Rumlow got called before the representatives of the other groups outside the council that night. "You rang?" he asked politely, for him.
"You know the one who pointed out the council destroyed itself?" one of the older males, who had fought his way to the top, asked. He looked amused.
"Darcy? Yes I do. I was guarding her when they attacked her. After three days of snakes being sent at her and her daughter."
"Snakes?"
"Nineteen overall. All but one was poisonous. Mostly sent toward her daughter but they also mined the ventilation system at her work and a few other places."
"Is she calmer? We know she verbally destroyed them earlier and was said to have taken a valium."
"I didn't know about the valium but her files mention she hates public speaking. That's probably why."
"Is she still favoring that idea?" another elder asked.
"The great-grandmother who helped raise her helped start those," Brock said. "She's idealistic enough to want them to be what they were supposed to be, our version of the UN." A few smiled at that. "But she's realistic about the many ways they screwed themselves. Especially since they tried to force her to mate to someone who's killed a lot of women."
"She's against mating?"
"She's against anyone forcing her to do that, and especially with someone who's killed at least nine people, possibly more than eleven. We know he's had eleven mates given to him, nine have been killed in fairly tortuous ways, and one's taken a vow of silence since they wouldn't help her when she escaped him. The last is still listed as missing."
"But she's not against mating?"
"If they date her first. She said she considered it like an engagement period for humans. A pre consortship basically."
The old one nodded. "That's a thoughtful place to stand. I've heard it said she claims a traditionist title?"
"From the original meaning, not the more modern one. Russeline was her great-grandmother." They mostly moaned at that. "She studied history and the original ways. She's definitely a poster for the original matriarch of a clan."
"Yet she has a nest mating."
"No, not what happened." They stared at him. "I'm sure you heard about some little bitch named Savilla?" They nodded. "Darcy was her fifth victim, the sixth one stomped her into the ground when they were walking her off to arrest her for attacking Darcy and the others."
"So she was on suppressants and suddenly got forced into heat," the old one said.
Brock nodded. "She told me that she doesn't blame the father, he had almost no choice when that happened near him on the campus. Apparently his family knows about her. Darcy has said that she didn't expect him to take any responsibility but there's a family lawyer who she sends pictures to. His family all know, including his wife. Darcy said his wife tracked her down to talk to her about what had happened."
"Good of her. A good choice." The old one considered it then looked at him. "Do you think she'd become one of the unaligned?"
"Right now she's tentatively aligned with the council her mother heads in Virginia. She's got nothing against us. Though she has heard some of us are more like the old style warlords and that doesn't make her giddy with delight. She probably studied too much history to be comfortable with all the rampaging and attacks they used to do."
The old man smiled. "I can see that. We'd like them to not do that anyway. I'm told you got her child some books?"
"Darcy's area didn't have a special class for dragons or other changers. They went to a normal school and had an after school club." The old ones in the room sighed. "I gifted her daughter with some books about how be a dragon in the world. Including an older one that I found helpful when I was little. I know she's blue, she's scaled up partially a few times. She's a curious little girl who nearly fell out of a cave to see what her mother had just landed on top of. I know they've gotten some shit from others due to her daughter not wanting to have long hair. And Darcy hates the damsel movement as well."
"So you sent her the basics of the teaching set?"
"The Bunny Book and about six others about how dragons form packs and dens. Her mom said one was above her level so she'd leave off the book with the relationship explanations until she was older or Darcy was starting one. Though she doesn't favor dating dragons because we're petty, judgmental assholes according to her. She's gotten it about her daughter, about not being a damsel, about fighting back, about declaring a war. All that. One old biddy at Stark tried to call a social worker about Darcy letting her daughter have her hair cut."
"People like that need to give up changing and just die," the old one sighed. "Do we think she could be happy with a relationship with one of us if she wasn't sneered at?"
"If you want to flirt with her, go flirt with her. I only guarded her. I'm not going to be in the way as I'm not guarding her right now."
The old one rolled his eyes. "We were hoping she might like someone like you, Brock."
He snorted. "I'm over a decade older than she is."
"Her great-grandmother was very long lived."
"She said she died four years ago," Brock agreed. "Still not the point. And if my mother set you up for that I'll nag her later."
"No," the old one sighed. "She seems to be one who could be like her great-grandmother, one who could gather those around her who had ideas and sense."
"She hates being the center of attention but she could," he agreed. "That's why she brought a reporter to the earlier court hearing." The old man smirked at that move. "From Hartford's council area."
"That's smart of her." He stared at him. "It would do you good to have a mate."
"I'm too busy to date."
"Uh-huh," the old man said dryly. "Would she consent to date others?"
"I'm sure she would. She dated a wolf changer in London."
"She'd be safe if they had a problem with the change," one of the men in the back agreed.
"And he really adored her daughter and her. She still carries around the stuffed wolf he gave her." That got a few 'aww's. "If someone who wanted to flirt with her started something I'm pretty sure she could get away from anyone who wasn't worthy of her. She's a strong woman. I'm also fairly certain she'd make sure at first that whoever wasn't after her boss' work because by the records that's happened."
The old man nodded once at that. "It would be beneficial to have one who was so into helping others among us."
"Then talk to her about that stuff. She's perfectly capable of making decisions about her alignment."
"I was hoping you'd find her pleasing."
Brock stared at him. "Again, I'm too old for her."
"You may outlive her if she has to keep getting into fights," the old man complained.
"I was there guarding her daughter. She broke blocks that had been on her for years to do that. I had to knock her daughter out so she didn't get hurt by it."
"You followed her to her nesting cave."
"To guard her. I brought her boss and best friend down there and spent a week laying in the sun while she struggled to end her own heat."
He sighed. "You're incredibly dense, Brock."
"No I'm not. She stated she wasn't asking me for help. I had to tell her to go fly a few times because she had been taught that polite stuff."
The old man stared at him. "They don't fly for heats?"
"Apparently not often. One of her uncles showed up to sneer about her possibly having an egg."
"That is an asshole," he decided. "We could suggest you get to know her better. Maybe you could find a relationship in there."
"I only have cheap, easy ones until I find a true consort. That's how I was raised."
The old man grimaced. "That's honorable. Could you perhaps think about her that way? Sometimes the most stubborn arguments against come from those who really want something."
"I'm not in the closet. If she wants to flirt, she'd flirt. So far I've gotten a few happy greetings and she appreciated me helping her protect her daughter. As far as I can tell I'd overwhelm her. We may have a moment of stress relief sometime but I can't see her falling for me. Who said we might work?"
"Miss Edith."
"Sorry, I don't hold with anything that old crank says. I don't believe in foresight."
The old man nodded. "Fine. What about rebuilding the council?"
"I'm sure they'd like to. I'm assuming they will. Behavior modeling would point at people getting panicky about them not being around."
"Would she help?"
