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[dadication]

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[dadication]

He nodded his head, unable to see the twitch of lips as he had let his magical sight slip, but that was fine. He was repaying a favour in kind, and honestly, he would have done it anyway. "There isn't any hurry. We are in a good position to remain out of sight and out of mind, so you should take the time that you need. If you heal, the faster we can eventually travel."

Jack had his own ways of dealing with things, and honestly he'd never had a reason to not take jobs and just travel his way through his life. The fact that he found himself willing to remain here was strange to him, and he knew he would need time to think about what it meant and why he was doing this.

"I could say the same to you," he replied. He was a predator in his own right, so it seemed fitting that they would apparently try a second night of sleeping near each other. "I can heal you a bit more tonight if you want?" Still tired, but he'd be willing.

[gr1m]

"A part of me does want to risk traveling back to where I was found," and captured, but that went without saying. "I had items with me I'd rather recover than simply leave there." Once healed up and they are going... wherever. It was towards warmer areas, the trip he had always taken, but now this had thrown him so off schedule he wasn't sure he'd be able to get anything back in to place again easily.

After healing, of course. "If you want to travel that way with me once I have healed up enough to do so, at least."

His head tipped, part of it rested near Jack's own, and snakes moving accordingly so as not to get trapped between them. "No, just rest. I'm in no hurry if you are willing to help me deal with the cold."

[dadication]

Jack considered for a long moment. They could risk travel, but it would have to be under the cover of darkness, and there were plenty of things out that lurked in the night they might have to contend with. "We could try, but it would have to be at night when you're like this. Also, guards, mercenaries and the Guild will be on high alert, which also will make travel tedious." However, he was willing to try if it was that important to Gabriel.

Fall was upon them after all, summer closing out and the cold starting to bite when it came to night. If Gabriel was cold now, travel would be more difficult in that sense as well. "I'll see you back where you came from, I figure. That way one of us can be on watch always." That wasn't the only reason.

He actually shifted so he could pillow his arms carefully against Gabriel's thick coiled tail, and that brought their foreheads together. Surprised by the accidental contact, he jerked slightly. "Sorry..." he murmured softly. He didn't know the gorgon's comfort level with him on such a level yet, and he wasn't exactly comfortable so up close and personal with his scars. "Alright, we can just rest then. Are you warm enough now?"

[gr1m]

His nose wrinkled as he thought it over. "I think we can afford to wait a few weeks still, try and give some time to pass, even if I doubt the alert will have lessened by then, but I would rather be in better health." Tedious travel was fine, but he was also very much willing to remain here for a while as well. He just... wanted to get what he'd had with him, a few of the items if they were still where he'd hidden them for his shedding soak.

There was a soft hum of agreement with that at least, even if he was welcoming the company of the hunter for a different reason.

"It's alright." Gabriel just tilted his head so it was a bit further away, coils shifting a bit to make the both of them a little more comfortable. Kept his coils under the blankets as well. "I am warm enough right now, yes. Thank you."

[dadication]

He nodded his head again, accepting Gabriel's logic. If the gorgon felt safe enough to leave whatever items were of value for weeks, then he wouldn't push them both to go wherever they needed to. "It will be easier to travel when you have legs, since I can take us into towns for accommodation, and I can claim that you're helping me on a job. It is less suspicious two traveling together." He sighed softly. "The alternative is I travel to where you have items and bring them back here."

It was strange how they welcomed each other's company this time more than the last. By occupation alone, they should revile each other, and yet here they were nestled under blankets warming by a fire.

He settled in, finding it oddly comfortable here. Better than just sleeping on the stone. Leaned up as he was on coiled muscle and scales, he felt like he was more ready for action despite the potential danger of those coils crushing the life out of him. "Does it bother you to travel and live alone sometimes?" Just a stray question. Curious.

[gr1m]

They'd already been left for weeks during the time he was being transported in a cage; if they were still there now, they would still be there weeks from this moment as well. "It may be best if we wait until I can change forms safely and we travel together. Being able to go in to whatever towns will also make the coming winter more bearable." Safer for them both.

Could be something said about how one treated the other and treatment in turn that caused the sort of welcoming. How both craved the same thing but spoke nothing of it after a lifetime of living alone- sometimes the smallest of actions had the largest affects.

"Sometimes." Others he didn't mind being alone. "You?"

[dadication]

"Winter will likely be harsh this year. It was a good yield on the farm crops, which usually come with a harder then usual winter," he said simply. He hadn't stopped traveling for the winter months, so he didn't plan to this time either. Extra furs and precautions were all he bothered himself with. "I can make certain we are outfitted with proper clothing for a winter journey if it comes to that."

