"-And has cut off supply lines here, here-" Katana's blue talon tracing over the roughness of the map's parchment "-and here."
"Unacceptable." The human growled back at her.
Yes, unacceptable. She knew it was.
Her and the rest of her gargoyle clan, all 9 other members, had been summoned to the war room by their human masters. The daiymo's conquest had not been slowed or halted, it had outright been pushed back.
Commander Toshisada slammed a palm onto the table, earning a stifled flinch from the ten as they bowed their heads even lower "What use are you if you are unable to stop a disorganized peasantry? All that power and yet you're pushed back by… by…" he waved both hands in disgust "...FARMERS with pitchforks and farm equipment."
Katana bowed her head in even deeper shame, clenching her teeth and gripping her palms to her thighs "Honorable Commander, I request permission to speak."
"DENIED." the human spat back, rising from his kneeling position so quickly it knocked over the low table "All of you are a disgrace! USELESS! Your kind's ancestors terrorized and feasted upon humans, and now that we've so graciously given you the chance to repay the sins and dishonor of your wretched race, THIS is how you repay our benevolence!"
All ten gargoyles, each strong enough to rip him in half without effort, quivered and prostrated themselves in their kneeling position - their heads hung so low they nearly touched the tatami mat they knelt upon.
"When we fought back and exterminated your vile species centuries ago, we should have completed the job. Allowing ten of you to be born every generation was MORE than gracious." Toshisada snarled "The Great Daiymo Masachika, infinite in his mercy, has allowed your kind to persist… but now…"
His sneer somehow found a way to sour even more "...and now we hear tales that an eleventh gargoyle has appeared? And suddenly, your effectiveness as warriors has dropped dramatically. Could it be that your loyalty to your pledge is not as honored as you claim?"
A sudden, mortified outburst of rebuttals shot out from every gargoyle's mouth. Their cacophony of denial was silenced almost instantly "If you TRULY aren't secretly siding with this new gargoyle, then WHY have you become so incompetent? Why is our army being pushed back by these farmers?" Toshisada sneered.
"The dissenter is not of our species!" Katana sounded off.
"He fights in strange ways… and speaks in strange tongues!" Another exclaimed.
Yet another joined in "Whoever this stranger is, he must have been trained in the art of war for decades! He has turned these bands of petty rebels into a devastating force!"
"He commands with strategy unlike anything I have ever seen, Honorable Commander. When Captain Yasutaka went to exterminate his band with a force of four thousand men, there was no report back. When I was sent to investigate, I found him and his army slaughtered!"
"The Gargoyle commanded no more than 500 farmers that night. He had wiped out trained soldiers even when outnumbered eight to one! He leads an army of sheep, but he is a dragon who leads sheep!"
"SILENCE!" Toshisada spat "You speak of him almost with admiration." shooting dagger eyes at Katana "Katana. You had a chance to murder the coward where he stood… and you failed. I trust you have something worthwhile to report on him."
Katana swallowed, her eyes almost drilling holes into the floor "...He is nothing like us. His flesh is unnatural - it is red like the devils, yet faded like the rust of a useless blade. His accent is bizarre as well."
"Accent? What do you mean? Does he hail from the west? The Portuguese? The Europeans?"
She quickly shook her head "I do not know, honorable Commander. He speaks with a pattern I do not recognize. His sword was strange as well - brutish, inelegant. A fighting style without any grace."
"Do you have ANYTHING useful to report?" he snorted.
"I… I have nothing else to contribute."
The sneer from Toshisada was interrupted by the tent flap being ripped up by a panting courier "Commander Toshisada, word from the western front! Another platoon has been struck!" he shakily held out a scroll hastily bound in twine.
Snatching it from the young deliverer and reading it frantically, Toshisada glared at the ten "Yumi, Shurkien, Naginata, Kama: The four of you to the remaining outposts between the mountain pass and here. The rest of you five will remain here on guard. Katana." his voice became darker.
"Sir!"
"You're being given the generous opportunity to atone for your failure - go to the western cliff outpost and find this gargoyle. Bring the daimyo his head, and even now you may be spared an irreparable dishonor."
All ten bowed in perfect unison, as they had a thousand times in their lives. They saluted their human, a species they were forever indebted to for the shame of being born as gargoyles.
