face in the crowd — double joining, open.

[truce.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Gabriel Levine took great pride in the fact that many people would kill to see him in a grave.

After all, Gabriel was a man who knew things about people — he made it his very own life goal to do so — and it was the people who retaliated that he would target. Those were always the ones with something to hide, as if Gabe’s knowledge of their secret would undoubtedly make them vulnerable. Like a wild creature that felt threatened, they’d not only sigh but roar as they’d lash out at the unassuming Gabe. But he was just humble Gabe, he’d assure them; he’d play dumb but he knew exactly what he was doing.

It never was what a man had but what a man knew that was important. They could take away all that he loved, his family, his prized possessions, the clothes on his back, but the one thing they could never take away from him was his knowledge. The secrets he held that imprisoned those desperate for their secrets to stay secrets. Blackmail was a dirty word, but blackmail was a way of life when one knew of only one way to survive. The life that they were afforded on this earth did not allow for them to take life in the slow lane, to bumble along merrily in the height of comfort. Even those who had fallen into that fallacy had eventually collided with reality — life was no longer about living, it was about survival.

Gabriel knew how to survive pretty well; he had done so his whole life. A thief with a hunger for a fortune, Gabe had come to learn that people’s secrets were invaluable to him. They entrusted him enough because his pretty face and seemingly even and loyal temperament was deceiving in itself. For many years he kept on the safe side, sticking to heists simple enough to be carried out by one man only. That was until he came across Walter, an older man with a wealth of knowledge when it came to heists.

He would one day welcome Gabriel into his plans, unaware of the serpent he’d entrusted, before requesting Gabriel assist with the latest heist that he had planned. This was no one man job, which was Walter’s first mistake. Gabriel often worked on his own because that minimized any variables in the equation. Over time, Walter began to speak more openly around Gabriel — two thieves that understood each other — but knowledge was power and Walter was making Gabe’s job easy for him. Soon, Gabe learned of places teeming with people to network with in order to eventually con or steal from them, and he found out where he could come across the most costly articles that he could lay his hands upon.

The duo successfully carried out one of the greatest, most notable heists in the history of the new world, leaving little trace on who could be behind it. Gabriel was nothing more than an accomplice in this particular crime but, when he did a runner with all of Walter’s cut, he was the sole culprit.

He supposed it rarely meant a thing nowadays, wealth in jewels when in today’s world wealth was supplies and provisions. There was a bunker that Gabriel kept under lock and key which held his most prized stolen possessions, but what else could he do with it nowadays? Instead, he learned how to adapt, stealing and looting resources to trade off for profit. It kept him thriving in the new world as people needed people like him — the people that had something to offer.

Many years later and whilst there were many changes in his life, he never lost that scheming way of survival, except for now he had a lot more to lose. The most beautiful woman that he had the privilege of calling his wife and his darling daughters, Ivory, Jade and Sapphire. For the people who despised Gabriel after he chose to take advantage of their trust, he knew that many were actively searching high and low for the master of deceit, the thief who stole from thieves, but when they thought that they had captured him, he’d slip through their fingers once again. The greatest Houdini of all, Gabriel would forever look over his shoulder to look out for his past life hot on his heels, but he wasn’t afraid. Instead, he was somewhat complacent — cocky, maybe — because he knew that they’d never catch him.

After leaving The Badlands once finding out that Walter would frequent their casino nights, Gabriel and Melody began their gruelling trek up to Flintlock Lodge. The girls had never seen snow before and, whilst most of the snow had melted on the peaks, the rare patches of white caught their keen eyes whilst they all sat on a sled that Gabriel hauled on their journey. Ivory tipped to the side, rolling off the sled before she tried to pull herself up onto her feet. ❝ Look! ❞ She exclaimed, Gabriel sighing before lifting her up and placing her back on the sled. ❝ I know! But trust me, there is so much more snow where we’re going. You just gotta stay still, all right? ❞

Gabriel spared Melody a quick but affectionate gaze, huffing a breath of laughter before he pointed out, ❝ Time to invest in seatbelts for the kids, right? ❞ He continued dragging the triplets along in what he jokingly called the ❛ baby-mobile ❜, the three year olds babbling to each other before Jade kicked up a stink, trying to reach out to Melody to be picked up. ❝ Look, girls! A village. ❞ Gabriel put on his sweet voice, a voice solely reserved for his children as, with his free hand, he pointed towards a quaint little ski village up ahead. It was enough to pique the girls’ interest, the children silencing for long enough for Gabe and Mel to trudge into the village before he eventually stopped.

❝ Stay close now. ❞ Gabe pointed out as the toddlers clambered off the sled to explore, Gabe wrapping a loving arm around Melody’s waist before he asked, ❝ So, you think this is Flintlock? ❞ He glanced around for any signage; he sure hoped this was Flintlock Lodge, else they would have walked all the way for nothing.

// please wait for melody to reply first, thank you!