It takes just over two pounds of force to pull the trigger of the rifle that Slade brought to this little trip. The velocity of the round is just shy of breaking the sound barrier. The critter is dead on impact, it just takes a few seconds for its brain to catch up and a few more for its body to follow though. All in all, it was a quick and clean kill. Easy, simple, and for Slade, boring.

But that’s to be expected. This was to help his niece learn. So, he stayed quiet, watching her. Because of that he would catch onto her confusion before she even knew to express it. Because he would see the lack of any real impact. The rabbit was dead, undeniably so, Jinny had been the one to pull the trigger. Yet nothing.

He would take a moment to formulate his thoughts regardless, “If you are broken, you are no more than I am. Most people would have some emotional reaction to their first kill, even if it is only a rabbit, but not all. There are those who are a part of normal society that don’t react. To them it’s too disconnected from people to feel any connection when it dies.”

“Easiest way to test that would be finding someone to kill, but I don’t think we need to go that far today.” Besides he was a professional, if they were going to kill someone at the very least, they should get paid for it. Bullets weren’t cheap after all. 

“I can state that I am, and have never been, concerned with the lives of other people. Empathy in general isn’t something that I personally understand, even though I can still make use of it. So even if you never end up feeling anything when it comes to taking lives you aren’t alone.”

He would glance at the sky, checking the daylight left. “Do you want to keep hunting, head back to camp, or just hike around a bit more?” He would ask “We’ve got a few more hours before we would need to turn back.” He would add on moving to pick up the killed rabbit. Would either be a good addition to their dinner, or the pelt could be kept for a souvenir.