Leon prepared for what was most definitely going to be a nerve wracking night. After ritual sacrifices were performed in gratitude for his return, the family had decided spontaneously to throw a celebration in his honor. The feast had started out as just a group of other high standing friends and family, but once word got out about the decadence that was usual of the household, the guest list grew quickly. As Leon casually watched from across the atrium, lovely ladies in colorful stolas and proper looking gentlemen in fine togas greeted his newly adopted family with wide smiles and warm embraces. Leon decided to move from his observation area behind a marble pillar as he saw the newcomers search the room eagerly for the reason this festivity was being held. As he strode down a long hall where the busts of his new families ancestors were carved, he noticed their strong jaws and honorable looking expressions, both of which Leon never thought he possessed. He paused and took what would be his third glass of wine already that night from a serving slave and brought the fine liquid to his lips. Gods, what am I doing? Atticus was a natural at socializing with people, I should be doing the same, he contemplated sternly while twirling the gold stem of the wine cup thoughtfully in his fingers. He had known these such events as a young adolescence serving slave, and he knew they were an important time to gossip and make oneself known in the political or economic fields of Rome. He turned and walked back the direction he came towards the atrium once more, now composed and ready to mingle. “Atticus! Your handsome face is well-received, so glad to see you fit and out of harms way!” a women with a dazzling smile greeted Leon, and he returned with a simple, “Thank you my dear Diana.” He had recognized her as one of the first guests who had arrived, and made sure to greet her husband as well who was a senator double his wife’s age. Leon knew in order to fit in he would have to own this role, and he sent a silent prayer to Jupiter that the night would go well, and his conversation would flow freely.
