There was always something oddly mystifying about a plastic bag being caught in the breeze, the way it struggled against the currents of air, but inevitably blew in the direction it had been commanded, performing some sort of plastic bag aerobics whilst it was at it, twisting around and twirling in the air. It would sink low and almost hit the ground before the currents would rise up and catch it, sending it propelling through the air once again. It was the best to television someone could get if they lived on the streets, and Amryst had spent many days watching as various discarded plastic – or even paper – bags succumbed to the cold breeze that shook through London.

Even thinking about it made her shiver, she’d been staying still today, curled up with a found blanket and duvet down what she had declared as “her” alleyway. It gave her a good view of the streets and had various exit points that she could leave through, if she ever wanted it. She hadn’t left today for the main reason that she was warm, and it had taken her hours to actually accumulate enough body warmth to be nice and toasty, huddled down her alleyway, watching the plastic bag performing it’s captured dance for her, whilst various citizens of the city walked along the streets to restaurants and pubs.
Good for them.

Amaryst was lucky, she’d positioned herself quite far away from where people normally walk, so whilst she could observe all she wanted, the emotional baggage that she felt wasn’t as bad as it usually was. It turned out to be a bitch at the same time, however, as she actually started to feel what was her own hunger, not the hunger of others. It made it hurt more than it usually did, because usually she could block it out assuming it was her empathic ability, and not her body trying to tell her something. Cursing softly, curling up some more in a vain hope that squishing her stomach would actually cause it to numb the pain, which it did a little, but not enough to be comfortable. She really needed something to eat, and soon, but it was cold, very cold, and Amaryst didn’t feel like sacrificing being warm to find food, especially since there wasn’t a positive chance that she would find any.

Shifting again, uncomfortable, as her stomach growled, the young woman curled up some more, still weighing the options of moving to find food and die from being too cold, and starving to death but at least being warm. She knew she was being dramatic, and could probably live a few more days before she had to find food in a live or death search, but she wasn’t holding up hope that England would suddenly get warmer in that stretch of time.
Then the smell reached her, and she almost howled in irritation, she could smell food, well cooked, high priced food and all she had was what she found in the garbage. Not that she was complaining, because at least she was free, she wasn’t given all her minerals in one single injection that also knocked her out for countless days, no, compared to what she remembered in brief glimpses of her “previous” life, this was close to heaven. Heaven on an empty stomach. Her feet scrapped against the ground and she stood, very slowly, huddling around the warmth of her blanket and shuffled down the alleyway, searching through the dirt and muck for anything she could find to eat.

It took her a good twenty minutes before she actually found something. Bread.

Dirty on the outside, but once she’d ripped deeper into the loaf, the white pureness made her smile lightly. Germs and disease didn’t worry her, not only was the human body underestimated, but so was the various other parts of her DNA, not to mention the technology supporting her organs and blood. Chewing the stale thing down as best as she could, Amaryst sank back down into the small space she had before, smiling lightly at the warmth that still lingered. It wouldn’t take her too long, she supposed, to get warm again, and with something in her stomach, perhaps it would be easier to get to sleep this night. Even now, she could feel the warmth spreading to her arms, and her fingers, growing warmer and warmer.

This freedom thing was easier than she thought.

Gabriel seemed to suffer from chronic boredom; it was an issue in his life. Very few things held his interest. Whenever he wasn’t off travelling through time and space on missions for John’s own Rogue version of the Time Agency, he was often found visiting his good old homeplanet: Earth. There were many things he liked about Earth, being one of them its History. Even since he was a child, Gabriel had always enjoyed reading books about almost every time period… But here was, however, one thing that no one had ever informed him of:

History was slow.

Time travelling was amazing, no one could deny that, but sometimes if it found you in the wrong place, at the wrong time, there weren’t many thrilling things to look forward too –if at all. Gabriel often found himself drifting away on such occasions, especially while attempting to hold a conversation with other civilians. Most people, he had learned, were terrifically boring. No matter what century you’d happen to be in, and no matter what part of the world you’d be stepping on, everyone seemed to talk about the same things over and over again- material items, television/theatre/coliseum/whatever, stupid dreams, work, their love life. There were times when Gabriel felt that he couldn't take it anymore. A great deal of his supposed boredom sprung from the fact that he had a difficult time growing attached to anyone. He didn't care about most people, and as a result he could care less about most people's daily lives or petty issues. He felt very distant from most people, as if he were an outsider, merely looking in. More specifically, he felt better than most people. He behaved as if everyone else was far below him. It was no secret that he was a remarkably intelligent person; he had always done spectacularly well in school and college. In fact, he had done so well in school that he'd been consistently bored in class.

Boredom was a re-occurring theme in his life.

Since then, he had grown up a bit. Most people and events still brought absolutely no emotional reaction from within him, but he had discovered methods of entertaining himself. He often drank- a petty form of distracting himself. Forming superficial relationships with women was another great method. Lastly, though, Gabriel had learned to become an extremely manipulative person. Because he thought of himself as better than most people, he never felt particularly guilty when he calmly ruined their lives. It was all a game to him.

