Hunting for Silence? (The Quiet)

[Anonymous]

It was a job like any other.  He was in La' Marri visiting his sister and master when he was approached by the mayor.  "Icarus, thank god you are here.  We just saw an evil creature on the outskirts of town.  Luckily it didn't come into town this time.  This abomination has to be killed, I'll pay you whatever the cost, just kill it."

Icarus shook his head and said, "I'll need a bit more information on this monster before I go after it... and the price will be discussed after we find out how hard this thing is to kill."

After a brief discussion of the monster's abilities, although not its description, and after an hour of price haggling Icarus walked away from La' Marri with a happy face knowing that is coffers would be full for a nice long time for such an easy sounding prey.  He checked one last time to make sure he had all his equipment and went into Niahi Woods where this "Quiet" monster was last spotted.

Not sure why everyone is so afraid, it doesn't sound too bad.  I probably should have found out what it looks like.  What am I thinking, a necromancer made monster, that'll be easy to spot no problem.  These thoughts occurred to him half an hour after traveling through the woods.

[Anonymous]

The Quiet was had been camping out for a few days. It didn't make sense to go into town if he didn't have money. However, he still wasn't used to living off the land. He had tried to forage and hunt, but was unsuccessful on both accounts. He could not catch anything to use his knife on, or hit anything with the rocks he threw. The foraging went arguably worse. The only things he found were mushrooms.

The Question:
Between a round mushroom that is a pale reddish hue with white patches and a mushroom that is tan, wide, and short, which one is poisonous and which one is safe to eat?

The answer:
It doesn't matter, because when you're hungry you eat food. Or you die.

These are truths in this world. Whether they are cruel truths or not, it doesn't change the situation.

In fact, they both were poisonous. He felt sick and threw one up after about an hour later. The second, he felt sick after eating but managed to keep it down (which is probably worse for you). Still, he was hungry, and it felt so good to put something in his mouth and eat it. How could he complain about it later, just because he was throwing up a little.

Anyway, that was his time in the woods. He was feeling better now, but hungry again. He decided to return to the closest town and go back to living off the kindness of strangers (begging).

He moved his way through the woods and stumbled upon a dirt road. He decided to follow it. Since he had been in the woods, he had not been wearing a bandage over his tiny horn. He usually put a patch of gauze over it to hide it. He probably should have put another one on again, but it had slipped his mind. Living in the woods, away from people was so peaceful, he didn't have to hide who he was. However now he was returning to society, and that meant he would be amongst people once again. He forgot himself and how he must act around others, and it might cost him dearly.

After traveling along the dirt road in the woods for a bit, he came upon a man hauling a cart. He was traveling in the opposite direction along the road and the two paid little mind to each other at first. The man's cart was filled with hens in small wooden cages. He was probably planning to sell them in the next town over. There were many of them, and they were clucking and squawking as you would expect them to. The Quiet was lost in his thoughts, and had forgotten himself too much. Otherwise he would have avoided the cart, he realized the cart was filled with animals too late and suddenly the chickens began to panic.

As Quiet passed the cart on the road, the animals began to squawk loudly and flap their wings frantically. They screeched at The Quiet, their natural animal instincts sensed the evil magics within him as most animals did. Of course, that's why he couldn't hunt.

The Quiet was snapped out of his thoughts by the chicken's uproar. Frightened, he turned to the loud noise and shaking cages and began to back away. He stumbled over himself, falling to the ground. Their horrible screeching caught the attention of the merchant, who stopped hauling his cart and looked back in surprise.

"W-what the hell is going on?" the merchant screamed out. He saw The Quiet on the ground and added, "What did you do, kid?"

That's when he noticed the tiny horn on the boy's head.

"You! Y-you're some kind of monster... Monster! Go away from me!" The merchant began to scream, and panic. He did not understand what or who The Quiet was. That misunderstanding turned into fear. That fear turned into hate. He began to scream and grip his fists tightly.

The Quiet, still on the ground, was stricken with fear. He felt his chest tighten, and suddenly his mind was drawing a blank.

"I said go away from me, Monster!" the man screamed again, this time advancing towards the frightened child. This scream snapped him back into reality, and he began to stumble away on the ground. His breath was suddenly very shallow and heavy as he reached a tree and used it to help prop himself up. He turned back to the merchant who was filled with some kind of righteous fury. He was determined to protect his precious chickens with his life.

"Go away from me!" He screamed again.

Quiet wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't listen to him. If it weren't for the tree, he would have collapsed onto the ground. He could do nothing but look at the screaming man, and the squawking chickens, filled with fear of what was going to happen next.

