[flashback solo] like little ambitions bared (wrex)

[medigel]

i.

There is no kindness where he grows, no seeds planted but that of clawed prints in the fresh mud plains, the red-marked snow, the heated brittle rock, the wet grass that tickles, the timber and collapse of another's abode. There is no one "home", but there is only one Clan, and the Daggerbacks teach him quickly: nothing is ever owed to you—not your meal, not your possessions, not even your own life if you're so unfortunate. Only that which you win with strength is respected.

And as a twin, this matters moreso. All things are considered shared between them: food especially. The brute wyverns are always hungry, and more often than not it's their stomachs that dictate the day. And the more the sun and moon run across the sky, the more obvious it becomes: even in the so-called equality of twins, there is one lesser and one greater.

They impress upon him that it's only a matter of time before Brute decides to eat him and end their collective misery--one less stomach to consider in a mob of ever-open jaws.
 

[medigel]

ii.

Daggerbacks learn what hunger means at a very young age. Daggerbacks learn what hunters mean at a very young age. Daggerbacks learn a great many things at a very young age, like how to scout out the weakest prey in a herd, how to keep your mouth shut even if the weather is miserable, how to keep up with the rest of the clan during a hunt or a move, how to snap at anything that gets into your territory and how to escape if you intrude on a clansman's territory and one day soon it will be how to determine if you should move them out yourself. It's no game of thrones, but it's bloodthirsty nonetheless and frankly chaotic when a leader can be deposed at any given moment, but the common law is always the same throughout: power, power, power.

It isn't all bad. He does not have parents, but he does have a whole clan. He has very few he can remotely consider friends, but he will always have his brother. (And they will not kill each other, they simply can't, Brute has promised.) And if all else fails, well, they'll be moving away from it soon enough anyway; the beauty of nomadic life is never having to worry about ties and the knots that eventually come with it.

If something ever came up anyway, well, he could just gobble it up, right?