Tonight, like many nights, Gabriel found himself at one of the local clubs. He had gone with some girl whose name he could not remember –why would he care?- but had immediately ditched her after she had informed him that she was ”trying to read Wuthering Heights because it was Bella and Edward's favorite book, but she was finding it unbearably boring.” He honestly didn't have the energy for that. He had spent about fifteen minutes lingering outside of the club, smoking a cigarette and squinting lazily into the dark. Part of him was longing to rejoin the crowd; maybe he could find someone else to hook up with after a little bit of searching. Another part of Gabriel just wanted to leave though. He sighed to himself and then threw his cigarette down onto the ground. He stepped on the bud, paused for a moment and then turned back around, as he finally made up his mind: he reckoned it was just about time for him to take a nice little promenade.On his own.

Gabriel wandered aimlessly through the lanes of this 21st Century London. It was almost deprived of human presence –then again, it wasn’t hard to figure out why; this cold winter night could barely keep an ordinary person outdoors for more than what was strictly necessary, in terms of time. As for Gabriel… he was wearing a fairly warm and long black coat to shield himself from the cold harsh wind. This was not an ordinary coat, of course: it turned out to be a not-so-cheap souvenir from a freezing planet which he had visited sometime ago.

Gabriel crossed streets every now and then, in search of some form of amusement. Anything could have served its purpose at that very moment… But nothing and nobody stuck out to him particularly much. That is, until his eyes rested on her. There was a petite, red-haired girl sitting on the far side of the alleyway, eating eagerly something that seemed to have been rescued from the dirt. Gabriel stood motionless and completely silent as his incredulous eyes watched how she ate up the insides of the piece of bread she was holding. Gabriel didn’t even try to conceal his utter disgust; he simply waited until she was finished before uttering a word.

”I’m not going to say that it’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen… because it’s not said he, tilting his head to one side, and speaking with a rather casual and tranquil tone ”But it pretty much makes it to the top” Gabriel’s eyes lingered on hers for a brief second, before looking up at the sky. ”I think I’d rather starve” he added after a few seconds, but in a more hushed voice.

Maybe it was her pitiful state the one thing that intrigued him... he wasn’t sure, but he really felt like he could stay for a bit in the company of that poor -yes, literlly poor- girl. Despite of the abhorrence of it all, there was no denying the fact that this was different. And all Gabriel needed was a bit of entertainment. After all, boredom was a re-occurring theme in his life.

She could have happily gone another night without human contact – no, really, she could – but it seemed that fate didn’t want that for her. It wasn’t even like she got someone useful to interact with her either. She got this man, who literally had no reason to come over and talk to her; he wasn’t the slightest bit helpful. Tilting her head to glare at him, Amaryst felt something akin to embarrassment and anger at the same time, along with a sense of disgust – although she guessed that was from the guy that found it necessary to comment on her life.

”I’m not asking you to eat it, am I?” It was a fair enough question, she wasn’t, and she hadn’t been sitting in his way or bothering him, so the comment that yes, eating from the trash was disgusting was unnecessary. This was probably the first real interaction with another human she’d have since she found her freedom, and it was safe to say her first impressions weren’t that good. All she needed now was to feel him pitying her and that would probably put the cherry on the already horrible cake. Bright green eyes watched him for a moment before she curled up underneath he blanket and enjoyed the warmth.

It made her curious as to what other disgusting things this man had apparently seen, and wondered what type of job or social life he led if he saw such things on a regular basis. Not that she openly questioned him, Amaryst could literally feel the answer she would get for asking the question, and it quickly refrained her from following through with the thought. Instead she turned on his continuing speech, his commentary on her life. He made no move to leave, nor to remain quiet, continuing to comment on how he personally felt. Really? Were all the humans like him, if you got into conversation with one? She hoped not, otherwise the species really was doomed, she could already curse them for their over emotional way of living, she didn’t necessarily need to curse them for their attitude towards other life forms – human or otherwise

”…you are quite welcome to starve, you know, just don’t do it here.” It was a prompt, almost, for him to go away, but from the fact he didn’t, Amaryst guessed he needed a little bit more prompting. ”What do you want? Cause I’m not an animal in a cage for you to jeer at, clear off.” Still, she found herself following his gaze up to the sky and frowned. She hated the night sky sometimes; she missed the bright glowing moon that would usually light up London. Tonight, it seemed like he had taken a vacation and darkness wrapped around the city.

Looking back to the man, Amaryst gave him another glare for good measure. ”And if you do want something, clear off, cause you’re not getting anything from me” Not that she could give anything if she wanted, being poor and homeless sort of left you with nothing worthwhile to bargain with, let alone give away on request.

Gabriel diverted his gaze from the sky as he heard the first of a torrent of words that, surprisingly enough, were all addressed to him. Even if he would never come round to admitting it, at least to the young female with whom he was sharing this piece of forgotten pavement, Gabriel was taken aback.

His eyes lingered once more on those of hers with a slight trace of… oh, what was it? Something bordering on amusement and surprise, and maybe a tingle of something else he couldn’t even place. Who would have thought that this skinny and petite mademoiselle could have been blessed with such an avid, spiky tongue?

