destinystrings | The silent wolf is a hurt wolf.

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The silent wolf is a hurt wolf.

Who: Garviel and you
Where: Aquarius ward, Later Saggitarius ward
Summary: Garviel works with Day care, and is generally hugenormous. Later on, he gets mistreated by the citizens of Hinoto-Ri
Warnings: Introspection

Within a day care in Aquarius ward, an 8 foot tall giant, in roughly-made white clothes and still scarred from battle, white and pink markings all over his face, livid and clear is functioning as a sort of human jungle gym. Children climb his legs and are lifted up in his arms, as the warrior serves humanity in quite a different way from his normal warlike work. He fusses over the children as they scamper away, or try to play games with him, his expression always somewhat distant, grey eyes very unreadable even as he gently makes sure everyone is safe and well cared for, sometimes carrying one, two, or even three children in his arms at one time to make sure they are safe and don't run off from the day care. He doesn't react poorly to having blocks thrown at him, or little children crawling all over him, he just faces it with the same stoicism that he faced everything else, from monster to the great daemon Nyarlathotep. It is all to the same to Loken.

Later on, he arms and armors himself once more, and walks in the Sagittarius district, seemingly looking for something even in his wargear, as if stalking a ghost of some sort. Where the children of Hinoto-Ri accept their huge protector and playmate without fear or resentment, this is not the case for the adults, hurrying away in terror of the war-machine, or pelting him with stones, or whatever else they have at him. Whispered words of "monsters", other similar comments are snapped at him, and he trudges on in a silent patrol, a vigil no-one cares about as he prepares to hunt demons. He walks on through it all, his shoulders slightly hunched forward as if in a storm, completely immune to anything they can manage with blade or gun, but hurt somewhat by their words. He has always wondered if he is monster or man, and these other men, these people he has chosen to protect, for whom he struggles to be pure, to keep his honor intact, have rejected him.

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Loken looks at Samus for a momentm watching as she brandishes the weapon, then acknowledges her greeting, and says, "Walk with me, Samus Aran. Walk with me and I'll tell you what I can of my world, and why I am to slow to trust, well... anyone."

He takes a side-street, away from people, leading them both into shadows and the less maintained, flickering lamps that play down the alley from higher up, his long strides taking them away from other people.

Samus lowers her weapon and gives a very casual salute in agreement to his request, following alongside him as they move away from the people lining the streets.

"... You aren't required to tell me anything, Cerberus, if it isn't necessary to our future cooperation. I wouldn't consider myself the greatest person to confide in."

She isn't exactly the sympathetic type... She tries, of course, but it's not something that comes easily to her...

"It needs to be said. I am from a world where humanity was... on the verge of falling into the Long Night. Where we were but slaves and food and cannon-fodder for xenobreed masters. Where we danced to the tune of corpse-whisperers and destroyed ourselves in a frenzied series of wars of techno-barbarism. Where AIs enslaved us,and where warp storms made interstellar travel almost impossible."

He holds up a hand, as if to halt that explanation for a moment. "Until one man stepped out of the shadows. My gene-sire's father, the Emperor. He created an army of unification, bringing secular enlightenment and unity to the scattered humans, pushing back the darkness of ignorance and the xeno until the galaxy itself was ours. In all that time, we met no aliens who wished any good to humanity."

He looks at her armor, then into her eyes. "So naturally, hearing your nonhuman connections was... disturbing to me."

He turns away, continuing to walk. "However. I have seen your dedication in battle, your willingness to fight for the people here. I have... decided to trust you. But I wanted you to know who I am. What I was created for."

Samus dips her head into a slow nod as he explains his world to her. She listens intently, the gaze behind her visor dark. Enslavement of human beings by alien masters bent on ruling all... now where had she heard that before?

The hunter follows his gaze to her armor, staring at the cannon on her arm in what is almost a melancholy look. He was right, of course, she couldn't be considered human, not anymore... Not biologically. But humanity to her had come to mean something entirely different than simply being a member of the human race.

