Loyalty above all, until the end.

 "Was this well done of your lady, Charmian?" "Extremely well," she answered, "and as became the descendant of so many kings"; and as she said this, she fell down dead by the bedside.|| sideblog + work in progress.

[loyalcharmian]

@prxestess ||

The crowd that engulfed the forecourt of Sapienza took even Charmian's breath away. Emrys had been furious the visit had been announced and clearly with good reason. The students were hanging out the windows trying to catch a glimpse of the girl the media had long dubbed Italy's Cinderella.

Dion shifted uncomfortably as the metal barriers, containing more people, winked in the brilliant spring afternoon light. He hadn't been quite as cross as Emrys, he found it difficult to be angry with anything to do with learning and Sapienza was a hub of such that he couldn't fail to be impressed by. Even as the huge amount of people waiting on his daughter shocked him.

Parking was a nightmare as every spare bit of space was consumed by people wanting to see Tria but he managed to just squeeze in as one professor pulled out, muttering beneath his breath in frustrated Latin which Dion understood every word of and agreed heartily. This was over kill. This wasn't normal. But this was her life. Perhaps it always had been and no-one had really noticed.

Taking off their seat belts in unison Charmian and Dion exchanged nervous glances before putting on their best smiles for the girl of the hour.

"Ready?" Dion asked as Charmian reached back to squeeze her hand. "We don't have to get out. It's just a tour. We can go right home and think nothing more of it."

[prxestess]

@loyalcharmian:

It would be truthful to say that Julius had lost control of the Patrician politics while in Egypt the last time and that had led to the steep descent in his popularity with the plebs, ultimately causing his fall. It was, however, more satisfying for Julius, who was loathe to admit any fault in himself, to place the fury he felt for the situation he'd found himself in squarely upon the shoulders of the teenager openly defying him in his own home. All the sass and charisma of Cleopatra had been inherited by her niece, he'd give her that, but while he'd found it enticing in the young Queen, in her niece it gave him the impulsive desire to do to her what had often been done to the possessions of Rome when they had finished being paraded around and had no more use for them. Before the impulse could be stifled and stamped out as it had been many times before, the rage of the last few days boiled over in him and he crossed the space between them, hauling her insolent self to her feet. He kept her wrists wrapped in his vice grip, the rage emenating from him was enough to fuel the city for several generations to come. "I am still Caesar!" He bellowed, face mere inches from hers. "Just because you've got my son wrapped around your little finger don't ever make the mistake to think you can cross me in my own home!" Before he could snap them, he released her wrists with a violent shove back at her. "Whatever idea you have for what happens now, forget it. I may not be in power any more but my words still hold sway in the senate where it matters and over my dead body will a slave become Empress of Rome."

Tria knew her words would provoke him and she had absolutely intended to infuriate him but the violence came as a surprise. Her startled cry as she was dragged out of her spot by her wrists which burned and ached as he held them in a crushing, vice-like grip was the only sign of weakness she showed. Though tears sprung into her eyes from the pain she stubbornly refused to let them shed. She would concede nothing to him - not even the pain he was causing.

"You're damaging Caesar's property," she replied tartly, tipping her chin up defiantly so she met his gaze. She might be a slave and she might even be lesser than him in the eye of Rome but she was also the granddaughter of a Pharaoh, she shared a bloodline with Alexander for Isis sake - she wouldn't cower to him even if her life depended on it!

He released her just as she was certain the bones in her wrists might shatter from the punishing grip. She reared away from him, escaping his presence as she rubbed at each wrist in turn, the welts left behind from his grasp vivid and angry against the honeytones of her skin. The accusation she was scheming to become Empress stopped her in her tracks - he really didn't know her at all but the thought she was scheming against Caesarion infuriated her. "I don't want to be Empress of Rome!" She shouted back at him from the door way, determined not to give him the last word. "I want to go back home to civilisation but your inability to control a bunch of old men in bed sheets has rendered that impossible!"

