Thread: A Praise to Bacchus ( Father x Shadow)

Their home was a small but well appointed abode of a Senator. The small estate was deep within the center of Rome and yet felt like it remain separate in all the ways that mattered. A small wall kept it partitioned from the rest of the city, a well kept garden and tasteful sculpture hinted at an eye towards the aesthetic, and a small shrine to Jupiter was kept on the grounds. The domicile itself was two stories, hardly lavish considering the sums of money that Aurelius could draw upon, and outside of the few choice luxuries he did not indulge himself in the frivolous. The two lived without the accompaniment of sycophants constantly impeding their lives with only a small contingent of guardsman and servant staff allowed in the private halls of their home. He was a hard man and he had no need for the pampered lavish lifestyle that others sought. Yet there must have been some need for that outlet, for that feeling of power, and it seemed her father had chosen to express it in the depraved ways of Bacchus than to have it enter his public life. He was a man who had spent his early years subjugating any who dared raise hand or voice against Rome. Was it that his years of power, having risen to command, had left him with a taste for rulership that went far beyond his voice in the Senate? Perhaps, if one were to wonder as to his actions, his work in the military had let him use his soldiering to conceal darker deeds done to the ladies of the provinces? It would not be surprising to him that he had left many bastards in his wake. Yet there was only one individual that mattered in his life and this evening he had shattered her security in their relationship. The dichotomy of his feelings made him smile even as it turned his stomach and filled him with uncertainty as he returned home having allowed her time to come to terms with what had occurred. Or at the very least a reprieve from his presence. He had a choice in that moment as he stood in the entryway to his home, looking down at the small pathway that would lead him towards his destiny. He could confront the dilemma head on or he could let it lie until she came to him to discuss it. It was an easy choice for a man such as he to make. Too much time had already been wasted on grooming her to become the woman that he wanted. He glanced at the guardsman that stood at the gate and commanded them to remove any house staff before relieving themselves of duty. Aurelia and he would need this evening alone to come to terms with what had happened and for her to understand the choices he had made. As his men moved and cleared the halls he waited, he would do nothing until the sound of silence finally ruled the home and in that moment he began to move. His stride was sure, his pace steady, she would easily hear him coming for her. He would not ask permission in this moment, he would not ask for her attention, such things could not enter his mind. All that he could focus upon was meeting her eyes once more so that he could explain, so that she could grasp his reasoning, and perhaps deep down with the final realization of what he intended to do he understood that he didn't just want her to understand...he wanted her to accept. It was a small break, a small chink in his armor, exposed in those intimidating eyes as he stepped into her room. In the dark she heard his voice, his shadow caught by the lamplight of the hall behind him, and he said the only thing that mattered. I am here. How she would take it he could not know.