[Anonymous]

Icarus traveled around the forest and finally found a road and looked at it a bit depressed.  So there was a road up here... ugh  He let out a sigh and was about to continue further into the woods when he hears someone shout "Monster!"  The perked him up and qued him into action.

He ran through the woods and bound out of the bushes by Quiet with his sword drawn.  He saw Quiet was frightened and put his hand on his shoulder.  He soothingly said, "Worry not child, I'm here to help."  He hadn't looked around yet but expected there to be some large snarling beast around.  when he did look though his sword drooped a bit because all he saw was a man with a cart full of loud chickens.  "Ah, no... nani?"  He usually used strange phrases from some foreign language he learned, he assumed it to be elven but it was enough to get across the point of what's going on.  

He looked around a bit more and even used his hand to block out the sun.  "Where's the monster?"  He asked them both as he sheathed his sword.

[Anonymous]

Suddenly another man appeared, he placed his hand on Quiet's shoulder and spoke to him. However his words were lost on The Quiet, as he could only focus on the sword in the man's hands. He was stricken with fear and surprise, but after that surprise began to wear off his mind began to quiet down. He had been caught off guard, lulled into a false sense of security by the peace of the forest.

His mind had drawn a blank up until now, but suddenly a single thought rang out through his consciousness.

'You'll see you have more to give, when you fight your will to live.'

He did not speak the words out loud, it was simply a line of thought that he used to shatter any hesitations or fears.

With that, the fear began to subside as quickly as it had overcome him. Suddenly, all his anxieties were gone and his mind began to process the situation, once again. His wide eyes that were once filled with surprise and innocence, began to narrow. They were still focused on the sword the man was holding, even as it was lowered and put back into its sheath.

'When that man realizes I am the monster, he will use that sword on me,'

Within his calmed mind, this second thought resonated, and with that he had decided what he must do. Survive.

"You fool! That boy is the Monster!" The old merchant screamed out in response to the swordsman's puzzled behavior.

The Quiet turned to this man with a stoic look on his face.

"Ugh... Don't be tricked by his appearance! That boy is surely a demon in disguise!" The man was taken aback by the look The Quiet shot at him, and began to bark louder in response. Quiet felt rage replace fear, and has he turned back towards the swordsman he thrust his upper body forward with all the strength his small body could muster up. He used the momentum of turning back towards the man to add power to a desperate headbutt. He angled his head slightly, so his horn would be the focal point this strike.

As tiny and dull as it was, it was still a horn after all.

This attack was feeble and desperate, but hopefully the man would be caught off guard enough to be pushed back. Whether it worked or not, regardless of the amount of damage it would cause, The Quiet would follow up by quickly stepping backwards and drawing his knife. He'd have to be careful of how close the man's and his arms were, and be sure to avoid being grabbed or captured. His calmed mind was able to make these mental notes even as he charged forward into action.

After placing these moves into action, he would then hold his blade up in defensive pose and wait for the right opportunity to make his escape.

[Anonymous]

Icarus looked at the merchant even more puzzled than before.  "This is but a boy..."  He was going to continue but he found something dull dig into his side and push him away.  He stumbled a bit away from Quiet.  He rubbed his side where a small bruise was starting to form and he turned to Quiet.  

"Ow, what was that..."  He was once again cut off though when he saw the knife in the boys hand.  "Woh, put the knife down there is no need for a fight over one man's paranoia."  When he mentioned one man he turned to the merchant.  "Don't you have more pressing matters to attend to than calling children bad names, really your an adult for god's sake."  

Icarus sheathed his sword and turned to Quiet again.  "I'm sorry for the trouble this man may have caused you, it seems that some adults don't know how to act civilized."

[Anonymous]

"Fool! Go on and be bewitched by the innocence of that child form... it will be your death," The old merchant continued to ramble on as he picked up his cart back up and began to pull it away again.

The Quiet moved from pointing his knife towards the old man and the swordsmen as they spoke, but he seemed to listen to the man's words and began to calm down.

Still, he wouldn't just surrender his only defense. He kept the knife out and began to back away slowly from the swordsman, despite his kind words.

The boy was obviously still very frightened, and trying hard to think rationally. He held his knife ready to defend himself, but he decided against attacking the man further.

