Dulcis Domus

The sun was brightly shining, bathing the well-shaped white marble buildings of New Rome with warm colors: red, peach, amber, apricot, tangerine.... The immaculate stones were lazily reflecting the sun rays but looked like they were painted with the pleasant afternoon light.
Rows of Roman statues depicting gods and heroes were decorating the alley sides until an archway reunited both Jupiter and Juno on two majestic thrones, sitting either side of the arch and holding hands on the top of it.
Laure had had a day off, and was lying on a comfortable couch in her private living room. She was looking at the city out of the large, crystal-clear windows, impatient for Lindia's return who, unlike her, was working today.
They had finished their military service two years and a half ago; Lindia was twenty-two whereas Laure was twenty-one. Having accomplished their ten years of serving Rome, the two girls had had the right of living in the city now, and both of them attended the Minerva Capitolina University, the only university of New Rome. Laure was studying theatre and art in the purpose of becoming a mode designer, as well as an actress, while Lindia was following a law and designer courses. Her designer curriculum regrouped advanced web design as well as movie design, so she had started to learn how to produce digital effects, and Laure and her often joked saying that when they would both hold their diplomas, they'd make a movie together.
It may be a joke, but Laure believed it... and so did Lindia, she knew it.
However, in the meantime, both were models.

At first, they had been given a flat two streets from the Mercurius Fortunus shopping galleries - which looked a lot like the Galleria Umberto in Naples - but they had been noticed by a mode designer who had, after two or three photography casts, asked them to model for him. Now they actually had a job, next to their studies, and earned quite some money (because the designer was among the twenty most famous ones of the Urbs), they had been able to rent a beautiful Roman villa next to the Jupiter Fulminator place, one of the most known and beautiful areas of New Rome. It wasn't the most expensive, nor the most luxurious, but it was full of breath-taking gardens, elegant sculptures and refreshing water ponds equipped with slender water jets which sang pleasantly in the wind.
It was late May, and the summer was coming. Laure loved the estival time, because the days were longer, the temperature warmer, the sunsets breath-taking and because there was just a whole fragrance in the air that made you want to go to the beach and sunbathe.
Yawning lazily, Laure stretched like a cat and got up, stalking over to the French windows she had been looking through, and went out on the white balcony. The warm air stroked her skin.
Laure was wearing a beautiful carmine red toga made of shiny silk edged with golden threads, a saffron-yellow ribbon lacing her stomach up in the ancient Roman way. Her shoulders were decorated by a magnificent airy, semi-transparent, aerophane shawl, the palla. It was amber-golden in color, slightly crinkled and made of very light silk gauze. Laure had the impression of having an air breeze around her shoulders. It went on the left shoulder, then around her right arm, and back over her left one, and she carried it like the Ancient Roman women did.
She loved dressing in the Ancient Rome fashion; she found it very suiting. Lindia rarely did, though, she preferred the modern clothes, most of the time.

A distant rumble could be heard accompanied by the distinctive noise of horse hooves against the stone of the streets; a few seconds later, a black and silver chariot darted out of the archway and into the Dei Herique alley only to stop in front of the front gate of Laure's villa.
On the chariot, holding the reins of two black mustangs, stood Lindia.
The young woman was wearing a classy black shirt with a white tie which elegance contrasted with her pair of dark, ripped jeans and her military boots set with chains. Her caramel-blonde hair was put it into a ponytail, and the hairdo was spiced up by a studded leather headband which glistened in the sun as Lindia passed the front gate of the villa, heading to the little stables they owned.
In New Rome, there were no cars, no trains, no pollution. If somebody wanted to go somewhere, then it was either by foot, on a bike or in a chariot.
Laure and Lindia owned two chariots: Lindia's was black and silver while Laure's was vermilion and white.
They did own a car though, Laure's father had given one to her for graduation: it was a sleek BMW and she had chosen, with Lindia, a dark wine red color. Laure always said the color matched their relationship: deep and heady like wine.

A few minutes later, Lindia came out of the stables, and Laure couldn't stop her heart from beating faster.
Laure loved her feline way of walking; a few years ago, when they had started dating, her movements had made Laure think of a street cat, but now Lindia had matured and gained confident, her pace was more even, more graceful, more majestic, and she walked like a lioness.

The daughter of Trivia scaled up the row of steps that led to the villa's main entrance and Laure heard the front door open and close. Smirking, she went back into her living room and closed the french windows. A she pushed the glass door close, she looked at the ring that was gracing her index. It was the same golden ring Lindia had given her several years ago, apart from the fact they had melted both again in order to change the engraving: now it was 'Amor omnia vincit'. Laure didn't wear it always on the same finger, Lindia herself usually wore it on her thumb. Those gold rings were legend for those who knew them, because it symbolized their bond- nobody knew they were dating apart from Laraine, and besides, they were well hiding their game by dating every possible man. That way, they hid their relationship - Laure loved the secret aspect of it. The fact they constantly had to hide and to steal kisses.

