victory_road | Fifth Sacrament

[ It's been a long while since Walter's appeared on the network and he's still no more comfortable with it. sunlight is pouring into his room this morning but he doesn't have the camera reveal much about where he is. He looks concerned, sitting on a bed and holding a Pokeball in his hands, rolling it in his palm. Beside him, Assumption is clad in a red knitted sweater and playing slightly offscreen. His other Pokemon are stretching and pacing around him, as if waiting for something. Notably he looks like he's ready to go somewhere; he has his coat on, a white, fleecy scarf tied around his neck and his backpack slung over his back. ]

I'm concerned about the behaviour of one of my Pokemon. Eileen. [ As he spoke he dropped the pokeball form his hand. An Audino appears in a flash, smiling brightly. She waves at the camera before turning to Walter. Noticing his demeanour, she climbed onto the seat beside him and pointed his coat. He exhaled and undid it, allowing her better access to his chest. She tugged on one of her ears, placing a feeler over his heart and listening carefully. After a few beats, she pulled back and practically fell into a cuddle with him, pressing herself into his chest with a soothing cry. Walter looked over to the camera awkwardly. ]

Is this normal...? I know Audinos like to listen to pulses but everytime she hears mine, she does this. I don't understa-AH! [ There's a loud MRYAH as a bundle of black threw itself at Walter from off camera. Walter recoiled, freezing. Then slowly uncoiled as the Weavile that had leapt at him was happily hugging him, paws wrapped around his neck and half climbing up his arm to get into Walter's space. He sighed heavily, shoulders sagging. ]

I only caught Joseph two weeks ago and he does this too- [ He's cut off, this time by Chaos wandering up onto the bed behind him and slinging a paw over his shoulder, purring and nuzzling her face against his. Walter brought his legs up to him awkwardly, clearly overwhelmed by this. ]

I don't understand why- [ Not to be left out, Assumption turned and scooted over, hugging one of Walter's arms with a content look on his face. Walter clearly just gave up at this point, lowering his head and shaking it. Someone help him. ] Why...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[HERE COMES WRATH TO EXPLAIN HUGGING WITH SCIENCE.]}

Living bodies generate lots of heat. And when a bunch of living bodies are very close together, they generate it even better.

Hugging is nice for that reason. It's mutually beneficial.

That's why my Pokemon and I all sleep in a pile.

Why me? [ His voice is very small and soft when he speaks. ]

They could love anyone. People who...who get to be loved and know how to return their love and treat them well and...and-

[ When he looks up, he's unbearably open. His Pokemon so freely gave their love...just as Wrath had so freely given him company, even when he didn't return it well or how he should have. He doesn't know how to. And still doesn't understand why these Pokemon, why the people around him care. It's almost like he's asking Wrath personally- ] Why...?

_{[What poor, unsocialized Walter really needs is someone with a deep emotional intelligence to gently explain the complexity and importance of connection between beings, regardless of the subjective concept of 'worth'.]

[Unfortunately, Wrath is a non-human artificial being that spent eight years from the moment of his birth in an empty void with no human contact whatsoever.]

[He shrugs.]}

Well, your body is alive, and produces heat.

You're as nice to hug as any other human.

Why not?

There's other people. Better people. Who'll hug them back, and treat them well, and give them nice things. Not like me. [ Who was broken and didn't know how to love right or even be around others. ]

_{[Okay, Wrath looks kind of confused now. You can see the cogs turning in his head.]}

... But you do?

_{[He feeds them and speaks softly and doesn't alchemically torture them or leave them pinned to the wall with needles like butterflies for days at a time. What more could one want from a master?]}

You seem upset.

_{[GEE WRATH, YOU THINK?]}

[ HE'S VERY OVERWHELMED IS WHAT HE IS ]

I'm. I've never been- [ Loved. Wanted. Liked. ] This hasn't happened before. [ He looks at his Pokemon, a little helpless when it comes to explaining. Unfortunately Eileen gets upset at the thought and cuddles him with something akin to determination. which makes him hang his head ]

I'm not meant to have things like this.

Well, neither were me or the other Homunculi.

But we don't complain!

_{[He says this with an enormous, shark-toothed grin. He's FINE with getting things he wasn't meant to have! He likes getting away with stuff!]}

Homunculi? [ Is that like being part of the Order? ]

_{[SORT OF...]}

Yes.

I am a Homunculus.

We come into being when a foolish human attempts the ultimate taboo: resurrection of the dead.

_{[Probably the most sophisticated words that have ever come out of the little boy's mouth in Walter's presence, but as alien as they sound, he also doesn't look even remotely uncomfortable with them. He says it matter-of-factly, like it's a fact he's stated thousands of times before.]}

Hmm. I was a ghost before I came here. I'm guessing the human involved tried to give you a physical body when they tried to resurrect you, instead of just reviving the spirit.

[ His body remained dead, his spirit just carried on. And violently spilt in two. And killed people so they became ghosts too. ]

[ Most of them didn't deserve a peaceful afterlife. ]

Oh, yes.

She used the body of the human I was supposed to be.

But it doesn't matter if you do that or not-- even if you only assemble the chemical components of the human body and do it that way, you will create a Homunculus.

Humans are stupid.

_{[He throws back his head and lets out one of his little hyena cackles.]}

[ Well he's certainly not going to disagree with that. He hums thoughtfully. ]

Supposed to be...so you're not the same person who once had that body.

_{[At that, Wrath's smile fades and he goes rather quiet.]

[After an unusually-long pause (usually you can't shut him UP), he speaks again quietly.]}

Sometimes I think I can remember being born.

But I don't know.

I don't know if it was me or not.

Everybody says it wasn't.

_{[From the moment Wrath first encountered humanity, he'd been told over and over that he wasn't real-- that he was some evil thing from beyond, wearing a stolen skin.]

[The human he was meant to be didn't live long enough to have real memories... so unlike Lust, Envy, and the rest... Wrath really doesn't know if he was ever the original. And no one's told him otherwise.]}

[ Walter watched him quietly, thinking. He knew a little about created beings, echoes created by the remenants of God's power in Silent Hill. Not much, but a little. ]

If you remember, then it is a part of you. [ Even if it wasn't his memory, it still played a part in who he was. There was a reason he had that memory. ]

That's how I feel.

But not everybody agrees.

_{[Wrath didn't know for sure what he thought. Lust had always been strangely preoccupied with the human she'd been meant to be. Sloth had wanted to leave that human behind entirely. But none had ever made a decisive statement about what they actually were, no matter how vehemently they felt, one way or another.]

[Sometimes Wrath really wanted to prove everyone wrong, all those cruel humans who had decided what he was the moment they saw him.]

[But on the other... he'd found comfort and support in deciding to be a monster.]}

It doesn't matter if others agree. How you feel is what matters.

[ It doesn't matter if nobody acted to stop the suffering. What mattered was the pain. Or at least, that's what was shaping Walter's mentality here. ]

_{[It's hard to say whether or not Wrath really gets where Walter is coming from. But he is considering it, and after a moment, nods.]}

Yes... I think I like that.

I like for feelings to matter.

_{[Master had always said Homunculi didn't have feelings.]}

They do. [ Is he using an assertive or an...assuring tone of voice? Who knew. ]

Never let that be taken from you. [ The Wish House had beaten a lot out of him. His hopes, his confidence- but they had left him with his loneliness and his rage. And despite their efforts, they never managed to tame those feelings so he would never turn on them ]

Fifth Sacrament - Embrace

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