The Guild was part of the reason that Gabriel was so rare, so they could pay for clothing and the like. It seemed a small trade for the harm done. Plus, he figured dressing Gabriel up like a hunter would allow them fewer questions and more easy passage through towns and on roads.

He shrugged in an attempt at nonchalance. "Yeah, sometimes. Been at this business of being alone that it seems like it's going to be my forever."

[gr1m]

"Reason I was trying to move earlier than usual." Make it easier to collect what he needed for his destination as well, but all of that was also... not really going to happen either. That was fine, he could try again next year to have what all he'd wanted for- well. "You may have to, I don't do well in the cold and at worst it makes it so I do actually get sick very easily." He didn't like the cold, and this just made it all feel worse at times.

Would certainly be one way for him to blend in easily, and he could make do with re-making the hood he always wore whenever he had to go out among humans. He'd gotten fairly good at it.

The tip of his tail flicked before it curled closer around Jack's legs. "Same for me as well, really." For different reasons obviously, but still.

[dadication]

"It seems like you managed it, but were interrupted and dragged all over the country." It was going to be slow going if Gabriel was so affected by the cold, and he made a point of never take a carriage if he could at all help it. Too confined and too liable for attack. "So it seems like travel will be slow. I can't... do horseback given my lack of sight, and I prefer to move on foot. Will you be alright with that?"

He could otherwise try to make other arrangements if it was going to be a problem. He shifted so he could pull the blankets higher on them both, like he was trying to give them absolute privacy. He was, of course, careful of the snake hair.

"I suppose I have no right to complain, right? My species isn't on the edge of extinction." There was a reason that Gabriel was alone. "I hope you find someone if that's what you want."

[gr1m]

Very accurate and exactly what had happened, honestly. "I always travel on foot, so it's fine. This won't be the first time something has caused me to have to travel during winter." Just on of the worst reasons as to why he'd need to. It made it a little rougher to where he had to take more precautions than usual, but- "If you can get us places to sleep inside? We'll be doing better than when I'm on my own."

Gabriel tucked a bit closer under those blankets at the arranging, even it it was just bringing his torso closer while coils curled a bit more together. Making sure he wasn't shifting Jack as well, or the blanket that had been laid over his coils. The snakes? Were apparently content to tuck in amongst his hair for all of that warmth.

The gorgon hummed softly, "You have right to complain, it doesn't make it any less, just different." Would not change the fact of why he was alone not to, and it was still a problem. "I don't really know, after so long."

[dadication]

He hummed softly, considering the complications of traveling in winter. It would definitely force them into towns more often during the cold spells and snow storms. "Then we are in agreement on how to travel then. I can cover our tracks." As for getting them places to stay, that shouldn't be difficult. The difficulty would come if anyone took an active interest in them. "Finding inns and barns to sleep in isn't a problem. We'll just have to avoid questions, but I suspect I can build a narrative that you're my new trainee and people will accept it." Except he had never taken a trainee, so they better not run into Guild hunters who might question it.

He was aware of Gabriel moving, and their shoulders brushed at the gorgon's movements. It seemed to him that it was comfortable here, the warmth growing as their blankets insulated them. His fingertips ran over scales, tracing each one. They were excellent for tactile stimulation.

He grunted softly. "People don't like my scars. They either think I'm cursed or easy pickings for robbery." He lay his cheek on those scales, feeling that they were both cool and warm underneath. "I keep myself apart, so I expect much of my issue is personal. You can't lose what you don't have, right?"

[gr1m]

"Whatever you think will work with this and ensure that we can make it through." Gabriel was putting his full trust in to Jack for this- "You'll basically be dressing me up after all, so I'll at least look something of the part."

Could feel Jack's fingers against his scales, and he couldn't help the way he relaxed. Welcomed the touch quietly, letting the hunter do as he pleased when it came to that.

Gabriel tilted his head, a snake from his hair brushing across Jack's forehead carefully. "I don't mind them at all." Softly spoken, tail tip curled over a hip instead of just the man's leg. "Suppose not, no."

[dadication]

It was strange to be trusted implicitly from someone who wasn't of the Guild, and even then, the Guild elders valued his talents and certainly not his person. If he died, he would be replaced. Aside from shop keepers and towns trusting him to do his job, but even then, their trust was fleeting and could change on a dime. "I'll... do my best. We'll get you to wherever your home is. Put this situation behind you when it is safe to travel."

