Marcus followed Andromeda out of the cella into the back chambers of the house. She spun around and poked her finger into his chest, "This, area of the house, if I'm not incorrect, is off limits unless invited."
Marcus took her hand and cupped his around it. "Andromeda, I was invited into all parts of the house when I agreed to court you, remember?"
"Gah!" she exclaimed jerking her hand free from his grasp. "Go be a gay pedophile or whatever it is you do!"
Shaking his head he smiled, "That's Greece, this is Rome."
"same difference!" she navigated herself around the table that was situated in the center of the room, from which her adoptive father conducted his business.
"Now see, this is why you have not managed to secure yourself a nobleman and instead are saddled with this soldier."
"Gladiator."
"ex-gladiator if we're concerned with specifics now." He followed her around the table, as she circumvented it to return to the atrium. "But you really couldn't ask for a better match, me understanding where you're coming from. Any other man would have you severely reprimanded for your rashness and un-feminine nature. You could almost say I'm doing this for you, I could be seeking out a placid young girl for my bride in your stead, you are rather old to be getting married for this era."
"Well I'm sorry to be disadvantaging you." She said, sliding behind one of the busts of her family's ancestors that were against the wall.
"Well, actually I prefer mature women to little twelve year olds. Some things are just imbedded into you that no amount of cultural emersion can dissipate." He tried to block off her exit from behind the bust to which she slid behind the next.
"So pursuing me is really just an inability to actually merge with the local customs? You sure know how to court a woman."
He placed one hand on either side of the bust she had now hidden herself behind, the third or fourth down the line, and leaned in, "Well, you're not making it quite easy for me."
Andromeda shrunk against the wall and glanced to the side, where she shot under his arm and out from behind the busts. "You wouldn't have courted me properly anyways."
"Well, the reason your father asked me if I was interested was because no one else was quite able to tame you, implying that the others who did court you properly were unsuccessful."
"They didn't know how to treat me in the proper manner, I'm not an object."
"Which is why I'm pursuing you and not simply buying you, but then it's really more like getting paid to take you isn't it? I never did understand dowries."
"Women don't like getting pursued like wild boars either you know."
"Which is why I've decided to corner you like a deer."
They had followed their game of chase out into the gardens, winding and weaving through the house. Andromeda opened her mouth to protest again, while backing up from the swiftly approaching man in leathers who she bantering with, when she lost her footing and felt herself falling backwards. Flailing her arms out in front of her, she grasped for something to hold onto to halt her fall, but there was nothing within range of her grasp.
Marcus grabbed her hand before she hit the water, and she felt herself jerk to a stop. Her toes barely clung to the tiling that lined the pond and she stood suspended warily between the water and Marcus.
"Shall I help you up?" he asked, the smile snaking across his mouth. Andromeda hated him for helping her, but more so she hated the gloating he was exerting in having maneuvered her to a standstill with him as the pivotal point.
"No." she spat, reaching her free hand out to try to grab one of the many statues that were around the pond. Her fingers just barely touched the statue when Marcus sighed and let go of her hand. Grasping desperately, her feet gave front the thin ledge they were balanced upon and her hand grasped with futility at the statue she could just barely meet.
She tumbled backwards into the water, the layers of cloth that made up her chiton soaked thoroughly through. Her clothes now weighed immensely and she was having difficult standing back up, much less getting out of the pond.
"Need help?" Marcus asked, mockingly.
"No," she retorted again, though this time more angrily than the last. He sat down to watch, much to her anger.
