The Magnaura

[Ramses II CP]

Vissarionas was standing meekly to the rear of the mass of senators when the doors were finally thrown open, having deposited his new errand boy in his rooms in the city. When the crowd moved forward Vissarionas moved with them, timidly, coming to a stop as the groups dispersed to their various stations. Casting about somewhat vacantly he at last spots the Order of St. John's table, where his Grandmaster, Comes Makedonios, is already taking a seat.

Confident now Strator Vissarionas strides across the chamber and issues another perfect salute to the Grandmaster, then takes a seat in whichever chair the Comes points out to him. Vissarionas is wide eyed and clearly very impressed by his surroundings, but determined not to make a fool of himself. He has exchanged his more foppish cap for a less dramatic and noticeable model that rests comfortably on his bald head, and his garmets are similarly muted with only the Order's tabard over them being noteworthy.

As with his master, he observes a respectful silence while waiting for the Basileus to arrive and address the body.

[Privateerkev]

Makedonios spies Vissarionas and gives him a smile. As the sergeant takes a seat near him, Makedonios leans over and asks in a low voice,

"Did you by any chance go to the races? How did the Blue team do?"

[_Tristan_]

Espying the Grandmaster of the Order of St John at the other side of the Senate, Methodios respectfully inclines his head when the Grandmaster's gaze passes over him.

Noticing that there is ample room left nearer to the Basileus dais, Methodios finds a seat on the benches nearest to the Throne.

[Privateerkev]

Makedonios sees one of the Strators he has been in correspondence with and gives Methodios a friendly nod in return. He then leans in to hear Vissarionas's reply.

[BananaBob]

Nathanail ek Korinthou walks into the Magnaura, and seeing the gathering of the Order of St.John, proceeds to sit down amongst them at the table. He wears a long white tunic underneath a robe decorated with the insignia of the Order of St.John.

[Smowz]

A shy and curious young man enters the Magnaura wearing plain looking robes, fumbling his authentication papers under his arm Nevoulos ek Philadelphias looks around hoping to find someone he recognizes... He sees some of the retainers if Hypatios of the Asteri sorting some papers to one side and rushes over enthusiastically.

They shoo him away rather embarrassedly, he realises he is not on the battlefield or in the company of his bodygaurd here and he must act as a nobleman.

Nevoulos curiously eyes the men who have the insignia of the Order of St.John and catches the eye of the Grandmaster and admires the magnificence and peacefulness of the man in such a grand setting. He begins to veer to sit somewhere near them and realises that he should sit somewhere near the representatives of his house toward the other side of the great political theatre.

He moves as regally as he can manage over to that side and rather over majestically sits on the stone seats two rows back from where he suspects the house's leader may sit.

He realises he has not much to do but wait and decides he must be seen to be doing something and gets out calls in one of his two servents to fetch him some parchments to read and write on.

[Cecil XIX]

Armatos walks into the Magnaura, but stops at the doorway in surprise at how quiet things are. After a few minutes of waiting or someone to speak, he dejectedly departs.

[Ramses II CP]

Makedonios sees one of the Strators he has been in correspondence with and gives Methodios a friendly nod in return. He then leans in to hear Vissarionas's reply.

Vissarionas ek Lesvou speaks quietly in the Grandmaster's ear.

M'lord as I understood the proceedings the blue team did exceptionally well in that their charioteer won the race despite having broken his wheel in the middle! It was a remarkable feat. My own red team's man made an, err, small contribution as well by heading off the pursuit and taking third place. Quite a pleasant experience, and I managed to collect an errand boy that I suspect will be quite useful. He is named for the Archangel Raphael! I will speak more of him later.

With a quick nod Vissarionas then tries to follow the further conversations erupting in the chamber.

[Privateerkev]

Makedonios sees Nathanail walk in and he waves him over. The new sergeant walks over and joins the Order's table.

It seems few people wish to pre-empt the Emperor's right to speak first and dictate the tone of the session. Most people are just walking in and attempting to make a good impression. People are sizing each other up.

With a soldier's gaze, Makedonios keeps an eye on everyone without it being obvious. He notices Nevoulos, another noble he has sent a letter to, look in his direction. The Comes smiles and gives the noble a friendly nod. He notices his friend Armatos walk in, see nothing happening, and leave.

Looking over at his fellow land-owner Markianos, Makedonios is happy that he swore off alcohol. The entry of Apionnas Vringas got Makedonios's attention. As someone who read books on the Holy Land, he knew what the Strator's silk cloak meant. The Grandmaster was sad that Apionnas had to go through such an ordeal but happy that the young noble was obviously free.

Michail attempted to start the proceedings early but Markianos put an end to it. Makedonios just sat back and watched to see how people would handle the situation.

And then Anastasios walked in. Makedonios had done some research on the senators and knew who the man was. His cruelty was well known and for some reason, he was able to get a conversation with Anna. The feeling of jealousy came back and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anastasios staring at him. He decided it was best to just ignore it. There were far more important matters at hand.

The Grandmaster was brought back to the present when Vissarionas finally answered him about his question regarding the races. Makedonios's eyes lit up when he heard how the Blue team did. But knowing the races could be a contentious topic in the Senate, he kept his voice low when he talked to his youngest sergeant.

I'm glad to hear Kaspax won. And please tell me about the boy you found when you get the chance.

[ULC]

Iakovos rushes into the Magnaura, perspiration on his brow, his clothes slightly disheveled. He spies Makedonios and Vissarionas at the Order's table and rushes over to them and takes a seat. "I'm am terribly sorry M'lord Makedonios, I had worn myself ragged last night reading. I am afraid we we will have to acquire more candles." Iakovos finally takes a breath, and takes a look around him. "I have not missed anything of importance, have I?"