"If they asked. The same as if some of us wanted to help them rebuild it so it's more realistic we could probably try. There's going to be some money going at it though. Maybe we'll see fewer damsels out of it."
"One can only hope as the vapid little princesses are annoying." He stared at Brock. "It might help you to get to know her better. Some day you could be in a battle for position."
"I'd hate that. I already have enough stress and I'd hate even more to have a mate witness my death from something like that."
"Point but not much of one. Most of us don't fight to the death anymore. You'd probably win anyway."
"I could but that's not a stress I need or want. I'd rather stay unaligned. It's healthier in a lot of ways."
The old man nodded. "It can be. If I had that choice I would've taken it." He stared at him. "Though you could try it."
Brock rolled his eyes. "You're acting like an old aunt." The man smirked and nodded. "Well, if she flirts I'll see if it goes anywhere. Right now she's more concerned about her daughter." He left them to their plotting. It was weird how they were so insistent but they probably wanted Darcy's ideas safely contained and with someone who could make her quiet down at times.
***
"Darcy, may we speak?" an older man asked Darcy two days later when she was out for coffee.
She looked at him. "Like a peace treaty talk?"
"I'm not aligned with any of that," he said with a smile.
"That makes me even more nervous. Some of you are decent and some of you aren't." She stared at him. "I take it as you're honorable because of the marks you wear on your shoulder that shows through your shirt." That tattoo was for a group that considered themselves knights. She stepped up when the person in front of her moved, ordering for herself and Jane. She looked at the older man once she had paid and gotten out of the way. "So why the talk?"
"We have a few who can see and one said that you'd be a good person for your guard to date. She was most insistent that he have someone good."
She looked confused. "If he had wanted me he would've flirted."
"He said you'd have to flirt with him, young lady." She rolled her eyes again. "He did the same thing when we told him that the seer had said for you two to get together."
Darcy got hers and Jane's coffee, leaving a tip in the jar before coming back. "I'm not against people flirting with me but he seemed really uptight and I need someone fun who'll make a great stepparent for my daughter. I think he could easily do the stepparent things but I don't think he likes me like your seer thinks. He seems more paternalistic or even den parentish to Aria. And some to me since he thought I didn't know certain things."
"He could be," the old man agreed with a nod. "There's many who consider you dangerously sexy."
She snorted, shaking her head. "This is the real me, not the protective mother sort. I hate getting into fights. I hate hurting people but I've had to."
"I understand that. Many of us felt the same way." He stared at her. "Could you date him if he did offer?
"Probably. He's very easy to talk to but I doubt he's into that sort of thing." She shifted the coffees. "I'm not against dating someone for real. I'm not going to play around. I've got a daughter to think of. I'm not against one night stands but I have to think about her first."
"That's what any good mother does. I'll tell the local boys that you're not that scary unless you have to be. Half of them thought you were a bit Amazonian."
She smiled. "Only when I have to be. They forced me there."
"Good. It should." He patted her on the arm. "Bring your coffee to your boss. Have a good, safe, easy day, Darcy."
"You too." She smiled and walked off. She ran into Rumlow just past the doorway and blushed.
He sighed. "You heard some old crank of a supposed seer saw us together?" he asked dryly.
"One of them talked to me in the coffee shop. Suggested I should let you flirt."
He nodded with a sigh. "I'm too old for you and I told them that, and that we can probably be friendly but not in lifelong love."
"I never make that distinction until after I've dated someone for a while. It's too easy to see infatuation as childish love. Then you get to know someone and they annoy the living shit outta you."
He grinned. "I've had girlfriends who've done that." He got out of her way. "Go lubricate science with that."
"Oh, she'll need it," she agreed. "Thanks." She went up to the lab to tell Jane about that meeting. Jane sipped her coffee, shaking her head. Aria was thankfully in the daycare today since Jane was tinkering with a new machine.
***
Stark looked up as the alarm started to go off. "JARVIS!"
"Doctor Foster's machine exploded when she plugged it in. Thankfully no one was hurt but they're evacuating the closest labs for smoke inhalation."
"Crap." He was hurrying that way. Darcy was coughing in the hallway. "Foster?" he demanded. She pointed, leaning against the wall. "People, get her to medical. She's got smoke inhalation." The other geeks took her from him and he went to find Foster, who was being nagged by Banner. "What happened?"
"I was plugging in the new metric reader, just a scan and report numbers machine, Mr. Stark. I have no idea what happened. I just plugged it in to check the connections between the screen and the meter."
"Okay," he agreed. "Let me go check that. Is it fuming toxic anything?"
"It's a wall plug," she said. "The machine's not burning. I got it unplugged as soon as it popped the first time then smoke came out."
"All right. Let me go look. Bruce."
He handed Jane to a few other geeks and followed Tony to that lab. He sniffed. "That's burning flesh."
Bruce groaned. "Snakes again?"
"Could be one we didn't see," Tony agreed. They moved closer and checked the other plugs. The power was off in there. Bruce turned off both laptops and Darcy's ringing phone. They didn't need a random spark setting off anything. They checked the machine, finding the smell was indeed a dead snake that had been electrocuted. The smoke wasn't from there. The smoke was from the outlet itself. One of the STRIKE teams, a lower one, came stomping in. "Snake in the machine, the smoke's from something else." He waved a hand. "Let me check the outlet."
"Let us, Mr. Stark. In case it was an intended attack." He got out of the way, using a knife to carefully open the wall around the outlet. One of the plugs had a device on it and that had smoked up and burned slightly. "Any idea what that is?"
Stark looked at it, shaking his head. "That looks like a limiter for power draw but why would it be in a lab? They haven't been used since the sixties." The agent stood up and held up another snake's skin. "Great, another one."
"Could've been older. It's clearly a dried out shedding." He looked at the machine. "One of you find the snake to see if this is theirs."
They looked and pulled it out. "Wrong shade but two of the ones that were in the airvents was that type," another agent reported. "This one's an older snake than the others too."
"Bob, up in the herbology labs, is missing his pet ball python he brought in to work to crawl on the trees so they felt useful," Bruce said. "I have no idea if that's one or not."
They looked and the one nodded. "I think it might be. We'll ask him, Dr. Banner. Thank you." They looked the machine over, Stark grimacing at the level of duct tape on it and refusing to touch the duct tape. They found another device and that one had melted. So some of the smoke was from it. They got Doctor Foster back in. "Dr. Foster, what's that component?" he asked with a point.
She looked, frowning. "Part of the monitor. It's the connection to the computer board. Did that do all this?"
"No, that sparked to kill the, we think, pet python from upstairs. That device was on the outlet." Stark held it up.
Jane frowned. "What is that?"
"It's like a fuse to limit how much power an outlet can draw. It's really old tech and hasn't been used since the sixties." He bounced it a few times and something fell out. "Well, that's not old." He held up the small silver ball. "That's an interface device."
