Dyllan scaled his way up toward the ground above, falling a few stories as soon as gravity returned to its normal downward state. It took him a few seconds to reorient himself. “You alright, Andie?”
“I was just about to ask you the same question.” Andie flickered into vision as Dyllan’s eyes blinked open. Her freckled face was lightly obscured by a renegade tuft of curly, honey red hair that had broken free from the “ass-kicking ponytail” she wore on the not-even-slightly rare chance she decided to do something physically active. Like always, she had a superhero themed bandage on some scrape or bruise she’d gotten from climbing trees or taking sports too seriously. Today it was on her left cheek. “No, seriously. How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three, now get your hand out of my face.” Dyllan rolled back onto his feet, just like he’d learned in judo class. “I’m not the one that just fought a giant fricken’ death monster. I need to know if you need help.”
“I’m fine, really.” A grin spread out across Andie’s face.
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That stupid grin.
Together with the confident glint that sometimes got into her eye, Andie’s trademarked grin had a tendency to give an air of absoluteness. Like nothing in the world could stop her. It’d been the final straw that let her talk Dyllan and Cedric into more than a few lunatic schemes, most of which wound up looking stupid in retrospect. “Nothing that can’t be fixed with a bucket of comfort food and four consecutive hours of cheesy action shows marketed towards ten year old boys.”
“Then lets get out of here.”
“Sounds good.” Andie through the air in front of her, brushing aside a patch of reality like it was made of clouds and revealing the rooftop of a far more mundane skyscraper than the ones that surround them. “Let’s tell Cedric we’re leaving, then ditch this mindscape like a delinquent ditches class.”
Dyllan groaned in annoyance. “…Can’t we just leave right now? Cedric’s in asshole mode, and I’d really rather not talk to him if I don’t have to. I’m sure he’ll leave on his own eventually.”
“Really, Dyllan?” Andie’s grin snapped into a scowl. “Looks to me like like Cedric’s not the only one in asshole mode.”
“…Sorry, you’re right.” Dyllan took a deep breath. “Cedric’s a friend, we don’t leave friends behind. Even if they’ll probably be fine without our help.” He turned toward one of the skyscrapers with an Andie sized hole in it. “You go on ahead, I’ll tell Cedric we’re leaving.”