Soggy Cereal

Sunny was eating cereal. She was pretty much dressed for the day, but couldn't be bothered to put on real shoes, so she stuck with her unicorn slippers. It was early - really early. It was a little before six in the morning, because her aunt had early morning practice for Qui-something-or-other. She had been woken when her aunt had tripped over something outside of her room and had gone off cursing. It was a little known fact that little kids actually liked to wake up early - there was not much reason to sleep in anyway, so she hadn't minded being woken up early.

Jack had set out some cereal and milk for her while she hurried about, desperately tearing open boxes while she looked for her goggles, or something. Sunny happily slurped up her milky cereal, her eyes following her frazzled aunt.

She had arrived last night - her other new guardian of sorts had been asleep. Aunt Jack had assured her that the other man, a guy named Maximus, was not her guardian, but he was already being put up for babysitting duty. In Sunny's mind, anyone who was in charge of her was a guardian of sorts. Even if her aunt didn't want to admit it.

Jack seemed to have tracked down all she had needed and was scrawling out a note. She hurried over to Sunny and handed her the note. "Give this to Maximus, okay? Elliot will watch over you, so don't worry." The dog rose at his name and curled himself protectively around Sunny's chair. "I'll be back for lunch. I'll see you soon."

"'Kay. Bye."

Jack nodded and hurried out of the house. Sunny slowly opened the note and read -

Max -
This is my niece Sunny. She's going to be staying here... for awhile. I couldn't get out of practice, so if you could watch her, I'd appreciate it. Elliot is here to protect her. Thanks.
-Jack.
PS. Don't let her go into my office. She keeps trying to for some reason.

Sunny looked down at Elliot, and then ripped the last line off the paper, crumpled it, and pushed it into her cereal bowl. She had seen something in her aunt's office of interest, and she intended on getting to it. And she was going to have this Maximus help her.

Max had woken early to head in to work. Late last night he had recieved an owl that informed him about a biting teapot infestation in Brussels and wanted to handle it before it got too out of hand. As Max walked down the hall their rug began moving under his feet, rippling and shaking like a great tsunami. The piece of fabric almost seemed to enjoy taunting Max every morning as he tried to go downstairs and saught to make the simple quest for breakfast as difficult as possible. But today Mac had prepared for its attack and flopped down on his stomach, pinning it to the ground with a great shout of triumph.

After a few minutes of incredibly embarrassing wrestling (if anyone were to have witnessed it) Max continued on his way, a little dustier and more unkept than he had been before. As he trotted down the stairs he called out to his roommate - "I'm getting rid of that bloody rug today, Jack! I mean it this time!" Max's voice lowered to a grumble as he moved through the house to the kitchen and mumbled to himself "I don't care how much 'sentimental value' it has for Garfield. He can't remember his own children, how is it humanly possible for someone to remember a rug this strongly? I'm-"

Just then Max entered the door to the kitchen and saw that it was not Jack who sat there calmly, eating breakfast, but a miniature version of her. For a moment he was surprised. Never before had his life been this exciting as living with Jack Dyllan, even after only a couple of days. He was half convinced she was clinically insane yet the things that he discovered lying around the house always managed to surprise him. Always.

"Hello there." he greeted, leaning in the doorway, not wanting to startle her. (Many of the things Jack brought home bit him when they got startled.) "Are you a friend of Jack's?"

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Sunny liked to pretend she was a cow when she ate something crunchy. Especially when she ate cereal. She pushed all of the food to one side of her mouth and chewed in big, circular motions. Then she would swallow - a long, big, gulping swallow - exhale her breath, smile, and plunge the spoon back into the bowl to fish out another mouthful of delicious food to begin the process again.

She could hear someone shouting - she supposed this was Max. Which was odd, because Jack had said he seemed to be a silent fellow. Though, if Sunny knew anything of her aunt, it was that her aunt was a very loud person, so of course Max would seem more quiet. He also sounded grouchy, which Jack had no said. Jack had said he was sort of timid, which Jack had explained as "Don't worry Sunny, if you have to, I'm sure you could beat him up."

He entered and stopped dead, staring at her. She laughed, her mouth full of food, because the look he gave her made her feel as though she could beat him up had she wanted to attempt it. She didn't say this, though, only swallowed. "You know, I used to yell at the vacuum. My mom told me that that was dumb, though, because things like rugs and vacuums can't understand people."

