Sometimes I think I'm not that strong

“Oh yes, I work at Ilvermorny…Loved the placed too much not to leave,” her words were followed by a soft chuckle. “I’m the Professor of Care for Magical Creatures, a fascinating subject if I do say so myself.”

“My old stomping ground.” Reagan smiled fondly, thinking back on her own Care for Magical Creatures professor. He was a character for sure.. Maybe it came with the job description. “They say that the professor really makes or breaks the subject.”

Adam stares at her for a moment, a brow raised, “Is there something especially no maj about hot coco? Isn’t it just…water and coco powder?” he says, his brows furrowed, “I just always hated it. I don’t really like sweet things, I didn’t really think of it as a no maj thing,” he says, shrugging a shoulder as he inhales, “I would be cautious who you say these sorts of things around, however. A lot of people don’t take kindly to that sort of thing, particularly not these days.”

Reagan shrugged at the question, a grin on her face. “The trick is milk. Not water. That’s what you’re doing wrong.” She sighed. “Well I guess, if you don’t like sweet things, there’s no convincing.” Her smile fell all too quickly and Reagan had to swallow the lump in her throat as Adam reminded her of the all too ugly truth. “Yeah.. I guess you’re right.”

Adam frowns thoughtfully, “I always hated it,” he says passively, “But that’s definitely unusual. Does your family have a myriad of odd practices, or is this just one in particular?”

“My dad’s family are big on embracing no-maj culture and my mom’s family come from a long-line of anti-no-maj integration so it took a long time for the little things to come around in my household but just before I finished at Ilvermorny, my dad started taking me no-maj football and baseball games and we even listened to no-maj music which isn’t even all that different. Simpler in some ways but just as nice to listen to.” Reagan rambled on, a smile on her face as she thought fondly of it all. “The no-maj world isn’t all that different from our own. They’ve had their own trials and tribulations too.”

Adam raises a brow, turning his head, “Sarcasm,” he says, inhaling deeply as he looks back towards her and sighs heavily, “Does hot coco top most people’s lists of favorite things? That seems like an extremely weird choice. Do people particularly care for it? Even in the spring?”

“I figured.” Reagan sighed back at him, meeting his gaze. “My dad actually loves hot cocoa. It is the iconic no-maj drink of our household.” She smiled fondly. “Not as commonly... But even in spring.”

Ianto laughs, “God, I hope you haven’t got business at the school, that’s a terrifying prospect,” he says with a smile, “You could send an owl. You know, like a normal person. Or a text, if you wanna be extremely normal.” Ianto looks at her quizzically, immediately unsure if he understood what she meant. The question immediately sparks anxiety in his guts, and he feels a general tightness as he says, “Hmm? Yep? Sure, yes, definitely, very that. One hundo pre-cent,” he laughs lightly even as he speaks, the action itself helping to release the anxiety slightly.

“I meant it as a joke.” Reagan assured him quickly. “Not official business. Just like. An excuse to be there in person.” She offered a reassuring smile. “Now what about me screams normal? But fine. I’ll shoot you a text every once in a while.” Reagan swallowed back the lump in her throat as she realised she’d said the wrong thing, given the immediate response and body language that came from Ianto. “I.. Yeah. I’ll let you get back to the festival. But we’ll definitely keep in better touch. It’d be good to see your little man more.”

“We all did question her choices for having such a collection…she had named them all as well. It was rather strange…” A soft laugh follows her words as she shakes her head, she had known some odd people in her time. “Isn’t it just? I’m sure the kids will have me running around like a mad woman again after this, so it’s nice to have that break from work.”

“Everyone has their things, I guess.” Reagan concluded with a little chuckle and a shrug.

“You could have,” Ianto insists again, “Teaching someone isn’t really giving someone a car, it’s like walking them down the right road. You took every step yourself, I just told you how to get there,” he shrugs a shoulder. As she speaks, he smiles, “Absolutely. I mean, I’m up at Ilvermorny all year, I’m a pretty easy guy to find. He is a delight. I’m sure he’s getting into some shit with my dad and having an absolute blast at the moment. I wanted to expose him to this stuff,” he says, gesturing around himself, “His culture without, you know, exhausting his little baby brain.”

Ianto’s words brought about a warm and fuzzy feeling in Reagan’s chest and she let it sit with her for a moment as he spoke, a soft smile on her face. “I guess I’m gonna have to find some excuse to get over there. Some kind of MCUSA business. I’ll come up with something.” Reagan grinned,brushing all of her hair over to the one shoulder as he continued, talking about his son. “Little bit by little bit?” She offered tenderly.

moodboard 2/?; reagan paige hamilton && internal

moodboard 1/?; reagan paige hamilton && external

“Why would that be of interest?” he says dryly, raising a brow as he glances over the crowd and inhales deeply, nodding, “Good, so, for now, we’re just paranoid and stuck here. Those are, in fact, my favorite things to be.”

