Sparkle laughed. It wasn't even necessarily a genuine laugh. It was rough around the edges, a little sharp. He washed it down with another mouthful of whiskey. A bigger mouthful of whiskey.

It burned. It was a welcome burn.

"During the cold winters, you stay warm, or you die. For some people, that's almost a full time job all on its own."

Almost, but not entirely, and the sort of endless nothing that he'd had to fill his time during those hardest winters had led to him making some stupid choices. Boredom was almost as bad as desperation, in those times. At least people understood desperation. They never seemed to be able to relate to the maddening boredom that came in those hours not actively spent just surviving.

Of course they couldn't.