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"...I... suppose I could hold your son." He said, stiffly. "While you calm your nerves."

In truth, the idea of holding a young, possibly fragile child who was definitely important to the person who had entrusted them to him terrified him. But he'd rather kill than admit it (dying, he wouldn't prefer. Practicality before bride).

Still, he took it, just for the pleasure of holding one. An HFA wand was almost as good as the real thing—it was still an Ollivander of a sort, after all. He thought he could feel it warm slightly in the palm of his hand, and a hesitant wave produced a few obliging sparks. But it was supposed to do that, even for a Muggle. It didn't mean anything.

He gave it back to Owen with a sigh. "I can't wait until February. Mom promised I'll get a real one when I turn eleven, and I get to go to HFA in the fall, too!" That, like a Muggle-use wand, was almost as good as the real thing.

Henry looked up, started, and backed quickly away when the two agents rushed up, seeming intent on talking to Owen.

It struck him that Gadrik didn't have family beyond Gall and himself. Gall's father and step-sister still lived as far as they knew, but they were background Vikings in the recently relocated village of Berk, and the agents couldn't exactly pop in for a visit. As for Derik's family, he couldn't be sure they had ever existed outside his memories of them, and he didn't think he wanted to find out in case they hadn't. The thought prompted a surge of loneliness and, always on its heels, his anger at Sue-kind. He immediately took a breath and reached for his enumerations to calm himself.

That, of course, was the exact moment Gadrik started crying. Not only had the game stopped being fun, it had stopped, and like all babies, he was exquisitely sensitive to being held with a lack of assurance. Down seemed like a much better option. So he cried, and squirmed, and kicked, and generally made his displeasure known.

"Oh, hang it all," Derik muttered, "not now. Don't do this." He was talking to himself, not Gadrik, but it was hard to tell. He tried to settle his son and his mood at the same time, and quickly gave it up as a bad job. He wasn't going to put Gaddie on the floor, though, so... He cast a slightly panicked look at Thoth. "Er...?"

(( I'm mean. I also want to make a Space Marine hold a baby. I make no apologies. ^_^ ))

"You're funny," she said. "I don't wanna destroy humans, Gramma and Grampa are humans! So's Uncle Alex," she added. "He's super fun."

The Aviator grinned, resisting the urge to ruffle Elanor's hair. "What about Uncle Zeb?" she asked.

Elanor turned and gave Zeb a thoughtful look. "Yeah, he's okay."

"Hey!" Zeb protested, scooping Elanor up as she giggled. "I'm plenty fun!"

Charlotte grabbed Ix's arm and dragged her across the room when she saw the scarred face and the sparking wand. She forced down the shield Ix was attempting to disappear behind and beamed. "Nice costume!"

((Since I don't know if you saw farther down the thread—Charlotte is Peggy Carter, and Ix is Captain America.))

((And yeah, I'll get on that in a moment. Had kind of a bad entire week, no energy for anything. Was real fun.))

"To be fair, it's pretty ambiguous in the book," she said, slinging the bow back over her shoulder to keep her hands free. "They don't really give it much of a description, as far as I remember, so the movie-makers just added their own interpretation. Nice aiming, though."

Owen laughed sheepishly at the sudden attention, and twirled the wand, which emitted a few bright red sparks. "Kind of? It's one of those Hogwarts Fanfic Academy-style ones - it can cast a few basic spells like Disarming and Stunning, but anything serious is beyond it. And Dad already told me if it gets used for anything other than an emergency he's taking it off me." He offered it to Henry to take a look anyway.

Action Agents were remarkably lenient about letting their older kids go around armed - but then again, given all the trouble that could happen even on a quiet stroll through HQ, it wasn't entirely unfounded.

((Bless! Henry's adorable and my two are quite fond of him. XD

On the other hand, I'm not sure how or where to add William into the thread with Derik >.< ))

(( Not that I'm complaining if you are. ^_^ Also, your tag with Ellie below, I think, if you're still interested? ))

Henry realized there was no clear space to be found on any side. He settled for sighting over the crowd's heads and drawing toward the ceiling. He held the string taut a few seconds, just to prove he could.

He was feeling fairly full of himself, but Stephanie's comments deflated his ego. "Oh," he said. He lowered the bow and handed it back with a disgruntled expression. How had he missed the fact that it was a canon weapon? "Well... I haven't actually seen the movies yet," he grumbled. Stupid PG-13 rating. Stupid Mom and her stupid adherence to stupid age limits.

