Brutal! That poor mouse... D=

Mustelids like ferrets and weasels are expert mousers. Rodents are their favorite prey. Law of the wild. Eat or be eaten. Do I eat it or does it eat me? (As a dragon, I eat everything. Food for thought, and, ironically, thoughts for food, IYKWIM.) It's theorized that if weasels were left alone, they would consume the entire world in 8 months. Fortunately, they are small and therefore prey to larger things.

At least it was quick.

Indeed. The most a hunter can do is make it as free of pain as possible. Shows respect to the prey, and keeps the predator safe.


It's not a good idea to get too banged up on a hunt, huh?

Blood goes bad first. Bruises are a suffusion of blood into the muscle tissues. Therefore, bruises ruin the taste of the meat. Quick and clean is better for both predator and prey. Only carrion eaters care little for a quick kill. Look to hunters and see how many try to make their attacks one-hit kills. Fox pounces, wolf and lion throat bites, etc. (Not everyone can swallow their prey whole like a dragon,)

Ah, I wasn't aware of the blood spoiling part.

Yeah, once blood stops moving it starts to go bad pretty fast. All the things that make it so vital to being alive also make it a particularly good growth medium for diseases and infections. Meat suffused with blood goes rancid quick, so you don't want to rough up a kill you intend to eat too much.

8 months...? Wow. In the Horizon Zero Dawn game, it takes the FARO robot plague 16 months to consume the world. Weasels are scary....

(although in the game, humans were actually resisting the robots, so yeah there is that)

Obligate carnivores, man. Cats, ferrets, weasels, stoats... They'll strip the world bare of other beasts in no time.

Such is nature. The predator starves or the prey is eaten. Either way, someone tends to die for another. Nature can be a cruel reality, can't it?


Also, squirrels are omnivorous, so I have my doubts that Sprig hasn't taken advantage of meat. Or maybe he has and I'm jumping to conclusions.

Yeah.., I’ve seen squirrels dine on the carrion of their kind as well.

Huh. I feel I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

That's a big mouse.

I know right! That mouse could feed a family of 4 for a few days! XD

It could feed a good sized Rat as well.

well...that mouse aint coming back. and yes, that's nature.

Thoughtful squirrel is thoughtful.

for being so smart I would have thought the realization would have came to him that predators do it for survival, not that they are mindless or enjoy having to do it.

This guy has a way with words...

You feel your sins crawling up your back...

Is it a sin to eat and live?

"You feel your sins crawling up your back" seems to be an Undertale quote. I don't know deeper details, I just got curious and googled it.

Ding ding ding! You win an internet cookie! ^0^ Also, it's true, it's just survival. However, now he's being forced to think about all the lives he's personally ended, just to stay alive. I felt it was an appropriate quote, since he must be feeling guilty inside.

Still, I hope food doesnt dry up for him or he will become that sinner again.

I like Sprig's sass.

"It goes both ways or no ways."

Good dialogue. Great action in the comic for the hunt. Nicely done.

Eating meat would be a little more troublesome if it were able to plead for its life, in a spoken language you can understand O_o ... Until then though, BACON SARNIES! \o/

bon appétit

I feel i should be offended

Unless you're vegetarian, don't judge a predator's need to eat.

Wow, you went there. That's impressive. As are the expressions.

Nature can be harsh.

;.;

It seems like he's baiting and taunting while the armed one finds any excuse to attack hu...

I really enjoy your characters (and story). Between the dialog and actions it makes them feel real and helps ground us in their daily struggle to live.

aw! eat mouse! nice

ok Rask, it is time to eat them all.

I like Sprig. He says brutal truths but with a smile, because he means no harm.

Rask's own dream touched on this topic as well. Can predators and prey live together in peace?

I don't like Sprig. He's insinuated that Rask saw him as dumb prey even though he hasn't suggested anything of the sort to him. it seems a little to condescending considering that if the situation were dire enough he'd squirrels like Sprig would eat their own young to survive, like any creature in a desperate enough situation would.

i'm curious is the scene of Rask hunting a mouse a memory or a dark fantasy like the dream he had, or just a generic act of visualisation by you the author to help illustrate Sprig's point?