Lower Tadfield Safehouse

Aziraphale sipped his tea, not saying anything and quite thankful that none of the humans knew who he was. He'd taken great pains to remove "Aziraphael" from any book on angelology he could, just for that purpose.

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Gabriel blinked. "Did you just..." He cast Baraq a suspicious glance. "I'm a warrior and messenger, not some cupid, and the form of a baby is hardly suited to my tasks."

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"Oh, you never know," Barnaby said in a peculiarly strained voice, even when he had straightened up. "Smaller form, less air resistance, could make you faster and a smaller target and so on."

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Gabriel had to admit that he could see the funny side.

"Indeed," he responded, the corners of his lips quirking up despite his best efforts. "With armoured diapers, I suppose. And we would also have an advantage when the enemy stops to laugh at the very menacing spectacle of an army of winged babies. Fear us, or be smote with a pacifier."

He cut a corner off his coffee cake. "Although sometimes it feels as if some of them do need pacifiers."

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"Don't forget the ability to distract with cuteness," Aziraphale pointed out. "There isn't much cuter than a baby with ickle wingses."

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Loki leaned back on his chair and grinned at the exchange. This was rather educating.

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He took a bite of bagel, enjoying the smoky taste of the lox. "You say that like you're thinking of someone specifically," he said to Gabriel.

To Loki, stumbling over the name of the giants, "What about you? Would the—the jötunn be any improved by reverting to infancy?"

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"Well, most of the Host was acting like petulant babies whose toys had been taken away, after a -" he paused, glancing at Aziraphael, "certain event some years ago. And Michael often makes me wonder how old he is, anyway." He grinned at Aziraphael. "So our main tactic would be distracting with cuteness?"

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"Not exactly a strategy that bodes well for success," Loki observed. To the demon he said: "I don't think it would be that much of a change, actually. We're tied in so closely with nature, and nature never grows up, don't you think?"

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"And that's why I appear as you see me now, instead of a winged baby tugging at your trouser legs or sitting in your lap with a toy sword and and demanding bedtime stories," Gabriel pointed out. "So you've not grown up, then?"

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"I initiated a paintball war in a hotel'l lobby," Loki pointed out. "Does that seem particularly grown up to you?"

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Aziraphale laughed. "A good paintball war never hurt anyone severely, I suppose. And better paintballs than bullets." He spoke from experience, after all.

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"Therein, the elixir of youth: A working relationship with the natural world, and welts from little gelatin capsules." He raised his glass in an ironic toast. "And I don't know, the bullets could be cork, or foam darts."

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"Lollipops," Aziraphale added. "They're quite good at reducing one's perception of their own age as well."

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"But not very suitable for shooting," Loki pointed out. "Their shape is all wrong. They won't fly properly, I bet."

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"This is very true. They would make everything a sticky mess as well, although splatter less than the paint," Aziraphale agreed. "Lollipops are definitely not designed for warfare, but rather for times of peace and sweet-cravings."

He could go for something sweet right now. Sigh.

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"I have yet to try a lollipop," Gabriel commented. "I love chocolate, though."

He took another bite of cake, eye fluttering shut momentarily. This was... almost heavenly.

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"Chocolate is far preferrable to lollipops, but sometimes lollipops do the trick," Aziraphale said. He summoned two of them, both flavoured cherry, and handed one to Gabriel. He put the other in his mouth. "They last longer and are less messy."

Really, was he having a conversation about lollipops with an Archangel, a demon and a Norse god?

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Gabriel carefully laid his fork down and accepted the lollipop curiously. "Thank you."

He unwrapped it carefully and tentatively licked it. Then he put the whole thing into his mouth, sugary sweetness washing over his tongue, and his eyes closed momentarily. "Mmm." This was good. Chocolate was far better, but still, this was... good. Gabriel took it out again and grinned at Aziraphael. "This is good. I still prefer chocolate, but this is... nice, to say the least."

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Aziraphale beamed. "That's two things I've managed to do right over the millennia, then," he said fondly, referring to chocolate and lollipops.

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Loki cleared his throat to catch Aziraphale's attention and surreptitiously pointed at himself and Baraq.

Those things hadn't been around when he had been around the last time either, and he was curious, too. And apart from that, if Aziraphale wanted to do things right, he could just as well do them right the whole way.

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Aziraphale beamed even more as he miracled two more cherry lollipops, handing one to Loki and one to Baraq. "Here you are then, dears. I didn't mean to disclude you, but I simply had to see what Gabriel thought of it."

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Lokis lips curved into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He disliked strict hierarchies, unless he was at the top of them, and if Aziraphale needed his supervisor's permission to even dish out sweets, he wasn't sure how well he the plans he harbored for the angels would work out after all.

"Thank you," he said. Then he looked at the three in turn. "Anyone of you up for a game of cards?"

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Gabriel wouldn't have minded in the least if Aziraphale decided to dress up as the Sugarplum Fairy and skip through the Manor, strewing sweets everywhere. He would definitely have been very amused, though.

He shrugged. "I only know how to play whist and bridge, I'm afraid. They're probably a little outdated by now."

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