The appearance of Owen's wand proved a highly effective distraction. Henry's eyes went wide. "Is that real?"

(( Poor Henry. It's not his fault I saw "silvery" and made assumptions. Still, doesn't hurt him to be knocked down a peg now. ^_^ As for Derik, I'd say send William down to that thread, and maybe we can revive both of these! ))

There is nothing here in this post. I just realised that I cannot role play because I don’t have permission. I feel like a fool.

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Stephanie said lightly. "But no, this is is a replica of the one Katniss carries in the arena in the first book... or movie, I guess. The Capitol's got all sorts of special inventions, and they seem to like giving the tributes metallic-style weapons. Katniss has a few different bows, though, over the course of the series. I guess I just like this one best."

"It looks intimidating enough," Owen said lightly. "More than this, anyway." He produced his wand from an inner pocket for a moment and grinned.

((The bow's actually pretty simple - it looks like this - actually, that whole image is a decent idea of how Steph's costume looks. XD))

((And feel free to send Derik over, I guess? William's not one for parties much, so he's probably not trying to get too involved. Either that or my lad's going to be discreetly keeping an eye on these three kids just to make sure no actual archery occurs, so Henry could notice him/he could step in :P ))

"Nice," he observed, examining the silvery finish. "Did you say this came from the Hunger Games 'verse? Was it a Sue weapon, or from one of the higher districts, or something like that? Doesn't seem like one Katniss would use, except maybe for a photo-shoot or something."

(( BTW, what kind of bow? Compound, I'd guess, since it's fancy, but you never know!

(( I'm up for whatever strikes your fancy with William. ))

"Even if we end up in Infrastructure, there's always the possibility of needing to defend ourselves from stuff getting into HQ."

"Plus it keeps us on the ball," Steph put in. "Keeps people fit. Mum says she'd be a lot slower by now if she didn't practice as often as she does." She might not have been especially convinced by her mother alone, but the backup from her uncle and Owen's family had sufficed to persuade her that Cara knew what she was talking about.

After a few moments, she glanced round to make sure no adults were watching them too closely and unslung her bow with a grin. "It's not got a heavy draw," she said, handing it over, "but there's still enough of a pull that you could do some serious damage if you were using it for real." She was becoming quite a keen archer, and had made a point of learning some of the terminology just to show off. (Then again, she was thirteen, which was usually an age at which a lot of people liked to show off.)

((Yeah, I figured Henry was still just young enough not to grasp the idea of personal risk too well. XD William would be interesting, though, with whoever you like! He's one of my special babies; I actually took him over to Tumblr and RP on there with him now as a regular Potterverse OC. [Remembering my time at the PPC, though, I made a more plausible backstory for him. XD] He'd be quite pleased to talk to another native of his homeworld, but I think he liked Derik too.

As for Owen, he sees it as more of a tribute to a pretty awesome character than anything else, but I can get why other people might not be so impressed. XD)

He supposed he would be sad if he didn't get to see Mom much and it wasn't a choice. That was true. And he knew she worried about bad things happening to him—he just didn't think it was very likely. Everything would have been fine that time he'd borrowed a remote activator and followed Ilraen and those trainees into the Potterverse if only Ilraen hadn't caught him.

"Well, anyway, it's not like Mom is letting Su take me on missions or anything," he added, not wishing to give an entirely false impression. "It's just some weapons practice and stuff like that. I could show you, if I could see your bow," he said hopefully to Stephanie. "I'll just draw it; I won't fire it dry, either."

(( {= D Henry is still young enough not to realize that danger is, y'know, dangerous, specifically to himself. He's been pretty well kept out of serious trouble. Doesn't help that he's a wizard, and they're canonically fairly indestructible. Might be interesting to get him talking to William, though. [Or to get William talking to Derik, whom he met at Henry's party that one time, or Iximaz's Agent Ix, who is a fellow ex-Auror and a werewolf... and best hope Ix doesn't run into Owen, 'cause she's fairly sensitive about it!] ))

Owen tugged thoughtfully at the ponytail he'd persuaded his parents to let him grow as he thought it over. "I know my dad said straight that he wouldn't even think about me doing internships until I was about sixteen, so you're already well ahead of the game there. I think a lot of the Action parents are like that, though."