“No, you are not” he calmly agreed. Nevertheless, after spending half his childhood sighing, Gabriel had learnt to be quick when it came to defending himself. “Nor was I planning to do so, if that’s what’s concerning you at the moment”. No exceptions. Good or bad, it all depended how quickly he got a handle on himself, and how the other person would answer.

“You’re quite welcome to starve, you know, just don’t do it here” she had said. Gabriel could not help but quirk an eyebrow, though still appearing calm and in control. ”Is that a prompt for me to leave?” he asked, slowly processing her words. The girl had spoken back, but he wasn’t paying attention to what she’d said, because he still wasn’t quite over the fact that he’d been…well, shooed. It took him a while to finally sink in this little bit of information. He couldn’t recall a time when someone had asked him to leave in such a hostile and disrespectful manner. Gabriel was certainly not used to that.

And what was so wrong about stating the truth, after all?

He supposed that he could just give up now and leave, but something about this girl made him want to stay. She wasn't the same as everyone else, and in the back of his mind, he sort of liked that. He was aware that, like him, she was different from the rest; but right now he was less focused on realizing what they had in common and more focused on the challenge that Amaryst had unknowingly presented when she had oh-so-subtly invited him to leave. He liked the thrill of the chase. He liked the fact that she had come off as so vulnerable and awkward, but she was perfectly comfortable by saying 'no' to him. "Well then," he said a bit thoughtfully. “I suppose I could just leave, since –come on, let’s face it- I, Gabriel Laorden” -and at that, he tilted his face and waved his hands somewhat dramatically to match the tone of his voice- “have paused at a godforsaken alleyway, beside the garbage bins, just to come across a rather good-looking though filthy, impertinent, level headed vagabond who feels confident enough as to eagerly encourage me to leave. But, oh! Look!” he exclaimed with feigned surprise, pointing towards a rather old-fashioned plaque. ”It’s St. Patrick’s Lane! And by the looks of it, I take it that you're not him. So. If my presence is that unbearable to you, then you’re free to leave, because I most certainly will not; even if it is only to make your already depressing life a tad more miserable. Do I make myself clear?”

She was starting to get a headache, and she was unsure whether it was hers or this…this man’s. She felt something from him though, surprise, was it? Surprise at what? Frowning in thought, trying her best to block out – if only for a moment – his emotions so that she could concentrate on her own, Amaryst ignored the agreement of no, she wasn’t asking him to join her in what had been a utterly rubbish meal (pardon the pun). ”Why would I be concerned about anything to do with you? You’re no body to me.” Wasn’t that how humans worked? If you didn’t know each other, then they didn’t care? So why should she care about this man, who obviously was in a much better position than herself because he didn’t need to live in an alleyway, by garbage bins, and eat whatever food she could find.

“What? Are you thick or something? Yes, that’s a prompt for you to leave. Kindly take it.” She had been wrong, she didn’t want contact with the humans, she didn’t. If this was what they were like, ridiculing and arrogant, then no, damn them all, she would rather die here within this alleyway than meet another single human. When he stood there for a little bit longer, Amaryst glanced in his direction, waiting for him to move, to speak, and hopefully to leave.

She should have realised already, from the small exchange that had given each other that such requests given were not going to be filled. Not by this man, not unless she gave him a really good reason, and even then, he might not leave at all. He would in the end of course; he had to of have better things to do that pester someone like her.

Well, not just yet she supposed, as the thoughtful tone laced itself around his words Amaryst smiled lightly and shook her head. He wasn’t leaving. Great. She knew already that he wasn’t going to leave, he was going to be stubborn and arrogant and annoying. He was staying, because he knew that it would annoy her, and the tone he adopted struck deep inside and Amaryst found herself positively glaring at him. ”Crystal.” she murmured gently, standing up and letting the blanket drop to pool around the place that she had been sitting comfortably.

Stepping carefully through the rubbish of the alleyway, walking right up to his man. This, Gabriel Laorden, she stopped right in front of him, and watched, bright eyes watching his face carefully and quietly for at least a minute, before she smiled, almost knowingly and nodding. ”Fine. Stay there and freeze, Gabriel.” The empathic link in her mind tingled with something as she made her way back to the spot she had been sitting at before, and returned to sitting out and curling up with the blanket she had previously abandoned. He could say there if he wanted, he would get bored and move on soon, that was what humans did after all, move along. If they had the choice, they would never stay in one place, Gabriel had the choice, and she did not. He would leave this alleyway before she would, it was just the human way.

”Why would I be concerned about anything to do with you? You’re nobody to me.”

Gabriel could not help but laugh at the young one’s words. It wasn’t an open kind of laughter, though; it fell halfway between that and a snort. ”Like I hadn’t heard that over a thousand times before” he answered softly. And had he ever minded it? Scarcely. It was amazing how little he actually cared about people… the mere thought of it was almost frightening. Gabriel was perfectly aware of the big gap between the whole of humanity and him, but surely the missing piece of empathy couldn’t entirely be his fault? He most certainly didn’t recall being liked by anyone just for who he truly was. Because all those living creatures, every single one of them, they just liked what they saw: This brilliant, charming, flawless Gabriel Laorden that was standing right in front of their eyes. He had spent so many years blending his personality in order to get what he wanted from most people that it was starting to become hard for him, at times, to even recognize his authentic, honest self beyond all doubt. Cursing humanity was the least thing he could do at the moment. Then again, why would he? Why should he even bother? Humanity was nothing to him, after all. Not. One. Bit.

