AN: Look, everyone! An actual one-shot! I wrote it while being extremely bored (and lectured beyond comprehension) at boffin camp! I learned a lot and extracted DNA from chicken liver and saline citrate smoothie, though, so I think it all worked out. Plus I made a lot of doodles, yay!
Deryn swung her feet back and forth off the edge of her bed. There was a rare break from work on the airship; the engines were working perfectly, the membrane was taunt and without leaks, and Dr. Barlow wasn't demanding that Tazza be taken on a walk. She could enjoy this small amount of peace, perfectly happy just drawing.
Alek, on the other hand…
"Dylan, I'm bored," he whined, sounding like a little kid.
She shot him a quick, half-amused glare before turning back to her drawing. "Then find something to do."
"What is there to do?" He rolled on his back in the other bunk in the room, staring at the ceiling.
"Draw."
"I don't have the stuff to do that."
Sighing, Deryn ripped a page out from her sketchbook and tossed it at him. Unfortunately, tossing paper doesn't work well; it fluttered to the floor. When Alek reached for it, Deryn chucked a spare pencil at his head.
"Ow!"
"Whoops."
He glowered at her. "You're so mean sometimes." When Deryn said nothing, he grabbed a book and put the paper on it so he'd have something to bear down on. He stared at the blank sheet for a few seconds before proclaiming, "I don't know what to draw."
"Draw Bov." The loris was curled up asleep at Deryn's feet.
"How would I do that?"
"Sketch first. Start with the head…"
"I get it, I get it…"
After a few moments of furious scribbling, Alek threw down the pencil. Balling up the sketch, he chucked it across the room. He stood up and exited the room, saying, "I give up! I can't draw. I'm going to do find Volger."
Once the door shut, Deryn let out the giggle she'd been holding back. Bovril, having been woken up by the slam of the door, mimicked the laughter. Stroking the loris' head, Deryn told her, "Frustrated Alek is so barking funny, isn't he?"
"Funny!"
"I thought you'd agree." Smirking, Deryn held her drawing back to view it from a distance. At the sight of her rather accurate rendition of an irritated Alek, she couldn't help but burst out laughing again.