Half-shrugging, Stephanie glanced over at her mother and uncle, who were both happily mingling with the others, secure in the knowledge that this was a reasonably safe space - insofar as anywhere in HQ was. "Well, they've lost partners and friends on missions, so I guess it makes sense," she said with a resigned sigh. "Or back in their homeworlds. I mean, a lot of heroes and people in various canons were about our age when they started getting involved in dangerous stuff..."

She cut herself off before she could point out that Henry was pretty much the same age as Harry Potter had been when he started actively fighting against Voldemort. She certainly didn't want to be facing down megalomaniacs yet, and Mary Sues were pretty much the definition of that, no matter how cool it might be to be out there in the Worlds. Granted she'd been much more enthusiastic about the idea when she was younger, but she was beginning to see the dangers more clearly now.

"Anyway, it's not that bad if you get to live with your parents," Owen added reassuringly. "I reckon it'd be pretty cool to be able to see my mum and dad every day instead of just whenever missions allowed for it."

((Isn't it amazing how life lines up like that? XD I know these two have had issues in the past, but a few horror stories and possibly careful supervised visits to assorted canons have shown them the reality of what they have to deal with; they were shaken up a bit.))

As he said it, though, his smile faded into a somewhat suspicious frown. He had lately felt that Mom was holding him back, insisting he wasn't ready to get out into the field even though he totally was.

Going home after school most days instead of living in the Nursery had just been a fact of life, and made a fun diversion of the times Mom had a big date night and he got to sleep over with his friends instead. He hadn't really questioned it. He was happy to clear out if it was Jacques, who was around way too much lately. That guy was so weird and annoying. He did resent it just a bit when it was Su, though.

And... what if it was all part of the plot to keep him a little kid forever? Just about everyone else he knew lived in the Nursery, after all. Why not him and his brother? Just because Mom worked in FicPsych and had a relatively stable schedule? Or something more sinister?

He wasn't quite prepared to admit to being overly coddled to his cool older friends who were allowed to carry real weapons, though, so he covered his momentary lapse with a shrug. "I'm just really busy! I've got Sprout stuff most weeks, and Su—Agent Suicide," he clarified importantly— "he's been teaching me. I'm sort of like his intern now."

And not too humble to boast about it just a bit, even if interning with Su in practice hadn't turned out to be quite as great as he'd imagined when he'd come up with the idea. Sure, he was learning a lot, but it turned out that it involved a lot more coffee runs, hard exercise, and exhaustion than high adventure out in the Word Worlds. For now, he was still stuck in Headquarters. Such were the evils of compromise between adults who liked each other.

(( I'm very amused at being given an opening to explore this question. ^_^ In an unfinished story set back in 2013, Jenni expresses some doubt as to the wisdom of trying to give Henry a more normal life by having him live at home when that's actually not the norm for most of HQ's kids. She is reassured, and she jokes that he'll resent her when he's older one way or the other, though. I guess we're seeing that seed sprout into reality now. Whee, serendipity! {= D ))

"Yeah, it's real," she said, touching it briefly. "Mum figured if I was going to become an Action Agent, I might as well get used to carrying the gear, so she picked this up from the Hunger Games 'verse for me. The arrows are padded, though - didn't want to bring real ones where there's little kids around." She nodded to the small fry running around and smiled wryly.

"Not to mention they spent ages getting the hairstyle just right," Owen added with a brief grin. "Anyway, yeah, we haven't seen you for ages - pity your mum doesn't let you spend more time in the Nursery, really. Unless she thinks you're going to pick up bad habits."

Stephanie telling him he looked good had put a smile on his face, and Owen noticing the details had made it even bigger. Henry liked things to be precise, and he'd put a lot of effort into the little touches.

"Not much," he answered Stephanie. "I haven't seen you guys in a while. You both look really awesome, too. Is the bow real?" It looked a bit too shiny to be real, but you never knew.

"Humans are far too useful to destroy."

Stephanie hadn't been quite sure how to react to a small Spartan warrior marching up to her and saying hello, but she quickly recognised Henry Robinson and gave him a warm smile. "You're looking good yourself," she said, looking him over with an approving smile.

"I'm guessing Spartan?" Owen offered with a wry smile. His voice was still high at the moment, but it was starting to break, so he was well aware that at any moment he could end up sounding rather croaky. "Looks detailed."

"Says the guy who spent over an hour trying to get his facepaint done properly," Stephanie teased. "Anyway, Henry, what's up?"

Henry Robinson approached the teenagers with a show of confidence he didn't quite feel. It had taken an effort on his part to get the costume he wanted this year, and now he was second-guessing it.