Something about those scales attracted his fingers, how it made him feel calm. Most scales were even in size, overlapping perfectly for maximum coverage, and they played into every tactile attraction one could have. The fact that scales were missing for scars was only more attractive to his fingers, and he noted that Gabriel relaxed rather than tensed under his touch. Another show of trust he probably didn't deserve.

He tensed for a single second as he felt a snake brush his forehead, and then he was lifting his free hand to touch the underside of its jaw and the side of its body. Smaller scales but just as pleasing to the touch. "I think you would be the first," he murmured, uncertain what else to say. "Doesn't stop the hope of wanting something more someday. An honest connection."

...Like what he was slowly but surely building with the gorgon.

[gr1m]

The hunter's best was all that Gabriel could ask of him, really. Worried somewhat about being too much trouble, going out of his way, and endangering himself just by undertaking this task. Who knew what could happen if people found out that Jack was helping something deemed by many as a monster, especially one from a race that had nearly be wiped out completely out of fear.

Muscles flexed a little under touch, but otherwise there was nothing discouraging Jack from touching. Didn't mind it in the least, and if nothing else he was slowly starting to drift simply due to how relaxed the touch was making him feel.

"You're a handsome man, Jack. The scars do not take away from that, even if my opinion may not mean overly much." Considering he wasn't human. The scars didn't bother him a single bit. That snake leaned in to the touch as Gabriel's breathing slowed. "It doesn't stop it, no"

[dadication]

Jack had taken risks in the past, many of them, and he had survived. He might not have put himself out there this far before, but he currently wasn't concerned about the risk that he was taking. His goal was to return Gabriel to his own living space and after that, he would worry about where his life was going. He was not afraid of being caught like this, having already made his arguments in his head on the travel to set the gorgon free.

His fingers continued on their path, tracing long lines of scales as his cheek rested on those flexing scales and muscles. His eyes drifted closed, and he swore he could feel a tendril of the magic that was Gabriel's being, a fire that few could understand and appreciate.

"It means something to me. No one has called me handsome since I was a boy," he murmured softly, voice dropping in timber as he too began to slip towards sleep. His fingers played over the snake's body and head, careful not to be too bothersome to it. "At least we have this now," he murmured sleepily before he drifted off, warm and comfortable.

[gr1m]

It was far too easy to fall asleep around Jack, and Gabriel wasn't certain he could fully blame the exhaustion of what he'd endured for it still. For all he could know this possibly was some elaborate plan to lull him in to a sense of security and deliver him to some other awful fate that could be the same or worse than the one he was being pulled towards in that caravan. A deeper part of him wouldn't believe that, however.

Gabriel hummed, the sound low and rumbling, all the answer that he could give as he dozed off at the same time. That snake of his hair loosely coiled at Jack's fingers.

Another black and dreamless sleep, but at the very least that also meant it was something deep.

[dadication]

His sleep was deep and restful as he lay curled up in Gabriel's coiled body hidden under blankets. There was a sort of spicy scent to the gorgon's hide that he had come to associate with Gabriel, and while he could smell healing wounds by old blood, it didn't bother him. He felt safe when he had no right to.

Then again, if they had wanted to kill each other, both of them had had plenty of opportunities to make that happen. That they didn't seemed to speak of a growing trust between them.

He slept through the night to sunrise, his internal clock rousing him. He left his blindness in place for now, simply feeling the shift of Gabriel's body as he breathed, the scent of him and the feel of those scales under his cheek but also curled around his fingers. He stayed like that, awake but unmoving for several minutes just drinking in the situation. Feeling rested was an odd sensation in and of itself as well.

The fire had burned down in the night, but he wasn't cold. They shared body warmth, and under the blankets, it was cozy enough to of comfortable temperature. He slowly raised his head and murmured a magical incantation to slip his sight back in place, yawning directly after.

[gr1m]

He slept peacefully. Deeply. Didn't even move at all during the night with just how comfortable he was, nothing that caused him to shift or move in his sleep. A soft hissing of snakes was still present, had been once he'd dozed off, just soft enough to be a sort of subtle white noise in the background as the fire crackled and burned down throughout most of the night.

Gabriel remained asleep, that snake retracting from Jack's hand as the gorgon himself finally shifted, only to tuck himself closer to Jack from the man's movements. His head tucked near the hunter's shoulder from what little shit of movement he did make.

After that he went still again.

[dadication]

He lifted a hand to rub at his face, convincing himself to wake up further because the fire needed to be tended and breakfast needed to be found if his snares were successful and he should probably bathe them both today as well. He had plenty to do, plenty he knew he should do now that he was awake if a little groggy about it.

Did he? No.

