A Birth day

Jess chuckled and nodded to Nigel " he would, hes done it to my husband twice, think little yellow fluffy duckling" she said chuckling at the memories " you should remember , he swore off eggs for a month" Ruby looked at her and chuckled as did Aria.

" that does sound like Angus" Ruby said as she ate her breakfast casserole angus had made earlier. "He has done it to others too " she said casually " didn't he cause that nurse to have a zipper mouth?" she asked Marcus making Aria look over at him.

Radagast looked and listened to them all taking an smirked " I knew a man who turned some one into a bug and kept it on his shelf in his study" he said then looked at Robert " oh and he did it to Reeter skeeter too?" he said no quite convinced at his statement.

Marcus nodded.

"Yup," Marcus nodded to Ruby. "That's what she deserved for thinking his step-gran wasn't important enough to save."

"In her defense," Robert said, "I don't think she really thought that. I think she just was not cut out for a&e."  Radagast said he knew of someone who changed someone into a bug and kept them a shelf and jinxed Rita Skeeter too. Robert was guilty of the bug jar, and it wasn't something he was about to change.

"Dad had every right," Sam said, not knowing who Radagast was nor caring. "If it had been me, I wouldn't have just blown her skirt up, I'd have taken her freaking ugly dress clean off and let her stand there in front of her rivals in her knickers."

"You would not," Marcus frowned at Sam.

"Oh, yes he would," Victor said. "And he'd enjoy every minute of it."

"These are Angus and Ruby's boys," Robert said to Radagast. "Sam and Victor. They're amongst our youngest fighters, and these are their foster daughters, Anise and Ginger. These four little delinquents would walk through the very fires of hell to protect Angus and Ruby." 

"Am I too late for a plate?" Simone asked, coming in. "Edward woke me and told me you got him back. I am so relieved. Evan and Tara are up. They'll be over shortly. I think they're planning on heading home straight after breakfast. I think they feel like a bit more quiet would be a good thing for Angus."

"Come fix your plate, Simone. Angus enjoys having Evan and his family around," Marcus said. "He would be the first to tell you they're no trouble."

"How bad is he, Robert?" Simone asked, fixing her plate.

"He'll be alright, but he's not going anywhere but right there where he is for a couple weeks at least," Robert said. "Get yourself a plate, Radagast. Might as well tuck in. Angus has some talent in the kitchen. It could be the best chance at a free five star breakfast you'll get all day."

"He's an executive level trained chef who is an adrenalin junkie," Nigel said, "but I don't miss a chance to eat here if it comes up.' As he spoke a note fluttered up from the floo, and Nigel caught it. He looked at it and handed it to Marcus. "It seems to be for you."  

Marcus took the note and read it and handed it to Aria. 

"Thirty minutes," he told her. "You have some time. Her grandson will meet you in the lobby of the hotel. Ila isn't sure you'll recognize what he looks like so he'll be the young man wearing a white fedora. Remember, its still dark there. By my watch, its 2 am there. Do you need me to go along, or do you two have it?"

Ruby and Aria both listened to Robert and Marcus talking and smiled. When the boys returned and spoke to Radagast he raised an eye brow but said nothing staying right where he was. " I'm not saying he didn't, it was a tactful move on his part" he said then looked at Robert as he spoke making the book close and disappear he stood up and looked at the two boys "Bien content de t'acoanta" he said and chuckled " tis good to know you" he said so they would understand , forgive me , its been a while since I left New Orleans and forget not every one understands Cajun, my name is Radagast Albus Barnett, future acquaintance to your father, no?." he introduced himself to them

Aria heard Marcus as she saw him get a note and she nodded " I'm ready when he is" she said to Marcus motioning to Radagast. "and we can talk about him later" she said smiling apologetically to him as she finished her food and took the plate to the kitchen to put in the washer. As she walked back into the living room she checked she had everything including the garter wand holder hid under her slacks.

Ruby smiled seeing Simone walk in from their side " oh your more than welcome" she said in relief. " after you have eaten could we talk?" she said to Simone hoping she would be okay with taking the babies for a few days.