"In my universe, there is an innumerable amount of sentient alien races scattered across the stars... I've come to know many of them, and many can can be found within the Federation itself, which is an alliance built across countless civilizations as a means to uphold intergalactic peace." The Chozo, the Luminoth... the Bryyonians were once a peaceful race as well... Several of those she worked with and served under in the Federation Police and in the military also weren't human beings.

Still...

"... However, I do understand your mistrust... not all alien races mean well. The Space Pirates would also enslave and ruthlessly murder innocents for their own gains..."

She squeezes her hand into a tight fist at the mention of their race and unspeakable acts... foul creatures she could never forgive, foul creatures she endlessly sought vengeance against. Samus could definitely sympathize...

"You mentioned there was very little peace in your world?"

And there is the same thoughts for him, mirrored inside his armor. For Garviel was human, but has been altered so thoroughly by genetic enhancement as to be something greater, and perhaps, in a way, something lesser as well.

"The Federation sounds like the Interex. That was our greatest failure. A race of humanity that had managed to co-exist with the friendlier xenos, such as the Kinebrach, and they had learned secrets from the nomads of the spaceways, the Eldar."

His shoulders heave, a visible sigh, though his respiration can't be heard, regulated as it is his through his rebreather. "Because of traitors within the brotherhood of the Legions, we made war upon our fellow enlightened man, and burned out our chances of learning more about what they fought. Kaos, they called it. We know it as Chaos, and it is represented by beings such as Nyaralathotep, who we have fought together. My task is now to forever oppose it."

He looks distant, even as his red eyeslits meet her green visor in a long look, "We could have learned so much, but we never had the chance. As such, as you noted, my world is doomed to war, as my companion Sigismund said to me once. For all the ages of my world, our galaxy will only ever see war, though individual planets may be at peace. Humanity, the strongest, ascendant force in the galaxy, after we cast down the greenskins, has gone to war with itself, one half of it powered by beings such as we struggled against in the tower."

He concludes, saying softly, "That is why I am as I am, and why I find it so hard to trust anyone."

He pauses, then continues even more quietly, "With a few exceptions, it would seem."

"The Federation isn't perfect, but it's done our galaxy much good. A sense of unity and cooperation is necessary to prevent conflict and injustice, and the Federation has bravely provided protection for many people... I'm sad to hear that such an organization couldn't take hold in your galaxy."

She sincerely means that, too. Without a sense of unity among the sentient races, war was, of course inevitable. Still, despite his pessimistic words, to Samus, war was never something permanent and everlasting. A universe without war could exist, it just took a great deal of hard work...

"Don't give up hope, Cerberus. For all of the violence and injustice I'm sure you've faced... war isn't an inevitability. And all wars do eventually come to an end. It takes courage and kindness, but justice can and will prevail in the end, no matter the atrocities..."

Samus breaks her locked gaze with him when he mentions that last part... Her arms fold over her chest and she stares down at her feet in silence.

Quietly, she shakes her head and speaks up... "I'm not the greatest of comrades."

"Unity is a concept I understand and revere. But..."

He is quiet for a moment. Unclear on how to frame it properly. "For so long, I have seen humanity fighting itself, fighting others, and every history I read speaks the same fate for us. I believed in peace once, and an end."

He shakes his head, "I never had hope, at least not for myself. For humanity, perhaps, but I know my fate, one way or another. The Legions are men without hope, so that humanity may still have hope. We are built around sacrifice for something better, but someone sullied that, and turned a noble undertaking into a bitter thing indeed."

He looks at her carefully, when she says she is not the greatest of comrades and asks in a surprisingly quiet voice, "How so?"

"Maybe you should adjust your outlook, Cerberus... Do something with your stay here. This place is in no short supply of demand for protectors. I'm afraid the police force of this world are severely insufficient to handle the growing conflict..."

