RP post: A bath with Charlie

[ostro_goth]

The window of the main room is open; the papers on the map table are weighed down with blades, stones, or other objects.

There is a fire in the fireplace, a large chair in front of it, ponderous and boding; but it is taken up by all three cats, curled up in a heap.

There is matte marble and terracotta tile in the bathroom, but the tub itself, much larger than a modern one, is of porphyry, a dark red stone that the Romans loved for their baths. It is full of hot water already.-

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[ostro_goth]

"Water what?" Teja says, astonished.

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"Water polo. It's....kinda interesting, but a little hard to describe. I'll show you a video, sometime." Of course, in saying all this Charlie is completely leaving out that it's the most violent sport one can play in a pool.

"That surprised, again?"

[ostro_goth]

"Video?" Teja says. "That means 'I see' in Latin."

Pause.

"It is not something lewd, is it?"

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

He laughed. "Ah, no. A video is rather aptly named, because it's a film you watch. And the most lewd thing you'd see is a group of men in a pool, wearing very little."

Charlie paused for a moment, sitting back and looking at Teja curiously.

[ostro_goth]

"Doing what?" Teja says, now faintly suspecting it would be utterly harmless, and Charlie was gently teasing him for his old-fashioned ways.

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

He blinked. "Playing water polo. The basic goal is to get the ball in the other team's net more times than they get it into yours..." Charlie shook his head slowly.

"It's just a game, played in the water. It can get pretty vicious to play, especially if you go under the surface."

[ostro_goth]

"It is a ball game," Teja says, understanding. "As one played in the palaestra, when there was still time for idle things like sports, and water for public baths."

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"I have no idea what a palaestra is. But, yes, for the most part." The complete lack of shared cultural knowledge really was becoming apparent, now. "There was a team for it, when I went to school," he shrugged.

[ostro_goth]

"A palaestra is -- was -- the part in the public baths where the Romans would exercise their body, or play games with a balls, one team against the other, throwing it with their hands or kicking with their feet, according to rules: - there were different rules, different games. Men played that, and also women. We played that as well, at the academy King Theodoric had made for the sons of his nobles, at Regium; but my friend Totila was ever better at such pastimes than I was."

Teja shrugs. "So what you played was similar, only in the water?"

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it was. We played in a swimming pool, and not a bath, but it's the same idea. I'll show you pictures, or one of the videos of a game, sometime."

Charlie tries to get the idea of the game into a nutshell, and finds it harder than he'd have thought. "I should teach you to play."

[ostro_goth]

"I was not suggesting you ought to play ball in a bath," Teja says, amused. "A bath like this is too small!"

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Charlie laughs, shaking his head. "Not right now, my Teja. Maybe when it gets warmer outside." He leaned in, giving Teja a small, easy kiss, equally amused.

[ostro_goth]

"If we played ball in this bath, right now," Teja says, "then the cats might go fetch Yrael, because we have lost our minds and have turned dangerous."

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"They very likely would..." he chuckled. "I wouldn't be able to resist ducking Yrael into the water. Though it wouldn't end well for me, I think."

He brushed his lips over Teja's cheek, smiling.

[ostro_goth]

Teja leans into the gentle kiss.

"He has much magic," he says. "And he does not take pleasure in water."

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"I know. That's why I'd have to get him wet." For now, he's content enough to just sit and be with Teja.

It's a comfort thing.

[ostro_goth]

"I would not wish for him to fry you with magic!" Teja says, relaxing into Charlie's touch again.

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I doubt he would," Charlie murmured, lightly. "Or at least not permanently. We amuse each other."

[ostro_goth]

"It is good to know my friends like each other," Teja says. "And it is good to see how you are becoming part of all that makes up my afterlife."

Pause.

"I find you are very welcome there."

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

That makes Charlie smile very contently. "I'm very glad to hear you say that. Given how much I like being there."

He's settled back against Teja's chest, head turned so one cheek rests against his shoulder; he likes this spot. He shares a glance and small, catlike smile with Kitty, who's still sitting watching them both.

[ostro_goth]

Teja leans his cheek against Charlie's head, and sighs, content, warm, and contained among that which pleases his heart most.