lower lip for a moment. "He explained what he could of the place. I don't think he mentioned you being here, though." There had been so much to try to decipher, and much of it hardly making sense, that she couldn't be entirely sure either way.
Rosie somewhat regretted some of the setbacks of no longer residing within the Compound. To be sure, she enjoyed staying with Mrs. Bennet in the boarding home, but there was still a drawback to not having the fully stocked kitchen on hand any more. As it was, it still wasn't that far, and she was in quite a mood for a nice cup of tea.
She smiled kindly at the young woman already there, moving to pass her by but the troubled look on the girl's face gave her pause and she stopped and turned, a look of concern creasing her kind face.
It wasn't like Octavia had ever had cause to spend time in a kitchen back home, and so if just being in one was foreign, the things in it were enough to set her head spinning worse than before. She'd been circling the room, intently studying each thing for some idea of how it might work, when she heard a voice she didn't recognize and turned, leaning against the counter behind her. "I'm alright, I suppose," she said, though not entirely sure if she even believed herself. "I've just...I've never seen anything like this before."
"Oh," she breathed in realization, and sympathy. If the girl was a recent arrival, then she could undserstand the confusion and bewilderment that had been etched across her fine features. Rosie's eyes drifted down to the girl's attire, and her eyebrow rose slightly, as the girl looked as though she'd stepped out of a Roman or Greek portrait of somekind.
"I'm sorry, it get's a little easier, after you've had time to adjust. I've been here since March, and there are still days that I wake up and wonder why I'm not in my bedroom."
"And I've only just arrived," Octavia explained, still slightly bewildered, but managing a smile at the woman, and it seemed to be for a moment too long, because she quickly straightened and smoothed her hands over her dress. The hardest part was remembering what she'd been told, that the kitchen was for everyone, there were no slaves to run things or prepare meals. "I'm sorry. This is all so strange, I don't mean to stare."
Veronica arched an eyebrow at the girl as she passed through the Compound. Just duck into the room and grab the camera, that was easy enough - she hadn't really meant to leave it behind that morning. Anyway, it looked like she'd missed a toga party by being away. "Hi," she said, smiling wanly. The girl didn't look all that thrilled to be there. Veronica could understand the sentiment.
One look over the girl, and Octavia was certain of one thing - her mother would have despised this place, and nearly all of the people in it. More unusual than the strange clothing, though, was the object this other girl had, and Octavia's eyes lingered on it, mouth just slightly open, before she finally looked up. "What is that?" she asked, taking a small step back, if only to get a better view. "That...thing, in your hand."
Veronica laughed, one eye narrowing as the brow of the other rose. "This?" she asked, holding up her camera. "It's a digital camera. For taking pictures." Questions like that never ceased to throw her off, even after nearly two years in the place. There was always someone new coming in who didn't know what a camera was or how the world could be round.
Octavia understood about half of those words, the puzzled look not fading from her face as she questioned the girl again. "For taking what?" she asked, and reclaimed hold on her manners, to some degree, straightening up, if only in an attempt to cease from wondering at the strange object. "I'm afraid I've no idea what you're talking about." By the Furies, between time travel, people doing their own work in a kitchen, and all these umfamiliar devices, this place was extraordinarily bizarre.
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Lucius had steeled himself for the sight of the lights that burned without fire, and the air that never seemed to warm, but he had not prepared himself to see a lady of the Julii standing there in the open doorway.
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"Octavia?" he said boldly, too surprised to pay any proper respect. He did stand up a little straighter, it was almost automatic.
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She smiled kindly at the young woman already there, moving to pass her by but the troubled look on the girl's face gave her pause and she stopped and turned, a look of concern creasing her kind face.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?"
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"I'm sorry, it get's a little easier, after you've had time to adjust. I've been here since March, and there are still days that I wake up and wonder why I'm not in my bedroom."
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