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[dadication]

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[gr1m]

Surprising how talkative the man was being, honestly. "I was going to be doing so in a few days anyway. My territory is large, and travel makes it difficult for others to catch on to me." It had always worked once he'd gotten something more stable to hide himself.

He stood, letting the whetstone down to where he kept it and put away the sword as well. Lifting the lid of the pot caused a very delicious smell to fill the air, stirring the stew a bit.

"A gorgon's mate is always human, and he wore a blindfold." Hunters drew out gorgons by targeting their mate and offspring. "No."

[dadication]

Jack didn't exactly... have people to talk to. Or monsters for that matter. He didn't get a lot of conversation given his own strange appearance and constant travel. Besides, he couldn't see, so sometimes talking was all he could do, even if there was no one to answer.

He slowly dug his elbows into the bed and pushed himself up. He knew he wasn't at risk from the gorgon's snakes, even if he could hear them. The smell that wafted over to him made him sniff the air to try to identify the ingredients involved.

"Always, huh?" He murmured before turning his head to 'look' elsewhere. He knew how gorgons were hunted, how their offspring (younger the better so their sight wasn't strong) and their mates were used to draw them out. He'd come to an assumption that gorgons were quite loyal to their families, since none seemed to survive if the mate died.

"You must be one of the last handful that exist."

[gr1m]

"Always." Simply how it was. "He wore the blindfold so that he could stay with her and help raise me," and had loved her deeply. There weren't many memories, but that was one that had stuck in happier times.

He was spooning some of that stew in to a bowl, having cut up some of the deer and rabbit to make it nice and meaty along with a few vegetables and herbs he'd collected as well. There was also a little pork to help make it just a little more fatty. Figured it would be better to make it something hardy.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Gorgons were very loyal to their families, and losing a mate was heartbreak. They always remained with one for as long as they lived and... well. "Think you could eat, or am I going to be eating this myself?"

[dadication]

Jack hummed softly, thinking that over, trying to remember what it was like to be happy with a family. The way that Gabriel spoke came with a sort of softness but also sadness, so he could already imagine that the family ending was about as happy as his own. "And I suppose all gorgon offspring are gorgon themselves."

He managed to sit up, but he sagged where he sat, hands falling into his lap. He was enjoying the smell of food. Aside from inn food, he couldn't remember when he had had something where it had had opportunity to simmer for hours.

"High price on your heads, though if you're actually alone... you're not easy to hunt," he murmured and forced his shoulders up so he wasn't practically sagging into his own lap. "If you're offering a meal, I can eat. You're under no obligation to. I have rations."

[gr1m]

He survived with a few scars of his own, but his mother had hidden him away quickly before going back to fight at his father's side. Still didn't save him from seeing what had happened. "Yes," for the most part. It was rare for one to be born more human.

Very rare.

The bowl was set on the table near the bed along with a spoon to eat with, moving around the bed slowly. "I've been alone, and a meal is being offered. It will do you better than rations," far more filling with a few things added to simply promote healing.

[dadication]

That seemed answer enough, and he knew that more would be prying far too much. Most tales such as theirs ended in sadness. In that way, he had noted that they were similar enough in that regards. Children in this day and age didn't seem to receive any more than suffering, but oh well. That was the way of things.

He shifted closer to where he heard the sound of a bowl set down, taking it slow. He reached out with questing fingers, touching the edge of the table first then feeling for the bowl itself. He managed to pick it up after that, pulling it to his lap.

"Being alone is better for survival in these parts," he replied with a sigh. "It smells good." He felt for the spoon and then lifted some to his lips, sipping it experimentally, testing it more for how hot it was. "Definitely better than rations."

[gr1m]

He lingered and watched, just to make sure there was no chance of Jack dropping the bowl and spilling any on himself. Once he had a hold of the spoon and all Gabriel turned away and moved back towards the fire so he could help himself to a bowl.

"You can eat slow, I recommend it just to make sure it agrees with your stomach just in case that poison lingers enough to have your stomach easily unsettled." It tasted good, seasoned just right as if he'd been taught by someone who knew how to cook. Things he'd picked up and managed to remember.

Did have to knock a snake head or two away from his own bowl as he was spooning it up. "You can rest as long as you need as well." Not going to be immediately kicked out just because he was awake now.

[dadication]

He followed Gabriel's movements by the sound feet on the floor, and his eyes remained fixed on a point aside from small movements back and forth. His forehead creased occasionally as he heard the sound of snakes rustling, which was a rather interesting sound.

He ate slowly, letting the taste play on his tongue even as he chewed on meat chunks. He wasn't sick to his stomach so far. "It's fine. I don't easily get sick," he remarked softly. Spoon by spoon, he ate what he had been given, tilting his head to each sound. He could give himself sight, but continued to choose not to.