Ah, there it was, that rough bitterness back again. Gabriel’s jaw tensed, his head was already raised, eyes fixed upon the sky again while his whole body turned slightly stiff. This didn’t generally happen -at least not while he could be watched. The young man was actually very good when it came to self-control and emotive camouflage, but it seemed that fate had extra plans in mind for him that night. He felt oddly sensitive right then, and the thought was far from being comforting. Maybe he just needed a bit of alcohol in his veins. Yeah. It was probably tha-

“Why on earth is she walking right up to me?!

Every one of his thinking processes were immediately disturbed as Gabriel’s mind bottled up all those confusing feelings, to surface that simple and utterly neat one. His face stood motionless, but his eyes avidly followed her moves. ”What are you doing?” he muttered in a tone that was intended to be somewhat dangerous. His voice, however, sounded more surprised than anything else. He couldn’t think of what to say or what to do during that silent minute; Gabriel simply stared back at her with a frown that showed nothing but bewilderment. The frown was replaced with raised eyebrows as she smiled. Why was she smiling? He couldn’t see why she would smile. Was there something worth smiling at? He’d most certainly missed that.

Something he didn’t miss, though, was the faint trace of blue that was coloring her lips. That realization was assumed almost at the same time as she had told him to stay and freeze. Gabriel watched her make her way back to where she had previously been. ”No, I won’t freeze” he practically blurted out. Curiously, his words were devoid of any mockery or sarcasm. It was just a loud thought, a mere statement. Nothing more…”But you will”… nothing less.”And I still don’t know your name.”

She glanced to him at the laugh, the brushing off of her words and simply watched. In reality, this was rather interesting, she could talk to someone, hear what they were saying, and know for sure if they were telling the truth or not. For once it put actual use behind her empathy, and she was interested in it. ”…It’s not your fault that they hate you. You’re just different, and they hate that” she answered slowly, watching him and curling up a little more to keep the heat close to her. ”And they hate you even more when they realise you don’t care either, when they realise that all you wanted was something from them, and you manipulated them to get it. It’s not uyour fault you’re a nobdy, but you’re not making it easy to be a somebody either” Licking at her lips to try and get some of the sharp cold to leave them, Amaryst let out a long breath, watching as it appeared before her in cold white puffs, disapperating into the cold air of the night. ”I hate them too.” She murmrued again, finally. Humanity, what dull, stupid race, really. This man, she finally realised, was like her. He wasn’t quite part of them, even if he looked it.

Whilst she stood before him, she looked at him very closely, he wasn’t a normal human – she had doubts if he was human at all – and hoped to find some sort of answer in his eyes. They were the key, always had been with humans, the phrase ‘windows to the soul’ being incredibly true. With humans, you could tell if they were alive or dead simply by looking in their eyes, and it was something Amaryst had realised to be unique to this race. They could be dead inside, their eyes dull and dark, but their body would still be alive and beating. Such a strange race.

After a long while, she answered him casually, having sensed his surprise and his confusion at her actions. ”I’m just looking…” That’s all she needed to do, and sitting back down in her rather warm space Amaryst let out a small shivered and the human side of her body started to show signs of being incredibly cold. ”I know I will freeze, the cold is not something I enjoy, I destest it” But that was all she could do, she had no where to go, and just a blanket and her clothing to keep her warm, whilst the humans sat in houses with heating and practically cooked themselves. Still, she could hope that she didn’t freeze to death, because thart would definitely such.

Shivering and curling up a little, she glanced to him and waited a moment before she sighed. ”Amaryst…my name is Amaryst” she answered, wrapping the blanket around her some more, smiling lightly.

If Gabriel would have been told that day that he would be meeting a certain someone who was actually going to figure him out, and in a way that no one else had ever done before, the young man would have laughed, wholeheartedly, until the very end of the night. Not a single person had ever managed to comprehend him at all –mother included in the pack- so why would he expect that much from anyone else? Gabriel had often wondered what it felt like to be truly understood, not merely classified by random personal pieces that were wrongly placed together… and maybe –just maybe- if he would have found some empathy on someone else’s side Gabriel would have probably not become the sort of person he now was. But then again, he really didn’t think he lacked anything in his life; this was only too reasonable from his own point of view: after all, one cannot crave what hasn’t been experienced before.

But that very night…Amaryst had changed everything, and at her words something in Gabriel’s inside twitched with an emotion he couldn’t quite place. His casual, serene façade wasn’t so casual and serene anymore, and Gabriel’s gaze slowly turned to meet her eyes, at first too startled to talk. He frowned. How could it be; that just a small combination of words was able to arouse so many emotions in such a short amount of time? ”How on earth do you know that?” he breathed, slightly suspicious, although suspicion was not precisely the sole thing that was hovering in his mind.

