(Untitled)

[luciusvorenus]

The sky was very blue today

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[dumbassbastards]

Rollie thinks about leaving him to stew in his own juices, but that only lasts as long as it takes to make a pit stop in the compound. Turns out he's just not that guy. When he comes back out he sighs and makes his way over and nudges Lucius' leg with his toe.

"Made a mess of things, have you?"

[luciusvorenus]

"I have not," said Vorenus instantly. He did not know what the man could mean by that, but he determined the remark to be insulting regardless. He sat up, disheartened to find that even his customary scowl required an energy he did not possess.

[dumbassbastards]

"Sure," says Rollie with all the healthy skepticism that he usually approaches these things with. "That's why you're sitting there looking like someone stomped your puppy. Come on, you look like you could use a drink."

[luciusvorenus]

The bleakness in Vorenus' expression dispersed somewhat at that, though he appeared reluctant to seem too hopeful.

"I have had some wine," he said. What he would not mind was more of the beer Rollie had found him last time.

[xiii_pullo]

"Taken to killing foliage for sport, have you?" Pullo said, joining Lucius in his grassy spot out of the way of the comings and goings of the marketplace. He sat down heavily, a meat roll in each hand. One he held in offering, as he took a bite from the other.

"This is a sad, quiet place we have found ourselves," he added around the food in his mouth, looking out at the market.

[luciusvorenus]

"It isn't," said Vorenus, grasping the roll in his hand, though he did not appear much interested in eating.

He cast an eye towards the Market. "It bustles. It is bustling."

[xiii_pullo]

"No, I don't mean that," Pullo dismissed with a wave of his hand. "I mean the island. This place. Without a war to fight it's quiet, aye?"

[luciusvorenus]

"Aye," said Vorenus glumly. Life in Egypt had been equally dull, but at least there he'd had Antony to occupy him. The man had wanted more for a wet nurse than a prefect, but Vorenus had taken what distraction he could, and he had not felt that he was failing anyone.

"I suppose we ought to find a battle."

[izzyevans]

It wasn't like she could avoid the market forever. Isabel had a stall there, one she traded off with the other people who made foods and gathered honey. While she hadn't been planning to set up shop for a couple of weeks since her falling out with Vorenus, she did need to stop by to talk to Banky. He'd agreed a while ago to create some signs and other graphics for the food stalls and told her to stop by the market sometime to check in with him.

Of course, when she got to the market, she hadn't been able to find Banky anywhere. A little annoyed that she'd walked all the way there (and from her hut on the south side of the island, no less), Isabel decided to head home instead of walking up to the compound for dinner.

She didn't get too far, as when she rounded a corner of the market, she found herself staring at the pointy end of Vorenus' sword.

[luciusvorenus]

Vorenus lowered it at once, the thud as it hit the ground loud to his ears, near as they were to the earth. Feeling foolish, he sat up, searching for and discarding several greetings before he finally settled on, "Isabel."

[izzyevans]

It felt like forever had passed since she had last seen him. No matter how much she longed to give him the cold shoulder, Isabel could do nothing more than stand there, staring down at him. The longer she stared, the quicker the events of the other day came rushing back -- Hyacinthe's advice, how miserable she had been at the Bennet ball, how she'd nearly done something incredibly stupid with Tim, Jaye's inability to be a damned normal person -- and a flush began to bloom in her cheeks.

"Lucius," she said shortly, her voice catching ever-so-slightly on the last syllable.

[luciusvorenus]

She was pink in a way Vorenus suspected had little to do with the sun, and he wondered if she was angry with him, or simply overwarm. Finding his own mouth dry, he took out his water gourd.

"Will you have some water?"

[octavia_minor]

She'd heard about the fallout, but Octavia didn't quite have it in her to hold it against Vorenus entirely, at least not so much that she didn't want to approach when she caught sight of him lying there. She parked her litter nearby, bare feet brushing against the grass, and gave him a long look as she sighed.

"So," she began, leaning back slightly, weight on her palms. "How've you been?"

[luciusvorenus]

It was only that she was a woman of the Julii - and Antony's wife - that spurred Vorenus to rise, and even then he did so slowly.

"Domina. Well enough," he said, looking anything but. He looked past her to the litter beyond, wondering as he always did how it hovered in the air so.

[octavia_minor]

Octavia didn't believe his answer, but didn't want to press him about it further, either. She gestured back to the ground, though, lips pressed together in a sympathetic sort of half-smile. "Please sit," she requested, as gently as she could. She'd begun to realise how unbreakable old habits like that could be, so she didn't think it a good idea to tell him again that he didn't need to, but she supposed that asking him not to stay standing would suffice. "The market seems to be doing well."

Small talk wasn't especially her forte, but she had no intention of mentioning what was really on her mind.

[luciusvorenus]

"It is far quieter than the Aventine," said Vorenus, sounding as though he wished that were otherwise. Violence would have been a welcome distraction.

He came forward slowly and sat, hands on his knees and then again on the ground when he found he did not know what to do with them. "How is your mother?" he asked, feeling that was safe to ask, and proper.

[15_words]

Jaye didn't go to the market. Ever. She didn't see the point. There wasn't any money around, and everybody made stuff and did things just because. The were productive members of society, or whatever. Jaye was perfectly happy with her three squares a day and living in her trailer. She didn't need the market and the hassle of bargaining and talking to people.

But it had a Romanish name. And Jaye knew there couldn't be THAT many Romans on the island. There'd been a ROMAN PARTY and only like four had shown up.

And then there was this dude with a sword standing around.

"Uh... hail Caesar?" she tried experimentally.

[luciusvorenus]

Vorenus propped himself up on an elbow at the voice, unfamiliar despite the name that fell from its owner's lips.

"Octavian is not here, girl," he said, and his temperament was such that he was powerless to be anything but suspicious.

[15_words]

Well, at least he knew of A caesar.

"Good, 'cause I'm not actually looking for him," she said, stepping closer. "I'm actually looking for a Roman guy named Lucius. Don't know what he looks like, but I'm guessing there's a very pronounced brow ridge and a sign that says 'Hit me, I'm an idiot' hanging around his neck. Know him?"

[luciusvorenus]

Vorenus got his feet slowly, fatigue and an ache in his limbs drawing out the movements, as well as a fiercely held check on his temper.

"I know of no such man."