"I won't stay in your hair long," he remarked, using the play on words on purpose. "I'll see myself gone as soon as I can walk." Twice. What's that great?

[gr1m]

Gabriel sat back down in the chair he'd occupied earlier so he could eat, the snakes settling down again once he started. Might've been a little while since he last ate and they were a little anxious for him to do so. "Better safe than sorry, had enough poison in you to do enough damage if it had gone untreated." Hadn't been, however.

Knew quite a bit about brewing various concoctions meant to counteract poisons and the like. Never thought he'd have to use that knowledge for a hunter, but he couldn't just... leave him there, apparently.

The snakes nearly sounded like they were snickering, his eyes rolling. "We'll see."

[dadication]

He slowly finished his bowl of stew, setting the spoon back in the empty bowl and then reaching out with one hand to find the table first then returning the bowl to it safely. That done, he shifted on the bed so that he could lean himself back without having to lay down again, appreciating being mostly upright at this point.

"I've been poisoned before, more than once," he said softly, adding a little shrug to go with it. He slipped a hand under the fur so he could touch the bandage around his thigh, feeling the handiwork of it. "You could have just let me die, and yet you tended my wounds better than I do even for myself."

Was that... snickering? He tilted his head like a bird suddenly listening. "What's it like? Having snakes that laugh at someone else's bad word choices?"

[gr1m]

"So I gathered from some of the scaring as I tended to you." And also expected considering what he did, either from creatures fighting for their lives, simply attacking, or even other people given how any of the humans could be when angry or afraid. His father had made sure he knew what the human world was like, in a way at least.

He swallowed a spoonful after chewing. "You could have simply left and gone on about your business, more so after following and discovering what I found myself up against." Yet the hunter, Jack, had decided to fight with him rather than leaving him to whatever outcome fate had in store for him.

"Annoying," even if they were influenced by his own thoughts and feelings, but he was not going to say that. "As useful as they can be."

[dadication]

He was quiet for a time at the mention of his scarring, and he absently allowed his fingers to trace some of those that had healed on his legs. "Most people are surprised and disgusted by the sight of them." It's yet another reason he tended to keep to himself, and most of his human connections were limited to business only. "Magic in my blood will eventually neutralize the poison. I suppose that's one benefit."

There didn't seem to be any point denying it. Gabriel had seen him use magic, and the gorgon was smart enough to realize he had developed some way for his sight if he could get around and take jobs without dying every single time. "You're probably one of a handful left of your kind," he murmured. "It would be a shame to lose that. And I figured most other creatures that come in here aren't friendly."

He pulled the furs up higher on his stomach. "You're probably never caught by surprise then? Must be nice to be able to sleep and know something has your back."

[gr1m]

There was a snort- "That goes to show how stupid people can be. They tell of survival, there's nothing disgusting about scars." Surprising maybe, but little else to it as far as he thought, and clearly he'd tended to Jack without issue considering how carefully tucked in to that bed he'd been when he woke up. "I gave you something to do that while you were out, but that is certainly a benefit."

His father knew magic, a reason that he knew enough of it to enhance his weaponry and a few other things outside of his natural abilities. Had come in handy, orphaned at such a young age Gabriel had needed every advantage he could get alone in the world. More so when he was seen as something to be killed on sight by most, or an easy meal when he was small. "Most would rather see me dead simply for what I am," which would very much explain the immediate hostile defensiveness of a warning shot.

A reason three hunters had ended up dead for not heeding the warning to just leave. "Almost never, but it does allow me to sleep easier at certain times, yes."

[dadication]

"Well... I suppose I don't blame them," he remarked, a touch uncomfortably. People feared what should have killed someone, and people didn't exactly like to have someone around who had to hide their face because of the scarring. "I appreciate it. Should get me back on my feet faster, maybe by tomorrow you suppose?"

He would have to do something about that chimera too, since the scavengers would be coming in hard once word got out. Chimera parts were high value, and he wasn't about to let that many people up in the mines where they could stumble upon Gabriel. "Well, most people that see you won't be alive to tell the tale of it," he pointed out. "And most lay people don't have access to the spells necessary to hide their sights."

He nodded his head, listening to Gabriel as he ate. "Probably never lonely, since you always have something to talk to."

[gr1m]

"Doesn't make it any less stupid." Then again it was monsters that carried more scars than most, simply because of how much and what was being survived to cause such things. In turn any that could survive an attack by a creature and leave only with scars was given the same logic of fear behind their own. So, stupid. "If you rest enough, yes. You'd still need to be careful about your leg."