Gabriel shifted next to him and that brought the gorgon closer to him, and he hadn't had anyone tuck close to him before. Again, not since he was a boy. He slowly relaxed again, his sight bringing some of Gabriel's features to focus in his black and white vision. While he didn't want to disturb the gorgon's clearly peaceful sleep, his fingers reached out to trace lightly over Gabriel's facial features from eyebrows to eyelids and down over his cheeks. Slow and curious.

Before he had done it to establish what Gabriel looked like by touch alone, but together with his magical sight, the picture of the gorgon seemed to clarify. Jack was surprised by himself when he mentally admitted that Gabriel was deeply attractive to him. A beautifully exotic and handsome creature. That was... well, a first in a good long time.

[gr1m]

There was something so incredibly comforting about the extra weight against his coils, the warmth of another body. He had always slept alone after the loss of his parents, but to have anyone with him now simply touched upon that feeling of safety that he'd lost.

It coaxed him to allow that rest he desperately needed, to allow healing and simply let himself relax. No need to be so incredibly on edge that even the slightest sound could wake him, to be tensed and ready to strike instantly. This was the most relaxed he had been in years, and perhaps it was why his head tilted in his sleep.

Gabriel leaned slightly against that touch, those exploring fingers, without waking. Expression soft and relaxed.

[dadication]

The fact that he can do this and Gabriel doesn't wake up spoke a lot of trust, and Jack was again put in the position where he wondered if he deserved it. There was plenty of blood on his hands, though he never denied it when asked. This was still a man who had lost everything except his own life thanks to a hunter and while Jack was probably just a toddler when that happened, sometimes he could feel the weight of the Guild.

Right now, he felt that weight, but it wasn't stopping him from running his fingers over every aspect of Gabriel's face, filling in all the gaps that his mind couldn't. Combination of sight and touch and smell was powerful, and he lazed in those coils all the same because his reasons for getting up didn't seem as important as being aware of Gabriel sleeping so deeply.

Hell, even his hair seemed content. His fingers went from exploring to simply touching, stroking lightly while there was opportunity to steal them. Though would snakes tell on him? He'd probably find out eventually.

[gr1m]

There was no better way to wait for the morning chill to be chased away by the morning sun as it rose, perhaps.

Oh, he'd certainly find out eventually as the snakes of Gabriel's hair were watching. Unblinking. A few even having ventured to bump against Jack's fingers and hand as if demanding attention once it seemed the hunter was simply touching rather than gathering whatever he'd been doing earlier. Could even be that a few were demanding payment for their silence through getting something themselves.

The rest of them were indeed content, enough so to remained coiled against hair and Gabriel's head and simply watch.

[dadication]

As his fingers continued their venture just softly touching and memorizing the curves and lines of Gabriel's face, Jack's fingers did pause when he became aware of a few of the snakes moving in. While he wasn't at all frightened of the potential of their gaze, he knew that they still had venom.

It seemed that they had warmed up enough to him to allow touch when his hands were in reach. This wasn't the first time either, which seemed to mean that he had their approval for the most part. He lifted his hand away from Gabriel's face to take the time to stroke and touch each of the snakes that had come demanding attention of their own.

"This will be our little secret," he whispered to them, though he had no doubt they were very bad at keeping secrets given they were literally attached to the gorgon and made up aspects of what made the creature special.

It didn't even seem like the gorgon would stir, not yet anyway. He thought he might be taking advantage but here they were.

[gr1m]

The snakes hissed softly in turn, bumping against fingers and then being still enough that they could be stroked over as well. Apparently a deal had been made, no matter how easy or not it may be for them to keep up their end of it considering. So, there was quiet for a little while longer at the very least, them retreating after a moment once satisfied with the bit of attention given.

Hard to tell if that was why Gabriel had begun to stir a while after, coils shifting just slightly as his brow furrowed and he curled a little more. The lingering exhaustion did have him subtly fighting to remain asleep, but his own internal clock wouldn't really allow for it. Not after years of having to be on the move to hunt and gather for himself.

At least he'd managed those extra hours.

[dadication]

When the snakes withdrew, Jack took that as a sign that it was best he not continue with the explorations and a good thing too as Gabriel began to shift and come up from sleep. He shifted in the coils that flexed under his cheek and shoulder, and he finally pushed himself up so that he could crawl over that muscular body. He left his blanket behind to keep the warmth with Gabriel.

Then he moved to the embers that were flickering red and began to build their fire back up slowly. It didn't take long to have a good flame going, warming the bite of coolness from the air, but that would take time to warm entirely given the cave was large enough to house their supplies and themselves comfortably.

He returned and eased into a crouch in front of Gabriel's head, waiting to see if the gorgon would wake fully.