Eagle Eyes c10s3

Hostus visits the archive near the Senate house and queues for seeking a list of certain senatrixes. It almost only, or even only slaves, there, at least this early in the morning. It makes sense, many many plebeians and nobiles are probably either queueing at their patron's house or holding their on reception for clients. The queue goes very slow and the slaves are exactly chatty with someone dressed as a plebeian. Finally he gets to ask a slave for a list of sentrixes above a certain property level and belonging to the optimates fraction. The criteria is set to single out senatrixes that could put pressure on senatrix Falernus to do thing she wouldn't do voluntarily. The slave points out that personal preferences ofcourse aren't noted in the archive. Hostus manages to convince him to use whatever he and his colleagues know about the senatrixes to compile the list. The list will at least take to late next work day to compile.

Claudius brings his tools of trade and visits the people's tribune Maemilius domus (city house) and offers his skills since it's in a few days are Ludi plebeii (The plebeian games). He also makes a point of that he offers his services in the household so that no one needs to interrupt their regular task more than necessary. The doorkeeper takes his name, looks at his diploma (citizenship plate), luckily never asks for collegia membership and tells Hostus to show up early the next morning.

In the meantime Paulla visits the senatrix Falernus' domus acting as a festoon maker and decorator offering her skills for the ludi plebeii. The doorman actually says that they are interested in festoon for the front of the house and maybe a few small potted trees for the courtyard in the back as well. They directly orders regular festoons for the house front and will tell her which trees and how many they want when she arrives early tomorrow. Paulla goes to one of the researched festoon makers and orders festoon and asks if it would be possible to get some potted trees the next day which might be possible.

Hostus takes the opportunity to asking around among the queueing slaves and parting from av few assarius (bronze coins) and finds out what the supposedly important meeting that risks to be cancelled is about. Apparently the senate are gonna decide on what to with Gaius Julius who hasn't returned  and laid down his office and imperium as he should.

Later when eating together the characters discuss whether it could be that someone wants to cancel that meeting by claiming to have seen an omen that would cancel the meeting. That would in that case probably be an populares since they would support Gaius Julius and want him to not be stripped of his office and accussed of anything. Falernus who has made the claim is an optimates which confuses them a little because that doesn't fit with the theory of someone wanting to cancel the meeting.It could on the other hand be an optimates seeing the omen but not wanting to go against their on fraction but still not wanting to disregard the gods and goddesses and therefore forces a client to make the claim instead. A third theory is that someone was at Forum and noticed the omen but for some reason can't reveal that they were at Forum and therefore forces a client to make the claim.

The next day Paulla and Hostus buys festoons and arrive with these at the Falernus household and start to decorate the house as agreed. In the meantime Claudius works the hair styles of the slaves in the Maemilius household and helos them with some minor wounds and other health issues. After a while he is fetched by Maemilius' body slave "because domina wants to see you". Surprised Hostus follows the slave and gets to meet a very absent-minded tribune that asks a few questions on Hostus and his profession, The atrium diverges quite much from the regular nobiles atrium and instead of geometric patterns or actual naturalistic motives there's cogs and architect's tools pictured on the walls and in the floor mosaic. A geek's household. There's also a certain undistorted greek touch to the paintings, mosaic: Greece is popular with upper lavel Romans but usually romanised in names, visual style and so but not in this household.

Claudius spends the whole day doing the hair, shaving and taking care of smaller health problems of servants at the Maemilius household. He uses all his social skills that has served him well before when he had his barbershop to fish for information about the household and ultimately information about what happened at Forum that morning when People's tribune Maemilius was there and a wolf crossed Forum. He soon picks up and puts together a certain discontent with the households domina (female family head and head of the household) from many of the slaves who are of Roman descent or have been in Rome so long that they are romanised. Apparently she, according to them, are very absent-minded, rather sits with copies of scrolls from Alexandria than doing proper Roman stuff and is an open graecophile in a non-romanised way. In many ways a geek or nerd personality. In time he puts the pieces together and finds out that Maemilius with servants was at Forum that morning but they didn't see the wolf and they were going to a meeting with a group of seantors and senatrixes (an inofficial meeting and therefore not in the Senate House) among which was senatrix Falernus which makes it probable that she was at Forum at the correct time.

Paulla and Hostus spends some time putting up festoons at the front of Falernus' domus. A slave appears and asks whether they can get four small potted trees as mentioned yesterday. Paulla says "probably" and mentions the highest price she has seen at the decorators' places. They return the ladder they borrowed from a neighbourhood business and fetch a good portion of the money they have to be able to buy the trees until they get paid by the Falernus household.They manage to buy four small trees in pots at a very high price since it's a spontaneous  purchase close to The plebeian games (ludi plebeii) and and borrow a cart to get them to the Falernus household. Arriving with the trees to the backyard of the domus the slave tells them that domina wants two of them inside instead. It's quite unusual but what domina says goes so they take two of them inside. The slave obviously thinks it's slightly embarrassing to point out where to put the outdoors plants inside in the atrium where guests arrive into the atrium and will have to actively avoid the branches of the small trees.

The slave tries to get domina's attention to get an acknowledgement of the placement of the trees but fails since domina seems lost in some scroll in her tablinum (office and client reception room). The slave walks over and cautiously pokes domina to get her attention and domina Falernus comes back from whatever she was reading. While  waiting for the absent-minded domina to come and acknowledge their work they realise that the atrium isn't exactly decorated in a Roman way. Instead there's openly greek non-romanised paintings on the wall and the mosaic floor pictures some sort of machine wheel. She's very distracted and doesn't fix the toga as she rises from the chair. She starts to talk about geometry and lines and tells them to move the trees and it becomes even harder to pass through the front door without getting the branches in the face or having a branch catching the toga.Before leaving they also get some food since it's midday. As they talk with some other people hired by the household also eating at the time they realise that domina often places the decorative trees so that they are in way of guests arriving to the house, along those lines she talked about. A certain discontent seems to be bubbling under the surface regarding the non-romanised decorations in the house and domina's fascination for greek stuff.