"Service before self! Service before Kin!" they sounded off.
0000oooo0000oooo0000
Taking the Cliffside outpost has been easy. No, really. Brooklyn had fought drug addicts who were tougher than this. Literally all he needed to take out a fortification of 40 samurai was for a few well placed fire arrows from the peasants he'd stationed behind the treeline, two jugs of highly flammable leftover grease from the cook's kitchen, and some brute force.
He had killed the vast majority who had taken up arms, spared the three who were smart enough to put their hands up in surrender… but the last one? Well, he was currently dangling from the burning remains of the watchtower that now hung over the cliffside.
"Give me your hand!" Brooklyn barked out, extending his talon as far as he could
"I…" the soldier who looked to be not a day over 17, quaked as he held on for dear life "..I-I would rather DIE!"
"Dude, for Christ's sake, quit it with the drama. You're gonna die!" he snapped out.
The burning tower gave way, the jostle made the human lose his grip and plummet to the ground.
"Son of a-" Brooklyn flung himself down, snatched the human by the ankle and caught the wind with a snap of his wings. One arching of his back (and near miss of the last burning pieces of support wood from the falling tower) later, they were back on the solid ground of the clifftop.
It had all happened so fast that the nameless soldier forgot how to use his legs and just had his knees buckle out beneath him "I…I don't… I don't understand. You murdered my friends, but saved me…"
Brooklyn shrugged "Eh, that's for not drawing a bow on me." he picked him up by the collar
BAM*
He then knocked him unconscious with a headbutt to his forehead "But that's for getting my hair singed while saving your hide." he licked his fingers and extinguished a stray ember that was smoking up the tip of his white hair.
"Lord Brooklyn-" a rebel's voice came from behind him
"Oh here we go..." he muttered with an irritated snort "Guys, I told ya not to call me that. It's Brooklyn. Alright? Just Brooklyn." dropping the unconscious soldier and dusting his hands off "Next one who calls me 'Lord' gets thrown off the cliff."
The dozen of rebels whom he'd brought with him instantly went pale.
"...That was another joke, guys." Brooklyn said enthusiastically. Jeez, and he thought the germanic tribes were bad.
The peasant cleared his throat "W-Well then… BROOKLYN. We haven't been able to find any of the prisoners, we checked every structure and-"
"They're not gonna be here, probably up in the cave I saw while flying recon." he took a sip of water from his gourd "Just up on that ledge over there." he said with an indifferent extension of his index finger. Before anyone could respond, he was already walking past them "I'll go get 'em. Just loot anything you can from this place. If you find any tobacco or Sake, I call dibs."
"Dibs?" they whispered to one another
"It means: save it for me!" he called, climbing his way up the rock face. He hadn't had a drink in weeks… and man was he feeling it. He never used alcohol the first week or so in a new place, he needed to keep his wits about him. But considering how smoothly this whole operation had gone, he'd earned a night just to drown a few demons…
He crested the top of the ledge and ripped off the thick wooden door to the cave's mouth with ease. He hoisted the nearby torch off it's perch and made his way into the dark.
And besides, he had already gotten an idea of what the Phoenix Gate was tasking him with this time: kill this Daimyo guy. Just do that and he'd get whisked off to his next duty… hopefully further down the timeline where he could get some decent nicotine… lord knows his nerves could use some.
Bingo.
A shrill mixture of gasps and screams greeted him - the terrified reaction of the abducted farmers, now in cages. Great, they didn't know who he was or was on their side. Well whatever, he had a tried and true method for diffusing a human's fear during their first time in meeting a gargoyle. He stealthily cleared his throat before puffing out his chest and prepared for his dramatic act
…..God he hated doing this part…
"Fear not, yee who be persecuted and burdened!" he proclaimed, raising a grand hand to the air "Your oppression has been seen from the divines above, and has been deemed too cruel to persist!" he ripped off the locks on the cell doors, before bowing graciously "So stand. Stand and take up arms, you chosen few! For I have been anointed to deliver you to your freedom!"
The response was immediate. Mothers who had shielded their children, and men who had tried to find improvised weapons, stood down. Instead of cowering before an unknown monster, they now stood in awe for what was (as far as they were concerned) a magical warrior sent to save them.