In spite of all that, Gabriel managed to retrieve a great deal of composure after one resigned sigh, accompanied by a dull roll of eyes.”And so what?” he answered back with a dismissive wave of hand, before placing both hands on the pockets of his graceful black coat ”So what if people hate me? Do you honestly think I’m the type of guy who actually gives a damn about what other people say about me?” And if the answer of this question wasn’t too obvious already, he escorted his words with a fairly distinguished shook of head. ”Well, of course I’m different, I like being different; in fact it’s just a part of my uniqueness: to try and be as different as possible from this damn, shallow world.”

After that speech, Gabriel went silent. He breathed slowly in, filling his lungs with the iced winter air, while he watched Amaryst’s puffs out of the corner of his eye. A couple of seconds later he looked back at the sky just in time to hear a slow but clear murmur that was coming from her lips; it was enough for him to send his mind back to its previously chaotic phase once more. Who was she, this girl? And why was she so different from the rest? She seemed so… similar to him, she…

”Amaryst” he slowly repeated. ”Amaryst, it’s a nice name. And a rare one.” he admitted, before his generally unyielding face broke into an honest smile -Oh, God, he’d almost forgotten what it was like to grin like that. ”It suits you.”


Gabriel watched her as she wrapped the blanket around her, and after some hesitation, he slowly took off his expensive long coat, leaving him with a sole useless white shirt to protect his chest from the cold. Not until then had he truly realized how cold it was just then… but he wasn’t just about to retrace his steps; quite on the contrary he advanced towards Amaryst, and placed her coat over her shoulders before beckoning her to get up. ”Come on, Amaryst. Time to get you out of here.”

She watched him for a long moment, watching as the realization of what she had said sunk into his skull, and she smiled lightly, curling up and cupping her hands over her mouth to breathe warm carbon dioxide into them. She understood his thought pattern and way of thinking through two simple means, her empathy and her own experience. So when that prick of surprise and confusion and the twirl of emotion came over her senses, Amaryist had a hard time distinguishing whether it was what she was feeling, or whether it was what Gabriel was feeling. Finally, she managed to pin the emotion back onto the young man, especially when his breathed words reached her ears, and she smiled in reply, glancing back to him and shrugging. ”I just know things like that.” she replied, looking back, almost stubbornly, to the wall.

She watched him defend himself, bright eyes blinking at him a few times and giving him a look of disbelief in his words. Of course it bothered it, it would bother anyone to be disliked like he was, of course he gave a damn about what people said about him, everyone did….there were just some that were better hiding it than most. ”Shallow world?” she repeated slowly, smiling at the description and giving a small nod. Yes, she liked that, definitely. ”What a accurate description, Gabriel” She tried his name on her tongue once again (since it appeared that he wasn’t going to leave her to die anytime soon) and found it easily rolling off her lips, something that made her smile. Names had never been her strong point.

”Don’t be stupid, of course you care. Everyone cares, you just have this tight fitting mask, and you hide it, like everyone else does. You can say you don’t care all you want, but deep down, they’ll be a small part of you that does. Because whilst it’s better to be feared than loved, it’s also very lonely.” If she had learn nothing else from the humans, it was that writers such as Machiavelli got it right.

Looking to him sharply, just as surprised as he was about the grin on his face, as well as the small compliment, Amaryst allowed a blink of confusion, before tensing as he approached. The extra layer around her shoulders already brought some warmth to her body (especially since he’d been previously wearing it and some of the body heat still clung to it) and she frowned at the encouragement for her to stand, but did so anyway. “Get me out of here….to go where, pray tell?” The police, was her first place she suspected, but it seemed weird for someone to treat her so nicely if they were going to take her to the law.

”No, no you can’t” Gabriel responded with rapid determination. His eyes were unavoidably wide, right then fixed on Amaryst with utmost attention, probably holding a trace of suspicion amid his confusion. She couldn’t possibly know that much within the first two minutes of meeting him. Not unless he were a straight, dead-evident stereotype –which, he gathered, was not the case last time he checked. ”You can’t just know that much about me. I’m not that obvious -I mean, I just can’t be that obvious” he added quickly, though at that realization, the confidence in his voice didn’t really match the one that was to be expected from such a determined combination of words.

With a sigh escaping his lips, Gabriel let his back lean against the old, reckless wall of the narrow alleyway. Maybe he wasn’t up to his standards today. Yeah, that was probably it. Nothing to worry about, then… except for the fact that he would certainly have to be more careful in the future.

Her words soon cut into his thoughts, and the rogue time agent found himself raising eyebrows as she agreed with his description. ”Really?” he breathed out in a rather sceptic tone, before realization would dawn on him.

”Right, of course. Beggar” he added, along with his wide trademark sneer. Granted, she had her reasons. And so he chose to remain silent in thought until she broke the quietness again. Hands placed in the pockets of his coat, he tried to place a first impression out of this peculiar female. It was hard. Hard and confusing, might he add; there was something definitely different about this girl that Gabriel could not help but like -despite the open amount of hostility with which he had been received at first- and this total sum of events was frankly confusing altogether, especially since he definitely hadn’t seen this coming.

