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[biteoffherhead]

[Just another day, another time for Moro. Though usually quite content to keep her distance from humans (despite her growing fondness and affections towards the captives of Luceti, she was still incredibly hesitant to be trustful), today it seems she's lounging around just outside the village boundaries. She's even stretching and rolling around, participating in very casual behavior, not very typical of her usual demeanor.

Of course, these slightly embarrassing behaviors are only viewable from a distance, as she quickly regains her dignity and sulks into the cover of the trees when someone approaches too close.

The second half of the day is spent idly hunting. Because it's best to stock up on fatty reserves for the winter anyway. You might get that funny feeling of being followed...]

Comments

[tsuntrader]

[Yeah but- wait, hold the phone-] You raised a human?

[biteoffherhead]

I caught her human parents defiling my forest. Her mother threw her baby at my feet in order to spare her own life. I, of course, devoured them.

But instead of eating the babe, I took her, raising her as my own. Her name is San, of the Wolf Tribe. Do not be fooled by her human body. She is a wolf.

[tsuntrader]

[...Nodding. That's rough, buddy.]

[biteoffherhead]

She, too, has been in this wretched place for far too long. The two of us have gotten far too soft on humans.

[tsuntrader]

You say it like it's a bad thing.

[biteoffherhead]

[Moro doesn't respond. Instead, she moves on, disappearing into the forest.]

[tsuntrader]

[...Right. Well. Tomorrow morning.

And tomorrow morning, early in the morning, he'll wander back into the forest with only Sneasel's Pokéball and... A knife, which he's awkwardly studying and trying to suppress any kind of uneasiness that comes along with the idea of actually using it.]

[biteoffherhead]

[As you wander deeper into the forest, Moro slowly comes closer, walking at your side. Though her footfalls are indeed inevitably audible, they are incredibly small and quiet, as an impressive feat for her size.]

We will hunt hare today.

[tsuntrader]

[...Hesitantly nodding. Sure, he could probably grab one of those without a problem. But killing it, with his own hands...

...He would tell any of his Pokémon to kill someone or something if he had to, right? Right. So he needs to be able to do it. Period. It's only fair.]

[biteoffherhead]

[Moro keeps walking, apparently intending to take him quite a ways away from the town.]

What do you know of death?

[tsuntrader]

[What does he know... Of death?

He's pretty clearly thinking it over. The time it's taking him should say enough on just how much he knows about the topic, though.]

[biteoffherhead]

Do you fear it?

[tsuntrader]

[Does he...] No. [He's not afraid to die.]

[biteoffherhead]

And yet you do not understand it. That alone is the reason most humans fear death. So much that they don't like to impart that experience onto others. Unless, of course, they are greedy and want something.

[That last sentence is said rather bitterly, and there's a very slight stumble in her step on the side with the bullet wound.]

But the first thing you must understand is what life is. Because the understanding of life will bring a true understanding of death.

[tsuntrader]

What do you mean? [Understanding life? He's... Not following. He's alive. He's living. That's all there is to it.]

[biteoffherhead]

Your life is not so simply 'there'. Your life belongs to life as a whole.

Look around you. Do you see where life flows? It does not begin. It does not end. It moves.

[tsuntrader]

[...Life flows...] It's a transition, not a start and an end.

[biteoffherhead]

In taking life, you are taking the life to support your own. Whether you are eating it to nourish yourself, or protecting your own life far in advance by killing those who endanger you, that life is being given to maintain yours.

And your own life will, someday, do the same. You will give life to children, and to whomever kills you. You may even be so fortunate to simply wither away with age, as humans are so prone to do.

Death is not something to be feared. But it is something you need to understand. Fearless ignorance is not courage.

[tsuntrader]

[Silver takes a moment to process this. ...The action of killing... Isn't inherently right or wrong. It's an act of preservation. But life is something of high value. Considering it as anything less is wrong. Being wasteful is wrong.

...A nod. Alright, got it.]

[biteoffherhead]

You are a predator. The fangs in your mouth are small, but you have wisdom enough to converse with gods. You have no claws, but you have agile and strong hands to build weapons.

Your intelligence is your claw. Your hands, your fangs. But you have legs and feet. You have scent, and eyes, and ears, though weaker and pathetic in comparison to mine. You can learn to hunt with these in the same way that I do.

[tsuntrader]

[...Yeah, that all makes sense. That's more or less what being a trainer's about. The last part, too. You can't be a trainer without being alert and having quick reflexes. You have to be able to endure things. That's just the way it is. Training yourself is just as important as training your Pokémon.

...But he's still pretty reliant on his Pokémon for offense. Fist fights aren't gonna cut it. Fist fights aren't enough to keep him alive. It feels more important than ever to be as close to on par with his Pokémon as he can be, even if a knife probably just won't cut it.

Another nod.]

[biteoffherhead]

Close your eyes.

Tell me what you can smell. What you can hear. Reach beyond the simple impression you get from both senses.

Your sense of smell is in your mouth. Open your mouth when you inhale, and tell me what the forest smells and tastes like.

[tsuntrader]

What I taste? [How- but- he's only--]

[biteoffherhead]

Do not argue with me!

[ROAR ROAR]

[tsuntrader]

[Someone else might have cringed. In Silver's case, he only straightens out his expression, almost fading out of focus for a moment. Of course, the second that moment is over, he's closing his eyes and doing what Moro says.

What does he hear? He starts gesturing with a hand.]

Something in the bushes over there. [Point.] ...Probably two things. [Pointing over to a tree to a bird nest. And some breeze, and some squirrel which he can't identify making its way up a tree.

This is easy. He can point out the little sounds in the forest. Even Moro's presence isn't hard to make out.

What he smells and tastes, on the other hand...]