By Kimberly T.

Sunset came with a roar on top of Castle Wyvern, as the gargoyles awoke and greeted the night with their usual warning roars and howls. Even little Amber roared, though her attempt was largely drowned out by her father’s earthshaking roar from above. Still, Dee and Tom thought it was pretty good, and roared right back at her before running up to her playpen from the safe-distance line their father had drawn on the roof (based on the average radius of the stone shards the clan shed when they awoke). They waved their brand-new toys at her excitedly, saying, "Look, Amber, look! We got one for you, too!" Derrek chuckled as he watched his kids, then looked expectantly up at Goliath’s perch.

Goliath finished kissing his mate in greeting, then looked curiously downwards. "What do the twins have, there?"

"Take a guess," Elisa smirked, her eyes dancing with mischief.

Instead of guessing, Goliath peered more closely, and his brow furrowed in confusion for a moment. It was hard to get a good look, from the way they were being waved around, but they looked like dolls, only… His eyes widened as his jaw almost hit his chest. Then he closed his eyes and covered his face with one hand, and groaned… But a few seconds later, his shoulders were shaking in silent laughter.

"Hey, what’ve the kids got?" Brooklyn said as he turned towards them after lovingly brushing the last of the stone chips from Angela’s sable mane. Lexington and Aiden were already looking, and just as astonished as Goliath had been earlier. Then Aiden started giggling as Lex started laughing outright, so hard he actually fell over. He rolled onto his back, weakly kicking his feet, gasping for breath and clutching his stomach with one hand while pointing at the kids’ toys with the other.

The entire clan gathered around the children as they excitedly showed off their new toys, and Xanatos smirked as he walked up to them with a grinning Fox and Alex, who had both arms full of toys. "After Xantasia’s rousing success, I decided to venture one more time into the entertainment business, at Alex’s suggestion," as he affectionately ruffled his son’s hair. "The first batch will be hitting the toy stores next week, but I figured our kids should have first crack at them."

"Oh, gods!" Lex croaked, when he finally caught his breath. "They’re gargie dolls!"

The figures were roughly the size of Barbie dolls, but with wings and tails and taloned feet. Dee’s doll was built and clothed like Angela, but with golden skin and flowing white hair. Tom’s male doll was as buff as Goliath, but blue-skinned with short black hair, and sporting a short tunic instead of just a loincloth. The doll they gave Amber was an adolescent female, with lavender skin and sapphire-blue hair. Alex’s pair were both males, the brown-skinned and red-haired one with curving ram’s horns and the blonde green-skinned one with a beak like Brooklyn. They were poseable, as the kids were happy to demonstrate, and much to Brooklyn’s pretended disappointment, the clothes did not come off. "Hey, millions of girls have starved themselves, trying and failing to look like Barbie," Fox explained with a mock-serious expression. "Did you want boys all over the world having fits of inadequacy, too?"

"I think I’m insulted," Lex said, mock-sulking. "No web-winged gargies."

"Actually, there will be, but they had some trouble with the molding, so production’s been delayed two weeks," Xanatos informed him with a smirk. "Do you want me to bring you one to play with?"

"You’re closer. You hit him," Lex told Brooklyn, then grinningly turned back to the kids at play. Tom had found out to his disappointment that his figure didn’t actually glide by itself, so instead he ran with it, making swooshing noises as he held it up and made laps around a smiling Broadway, announcing that he was looking for muggers to beat up.

"Well, there you have it, folks," Brooklyn said, spreading his hands. "Proof that we’re ultimately gonna be accepted; now we’re action figures!"

THE END