The tiger-striped male stopped, sand sliding between the wide spread of his massive paws without notice. He tilted his aquiline head with a faintly dissatisfied air as he speared the rocky beach with his gaze. So this was the land of the barbarians, then? A wild, unfettered land in comparison to the tamed and orderly pastoral countryside of his homeland, or the grand elegance of the cities. He pitied the poor barbarians doomed to live and die in their savage ways, never even knowing how much they could hope to achieve had they been citizens of his home.

Lucius breathed in deeply of the salt-laced air, letting the breath out slowly through his nose as he squared his shoulders. Well, here was his start, then. This would be his challenge, and his Triumph. A chance to bring a taste of order and civilization to these primitives, and in the doing raise himself higher than he could have hoped to have risen as an ex-slave, an ex-gladiator, who could never have hoped and would never dream of supplanting the great wolves who ruled Rome. Here he could emulate the legendary forebearer, Romulus, and found his own great empire that could perhaps one day in the lifetimes of his children's children's children rival Romulus' own creation.

That ambition, that drive that had always been salvation and damnation in one, beat in him in time with his own heart, with the crashing of the wild waves as Lucius took the first steps forward into this new world.

Petra had arrived here after painfully escaping those who sought suffering upon her and her family, barely escaping alive from their cruel fangs. Her hide sporting the few bits of fresh those demonic wolves could take from her before she could run away. An eye and part of tail missing were better than her life, yet it was no reason to smile. Disfigured for life and with an ever-lasting mark on her psyche Petra might never forget those evil eyes, those angry snarls, and the sound of skin being torn asunder. Quick steps brought the brown wolf into a small corner of this new world she had stumbled upon, one she hoped would held no more of those evil wolves, yet she wasn't about to get her hopes high, she knew there were bad wolves everywhere, and only a fool would trust on others. She sniffed for anything she might be able to eat, anything. With one less eye to see she had been struggling to adjust to seeing dark in one side where there used to be a healthy organ now all white and lacking of clear images. Along the torn lip that exposed parts of her mouth. Such a horror to see right? She spotted a dead seal, better than nothing. Quietly she started to eat from it, getting too focused on it to even notice her surroundings, yet her ears were in high alert. "Speech."

art by Shazaki

A furtive, scurrying movement drew Lucius' attention from the start of his journey, and he paused, turning his gaze just enough to pierce the intruder as the ragged barbarian slunk over to a beached corpse to scavenge it. It was hardly a surprise, was it, that this wild wolves would stoop to scavenging rotting seals, but Luc couldn't help but radiate disapproval and disgust. He was uncaring of her physical infirmity - it was a rare gladiator or soldier who escaped their lot in life without scars and potential blinding, and depending on the circumstances it could be considered quite valorous - but the barbarian's cringing behavior and scavenging had him making a growling huff deep in his throat. He knew the creatures here would be... low class... and it wouldn't after all be a Triumph if it were easy, but he had not expected to have it flung in his face so soon. Perhaps he should have.