ROMANI ITE DOMUM.

[romaneseuntdomus]

Esca doesn't realize he's walked through any door, at first, because the door to the peristyle at the Aquila Vila don't have doors, precisely. It takes Esca a moment to realize what's happened, and in that moment he walks into and onto a bed, of the softest quality he's ever encountered. The shift in perception shocks him further, and he turns, scaring and confused. An open door behind him leads back to the garden. But here... There are things to explore. Gently, he closes the door, and walks out.

The floor is soft under his feet, softer than fresh grass, and the air is pleasantly chilled like the best days at home. There are shining metal boxes open, but nothing happens when he walks inside, and eventually he finds stares that take him to identical rooms. None of the doors are locked, though it does take Esca some time to understand that one must twist the handle to open them.

He repeats this descent until he finds himself in a large room full of color and sound; multiple booths call out to him like sirens, and he is at once curious and skeptical. He wishes he had brought a sword. As is, in a shirt and braccae, he feels slightly exposed.

He climbs atop one of the nearest flashing booths, this one bright yellow and shouting about 'slots'. Crouching, he cups his hands around his mouth and calls out to allies. "Am I alone? Show yourself, friend! I mean no harm, and have naught which you could steal."

Comments

[romaneseuntdomus]

This changes the subject. "A zoo?"

"The first wall. The Aelium." In front of him, Esca motions to make a line, long and swooping, with his fingers in the air. "Goes straight from one sea to the next, all the way across." Say what you want about Romans, but they can build.

[marthy]

"For animals." Very helpful, Martha. "They bring all kinds of animals there--you know, bears and lions and birds, stuff like that--and you can see them. They keep them in different cages, obviously, so they don't end up eating each other."

This sounds familiar in a very vague kind of way. "And what's above the wall?" she asks. Perhaps that'll jog her memory.

[romaneseuntdomus]

Frowns. "It sounds cruel."

"Oh, everyone still free." He frowns a little less, now, the corner of his mouth twitching. "The Romans call it Caledonia."

[marthy]

"Oh, no, they're really nice." Martha won't hear words against zoos--not her zoos, anyway. Maybe some are cruel, but she loves visiting with Tharkay and looking at all the birds. Zoos are brilliant. "They aren't really cages--they make them look like where the animals would live in the wild. And then you get to see animals from all over the world."

"Caledonia! Oh, that's Scotland!" Martha's so excited at recognizing it that she doesn't realize until after her exclamation just how loud her voice grew. Oops. Saying a silent thank-you to Archie, she goes on, "Then Eboracon can't be Edinburgh, because that'd be past the wall. How close is it to the border?"

[romaneseuntdomus]

"So they don't even know they're trapped?" He sniffs at the thought, unsure.

Esca starts at her outburst, but smiles, laughing, when she discovers it. "So it is called Scotland now. Good." He nods his head in approval. "It is a day's travel on horse from Eboracon-- the heart of it, anyway-- to the wall."

[marthy]

"Well, I mean, they know where the walls are." Martha shrugs. "But they treat all the animals really well."

It's very exciting, figuring these things out. There's just enough information to make it a tantalizing puzzle, but definitely not an easy one. "Hm. I dunno how long it takes to get places by horse, but...let's see. Cumbria? Does that sound familiar?"

[romaneseuntdomus]

"Peaceable imprisonment. I am sure they would thank their captors for it, if they could."

"Ah, yes." He smiles again. "That touches the wall. The Carvetii live there, they are like brothers with the Brigantes. It's very near Eboracon."

[marthy]

"Probably," Martha agrees, without a hint of irony. "A lot of the animals are endangered, so they might not be alive otherwise. And some of them were born at the zoo, so..."

"Oh." She can't help being disappointed--she was hoping that was Eboracon--but Esca recognizing it is a good second. They've come to the restaurant floor and are now idling near the stairs, because Martha's a little too engrossed in this mystery to explain the choices to him. "God, I'm crap at geography. Um. Maybe Durham? Or Yorkshire, I guess?"

[romaneseuntdomus]

"You hunt too often, if that is the case. One should only hunt in season, or you'll thin the herd."

Esca stops, and leans back against the railing, equally lost in thought. "I have never heard of Durham, or Yorkshire."

[marthy]

"It's not just hunting. Their land gets turned into farms, or cities, or--well, you kind of have the wrong twin for animal rights. My brother, George, he can go on about it for hours. Trust me, we wouldn't be hunting tigers if they put me in charge."

All the excitement of matching Cumbria dissipates at this. Martha didn't really expect him to recognize names like those (they don't sound even the slightest bit Roman), but it would have been nice. "Well, there's Northumberland, too. Eboracon's probably called something like those names these days."