She pushed the spoon back into her mouth and began eating like a cow. He asked if she was a friend of Jack's and she gave him a funny look, swallowing. "Kids and grown ups aren't friends. She's my aunt. I'm living with you now. My mommy and daddy are really dumb and can't take care of me - that's what Jack and grandpa said anyway." She popped the spoon back into her mouth, smiling.

For a moment Max just stared - his eyebrows slowly lifting higher and higher up his forehead. Well, he finally decided, at least it's not her daughter. "Nice to meet you. I'm Max. What's your name?" he said with a smile in an attempt to mask his concern. Max moved to the cabinets and opened one, pulling out a second box of cereal for himself, considering her words as he opened the box and poured it into a bowl. When his thoughts had collected he headed back to the table and seated himself across from the small girl. "I didn't realize someone else was coming to stay with us. I guess your aunt.. forgot to tell me?" as casually as he was able, Max asked the question that was quickly beginning to scare him the most. "Speaking of your aunt.. is she around?"

That was the thing about Jack. In the very short time he had known her, Max had noticed how dramatic of a presence the redhead had on whatever space she was in. Max knew when she woke, left for work, came home, and went to bed, with paying little attention to her comings and goings. Subtlety didn't seem to be her strong suit. And yet the house was noticeably lacking the presence of Jack. He hadn't heard any banging, shouting, swearing, or other strange noises since he had gotten up. If Jack was home, she was doing an uncharacteristically good job of keeping to herself.

As Max looked across at the child and he restrained himself from asking any more questions. He had decided to ignore her comments about rugs and vacuums. Clearly she had grown up with a very different type of appliances and furniture than he had. They understood all right. Max dipped his spoon into the bowl, watching the girl out of the corner of his eye as he brought it up to his mouth. He didn't quite trust the little girl. She looked innocent enough but so had his new roommate at first glance. There was still quite the possibility that she would transform into a giant dragon and eat him.

He introduced himself and asked for her name, causing Sunny to lean forward with her elbows on the table, point her chin up at the ceiling and smile widely. She loved to tell people her name, because it was so long, and she was proud to be able to say it with such ease. "My name is Sunny Paige Dyllan-Thomas. How do you do you?" She thrust her short little arm, extending her small hand towards him to offer a handshake. It was a funny little quirk both niece and aunt had developed, separate as they had been for the past six years of their lives. Sunny had seen the reactions her enthusiastic, almost-adult-like greetings gave the adults she interacted with. And she liked it. She liked to think she could, as young as she was, inspire confusion and shock in grown-ups.

He hadn't known she would be joining them - that would make three of them. Neither Sunny nor Jack had known what was happening until it was. Sunny had been told, packed into a car, and sent by train to meet the complete stranger that would take up the responsibilities of being her guardian. And, apparently, he aunt had not known until she received a phone call the morning of Sunny's departure, explaining that the family was all but desperate for a place for the youngest of the Dyllan line. Jack had explained to Sunny that she had had her suspicions - part of the reason she had moved was to find a better suited place for a child - but she had not thought to drop any sort of hint to her new roommate. Sunny smiled unapologetically. "No, I'm pretty sure she didn't tell you cause she thought you'd tell her no."

He asked where Jack had gone and Sunny fiddled for the note, hoping Max would assume the rip at the bottom of the page was not her own doing, but was the doing of her aunt. Jack seemed unorganized enough for this to be possible. She presented it to him, before popping the spoon back into her mouth. Chew. Chew. Chew. Swallow. "She's at the Quad-pot, no, Quidalitch, um, the broomstick-game-thing practice." She nodded smartly, certain she had explained herself well enough.

Max shook her hand, surprised at the strength in her little grip. At first impression Max could see quite a lot of her aunt in Sunny and as the seconds passed he grew more and more confident that she was exactly who she said she was and not some shapeshifting monster that had managed to sneak into the house. Max was presented a piece of paper which he quickly scanned, though it gave him little more information than he had already been offered. Unintentionally Max scanned the nearby floor for the shape of Elliot. He hadn't felt threatened by the creature since his first day but he still wasn't completely settled with him.

Distracted when Sunny began to speak again, Max didn't even notice the bottom of the page had been torn off and he just set the paper back down on the table. He nodded, understanding what Sunny was trying to say perfectly well. He often encountered similar difficulties with word retrieval but had long ago abandoned any efforts to sound it out and now just resorted to miming it out as if his speech was a game of charades if all else failed. But much like he head feared, knowing the location of Jack didn't change the fact that she was not here. And Sunny was here. And Max was instructed to watch her.