Well weren't they just freakin' special?
Jesus, why does this always work?* Brooklyn thought to himself, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. They all left in a rush, now stumbling for the exit, some even sparing him a grateful bow and a tearful thanks.
Trying to be treated like just a normal guy was always an impossible order. Either he was a monstrous abomination by default, or a magical warrior sent from on high if he played up the 'Divine Hero' act. One way or another, he wasn't a person… he was just a thing to them. Eh, at least the latter was easier; it was easier to disarm their distrust with awe, then explain to them later that he was just a normal dude.
One of the million different tricks he had picked up on his journey.
He of course wasn't permitted to go near any of the, now liberated, peasants children… but he WAS allowed to serve as a cane to one of the injured adults who couldn't walk on their own. So yeah, there was some dignity for him. Nonetheless, he helped the hobbled man to the exit, the dozen rebels having now caught up "Here take him." Brooklyn ordered "Get them down the mountain and back to the encampment, we'll bring them back to the village tomorrow night. Dawn's coming."
Bringing the cripple had slowed him down so much that most of the humans were already on the trail heading back down the mountain "Keep the noise down and keep moving. I'll guard the rear at a distance, chances are that's where we'll see company."
"Yes, Lord Bro-..." he paused, eyes darting around as he tried to formulate a proper response "...You… 'got it' Brooklyn."
Hey, they were trying.
Brooklyn almost snorted in amusement, but off the last rebel went back to quickly escort the prisoners down the mountain in a hasty escape. Brooklyn took another gander at the outpost, still smoldering in flames… well that was gonna send a message. At least the four soldiers who had been left alive would be able to relay the message to whoever their commanding officer was.
…..
Wait…
Brooklyn squinted. Then he walked to the edge of the ledge to take another look at the outskirts of the fort's walls - he was positive that's where he had left them unconscious but alive… wait, where was the fourth? DAMMIT, he had told the rebels not to touch them!
Suddenly, like a sixth sense, something made Brooklyn shiver. He didn't hear, see, or smell anything… but something in his spine ordered him:
Turn. Around.
Brooklyn, whirled around, drawing his Claymore in a flash.
"You." He growled
Katana.
She was standing on top of the roof of the cave, her blade drawn in one hand, and the unconscious body of a soldier in the other… How long had she been there?
"...Disgusting…" she sneered out "These fools have no weight behind the oath of 'Death Before Dishonor'." She raised her sword and pressed it over the throat of the human soldier.
"WHOA WHOA!" Brooklyn raised both hands "Take it easy. Easy! That's not one of my guys, that's one of yours!"
"Why do you think I hold him?" her lips curled back in their snarl "I only spare him for the fact he is a human, if he was a gargoyle who surrendered to an enemy, I would have cut him down where he stood."
Brooklyn took that as a prompt to speak, but he had no clue what she wanted to here.
Her eyes narrowed and her sword now pointed at him "...So then why didn't you?" her voice almost hinting at puzzlement.
Brooklyn's moment of silence gave her a chance to continue "...He had taken arms against you, he had failed to perform his duty… and yet, you saved him."
He shrugged "Eh, I don't kill guys who surrender. Company policy."
"Company policy?" she echoed, face hardening "SO! That is your purpose! You're a mercenary!'
"WHAT?" he almost couldn't justify that with a serious response "No… that… that was a joke. You… Jesus, why is this timeline so dense?"
She dropped the human and took a more primed stance "So then what is it?! Why have you dared continue the sins of our ancestors? Which daimyo has sent you? To which warlord have you pledged your service? Answer me!"
"Sweetheart, you're running at like 100% right now, I'm gonna need ya to dial it down to forty"
"Who are you!? Where have you come from?"
"Okay, okay. Easy. Easy." he said, one hand leaving his hilt to make it do a repeating lowering motion "Look… My name's Brooklyn. I didn't get sent by any rival faction, or anything like that, if that's what you're asking. I'm just here cause… well, I'm too tired to explain it tonight… I'm just here cause people need my help."
"You are a gargoyle!" she said in dissatisfaction "You are not of our clan, nor did you coalesce out of the aether. Where have you come from?"
