for the first time I'm thinking past tomorrow

N/A · 02-26-2021, 02:40 PM

The scent of a rabbit weighed heavily on Piece's senses. So close. He could see it, a few dozen feet away as he stalked over the field. Pretty lean, by the looks of it, but oh so beautiful. Its white flash of fur, the little ears standing at attention like the cutest of soldiers. Something that cute shouldn't be allowed to exist, should it? He had to kill it. "Fairest of them all," the words, from a story he'd once heard as a child, from a jealous queen who was outwitted and defeated by her clever step-daughter, crept into his head. It was absurdly funny at that moment. Piece was no prissy monarch, and he would never be defeated. Queens and kings held their subjects at an arm's distance, with police doing the dirty work of maintaining order for them. What fun was that? Getting to break those around him into submission was one of Liev's favorite things. Making laws would never be anywhere close to the euphoria he got from punishing those he felt had done wrong personally. Indeed, laws hindered that ability. By setting up a system where anyone knew exactly how far they could push, he would deprive himself of their fear. He liked being unfair. It kept subjects in line. When at any moment, he could decide to punish someone for something they hadn't expected to get in trouble for, they had to believe that everything had the possibility of tempting punishment. It forced subjects into a constant state of fear, with nothing to trust.

But that, of course, mattered very little now. Piece was alone, staring down a rabbit. And he wanted it. Not because he was starving or anything, but he'd been staying here for a while now, and he decided to make a little home. Only temporary, of course. He had to meet back up with Glitch eventually to go find the pirate pack. But he wasn't going to go out of his way to try and find his brother before he came to him, as much as he really did want to. Yuliy was special. Without him, Liev was just alone. A coin with one side, a puzzle piece without another to fit with. It just didn't make sense. Nothing made sense when the brothers weren't together.

And so, almost paradoxically, he could never show Yuliy how much he really cared about him. Because it was never about him in the end, was it? It was about having him. Keeping him away from anyone else. Controlling him. But Piece was well aware that his brother didn't like that. If it was anyone else, that wouldn't have mattered one measly little bit. But Yuliy was different. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to even seriously think about using his strength to keep his brother unhappily captive like he would any other wolf.

After catching the rabbit, Piece walked back to his temporary den, letting the once-living sack of meat swing from his jaws casually. He stopped before the entrance, suddenly thinking. If he was going to stay here, he'd have to have food. And to be prepared for any scarcity in the next season, as winter was almost over, it would be smart to keep something stored away. Better safe than sorry. Liev almost had to laugh. It was never a maxim he'd agreed with, and now he was sort of following it a little bit. He'd always been a daredevil. He hated to admit it, but he'd been spoiled in his upbringing. But he was alone now, and no one would make sure that he'd be okay if he messed up other than Glitch, and Piece had already decided he wasn't going to go to him for help unless he really needed it. Glitch had been angry at him when he'd barged in on him and Flower Boy. Probably he wanted space. And that was okay!

As long as he came back to him in the end.

But how would he store the rabbit so it wouldn't rot? The obvious option was just to bury it in the snow, but the snow would melt eventually. He frowned, thinking as hard as his one brain cell could manage. The sun burned down on him, giving him an idea. The sun! The sun could dry things, right? And meat rotted faster when it was wet, right? At least he thought so. Could he dry the meat in the sun so it wouldn't rot? He decided he might as well try. It was only a rabbit. He could catch another if this little experiment didn't work.

He hoped that it wouldn't snow more, and tore the rabbit into as thin strips as he could, laying them flat on a little area with no snow. He looked down at the strips. Would that work? He had no clue, but he wouldn't figure it out unless he let some time pass. He yawned suddenly. The sun was high in the sky, and it made him feel drowsy. After one last look at the rabbit strips, he did the wolf equivalent of a shrug and curled up for a nap, quickly falling asleep.

When he woke up, it had snowed again, and the rabbit strips were buried under about three inches of powder. Guess that does it.

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