Life is Unfair (Gabriel/Zharkus)

Sheep were wasteful, Gabriel realized. All they did was eat and sleep. Sure, grass was bountiful, and they were hardly using food that had any other purpose in the district. The fields on the Sorrin farm could hardly sustain the sheer amount that the blasted mammals consumed. So every now and then, a big chunk of the flock would need to be lead to a meadow in the district to get their daily allotment of greenery. That, of course, was Gabriel's job when he wasn't out on shipment runs, and today was such a day.

So Gabriel sat alone in the meadow, watching over a flock of animals too dumb to walk themselves out for food and back to the farm without some sort of human input. The District Five citizens with dogs didn't need to accompany their animals, neither did those who had cats, or even some bird species. Sheep were dumb too, Gabriel decided.

Sheep however, were consistent. So when Gabriel heard a sound that he was unaccustomed to, he knew that it was not one of the creatures he presided over. Someone or something was nearby. "Hello?" he called out. If it were some other animal, Gabriel would feel really foolish for his attempt at contact. If there was no reply, however, Gabriel would have to move his flock again, or risk losing some sheep to whatever wild animal was in the area.

Gabriel just stared and blinked as this girl- Nala, was continuing to babble about something or other... Sheep. She was talking about the sheep again. Gabriel paused after she finished speaking for several seconds, allowing his lagging mind to catch up with the speed of her words. Questions. All of them questions, probing around what he was doing here, if the sheep were his, blah blah blah.

"Yeah. Sheep are mine." Gabriel answered blankly, still unsure of how to treat the younger girl. "And I guess that would make me a shepherd." He paused again, trying to remember the end of her questions.... The last thing she asked had slipped his mind before he was able to ask it... Oh, right. Name. "Gabriel. Or Sorr. Up to you." He was glad he managed to pull the question into his consciousness before she began to guess. This girl, and guessing games? It would be a never ending slew of names he'd likely never heard before in his life.

As she stopped talking again, Gabriel was content to let the conversation drop to silence. He watched silently as Nala leaned back, her hair moving out of her face. There it was again. The splotch of color across her face, standing out against the natural color of her skin. It was a large, red blotch that stretched across her cheek... I was still staring at it when she started talking again, asking for somewhere to hide, somewhere where 'they' can't get her.

I suddenly found myself wondering about this girl's life in that community home. The red mark had distinctive fingers branching up her face. It was a slap mark, a hard hit on the young girl. I knew instantly she was looking to hide from whoever was doing this to her. Question was: "Who did that to you?"

Gabriel wasn't sure what to make of this girl anymore. Just a few minutes ago, she was nothing more than a talkative child, someone Gabriel would have no trouble in ignoring and no guilt later about doing so. She was happy, energetic, and frankly a whole bunch of other traits that Gabriel found annoying. Instead of feeling annoyed though, he felt the strangest combination of pity and respect for the younger girl. Her unblemished cheer was not marred by the fact that, apparently, she was beaten in this community home she lived in. The fear hardly even showed in her eyes as she begged him to hide somewhere with her.

"I-I'm sorry. But I can't hide anywhere, I need to bring the sheep back home." He sputtered to Nala, although deep down he did wish that there was something that he could do for her. Gabriel had things he needed to do though, he wouldn't be able to just run off with some kid and hide out for the night. But maybe... He sighed, then spoke again."But I guess, if you wanted, we could find somewhere at my house to put you. Just for the night." Gabriel felt like he might regret that offer later.

Gabriel reluctantly allowed Nala to hug him, although he did not hug back, that was for sure. If she could see the embrace from afar, she surely would've felt foolish; Nala holding on excitedly with Gabriel stiff as a board, with a facial expression that the word 'confused' didn't cover. Neither did 'disgusted', 'surprised', or 'sleepy'. As soon as the hug was started, it was over, Nala going on another speaking run that Gabriel couldn't pull off if he had tried.

About the Sheep again. Gabriel was perplexed by how interesting Nala found the useless mammals. "W-Well." Gabriel sputtered. If this girl was staying at his house for the night, he might as well join in the conversation a little bit. "They're trained to come when I give specific calls. I have one for 'follow', one for 'gather up'..." As if shepherding wasn't dull enough, Gabriel's explaining probably didn't make it any more interesting.