Brooklyn sputtered a tired snort "Look, if we're gonna talk. At least put the sword down, hard to get into a chatty mood when you got the business end of that thing pointing at me."
Her gaze only hardened. She had no intention of doing such a thing.
"Oooooookie dokie then." he said casually, his tricep flexing as he lifted his claymore over his shoulder and sheathed it onto his back "Well I'm putin' mine down. Thing's a bitch on the forearms."
Her eye twitched "You dare sheath your sword when faced against me!?"
"You ask a lot of questions." he muttered under his breath, before speaking up "Look, you got a lot of questions, so how about this… let's go back and forth. You ask somethin' then I ask somethin'."
She scoffed "This is NOT a conversation, vagrant. This is an interrogation for your life."
Brooklyn took a step back and sat on a rock "Smoke?" he asked, pulling out his Kiseru. She gave him no response "...Ya sure? I'm havin' one." he muttered to himself.
"IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU, YOU VERMIN?"
"Jokes are funny, so no."
She drew her sword back and braced low, her jaw clenching all too visibly "I can close the distance between us faster than you can draw that clumsy hunk of metal. If you wish to keep your head, you will tell me where you are from."
"Scotland." he exhaled a breath of smoke "Well I mean, Scotland originally, I move around a lot."
"Where are your reinforcement gargoyles? Who else have you brought with you?"
He gave another half-hearted shrug "Just me here."
She snorted in amusement "Adorable for you to think someone would believe that. You've come here alone? No friends? No family? No Assistance?"
Brooklyn twitched, his first visible reaction of anything other than dry attempts at humor. It must have gone noticed, because Katana suddenly pressed further "...All alone? No one else has come with you? You have wandered into our war without support?"
Brooklyn was silent. He inhaled a heavy drag… a VERY heavy drag, before exhaling out smoke "...So who are you then? Still haven't told me who you are."
"Katana." she dismissed sharply
"Yeah, I know you wield a Katana, I'm askin' for YOUR name."
"Katana." she repeated.
"...Wait, really?" He blinked "But I overhead one of the other gargoyles in your clan was named Kunai…"
She interrupted him, gesturing to his back "The Brooklyn you wield, how was it forged? Tell me. It seems to be made of a strong metal."
"The what?"
"The Brooklyn." she said again in irritation "On your back. What is it made of? What metal?"
He glanced back and pointed over his shoulder "...You mean my Claymore?" he drew it and rested it on his lap "I mean… Nothin' special about it, other than William Wallace gave it to me before the Battle of Bannockb- WHOA WHOA Wait." he said, rolling back his hands over one another "Wait, back up, so are ALL of you named after your weapons?"
Her perpetual sneer let a hint of confusion slip in "...Are you not?"
"What? No. I chose the name myself, picked it out when I moved to… well, forget it. Why'd you choose to name yourself after your sword?"
"I did not CHOOSE my name, you vagabond. I had it bestowed unto me when I earned my place as the great Daimyo's weapon."
"I… Weapon? Look, let's just rewind for a sec." he had stopped his puffs from his Kiseru "I haven't met a gargoyle clan before 1600 that used names."
"Our names are what define us, fool. We are named for our weapons, for we are nothing BUT weapons ourselves!" she looked down on him "Unlike you, we are not roving, empty, wandering mercenaries. My clan and I serve a cause, a cause greater than you can possibly fathom!"
"...okayyy…"
She gestured to herself "My clan and I carry the promise of redemption! The path of restoring the honor of our wretched species!"
Brooklyn's empty eyes widened slightly. Alert.
"Our gargoyles species terrorized, preyed upon, and devoured the humans of Japan! For untold generations our ancestors subjugated this great country! That was until the great samurai rose up and slayed our vile race, driving us back until just a handful remained! That was until the daimyo of Kaga, infinite in his mercy and compassion, gave the future generations a chance to atone for our evil blood!"
Brooklyn slowly shook his head in disbelief, the first time he had done so in years.
"Now, us gargoyles are permitted to EARN our honor and pride back again! We now live to be nothing but loyal weapons to live and die for the great family who spared us our rightful extinction so many centuries ago! Through our sacrifice and service, we are given the sacrament of purpose! And someday, we will be cleansed of our dishonor and our ancestors!"
