#boogomol

The jungle was warm, but he had become so used to it at this point. The group he had fashioned himself with were all loyal to him. Not some cause. Not some blind following. No. He showed them that through living, and through finding yourself, that you can accomplish anything. Of course there had been many hiccups along the way, those that remained with him were loyal to the end.

Yet, what all their enemies still sought out from them, the Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, he would never allow them to have. This was to be the tool in which he used for his own means, and there was only one other person who knew of the real intentions he had for it. This was who he hung around the most with, and after every day of scouting the island, making sure none knew of their whereabouts, and of their new base. He would retreat to his quarters, and have some nightly chats with the other.

  “... Mantis...? Are you there?”

This.

Great.

“So you’re not gonna talk, huh?” He had no interest in interrogating a child—Ocelot should have been the one to do this. Eli was caught for now and the two of them separated, and the last thing he needed was to be alone with a kid who had psychic abilities. Just his luck…

“Listen, if you just talk, you can go back to your…friend. I’m not here to scare you; but this isn’t the first time you’ve shown up here.” a sigh leaves the older—Kaz is tired, and his phantom limbs ache; adjusting his sunglasses to hide his gaze from the boy. “It’s that easy. Talk.”

The red-headed child is staring through him.

ivan cannot tolerate this.

ordinarily, his ability to deal with children was one of his stronger suits... depending on their age, at least. this child, however, was an outlier. something terribly and obviously wrong. his presence reminds raikov of the cobras ; of their strange and almost inhuman talents, the way they seemed to skirt the fabric of reality itself, dipping into something else to draw from whatever it was that fuelled their bizarre capabilities. he had heard the rumours about the third child. heard them spoken in hushed russian voices, pieced them together from what english he could discern from the americans. he had not expected the child to come to him.

the former major's hand ghosts over the holster on his hip. more of a self reassurance than a threat. when he speaks, his voice lacks its arrogant cadence, instead uncomfortably forced into an attempt at sounding neutral.

Mantis is going to see a broken mind almost completely consumed by fear, rage and madness. Kenneth is still largely traumatized by his childhood, so he's constantly reliving everything his father did to him (things that I believe were done to Kenneth that goes far beyond whipping him. Stuff even I won't say out loud.)

He constantly relives that agony and pain, becoming a monster to scare away the boogeyman that won't let him be free.