[Anonymous]

Icarus shook his head in disappointment.  "A grown man acting a fool," he said to himself before looking at Quiet.  He held his hands up to show he was no unarmed and not a threat.  "Maybe a little anti-social flailing a knife around but I can definitely tell you are no monster."  As he talked he looked at Quiet and realized it was like looking into a sort of mirror.  It had been over a decade and he was much younger at the time, but it was amazing how much Quiet was like Icarus from back then.  He smiled at the thought and wondered how far the similarities went.

"I am no threat to you so you can put down the knife, after all it is rather uncouth to hold a weapon to an unarmed man.  Especially one that just helped you from a position of accusation."  His words were fluent and flowed from his mouth beautifully as he tried to calm Quiet.

[Anonymous]

The Quiet began to calm down. Something in the man's voice made him want to trust him, despite how hard he found it to do so. He lowered his knife, and his posture relaxed but did not put it away.

He looked up to the man, but did not know what to expect from him. From what he said, he was right. Quiet had been helped by this man, and so out of gratitude he bowed to him at the waist, but as he bowed he did not take his eyes off the man. He had no other way to repay the man, even though he wished to. He thought about backing away from the man, but found himself staying in place. Sometimes there was something about an adult, that made a child feel like he needed permission to anything, even leave. He felt as if this man wanted something from him, but what could he want? He was clearly reaching out to Quiet, but why? It was entirely possible that he was trying to lull him into a false sense of security and attack him while his guard was done.

However, he began to dismiss this thought the more he thought of it. The man was clearly a strong fighter of some kind, he would not resort to this tactic against a frail child with a tiny knife. So then what was this man's angle?

[Anonymous]

Icarus put his hands down now feeling safer and smiled.  "Well that's a little better.  You live around here anywhere?  I'll help you get home because I hear there's a monster roaming around in the woods here."  He looked in the forest for a few seconds making sure there was no movement and turned back to Quiet.  

"So where do you live?"  His voice wasn't one used to calm someone although not to say it was strange the way he asked it.  His eyes showed that he was completely unaware that the boy was the "monster" he was looking for.

[Anonymous]

From his words and behavior, Quiet could tell that he did not think of him as a monster. It eased his heart slightly. He had no intention of changing his mind.

But to the question he asked, he simply shook his head no. Where did he live? He did not live. He barely survived. To say he lived, was a bit painful to him really. He had no home either.

When he shook his head, it was slowly and solemnly, with his eyes closed. Hopefully this would convey his situation to the man. After nodding a few times he finally put away his knife.

[Anonymous]

Icarus saw Quiet shake his head and he assumed it meant that he either didn't know where he lived or that he didn't have a home.  "You seem to be quite the quiet one don't you?"  Icarus said with a little chuckle.  

"Do you at least have a name I could use to call you, I'd hate to have to call you boy all the time.  Unless of course you can't..."  The thought then just occurred to Icarus that the boy might be a mute so if he didn't get a verbal response it wouldn't be as strange anymore.

[Anonymous]

For a name, the man had already guessed it with out him telling. Ultimately it did not seem important to The Quiet, and so he simply shrugged as the man asked about his name. That was the only answer he would get.

The Quiet was not physically mute. He knew how and could, but he never did. He brought up his hands, showing his palms to the man and shook his head no again, when the man brought up the fact that he might be mute. That could have been very hard to understand what exactly he was saying no to, but his expression was not as sullen as it was indifferent. His hands fell back down to his side lazily.

Despite being physically capable of speaking, he had his reasons for not doing it. Its not as if it were a joke to him, or something he thought would be fun. It wasn't a vow of silence kind of thing either. You could say that mental traumas had in fact made him mute, rather than physical injury. He simply did not wish to speak to other people. He would not speak especially to such simple questions.

The Quiet was contemplating leaving already, but his thoughts were interrupted when his stomach began to growl. He placed his hand on his stomach and broke eye contact for just a second to look down. With all the excitement and fear dying down, he realized that he was very hungry... as usual. He looked back up to the man, a bit embarrassed. If he didn't have anything more to say, he would leave to try and find food somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Icarus understood that he was not mute and didn't push the fact any further.  When The Quiet's stomach growled he laughed and said, "A bit hungry I see."  He looked up at the sun and continued.  "I suppose it is almost time for dinner.  Would you care to join or perhaps you need to get home to your parents?"  

Icarus though, just by looking at the boy, figured that he was either a filthy boy or he had no parents.  He started getting things out to start cooking, he had a bit of meat with him but it needed to get reheated and he had plenty of water in his water skin.

[Anonymous]

When Quiet heard the man's offer to feed him, he looked away for a moment and scratched the back of his head nervously. He was hungry, but... he was so tired of taking hand outs... but... he was still hungry... Thoughts like that continued to appear in his head, in a vicious cycle.