Brooklyn had seen fanatical causes he once thought to be impossible… but gargoyles? "I… But… who the hell told you any of this?!"
"Our history is something that is common knowledge! Look at us, you fool. We are gargoyles! We are cast out by sunlight, born with claws and fangs as natural weapons, our kind is wretched! That is why we are so lucky to be given the chance at redemption!"
"I… But…" he was on his feet "Okay, no! Not even close! First off - let's just start it out here - gargoyles don't eat humans, period. Believe me, I once knew a guy years ago with an appetite unlike any other, not even HE would take a nibble of a human! Second! I…. who the HELL is telling you all this cult shit? This 'redeeming your race's wretchedness'? I once shot a dude with a stupid mustache in a bunker who preached that kind of mindset - uh… dude was famously wrong." he glanced to the side and muttered to himself "I had to poison, shoot, and THEN light him on fire before the Phoenix Gate was satisfied."
Her snarl had returned "YOU do not understand it! YOU have no clan, no oath, and from what I can tell, NO loyalties. I am called to be loyal! From what you've told me, you have NO loyalties!"
"Girl, that ain't loyalty! That's… I don't even know what this is!" He said with equal parts horror and disbelief.
"It's called honor, Brooklyn of Scotland! Something you clearly do not understand!" she sneered, pointing her blade at him again "You dare besmirch our valiant penance, while you yourself impede it? And you come here with flesh as red as the demons below?"
"Great, racism from another gargoyle. Gotta punch that one in the Timedance Bingo Card." he muttered.
"If you are not willing to fight for your redemption, then surely, you are proof of your nature!" she dashed forward as quick as lighting "DIE!"
"HRRK!" Brooklyn was barely able to draw his sword for a block in time.
Their arms quaked against one another "Listen to me!" Brooklyn snapped "Gargoyles aren't evil! We're saints and sinners just as much as humans are! Whoever told you that garbage has been feedin' you lies!"
She swiped her blade, forcing his weight off balance, rolling around and swinging for his head. He blocked it with his vambrace "And if the one here, were, SO WHAT? You didn't do any of that! What's any of that gotta do with you?"
"Silence!" She barked at him like he was poison, swinging slices that were made deadly precise from decades of training. Brooklyn had fought a thousand battles across a thousand years - but he could see she was terrifyingly lethal, one wrong move would mean he was dead "It is our DUTY to cleanse the sins of our ancestors!"
"From what!? From dead guys hundreds of years ago!? That isn't on you!" He blocked another swing so vicious, sparks flew. He arched his blade and nailed her square in the forehead with his pommel, sending her back "You didn't do anything wrong! Yeah, I get that you can feel loyalty to them, knock yourself out with that! But you're not a monster!"
There was a slight hesitation in her charge. Brooklyn couldn't tell if it was from her listening, or from the dazing strike. She came at him again, no witty retort this time.
"You're NOT a monster!" he repeated through his pressing lips, sucking in breaths of air to keep her obscene strength at bay "You're just a person! Same as any of them!" His quads quaked "Believe me, I know better than anyone!"
"What do YOU know?!" she screamed "A gargoyle without a clan! Without a cause! Without a purpose! Without anyone to protect or care about other than yourself! You're alone!"
Brooklyn felt something detonate "SHUT UP!"
*WHAM*
No sword involved. His fist exploded like a shotgun shell. He clobbered her square in the jaw faster than a bolt of lightning and sent her careening against the rockface.
Her katana clanked to the ground at his feet - meanwhile she struggled to get to hers. She dabbed a hand at her now bleeding lip "...Did I hit a nerve?" she scoffed
Brooklyn's chest heaved and then he blinked. He didn't have a mirror… but he knew his eyes had flickered their white glow - something he hadn't had a reason to do in years.
He snorted, burying 'Brooklyn' and bringing out 'The Timedancer' calmness again. He scooped up her blade, spinning it "You come at me again, I'm slicin' a hand off." he said with grim certainty "So shut this and open these." gesturing to his mouth, then his ears.