"Is that what's hacking Darcy's old phone?" Jane asked. Stark and the agents all stared at her. She looked at the phone on the desk. "Yeah, that's her old one. It was blocked from sending or receiving texts or calls. She could call out but it'd never connect. The same with texts."
Stark nodded. "Phone." He held out his free hand, taking it to look at. "Did we have me look at it?"
"She asked and JARVIS told her it was hacked. She's gotten a new phone that's cheap enough until she can afford something nicer. Whole new number and everything. Aria pouted that it didn't do videos." The digital interface started to smoke so Jane held up her cup of coffee for him to drop it into. He did that and took the cup, the phone, and the device with him to his lab to look it over. She looked at the agents. "We're really sorry. We don't mean or try to bring drama that way. We'd never want this sort of drama. Darcy and I both hate drama."
"We know it's not you, it's stupid beings," the lead agent of that team said. "Is your assistant all right?"
"They're giving her some air. She inhaled some smoke getting me away from the plug. I need to go see her." They nodded, letting her lock up her notes and then hit the medical area. The agent looked at the others. "Scan for bugs and things. Just in case. Let's do all the labs." They nodded, gathering the equipment they'd need and started there. Stark came back to see what they were doing. "Bug check, Mr. Stark. Just in case."
"That's a great idea. Lewis' phone was fully compromised thanks to that interface that leads back to SHIELD." The agents groaned but took the detail so they could arrest an idiot.
***
Tony Stark smirked as Nick Fury walked into his office. He held up the silver ball then dropped it back into that cup of coffee. "Yours."
"I have no idea."
"We tracked it. It goes back to SHIELD." He held up the notes on that with a bigger smirk. "To your monitoring and social media department to be exact, a Stephan Mora."
Fury looked him up. "That the only one?"
"Nope." He picked up the baggie of them. "They mostly lead back to a Rebecca Myers. Same department." He dropped the baggie onto the desk. "You were bugging my geeks for no reason and without a warrant. Most of us believe that you were trying to steal our work."
"I'm going to figure that out."
"Yes, do so. Before I kick all of you out of *my* tower." Stark stared at him. Fury huffed but went to talk to people. Including his equipment team to see how many of those had been checked out. They didn't have that gear listed at all. So that was fun. That social media department had three people and they were all involved apparently because they were complaining that their links had been cut when he got there.
***
Darcy leaned into Tony's office a few hours later. "I'm really sorry, Mr. Stark. We did not mean to bring this level of drama here. We had no idea about any of this."
"Shut up, Lewis. They were tracking more than you." He looked at her. "They had most labs bugged."
"So it wasn't the dragon thing?"
"Nope, it was SHIELD trying to steal data." He grimaced. "Though your drama, it was good drama. It saved a lot of others from getting hurt. That sort of drama I appreciate."
She smiled. "Thanks. We're hoping it's done with."
He nodded. "We all hope the stupid is done with. How did Aria nearly destroy the moon?"
"Jane was calibrating and inputting information on her bridge project into a device. Aria was trying to help and put in the wrong number and then hit the engage button before it was fully filled with a destination. So it rattled the moon a bit before Jane realized and stopped it."
Stark blinked a few times. "She... Okay, yeah, I knew I didn't want to really know. Is Foster doing that again?"
"I don't think she can. That device didn't work very well so she's rebuilt it a few times." Stark was staring at her. "I have no idea but SHIELD kept trying to get her work before to weaponize it. It's why we didn't want to work for SHIELD."
"Thankfully, Stark isn't SHIELD," he agreed. "That's dangerous. Can she still do that?"
"I have no idea if the current version of that machine will work that way. You'd have to ask Jane. I just do data entry and make sure she eats." He got up and followed her back. Jane was nagging Aria. "What happened?"
"She was whining," Jane said.
Darcy looked at Aria. "About?" She held up the book. "Okay, and?"
"People eat bunnies!"
Darcy nodded. "Yeah, bunnies can be eaten. There's specific types of bunnies for that. They're not the type that you raise as a pet."
"They said that dragons can hunt bunnies!" She huffed. "It's wrong!"
"Dear, people eat what they can catch," Darcy reminded her. "We talked about people who hunt to eat like that show you found. Remember that show and talk?" Aria went teary eyed. "Yeah, that show. Sometimes you gotta catch something to eat because you can't go to the grocery store. Like with deer, bunnies are easy to catch usually." She hugged her. "We'll talk about it when you're older."
"But they're *bunnies*!" she whined.
"Dear, some people eat squirrels too," Darcy said patiently. That got a wail and Aria went to hide in the bathroom. She sighed, sitting down. "Sorry, she's a bit sensitive."
"I guess she'll quit calling morons dumb bunnies," Jane said. She looked at the staring geek king. "New problems?"
"The moon?" Jane groaned and rolled her eyes. "Can you still do that? If so we need to lock that machine down so SHIELD or anyone else can't get it from you."
Jane pointed at the machine. "I've rebuilt it with safety switches since then. Twice."
"So no one fiddling with it, like a janitor who gets curious, could do that? It's happened in another lab, Foster, and that one nearly destroyed the building. Anything that dangerous we like to have locked up or somehow rendered unable to be turned on without you installing something so no one can fiddle with it."
"I suggested a removable cord but she couldn't do it," Darcy said.
"We can look at that idea," Stark agreed, smiling at her. "Before I have to rebuild the building?"
"I can do that. I've got a fingerprint scanner from a home security safe system on it."
"Great!" He nodded. "Show me, Foster. We'll make sure some idiot can't touch it without your help. It'll make us all safer." She nodded, leading him to that machine to go over how it worked and what safety protocols she had. Darcy got Aria and left the lab with her just in case. Last time the thing had spewed slime.
***
Aria was sitting in the hall sulking when the guard shift went past. "Why aren't you inside?" the guard asked her patiently.
"Because things suck and I hate that," she pouted up at him. "Mom told me to go pout in my room but I'll hurt my toys if I pout at them; they'll think I'm pouty at them."
He nodded. Three-year-olds did think toys were real sometimes so that was kinda normal to him. "Toys can be sensitive that way. Does your mom know you're out here?"
"Yup. She's in the kitchen listening." She pouted at him. "People eat bunnies."
"Sometimes," he agreed, smiling at her. "But that may be the only food they can find." She slumped and pouted more. "Don't some dragons eat bunnies?"
She stared up at him, eyes getting damp again. "People are dumb bunnies, I'd never eat them. Dragons don't eat people."
"No, honey, not that sort of bunny."
"But bunnies are good friends. They're soft and they eat their own poop!"
He reached down to pat her on the head. "I'm pretty sure you can avoid eating a bunny so you don't hurt their feelings, but bunnies for food aren't pet bunnies."
She shook her head. "All bunnies are soft friends."
He nodded. "Well, you can avoid that. That's a choice you make, sweetheart." She nodded, pouting again. "You should probably go back inside. It's getting late. You should probably have a bath and go to sleep."