Over her shoulder she added tartly. "At least now this rat hole has better leadership it might improve some." A parting shot? She couldn't resist. But now she had to go and sort her wrists out; there was no way she could let anyone see what he'd done. The situation was precarious enough but she knew it'd get back to everyone - slaves talked; no-one knew that better than her.

[loyalcharmian]

As Cleopatra inflamed his ardour, so Demetria stoked the flames of his fury. He regretted instantly his rash actions against her but couldn't bring himself to form an apology while she still lobbed her grenades. He had to grit his teeth and use every part of self controlled that remained unto him not to lash out again.

"He won't be what you want." He retaliated back as she insulted his leadership and Rome. Though his intent wasn't to wound necessarily, he knew all too well the failures of Caesar on the domestic front. His thoughts briefly turned to Calpurnia but returned promptly to the young girl in front of him who had gained enormous power over night and knew nothing of what was to come. "Has he been yet? All the years you have loved him? He flits from bed to bed without glancing in your direction. As Emperor that will only increase, fidelity and power are not bedfellows." He sighed, wearily. It had been a long few days and a part of him wanted to help her even though she vexed him so. "You will love him, as you do now and he will continue not to notice as he has done his entire life so far. You will continue to get hurt by him as he has hurt you hundreds of times thus. Forget defying me, is that the life you seek for yourself? He might marry you to defy me and please the plebs but it'll never be what your heart wants it to be."

[prxestess]

"Are you just gonna keep staring out the window?" - mama.

"What else is there to do?" Tria answered, remaining in the window seat, nose pressed to the window watching for something - anything to happen.

The fear the mob would storm the villa had been unfounded. In fact, while her dad had been there she had felt the distance between the city square and the villa was too close for comfort but now that nothing at all was happening, it seemed in her mind to stretch miles and miles - leaving her feeling so cut off from what was going on she might as well be marooned on an island.

History had been made and had she gotten to witness it? No. She'd allowed herself to be talked out of it and now, after far too many hours to count in the same spot, peering out of rain stained windows, she bitterly regretted it.

They were in the city and she had no idea what was happening - they could be injured or worse and she wouldn't know. She hated it and swore if they came back, she'd never allow them to wrap her up in the proverbial cotton wool again. A sign of her shredded nerves was her bitten down nails; she found herself chewing on the cuticle again and tore her fingers from her mouth, huffing in frustration.

"We don't even know if they're okay or what's going on. How can you stand it?!"

[loyalcharmian]

Charmian was positively beaming ear to ear, even as Demetria sassed her. She knew in her soul that Caesarion and Emrys would be fine - if anything happened to them she'd know without question, they were part of the fabric of her soul like Demetria and her sisters - so she could instead bask in her daughter being blatantly obvious about how she felt about Caesarion.

Not that she hadn't known it for years but it was gratifying to have proof at last. It was all she could do not to break into song and dance or run for Olympos to cash in their longstanding wager.

"They're fine, we'd know if they weren't, we'd know in here," she gestured to her heart. "if anything happened to them we'd know." She approached the window and laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder, stroking her skin through her dress shoulder. "Are you worried as a cousin and a daughter or as a daughter and something else?" The hope, bordering on sheer joy, was obvious in her voice.

[prxestess]

Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome. ❜  - Julius.

"A slave more powerful than the Emperor of Rome?" Tria repeated, quirking a brow, head tilt as she took in the pitiful site of the fallen Emperor. "Must be a very powerful slave. Do I know them?"

Tria knew she was being obtuse and he meant her but the idea was too ridiculous to give voice to. She held no real power at all - certainly not the kind he imagined she wielded. If he genuinely believed she held sway over Caesarion she would seek out immediate medical help for him. She had been loyal to his son, he might even listen to her on the occasion he sought out her opinion, but she had no control over him at all.

They wouldn't be in Rome if she had!

She turned away from him then, returning her gaze out the window. "You've had your last day at the senate, your last hour at the pinnacle of Roman power and now you're irrelevant so rather than bothering me, why don't you go and acclimatise yourself to that bitter fact?"

