Closed Sandcastles

[Nico Hume]

Nico walked to the sand pit in the park. They had been brought there by Uncle Vader and Uncle Vader's friend. But Nico didn't mind who they were, Uncle Vader was happy and that made him happy. Nico knew that he wanted to play in the sand pit. To feel the sand between his fingers, because it felt nice. He sat down in the sand, readjusting a few times as he got comfortable, and then began building a sandcastle.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora loved going out and about, especially with her daddy and Uncle Tag. She danced around the playground a bit, imagining she was a fairy, before tumbling into the sand box with her Nico and scooting in next to him. "What are we building?" She asked, studying the sand shape her brother was forming.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico glanced up from the sandbox and made a little space for her next to him. "Maybe a castle, like Hogwarts castle," Nico said with an excited tone. He didn't think they'd get it exactly like the castle, but it couldn't be that hard to do either.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora nodded and started to gather sand for him. "I bet it's amazing," She sighed. "I want to see that place in the arts room where Mommy and Daddy used to have sleepovers," She told him, patting her hands on the sand and really just enjoying the feel of it on her skin. "We could have sleepovers there too! Do you think we'll be in different houses?" She asked, looking around even as she spoke. Seeing where her daddy was sitting she waved at him excitedly, giving him her brightest smile.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico nodded in agreement, though they were a long way away from even going. He was still eager to see the arts room. "Yeah!" he said in agreement to the room, as he began to pile the sand up into a castle - or what he thought a castle type shape was. "No, we're too similar," he told her proudly. "Plus, I'd be sad without you," he said. "And the hat would know that, so it would be silly to make me sad,"

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora giggled and scooted to sit closer to him. "If the hat does make you sad, I'll just sneak into your dorm every night," She whispered like it was some great secret. "It'll be you and me, always," She promised. "No matter what," She started to help him shape the sand. "Do you think there will be lots of kids?" She wondered. How many was a lot? One hundred? That felt like a lot, she thought, but then maybe there would be more.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico nodded a little. "I could sneak into yours too," he said with a confidence he knew he wouldn't actually have if he needed to be sneaking into her common room, if they were apart. But he knew that they wouldn't be. Nico just nodded, "And Plum," he added, not wanting to leave the new sibling out. And then nodded, "Yeah, I bet there are loads," he said. "It's all magical kids,"

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora blinked. "Will she be in school with us?" She asked, trying to add the numbers in her head. "I mean, if she shows up when we're at school, we could look after her?" She suggested, trying to imagine it- little Plum being big enough to join them at school, and she wondered what kind of person she'd be. "She does seem especially fond of you, but she's so little it's hard to tell for sure."

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico nodded but then tried to figure it out in his head. She could be, but he wasn't sure about it. Perhaps it would only be a couple of years or just the one year. It was just difficult to think about. "She likes us both, but she's also a baby," he replied not wanting her to feel left out.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora giggled. "It's okay, I have daddy," She replied immediately. "If he and Uncle Dart weren't making gooey eyes at each other I'd go over and see him now," She whispered conspiratorially, before giggling and tossing a little sand at her brother. "This is fun, but when we get home, I wanna watch Alice in Wonderland again. Maybe we can build a fort and ask daddy or mama if we can have snacks?" She offered.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico giggled with her, but nodded. He knew that his twin was close to their daddy, and he didn't mind that at all. "I'm sure if you go over, they'll stop," he joked back, not managing to dodge entirely out of the way of the sand she threw. He was enjoying the sand castle building but did stop as she seemed less interested. "Yeah, that would be fun,"

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora stuck out her tongue a bit, not wanting to interrupt their gooey-ness, when a new idea struck her. "Oh! Let's make the white queens castle!" She declared, jumping back into the castle and starting to re-shape it all over again. "It should be bigger!" She looked to her brother with a big smile. "Did you bring your bag? I put my dolls in there, we can build the castle then play tea party with the mad hatter and the march hare and the dormouse and the queen," She giggled. "Do you want to be the mad hatter?" She asked.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico nodded eagerly, always happy to go along with Rory's suggestions. Happy to do what she wanted. He watched her shape it and then rushed over to grab her bag for her and brought it back. "Here," he said. "Yes please," he squealed excitedly to being the mad hatter, now trying to help her build up the castle.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora was caught up quickly in their game, chatting happily to Nico about the different aspects of Alice in Wonderland- at the moment debating on if the Caterpillar was smart or just mean. "Do you think he only ever talks in riddles?" She asked, before an idea hit her. "Oooh, what if we ask mama for a book of riddles and practice on each other? So that if we ever fall into wonderland then we can know what he's telling us!" She sounded so sure of her idea, giggling as she shaped one of the towers.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico wasn't sure that wonderland was real, but he wasn't not sure either. He was just hopeful that they didn't fall into it alone. "That would be good," he agreed, if there was a chance of it, he wanted to be sure that he'd be safe once fallen into it. "Riddles are hard," he did say, since the few he'd ever heard had been hard.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora nodded. "I know a few, do you want to practice?" She asked, molding the sand still, before just continuing on. "What is yours but mostly used by others?" She focused on making sure she said it right, hands stilling long enough to pose the question to him before she resumed her work, trying to make little turrets on the castle.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico frowned as she gave him a riddle. He looked at the sand and gathered a handful of it, letting it flow through the gaps in his fingers. "Your...magic?" he answered, pretty sure that that wasn't the right answer but not quite sure what was the right one. He really was no good at riddles it seemed.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora giggled, shaking her head. "No, but good guess!" She reassured him, reaching over to try and pat his hand. "No, it's your name," She told him. "How often do you call yourself Nico?" She asked, giving him a playful wink. She looked back to their babysitters before turning to her brother again. "Nico, do you remember how mama and daddy call each other by their middle names?" She asked. "Should we do that? Alice and Timmy? Or is that too close to what mama calls daddy?" She mused, realizing the flaw in her logic as she proposed it.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico frowned and then seemed to take a moment to think about it and then went, "OH," as he got it. He hadn't really thought about it like that, his own name. "Yeah," he said before shaking his head. "I like Nico for me though," as much as he loved their dad, he didn't just want to be a carbon copy of him, he liked his own name.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora smiled and leaned in, meaning to rest her head on his shoulder. "I like Nico too," She told him. "I just wanted to ask, because I like how sweet the name thing is with our parents, and I wanted to know what you thought," She explained herself to him.

 

[Nico Hume]

Nico didn't move as she leaned on him, he liked the touch and contact from her. "I know," he said. He didn't entirely understand it, but he knew why she had asked about it. He liked the relationship that their parents had too, even if it wasn't the most conventional. "Could just call you Rory?" he asked her.

 

[Aurora Hume]

Aurora considered his offer. "Hm... I don't know, I think I just like Aurora," She told him. "It sounds really pretty doesn't it? Aurora," She giggled, before straightening up and stretching. "Come on, let's finish our castle!" She declared, moving to gather up little sticks and pebbles for decorations.