She shook her head. "I won't get to sleep because I'll be sad about the bunnies."
"Okay. We'll make sure you're okay on our rounds." He walked off. "Try to think of other things, like cupcakes."
"I have a cupcake pillow," she admitted. "It's comfy." But then she pouted again. "People would eat it too."
He sent a text message once he was in another hallway to let the head guard know that the kid was pouty in the hall when they ran into her napping there later. The head guard decided to let the head of the local tribe know so he could go straighten out the weird kid.
Brock got a text message, sighing at it. He put down his beer and went to put on a t-shirt, going down there. He stared at the pouty kid. "Why are you so pouty?"
She looked at him. "Those books were mean. People eat bunnies."
He sighed, staring at her. "There's not many animals that people somewhere don't eat, kiddo." Darcy opened the door. "The guard shift commander told me she was confused." He looked at her. "Someone somewhere probably eats anything you can name. Are you sad about that?"
"I..." She looked at her mother then at him. "We should teach them to eat cows."
"They would if cows could live there," Darcy said. "Cows are expensive, big animals that are hard to take care of. Remember, we went to that embassy event and they had goat on the grill? Goats are smaller and easier to take care of than cows."
Aria stared up at her then at Brock. "Do they raise bunnies like cows?"
"Some places, yup. Some places you hunt wild ones. It's a usual first hunt for a young dragon."
"I don't want to do that. It's mean to bunnies."
"When you go on your first hunt there may not be any bunnies. You may find a deer or something."
"I don't mind deer, even with the movies." She was still sulky. "Bunnies are still nice friends and they eat some of their own poop."
"So do dogs and cats...." Darcy was shaking her head frantically. "So do pigs probably and you like bacon. Pigs eat everything, including people if they can mange it." She blinked at him. He nodded. "Thankfully we quit feeding pigs that sort of stuff if they were going to be used for bacon and hams."
"The piggies at the petting zoo weren't like that. They snuffled me and let me pet them but they didn't bite."
"They were well trained pigs," Darcy said. "Are you done pouting?"
"No!" She looked at Brock. "If I pouted inside I'd be pouting at my toys and they'd be sad about it because they'd think I was pouting at them."
"Toys can be sensitive," Darcy agreed. "But you shouldn't be in the hall this late. You'll distract the guard." Aria glared at her. She pointed. "C'mon. Bath time. You can pout at the bubbles."
"Nope!" She looked at Brock. "Why do we hunt anyway?"
"To teach you how in case you have to. It's a good life skill. It's also a way to prove that you can protect yourself from some things. It's like a thing you do to prove you're growing up."
"Oh. Do girls do that?"
"Mine would. I'd never want kids to be helpless."
She looked at her mother. "Did you do that?"
"One of my uncles made me even though your grandmother complained. Like I hunted the deer when we were in the cave."
"I don't mind deer. They're meant to be hunted, even if you do watch those silly movies." She looked at Brock. "Bambi is evilly dumb. And sad!"
"Yeah, it could be but it's meant for kids so they care about deer and skunks."
"I guess. Still sad and silly and mean." She pouted again.
Darcy rolled her eyes, looking at Brock. "I did hold back the book on relationships."
"I figured you would and maybe the bunny book too and the one on old tribes and their ways."
"She understood that. I've worked with a few Native peoples from a few different areas."
Aria looked at him. "They had neat rituals and clothes they wore during them."
"They do," he agreed with a nod, smiling some. "That's important to their culture. The same as some things are important to dragon cultures."
She nodded with a sigh. "I get that. But I'm still not eating bunnies!" She stared up at him. "People can be dumb bunnies and I'd never want to eat them."
"No, not that sort of bunnies. We don't eat people who're dumb bunnies. Only smaller ones that hop."
She blinked a few times. "But..."
"People being dumb bunnies doesn't change them from being people," Darcy said. "Unless you can change someone's form magically like Loki could."
"Oooh."
"She met Loki?" Brock asked.
"For a brief second in New Mexico before someone took her off."
"Oh, dear."
"Seriously, kids are chaos sources so they're like mini worshipers. She's powered at least one chaos god today from the pouting."
He grinned at that. "I think most kids do. At least healthy ones." He stood up, hauling Aria up to stare down at her. "You can ask me questions about big dragon stuff. Or your mom. We answer questions."
"But you're not the den daddy."
He leaned down. "I'm the top dragon in SHIELD, Aria," he said quietly, staring at her. "That's part of my job when the young dragons need questions answered. SHIELD has their own tribe and the ones here in the tower have rolled theirs into ours since we protect them." He patted her on the head. "So if you have questions you can ask your mom or me when I'm around. All right?" She nodded, staring up at him. "Do you have other questions?"
"Why do you have all the tiny scars?"
"Umm....well, a building fell on me while I was undercover to stop some really bad people."
"Oh. I'm sorry I asked if it made you feel bad." She hugged his arm. "You're a nice dragon daddy." She went inside.
"Thank you," Darcy said quietly, smiling at her. "And sorry about her lack of tact."
"People noticed them a lot more before they got healed." He stared at her. "I know we do things differently than you grew up doing but she deserves the full field so she can make her own decision."
"I'm not against that. I've talked with many who weren't council aligned over the years. She's a bit too young for some of it though. Especially the stuff that I heard from one of our Aussie counterparts about ritual markings."
"No, that's Native dragon, not Euro-based Australian peoples. I asked about that to an Australian agent once." She grinned at that. "Go have fun being a mom. She's a good kid. I'm in and out but she can email me questions if she wants."
"She can't read that well yet. But I'll let her send you video emails. She's really good at that."
"Sure, that'll work." He walked off smiling. "Have a better night."
"You too and thanks. Tell them not to bother you on your nights off. Free time is rare and important."
He looked back at her. "I work fewer hours than you do with Foster." He gave her a pointed look before strolling off again.
She rolled her eyes but went inside. "Aria, you could ask me those questions too."
"I know but I wanted to pout."
"Fine. Bath time." Aria went to take her bubble bath while her mother muttered at the ceiling gods about her. Her mother talked to ceiling gods a lot when she did things she didn't understand. Her mom must not remember being a kid her age. Darcy came in to help her wash her back and hair. "Mom, when did you learn to talk to the ceiling gods that Auntie Jane told me about?"
"The day I met Jane. She makes me talk to them more than you do."
"Ooooh. Yeah I guess that's why Auntie Jane knew about them." She held up her washing doll. "Can she have soap?" Darcy squirted some on so she could clean herself with the doll shaped sponge.
***
Aria was delivering things again when she ran into a problem. At least she thought it was a problem. She considered it and did what her mother would do. "JARVIS, why is Uncle Thor not Uncle Thor?" she asked, making the 'Thor' wannabe flinch and stare at her. Tony blinked at her and got out of the way. "I can tell you're not Uncle Thor. He tells me stories and his Growlies are different than yours are. Yours is pretty though. And she said you're naughty to impersonate your brother, whatever that means. So who are you? I'm Aria, I'm nearly four!" She smiled and held out a hand, waiting on him.