[loyalcharmian]

It would be truthful to say that Julius had lost control of the Patrician politics while in Egypt the last time and that had led to the steep descent in his popularity with the plebs, ultimately causing his fall. It was, however, more satisfying for Julius, who was loathe to admit any fault in himself, to place the fury he felt for the situation he'd found himself in squarely upon the shoulders of the teenager openly defying him in his own home.

All the sass and charisma of Cleopatra had been inherited by her niece, he'd give her that, but while he'd found it enticing in the young Queen, in her niece it gave him the impulsive desire to do to her what had often been done to the possessions of Rome when they had finished being paraded around and had no more use for them.

Before the impulse could be stifled and stamped out as it had been many times before, the rage of the last few days boiled over in him and he crossed the space between them, hauling her insolent self to her feet. He kept her wrists wrapped in his vice grip, the rage emenating from him was enough to fuel the city for several generations to come.

"I am still Caesar!" He bellowed, face mere inches from hers. "Just because you've got my son wrapped around your little finger don't ever make the mistake to think you can cross me in my own home!" Before he could snap them, he released her wrists with a violent shove back at her. "Whatever idea you have for what happens now, forget it. I may not be in power any more but my words still hold sway in the senate where it matters and over my dead body will a slave become Empress of Rome."

[littlecaesar]

Caesarion would just like it said his surrogate (but way better than actual one) dad is a very, very smart man.

[loyalcharmian]

[prxestess]

Tria did copy him, breathing in and out rhythmically until the anger subsided. The breathing in part was getting harder as the smoke blew their way; it hurt her lungs and everything around her felt hazy, shrouded in the angry grey smoke billowing from the city.

She clicked her tongue impatiently at his answer though mollified that harshness by reaching up and squeezing one of his hands that rested upon her shoulder. "He's not just a teenage boy, papa, he's also Pharaoh and now, clearly, he's Emperor of Rome. He's the most powerful man in the world!" She stopped herself from pointing out the obvious - Rome would not be content with a man ruling alone; the family values façade required a woman at his side. That was a gut punch for another time.

Having allowed herself to be led back inside the villa, where chaos reigned, she quickly noted, Tria stopped abruptly as he said he'd have to go out. She grasped his arm, a pleading look in her eyes. "If you go, I'm going too!" She tried to appear taller, standing to her full... 4ft11 and a h a l f, jutting her chin up proudly. "If anyone gets to see the downfall of Julius it should be me after everything he's done and besides! This is history in the making, you can't leave me out of it!" She knew her hope was slim to none but she wasn't against throwing out every lifeline she had... even wilfully lying. "Don't mention the new Emperor okay because he won't....." she couldn't actually get herself to say care so pivoted. "notice he'll be too busy." She grinned, angelically, hoping the innocence radiating off her might bring her a sliver of hope.

[loyalcharmian]

If sweet summer child had an expression, Emrys was wearing it when Tria put on the performance of a lifetime and insisted on coming. Once again his large hands found her shoulders, this time for the purpose of looking her in the eye.

"You are not coming with me. You are not leaving this villa. You are staying right here." Before she could interrupt him, as he knew she would, he raised a hand from her shoulder and began listing off with his fingers the reasons why. "1: You're a beautiful young woman with a riotous mob, largely made up of men; infer from that what you wish. 2: You would be a distraction in a precarious situation for myself and without doubt Caesarion. 3: There is nothing you can do but potentially get injured in the fracas out there. I wouldn't forgive myself if you were injured on my watch. 4: You're needed here to make sure your mother keeps a level head about all this and that she doesn't go rushing off - you know what she's like about Caesarion but she's got to stay here with your aunt. She's in an incredible amount of danger if that mob continue to view her as a link to the patrician politics of her husband and not as the mother of their new Caesar."