"Gargoyles aren't perfect, believe me I know… I once knew a female gargoyle, blue skin just like yours as a matter of fact. Bitch went about as bad as a gargoyle possibly COULD go. And want to know what the REST of the gargoyle clan I was a part of at the time did? We devoted our entire lives to stopping her and protecting humans - not because we were redeeming some past ancient shit, it's because it was the right thing to do."
He gave his arms a tired, swing "Did your ancestors do bad things? I don't know, maybe they did-" he admitted "-but that doesn't make it your problem. At the end of the day, every person, no matter how good or evil, eventually just dies, rots, and is forgotten."
He snorted and raised his hands "It's all bullshit, you know? It doesn't matter what you do, nothing matters. You'll lose everyone, everyone will lose you, and at the end of the day, the world's gonna keep on spinnin' without skipping a beat. A couple million people get genocided? Nations fall? Cataclysmic moments in history no one ever knows about? It all goes unnoticed! It's all pointless!"
He threw her sword back at her ungraciously "If your 'redemption' only just erases YOUR sins and not your ancestors. Then how the hell do THEIR sins extend to you and not just them?"
She blinked as her sword, her life, was so unceremoniously returned to her - its fine metal bouncing without care on the rocks.
Brooklyn's uninterested, blank expressions and tone were gone - now his sour words and scornful glare were in their place "Do what you want, I don't really care… and let me tell you, neither does the world. When you're bleeding out on the battlefield, the world isn't going to know you made some grand sacrifice or something, it's just gonna be you. Alone."
He sheathed his claymore and turned his back to her to wander to the edge of the cliff "Whatever ya do, if it involves blades, keep me out of it."
She had picked up her katana, her hand having already drawn her Wakizashi - she could easily throw it faster than he would be able to hear it. His back had no armor, she could easily skewer his spine and leave him helpless. She could take his head right here, right now. She could cleave it from his paralyzed body and bring it back in triumph to her Daimyo.
His crimson wings snapped open, a perfect target. But instead, she slowly returned the little blade to its scabbard. He dove off the side (more just fell forward and let the air catch his wings really), and flew down the mountainside. She could easily follow behind him at a distance without being noticed, she could scout out where he was hiding during the daytime…
But…
She sheathed her katana as well. No. Her attempts to find Brooklyn had been unsuccessful tonight.
0000oooo0000oooo0000
Brooklyn was glad he had a fast rebound time. Well, not a rebound time, more a 'time for how long it took for something that bothered him to just drop into the ocean of countless memories he had' time. By the time he had touched down back at the village, he was met with a hero's welcome.
Women, having now been reunited with their thought-to-be-dead husbands and sons, now rushed to him in a swarm of rejoicing tears. Village elders worshiped his name, raising their hands to the sky. Men saluted and bowed with the highest of esteem.
He didn't really care.
Hero worship had been cute the first few times he had gotten it. It was everything a Gargoyle had dreamed of for generations; to be accepted by humans with open arms.
Well, now it was only him. And it was only temporary. In probably a few weeks, he'd never see them again. In a few weeks, they'll suddenly have been dead for 600 years or so.
But he put up the fake smile and gracious return of bowing long enough for him to finally escape to his quiet corner of the village, a small enclosed courtyard and house - the corner he expressly forbade anyone to bother him once he retired there for the evening.
He didn't like it when people watched him do this.
*GLK* *GLK* *GLK* *GLK!*
Brooklyn downed his fifth bottle of sake. Or was it his seventh? He didn't care: it wasn't working fast enough.
Brooklyn couldn't get drunk no matter how hard he tried. His metabolism burned thirty times faster than the average human, he could stick an IV of Vodka into himself and it wouldn't help him… doesn't mean he couldn't try.
He swirled a bottle before he brought it to his lips - it was a trick he learned to help drink faster.
Why… Why her? His first time seeing a gargoyle in years… and the Phoenix Gate just had to put him in the path of one so self destructive? A clan hell bent on ENJOYING their subjugation? Believing they deserved it? Brooklyn swallowed back his eighth bottle - he raised a middle finger to the sky, he knew the Phoenix was watching every moment of this anyway.
"YOU have no clan, no oath, and from what I can tell, NO loyalties!"
Brooklyn swallowed back as much as his full gut could accept.