He stared at her. "I am Thor."
"Uncle Thor has warm tingles that my dragon can feel."
"What dragon?" he asked.
She smirked. "See, Uncle Thor knew I'm a dragon." She showed off her scales and the not Uncle Thor grimaced but nodded. "Here, Uncle Tony. Mommy sent those to you." She put them on the table and looked at him. "So who are you really? Your Growlie is really pretty and sweet looking."
"What's a Growlie?" Tony asked patiently.
"She talks to spirits," the not Thor said dryly.
She beamed and nodded. "Mommy could too when she was my age. Do you know my Mommy and Auntie Jane?"
"I've been slapped by your aunt once," he admitted dryly, smirking at her. "You should not be in here, Aria."
"I'm being an intern and delivering things," she said cheerfully. "And hoping to play with Dum-E. He's a neat friend." The robot beaned the not Thor on the head, knocking him out. He turned into someone else. "Ooh, I don't know you yet. You're not a dragon." Stark was spluttering and choking.
Darcy strolled in and put her daughter out in the hall, closing the door. "My daughter needs sense." She kicked Loki on the ankle, staring at him with a grin. "I'm sure Jane would say hi, Loki, but she and Thor broke up recently. So why the visit?" She looked to the side. "Huh, your mom was really pretty. And that's a pretty necklace. I need to find something in that stone for Aria. She loves opals for the rainbow effect." She looked at Tony, nodding. Then she looked at Loki again.
He sat up, staring at her. "Your daughter is incredibly weird."
"Yup, that's why she's my daughter." She grinned. "We do protect Jane."
"I came to see what the oaf had done this time to piss off Heimdall." He stood up carefully, looking at the robot then at her and Stark. "You can't think...." She put up some of her scales. "That's interesting. We never felt magic around you before."
"Well, I had a block and I can't do real magic," she said dryly. "And studying it at this late date would take me away from my daughter." He stared at her, looking amused. "Beyond that, why else did you pretend to be your brother? I mean, Thor's about a pain in the butt since he was drunk for the last three days. I got texted about how pretty my scales would look against his hammer and he's only flirty with me that way when he's wasted."
"That may be why Heimdall was mad at him."
"Or that he broke up with Jane?"
"I don't know that he would be fazed by that." He considered her. "I meant no harm to you or your daughter, Matriarch."
"And yet, I'm here so they're under my protection, including the head geek king here."
He sighed. "You cannot fight me."
She grinned. "Watch me bring your mom back to life."
Loki flinched, staring at her. "You cannot."
"I'll suffer a great headache." Frigga was shaking her head not to. She looked at her then at Loki. "She was a mom I could mostly look up to according to Jane. So what would she be doing right now?"
"Finding a sword, my mother was good at it."
"I have claws for that." She grinned. "I can hear Thor stomping this way."
He nodded. "I think you should look at magical theories at least."
"Probably. But still a lot of work for a lot of headaches." She waved. "Shoo." He disappeared, leaving Frigga for a second. She shrugged at the ghost, who sighed but followed her son to nag him more. Thor stomped in holding his hammer. "Your mom said hi. She's following your brother around to nag him."
"My mother?" Thor demanded.
"Pretty sandy blonde older lady. Wearing formal Asgardian dress robes and a pretty opal necklace with a gold collar overtop of it?"
Thor blinked a few times. "I thought only your daughter could do that."
"She had to get it from somewhere, Thor, and the blocks I had were broken." She patted him on the arm. "Aria was totally amused by someone pretending to be you by the way." She walked off shaking her head. "Daughter, let's talk about when not to introduce yourself to strangers. I'd like you to make it to four years of age." Her daughter pouted at her. "Quit being so friendly to bad people please. Loki is not a nice guy and he might've hurt you."
"I'll do better," she sighed. "I'm trying to be polite like Auntie Jane taught me, Mom."
"I know you are." She hugged her. "You're good at it too. Just make sure they're not bad guys, okay?"
"Fine."
"That funny feeling that told you it wasn't Thor? That's a warning sign that they're probably not nice people." She sighed but nodded, going back to the lab to get other things to deliver. She looked up and shook her head.
Thor looked at her from the doorway to Tony's lab. "Your daughter says that's talking to Ceiling Gods."
"Yeah, Jane taught her that." She looked at him. "You might want to call home to see why Heimdall's mad at you. Loki was seeing why he was mad."
"I can do that in a moment. How did she tell?"
"Thor, you radiate certain things, like everyone else does. Do you think Aria's not sensitive enough to tell that?"
"I had not thought of that. So she felt it wasn't me."
"Yup, from what JARVIS showed me when he warned me she was talking to someone weird."
Thor nodded. "I'll call up there to see what problem has happened. You warn her off Loki."
"I had a talk about her not talking to dangerous people or ones who felt weird until she was sure they were good people." She gave him a pointed look. "I do a lot of that. She knows not to do that but Jane taught her to introduce herself to strangers to be polite."
Thor nodded with a sigh. "My mother did such and had to remind me not to talk to weird people as well." He went to find Aria and talk to her about his mother's training.
Darcy looked up again, shaking her head. "Thanks, JARVIS." She went back to Jane's lab then checked on her spawn, who was petting Dr. Banner. She went to check on her. "Aria?" she asked. Bruce woke up and Aria grinned, going back to patting him. "You need permission to pet people, you know that."
"He was having a bad dreamie, Mom. I did what you do to mine." She grinned and held up the envelope. "From Auntie Jane's machines?"
"Thank you, Aria, and for the help, but please ask before you pet me."
"I will." She hugged his arm and walked off.
"I'll have that talk with her again tonight. Sorry," Darcy said quietly.
Bruce shook his head with a sigh but did open the data packet so he could work on it. The kid was a breath of fresh, weird air. Then he heard Tony complaining about Loki showing up and the kid being nice to him. He winced. "Yeah, she needs to have a lot of talks with the kid about strangers."
***
Maria Hill got a report from the lab guards and stared at it, then sighed. She went to hand it to Fury personally, making him stare at it. "Well, she is probably the toughest female dragon in the labs," he decided. He blinked a few times. "And she does matriarch duty for Foster too." He looked at her. "Are you more worried about that part or that Loki was here and we didn't know?"
"All of it. It could put her daughter in danger."
"No, she'd never let that happen. Her daughter will always come first, Hill. That's what a matriarch does." He put the paper down. "I'll make sure the hierarchy around the agents knows that she's claimed protection over Stark too. Really, the guy could use it. She might make him eat too."
Hill walked off sighing, going to take a copy of that report to Agent Pekin, who was the third top dragon in SHIELD locally. "Got a few?" He nodded. She handed over the report. "Fury said not to worry."