"Good to meet you too," Sam said. 

"Yes, well met, Mr. Barnett," Victor said. "Ruby, has Finn been out yet? He's pacing at the door." 

Robert watched as two sippy cups left their spots in the cabinet, went to the fridge, filled themselves with milk, and fitted their own lids and left the room, sliding up the banister. Robert didn't respond but he did look at it rather quizzically.

"Minos," Marcus laughed. "Trying to stop the minions from screaming since the humans have not responded."

"Minos is upstairs?" Robert asked.

"The whole blooming crew is up there," Marcus said, "because of the storm last night earlier in the evening."  A moment later, the screaming stopped. 

"That'll work til the sippy cups run dry," Robert quipped.

"And see, it hasn't disturbed Angus one muscle," Marcus added.

"Because I hit him hard with a pain spell. He won't be so comatose later," Robert said, as Edward and Evan and Simone arrived.

"More Donohues you haven't met," Marcus told Barnett. "Angus's grandfather, Edward. His brother, Evan, and his sister in law Tara. Faith and Evie over there--the girls in the denim shorts--are Evan and Tara's daughters. And before you ask, yes. Edward is THAT Donohue. He and Simone live in the other half of the duplex."

"You'll brief me later, Robert, right?" Edward asked.

"If Ruby doesn't object," Robert said. "Remember, you're no longer next of kin."

"Don't be a dick, Robert," Edward scowled.

"I'm only being factual," Robert replied. "Incidently, we're looking for alternate placement for the babies for a week or two. It isnt going to be good for Angus for them to be here. Sorry, Ruby. The less bullshit, the better."

"Talk about bullshit!" Edward frowned deeply. "They're my grandbabies. If it will harm Angus for them to be here, then they can come with their grandparents. Why wouldn't they, when we're right here?"

"Or their uncle and auntie," Evan frowned. "Donohues look after their own."

"So does Jessie, I believe," Marcus said. "There's another uncle right next door. There are all sorts of options. Well, now that you've taken the lid off it, you presume to let them try to resolve it themselves?"

"No. I intended for the minion's mother to see that she has far more relatives wanting to take care of the minions than she has minions to go around."

"Depends on the age of the minions," Marcus cast a mischievous look at all four teens. "She could choose to spread them all around."

"Uh uh," Sam protested. "Not happening."

"He's teasing, Nitwit," Victor elbowed Sam.



"God. I thought for a moment, the cheese had gone bad on my cracker," Robert said.

Ruby heard Robert talk to Edward and chuckled " that's fine" she said and breathed out , seeing the Sippy cups seemly take on there own mind she watched then chuckled forgetting Minos was upstairs " I'll go and gather some things for them , they can stay with their grand parents" she said Aria looked at Marcus should be time Radagast and her left to fetch the package.

Ruby returned with two aby bags packed and one baby on each hip smiling as each chatted in their own language to her happily. " I think the Fae in the nursery made them happy" she said as Amari finished drinking from her Sippy cup. Caprice when she saw Edward held out her hands to him.

"Gan papa, Gan papa " she shouted to him clenching and unclenching her hands for him to hold her making Ruby chuckle.Where as Amari just staid with Ruby happy to drink. "oh I forgot I should give them breakfast as its something they like she said and placed both into the high chairs placing prepared bowls in front of the girls she handed Caprice her fork and Amari her spoon. then she placed both bags by the adjoining door " you can fetch more when you need it" she said " I'm not going to lock the adjoining door just in case." she added.

Radagast looked to Edward and smiled slightly " oh I might not have known him personally but , every one knows of the legendary werewolf hunter, who carries an axe so sharp it can cut cleaner than a butchers carving knife" he said with flamboyance. He looked to Even and smiled " pleasure to meet you to" he said and looked to Simone but at a stern look from Aria he simply bowed to her with respect." pleasure to make your acquaintance." he simply said and chuckled seeing Aria once more frown. " parting is such sweet sorrow, I must be away, for now" he added and walked over to Aria.

