a liar and a heretic
#1
WC: 445. Set outside of the caves. About mid-morning?

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[/html]That bitch had lied to him. He knew it now that she would never kill her brother and so, he recognized the one thing that he had really asked of her could never be fulfilled. Ezekiel’s murder would have only been a way to tide him over until... until what? Until he remembered he could never have what he wanted and that everything he did was for someone who was no longer the Aquila. Hybrid had no purpose in his life anymore. The one thing that he did want was to see Gabriel doing something again so that he could do something for Gabriel. Hybrid had created his place in the world and had held onto it for as long as possible, but that niche had one fatal externality: his dependence on Gabriel.

He frowned and then yawned as he tried to figure out what the hell to do. He had three children now and his oldest daughter had returned. His attempt to explain that he didn’t hate her and that he was not ashamed of her (and how could he be, if it hadn’t been intentional and she had never done anything other than be a typical female?) had ended horribly. He couldn’t help it if she took his words and misinterpreted all of them.

He couldn’t be bothered. There was nothing left. He had two girls (more females!) and a boy; though, Nathaniel King (or whatever the child was calling himself these days) was not really his. But it was close enough. He had no desire to preserve his male lineage, or any of those fucked up sentiments that so plagued great men. He had taken the boy on a whim and had spent a few days trying to re-teach him properly. The child would be a warrior. Perhaps even his daughters, too; Wraith and Lucilla had seemed curiously interested in what he had to say, but they were still stupid little snots.

Oh, he hated children.

This time, he huffed and frowned. He didn’t really know what else to do. He was about twenty metres from his cave, but he didn’t want to return. Talitha and her other puppies -- more of his own, too -- were there, undoubtedly. He didn’t want to look at them or speak to them, especially not that strange not-puppy of Talitha’s. The third puppy, a boy, was... different. He didn’t know how, but perhaps it was the product of her lie. Talitha had promised death to Hybrid, but had failed. Perhaps that lie had created the abomination. He could be Myth Lykoi or Lie de le Poer. Something stupid. Shame the child and shame them all.[html]
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#2
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Gabriel has Cern at this point, for reference. Smile

With Talitha’s son now under his constant care, Gabriel was kept busier than he had been in the past several months. The boy was kept fed thanks to Gabriel, who ate more than usual and admired the quickness for which Cern adapted to the regurgitated meat. For him to hunt, though, the wolf-dog was left behind with Enkiel and Sa’adat, who had become unofficial babysitters when Gabriel was gone. Neither would allow anyone else near the child, and Talitha never came around anymore. Her promotion had little to do with it—Cern was weaned early on out of her own desperation.

Hunting trails were followed and taken through the forest and the fields, for Gabriel now hunted with the patience of his years behind him. Unless something was close enough to be guaranteed, he would not strike. He was past his prime and had no reason to waste energy these days. Today had been successful, for he had stumbled across a fawn quite by accident. The silly thing had tried to run and began bleating for its mother, but Gabriel’s mass took it down with little effort.

Full, but not to the point of sluggishness, he traveled in his usual manner and circled near the caves. While he no longer lived there, it was habit, and habit was hard to break. The valley descent was gradual, enough so that the sharp rise of the caves themselves was startling. Higher, near the mouth of one, Gabriel spotted the battle-scarred figure of his (still his, even now) Hydra.

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#3
Post fixed! It's shorter, but that is okay.

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[/html]Hybrid had called and Gabriel had answered. Hybrid hadn't ever had such luck seeking out the Aquila; but perhaps today was a new day for him. Hybrid turned slowly, and just in time to see that the coydog approach. Hybrid watched the Aquila as he slowly lumbered closer, wondering what he could say. He rarely had anything to say to anyone, and so, he didn't mind being alone or simply without company. He usually had something to say to the other, whether it be an opinion or just a comment, but now, his mind was blank. There were no affairs with which Hybrid could occupy his time: no trespassers as of late, no politics that he cared for, and little to report on. He had his children -- all four of them -- here and it was a strange thing. He was no father, but he wasn't absent from their lives, either. This togetherness made him feel wretched and different. Talitha was wrong: it did change him.

Once Gabriel was closer, he spoke: "Gabriel." Hybrid had nothing to say; not really. Hybrid didn't really care if Gabriel knew about his clan of children -- all girls and one stolen boy -- and he doubted Gabriel would care, either.

So, it was back to the beginning.