He blinked as he reread it. "Yeah, she's building a nest I guess." He looked up at her. "Sometimes females will be the sort to take in any stray kids around. My mother wasn't one but an aunt was. She always had a spot open for a kid who needed to hide for the night, or ones that needed to hide more often than that in one case.
"I'm guessing Lewis would be that way by the way she's an overprotective mother hen over Dr. Foster." He put it down. "There's not a problem with her claiming protection. She won't jump into battles or anything to protect Stark. But he'll come right after her daughter, then Foster, in her worries when things happen. He can fight that battle himself probably."
"Why would this suddenly start?"
"Because before she was living with Foster, and not paid. She's finally settled into a place of her own, with her nestling daughter. It's fairly common to set up the first real place of your own as a nest to make sure you're all right and everything is going to be okay. You probably put comforting things from home. This is our version of a picture of Grandma on the wall and throw pillows."
"Oh. All right. So no worries about her stepping into something?"
"If someone comes for her daughter, sure will. If they come for Foster and her daughter's safe? Probably will. Stark? If he's down and unable to do it himself, probably as long as the first two on the list are okay and safe."
"Good to know. Are there others?"
"One of our admins is that sort of grandma. She's in HR and you can always find a treat on her desk and her smiling at most everyone who isn't Melinda May."
She sighed. "Fine. Thank you."
"Welcome. We'll make sure she can tell Aria how to tell bad people she shouldn't talk to." Hill nodded, leaving it with him. He grinned, getting back to work. It figured Lewis was a nest building sort of mom.
***
Jane looked at Darcy that night after Aria had went to bed. "There's talk about you being in nest building mode."
"No, I don't have my hoard of art here. I mean, first apartment in a while but my dorm room was my original nest." She considered it. "No, if I was nesting I'd be redecorating. Since I'm still using the given furniture we're probably okay with that."
"Yet you claimed protection of Stark."
"Yeah, he needed it at that moment. And about half the time he doesn't notice things that could hurt him. The same as you don't. He's next door and it seemed to make sense." She shrugged. "I'm probably just still over-sensitive from the long heat and my body's wondering why we don't have an egg on the way."
"Huh. Okay. Are you feening for a new kid?"
"No," Darcy said, shaking her head quickly. "It was really hard with Aria."
"But you've got a paying job now. It'd be easier."
Darcy looked at her. "And that barely covers the two of us. Having another one means more diapers and food and clothes."
"You're making enough." Darcy got her pay stub to show her. Jane blinked then nodded once. "I don't pay rent that way. Huh." She got up to get her own pay stub, bringing it back. "No, mine doesn't look like that." She sent an email to HR about that, wondering about her assistant's paycheck being so different from hers. "We'll see." She looked at her. "If it's something hinky we'll figure it out."
"With my luck they'll try to fire me," Darcy complained. She shifted to curl up some. "If so, you've got to hire me under the table."
"I will." She smiled at her. "We'll figure it out." Someone knocked so she got up to get it. "What's up, Agent Pekin?"
"I thought this was Lewis'..." Jane pointed. "Oh, okay. Lewis, there was talk about you needing to nest. We have a few nice shops that're run by the local community."
"Cool. I don't think I'm nesting but my hoard is full of art and statues." She grinned. "Thank you, Agent Pekin."
"You're welcome. Are you sure you're not nesting?" She looked around the apartment then at him. "True. Are you and the sprout all right?"
"So far. We had a long talk about her not talking to people that made her feel funny so hopefully it won't be Loki next time."
"We can only hope." He grinned. "There's a social event in a few weeks."
Darcy shook her head. "I don't do good in social things. I'd hate to have a valium that night and fall asleep on someone."
He snickered. "It's not a ball, Lewis. It's like a church dinner."
"Will they accept me with all the problems that landed on us?"
"I don't think it'll be a problem. I'll ask one of the local matriarchs who can tell others to shut up if they try something."
She nodded. "If no one would mind, Aria should get to know more people. It's good for her to get to know more changers."
"It's mostly just dragons at that event. The local communities don't mix as often as the smaller ones do."
"It'll still lead to teaching her things and getting her used to a community around her. She's got to get used to rules."
"There's a lot of kids that go to these. A lot of parents use it to show off." He grinned. "It'll give her some good socialization."
"She could use it but she is not to show off her scales."
"We've heard she's blue."
"She is."
"Does she have that same dual...." Darcy nodded. "Ah. That's fine. We won't talk about it. Some parents brag. I'm sure you've seen them before."
"Yeah, my local one when I was growing up had parents like that. I hated the debutante ones."
He snickered. "I figured you weren't that sort." He handed over the invitation. "I'll let a matriarch know tonight so she can tell the others not to fuss. It does you good to have a good den around you too." He left them to talk.
Jane sat back down. "Are all male dragons very paternal?"
"In a lot of cases, yup." She nodded. "At least he didn't try to order it like some have in the past. London had a lot of ordering me around that I ignored and glared about. They didn't hold many social events that weren't formal dinners at someone's house."
Jane nodded. "I didn't think you went to any in London."
"Nope. There was one in Norway we went to but they were giving us odd looks because they didn't get too many that weren't natively local and it was a find a mate sort of event. I'm the only one that brought a kid."
Jane nodded. "That makes sense. I remember you nearly slugging an agent for trying to take your breast pump and then you handing him the crying kid to feed since he claimed he had to take it anyway. His horrified look was pretty."
She grinned. "Yes it was. It's amazing how breast pumps suddenly got found to not have data capabilities. He had the same look about the two vibrators I had." Jane burst out in giggles. "Speaking of, I've got to hide them better. Aria was in my dresser earlier." She got up to find a better hiding place from her daughter. The top shelf of a cabinet seemed to be the safest place.
***
Agent Pekin looked at the matriarch of his group, nodding at her. "I've invited Darcy Lewis and her daughter to join us."
"Wasn't she the one that brought down the confederation council?"
"Over them trying to force a mate on her with someone who's killed a lot. She's not really related to any council at the moment, outside maybe the one her mother runs in Virginia."
The matriarch nodded. "She seemed nice outside all that."
"She is. And she's borderline nesting. She hasn't gotten to redecorating but that battle did send her into a two week heat she handled on her own." The matriarch rolled her eyes. "Rumlow went for a week of it to guard her but he's said that she made it clear she was handling it on her own. She meditated it out with her daughter in the back of the cave and her best friend making Rumlow bring her after a week."
"It's good she could handle that on her own but that means she's stubborn."
"Yup," he agreed with a grin and a nod. "She's stood up against the damsel epidemic we're having locally. Including one that threatened to bring her to social services for letting her daughter have a hair cut." That got a tiny growl. "The same woman had been forcing the other dragons in Stark to follow the damsel way or get fired. There was a lot of haircuts when she got fired for that and putting a flower crown on two younger girls in daycare."
