"It's all about layers." Dirt Nap is saying. The two are seated, across from a small fire in a concrete run off drainage ditch on the outskirts of the city where no one cares or watches or hears.
"You never depend on one thing, and you shouldn't ever only have one reason for what you're going after, neither."
"Like the fire. Distracting, isn't it? Uncomfortable, I hope. It sure is for me. Why try to teach or learn across it? One, camouflage. It makes us look like just some hobos, from a distance. Nobody our kind would care about would have it. Two, focus. It forces us to really learn, makes it harder and stressful, which is what it's certain to be when we want to use what we learn, I bet. And three, conditioning. It is one more way to prepare for the Change we are both aiming for, where we will go into something like Torpor and have our shell so focused and our Beast so penned in that it will Change in the way we planned, and nothing else, and we will wake up with that change permanently in us." Dirt Nap says it all very softly, not whispering, no sibilants, but much too quietly for human ears even if they were sitting with them by the small fire.
Dirt Nap forces himself to stare at the fire for a full minute in silence, unmoving though his expression is one of effort and discomfort.
"Now, you want to keep the Beast from eating you up and taking control. The Coil of the Beast is solid. If you have the will, you will be able to stop Frenzy before it even starts. This isn't a trick you learn and have to remember. It is a change to your physical self, like cutting off an arm. It can't be undone. But you shouldn't consider yourself safe even after. That is why Animalism comes in. You will have to learn the language of the beasts, little 'b' and sure, you can force them without talking to them, but it works better if you can understand them. Eventually, you will be able to work directly with the Beast, capital B, not just yours. But that isn't like forcing a rat to come up and let you suck some blood out of it. No, that's like climbing into the lion's den with no chair or whip to face it down. Your own is tricky enough, but someone else's can hurt you worse. So you get used to it, working with little beast minds and their hungers and fears all the while training and conditioning your Beast's mind to put up with things it doesn't like because you have the will to make it."
Dirt Nap chuckles, "But incidentally, I am working on shapeshift, and it will be handy for me as your teacher if I can talk to you while I am an animal. So there's that too. And my learning the Mask isn't just some Court thing, but when I am an animal my Beast won't be shouting to everyone that I am a big 'B' beast, not a little one. There's always layers, and you need to think of that and look for it and use it to be in the Order." he says.
"Like Patience. I don't want an update yet, not until you think you're done, but you should know about her Faith, not just take her word for it, not assume she's telling you what she really believes neither. One thing, she believes our Condition is meant to punish the kine, the evildoers. If you agree to be part of that, you can spend time taming your Beast being around her while she Hunts, and Feeds, with you right alongside her. That would be some real life conditions that would teach you a thing or two about performing and fighting your Beast. I'm just saying.That would mean gaining her trust all while being highly uncomfortable and fighting your Beast just not to run away, much harder than Court."
"Of course someday she'll be disappointed, maybe feel betrayed. You'll need to take that into account too. Showing interest and being able to reasonably say you decided not to join up after all. Unless you do. That would be harder by far, but it's up to you."
Dirt Nap sighs. "Alright, focus. Find an animal. They're out there, just past the light of the fire. Find one and let your mind feel it's hunger, curiosity, fear. Try to tell it you see it, and will not harm it. It will help if you can believe it's true before you try to say it."