"A gargoyle without a clan! Without a cause! Without a purpose! Without anyone to protect or care about other than yourself! You're alone!"
He half belched, half hiccuped. He threw away the final empty bottle with a snarl. Barely a buzz.
It wasn't fair. He had developed some nice, hard calluses over his heart. He had seen horrors that would make the most depraved of sadist's skin crawl, he had built up an impenetrable wall to let no one in - all to make it less painful when tragedy inevitably happened. But somehow, she knew how to get under his skin… how to twist the knife into that exposed nerve that was always there.
Brooklyn didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to dwell on it. If he fell apart, it would be all the harder to build himself back up again. But he couldn't deny it… that horrible realization.
….He was beginning to forget what his family looked like. Lexington, Broadway, Goliath, Hudson, Bronx, and Angela looked like.
Eight years without seeing them… he still 'knew' what they looked like, of course. But the little details? The lines on their faces, the curvature of their warm smiles, and the sounds of their voices? They became more foggy with every passing year.
He heard the door to the courtyard slide open.
He immediately snapped his head around to bark "Who's there?' and order them out, but his head had a bit more sway to it than he anticipated - turns out he managed to get partially drunk.
One of the human females (he didn't remember her name) had entered. She was part of the rebelling faction, that much he knew. But, as far as he could tell, she wasn't one of the peasants who worked in the fields. Her hands were soft and free from manual labor, her clothing were fine and ornate for her status, and her hair was always done up well.
"Lord Brooklyn." she was on her knees with graceful speed, bowing her forehead to the back of her hands.
"You don't need to *hic* call me that, I keep tellin' you guys that."
With practiced technique, she rose her torso up, now kneeling with her hand neatly folded onto her lap.
"You good? What's up?" he mumbled
"Brooklyn… eighty people you have brought back to our village tonight… And… among them my son" she said with whispered praise "So many wondrous things you do for us, for strangers. All without asking for anything in return. No wealth, status, or titles."
"Don't mention it." he dismissed, barely finding the motivation to give her a passing glance. His eyes were far more interested in their thousand yard stare.
"You have given us so much, yet you say there is nothing we can offer you, nothing you want.. You deserve to be shown how grateful we all are for the selfless sacrifice you give to all of us…" she was beside him, her voice so understanding and attentive… so comforting "Please, Brooklyn… you do not need to lock yourself away alone, you must allow yourself some company~"
'Yujo'... That's what she was called. He only just now remembered.
Brooklyn flinched when he felt her hand come onto his leg out of nowhere "You're a hero Brooklyn" her words were so honeyed and soft "...You're so brave and so kind… Please… Just let someone else attend to your needs. For once, let yourself be the recipient."
Brooklyn looked away, he tightened up… but he did not move away when her soft hands slipped into his ivory hair. A few gentle strokes into his mane, and he relaxed with an exhale. Brooklyn closed his eyes.
He could practically hear the smile in her words "You've worked so hard without any release… Just let yourself indulge tonight, anything you want will be yours~" she said with practiced hands trailing down his chest and stomach.
Brooklyn kept his eyes closed when he felt her lips lock against his.
It wasn't his first time, not by a longshot. How many times had he been in this exact situation in Rome, Greece, Persia, and other empires? A dozen times? A hundred times? Pleasurable company there just to dull the loneliness.
He didn't argue when her hands traced their way to his belt, but he made no effort to try and return the affection. This wasn't love. This wasn't affection. This was a desperate need for distraction - to pretend to emulate it in something else.
The old him, so many years ago, had tried so hard for love. Once with Angela and once with… with… damn, he couldn't remember the name of the lion gargoyle hybrid anymore. But of course… such fairy tales weren't an option anymore. Did he still want love? It was a question he didn't dwell on.
He just decided 'no' years ago and buried that answer deep in his heart, never to be dug up again.
But it was a release. Just like drugs and alcohol, this was just another way to take the edge off. In neither heart nor soul, Brooklyn wasn't attracted to humans by any means, but his body? His body didn't care.
Brooklyn readjusted himself. The human woman pulled him down on top of her. His red talon fidgeted with his belt buckle for a moment, and off came his loincloth.
No clan.
No family.
No love.
Only release.