The matriarch shuddered. "Oh, dear. That's nearly evil."
"Yup." He nodded. "I had nagged her for another changer. That incident got her fired." He stared at her. "I told her that she and her daughter would be okay and without a lot of stress outside the socially climbing bimbos we have."
"We can probably guarantee that. I don't like them sniping either." She stared at him. "Do you think she wants to join this nest group?"
"I don't think she's into any of that. She's of the original ways, when things were matrilineal. As Rumlow said, she's a queen of the old order. And an original line heir apparently. Her father was one."
"So she'd have heard histories?"
"From her grandmother, Rosie."
The matriarch shuddered but nodded. "I met her once. That was an iron dragon matriarch."
"And she helped raise Lewis." He grinned. "Her daughter will be the same way. Lewis insists that her kids will go to a normal school with changer lessons on the side so she's used to the full spectrum of changers and normals. She did that herself."
"Hmm. That's not that popular up here but I can see why she would. She studies people?"
"Political science degree. She helps Dr. Foster, who was rebuilding the Bifrost and dating Thor."
"That pretty brunette assistant?" He nodded with a grin. "Huh, I didn't recognize her as one." She frowned. "I can usually pick them out of the pictures. Is she a mythical pole?"
"That's not sure. During that battle she broke some sort of block according to the report Rumlow filed. She'd had it since she was seven. One of the people who showed up was Dr. Abelsome, who was her childhood mentor." She shivered. "I know her daughter can see something she calls Growlies. I've heard her mention them and they sound like spirits she's seeing. She saw the one hanging around Loki when he appeared but pretended to be Thor. She figured it out before Stark did and told him the ghost hanging around him was pretty."
"That's sweet of her." She stared at him. "Getting that little one to understand more than one group would be a good thing to do."
"Which her mother agrees with. And that she has to learn that there's a community that has rules. She's almost four."
"Awww. That's a good age to start thinking about the way you want to be."
He waved a hand with a grin. "Lewis promised that if her daughter suddenly started to grow the waist length hair, she'd cut it on her daughter. She *loathes* the damsel movement. And she looks up to the real history of Madeline Canbary and a dancer named Isadora Duncan. I've never heard of her."
"The real history?"
"Yup. She handed Rumlow a copy of her real biography. Including how she was forced at spear point at her daughter's throat to commit adultery."
"I studied her in high school. She was an interesting queen and that was a huge amount of political screwing up on purpose that she was forced into." She nodded a bit. "She sounds interesting and I look forward to her coming to the picnic."
"I told her it was like a church picnic."
"It is," she agreed with a smile. "A lot of it. I'll warn Mary Magera to leave her stuff at home."
"I gave her catalogs for a few stores we run since we think she's borderline nesting."
"After a two week heat? Her body's probably wanting to set up a nest at all. Pity he didn't talk her into it. He'd be less uptight and so would she."
"She's not uptight and she had a date with a normal last week. She's not against dating anyone but the bigoted asses who hiss at her for dating whoever she wants even if they're not dragons."
She nodded. "Some of our best and strongest matriarchs in history have been that way. Including a few who turned humans into consorts." She shrugged. "I can't hold that against her but I'll remind Mary Magera to shut her whore mouth." She smiled. "Thank you for bringing this bit of liveliness to our group, Mark."
"Welcome, Grandmother." He got up to kiss her on the cheek. "I know Lewis feels better with a community she can talk to. She hasn't had that since before they went to London." He went home to make dinner.
His grandmother smiled as she cleaned up the small mess from the tea. It was very interesting who her grandson ran into sometimes.
***
Aria came out dressed up in a very weird outfit. Darcy stared at her, shaking her head slightly. "You don't need the rain boots." Aria pouted. "The skirt and shirt don't match. And neither does the headband, dear." She walked her back into the bedroom to get her redressed. "Pick one thing you really want to wear out of that mess that doesn't match?" She pointed at her boots. "Um, not those. That might insult someone. Sneakers please. You might get to run around and play."
"Fine," Aria sighed. She slumped, staring at her mother. "The skirty?" They had built in shorts underneath them and she liked it a lot.
"The skirt's a good choice. You have three shirts that go with it." She pulled them out of the drawer. "Which one?" She pointed at a printed t-shirt. "That may be a bit informal. We're meeting with another group of dragons tonight for a dinner."
"They'll think I'm a fun kid. Which I am."
"You are," Darcy agreed with a grin, pulling out a matching t-shirt that had a cute graphic. "Want unicorns or zombie bears?"
"Zombies please." She grinned. Darcy let her change out shirts and undershirt that she didn't actually need. That matched well with the shirt and she got her a pair of sneakers to put on instead. She held up a choice of two headbands. "Sparkly rainbow or simpler but sparkly?" She touched her current one. "It's the wrong color." She put her in front of a mirror. "See, it clashes with your shirt."
"Ummmm." She ran to get something and held it up. "It's pretty and it'll go."
"Tiara is only for around the lab. Even though Thor bought it for you. You have a headband that's really fancy from Jane's mom." She pointed at it since it was in a case. "That means you have to be careful with it. It could get broken."
"I'll let you hold it if we get to play." She let her mother fuss at her hair and settle it in it. She ran to the mirror and smiled. "Lip gloss?" She let her put on some tinted chapstick then went to fix her own makeup and put on something else. That way she matched her daughter and was more casually uptight. They left together with the invitation in Darcy's bag. They got there and Darcy held up the invitation. "We were invited by Agent Pekin."
The guard on the door smiled and nodded. "Welcome to our group, Miss Lewis and Aria. The matriarch said you'd be coming tonight." He smiled at the girl. "You look adorable." He pointed. "That's our matriarch and she's ignoring her husband at the moment."
"Thank you," Darcy said, walking that way. "Hi." She smiled, putting Aria in front of her but holding onto her shoulders since she was looking around. "Thank you for inviting us. Aria needs to know more about her people sometimes."
"The world is a great big place," the older woman agreed with a smile. "Agatha." She looked over and came to meet Darcy. "I'm Mary Magera, dear. Some of the socially sniping ones are mine."
Darcy nodded. "I went to school with some of those." She smiled at the other matron. "Ma'am, I'm Darcy and this is Aria, my heathen princess."
She burst out in giggles, smiling at the young girl. "Heathen princesses are always welcome here, dear."
Aria smiled and held out a hand. "I'm Aria, I'm nearly four."
"That's a wonderful age." She shook her hand. "I'm Agatha and the matriarch of this group of families and nests." She led her off to introduce them, letting Aria get a piece of chicken to nibble on, even if her mother did sigh. "She's fine, Darcy."
"She has manners. Jane and I made sure she had good manners."
"I know. She has delightful manners and a chicken leg is meant for a young one to eat. They have a built in handle so they don't lose them."
