SELL YOUR SOUL // JOINING

[GABRIEL]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9.4pt; line-height: 1.4;"]Gabriel had never quite undergone the searing shock of betrayal as he did now. Before, back when he gave too much of himself to fighting for a world that spat in his face, missions began to go belly-up for one reason only: a mole. He'd always been meticulous in his work, kept information airtight, but when things went sour one too many times in a row, he knew the only possibility was someone tearing down what he'd built from the inside. That was a betrayal of principle and professionalism that cost both his people and civilians their lives; it was a betrayal he would have answered with blood and blood only, but this- what made this situation so damnable was his reluctance to respond. His own son shattered the bones in his wing, hot breath in Gabriel's face as he'd snarled, and Gabe would forgive him if he showed up now to apologize. Impunity, after all, was far more dangerous than justice.

Not to mention Gabriel had always been...well. Betraying him was much different than turning a back on an organization, because for himself, he couldn't say he'd blame anyone for it. He was a piece of work beyond the smartass comments, with enough trust issues to make a dozen spy networks shit themselves, not to mention his admittedly awful habit of latching onto any poor, young soul that happened to wander into the vicinity. That Lazarus would tear at his weaknesses wasn't an action Gabe faulted him for, not when the boy had been raised into separating the weak from the strong, and at the moment, he felt very far from the latter. 

He certainly didn't look like it, so he wasn't surprised by the horned canine's reaction. In the same breath, he was reminded of the antler nubs growing between Lazarus' ears, which was just pitiful, really. Excellent work on not devolving into a sentimental shit, Gabriel.

"Really? I was kinda hoping for that salt bath." The lines around his eyes deepened, though whether it was humor or pain was difficult to tell. He appreciated the lack of questioning, at least. The mutated wolf wasn't prodding at very obvious bruises, which was far more than what Gabriel had anticipated. "Do I?" The hybrid looked down at himself, and then snorted, much to the regret of his ribs. "Well, could be worse. I could be uglier." Honestly, he couldn't think of anything off the top of his head that was less appealing. Maybe Moon, but- he couldn't think about that anymore.

Releasing a tight breath, he gave a slight nod. "Right. I've got all day to wait for that, probably. Don't think I'm bleeding anywhere internally, or I'd be dead by now."

[align=right][i]——INFO