"I've been wanting you," he added. He'd wanted Gabriel for so long, too.[html]
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#4
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oooh these two

There was little need for words between the two men. Gabriel despised some of the things that he had heard from Hybrid, but he had never stopped him. They had fought, and he had left his own marks on the red-eyed devil, but he had never made him change. It was impossible, he reasoned. Faolin’s family had been doomed long before he had gotten close to her, and oh how he sometimes wished that bond had not been made. The madness carried on through the line—to Talitha, and to some extent, Ezekiel.

Hybrid’s vocabulary was met with a frown, for Gabriel had long known what it was this man wanted from him. How could he not, when he had seen the white wolf, when he had heard it from the beasts own mouth? “How are your children?” He asked sharply, indicating he had no desire to speak of that other matter.

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#5
Ohohoho I do love these two too. (WC: 333)

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[/html]Hybrid’s one true desire would forever be impossible and he would always be rejected. Gabriel, again, rebuffed his attempts with a casual sense of cruelty that left Hybrid momentarily speechless. Hybrid had tried enough times to know that nothing would ever happen between him, even if that was all he wanted. He wanted Samael, too, but that would always be impossible since that beast was a traitor and in love with his mother. Even then, love was too kind a word for what Samael felt for a mother; likewise, love was too sweet a sound for what Hybrid felt for Gabriel. He wanted Gabriel, perhaps not to love, but to have.

And he never could.

Hybrid had found lust in Aeron and from such lust was borne two puppies, allegedly three: Lucilla Key, Wraith Creed, and Nathaniel King. For Nathaniel would be his king when Ezekiel was dead. If only Talitha weren’t a lying whore. Perhaps there were some things Hybrid would have to do on his own. Inferni was a place of liars, and so, wouldn’t it be the best lie if a fake coyote were to lead them? Hybrid thought this would be rather amusing. And if he could not have Gabriel as their Aquila, he felt no remorse making the succession of Inferni a stupid game.

So when Gabriel asked how his children were, there were too many emotions to count or to explain for the stupid beast. Instead, he just grinned stupidly and chuckled wickedly. He was a man of adverbs, if nothing else.

“Well,” he replied, instantly disliking that he validated the notion that they were ‘his’ children. He still wanted to deny that he was capable of the act that created him. “Why won’t you acknowledge it?” he asked at last, after a slight pause. “You have no more duties to Inferni and I’ve waited for you for a long time.” He might not deserve any of this, but couldn’t he at least just have a taste?[html]
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#6
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What remained in Inferni was a collection of monsters pretending to be people. He did not know the depths of depravity to which his family had sunk; that his mother had taken his brother as a lover, or that his daughter had conceived children with her uncle. If he had, he would have been long gone. God could not stand for the sort of things that went afoot in Inferni.

So he bristled, his hackles rising as the skin tightened around his neck. “Because God knows it is sin. I’m not like you, Hybrid. I never will be.” There was no room in his world for the thing that Hybrid wanted. Gabriel could not think of what it would be to become what it was Hybrid desired. This impossibility fell at odds with him, and he could not grapple it.

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#7
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[/html]He felt numb. How could Gabriel deny Hybrid this? Gabriel didn’t even seem disgusted or physically opposed to the idea. Or, well, now he did. After a split second, Gabriel grew larger. His hackles raised and he stood up straighter to deliver her sermon. Hybrid stared straight ahead at Gabriel in an attempt to not roll his eyes. It was difficult not to when he knew Gabriel was just plain wrong. This was fucking offensive.

“How can this be any worse than anything else you or I have done?” he chewed out. Hybrid didn’t know if murder was worse, since in all honesty, wolves weren’t really canines and they had deserved it. And while Hybrid thought he had earned something with Gabriel, he didn’t know if he deserved it and he wouldn’t fool himself into thinking that.

But what else had Gabriel done that could be more detestable?

“What’s so wrong with it anyway? Do you feel fucking anything for me and all that I’ve done for you? I’m still fucking here, aren’t I? And you’re not even the fucking Aquila and that’s all that has ever fucking mattered – that you led. You were the only fucking one that fucking mattered, FUCK.” [html]
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#8
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God forgave those who killed in his name. To assume that he did things for any personal gain was to admit to pride, and had pride not taken from his flesh before? The scar across his muzzle, now twisted as it crinkled and turned his face savage, was proof of that. Violence was not wrong. Violence was as much a part of this life as it would be in the next; there would always be another apocalypse, another coming of the End of Days. This world had been forged and reborn in fire and blood thousands of times.

