( he may be a barbarian, born savage and without civility in the eyes of the roman high society of the time, but he is hardly going to take his shirt off at the dinner table. instead, idly, he tugs the collar of his shirt askew to show off the one done just beneath his collarbones. it was a sign of nobility among his people.

unintended, perhaps, is the fact that this also reveals he has two oddly elongated (and sharp, no doubt) teeth on a strip of leather around his neck. )

The others are on my biceps and down my spine. You'll forgive me if I do not strip to show you. As to the food — not necessarily, no, but it is a courtesy and a custom of my people.