Aria rolled her eyes and looked to Robert " we'll not be long" she said as she took hold of Radagast's cloak and ported them to the Hotel's back ally where she scolded Radagast " do you have to flirt with ever female?" she asked and he chuckled .

"tis my nature ma fieuille" he said as she began to walk away from him he spoke again " quite the handsome man you found for your self, he make you happy?" she spun on her heels and looked at him.

"you want to know, yes, and he knows about the..accident that stopped me having any children, and hes still with me." she said turning away from him to head to the exit of the alley.

" then he is a bon gars" he said softly and followed her out into the sunlight and over to the hotel where they managed to get a seat in the outside cafe as they waited.

"This is Radagast Barnett--Aria's father," Marcus said. 

"Nice to meet you," Edward said to Radagast, already pegging Barnett as at least slightly eccentric.

"He was with us last night. I saw him off and on," Evan said. Faith and Evie gestured silently to their father that they were making a breakfast tray to take to Poppy. Evan nodded, glad to see them stepping up.

"Oh, yes," Edward said. He got the feeling there was some reason why Aria didn't talk about her family when Angus and Marcus had some family members--not all of them--selectively close to them. He wasn't sure why Aria summoned him, and if she hadn't, what was it that Barnett really wanted? Edward noticed Barnett flirting with Simone but Simone was used to it. Every ambassador's wife got endless flirting. It wasn't anything that she gave even a second thought to.

"It's nice to meet you too," she said casually, making sure she was polite but without one iota of encouragement.

Edward was actually irked with her when Caprice wanted to come to him and then Ruby swiped the babies away again to feed them. He simply levitated both high chairs, with the babies, and then the baby bags and floated the whole works over to his kitchen.

"Send them elsewhere, indeed," he muttered, irked. "And as if I don't have food in my kitchen. You two come with Papa." He followed the babies and the baby gear to his own side, and Simone was working hard to stifle her laughter. Even Tara and Evan laughed, trying hard not to wake Angus. 

"Bye, Minions," Marcus laughed. "Robert, do you think perhaps it would be worth our while if I were to go back to New Orleans and do some snooping around to see if I can find out any scuttlebutt about who has been interested there in elemental magic?"

"Well, perhaps, but two things about that. First, you're not a local. It will take you far longer to get into the good graces of the Creole community. Aria might have some advantages there, but her heritage is far more likely to be Cajun and not Creole. And both of those communities, especially the Creole, would give you a hard time. They can be a little bit closed.  100% Brit as you are, you will have no advantages there. 

"Second," Robert continued, "I need you right here. We are facing some serious magic that most of you have never experienced, and Kate and I have somewhat limited experience in. Some of this is going to be new waters for us, and it's going to take some different sorts of protections to keep everyone safe from more attacks from elementals. Quite honestly, if Caprice had not shown up to lend us a hand, we would be in a far different situation this morning. The elemental magic worked exceptionally well for our enemies because we didn't expect it. We need to take a moment, regroup, and design our defenses to make sure we're safe here at home before we do anything else."

"Well, you're right, of course," Marcus sighed, knowing that Caprice showing up in the last possible moments was the blessing they needed to save Angus in the nick of time. They had gotten through this time just by the skin of their teeth, and had she not shown up, they very likely would be planning Angus's funeral just now instead. Marcus didntt want to have that slim of a margin again. 

Minos flew down from upstairs and, seeing Angus was somehow injured, Minos flew over to his dear friend, and Robert went over to him.

"He had a tough go last night," Robert told him quietly. "A concussion, Two broken ribs, a rather badly bruised kidney, and some bruised spinal vertebrae. This is going to take him at least a couple weeks to get past." Minos laid his hand on Angus's forehead and then, surprised, he looked around at Robert quickly. He gave Robert a sign, and Robert got the gist of it.  

"Dark elemental magic," Robert told him. He saw the vial of smoke still on the coffee table, and he showed it to Minos. Minos's face immediately became more serious. "Do you have any experience with elemental magic?" Minos nodded seriously. Minos turned his attentions back to Angus, beginning to weave a spell. A couple Fae, appearing to be two of his royal advisors joined him, and the three of them worked together. The three of them finally cast the spell, seeming to be weaving something. When it took shape, it looked rather like a shimmering cloth of white light. Robert could see threads of light woven together horizontally and vertically, like a loosely woven piece of fabric. Then they seemed to wrap the magical fabric all around Angus from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet and all the way around. Robert watched, and he believed he understood.