It's no wonder their presence was so celebrated by the government here as a saving grace.

Samus shifts on her feet, moving in front of her armored companion and holding her cannon with her other hand, standing with a serious weight. Her eyes are calm and even a little cold.

"There's a reason I left the Federation. While I'm often contracted by the Federation, and I am perfectly capable of cooperating, I work best independently. I don't hesitate to decommission my comrades if they threaten my mission."

She tilts her head, in a calculating way, visor targeting Garviel and locking on.

"I'm a warrior, and a hunter, before a friend. I'm sure you sympathize."

He notices the targeting, and responds by removing his own helm, deactivating auto-senses and looking on her with his own eyes.

"I do. Mostly because I've had to slay my own friends in the past for just such things. Brother against brother, I fought one of my suboordinates who was possessed not so long ago... possessed by something with your name, in fact. Xavyar Jubal called himself Samus, the end and the death. And became something less than human. A monster, a slavering daemon."

He is quiet for a moment, seeing if she recognizes the phrase, and then continues, "We both know where we stand. And I think we can ask this of each other. If I fall to... some kind of corruption here, I will ask you to end me and finish the fight."

He doesn't speak the other half of the promise, but it is clear enough. Should she become irretrievable, he'll show her the only mercy he's ever been able to show anyone as well, and complete her mission forher.

When Garviel removes his helm, Samus un-targets him, lowering her cannon, trying to show that despite her display, she really meant no harm. He trusted her far more than she'd expected.

She listens to his tale intently, and... it's far too familiar sounding for her own tastes. Her eyes widen with surprise at the news that an entity bearing her name was possessing others, then they narrow seriously, brows furrowing into a deep glare. "... I'm not sure how it's possible, since we come from separate worlds... but a dark creature taking on my likeness exists within my universe as well. The creature was initially a monster known as a metroid, which had been steadily fed Phazon for decades until it became extraordinarily destructive and powerful. We called it the Metroid Prime."

Samus holds out her hand, stretching her fingers and giving it a retrospective look as she recalls her encounter with the monster. "When I had initially fought the creature, I thought I had destroyed it... but in an act of desperation it latched onto my suit and absorbed its power. At the time, I believed its efforts were futile; while my suit lost its special properties, it remained intact, and the creature was unresponsive... I discovered some time later that it had survived, and it stole more from me than just my power. It transformed into a dark creature with my likeness, an entity that the Federation and I have fittingly named Dark Samus."

Samus presses her hand against her helmet, causing it to retract and reveal her face. She looks Garviel in the eyes, her own eyes and the veins on her face literally glowing in the night. "My gradual corruption, as well as the corruption of my comrades, is its doing. Succumbing to the corruption results in an irreversible possession by the creature... a condition that sounds eerily similar to what your fellow soldier suffered from. I have already killed two of my fellow bounty hunters who have given in to this corruption... I'm afraid a third isn't far behind."

The hunter averts her eyes, giving a slow nod in agreement to Garviel's request. "If I become fully corrupted... I will lose myself. I will become a monster... Most likely, it will take over my body, and it will attempt to destroy this world... Do not hesitate to destroy me. I'm confident in my ability to end your life if it's necessary. Likewise, I am confident that you could end mine."

"Then we have an accord, if a grim, dark one indeed." He nods his head, looking over the strange, glowing veins. "Is there no cure for your affliction?"

He wonders if that Dark Samus was not the corrupt beast that he fought back and slew as it was riding Jubal's flesh, and then dismisses it. Nothing could be so easy, not in so many different worlds. Another name, another being called forth from the Empyrean. He shouldn't make connections where there is none, especially not when their own connections were across worlds and bonds of duty and loyalty.

"It is a hard thing to kill your comrades." He finishes, with a look of understanding. That is a shared pain, though his gene-coding and hypno-induced training made him feel it more than she is likely able to regret it. It struck at the very base of his loyal personality.