The dark thing that was more wolf than coyote, that was more warrior than priest, it bared a set of teeth cut on the backs of dead men. It turned into a monster. “You don’t understand and you never will,” he snarled. “You’re only good to me when it comes to battle. I needed that from you and nothing more—I learned that from your sister,” he added, voice deepening with fury. He wanted to do to Hybrid what he should have done to Faolin. Cold, calculating reason was all that kept him steady. Hybrid alone knew how to push him, and this was perhaps because the coyote, for all his scars and his always-used Secui body, looked like his sister.

And Gabriel hated Faolin yet.

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#9
WC: 302
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[/html]How could Gabriel allow one, but deny the other? Hybrid understood that you couldn’t become gay or anything stupid like that; he knew he had been and always was and would be gay, but it didn’t mean Gabriel couldn’t do something for or with him. There was no gender in pleasure and there was no judgment in hedonism. If there was anything pure within Hybrid, it was his understanding of his sexuality, whatever it was. Where he understood himself completely and lived without abandon, Gabriel posed so many restrictions on himself: right, wrong, right, right, wrong; how could you ever define these things so subtly? It was unnecessary.

Hybrid could see anger in Gabriel, but could not understand why. Why, when he had done so much for the Aquila, could he not be returned any favours? Hybrid had recognized, albeit very late, that many things he did Gabriel believed to be ‘wrong’, but let him do them anyways. He resented that Gabriel thought he had nothing left to offer the clan. How could it be ‘just’ security, ‘only’ safety, or ‘simply’ freedom? He protected these things because although he’d rather be making others lives insecure, he did what he needed to for Inferni, for Gabriel. He had sacrificed his ultimate freedoms, too.

He could understand that Gabriel did not know of or care about his sacrifices. He had always existed knowing that there were many things Gabriel would not understand about him. But he could not fathom why this had anything to do with his sister, or what more Gabriel had wanted from him.

“What more do you want? And what does this have to do with my sister? She left years ago, but I’ve always been here. I never left,” so why couldn’t Gabriel see that? And what had Gabriel wanted him for that mattered so much?[html]
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#10
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Rules and regulations were fed from his faith, which drew lines in the sand and forced him to stand in circles that allowed some but denied others. The wolfish male had known that many would never understand these things. Most men were too weak to welcome God into their souls as Gabriel had done. His God was one of the sword, the axe, the cleansing might and the unforgiving and unbending hand. No one knew the weight of his cross, his burden. That alone belonged to Gabriel.

Hybrid didn’t understand. He knew that now, as he had always known. “I want nothing from you. You fought for me. Your sister gave me my children. I got what I needed from your family,” he spat, lips pulling away from his teeth. “So don’t ask me again. You’re nothing more than a soldier.” Just like his own son. Gabriel was a beast of simple things, in his own way. Since he had left his own position of power, the former Aquila had recognized he had always viewed others in such a way. Inferni was made to serve his purpose; there was no love left in him for this place.

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#11
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[/html] Hybrid resented hearing his family referred to that way. He didn't exactly understand what Gabriel was implying, but he didn't like the man's tone. It said something, as if the Massacre family wasn't a large part of what had made Inferni strong when it had faltered. When Inferni had come over the mountain, it had been Hybrid's flesh and blood that sustained it. For a time, it had been his family, not the Lykois or the de le Poers, who had nurtured this clan. And now, because of -- well, Hybrid didn't know what -- Gabriel was forsaking him. But why? Hybrid had always been faithful to Gabriel and had always done exactly what was asked of him. He had never lusted for power and had never sought things with a greedy heart. He had done his duty, but he was not just a soldier. At the very least, Hybrid had though the and Gabriel had a kinship.

He was not "just" anything.

"I was loyal to you, and now you forsake me," he replied slowly. "I gave you my life, my honour, and my service; and you..." he trailed off as he struggled to express himself. "I've sinned for you, but I understand you cannot sin for me. Forgive me for ever thinking I was just a piece of my family living to serve you," he spat. "Fuck," he added. He had no purpose, then, if his only ally didn't want him -- for anything, anymore. Just kill me, he should say, but he was no drama queen. "I never wanted anything from you except this, and I've only ever fucking wanted you. Fuck, fine, I'll drop it, fuck." [html]
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