When he saw the man begin to set up cooking implements, he gave in and walked a few steps closer to the man. He hung his head, defeated, but with his eyes downcast he noticed a branch that had fallen from its tree. He reached down and picked it up, it was quite dry.

He began looking around and began to run and pick up similar pieces of wood. After picking up a few, he quickly returned to the man and place them in a pile near him. He then returned to find more, as what he had brought wasn't enough for a fire just yet. He began to venture a bit farther, having exhausted what was immediately nearby, but the man should have understood what he was doing by then. At least, Quiet assumed so. After a few more minutes, he returned with more wood and added it to the pile.

[Anonymous]

"Oh, why thank you."  He said before Quiet ran off to find more.  When he ran into the woods Icarus shouted, "Be careful."  Icarus laughed a bit to himself, Quiet seemed quite happy to get food.  

While Quiet was getting more wood Icarus started the find and used some rocks to cover the fire partially, the coals under the rocks heated the rocks and he put three strips of meat, 1 for him 2 for Quiet, on there to be re-heated.  He pulled out some seasoning herbs and put them on the meat for some extra flavor.  As he did this some questions came to mind, the biggest being why was this boy so quiet, the second biggest being I wonder if he has a home... I wonder if that's what my master thought when he found me?

When Quiet came back Icarus had just finished setting things up and he held out his water skin to Quiet.  "You want a drink, it'll still be a bit before the food is ready?"

[Anonymous]

Quiet bowed his head slightly and accepted the man's offer for water. In his travels he had realized that being extremely thirsty often made him feel like he was closer to dying, more so than being hungry.

He had memorized the general location of each river or pond he had come across in his travels in repose to this, but the closest stream was some distance away. So even though he was not particularly thirsty, he decided to take a few gulps. He didn't know when the next drink would come. Afterward, he extended the water skin back to Icarus and took a seat on the ground near the fire.

[Anonymous]

Icarus took the water back and took a bit himself.  As the fire crackled he looked over at Quiet to get a better look.  His hair covered one of his eyes and he seemed to have something strange with his head but he shrugged it off as just a bump or bruise.  He looked back at the fire hoping Quiet didn't notice him looking and said, "Well I don't think I've even introduced myself, and here I am asking you name.  I am Icarus Nearanather, Monster Hunter."  With that he bowed with one hand on his chest the other flourished to his side.  

When rose back to his full height he looked at Quiet and said, "So what should I call you or one of little speech?  Perhaps Silence... no that's too feminine.  Maybe Hush... Mute... Quiet.  Icarus kept an air of joke around the topic but watched Quiet's reaction to any to see if he actually thought any of them were good or awfully bad.

"I'm not really sure what to call you."  He said with a small laugh scratching the back of his head.

[Anonymous]

He took note of the man's name, but didn't really expect to ever say it. Still he remembered it, he might need it one day. The title Monster Hunter, made him retreat into his shell further. He sat on the ground, with his knees up and his arms wrapped around his legs, and hands resting on his knees. It was a resting position, but it was very closed.

He sat and watched the fire, as he listened to the man go on. Fire was always quite beautiful. He noticed that sometimes people liked to go on and talk, even if he didn't respond. It wasn't a problem, because he actually liked to listen.The Quiet did not talk, but neither did he like playing charades. He just stayed unmoving when the man began to guess names, but when he said the word 'Quiet,' he did look up towards Icarus. It was a subtle reaction, but it was a reaction and it was more of what was the usual for him, unlike what he did before.

[Anonymous]

Icarus noticed the reaction to Quiet and he smiled.  He looked at the meat for a moment to check if it was done, the smell was wafting over to him so it would be done soon.  Then he turned to Quiet and asked, "Quiet... does that strike you fancy or am I way off base?"

[Anonymous]

The Quiet gave him a definite nod of agreement. It was humbling, constantly having to run, be saved, and be fed like this.

He was completely at the mercy of fate. Whatever happened to him, whether he survived or died, was all up to those around him. It was amazing that he had lived for this long.

One day, he hoped to be strong though. One day... but maybe he just couldn't do it alone... but how could he ask really? He had no way to repay the kindness he was being shown, how could he ask for more? And so he sat there, saying nothing. Just like he always did. He looked up to the sun. It was a beautiful day, but all Quiet could think about was how the sun was in his eye.

He raised up his hand to block out the sun. How could it shine down on him like that? How could it be so cruel? Didn't it know that he could no longer take it anymore? Didn't it know that he no longer believed?