Reagan sighed at the dryness of Adam’s commentary. If she had a darker sense of humour, she may have found the whole situation awfully amusing, but it was really just terrifying. “And what’s your third favourite thing then? Cats? Hot cocoa?”

   “   none of us is,    “   he said, lifting a corner of lips in the smile. mika pocked his wand, but didn’t make another move—- he wasn’t really moved by the closeness and the woman’s step back amused him, though it wasn’t an unnatural reaction.  

   “   —- it’s not a reason to ruin all the fun,   “   he added.   “   name’s mikael reed, nice to meet you.   “

“Reagan.” She offered in return with a kind smile, lifting a hand to brush pink locks out of her face. Spilling drinks on people was certainly one way to blend in. She was just like all of the other wix that had had a few too many drinks - except for the fact that she hadn’t had a single drink at all. ‘So are you enjoying the festival?”

Addison finally looked up from the file, though her face remained unchanged of the resting bitch face she was so well known for, the slightest pull of her brow betrayed her annoyance. She wasn’t the sort to repeat herself nor did she like to be questioned. “You can consider it a demotion for the the twenty minutes or so it should take you or a necessary time sensitive task. The choice is yours.”

Reagan had to swallow the lump in her throat at the way she was spoken to. It wasn’t that she wasn’t one to question authority, she had a strict moral code that she stood by and sometimes it was hard not to speak up when people told her to do things otherwise. 

But now was a time to bite her tongue.

Ianto laughs brightly at the phrase, “Boy, howdy, I sure do hope I can live with him, that would be a very bad scene indeed if I couldn’t,” he says as he shakes his head. As she continues, he scoffs, “You already could do it, I just helped you figure out, you know, how to do alright in the class. I didn’t change anything about you, so you could’ve done it without me,” he says, shrugging a shoulder, “I really do hope so. This is one of my favorite events of the year, so, you know, I’d like to just enjoy it.”

Reagan smiled at his response, then shrugging as he continued. “I appreciate you saying that.. But I really don’t think I could have done it without you.” She continued earnestly, though appreciating the warm, fuzzy feeling that came with his words. “And enjoy it you will!” Reagan grinned. “We’ll have to keep in better contact. And I would love to see your little man!”

“Reagan, that’s a lovely name. I used to know a herbologist named Reagan, she had the most curious collection of screeching mandrakes.” For a moment her mind wandered back to her old friend, a daze taking over her features before returning to the current time. “Anyway, how are you enjoying the festival? It’s a nice distraction from the stress of adult life, yes?”

“Why anyone would choose to have a collection of mandrakes is a wonder in and of itself.” Reagan smiled, a little amused at the very thought of it. As Cait continued, Reagan had to stop herself from sighing. A distraction would have been nice. She only wished she could just let go and be as carefree as everyone else seemed to be at the festival instead of on edge with an impending sense of doom. “Yeah, it’s so freeing.” She lied with an excited grin. Reagan was not unaccustomed to fibbing her way through things with ease and believable excellence.

“I mean, he’s a toddler, he’s not always sweet, but, in my heart, he is the sweetest boy,” he says with a soft laugh, his hand placed against his chest, “He gets fussy and impatient, he doesn’t want to eat what he’s given half the time, he’s always making a mess, you know,” he shrugs, “Normal kid stuff,” he says with a broad smile. As she continues, he nods, his brows drawing together as he takes in the information, “That’s the sort of thing I don’t like to directly think too hard about, but it’s true. I’m sorry to say, I’m not any good in a fight. And, you know, if I was it’s not really a risk I think I ought to be taking,” he says, frowning, “But I am grateful that there are people here, so we can try and just…be normal, instead of all halting because there are some horrible people in the world.”

Reagan grinned as Ianto spoke of his son, hearing the love in his voice as he spoke. “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.” She finished for him.

“can you do me a favor and go by samatha’s office. i’ve been trying to get a hold of her but she isn’t answering any of my messages. the hospital needs a few more MSOs. they’re over run by everyone who fell ill over the weekend.” she said not looking up from the folder open in front of her. her distaste pretty obvious, she wasn’t the biggest fan of the aftermath of the festival. no surprise that she hadn’t been in attendance.

Reagan stopped in her tracks and frowned. “That’s not exactly my job.” She protested. Addison may have been her boss but she hadn’t trained as an auror to be a secretary.