Monster Hunter : Freya

Entry 15: ... Narcolepsy.

So, instead of monitoring Karo, it's more like I have a giant kid to take care of. All he does is run around the city and chase kids. Oh, and sleep. I guess that injury causes him to fatigue quite often. He's sleep for the majority of the day. Even now, he's sleeping in my room on the Celestial Pursuit. Honestly though, I'm not entirely mad at the situation I've been put in. The person I fell in love with so long ago, who I wanted to be with all day, who'd eat my terrible cooking is right here with me. No longer does he need to put himself in danger fighting those damn monsters all day, or protect me all the time. Now, I can protect him and he'll never have to get injured like that ever again.
Sure, there are inside jokes that he'll never get again, and times I can talk about that he'll never remember. I can look at him with a heart that swells with endearment and he'll only look back at me with confusion before falling asleep or running off. But it's okay, because he's alive, and he's right here with me. More and more quests are being failed, which means that stronger monsters are popping up. Let's see.. Diablos, a rocky winged ceratopsian with horns long enough to make Aptonoth kabobs.. Rathalos, basically a male Rathian - only redder, and flies for the majority of its fights. Crazy, Karo used to whack those guys by the handful.
Now, all he whacks is my food pantry. He's really good at fishing though, so I'll never be short of meat.

"Hey, Officer."
Every time he calls me that, it stings.
"Yes, Karo?" I turned away from my daily droning, facing him as he peeked from the entrance of my residence.
"What was I good at? You know, before everything went down."
I guess there's no way for him to know how he's hurting me. To him, he's just a guy that popped into the world as a young adult, forming is own new opinions and perspectives, becoming an entirely different person due to the entirely different circumstances.
"You were good at everything you did," I say to him. Truthfully, he had a huge variety of talents besides hunting, like singing and dancing, and he was also hilarious.
"Kinda like now. Okay, thanks!" What a prick. I feel stupid for even answering him. "I think I want to give that whole monster hunting thing a try." My stomach turned. Oh no. He doesn't know why he has that scar. "I think I'd be pretty good at it!" The thought of him marching out there is ... haunting, to say the least, especially considering his serious case of narcolepsy. I don't know what to say. I have to convince this idiot not to do it.
"Nah, I'm just kidding!" He said, laughing at himself like the doofus he is. I can't do anything but shake my head as I turn back to my desk.

-

Setting Karo free felt horrible, but he doesn't see me as anything other than a warden in his new home. I set him up with his own place in the Forestfront District, nice and far from me. I think all my romantic ventures go to shit because I'm kind of a terrible person. I push everyone away, and blame everything on everyone else. I don't like anyone, yet I constantly duck and dodge being treated the same way, just like with the Fujimori Clan.
"Hey, girl."
I turn around to the sultry voice calling out to me, taking notice of Rhys, the witch lady from all that time ago. The way she said 'girl' was more like referring to a child than a friendly way to greet another female.
"How's it going, Hunter?" I avoid using names, since she did. I don't want to come off as too big of a loser.
"A bird tells me that you rescued a baby, and was promoted to Chief Officer of the newly formed Astera Ground Defense Force." Wow, this lady wastes no time.
"Something like that may have occurred. Why?"
"I wanted to congratulate you," she said, awkwardly quickly. Her dark makeup emphasizes her pale skin and bright blue eyes. Maybe it's her hooded eyes and dark red lipstick that gives her such a striking presence, but she doesn't seem to put any physical effort into being as sexy as she is. She has a natural swagger. "Keep up the hard work, Officer."
For some reason though, she observed the hell out of me. It felt like she was studying me for the majority of our conversation.
"Same to you."

Tomorrow, the Hunters are going to launch another project for the Zorah Magdaros, supposedly saving this entire island from being blown straight to Hell. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be feeling about all of it, but I'm actually not so afraid of dying or whatever awaits me. I just hope it's not painful. That's the one thing no-one talks about when they talk of Hunters - every death that occurs during a hunt is guaranteed to be painful and horrid. Mainly because the opponent is usually a predator, meaning they get eaten, and based on the size of the Rathian I saw, no-one goes down in just one bite. The next thing is that when and if a Hunter is killed, everyone else has to keep fighting and reorganizing strategies in order to succeed the mission, so whoever dies has to be momentarily treated like a mere insignificance.
I really have nothing to live for. I have no dreams or aspirations. Even the person I dedicated all my happiness to was taken away from me, only to be brought back as an equivocal husk of the man he was. As long as I don't get burned alive, frozen and snacked on like a popsickle, or crushed under something's feet, I'm fine.
More Tanzian ale for me tonight. Here's to (possibly) the last night of my life.