 Dylan opened a single bleary eye to glare at the alarm clock beeping aggressively on his bedside table. He tried to roll over but failed miserably as he found himself pinned in place under ten tonne of tiger.
"Murr..." he complained, jerking his knees in an attempt to dislodge his familiar, "c'mon, Lu." Lunarian didn't reply and started to snore instead. Dylan sighed in exasperation. Right. He started to stare intently at the jug of water standing on his dresser and soon it began to glow with a soft golden aura. The jug rose a few inches into the air, hovered for a moment in front of the mirror and then began to float slowly across the room. As it neared the bed Dylan lost sight of it, but, concentrating hard, managed to position it just above Lunarian's head. Dylan forced the jug to tip and he heard the resultant splash of water. His lower extremities were very suddenly relieved of the dead weight which had held them captive as Lunarian leapt the width of the room in alarm.
"You've got your own bed!" Dylan complained, sitting up and jabbing his finger in the direction of the large well-stuffed cushion lying on the floor in the corner, "think about using it!"
It didn't take him long to get dressed. He pulled on his underpants, shorts, running shoes and vest in quick succession and then left the room with his soggy familiar on his heels.
"Morning," he hailed his elder brother as he grabbed his work-out bag and boxing gloves from the wicker basket in the corner of the room. "Can't eat, got a lot to do." Dylan paused to give his sister a quick hug and then headed for the front door, draping his gloves around the back of his neck. Flynn headed him off.
"Take an apple," he said, throwing a bright red fruit in Dylan's direction, "don't die." Dylan caught the apple one-handed, and took a bite as he took the final couple of steps to the door.
"Nice catch," his brother said.
"Amazing catch," Dylan corrected him as he stepped out into the hallway, holding the door open long enough to let Lunarian through, "shit throw." He snapped the door shut on the two cries of 'language!' and set off towards the staircase at a jog.
"At least I'll be able to dry out," Lunarian muttered under his breath as they stepped out into the sunshine. Dylan smirked as he removed his boxing gloves, put his bag down in the dust and rummaged around for his water bottle.
"Ready?" he asked his tiger as he straightened up again.
"Always."
They set off at a steady pace, running down over the lawns towards Lake Lilith. It was still early and the gardens were quiet save for the steady snip snip of the gardeners' shears. Waterfowl had begun to gather on the lake's surface and Dylan watched them diving beneath the surface one after another as he moved past them.
"Ow!" Lunarian said from somewhere to his left. Dylan didn't stop, but he did glance back over his shoulder. His familiar had halted and was looking around at the surrounding trees with a puzzled expression. A second later, Dylan felt something small and hard collide with the top of his head. It stung like hell. Stopping too, he took the opportunity to catch his breath.
"Oi!" he shouted as another projectile hit him in the arm, "if you don't pack it in, I'm going to start chucking them back."
DYLAN
because I said I'm only human |
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