You went straight down to hell, and they pulled you out, your eye wide open. Full of venom. The days of Naked Snake are long gone. Welcome back, Venom Snake.

After he'd woken up from his nine year coma, Ocelot had debriefed him, and given him his new moniker. Yes it had meaning, a lot of meaning, but to no one but himself. What was a name to most people but what they had to sign on their rent check? His name was his reality, his name was his job, and the tenuous thread of his phantom existence. It felt strange and almost uncomfortable to have the elf zero in on the code name so directly.

There was a slight, hesitant tone of emotion as he began speaking but his grumbling voice soon evened out. "It... was given, to me." He could have stopped there, but he continued in a quiet tone. "Venom Snake. In aboriginal cultures a snake's venom means revenge, or vengeance. The mythologies speak of a 'horned snake' with a crest on its head like a diamond, covering the whole world with venom in revenge for injustice from the gods."

The edge of the shrapnel in his skull rested on his optic nerve and it was therefore impossible to ignore, especially when it caused him headaches or hallucinations. It was simply a part of him now. Repeating the story though, it was obvious just how weirdly appropriate the code name really was. Now it was his turn to ask a question though and his own was much more practical.

"How do you walk silently?"