Max liked kids just fine. Generally he found them more honest, pure, and (in some cases) smarter than most adults. At the very least they weren't so incredibly.. boring. But Max had never taken care of children on his own and the idea of watching a child who was as obviously intelligent as Sunny was quite intimidating. But regardless, it wasn't as if he could just leave her without a sitter and Max resigned to the fact that he would have to go into work later than he had anticipated. The teapots would have to await his arrival. He would have asked when Jack was returning but Max was sure that Sunny had as little knowledge of this as he did.

"Alright then." Max said, more to himself than the young girl across from him. He mirrored her by taking another bite of his cereal. Today's Daily Prophet lay on the table and Max found himself scanning the headlines on the front page out of habit. He wasn't sure how attentive you had to be at this "watching" thing. Did he have to entertain her? Or just make sure she didn't burn down the house?

Sunny watched him peacefully as he read over the note, mimicking a cow chewing its cud as she chomped on the breakfast cereal, her insides a-squirming as she waited to hear his verdict on the note. Would he deem it true and trust its authority? Would he question to minute detail of the ripped bottom? It seemed, however, that she was in the clear and the six year old had to look down to smile, though she wiggled a bit with pride at the accomplishment of fooling a grown-up.

He was a quiet person, it seemed. Besides saying that all seemed fine, he did not seem eager to actually talk to her. Sunny supposed that was okay - her dad rarely spoke to her. Most breakfasts with him had been her asking questions and him supplying her rational answers. It was lame when she asked how airplanes flew and he could only respond that it was complicated engineering.

La-ame.

She would much rather have someone jumping to play with her, or ask HER questions, rather than wait to answer. She could tell he was a nice guy - he was quiet, but awkward quiet, not mean quiet - and she was hoping she could tap into his niceness and get him to actually be fun.

She swallowed a big mouthful of cereal. "Want to see something cool?"

Without waiting, she slid off her chair and took off running, sliding on the hardwood floors in her slippers. Elliot immediately rose and chased after her, his nails clicking on the floors as well. She hurried for the stairs and took to them, using hands and feet to get upstairs. She skidded down the hall and stopped outside of her aunt's office. Which was locked. Which was why she needed Max.

Max slowly felt his nerves easing the longer he spent in the presence of Sunny. His thoughts were less occupied on her danger level and more so on her age. Even though she seemed quite mature for her age (almost like a miniature, better humored adult) the fact still remained that she was a child. And Jack had placed him in charge of her. And Max was in the business of not getting on Jack's bad side. But with the panic of the surprise fading, Max made himself as comfortable as he was able at the table next to the little girl.

"Wanna see something cool?" Duh. Always.

Sunny didn't wait up for him. She galloped off through the house and before Max even had time to get up he heard her on the stairs. The promise of adventure put him at even more ease. Sitting still and doing nothing had always felt incredibly uncomfortable to Max and he hated nothing more than awkward silence. Max's eyes darted back and forth, as if he were searching for someone who was there to scold him if he were to follow Sunny. But a sneaky smile crossed his lips and he sprung up from the table, moving across the kitchen and towards the stairs, determined not to be left completely in Sunny's dust.

Max built up speed as he went, quickly changing from a walk to a jog, his robe flapping behind him. As he trampled up the stairs he looked surprisingly like a hold himself, a mixture of excitement and worry in his stomach as he good used to his new housemate. Slightly unfocused, Max barely realized that Sunny had stopped and came to a skidding halt next to her, his sock feet letting him slide.

Max realized where they were standing and let out a soft poof of air. "Jacks office." he stated quite simply.

Sunny turned patiently, waiting for her new-found partner in crime to arrive, her hand patiently waiting on the doorknob that would help her into the mystery that was her aunt's office. He seemed eager as he approached, moving quickly and sliding to a stop next to her. She smiled - good. It would be much better if her apprentice (for she was obviously the master of evil plots here) was excited.

She nodded importantly, looking very triumphant as he identified the door currently in question. "Yes. This is her office. And in her office is a shelf. And on the very tippy-toppy of the shelf is a box. What's in this box?" She took a big breath, as though she was going to give a chance to speak, but she quickly answered, "I don't know."

She placed her hands on her hips. "I think it is very important that I know the character of who I'm living with!" She had heard that on a muggle soap opera. "I must know what is in that box. But the door is magically locked." Because her aunt had caught her fishing around in it. "So I need help opening it. And reaching the top shelf."