"It's a way to use the power of light to create a shield against a dark elemental to be able to touch him," Robert said, impressed. Minos nodded but also signed to Robert that its effects were somewhat temporary. "Thank you. We have a woman coming who understands this sort of magic. She's not going to be here for another day or two." Minos signed to Robert that he and the Fae would continue to try to shield Angus. "I am grateful for any help you can give. Thank you." Minos spoke to one of his men, and the guard fae fluttered over and sat down crosslegged on the far edge of Angus's pillow. Marcus understood. Minos had added a Fae bodyguard to Angus for the time being, and Marcus actually appreciated the help since he was not particularly gifted with defenses for elemental magic.  

Minos fluttered over to the desk, motioned to Robert, and started sketching on a piece of paper. He drew symbols for fire, air, water and earth. He pointed to Robert and gestured that he wanted Robert to think. Every natural element had a strength and a deficit--and an element that could be used to counter it. 

He produced a puff of smoke in his hand and then pointed to the vial of black smoke, to tell Robert that this would be a possible defense against the smoke if it returned. Minos took a deep breath and blew the smoke from his hand. Robert got the message. Then he put the smoke back in his hand and he had one of his advisors come try to deal with the smoke. Thinking for a moment, the advisor created a small rain cloud and hovered it over the smoke, and then turned the little rain cloud to a freezing rain. As the ice fell, it trapped the smoke inside the ice crystals. 

"God, I've been such a numbskull," Robert realized. "It is partly just basic science. It isn't a foolproof solution, but using basic physics about air, fire, earth, and water, we can have some defenses. Earth can defeat fire, Water can defeat fire, etc." Minos nodded. "And if we figure out how to contain fire, contain earth, contain air and water, we can perhaps temporarily contain the elemental. We might not destroy it, but we might contain it." Minos nodded, feeling successful that he had given Robert some ideas of some strategies to help protect his people. He gestured towards the spell he had just cast around Angus, and, using his own gestures, explained that the spell was pretty simple in theory. It used a cloth woven of light to wrap around Angus because light always defeats darkness. He also explained that while they couldn't see the light fabric anymore it was still certainly there. Robert understood. 

Robert didn't wait. He sent a note through the floo to Gabe, asking if Gabe knew where he could get enough old school types of braziers, and, through some back and forth messaging with Gabe, Robert finally purchased several large size braziers. Minos nodded, pleased. He made a rough map of the estate grounds and helped Robert plot out how to put at least one brazier on each side of the main house, the barn, the duplex, and the area that had the cabins and the apartments. Minos suggested that the braziers be filled with whitelight magical flames rather than standard fire. Whitelight magical flames would be much harder to put out by dark energies. Robert agreed.  

Then Robert sent a paper bird to Jack, asking Jack to stop by the duplex when he got the chance.

Ruby on the other hand chuckled as Edward floated the now giggling girls to his side of the duplex. " okay okay" she said with a chuckle and waved to Caprice who waved back calling " bi bi" to Marcus and giggled again loving how her high chair floated Amari just giggled as she too followed Edward and Caprice slightly bobbing as it moved.

Ruby looked at Marcus and chuckled as he called the babies minions. Now both stood listening and watching as Minos and his advisors cast a spell on Angus Ruby moved to stand next to Marcus as she watched them eave a shiny light magic cover. She watched as it lowered to Angus then seem to enter him gently. It was now Radagast and Aria returned package in hand. Radagast moved to Robert.

" package retrieved" he said handing it over to him and moved back to Aria and Ruby. " he is fine, protection takes on different appearances , this is old magic but effective, she will not be able to brake it as it is older than she." he said. As he went to step closer to watch the Fae a strong arm stopped him.

