Reginald deigned to mostly remove himself from the lion's back to delicately sniff at the dish of meat. He did not, however, move enough to completely stop touching. Ryland was charmed.
"So," he said, following Reginald's lead and shifting a little so he was touching Pete as much as possible and could still reach the human dishes of food. "Do we have any idea why we all suddenly have our own, creepily empathetic pets?"
Ryland had been far too busy trying to control children to ask any questions.