”Well, you’re wrong there, I’m afraid.” Gabriel shrugged, after snorting and tilting his head towards the place where Amaryst sat. ”I did care once… but it was a looooong, long time ago.” he stressed, concluding his sentence in a somewhat bored tone. Before speaking again, Gabriel paused to breathe in and let the winter air brush roughly down his throat. Memories filled his mind -memories and feelings from a seemingly distant childhood that were more unwanted than unbidden to his eyes.

Rejection. Repression. Fear. Incomprehension… for a wild moment, they haunted the living piece of soul that was still present beneath his chest, screeching in demand of some attention. But Gabriel didn’t want to hear about it. He’d had enough of useless vulnerability already. Been there, done that. And ”So not worth it.” he muttered, quickly pushing these thoughts to one side, subduing them to the arms of oblivion as forcefully as he could.

It was then when she had stood up, making Gabriel smile weakly back in silent response. But this smile…it was not just any ordinary one –no, this was the kind of smile that Gabriel had thought he had long since forgotten. People who generally knew him have never truly relied on him. Then again, it was reasonable enough: Gabriel was not one to be trusted, after all. So why was she trusting him now, if she claimed to know him oh so well? He could sense her trace of doubt, all right -the question was proof enough of that- and yet… she hadn’t refused his offer.

Well… at least not yet.

”Go where?” he repeated, brushing his hands in each one of his arms as casually as he could, starting to notice just how cold this night had become. ”Anywhere! Any place would be better than this forsaken pit of dirt.” which wasn’t entirely true; Gabriel actually had a plan in mind, which involved a rather nice, warm and comfy place for them to stay, plus- with a bit of luck- somewhere where they could eat. ”Although, personally, I’d settle for a bath and maybe a change of clothes? Don’t take this as something personal, though. I honestly couldn’t care less.” he found himself saying, and for once, he was actually telling the truth –surprisingly as it was. Amaryst had seen right through him, and he certainly didn’t get to meet people like her every day. What was more, maybe she was right: maybe his life had been too lonesome for too long. And maybe -just maybe- that curious girl was just as lonely as him.

Amaryst waited a moment before looking to him with a knowing smile. ”No, no you’re not that obvious, don’t worry, your mask is still tightly fitted. I just have the gift to read you better than anyone else on Earth…and off it.” She had never had a reason to boast about her powers before – they had only ever been a sort of hindrance to her life, a curse more than anything, it was…usual, but entertaining.

She found her eyes closing again as she spoke, finding it easier to distinguish between her own emotions and Gabriel’s when she had her eyes closed and actually concentrated. Emotions, she found, were much like a voice, they had a certain tone about them, a feeling, and Gabriel’s felt similar to her own, guarded and always holding an air of distrust, almost disgust to the world. It was interesting, and she wondered if the feeling changed much like emotions did in what she would call “reality”.

”I don’t think I’m wrong” She smiled, glancing over. ”You may have cared a long time ago, but not caring still involves some degree of care, even if it is very low. Unless you’re some kind of robot that doesn’t feel anything, and I don’t quite think you’re that now, are you? She was getting the hang of this speaking thing, finding it easier as time went on to continuously talk.

She stumbled a little when she initially stood, her feet having decided they didn’t want to be helpful and have that awkward numb, tingling feeling that human bodies got due to pressure on a body part. Watching Gabriel almost suspiciously, but finding no reason as such yet to distrust him, Amaysrt watched his action of trying to keep his body warm, before looking back up to his face.

”Personal? Not at all, I like the sound of a bath, I’ve almost forgotten what one feels like” Indeed the last time she had a bath…well, her head actually hurt to think that far back, so she quickly stopped. Looking up at the sky, her gaze lingering on the stars for just a few seconds, Amaryst smiled. Humans believed in Gods, she had learnt, and it was time like these (she suspected) that they would look up and think that a God was watching over them.
Maybe he was, Amaryst wasn’t too aware of His existence, and if he wanted her to live, well, who was she to reject the offer? ”Alright, Gabriel. Let’s go”

”No, no you’re not that obvious, don’t worry, your mask is still tightly fitted. I just have the gift to read you better than anyone else on Earth…and off it.” She had said, and realization dawned on Gabriel just as heavily –and probably just as cold- as pouring rain on a stormy winter night.

”Wait- what? You can read minds?” he blurted out, trying really hard to suppress the horrors that were starting to surface on his side. He snorted in bewilderment, not daring take his alarmed eyes off hers. ”Oh, hell… you gotta be kidding me” he breathed out somewhat relentlessly.

’Congratulations, Gabriel’, he found himself thinking, pretty much to his distaste. Gosh, empathy was certainly one thing…. But mind reading, quite another. His thoughts and emotions were not something he’d ever wanted to share with anyone else… Gabriel had a very immoral and emotionless perspective about life and every other living creature that came along with it -and didn’t happen to be himself. He most certainly did not want some… some… mind reader or whatever to creep around his mind without his previous permission! And now the smart girl was definitely using words as bait to get to him. Gabriel didn’t like that. He really didn’t like that.

Then why, oh why was he asking her to accompany him, then?