Darcy nodded. "I prefer them for that reason too. I'm clumsy sometimes."
Agatha smiled and patted her on the back. "It happens sometimes to all of us." She introduced them to a few others, Aria remembering to keep her chicken out of her right hand to for shaking. They ran into the kids and Aria looked at her mother, who took the sparkly headband so she could go play when that mother nodded it was okay. Darcy put the headband in her own hair for now, making Agatha giggle. "It's cute."
"Her Aunt Jane's mother bought it for her." She smiled a bit. "Uncle Thor bought her a cheap tiara and I had to keep that in the house and the lab."
"Some girls like twinkly things, dear."
"Oh, I know. I don't mind that but I don't want her to show off."
"That means you're a supportive and careful mother." She patted her on the shoulder, putting her with a group of younger dragons, mostly men. "Boys, behave with Darcy. Her daughter's playing with the horde." She waved a hand at the chasing kids. Aria yelped when she fell down and huffed but worked her ankle so it was better, and got up to limp after the others again. "Oh." Agatha looked at Darcy.
"Kidnaping last year loosened it. She's got exercises. Aria, I have your brace," she called quietly, waving it. She limped over to grab it to put on then went back to playing. "She's got exercises to strengthen it and her knees."
Agatha smiled. "That's a good thing, it means it can be solved easier." She patted her on the shoulder, staring at the doorway. "Oh, there's Mary's daughter-in-law," she sighed. She went to stop her from coming over by talking to her.
Darcy grinned at the guys, shrugging some. "You guys can talk about guy things. Don't worry about me."
One waved a hand. "We all have sisters, Miss Lewis. It's fine. We're mostly watching the heathens ourselves before they turn into spawns of our siblings."
"Aria tries so hard not to be a spawn," she joked with a grin. "But sometimes...."
They nodded. "All kids do," one of the three other women quipped. "We're basically the singles corner. This way we don't have to hear about who's trying to have a new kid and who's failing at that. That group over there is in a contest to see who has the most kids in a decade. One cheated by going IVF and had triplets." Darcy giggled, shaking her head. "The rest of us have sense." Darcy giggled louder. "That's how we feel too." Aria came limping back over. "Hey, kiddo."
She looked at them. "If one of you dates my mother, you can't be buttholes to her." She ran off again.
"Grounded tomorrow," Darcy called after her. Aria pouted so she stared at her. "You knew better to be that rude."
"Sorry," she called. "I shouldn't be rude." She went back to playing.
Darcy sighed and shook her head, looking at them. "Sorry. We taught her manners for the most part."
"My sister's oldest kid looked at my last boyfriend and told him she'd flame him to death if he wasn't good to me in bed, whatever adults did in there when they locked the door and had fun." The woman smiled at her. "Aria was downright polite compared to my sister's kids."
"We try so hard," Darcy sighed, watching her daughter play. She looked at the others. "I've been fighting her on walking up to everyone and telling them her name and how old she is."
The others nodded. "That could be dangerous," they agreed. Aria went to introduce herself and her new friend to others, who somewhat knew the other kid but were amused by them anyway. One pointed. "She's meeting new people now."
Darcy looked. "Aria, please don't bother people," she called.
"I'm not, Mom. I'm being polite with Lisa." She pulled Lisa over. "This is my mom, Lisa. Mom, this is Lisa, a new friend."
"Hi, Lisa." Darcy smiled and shook the shy girl's hand. "It's nice to meet a new friend of Aria's." She looked at her daughter. "Don't bother any elders," she said quietly. "They could be talking about important things."
"I won't interrupt," she promised, skipping off arm-in-arm with Lisa to greet others.
Darcy sighed. Then moaned quietly. She looked at the others, who all smiled at her. One of the guys patted her on the shoulder with a grin. "She's a good kid most of the time," she said, smiling at them. They grinned back. They chatted nicely for a bit until she heard a kid burst out crying so stood up to look. Aria was defending her new friend and a few other kids from another adult. "Excuse me. My daughter's turning into a queen again." She strolled over that way. "Aria?"
"She sneered at us for playing, Mom," Aria called without turning her head. "We weren't even near her kids. We were playing hopscotch in the corner."
Darcy looked at the matron. "I'm sorry, did my daughter upset you?" she asked pleasantly.
"You," she sneered. "What are you doing here?"
"We were invited to meet some new people," Darcy said. "I've always had friends from all different walks of life."
"You're council," the old woman sneered.
"No, my mother is council. Not a local one and ours in Virginia isn't full of spoiled bitches." She gave her a pointed look. "My daughter will make that choice for herself some year. I never hinder my daughter making friends and getting to know others and their ways."
"I doubt she needs to know us."
"I doubt she needs to know you," Darcy corrected with a smile for her. "Because you seem kinda mean to kids. Girls, let's come play over near us again? Please, Aria?"
"You should punish her."
"For what? Standing up for herself? That's her right and her responsibility. If you were being a bitch to the kids, I want my daughter to protest on hers and others' behalfs. I want her to be a good person who sticks up for others." She walked the kids off. "C'mon, we can redraw the hopscotch board." Aria ran over to get their marbles they had been using, handing them back to the one she had borrowed them from with a grin and a 'thank you' before coming back.
"Thank you, very polite, Aria." She smiled at Lisa and the other kid. "I'm Aria's mom Darcy, guys." She smiled. "We're used to all sorts of kid things so you can play near us." She let them run off to find a new hopscotch field and play there instead. Darcy handed over two quarters for box marking. "There you go." They threw them out and got back to their game. Darcy sat down with a smile for Agatha since she was staring that way.
"She has some of the nicest manners," the nearest mother said with a smile for Darcy.
"Jane and I both insisted on it. But she does good most of the time. Even if I do have to remind her not to introduce herself to weird people." She sighed. "Her aunt was dating Thor for a bit."
That got a nod. "She's a good little princess."
Darcy grinned. "She'll tell you princesses have to get rescued due to Disney but queens are self rescuing like Thor's mother was." She giggled but nodded. "My baby's unique but fun most of the time." She smiled as she watched the girls drag a few boys into the game when they complained it was for girls. They reset the score and got back to the game for points they made up.
"What do you do, dear?"
"I'm a lab manager for an astrophysicist." She smiled. "We just recently took up Mr. Stark's offer to move to his lab from London. I've got to take some time to bring her and my boss out to the zoos and things. Jane could use some outside time."
"Mom, did I hear the magical zoo word?" Aria called.
"You sure did but you have to convince Jane to take a field trip," she called back.
"Yay!" She danced around with Lisa, who was giggling but telling her about the five zoos in the area. That was amazing and she'd have all the talks with Auntie Jane about going out to see the animals.
Darcy grinned at that. "My daughter is such a goofball." The others just smiled at that. It was nice, these ones weren't as sneering about things as the ones she was used to. Only one matron being mean was almost a blessing.
***
Changing Your Life.