Hey everyone…so, I thought I would have a go at a one-shot series for the awesome Leviathan, Behemoth and soon-to-be Goliath books. Probably won't update a lot, but I like this series, so I wanted to write something for it Here's Chapter One. It was inspired by breakfast this morning, if you didn't realise :D
Don't Skip Breakfast
"What is this stuff?"
Deryn grimaced, staring at the brown, sludge-like bowl of cereal in front of her.
Alek, in the chair next to her, shrugged as he reached for the packet.
"All Bran," he read off the back. "Ninety-nine percent bran fibre." He shuddered. "Why are we eating this again?"
Deryn tasted the substance gingerly, making a face as she chewed.
"Ninety-nine percent clart, that's for sure," she said through a mouthful of the sludge.
"This clart is breakfast, you ninnies," Newkirk, on Alek's other side, interrupted. He was crunching enthusiastically, almost at the bottom of his bowl. "Eat up!"
Bovril, on Deryn's shoulder, chirruped inquisitively at the food.
"No, beastie," said Deryn, stuffing another spoonful into her mouth and forcing herself to swallow. She didn't particularly want to collapse of hunger midway through her watch, even if the stuff was vile.
"Dr. Barlow'll feed you. You can't eat this muck."
Bovril whined. "Eat…hungry." It leapt onto Alek's shoulder, who was staring at his cereal as if it was a bowl of centipedes.
"You don't want this, Bovril" he told the loris, scratching it on the head. "It's foul." He pushed his bowl away. "I think I'll survive fine without breakfast."
Newkirk, wolfing down his second bowl, replied "It's not so bad if you hold your breath while you chew. Here, beastie, try some." Bovril chirped happily and clambered onto Alek's head to accept the spoonful of cereal Newkirk offered it.
Alek rolled his eyes, head in hands.
"I remember in Austria we had real food for breakfast, none of this horse mash. Sausages, and bacon, and eggs…as much toast as you could eat, a hundred kinds of bread…
Deryn and Newkirk looked at each other.
"Pastries, fruit, cheese- from our own farms…"
Deryn swallowed the last of her milk and winked.
"And animals were never allowed at the table," Alek waffled on, "Not even lorises-hey!"
As one Deryn and Newkirk leapt up and bolted for the mess-hall door, laughing like loons. An exasperated Alek was left alone at the table.
"Darwinists," he muttered to Bovril, shaking his head. "All barking mad, I tell you." Bovril, nose-down in Alek's untouched cereal, looked up, milk dripping from his whiskers. "Barking."
An hour later Deryn was walking Tazza on the spine, enjoying the morning sunshine, when she heard a clatter and a muffled thump from the starboard engine pod, followed shortly by cries of alarm.
She grinned to herself, wondering if she should go down and explain.
That, Alek, is what you get for skipping breakfast.
Read and review! Criticism (particularly grammar) is welcome.