If Aulus was granted any sense of wonder when it came to things foreign to him, it would have to be infrastructure.  During his days in the Pontus campaign every new province provided a unique and completely different infrastructure different from that of Rome’s much older provinces.  Now, even after returning to Roman lands he found himself captivated if not hypnotized by this new estate that he would enter along with his guardian Antonious.  The cost of coming to this foreign gem was that of a grueling expedition to get there and hours of negotiations to be allowed even to the estate.  Even Aulus could account for the hundreds if not thousands of steps it took to finally reach their destination, slowed down by rough terrain, frequent rests, and the occasional memories/nightmares.<br/><br/>Even when reaching the gate, the expedition would be halted by a stubborn guard who would not allow them entrance.  Antonious could not believe the ill treatment he had received even to go as far as threatening the guard that he had an appointment with the Domina to display his private wares to her personally.  This did hit a mark though in the guard making him nervous in the possibility that he may have been telling the truth.  If he surely did have an appointment with them it wouldn’t be under his knowledge.  The nervousness would come to a close though when a new comer would arrive at the estate as well.  Ensuring that more enough room was provided the two men moved to the side of the road to allow access for the carriage which would stop directly at the gates.  Immediately after the door to the carriage would swing open allowing two bodies both male (Bastian Grandis Fascinum, and Amplus) to escape the close confines of the carriage to be allowed access into the Ludus.<br/><br/>This did not sit exactly well with Antonious since the newcomers would not be hassled as he was to gain entrance.  The gods though would give him a break soon afterwards as the guard now having allowed two already into the Ludus, would allow the remaining two to enter as well, but kept on a tight leash since the Domina had not been zealous in reminding him of Antonious’ arrival.    Once Aulus had stepped beyond the gate, the guard took note of his mark on his neck nodding to him apologize for his rudeness, but could not display it publicly.  Aulus understood the young guard well.  With both of them now inside the Ludus, they were now focused on two completely different goals.  Antonious having been already knew everything about this estate, and was only focused on making profit.  Antonious seeing Aulus’ sudden distraction to the estate saw this as an opportunity for the young soldier to understand gladiators and the games.  Perhaps he could even see a possible business proposal in leaving Aulus in the hands of the masters of this estate, to use him at whatever……position they saw fit.<br/><br/>Antonious was kind enough to remind Aulus to first set up the portable kiosk for him to begin selling his wares.  Aulus was a quick to respond, for all the distractions he still had a job to do.  He must have had some skills in engineering since it only took a couple minutes before a table was set up with a display of various medicinal herbs, jewelry, home necessities, anything a married couple or a business order could need.  With Antonious’ shop set up, Aulus now could return to his inspection of the Ludus.  The young soldier’s life, primarily in his youth was focused in the slums.  He had to learn everything based on his surroundings.  This included finding places to hide, the more childish games, daily household chores, and duties to help both his father and mother live theirs lives without having to submit to poverty.  Now he would be in an entirely different realm of wonder that he will have to learn to adapt if not dance in its shadows.<br/><br/>Perhaps the first thing the capture his attention was the men….these supposed gladiators: men whom had no history, only the fame that they carved into their steel and skin.  He had seen many barbarians that one could say carried very similar resemblances, save for perhaps the clean look to their faces and hair.  The bodies of these men were different from his, bulging with strength and vigor.  Perhaps it also carried an intimidation factor that a normal citizen would be scared if not intoxicated by such godly figures.  Kneeling down to the sand ground he scooped into one of his fists a handful of the rich sand of what seemed to be the training grounds.  He brought the sand to his nose taking in a strong inhale of the scented earth.  The smell of blood, sweat, vomit, even pissed smothered the sand purifying the history behind this Ludus: a place where people train to fight and bleed everyday to make themselves stronger.  One other note was that even with all these male slaves there was also a few female slaves as well which handled the more…..logistics of this Ludus.<br/><br/>Aulus held no remorse or pity for slaves.  In truth he never even met one really.  Of course even in his youth he had seen many whom had such servants.  In fact even his mother (without his knowledge) was originally a Greek servant/prostitute.  Slaves, at least from his point of view were no different then soldiers captured in the field:  they had no freedoms, and their fate was determined by the mind and mercy of their betters: Aulus’ officers.  Normally he would see many of these soldiers be sent for auctions, executed, or taken as spoils of war.  Despite multiple encouragements, Aulus remained without any human property.  He always carried a hidden belief that a man is not determined by his origin or beliefs, but of his values and actions, but because of the ideals he fights for he had to keep it as a personal thought.  The reason behind this was shown when a fellow soldier in his unit did not stay silent, and was later flogged and executed for invoking heretical beliefs.  Now as a discharged soldier he still carried this heavy secret, wondering now if what he believed in would be true as he watched these slaves and gladiators continue their lives.  Aulus on the other hand would continue to observe and study the estate, keeping a close watch for any who would approach him in case he was overstepping his observation or distracting those who were here.<br/>