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ad_dicendumWHO: Gaius Gracchus
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: Backdated to February 2
OPEN TO: Kate Kelly
WARNINGS: Historical sexism, references to slavery
STATUS: Ongoing
There had been much that was discouraging in the previous day's meeting. Not simply the attitude of the people here that government, even so much as a guiding council, was something to be feared, but also the way the arguments had driven home that he is nothing here. He has never before in his life been nothing. Even at the height of the Senate's odium, or in the months after his brother's death when espousing his politics could mean exile from the city, he'd still been the son of a man who'd been twice consul and twice triumphant, the grandson of the man who'd saved Rome from the Carthaginians. His presence, his vote, his voice, had strength based on the men he could claim as his ancestors as much as on the gifts of his eloquence, education, and intelligence.
Not a single person here has recognized his name. But this is exile, or whatever it is, and the whole point is that it's not Rome, and not being Rome means that none of what had made him briefly the brightest star of a political generation matters.
There has, though, always been more to Gaius Gracchus than simply his parentage and his education. However easily his experience could be dismissed, he knows its value. He'd kept an entire army in supplies and winter clothing through three years in Sardinia, with the Senate turned against him and willing to do whatever it took to thwart him. If he cannot turn that experience to helping the people of this village stay warm, fed, and supplied, then he was never worth his election as quaestor in the first place.
So, once lunch has been served and cleared away, Gaius goes in search of the one person who'd asked for his assistance and advice the day before: Kate Kelly, the innkeeper. He brings with him the pen and the book of lined paper he'd received in the gift-giving shortly after his arrival; though many of the pages are already filled with Latin cursive, there are still plenty of pages left to fill.
He seeks Kate out in the kitchen, first, and if she's not there, will make his way back to the main room, then the sitting room the guests use upstairs.
"Miss Kelly? Are you there?"
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: Backdated to February 2
OPEN TO: Kate Kelly
WARNINGS: Historical sexism, references to slavery
STATUS: Ongoing
There had been much that was discouraging in the previous day's meeting. Not simply the attitude of the people here that government, even so much as a guiding council, was something to be feared, but also the way the arguments had driven home that he is nothing here. He has never before in his life been nothing. Even at the height of the Senate's odium, or in the months after his brother's death when espousing his politics could mean exile from the city, he'd still been the son of a man who'd been twice consul and twice triumphant, the grandson of the man who'd saved Rome from the Carthaginians. His presence, his vote, his voice, had strength based on the men he could claim as his ancestors as much as on the gifts of his eloquence, education, and intelligence.
Not a single person here has recognized his name. But this is exile, or whatever it is, and the whole point is that it's not Rome, and not being Rome means that none of what had made him briefly the brightest star of a political generation matters.
There has, though, always been more to Gaius Gracchus than simply his parentage and his education. However easily his experience could be dismissed, he knows its value. He'd kept an entire army in supplies and winter clothing through three years in Sardinia, with the Senate turned against him and willing to do whatever it took to thwart him. If he cannot turn that experience to helping the people of this village stay warm, fed, and supplied, then he was never worth his election as quaestor in the first place.
So, once lunch has been served and cleared away, Gaius goes in search of the one person who'd asked for his assistance and advice the day before: Kate Kelly, the innkeeper. He brings with him the pen and the book of lined paper he'd received in the gift-giving shortly after his arrival; though many of the pages are already filled with Latin cursive, there are still plenty of pages left to fill.
He seeks Kate out in the kitchen, first, and if she's not there, will make his way back to the main room, then the sitting room the guests use upstairs.
"Miss Kelly? Are you there?"