"As far as I'm aware, there is no cure. The Federation tried all they could. Initially they believed that there were no adverse side affects and... in terms of how I'm able to function, the Phazon enhances my strength and power, without damaging my body. My mind is what will eventually slip... and I don't think there's anything I can do to stop it. All I can do is remain cautious and prolong it."

She looks up at him, and returns his expression, though only briefly. Her eyes turn back to being somewhat cold and distant. "Sometimes it is necessary. I try to avoid it when possible, but..." Rundas and Ghor's pained looking expressions as they died flash across her mind and she quickly puts her helmet back on in response. "At this point all I can hope to do is avenge them."

Loken crosses to her, and stands so close as to almost be uncomfortable, something hard to read in his already closed-off expression.

"I know. I might be one of the few people here who understands that pain."

He reaches out his armored hand, setting the right hand on her left pauldron in a gesture of friendship and shared pain, saying quietly, "In the Luna Wolves, we were taught to Kill for the Living, and to Kill for the dead. That is all we know, and, sadly, all we can do. But people like you and I... well, we fight this way so that the rest of the world can know a better tomorrow. Remember that, when it threatens your mind and core the most. Make that into your strength. Every moment you hold out is another moment that people will not know the horror of the wars we fight in the shadows."

Samus glances at Garviel's hand, unsure exactly of how to react to the gesture. She hadn't really received such friendly gestures since she was in the Federation's military. After a moment, she tentatively places her hand on his forearm, looking back to his face. Her emotions were half obscured by the visor, but there was a sadness in her eyes. And a fierce determination. A strange but fitting mixture.

"I fight to avenge those who've felt the pain of loss, of injustice and atrocities committed upon them by the dark forces of the universe. And I fight to prevent as many of these tragedies as possible... My family, the Chozo, were a race bent on spreading peace and wisdom as far as their influence may reach. At the same time, they were once advanced and dangerous warriors... I received both sides of their teachings. To them, I was a ray of hope in a galaxy ravaged by catastrophic entities and endless fleets of pirates. I'm starting to believe there are others in my galaxy, those who have heard of me, who are beginning to believe the same thing." Samus recalls the awe she was met with by many members of the Federation, even several civilians who'd heard of her. Her actions on Zebes, Tallon IV, and Aether had gained quite a bit of attention. "It's a burden... but I would do anything to give hope to those who need my help."

Loken almost pulls his hand away, but doesn't, meeting her eyes through the visor, and just nods, once.

"We give up hope for ourselves so that others might know hope. A worthy sacrifice, i think."

He considers the similarities of the Chozo and the Imperium for a moment. Though they might be xenos, it would seem their self description was similar: Advanced and dangerous warriors who were trying to spread peace and wisdom. He wonders if that is how they were viewed by others, remembering the reactions of some of the planets he had visited, some of the star systems that came to war instead of peace when the great crusade first met them. Most of all he remembers 6319, where he first heard the name Samus, though under vastly different circumstances.

"Then we can fight together, for as long as we're able."

"But I do have hope... I have the hope and ideals that all war and conflict can come to an end, that injustice can be purged from all worlds. I was given this hope by my father, the one who adopted me when I was young, and I do everything in my power to spread it to those who are in need of it. I would never give up hope."

She gives him a stern look, as though implying she wished to spread this hope to him as well...

"... Let's fight together, then." Samus was used to the independence that came with her job, but there was something oddly comforting about having a trustworthy companion after all of these years. "You aren't alone, Cerberus." She withdraws her hand and takes a step back away from him, giving him a quick salute.

The words that she was given all this by her father seems to strike something in him, something that was raw like a new and open wound, and he reaches down to put his helmet back on, sealing a face that suddenly seemed about to be showing real, human emotion away from the world, once again the unstoppable, indomitable warrior.

"Very well."

He returned the salute with the old salute of Unity, a single clenched fist against his armor breast, a faint clank audible as he does so.

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The silent wolf is a hurt wolf.

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