A long day in a tired little town in Rome gave room for dreary, exhausted men carrying food and other good in their arms to bring back to their wives and children, consisting of vegetables and hunted meats. They hadn't a problem with finding food, given they were much higher class then some. Some meaning the lower class, who had no money in their name. No money to pay for food, children's new clothes, or even their own homes. Little people in the town were low enough to become beggars, pleading and whining for money from the higher class commoners. Once the day set on them, they went home to wherever they may reside, whether it be in a cave or a shack made of nothing but mud and twigs.
The day was finally through. The orange and red sun spread its vibrance across a pink sky, leaking across the world and reflecting brilliance onto the plants and people below it. People were hurrying home with as much food as they could carry, or a sleeping child in their arms. Disappearing into their homes, the dirt roads eventually cleared out and left the little town practically empty. All but two young boys, one was around age twelve and the other of age nineteen. Their parents recently died so their money was of little, the brothers only had each other to look out for and keep alive. The older of the two, Dominitrus Alvah, was still yet to find a better job other than a measly farmer with only around four acres for all of their land- the rest was infested by mice and bugs, making it unusable. Dominitrus' younger brother, Aphrodisios Alvah, on the other hand, hadn't a job. He helped on the farm with his elder brother while he looked into a job in a bath house. Not the best job in the world but it paid more than a farmer, nonetheless.
"Brother, shouldn't we be tending the crops?" Aphrodisios' voice barely came above a murmur, but Dominitrus heard it and looked over his shoulder. "Yes, we will do that momentarily. I will fix us a meal afterwards." His choice of words and how he delivered them was quite formal, he hadn't a reason for this quality of his. Possibly his desire for the crown, for kingship. Dominitrus longed to be a royal who nobody ignored, everyone bowed when he rose, listened and cheered when he spoke. This was his only dream, what he strived for in his short life. Such subtle quirks of Dominitrus showed this, sitting up straight and crossing his legs, using a long twig as if it was a staff.
As the sun disappeared behind the landscape, taking its beautiful rays of glory with it and leaving Rome with a deep purple and black sky, dotted with stars and tufts of misty clouds. The night fell on Disi and Dom, the only two left actually outside. "Hmn.. We can tend the crops in the morning. Let us head to sleep." Dominitrus stood to his feet and helped his younger brother up with him. "The night is high, and we must rest. Come, brother." The dirty blonde teenager kept his albinistic brother's hand in his own to guide the poor sighted child to their home- a building made of wood and stone, sagging under the weight of it's own structure.
The night passed and brought room for daytime after a full sleep. At the rise of the sun, many began to awaken, along with Dominitrus and Aphrodisios. Both of the boys had to awaken early to tend to the crops, harvest and sell the grain. They did exactly that, clamoring into their dirty old outfits. "Are you ready, Disi?" When nobody else was around, Dominitrus tended to drop the higher, royal act. He wanted to speak to his brother naturally. A warm smile formed on the dirty blonde's visage, returned by his little brother. "Yeah!" The white haired albino gave Dominitrus' soothing smile right back, though it was a childish and silly grin. The supplies were already out in the shed, so all they needed was the clothes on their backs.
The shed might be the only thing the Alvahs had that was still somewhat together. The entire shack sagged under the weight of the roof. The wood creating the walls was rotted and slate grey with age, some of them drunkenly hanging on by a rusted nail. The grass around it was flattened under the feet of many years. A brownish grey door was propped open just barely, giving the boys enough room to open it and slide through. It was close to falling off, too, so they were quite delicate with it. Inside the shed was tools for farming, plenty of kinds. Wooden and stone hoes, shovels and bags of seed and manure, plenty of random junk to last them quite a while. Instead of selecting any of the seed or tools, they picked a moderately large rusted bucket on wheels, their excuse for the modern wheelbarrow.
Harvesting crops went on for achingly long, what seemed like years to the tired boys. It had been almost six hours out in the fields, struggling to push the dying cart. The cart was filled and most of it was soon to be sold to the market. They got a modest amount of money for their effort, given their age.
The day gradually came to an end, leaving Dominitrus and his younger kin weary from a day of back and forth between the market and the farm. Once again the sky was painted with glorious colors, spreading over the horizon and turning the fluid, misty white clouds to an explosion of resplendence. Dominitrus and Aphrodisios paid no mind to this display; it was a boring sight by now, seeing it each and every day. They instead filed into their house and removed their filthy clothing and placed it in a pile to be washed. The two never slept in their clothes- they washed them the night before and hung them up to dry overnight. That's exactly what they did, washing the tattered garments and placing them on a clothing line that was strung up between two trees.
On the next morning, the boys were awakened just before the sun rose. A natural time for them to wake up. The shack they resided in didn't exactly block out light well, so the sun's golden rays seeped right through and beamed into the boy's shut eyes. It was just another day, repeating the same thing, farming and selling, each and every day. Nothing changed, everything was in a locked schedule. They woke up, got dressed into their newly cleaned linens, made a small breakfast and got straight to work. Breakfast consisted of whatever crops they grew and kept for the month, evenly dividing the rations to a small meal to sustain them each day. Aphrodisios was usually the one to cook the meal, for whatever reason the child had for it.
Dominitrus looked to his frail brother and sighed. "Do you ever miss mother and father?" He suddenly broke the silence between them. The question raised Disi's head and painted his face in worry. That was just so random, what could be going on in his mind to make him ask? "Hmmn? Yeah.." Aphrodisios sighed, saying nothing further. Even though they died when Disi was younger than Dominitrus- two years ago, when Disi was ten and Dominitrus seventeen- Disi wished he could have grown up with the warm arms of a mother and father. Dominitrus was lucky enough to do exactly that.