Then came five. "5: you can choose to believe me or not but it's the truth regardless - if I let you leave here, Caesarion will lose his mind and be so angry neither of us will survive it. Whether you want to process what that means or not is up to you, but I can tell you with certainty that you are incredibly important to him and if you leave here with me not only will you be the aforementioned distraction but he'll be furious, more angry than you or I have ever seen him and he'll not forgive quickly you endangering yourself or me letting you. When all this is done with, he's going to need to come home to someone familiar and comforting and for him that is you."

[prxestess]

"See! See!" Wild gesturing, Tria swatted his hand away from her nose and broke away from his grasp; the familiar frustration boiling away within her, ready to burst free on her tongue. "That's my mother all over! That's what she says! I'm not marrying Caesarion so my aunt doesn't end up like Memphites. My life, in case you haven't noticed, is humiliating enough without marrying the person I've spent far too much of my life in love with to protect his MOTHER!"

It was hard to catch her breath as the populace continued their angry assault; the sky was filled with plumes of smoke now, the result of rising tensions no doubt. All around her the foundations seemed to be crumbling - Rome', her own. There might be a revolution going on down there but all she wanted was to go home where she had a semblance of a life outside of her cousin.

Her shoulders sank as fury gave way to melancholy. It seemed you could get everything you ever wanted and it still be a poisoned chalice. "I can't get married in Rome, firstly, I'm a slave - secondly, I'm not marrying Caesarion. I want someone who loves me and only me. Not me and every other girl in temple including the ones who had to have it explained to them he's called Horus because his mother is the living Isis." She rolled her doe eyes, scowling at the memory. "I might not be the prettiest girl in Alexandria but I'm certainly better than them and I want someone who knows that too. Someone I don't have to watch going off with everyone else around me leaving me to question what's wrong with me and why I'm not good enough."

[loyalcharmian]

Emrys let her go, watching her with the knowing fatherly look he often wore when listening to his daughter unleash a tirade about Caesarion. Granted, he couldn't and wouldn't doubt how upsetting his womanising ways were for her but it always saddened him she never saw the pedestal she was placed on. It wasn't a consolation prize by any means, the human heart didn't take barter, but he wished she acknowledged that even to herself.

"You're a slave now but that won't last much longer with Caesarion in charge." He countered, closing the gap between them to place his much larger hands on her shoulder; he drew in a breath and slowly released it, hoping she'd copy. "You know that. Just as you know how important you are to Caesarion. He's a teenage boy doing what teenage boys do but not a one of them could replace you. He cares about you as much as you care about him; that has always been obvious to me."

As fresh columns of smoke filled the air, concern settled into his features. "There won't be much of Rome left if Julius doesn't concede to the mob," he tucked his daughter back into his side, guiding her inside. "I'll have to go down there and find out what is going on."

[loyalcharmian]

Emrys laughed straight from his soul as his daughter, in such a time of chaos and strife, found the time to critique her cousin, now de facto Emperor of Rome. He could not disagree with her though. It sounded like something Caesarion would do. It was also Very Demetria to complain about it. He knew her theory regarding her mother and Caesarion off by heart too.

"You really will have to marry him if that's the case," he teased, tapping her upturned nose, "you might be the only thing that saves your aunt from being murdered by a scheming daughter in law. Someone other than you would certainly be bothered by not being fully Queen in Egypt or fully Empress in Rome to accommodate her."

[prxestess]

'Do you hear them?' - Emrys.

It was not as it should be - the day had felt odd from the moment Tria had gotten up. The air felt charged, pulsing with something odd, something different - something new. She had been unable to shake the feeling even as she busied herself with the chores set for her in the villa.

Caesar had left to attend to senate business and the pulsing charge of the air had begun to feel suffocating inside; the air so thick Tria felt like it was hard to catch her breath. Abandoning her tasks, she'd joined her dad outside in the courtyard where the rumble from the city should not reach them and yet it did. At first a hum, indistinct and hard to decipher that grew steadily to a pounding demand carried on the wind for all of Rome to hear.