The spoon scraped around the bottom of the bowl, a few snakes hissing here and there, a few moving about in his hair and others settling. "You are the only hunter to have come to these mines to survive," likely because he hadn't immediately attacked. Wasn't going to talk about how he could walk amongst people and only be mistaken for some hunter or something.

He stood, collecting Jack's empty bowl with his own, still walking slowly, a few snakes nestling against the crown of his head as if to peer at Jack from there as Gabriel collected said bowl. "Wouldn't go that far, but it hardly matters."

[dadication]

"Depends on the scars. Mine are a little more dramatic than most," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. Some wore their scars like badges of honour and they might be in places that came with stories. He gestured a little at his face, though it seemed that Gabriel wasn't bothered by them or at least was too polite to say anything. "You know you don't need to baby me, right? If I get killed, it will be one less person that knows your location."

Jack was good at surviving. It was apparently the skill that he was best at, and he hadn't figured out if that was a worthwhile skill to have. It was at least unique to listen to snakes, and he figured they could have their own hissy conversation with each other. "I imagine it had something to do with not shooting first and talking later."

He tipped his face towards where he estimated Gabriel's to be, his eyes seeming to search the area. "I can move to the floor. I don't want to kick you out of your own bed."

[gr1m]

"Someone looking at my face turns them to stone." A bit deadpanned, dry even. "You don't get more dramatic than that, and your scars don't bother me. No, not even the ones on your face. Don't mar your features, still handsome and all, just world weary," in his opinion at least, and a few hisses of snakes seemed to agree. Maybe a gorgon wasn't the best to talk about people being unsettled over how anyone looked.

The bowls were at least rinsed off and set aside just so nothing stuck and dried in them, "Letting something have time to heal isn't babying." Also not letting him be killed was the point of... bringing him to this part of the system in the first place.

"Likely, yes. Those I have killed have been in self-defense, though I'm sure it's spun in some other way." Humans had a tendency to do so. He did walk by the bed again, pausing as he peered at Jack, head tilted. "You're fine. I was going to settle on my warming rock in here if I got tired."

[dadication]

"That doesn't make you hideous," he pointed out logically. "It could mean you're so stunning in your beauty that the human mind can't process it and their only option is to turn to stone." He went still at the idea that this gorgon, a creature that had to hide their features but clearly had a know how about people would call him handsome. "World weary, huh? You'd be the first to say that, you know." He said that quietly, as if admitting a secret of some kind.

As he sat there in the big soft warm bed, Jack realized that this was one of the first 'normal' conversations that he'd had in years. It wasn't about business, it wasn't about weapons, it wasn't about room and board or even supplies. It was the kind of conversation that he had heard other people having yet couldn't readily find the same connection for various personal reasons.

"Guild would have me up and out to walk it off by the morning," he pointed out. That was his own personal standard these days as well.

He shook his head, then his face followed the sound of Gabriel's movements to the bed. "There were no damning reports about you that I was given the impression of. Just the number of dead, cause and to use extreme caution or leave be." It might be a Hunter's Guild, but its reputation was not going looking for trouble to eradicate all creatures. Not yet anyway. There were extremists but that was everywhere. "Is that why the bed feels so warm? How long was I unconscious for? Feels late."

[gr1m]

He shrugged a little, "Most stories paint us as hideous creatures, as no monster could possibly be anything else. Guess it plays easier than a human being destroyed by beauty, and keeps the fact a human could possibly fall for a gorgon out of it." Soon was pulling his chair a bit closer just so he could sit by the bed once he had nothing more to do when it came to clean-up for now. "World weary fits, I think." And he rarely gave his opinions to anyone for obvious reasons.

There was another snort, and the sound of displeased hisses seemed to follow. "Ways that don't care they wear and break a body down quicker, it isn't just the creatures gone up against that causes a hunter to die young." Ridiculous standards, for ridiculous people. "A bit of rest, even if an extra few hours and bowl of food, can do much more than immediately marching back out."

Ankles crossed as he settled more in to that chair. "They all got the same warning I gave you," and clearly hadn't taken it given the fact that Jack was still alive and breathing even now. "It is, and you were unconscious for several hours. Sun has set."

[dadication]

"And how would you paint yourselves, since you've clearly seen those of your kind and can compare to a human standard of beauty?" A beat of a few seconds. "Take in mind that a standard of beauty is one having a full set of teeth and a higher chance of bathing once a week." He didn't really understand standards of beauty that way, since that was never to be his world, not the way that he lived. Sometimes it was easier to be the scary scarred up hunter at the back of the room.