Her high heels could be heard against the marble of the floor as she stalked over to a little table on which stood a crystal-like vase full of fragrant red roses. Picking one rose out, she strode out of the room and went to the kind of inner balcony that towered over the atrium. Lindia had just gotten in and when she saw Laure leaning on her elbows, looking down at her, she gave her her signature wild smile.
The daughter of Aurora played with the rose in her hands.

"You are late, my beautiful," she smirked before biting a petal off and elegantly tossing the rose to Lindia.

She caught it with her right hand.

"I am sorry, my love," she apologized and made the rose twirl about between her fingers. "But I've terribly missed you, you can be certain of that."

"Oh, really?" Laure asked with a smile.

"Terribly."

Lindia gave her a direct look and put the rose's stem in her mouth horizontally, biting it. She then scaled up the row of steps that led to where Laure was with surprising speed and pulled her against her, making her lean backwards a little. Holding her with one hand, she pressed her lips hungrily against Laure's, not even caring about taking the rose out of her mouth.It was only in between kisses that she started removing it before hugging Laure's shoulders as she passed her arms around her waist. When they finally broke away, Laure give her a playful kiss on the mouth, then on the nose.

"Let's have a cocktail, chérie," she whispered. "I think I might have some Metaxa left. Care for a Sunshine one?"

The early morning rays graciously found their way into Lindia's bedroom. The daughter of Trivia was still asleep, in a kind of early slumber, her dark blonde hair spread around her face like a sleek mane. One streak was still braided and decorated with a black obsidian pendant and a dark feather. Her breathing was regular and calm, like a soft wind breeze that escaped her half-open lips every now and again.
Laure was asleep too, her head leaning on Lindia's shoulder and one arm across her stomach. The daughter of Trivia had an arm around the shoulders of her girlfriend, her hand buried in her soft, silky hair. The dark green duvet was covering their bodies lightly, giving them both just enough warmth without making them sweat.
It was the first summer day and they would neither be working nor going to University today.
Laure moved in her sleep, edging closer to Lindia, to what the half-sleeping daughter of Trivia answered by turning to her, lying on her side, and pulling her closer. Laure nested her blonde head in the angle of her neck, her wavy hair flowing down both their bodies.

With a yawn, Lindia opened her blue eyes. She got sight of Laure lying in her arms and smiled as she brushed a strain away from her face. The daughter of Aurora was calmly breathing, and looked cute with her serene face and closed eyes.
Lindia pulled her closer to her and hugged her, kissing her cheek slowly while closing her eyes.
The kiss woke Laure up. She gazed up at Lindia, who was holding her in her arms, and smiled like a happy child.

"Bonjour, mon amour," Lindia said in French.

She had learnt the language at University and had a pretty good accent now, with the help of Laure and her father.
As a reply, Laure kissed her lips smoothly, before recoiling and curling up in a ball next to her.
Lindia cradled her in her arms as they both dozed back into a light slumber, appreciating the beautiful morning light and the fresh air that was filtering through the open window.

Laure opened her eyes lazily and started playing with a strain of Lindia's hair, stroking it between her fingers and making it catch different reflections with the light.
Lindia looked at her. Her eyes were blue like the Atlantis.
Laure hugged her, cheek against cheek, enjoying her fresh, woody perfume and her warm skin.

"What would you like for breakfast?" Lindia whispered in her ear.

"You know what I like," Laure murmured back and Lindia smirked.

She rolled out of bed, her body strong and agile like a panther, and wrapped her body into a silken cloak, binding it with a white ribbon around her waist. Laure stayed in their bed for some minutes, appreciating the warmth, then put her underwear on along with a bra and went down to the kitchen. Lindia was already preparing a café au lait, like Laure liked it, and pulling out a tray and putting a cup and a plate with a croissant on it.

"Did you just go out and buy the croissant?" Laure asked.

"No, of course not. I bought it yesterday."

"Ah. Thought so," she replied with a smile. "I would never let you go out like that," she teased her, pulling on the ribbon that was holding her silken cloak together. "Never."

Lindia laughed, playfully restraining the ribbon with her hands.

"And how would you let me leave the house, then?"

"I won't let you leave the house. You're my prisoner."

With that, she pulled the ribbon off and pressed herself against Lindia, holding her with one hand while tying them both together with the ribbon.

"I'll tie you to me so you'll never leave me."

"Who said I wanted to leave?"

Lindia bent forward the moment Laure inclined her head and they kissed. Laure's sweet lips had the taste of peach and Lindia bit them playfully while Laure held her in her arms.
They were forced to move apart, though, when the coffee machine started spitting smoke.