Jaw

Chapter 5

Let it never be said that Pieck Finger valued the privacy of others. Especially if they were her friends.

Within a week of having met each other one fateful day seven years ago, she'd already battered six-year-old Silena with every detail of her slightly-depressing life. Through their journey, Silena heard or experienced everything that happened to Pieck on a daily basis, interesting or not.

In turn, Pieck learned Silena's middle name: Cordelia.

Pieck had never had any reservations about knocking on the Lehmanns' door, or, if it was unlocked, walking right in. No matter the time of day, Pieck was more than willing to intrude, stressing that Silena could do the same. Of course, Silena's mother would never allow her to be a burden, but she didn't seem to mind when Pieck showed up unannounced.

As Zeke's months-long trip turned into a year, Pieck had started seeking Silena out more than she ever had before. At first, Silena had thought it was just to show solidarity: since falling through on what was thought to be a guarantee of Shifter power, people were a lot less nice to Silena. Vendors who had previously given her discounts stopped, her new teachers were less forgiving than her old Warrior tutors, strangers were no longer polite to her.

Eventually, Silena realized that Pieck was just bored and lonely without anything to do, despite being a Titan shifter. It wasn't as if she minded– Silena felt the same way without the usual ritual of Warrior training.

So it was no shock when Pieck showed up one summer morning touting groceries, telling Silena about the chores she'd been roped into as she whisked her away.

"There's not much to do today," Pieck told her as they got out into the street. Silena begged to differ: the bags were heavy and this was supposed to be a holiday from school. She adjusted her armband irritably.

"Half of these need to go to the doctor, and the other half need to go to the fish vendor," she added.

"Which half am I holding?" Silena asked.

"The doctor. Is that alright?"

Though Pieck wouldn't have asked if it was the nicer of the two options, Silena confirmed, "The doctor here or one of the ones outside of the slums?" They were vastly different experiences.

Pieck winced, and Silena knew her fate was sealed. She groaned.

"I'm getting Porky to go with you, though!" Pieck offered, as if that helped. "Emotional support and all that!"

Silena didn't know how much support he'd be considering she'd punched him in the face the last time they'd been around each other. The image of his blood running down his chin was still fresh in Silena's mind even though it had happened many months ago; she imagined the same would be true for Porco.

Still, there was no stopping Pieck when she had an idea. If she wanted Porco to be emotional support for Silena, then Silena was getting that emotional support.

They reached the Galliards' home shockingly quickly– Silena hadn't known they lived so close– and found the youngest son sulking outside. He barely looked up as they approached, as if he didn't want to see them at all.

"Hi, Pock!" Greeted Pieck, choosing to ignore his bad attitude. It was a staple of his personality, anyways.

Typically, Porco would have ignored anyone else. But maybe he liked Pieck more than most people, or maybe he knew that she was harder to get rid of, because he looked at her and nodded in greeting. He was still scowling up a storm, but for Porco, it was friendly.

"We're delivering groceries. You're coming."

He snorted, mirthless. "Absolutely no fucking way."

"Yup," said Pieck. "You're going, or telling the higher-ups that you're shirking chores."