Oh, he didn't really know where this was actually heading, but somehow in the back of his mind, Gabriel knew it really couldn’t be good.

The Rogue Time Agent watched the female stumble, and though his first reflex had been an attempt at a step forward towards the weak and fragile Amaryst, the young man soon caught himself, and resorted to do just nothing to help her out. Indeed, it wouldn’t look good on him to show that much of a concern to someone who probably knew too much for her own good.

Then the –at least seemingly- young female accepted his offer, almost too merrily for his own taste, and this made Gabriel narrow his eyes for a moment in thought and suspicion. Was he falling for some kind of trap? Amaryst could easily be one step ahead of him –that wasn’t precisely good, was it?

It suddenly didn’t matter; Gabriel was still decidedly settled on the idea of taking her to the hotel he was momentarily staying at –you could say that was his own -lame- improvised base of a scheme. If her intentions were as innocent as her words and she didn’t really want anything from him, then Amaryst had certainly nothing to worry about, right? And if, on the other hand, she were… well, then he’ll just have to resort to a less pleasant plan B. And that plan B would be th-
Damn. What was the point of planning if she could easily read his thoughts?

Gabriel quickly decided to evacuate him mind, thus turning to face Amaryst as they walked along the roads, crossing streets every now and then towards their current destination. ”So, tell me Amaryst…”he said in a somewhat cordial and friendly tone ”if you’re not from here –that, I take for granted… unless you happen to be an earthling creature?” which he highly doubted. If she knew that there was life beyond the barriers of this planet, then she could easily be not human.”Anyway”he soon cut out ”If you’re not from Earth, then what’s your story? Where do you come from? How come you ended up in here?”

Fair enough to ask. Amaryst seemed to easily know everything about him, and Gabriel knew absolutely nothing about this female… except that she was –of all damned things- a mind reader. Not precisely what you’d call comforting for someone like Gabriel.

(OOC: *ducks swords* please don't kill me!)

Casting a offhanded glance in his direction, Amaryst smiled lightly and shook his head. ”You don’t believe me?” It was not true, what he would come to the conclusion of, she couldn’t read minds, but thoughts and emotions were usually closely linked together, and it was pretty close.

”It’s not mind reading, it’s more like…empathy. Thoughts and emotions run so close together, however, that sometimes I can tell what you are thinking simply by what you’re feeling. I cannot read minds, thoughts, but I can usually guess them accurately. The stronger the emotion, the easier it is to read it…”

Watching him carefully for a moment, Amaryst sighed, trying tp pin down her own emotions, so she coul tell the difference between them and Gabriel’s. Still, what a funny name, the humans refer to the name Gabriel as an ArchAngel, a feathered being that protects others. Certainly, this cannot be the man before her, not if his attitude was true. An angel was probably a nice thing, whilst the man seemed to dither between nice and asshole as quick as the shifting breeze.

So, as they started down the street, with neither of them saying much and Amaryst keeping her mouth shut about exactly what she was feeling from the man beside her. Funnily enough, she found it easier to understand him, when she was relaying to him what he was feeling. The emotions did not shift, they lingered, and she had longer to study them.

Knocked out of her thoughts by the question, Amaryst gave him another glance and frowned. ”I…don’t really remember. It’s in pieces, and some of them aren’t even my memories. I’m human, like you, I was born here, so I am from Earth but, I’m also part of some creature, underneath this skin, I’m alien and technology.” Smiling lightly, bringing a hand up to her head to try and reach though and pause some of the memories that were flashing through her mind. ”Sounds so weird, I know. But I remember….cages, and scientists and things that hurt, but nothing specific. It’s who I’m hiding from, and they could be anyone and I wouldn’t know.”

Looking up along the street, she frowned. ”They could be those two drunks, that binman there, or that woman…but not you.” Looking to Gabriel again, Amaryst smiled. ”I don’t know what you do, but I don’t think you’re going to drag me back to the labs…” Grinning again, teasing, she balanced herself on the kerb and walked along carefully. ”Feel better now? You know as much about me as I know about you, but in completely different way. You know who and what I am, whilst I know you’re not as cold as you want to be. A nice exchange, hm?”

She had started out as a nothing to him –a mere distraction from his reoccurring sameness of a night. Within minutes, though, this female had been able to catch his interest, turning out to be a decent cause of his annoyance, bewilderment, and camaraderie… almost all at the same time. This didn’t happen to Gabriel often. How could this have ever happened… to him?

Gabriel used to be in control of his own everything. And you could say that Gabriel had always been a bit of a maniac when it came to all kinds of control: be it his surroundings, his work, his emotions… everything –and it wasn’t that hard to put two and two together, either. Being the sort of arrogant, diplomatic and ambitious person that he was, Gabe really believed that he couldn’t –shouldn’t!- afford to have any type of chaos in his life.

This discomforting emotion he was starting to experience every time he came to share some kind of ‘thing’ with Amaryst – space, a sentence, a meaningful gaze… however little or enlarging it would happen to be- was, in a word, the chaos he had always wanted to avoid. Because Gabriel wasn’t font at all of chaos –not one bit. Chaos meant not having things under control, and this Rogue generally hated and avoided all that he couldn’t keep very neatly under his thumb.

