Prompt 1 - Favorite Summer Hobby(s) or Activity(s)
Username; ABeardedDragon
Alduin and Ty
1351/1500 words
Alduin wiped the sweat off his face as he stood over the circular silver grill. His spatula, shining with a coat of grease, slipped under one of the sizzling burgers and flipped it gently. His other hand held tightly onto his beige frilled apron, a lizard badge crudely stitched on by himself. On his shoulder sits a blue tongue skink; her dark tongue slipped out to smell the cooking meat.
"Hey Ty!" he said with a strong Australian accent, looking over his shoulder, his cheek brushed the skink and startled her slightly. The green viscet was sat on the otger end of the stone patio, by the single table on a wooden chair like the other guests, his face rested on the back of his hand. He looked at Alduin with a flat stare.
"What is it?" Ty sighed.
"I've been practicing," the brown viscet said. With that, he took another burger onto the spatula. He checked to make sure his brother was watching. Then with a flick of his wrist, the burger was sent flying into the air. Alduin's proud smile vanished when he heard the disappointing splat. A collective 'aw' from the gathered viscets. At his feet was the burger. He bit his lip and shuffled to pick it up. He didn't dare look up at Ty, who had a smug sneer on his face as he held his breath. The smaller viscet buried the burger in his deep apron pocket. In silence, he tore off chunks to feed to the oblivious skink.
Ty was scrolling through the latest email from his biology team when one of the guests was nudging his arm with her elbow not long after. He glanced over to his brother by the grill, felt his green and orange striped ears droop. There, Alduin stood with his back turned and the skink close to his chest, rocking her softly. His heart sank. A weak smile and a gesture to the grill in the direction of the kind guest before he made his way over.
"Hey Al," he gently placed his large hand on a sweaty shoulder, "wanna go inside?"
The younger viscet nodded quickly. They walked together with Ty's arm over Alduin's shoulder, through the white sliding door. Each sat on a fluffy bean cushion in the middle of the living room, a wall of overflowing bookshelves behind him and rows of reptiles facing him. Ty's face crinkled with concern as they sat in silence. Alduin stroked his skink. Ty scratched his neck then sighed.
"What's up, Al?" he asked. Alduin stared at the floor, the only sign he actually listened to Ty was a flick of his ear.
"Alduin," he said firmly. He rubbed his striped face.
"I messed up," he said.
"It's just a burger," Ty tried to hide the annoyance in his tone, "no need to over-react, bud."
"You," Alduin paused with a sniffle, "you found it funny."
"I didn't," Ty said; a glare from glazed brown eyes quickly silenced him. A few seconds of silence felt like minutes, before the green viscet leant forwards. He picked up the skink, that had been left to wander on the wooden floor. Stroking the lizard, he held her to Alduin's face. A finger from his other hand was pointed to her nose.
"Boop," Ty pressed her nose, then did the same to his brother, "boop."
Alduin bit his lip and closed his teary eyes, trying his hardest to hold back a smile. Ty simply chuckled softly, like a father would to a child.
"My name is Izzy an' I like boops," the older viscet said in his horribly innacurate attempt at a female Aussie accent; his research across the world had long diluted his native accent. He held the reptile's face to his brother's black nose, which she gave a tender lick with her blue tongue. Alduin snickered and turned his head away.
"So whad'ya say about that barbie?" Ty stood up, pulling Alduin up before they headed back out.
It wasn't long before the food was ready. Alduin put burgers and sausages into their buns, organising them in a neat grid on the table. He noticed Ty was leaning against the fence, smoothing his orange mane, by the iguana pen at the end of the garden, with a group of girls he had invited. When he looked over with yellow eyes, Alduin waved at him to tell him to come over; to which Ty lifted an index finger and winked. One minute. The viscet shook his head with a smile and went to sit with his friend.
"Did ya read that book I gave ya?" Alduin asked.
"Yeah mate, it's pretty good," his friend answered. From there it was a long chat about everything they missed as they hadn't talked in so long. There was also that awkward squelch from the nearly empty sauce bottle, a small laugh from a viscling brought along. He also held his skink and fed her tomatoes. Soon Ty stumbled back after the girls got bored of his drunk scientific ramblings.
"That guy there," he mumbled, "stole my girl, she was real into me."
"Well, uh, that's nice," Alduin said slowly.
"He can fight me," he said. The two seated friends exchanged nervous glances before Alduin jolted up.
"No, no," he soothed, "no need for that."
He linked arms with his brother and slowly took him inside the house. They walked upstairs and Alduin helped him into bed before leaving him to nap.
It was the next day and Ty had woken up feeling unwell for yesterday. Alduin brought a stack of golden syrupy pancakes to his brother's room, opening the creaky door slowly.
"I made pancakes," he said.
"Thanks," the viscet groaned as he put a hand on his head.
"Um, Ty?" he asked.
"Yep?" he said with a mouth full of pancake.
"I wanted to go herping, but," Alduin stopped.
"Sorry Al," Ty mumbled.
"So I thought maybe," he paused and twitched nervously, "we could go fishing later."
"Of course," his brother laughed before grumbling in pain. Alduin waited for his brother to finish his morning routine and for him to feel a little better. Soon they were packing fishing gear into their truck; on top of the herping equipment, snake hooks, cages, gloves, that was always in the back. They hooked their small boat, Little Serpent, up on it's trailer and made their way to the nearest large lake.
They had been sat on the calm river for hours; a stream bubbled quietly nearby. The water was a murky, greenish-brown colour. A few fish had been caught already. Both had their rods cast far out. Alduin had closed his eyes but held the wire with a finger. Ty, however, was watching the surface with narrowed eyes. Still. A water dragon dived in from the raised stone bank to catch an unlucky fish. Suddenly Ty felt a sharp pull on his line. He nudged Alduin, making him jump awake. The green viscet leaned forwards and reeled the line in.
"It's a big 'un," he said.
"I don't think it's a fish," Alduin said. They peered down into the depths. A shadow. Frantically twistings its huge weight. As it came closer to the surface, it was clearly a turtle.
"Turtle!" they cried, both frowning. Ty carefully guided it to the side of the boat, before Alduin picked the hefty beast up with some effort. An older Mary River Turtle, covered in algae. The hook stuck in its mouth.
"You poor baby," Alduin sighed.
"I'm sorry, kid," Ty said.
"Let's fix ya right up," the brown viscet said.
Alduin struggled to hold the massive creature by the shell as Ty cut off as much of the fishing wire as he could. Some had tangled around the neck and feet. The turtle snapped wildly at the helping hands. They quickly shoved it into a plastic box with some water, shutting the lid tight. Alduin draped a towel over the container as Ty turned the boat around.
"We can come back out after," Alduin said.
"Sure thing," his brother replied.