[attr="class","header"]RATHER BE THE HUNTER THAN THE PREY

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If someone had told him yesterday that he would run into one of his old gang members he would’ve thought they were crazy. And would’ve said as much to their face. However the voice that broke through his concentration was easily recognizable. And even used the alias he hadn’t used since he was eighteen. Only people from the gang or his old mentor would know that name.
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He turned to face the older male taking in the other male. Even after all these years nothing had really changed about the older male’s appearance. The only difference he saw was a scar on the left side of his face that he knows hadn’t been there before that day.
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”Dorian,” was his simple reply. He knew that was all needed to be said. The fact he had known his name and had answered to that alias would be answer enough to the older male. That he was who he thought he was.
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It was weird seeing someone he had speculated to be dead for the past ten years. Like seeing a ghost except not. Because Dorian was definitely very real and had by some coincidence found his way to rocket. Or maybe it was the other way around since he figured Dorian had been a member longer.[break] dorian westcliff

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[attr="class","header"]RATHER BE THE HUNTER THAN THE PREY

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”It’s good to see you too,” he said unsure what do do when Dorian rushed over to him. As the older males arms wrapped around him he stiffened unsure how to process what was happening. In all the years he’d been alive he had never been shown affection. The closed his mentor had ever gotten to showing him affection was to pat his shoulder.
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Not knowing what something was didn’t sit well with him though. ”What is this?” he asked not knowing most people would know what a hug is. How one should react to one. It was something that was usually common knowledge. But it wasn’t knowledge he had ever received himself hence his lack of understanding.
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Once they had broken apart he would be asked about how he had made it. The question was expected. And something he wanted to inquire of the other as well. However since Dorian had made the inquiry first he would answer him and tell him what had happened that night.
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”They captured me instead of killing me. I think they thought they could say me to their side by sparing me,” the brunette told the older male. Anyone who truly knew Ryker would understand how laughable such a notion was. He was extremely loyal and once he pledged his loyalty to someone nothing could sway that loyalty. Especially considering the rival gang had hurt those he cared about not something he would’ve taken lightly.
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”When they realized I wouldn’t cooperate they kept me locked away under guard. I didn’t try to escape right away wanting to wait for the perfect opportunity. And three years after the fall of the gang they let down their guard enough that I saw it as my chance to escape so I did,” he told Dorian deciding to keep it short and simple. If he asked for more details about the escape or what he’d been up to he would tell him.
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Now that he had told him how he had ended up getting away he wanted to know the same about him. ”How about you? How did you get away?”[break] dorian westcliff

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[attr="class","header"]RATHER BE THE HUNTER THAN THE PREY

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”Hug?” he said said blankly before shaking his head. ”No, what’s the concept of one?” he asked his gaze fixed on the older male. The older males reaction led him to believe he was lacking knowledge on something he should already know. Which wasn’t that uncommon of an occurrence since he didn’t understand a lot of stuff that had to do with emotion.
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Listening to what he had to say he nodded in agreement. ”Its been too long. Too long to think so one is dead,” he agreed confirming that he had thought he was dead as well. ”I figured I was the only who made it out. I tried to check on an old friend before I left but they weren’t around. I assume they thought I died as well,” he told the older male.
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As he told his story he kept an eye on the other male to try and gauge his reaction. He might not be the best at understanding emotions but he was good at reading people and could somewhat understand some of the stronger emotions. Like the older males surprise about his captivity. Though even an emotion like that he didn’t understand to well.
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”I got out that’s all that matters. I guess they thought I was content just to be a captive so they eventually led their guard down. It was a night with no moon and they only had two guarding me it was easy to take them both out before they could make a sound. I also knew it would be too dark for them to be comfortable for them to come after me if one were to have woken up for some reason and noticed me gone. The fact I had taken my guards out so easily would’ve made them wary as well,” he said with a small shrug like it was no big deal, and to him it probably wasn’t.
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When he asked the older male about what had happened on his end he listened to rapt attention to what they said. ”Considering how careless they were with me in the end I’m surprised they were able to come up with such a strategy. Divide and conquer it’s a good strategy. They waited until we had split our gang before attacking. I wonder if they were spying on us to know that we would be on different jobs that day or if it was just a coincidence,” he told him thinking back to that day.
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”It’s good you made it though, a shame for the ones that didn’t. Hopefully the gang was wiped out by another gang since we’ve been there,” he said just ignoring the fact they had struck first. Maybe because he hadn’t been a part of that attack he had been getting intel on other people that were asking to taken out by them, figuratively speaking of course.
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It was still crazy that they had both ended up in Team Rocket. ”I spent the past seven years just traveling from one region to another keeping my distance from others. I’d heard rumors about Team Rocket but it wasn’t until I heard about them being in Hoenn that I decided to really settle anywhere,” he would tell Dorian. He knew he wouldn’t need to tell the older male what had drawn him to Team Rocket.[break] dorian westcliff

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[attr="class","header"]RATHER BE THE HUNTER THAN THE PREY

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He knew his upbringing was strange. The young man a had been raised to be a killer from a pretty young age. And due to his upbringing he didn’t really see himself as anything but a weapon. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of caring about people. It was just hard to fall Into that category with him.
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Thankfully the subject moved away from his lack of knowledge about hugs and moved on to what they had been up to since they had last seen each other. Due to that he broached the topic of his mentor and hearing the older male’s response he nodded. ”I hope so as well. They told me everything I know. They’re the reason I am who I am,” he said wondering if their mentor really was alive or not.
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Hearing his comment he nodded. ”Yeah, but I wouldn’t have ever done that to the gang. I figure they thought I would get tired of captivity and tell them I would join up with them,” he said with a shake of his head. Loyalty wasn’t something he just gave to anyone. Back then it had basically been first come first serve. And since his loyalty had been to Dorian and the gang back than he wasn’t about to betray that.
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What he said made sense. The only other alternative was not one he wanted to think of. That one of their own had been working for the gang. So he would just ignore that possibility and agree with Dorian’s assessment. Because it was the one that didn’t have anything to do with betrayal.
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”That seems mostly likely,” he agreed before he continued speaking. ”If only we had considered it was some kind of trap. But we didn’t know enough about them to know what they were truly capable of. Someone in their gang must’ve been good with strategy,” he said trying to think on who in the gang they had met during their captivity. No one in the gang had stood out as real smart but not everyone in the rival gang had met with him.
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What he was saying was true. There would always be someone better out there. Or sometimes the better ones just got cocky and that ended up being the better gangs downfall. ”I feel like our rivals were the type who would let arrogance be their downfall. The underestimate another gang and get taken out because of that,” he said with a small shrug. There was no place for arrogance in their line of work for that reason.
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Taking over the world was definitely something they could get behind. ”That definitely is a good thing. It’s for the best that Team Rocket is in control. I’ll do whatever is needed to ensure all regions fall into line under our control.”[break] dorian westcliff

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