" you sent for me" came Jacks voice as he spoke to Robert but then turned to Radagast " you do not move, stay right on that spot" he told him making Radagast slump his shoulder in defeat.

Minos looked at Radagast, seeing that Radagast partly understood. He didn't feel any need to correct him, though. 

"Thank you," Robert said, taking the package. When Jack came in, Robert set the package on top of his medical bag for the moment until he could get to it.

"Thanks for coming, Jack," Robert said. "I've been talking with Minos. Protecting ourselves from elemental magic is going to be very different. Elementals can include many different kinds of spirits and beings, of course, but Minos believes the spirit we ran into was an air spirit. And it makes sense since it appeared to us as black smoke. Minos also believes that one of the things that is well within our powers to do is to use basic science principles to try to reduce the power of the elemental if it comes back. 

"So, it occured to me that air is consumed or altered, more or less, by fire. So, I think it is worth our while to go back to our medieval history and get some big braziers and install them around the property. I've talked to Gabe, and he knows of a muggle warehouse, believe it or not, where a bunch of these old braziers are languishing. It isn't as if we're chockablock with castles like we used to be in medieval times. Muggles aren't so excited about a damned big old cast iron brazier in their apartments. So, he knows of someone who has four of the enormous ones, a few medium sized ones, and scads and scads of the smaller ones. So I've bought an assortment. Now you place them as you like, but if I were you, it makes sense to me to place one of the huge ones at the guard towers on each corner of the estate. You could choose to place the medium sized ones along the fence lines around the perimeters. The small ones, I hope, will be useful for the buildings. I think we should consider one on each side of the duplex, on each side of the main house, on each side of the barn, and somehow strategically placed around the area where the cabins are and where the apartments are. I think we should keep them burning, but especially during the hours when it would be night in New Orleans. Minos believes we should use magical fire, and I'm sure he's thinking of a whitelighter's fire spell. Once we get the braziers and get them in place, I'll teach you that spell so that you can keep the braziers lit. I probably will teach a few other people too because if we have to cast a whitelighters spell in our hearths, then we need to be prepared to do so. Ila will be coming in a couple days, and I have some protection tools from her that we can use. I haven't opened the box yet, but I might need your help with those things too once I get into the box. What do you think?"

Jack listened to Robert and nodded " I know the ones you mean" he said " I'll take Jessie they will be heavy " he said as Radagast stepped forward and stood listening to them talking.

"I would like to offer my services too" he said looking to them both " I'm here why not use me?" he held his arms out wide " I'm no good stood here watching and I did help back in the bayou." he looked to Aria asking for her help . Aria walked over and nodded.

"he did help" she said and looked at Radagast " don't let you off the hook, dad" she said looking to Robert. Ruby stayed close to Angus watching to take his hand but she didn't want to disturb the Fae . It was now Jess entered and walke dover to Ruby gently reliving her anxiety and making her realize she was worried for nothing.

"go make some tea" she said letting Ruby leave to go to the kitchen. " just a bit of lingering anxiety" she said to Jeffery. Jack looked at Radagast and then to Robert as he thought about the brasiers and how a nother pair of hands could come in handy.

"Fine," Robert said. "Go along if you like, Radagast. At this point the quicker we're protected, the better."

"Ruby," Marcus said, seeing Ruby needed to be busy, "I know you haven't thought of lunch yet, but we do have that package of that wonderful fresh fish that the guys caught yesterday. Why don't you do a beer batter on it and deep fry it and made a big batch of fish tacos for lunch? Some of the best ones I've had used Greek tzatziki sauce instead of tartar sauce and then did a toppings bar with all sorts of creative toppings. You could do the same thing and put out some diced tomatoes, some cucumber, some onion, definitely some shredded lettuce, maybe some of that Mexican cotija cheese that I know is in the fridge, set out some lime wedges, and maybe some of Angus's salsa? I know there is a rectangular airtight plastic box in the pantry with some taco shells in it. Fry some proper fish, set the toppings and the taco shells out, and lunch would be in the bag. You could set the fruit salad back out if someone wanted something on the side. Maybe you could lend her a hand, Aria, with cutting all those vegetables."