[romaneseuntdomus]

"I think you have lost me utterly." He hangs his head, but only slightly. "What of twins?"

"If it is like London, it is called Ebora now, perhaps? But Caledonia is a very different word from Scotland; I've no notion of how that transformation took place." He shrugs. "I know only the names of my home."

[marthy]

"Oh. Sorry. I've got a twin, his name's George." Martha's not sure what else she can clarify for Esca, so she doesn't make much further effort there.

Northumberland doesn't strike a chord of recognition in Esca's face, which is another small disappointment. "I can't think of anywhere called Ebora. But it's not like I'm an expert on the north--I hardly ever go there. Maybe I could look it up when I get home..."

[romaneseuntdomus]

Esca nods. He knows what twins are. "And he cares far more of zoos."

He nods, shrugging. "Things change. My grandfather would not understand how things are where I live." He wants to at least appear to accept it. "If the knowledge has not been lost, I don't see why not. For now, these restaurants..."

[marthy]

"Sometimes I think George loves animals more than people," Martha says, giving Esca a crooked smile. "He doesn't eat meat or cheese or anything like that. He won't even wear leather."

It occurs to Martha then that even if she does look it up, she'll have a hell of a time trying to get the information back to a bloke living in ancient Britain. Well, she'll do it for her own self, then. Until then, restaurants. "Well, these're the options," she says, waving a hand at the seemingly endless row of places. Some look rather old-fashioned, like Martha's mental image of some kind of medieval inn, while others are much closer to the sorts of places she visits in London. "We can try any of them you like."

[romaneseuntdomus]

"Is he... very sickly?" Esca says, with the tone of voice of someone asking delicately after a madman.

To Esca, none of the fooderies look particularly familiar, he not having gone often to taverns or the like during his stays at Calleva. He frowns a little, and follows his nose to the best smelling cookery. "Ah," he says with a smile. "Seal."

[marthy]

"Oh, no, he's pretty healthy. He just doesn't like when animals are in pain." George is the sensitive one. Martha keeps her vulnerable spots a little more camouflaged--or tries to, anyway. "And he gets by. Eats a lot of grains and things, though."

"Seal," Martha repeats, following Esca to the restaurant. It smells almost fishy to her, but not strictly bad. "I hope they have some non-seal, too."

[romaneseuntdomus]

He must be very sickly. Esca continues to look a little grave and sympathetic. "I wish him the best."

At the seal, which is in a pot of stew Esca hops over the counter to find, he does not look at all grave. "Do you dislike it so? It's very hearty."

[marthy]

"Uh. Yeah." George is just fine, Esca. Just. Fine. And Martha can't tell if Esca's taking the piss out of her or not.

"I've never had it," Martha says, looking dubiously at the pot of stew. It doesn't smell bad, and it even looks pretty good. "Maybe if I pretend it isn't seal..."

[romaneseuntdomus]

Esca nods, still a little grave, and goes back to the seal stew. It has lumps of seal, a whole lot of barley, beans, and brassicas. Using stone bowls Esca finds behind a counter, he makes two portions for the both of them, and drinks from his bowl slowly without the aid of spoon. "It's good," he says. "Very good."

[marthy]

Martha looks down at her bowl, then glances around for soup spoons. This place doesn't seem to have any, and she doesn't feel like going and rooting around in a completely different restaurant. And anyway, maybe seal stew is supposed to be drunk the way Esca's doing it. He certainly doesn't seem to have any reservations when it comes to tipping his bowl up to his mouth.

Dad would despair, she suspects, but if this is how it's done, this is how it's done. Taking a deep breath, she lifts the bowl to her face and takes a very small sip. If it's awful, she doesn't want to swallow a big mouthful. "Oh--it is good."

[romaneseuntdomus]

Oh, Martha, you're lucky Esca isn't eating it straight from the caldron. Esca finishes up his stew quickly, obviously satisfied. He's clearly pleased when she seems to like it. "It's good for you. Not so terrible." He imitates her diction just slightly.

[marthy]

Straight from the cauldron? Ew, ew, ew. She gives him a slightly sheepish smile before drinking some more of it. "I guess if you have to eat seal, this is pretty good. It'd be better with a spoon, though."

[romaneseuntdomus]

Esca considers this. Maybe things are done differently, where she is from. He shrugs, and fishes the serving spoon out of the caldron, the one he used to fill up both their bowls, and hands it to her. "Better?"

[marthy]

"It's a little big..." Martha says dubiously, but she manages to make it work. It's less unwieldy for her than trying to drink the stew, though she suspects she looks ridiculous. In a few minutes, she's finished, too. "I guess you don't really have soup spoons yet, do you."

[romaneseuntdomus]

Esca looks a little confused. "This is stew," he says, because it's the best answer he can manage.