The Pompeiian Horse

4. DEBT

ATTENTION:

When you see the words "kid," "boy," or any others that may imply very young age in this work, they do not mean children (unless it is clearly stated at the moment). These words describe a separation of wisdom and knowledge more than actual age. Manhood ceremonies during Ancient Rome were realized between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and even younger in some other cultures of the time. Regardless of that information, all main and secondary characters in this story are older than 18, even if they may appear younger.

Many things that could be seen as shocking today were common occurrences in Ancient Rome. Remember, these were peoples who enjoyed watching gladiators hack each other to death and accepted slavery as a normal thing. Their moral compass was not the one we use today, even if many of our laws have their roots in their wisdom and philosophy.

These characters might sound and think like us, but we need to understand their culture is not ours. Let's keep in mind these are peoples from a faraway time with different customs and great valiant hearts.

◄☼►

MARCH

Six young men came into The Zoo's courtyard completely naked. They had hair on all the right places, so Horse was sure they were of age, just looked young. Scando was a rat, but not a pervert. Besides, if he got caught with underage whores, he could lose his business. The Larges were equally nude, and Ox and Tiger were already semi-hard. Horse shook his head.

Scando stood in the middle of the space with baskets in each hand. "All right, my Smalls, pick a ribbon to see which of the Larges will be your tutor." The guys moved forward and started to choose ribbons, all of different colors. Once they finished, Scando put that basket on the floor. "Until your tutors give you a name, we'll call you by the color you've chosen and you need to wear them around your head. If I catch you without your ribbons you'll be punished. Understand?"

Six Smalls nodded in agreement, tying the ribbons over their foreheads. The darker of the two dark-skinned boys (he had gotten the pink ribbon) seemed to want to ask something, but one look from Scando appropriately discouraged him.

"Come on and get your boys, my brutes." Scando pushed the remaining basket forward, a nasty grin on his face.

Lion elbowed his way to pick his ribbon first. "Pink," he said, arching an eyebrow and looking at his charge. "Kind of skinny but nice, plump lips. You'll do fine."

Pink smiled a bit too eagerly.

"He's not for your pleasure but to train him." Scando waggled a finger at Lion. "Don't abuse this opportunity."

Rhino was the next. "Brown!" He waved his ribbon. The other dark-skinned kid was his charge.

Tiger got green. Elephant got black. Ox got red. That left Horse with the blue ribbon. His charge was the only one with truly long hair, and he appeared to be the shiest of the lot. Each charge moved toward their tutors. Blue gave Horse a little smile, his eyes downcast.

"Hello. I'm Horse."

"I know," whispered Blue, his voice breaking.

"Now," Scando called their attention, "we're gonna do mouth skills first. Here, in the courtyard, all together because the weather is nice and sometimes a customer might want to have more than one of you with him. So, you need to be used to doing things in front of others." He looked at each pair. "I don't let customers share one Small, so no group will gang up on any of you individually."