Fighting Nihilism: Ch. III - Open wounds
The new day had already begun.
The sun was barely visible behind a curtain of clouds; but it made the sunrise even more beautiful, as the sun painted the clouds into a warm and friendly orange.
When the first beams of sunlight hit the floor, the river spit out the tiger with the wolf on his back.
Lance's bandages had soaked with water and hung down his body; he panted heavily as he slowly crawled up some meters on the beach before breaking down on the wet sand. "You may let go now", he whispered as his eyes closed and sleep took over his body.
While drifting away, he could feel the gentle touch of paws on his chest. He murred softly as he fell into dreamless, merciful sleep.
When his eyes jumped open again it was already evening. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, but his body had already noticed something. The pressure of the bandages were gone. And something else pressed on his chest. Already suspecting what it was, he let one of his paws slide down his striped side, slowly approaching the object in front of him -
Yup. Fur. He let out a quiet sigh. 'He said he wasn't attracted to me... and now he's laying in front of me like a kitten..._'_He chuckled as he gently poked the gray fur. 'Fluffy... but who would not be fluffy after a night swimming in a river...' Remembering the ride he'd given him, his paw reached around his own neck, sensing bite marks under his neck fur. 'You naughty wolfy... but I guess you were frightened for your life... Nice thought. We should do that again to teach you some respect...'
He groaned softly. It sure was nice having this fluffy thing in front of him since the temperature was not really what he'd call warm; but their brawl earlier this day did not leave him a choice. He took a deep breath, counted to three and sunk his teeth deeply in the fluffy neck.
The wolf woke up immediately, jumping onto his paws and growled at the tiger who was now laying on the floor in a defensive curl.
"HEY", he yelled, "what was that?! Did you bite me?!" The tiger didn't answer; he just stayed in his curl. He could hear Ian groan behind him and the next thing he felt was clawed paws grabbing his head and turning it around. No empathy could be found in the eyes staring down at him. "What. Was. That?", Ian asked angrily in a tone that made Lance shiver. He tuned his voice up, more eeping than speaking, and replied: "I... I just woke up and there was something in front of me... and it was gray like the wolf who... did this to me...", he looked down. "It was quite the reflex, I..." He eeped helplessly. He could see the wolf relax; his tail sunk down to the floor and his ears went down again. "Do that one more time and I will...", he growled behind clenched teeth. Lance dropped his masquerade and grinned at him. "Spoon with me one more time while I am sleeping and I will..."
'The game is on again', he thought, 'Now bring your reply, wolfy...'
"I...", the wolf stuttered, "I must have somehow rolled next to you while sleeping... Look, the beach is steep and I..." Lance lifted an eyebrow. "With you being closer to the water? Anti-gravity? And if you are already searching for excuses, would please pick a good one for why I am nearly naked?" This made the wolf catch himself again. He cleared his throat, speaking slowly and controlled.
"They were lose already and I had to clean them. Soaked in blood as they were, they'd sure not have done you any good." Lance felt blood rushing into his face. He'd not have expected this from him after the bumpy ride he had given him and it somehow showed the wolf_cared_ for him, a feeling he didnt expect from him and that caught him off-guard, so all he could do was stammer: "T-thank y-y-you."
He looked at the wolf; and he'd have bet that his face was a little more red than before, too. None of them spoke a word, they just stared for a moment. 'This... somehow feels awkward. Maybe someone should spe-'
"We should discuss where to go now", Ian broke the silence, observably shaking off the moment.
Lance sighed quietly. "Yeah, we totally should. We already get rid of your wolves, I'd say we should find a new city to start a new life and-"
"A CITY?!" The wolf interrupted him. "Now way am I going into a city! I've been in the woods all my life and I-"
Now it was at Lance to interrupt him. "Never? Literally_never_?" He tilted his head. "I was raised in the woods... we have more there than you'd think, our own farms to live from, huts to live in and a butcher to live for..."
Lance flinched. "You... do eat... animals? And consider that_what you live _for?"
"I am a wolf", Ian replied, "what else should I love for?"
"I am a tiger. I don't eat animals and I live for the art of writing and to serve society."
Ian jammed a paw into his mouth to avoid laughing out loud, but failed, breaking into violent giggles. "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! To serve society? What kind of pussy are you? And how can you not eat animals?"
Lance's face turned to stone. "I decided that I cant keep my peace of consciousness if I'd eat little animals. Have you ever imagined how it was if your life just ended? Because... you were eaten by something bigger than you? By a dragon, for example?"
Ian stared at him. "You know... that dragons... are not real, dont you? Us wolves are the mightiest predators in the world."
It really was hard for Lance to not break into laughing, and he tried did his best, gulping the laugh down, but finally he the words just escaped his mouth.
"You really should.. get some education... it would do you... and your ego... pretty good!"
Ian stuttered. "A-are you saying... t-that they a-are true?"
Lance caught himself, trying hard to keep a serious face. "Yes they are. And you should really consider topping up your education. There are things that you need to know. Even the strongest predator can starve if he does not know what winter is." Ian stared back angrily. "I do know what winter is, silly cat", he hissed at him, "and you can stick your silly education up your rear! And talking about your rear, lets get your bandages fixed up again." Ian smirked at him. "Lay down, little kitten, and let uncle doctor fix you up. Without any drugs. Maybe with a bit of pain. I hope our well-educated kitten can handle that."
It again caused Lance to flinch; the idea of giving this wolf more control over him and his body made pieces of his body twitch that clearly warned him of doing it; but finally, he shrugged.
'What could he possibly do? He would not kill me, and that is all I have to care about.'
With a sullen gesture, he laid down on the wet sand.
"On your back, please!" Ian commanded. Lance rolled his eyes and slowly turned around, exposing his belly and sheath now that there were no bandages protecting him.
He could see the wolf grinning down at him while he knelt down next to him, the bandages held between his paws. "Come on, good little kitten!"
Lance shivered heavily as he saw the gray paw approach, a mean expression on the wolf's face. He did not even try to be gentle, he placed his paw right on the wound, pressing the bandage onto it, making Lance yell out of pain, tears streaming down his face in an instant. He could barely see the wolf twitch with a little compassion, but his eyes said otherwise. "Dont be a pussy. The worst is yet to come. Here, take a stick to bite and we-"
Lance jumped up, spitting the stick right to Ian's paws on the ground.
"Forget it!" he screamed, "Forget it and forget me! Just get back into a god-damn forest and live your simple dumb life as you always did!"
He quickly turned around so Ian could not see the sea of tears now streaming down his face and ran off, heading towards a little group trees.
If he had turned around, he could have seen that Ian was in tears, too. But he was too busy breaking down behind the trees, covered by some bushes, and sobbing into his paw.
"Pain", he sniveled quietly, "pain is everything I feel... b-but... at least there is something..."