GONNA MAKE IT / OPEN

[GABRIEL]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9.4pt; line-height: 1.4;"]The first time Gabriel saw Laz was, coincidentally, the last day of life as Gabe had known it. He'd taken a walk of freedom, one last taste of it before he handed himself over, and he'd seen him: a child, probably no older than three months, biting into another kid as he fought for a bone. He hadn't looked away, and he'd offered him the best advice he could give, a memory he clung to in the months following, until he was back on his own again in a strange body so unlike the one he'd been born in. He returned to the place he saw Laz, and while he'd hoped the kid could've found a way out, it didn't surprise Gabriel to learn he'd only gone deeper into the filth, running with a gang of various ages; most of the kids were down on the bottom of the rung, whereas the ones who'd been out there the longest sat at the top. Gabriel worked his way through them all, at every level.

It was a bit of an exercise in his new body, testing out the damage he could deal, but he was also doing a bit of cleaning. Get the older fucks out of the way, the ones encouraging abominable behavior in the children, and sift through the people remaining. Most of them he spared. His interest had rested with the ones complicit, those who would throw a bone to malnourished children and laugh as they spilled each other's blood over it. Those bastards Gabriel was more than happy to set his talons on, and he did. Including the one at the very tippy top, who'd thought he was hot shit because he'd learned how to manipulate the desperate.

He taught him just how wrong he was with each eyeball.

A few of the others he'd spared, ones who hadn't been in the game as long and still had a chance. There was the possibility that they would change. They wouldn't, but they could, which was why he'd given them respite. Laz, however, he took with him. One of the youngest members there, who they'd started calling Diablo merely for how fucking fierce he was, losing or winning, and it would kill Gabe to find him at the top the way the other guy was. His future wasn't Gabe's to decide, but- sometimes life took things out of their hands, so he decided to say to hell with watching another kid walk down the path to his own certain death.

Unfortunately, it seemed some of those he left alive didn't appreciate the mercy, and just as he knew, they didn't change.

"Oh, this was dumb, even for you." The hybrid's expression remained neutral, dark eyes even, though internally, he was sorting through the ways he could make the bastard regret touching Lazarus. There were so many. "If you'd just come asking for me, I might've been nicer."

"What do you think I've been doing, viejo?"

"Making a mistake." The dog sneered in response, stepping away from Lazarus. He was a bit larger than the kid in terms of height, but he was bony, and size wasn't much of an issue, not for Gabe; it usually just meant there was more for his talons to tear into. "I'd tell you to leave, but- I don't want you to."

"So eager to die?"

Gabriel shrugged, the motion slow and casual. "Nah. Just bored." The canine snarled and swept in for a bite, but the height difference was against him here, and Gabe struck out with his talons as he twisted away, not even glancing toward his opponent as he headed straight for Laz. Behind him, he heard a thump, because Gabe never missed unless he wanted to, and there were no third chances. Not for this. "Mijo, ¿estás bien?" The antler was the most pressing injury, and the hybrid's eyes frowned, bloodied talons resting gently around the Cane Corso's face. "Mataría todos ellos para ti."

[align=right][i]——INFO