Going as a Spartan was a great idea on paper. They were cool, and he knew that because the coolest person he knew spoke of them in admiring terms. His mother, however, had resisted the idea for reasons that weren't at all clear to Henry. Not in so many words, but with a reserved demeanor and multiple alternative suggestions. He had insisted, though, so in the end she'd helped him put the ensemble together: leather sandals and skirts, a sword belt, a shield with painted lambda strapped across his back, and a bright red cloak over one shoulder. (No helmet; helmets were no good at parties.) Su, of course, had contributed, too, so the degree of historical accuracy was excellent. In addition, Henry had taken to growing out his hair this year, and it was almost down to his shoulders. A pair of thin plaits at his temples kept the fine black stuff out of his eyes. Green eyes, he knew, had been considered exotic and very fetching in ancient Greece. He wasn't sure that applied to boys, but on the other hand, why not?

The only problem was that he really didn't have the physique of a warrior. He was tall for his age (ten—nearly eleven!) and perpetually skinny. He had muscles, you couldn't learn to ride a horse and use a sword and shoot a bow without getting some muscles, but he was still just ten (nearly eleven), and even though he was growing taller quickly, he wasn't showing signs of starting to fill out any time soon. He was also naturally pale, and no amount of sun seemed to do more than make him temporarily pink.

Head Nurse Suzine had taken pity on him and donated her cosmetic skills to the cause of giving him a bit of bronzing and his stomach a bit of contouring, but he wasn't sure how good it really looked. Suzine always looked amazing, but that was just her face, and she usually went for a very feminine style. Sure, you could watch how to do anything on the Internet, but was that really enough?

He would just have to find out. The first rule of being a warrior was "never let the enemy see you sweat," and Henry reckoned that applied to people you wanted to like you, too.

So he walked right up to Stephanie and Owen, one hand resting on the hilt of his cardboard xiphos, and said hello. "Cool costumes!"

"Though, if I remember correctly, this particular Antichrist doesn't actually choose to end humanity. Seems being raised human, or just spending enough time around us, can make one rather sympathetic to our charms, such as they are." He grinned a contender for the least charming grin in the room. He was teasing his Astartes friend, whom he sometimes still couldn't believe had the patience to put up with him. The sentiment likely extended to the other non-humans in the group as well.

Gadrik, having lost Ellie's attention and therefore half the entertainment value of the swinging game, was losing interest. His reactions grew less pronounced.

...and a handful of Agents came in.

The first ones in were a trio of small kids. Emily and Anthony Homewood, a fair-haired human boy and girl about nine years old, were clearly twins and dressed as Luke and Leia Skywalker. They were holding the hands of a younger girl, who on first glance seemed to be about three or four years old. Fiona Talathion had glossy black hair, pale skin and slightly upswept ears, and was wearing a school uniform, complete with a satchel slung over her shoulders.

Just behind them came their parents. Nat Freidar wasn't keen on dressing up, so she'd come as an ordinary World One human, but her long-term boyfriend Zach Homewood had decided to stick with the family theme and sported a reasonable Obi-Wan Kenobi ensemble. Cassie Young had gone for an adult Queen Lucy the Valiant look, while her husband, Kelvin Talathion - in his usual hunting leathers - had claimed that people used his usual outfits as a costume anyway, so he technically was dressed up.

Trailing after them in a little group were a pair of teenagers and three adults. Stephanie Fielding, her long brown hair braided carefully, was doing a good impression of Katniss Everdeen, occasionally adjusting a silvery bow and quiver of arrows over her shoulder. Her best friend Owen Hayles, a bulky fourteen-year-old who seemed to be hitting a growth spurt, had painted a few scars across his face and used his red hair to his advantage to show up as Bill Weasley. They were deep in conversation and completely ignoring the adults, who were used to this by now.

Cara Fielding had gone for a complete change from her usual look and strongly resembled Magrat Garlick, down to the messy flower crown, while William Marshall resigned himself to a "movieverse" Auror outfit. They were both quite happy to chat to Owen's father, Luke Celinus, who was in his usual fallback costume of "pirate".

"They've really pushed things out this year, haven't they?" Zach observed, impressed, as he eyed the room's setup.

"Indeed," Kelvin replied, as everyone drifted off to enjoy the party. "It feels like it's been years since we saw a real PPC party."

[Feel free to accost any of the people mentioned here!]