Ave Caesar was the usual, nauseating cry of the people. Hail Caesar. Today, quite clearly, Tria heard the thrumming demand of volumus Caesar - we want Caesar. Tria's brow creased into a frown, confusion marring her pretty countenance. She knew from the strained conversations her uncle had been having of late that matters in the senate hadn't been going well; one too many decisions for the patricians upsetting the plebeians. But still, how could the populace be demanding Caesar if Caesar walked among them? Unless...

She turned quickly to Emrys, her heart beating rapidly within her chest. If the populace had Caesar but still cried for Caesar that could only mean they had passed the baton of Caesar to another. She suddenly felt as if she were a witness to the topple of a great Empire or perhaps the rise of another.

"We want Caesar.. they don't mean Julius any more, do they?"

[loyalcharmian]

If Emrys forced himself to be truly honest, not touched with the bias of the hero worship of Julius, this had been a long time coming. The man of the plebs had overseen a rise in patrician politics that had unseated the balance of favour towards him.

Reaching a large arm out, he tucked his daughter into his side as the demand for Caesar rolled up the hill to them. He had seen anarchy enough in his time to know that soon violence would engulf the city and the man who had always calmed it was now the centre of it.

"No, they no longer mean Julius. He lost the plebs." It sounded simple and perhaps it was, overly so, but Emrys knew it to be true. He squeezed her shoulder, brushing a kiss to the top of her curls. "Caesarion has the will of the plebs now and where the plebs go, so does Rome. "

[loyalcharmian]

@littlecaesar!

[littlecaesar]

@loyalcharmian and her paparazzi pictures strikes again!!!

[loyalcharmian]

@prxestess @littlecaesar Something you wanna tell mama?

[loyalcharmian]

[loyalcharmian]

It wasn't difficult for Dion to hear her berate herself over Pharaoh when memories of how pained she had been by their estrangement were so fresh but he knew not to mention that to her as the great weight of sadness she carried was heavy enough. He frequently wanted to tell her more - to advise her that she had done enough and been enough and if he'd had the time to grow up he'd have come around as her mother had said long ago but he kept quiet.

Draping an arm around her, Dion kissed her brow as she said she had no intent to marry. "Then you stay my girl a little longer; can't argue with that." Walking outside the temple with her was like being in the presence of her aunt years ago. The loud cheering, the excited children waving- everyone wanted to be in her presence and around her.

With a soft laugh, Dion tightened his grip on her, dropping his arm from her shoulders to her waist to guide her though technically it wasn't permitted to touch the Goddesses representative he didn't care. "We may never make it to old town with this rapturous reception!"

[prxestess]

“don’t you have somewhere else to be?” - Dion.

"No....?"

The answer came out hesitantly, hardly the tone of the most senior member of the Temple of Isis but no matter the responsibility that befell her now, Tria was always transformed to a child under the accusatory gaze of her dad.

There absolutely was somewhere she was supposed to be but as with most things other than Temple: she was avoiding it. In her defense, though the remnants of Emery's legion had remained devoted to his memory, Tria found it hard to be around them after they swore allegiance ( necessarily, she had to remind herself.. ) to his murderer.

So instead, in the glow of the lamps, she had been working. Toying with the medallion around her neck, she read over the plans for the distribution of grain in honour of the Goddess and the flooding of the Nile; making notes on a spare papyrus at her side.

In her rooms, there was no sign of what she had lost to get to where she was now - all remnants of who she had been before that August day had to vanish for her own safety. The only thing left was the elephant medallion she toyed with; waved around by Agrippa as proof of Pharaoh's murder, she had saved it from the gutter where he'd thrown it and wore it always.

It wasn't the most glamorous of evening plans - it certainly wasn't a boisterous evening in old town with food and drink aplenty - but it was where she wanted to be.

Riiiight up until Dion found her that is.

"Being the High Priestess has extensive responsibilities that I cannot toss aside for an evening of drinking with former soldiers. Or as my mother would call it: a room of potential husbands."

