Disclaimer: I don't own The Rocky Horror Picture Show
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, FireandBloodandKittens and Little Collie Lovett.
Also, I'm sorry if Lollia's intense patriotism (to put it nicely) gets annoying. When I write her dialogue it just... happens. I suppose such racism/classism is the natural result of growing up in such a world.
By the way, 'Eadgard' is an ancient Germanic form of Edward. Since Eddie is probably a shortened form of Edward I decided that the 'Roman stand-in' for Eddie would be called Eadgard. He's a bit of a cheap little punk even in this story, as evidenced by historically accurate cursing.
And I've started using the Latin words for 'Father' and 'Mother'. Hopefully that's okay.
Only a few moments later there was a knocking at the door.
Quickly, Lollia stood up. As if waiting for a new order to be spoken Flora sat there patiently. Though she seemed to suddenly be at attention, like a well-trained dog. Not a Roman, a dog. This upset Lollia quite a bit. Though she ignored this vile emotion and carefully opened the door.
There stood a slave. It wasn't one Lollia knew the name of.
"What is it?" Lollia asked.
"Miss, your tutor is here," the slave explained.
"Drakon? But I thought Pater sent him away for the day!"
"He isn't here for teaching it seems. There's a young man with him too. Now, he says won't go away until you've spoken to him."
Lollia sighed dramatically. "Standards are going down, I think. Slaves doing whatever they want! Despite him being very clever – a Greek, according to his papers – he still belongs to Pater. He's a slave. A slave can't order us around. I have more rights, you know. Pater and Mater are both citizens so I am to. Since I'm a girl I can't hold public office… but I'm still a Roman!"
"It still might be something important," Flora pointed out.
There really wasn't anything else to do. Lollia knew there wasn't a reason not to and that this – whatever it was – might be important.
"Fine, then," she muttered.
Then she followed the slave downstairs. Flora followed her, of course. At that point Drakon happened to be in the atrium. There he sat with a young man. The young man seemed to recognize Flora… and vice versa.
"Eadgard!" she cried.
"Flora, what're ya doing here?" he asked.
"That's exactly what I was about to ask you…"
Then, Drakon cleared his throat. "I'd better explain… this won't be easy. You see, this boy… Eadgard… happens to be my nephew. He also is a lover of the imperator commonly known as Little Caliga."
Lollia's eyes widened in horror, Flora rolled hers at the theatricality.
"I have a feeling that the ex-imperator Gaius survived, though goes by a different name now. I've got more than enough evidence by now."
"He… he's alive?" Flora said, shocked.
"Why, of course. He's perfectly fine and living almost anonymously in the countryside," Drakon replied.
"How do you know this?" asked Lollia.
To everybody's surprise, Eadgard answered. "'Cause I was at his house until a few days ago. He sent me back here to the city to look for Flora. Says he missed ya, he does. Wants ta see you again," Eadgard said solemnly. "An' ya can't disobey a God. He's a God, you know. So I'm supposed ta bring you back. By Juno's twat, I don't want you to have to go back. But you've got to, Flora."
Flora sighed wearily. "Eddie… I've just gotten to safety. Can't we just run away together and leave him?"
"I'm missing something, aren't I?" Lollia muttered.
"I'll explain some other time. For now, I'd just better take Flora back to this Master of hers," Drakon said with a sigh.
"But what do I tell Pater?"
Flora raised an eyebrow. "Who says that you're going with us?"
Lollia didn't have an answer to that. It seemed the right thing to do, somehow. Not to mention it would probably be very fun to visit the countryside. A Change of scenery always did her good. Anyway, she often visited her family's villa in the summer. A moment later she found herself scribbling a note about staying at her family's villa for a while. Surely her Father wouldn't mind too much.
After packing up a number of items – mainly clothes – she called for Cia.
"I'm going on a little vacation to the countryside. Give this letter to Pater when he gets home," Lollia explained.
Cia nodded. Then, Lollia followed the tutor, the boy, and the girl out of the atrium.
"All these visitors! All this excitement! What are we, the Circus Maximus after a triumph?" Lollia exclaimed as the left the house.
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