11-37 - 11.37
Posted July 11, 2021 at 12:00 pm

Dawn came on pink in the living room. Vlad stretched up to his full height, and then bent over while keeping his knees straight, before planting himself on all fours and extending one leg to stretch again. Janis lay stubbornly on the mat beneath him, rolling about and twitching her tail.

A creak startled him, and he looked over to see Numair sitting on the stairs, apparently trying unsuccessfully to fetch his boots without Vlad noticing.

"Aha!" he said, and Numair flinched. "You did spend the night, I knew it. Good morning," he added blithely, rocking his weight onto his right hand and foot to wave.

"Good morning," Numair replied warily.

Vlad sat down cross-legged on the mat as Numair approached the doorway of the living room reluctantly. "You're leaving?"

"Oh, er," Numair said, "Hawk is going to take me to the Interworld Hub. What??" he asked, because Vlad was giving him a strange look.

"Does he know who you are?" Vlad wanted to know, and picked up his glasses to put them on. Numair hesitated.

"...Well," he said, "No. He does not."

Vlad shot him a very judgy look over the top of his glasses. Numair bridled.

"Oh, don't," he said irritably. "It simply...hasn't come up."

"Uh huh," Vlad answered, in a voice that made it clear he didn't believe Numair at all.

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