"There are jobs that need filling and hunters who are capable and with experience are hard to come by," he pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders. "After all, experienced hunters die often enough on the job." And yeah, probably some of them by the pace that they set for themselves. Guild liked to induct young to set that standard early. "I have a job that I need to get to, but... I suppose if you're holding me hostage and feeding me, I can't get away easily."

He turned his head as he heard that chair, judging the distance that was between them. "The spell has a short duration and is taxing where it comes to one's eyes. People aren't comfortable messing with their sight," he pointed out simply. "They rushed in, and they died. You didn't raid a village so the bounty is more of a 'if it happens' currently."

[gr1m]

The snakes were certainly hissing amongst themselves as Gabriel ignored them- "By that? Standard. I've got a working bath set up if you feel a want." So maybe he bathed more often than once a week, he took care of himself and had particular habits of cleanliness he could afford to keep up often enough. "My mother was beautiful, far beyond that standard, even if all I have is what memory is left of her. My father would often sit with her and have her face in his hands and tell her so as well."

Unlike his father, who he could just... well. He could remember how his father looked far easier.

"Might die less if allowed to take better care after fights." All he felt there was to it, he'd come across fallen hunters often enough when he went hunting, them just cold and alone out in the forest. "If that's what it takes to get you to take more time and properly recover," ten he would hold the man hostage.

"I don't think they ever found out what I was either," not even the one turned to stone with how quickly that happened.

[dadication]

Jack couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips, just a bit. It had been so long since he had smiled that it actually hurt from muscles that hadn't been used in such time. The story about Gabriel's mother was an interesting one too, and he felt his fingers twitch in the furs. "I suppose... that's an option if we needed a second opinion on your looks," he remarked, more out of jest than any serious thought. Most living things were uncomfortable with fingers and hands exploring one's face after all. "Snakes might bite though, I suppose."

While he didn't think about it much, he remembered distinct aspects of his own parents. The morning sun highlighting his father's golden blond hair, the twinkle to his mother's blue eyes as she smiled at some joke. His siblings' laughter as they told crude jokes while they worked. He supposed he remembered their death's more these days, how cold and quiet the world was when death came.

"Perhaps, but I've survived for a good long while, and I've been pushing myself since I was a boy," he murmured with a little shrug of his shoulders. He also had very little, if anything, to live for, so the pain was a reminder that he had work to do. "You almost make it sound like you value the company. Careful, I might have to be touched by the sentiment."

No, the hunters had probably never figured out what killed them. The Guild had because it was their job to know. "It doesn't matter. Only young one's with something to prove would consider the bounty, and they are too slow and inexperienced to find you in this place."

[gr1m]

His head tilted as he considered Jack for a moment- "If you want to try I wouldn't argue, and I suppose I could get them to at least not bite. For the most part." The last part was dry, but there was something lighter to the dryness, a clear sort of little joking tease about the snakes biting at all. "If you're up to be a little daring at least."

He had a reason why he remembered things, a reason why he claimed such a stretch a territory despite it not being the norm amongst any creature. Reasons to change and keep odd habits because of what little there was left to really keep some hold of.

"I value life, something others could stand to do a little more of." Even if not in the same ways people did, he kept to his own ways and some of what he remembered being taught. "I won't be here for much longer anyway."

Not until the next seasons' turning at least.

[dadication]

"You know what I do for a living, right? Daring isn't a problem for me. It probably should be my middle name," he remarked just as dryly because really? He walked into situations where there was a high degree of being bitten, though now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall if gorgons were actually poisonous. He supposed no one found out since seeing one meant death.

He turned where he was sitting, moving forward in the bed so he was closer and at a better angle when it came to where he had pinpointed Gabriel's seat. Slowly, he reached out his hands, questing for a sense of where Gabriel's face was. After all, he was that daring, and what did he have to lose anyway?

"Well... we're in agreement there," he said with a heavy sigh. "People are the worst, but, there are some good ones out there. They just get stifled by all the bad." Some part of him still had a flicker of optimism, no clue how it survived anyway. "So your territory is really as large as you say it is, and you'll be moving on."

Now did Gabriel move with the seasons? Or some other base need? It didn't seem to be worthwhile to ask just yet. They weren't here to interrogate each other.

[gr1m]

"There's a difference between fighting and simply touching, Jack." First use of the name at all, and perhaps using it to drive in that distinction and not addressing him as simply hunter. "It's easy to hurt, after all." So very simply stated.

Still, Gabriel watched the hunter as he moved before sitting up and leaning forwards better, and one of the longer snakes of his hair moved. It's head gently bumped under one of Jack's hands, and if he followed with his hand he'd fine himself slowly guided to where Gabriel's face was.

"They do, yes." He went out among people and was usually left alone at least, but he was still there long enough to know it existed. "Yes, it is and I will be." Would return eventually, as he always did.