#annnnd yeah how curious. now you're not separated or lied to about it at all. funny how that allows you to lean into each other for support

[inseparabiles]

the most amazing part about this story so far is that it's been 50 000 words and Lucilla still has less than 0 intentions of having anything to do with the twins, however,

Acacius on the other hand is slowly discovering that he could genuinely like Geta as a person, if it wasn't for all of that, and he's picked up a habit of deliberately pestering him just to get him on the defensive in order to challenge his idiot world views and force him to think about how he's acting. I think this is the same kind of entertainment to him as a pumpkin filled with meat is for a tiger who gets to maul that thing to bits. Like hey remember all of those shitty things you did to me and everyone I love? Yeah. Time to collect on that.

And, though it's been that 50 000 words by now, the only person in the world who can stand Caracalla is still just Geta, full stop. He is NOT making himself any more likeable and at this point I think that's just how he wants to have it.

So I guess it's less Lucilla ruining Acacius's life with politics and more Acacius ruining Lucilla's life by accidentally voluntarily adopting an idiot son with a disaster attachment, and Lucilla's just forced into this deal by a combination of her Rome first attitude and her love and patience for Acacius who's finally found himself a hobby pre-retirement.

Lucius is also about to sniff some dirt nearby, which should decently mess her life up all over again. They're getting so many sons all at once and nobody asked for any in the first place - this was supposed to be an insurrection, not a sitcom

(And it so still is. There's so much politics and war happening around all of this, and there isn't one minute in a day that someone isn't actively worrying about getting murdered or invaded or sparking a civil war that devastates the whole of the Empire and destabilises a continent and a half in its wake, etc. All of the above is happening in the five, ten, twenty minutes a day that people have left over from fighting for their survival and trying to keep everything they love from collapsing around them. That's the actual funniest part, that in all of its ridiculousness and for the whole of its insane premise, this story still fails to be a crackfic.)

unhinged concept (I'm entering that stage): Lucilla actually does adopt Geta and Caracalla which ruins Acacius's life but also makes him their step-father and they finally get an actual father figure who teaches them how the fuck to hold swords and not be the worst people ever.

and we just cancel Macrinus entirely, which, I don't know what the hell happens to Lucius but that's someone else's unhinged concept to worry about.

And we put Caracalla on a leash because the boy cannot behave. That's no way to treat your mother