For all he knew, he knew he couldn’t control someone like Amaryst. The alien was too lively, too full of herself and too much of a mind reader to let herself be controlled by Gabriel’s humanly -and therefore not unnatural- persuasive ways. Curiously enough, the man just…didn’t know how to take this. This was new to him, and perhaps the worst part of it all was that he honestly didn’t know how to deal with it. So, while in a way it was a very refreshing and pleasant experience, to be walking alongside an individual who would somehow always see through him –know him better than anyone else- and not dislike him for who he inwardly was… it was also perfectly terrifying.
Well, at least it was to Gabe, he who had always done his best to keep his real self in the dark.

Gabriel’s mind was hovering on these thoughts as he drifted back and forth between them and Amaryst’s words without having to miss the smallest bit of the conversation. And when she had asked him if he believed her, Gabriel smiled in a way that was altogether fairly uncommon for him.

Genuinely.

”No, I do not believe you, I’m afraid” he answered back, hands still placed in the warm pockets of his trousers, trying to gain as much warmth as it was possible. ”But –seriously…” he added, his head tilting sideways to risk a glance in her direction. ”Do I look like someone who places his trust in… I don’t know… people?” he waved dismissively, before placing his hand back again where it had previously been kept.

Perhaps a lie would have been better than that statement. Was he revealing too much of himself already? Then again, how much good a lie would really be to someone who could peer inside his mind? And just how much was she able to discern about him? God, and why did everything have to sound so dreadfully fishy to him at present...

A voice was quick to echo in his mind. Someone whom he vaguely remembered, saying more than once that ‘everybody lied’. But what if there were people out there who didn’t really lie? Was that even possible? And if it were the case, then was Amaryst one of these scarce beings? Could she be trustworthy... someone who could almost too literally see right through him?

He really wouldn’t know.

”It’s not mind reading” she was right then saying “it’s more like…empathy. Thoughts and emotions run so close together, however, that sometimes I can tell what you are thinking simply by what you’re feeling. I cannot read minds, thoughts, but I can usually guess them accurately. The stronger the emotion, the easier it is to read it…”

Was she able to read his confusion? He wondered. Because he had the feeling that right there and then… it was definitely something B.I.G.

Then that feeling of confusion was progressively replaced by a slight sense of understanding that he thought he’d long since lost. You see, there were plenty of scenarios when Gabriel altogether ignored and even despised his fellow people, although he did little to express the latter. Not that this was any of those scenarios… well, okay, so maybe it was. Maybe he was right then just oblivious to the rest of the world as his attention was focused on one person, expressing a very unusual friend-like concern for the lone beggar. Although, since he was expressing concern for one human, did that mean he was not altogether ignoring his humanity? Hmm. Perhaps that was a question for another time, a question for a time when Gabriel was not trying to make out where he really fell in the midst of all this chaos.

The Rogue Time Agent fell roughly back to the present as his company mentioned something about him not being one of those people from whom she was currently hiding. With one last long and silent glance at Amaryst, Gabriel turned his gaze to the road that was ahead of him, and sighed, not really finding anything useful to do or say.

Again, something terribly uncommon for the always controlling male.

Of course, he wasn’t going to drag her to any lab –well, at least not her anyway, she could be a hundred percent sure of that, he gathered- but then again, if she thought him to be less of a risk than a binman, or that woman over there… then it was true that she did not know anything ‘decent’ about Gabriel. And, technically… this should be a good thing. But, against his very own will -against his better judgement, for crying out loud- Gabriel felt his soul fall, shattered, to the depths of his eternal solitude.

So it was true. She did not know anything about him.

It was then when he wondered… what would she do if she mentally saw him –or whatever she was able to psychically work out- killing someone, in the way which he had killed? Such as the last time -when he had to deal with a group of six nonebeings. Would she run away from him? It was only reasonable enough. Only a very mad, well... madman would not attempt to flee away from him if so. Because yes, killing meant nothing to Gabriel. Not a single trace of remorse would escape his implacably handsome –but inwardly terrifying- façade while he placed a painfully agonizing end to other people’s lives. A kill, to him, was just another victory –a victory to coy over the weak. And for that, the man was well aware that his entire wellbeing was terribly scarred… but there was nothing he could do. He could never be redeemed. His murdered –and always beloved- mother had always been wrong… because life, per se, was far from being a fairy tale, and if it were, then he was sure he was not the least bit like ‘prince charming’.

Gabriel knew. He knew that life had always predestined him to become the terrible beast he currently was. And there was nothing he could do about it. Absolutely nothing.

Was that a tear, the one thing that was smoothly rolling down his cheek? Because if it was, then Gabriel didn't want to have anything to do with it. Because he never, ever cried. Crying was for the weak, the vulnerable... the human. And Gabrielwasn't sure what kind of being he was anymore.

A hand was quick to reach his face, and he wiped the fluid element swiftly from his face. There. So much better.

...at least, seemingly.

---

((OOC: I honestly had no idea of where to go with him... so I let my character's muse take over. Excuse the length!))