#there's no garuntee that Watson will move as directed

[kawarikisaki]

I mean the supernatural and super powered people exist in DCMK so it could be lowkey canon. Agreed about the “Why you do it?” Being his catchphrase is nice support but what convinced me is his immediate understanding about how Aoko was feeling and trying to help her feel better. He a stranger picked up on her feelings before her childhood friend did. Do you think it helps him with Watson?

I do agree that it could just quietly be canon, but I also think that there's not really enough overt evidence to really say that. I'm the kind of person that's really picky about that sort of thing, I'm willing to move away from canon but I always try to use it as the basis for things.

So with regards to empathic Hakuba I tend to treat it as a less supernatural kind of empathy unless the story that I'm trying to tell is one more magically inclined, but then on the flipside, if I am trying to tell a story where the supernatural is on the forefront then I will make it a supernatural empathy.

As for the bit with Aoko, he picked up her feelings yes, but I don't think he did before Kaito. Kaito knew how she felt but and didn't respond anyway, that's the dynamic between them- Aoko tends to invite Kaito places and he always complains but then goes along with it in the end and tries to make sure that she has a good time. It's more or less Kaito's nature to not be honest with his own feelings; he knows she wants him to go with her, he wants to go too, but he can't say it, and it's easier to just follow the status quo. To pretend that she wore him down until begrudgingly he promises to come along. To not show how much he really cares. So what does that mean for our slightly socially awkward empath? He read them both, he doesn't know the details of their history together, but it's plain to see that they both care about each other and want to spend time together, and also fairly easy to see that if things keep up as they are with Aoko feeling like the only one that cares then things would end with one of them getting hurt. And with that information he tries to make Kaito show that he does care, and tries to make Aoko feel wanted.

But anyway.... Watson.~

If it's just normal human empathy then it's probably not a huge help, but when we take the more supernatural direction then it absolutely does, in several different ways.

The exact details would vary a bit depending on just how strong of an empath he is. Is he just getting a vague sense of emotions or is he getting it fairly clearly? What kind of range does he have? Can he pick out who the emotions are coming from or does it all kind or blur together? Can he project emotions of his own back or is it purely one-sided? For people that he's established some kind of bond with can he trace that to get a sense of how they feel even if they aren't nearby? My answers to these questions are all flexible, and vary based on my mood or again what story I'm trying to tell. And those answers are of course going to effect how this ability changes how he interacts with Watson.

To start with, it's probably way easier to train an animal if you have a solid understanding of how they feel. Way easier to condition responses if you understand how motivating different kinds of treats are, or if you can pick up on when they're feeling particularly attentive and when that attention drifts.

I like to think that animals probably 'feel' different than humans when it comes to empathy. So then it might be easy for Hakuba to pick up on it when Watson sees something that feels like a cause for concern, or helpful for Hakuba to try to focus on Watson's feelings instead when humans are overwhelming him.

If he can project his own emotions as well, then it becomes a basic form of communication between him and Watson, and depending on the range I can see a lot of ways it can be used to achieve different things.

But that's where I'm gonna end this one.