[loyalcharmian]

While it pleased Dion to hear Demetria speak of her mother so freely ( and accurately... ) it pained him to see her toy with the elephant medallion that had once belonged to Pharaoh. He understood her desire to save it but he felt she hid behind it and denied herself the moments she could have here and now with the living.

"And you are remarkable at it; no-one could argue with that, little dove," He answered, leaving the door way and entering her great rooms fully. "but you can't spend your life with the ghosts." Stopping at her desk he reached across and pushed her curls from her face, smiling fondly at her. He knew how hard it was for her - especially with Pharaoh. Her mother had prepared her for what was to come with her aunts but losing Emerys and then Caesarion had taken them all by surprise.

"He isn't coming back." The words sounded harsh to his own ears but he'd promised Charmian to look after their daughter and that included harsh truths. "But those legion boys are here and they want to see their commander's daughter and you know how fond of you the Tesserarius is." He tapped her nose,smiling and hoping she would too. "Your mother would be sniffing out a betrothal if she was here."

[littlecaesar]

Happy father's day to my fathers in law, you're the best.

One of whom is one of the most dedicated, loyal men I know (and one of the only people I acknowledge as taller than me) and one of whom gave my son his name and my wife her brains, and I'm glad he tolerates me because he loves her. I knew he'd come around eventually.

And OF COURSE, happy father's day to all the worlds other great dads, the father figures, and the moms doing double duty.

[loyalcharmian]

The mom doing double duty.

[prxestess]

"All hail the commander' s victorious daughter!" Emerys laughed at the call of celebration or his daughter and the way the boys picked her up and spun her. The Queen's niece was greatly favoured in the legion having grown up with them all since knee height. Seeing Charmian, from the corner of his eye stiffen, he clapped his hands and called an end to the jubilance. "Enough, enough now, set her down!" - @loyalcharmian

Tria squealed with surprise as she was lifted from her feet, holding steadfastly to broad shoulders as she was spun around. Embracing the moment, her head fell back, curls cascading down her back as she tipped her face to the sun and laughter fell from parted lips.

The training ground was her second home and thus the fondness they felt for her was returned tenfold. In her darkest, loneliest moments friend and kindness had always been found among the youth her dear dad trained; endless hours had been spent sparring and learning -allowing her that celebrated victory against her bullies they were cheering her for now.

Soon enough sandals hit the sand again and she held on to her friends for dear life, Alexandria dancing around her in all directions. "Little dizzy for a conquering hero!" she squeaked, glad for the arms that instantly went around her to steady her. Even in this dizzy world she knew her mother's disapproval a thousand miles away - if she could, Tria was convinced her mother would slap upon her a label that read 'property of Pharaoh do not touch.'

Once the world righted itself, Tria curtsied in jest to their thunderous applause. "Thank you, thank you - I couldn't have done it without you all!" Literally.

[loyalcharmian]

Charmian's talents for dramatics had all been used on her son and thus she had none left to conceal her annoyance at the way the soldiers handled her daughter. It was no secret Charmian hoped for the day Demetria would reconcile with Horus; as such, the last thing she needed was a bunch of handsome soldiers turning her head as Emerys had turned hers.

In Greek, she reprimanded her. "Demetria you are a member of the royal house. Please act like it." Had Demetria shared with her the gut wrenching pain Caesarion's actions as a dumb boy caused her? Yes. Did that stop her hoping that somewhere within her daughter was forgiveness for the stupidity that was any man? No. A soldier as a son in law wouldn't be awful per say - but she believed her little dove belonged with Horus and she wasn't giving up on that yet.

Emerys gave her that look she knew so well. The look that said 'leave her be, let her be herself' but with the undercurrent of warning that she should not stand in Demetria's way if her heart truly had moved on. Almost like a petulant child herself, she folded her arms and observed the celebrations with a prominent scowl.

Pharaoh's bodyguard laughed heartily at his daughter's curtsy. "You are cheeky, Tria," he mused, opening his arms to her for an embrace. "but we all love you and I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself."