New Cubs in the Den

Bonnie wouldn't have to wait long--Halldór was fairly punctual at walking in through the doors at the time he'd been told to come, though he wasn't looking up as he stepped through, he was looking down at the folds of his costume, tugging a tiny bit on the collar of the suit jacket to make some minute adjustment only he seemed to think it needed. He hadn't been sure if it was better to show up in his costume, or street clothes, but had ended up erring on the side of caution since this was a hero agency after all, so showing up in his hero costume seemed prudent. Even if it did make him resemble a storybook to some degree, like Flynn liked to joke. The thought made him smile, and he was still wearing that smile as he lifted his eyes and saw Bonnie. Immediately he doffed the hat and gave her a polite bow, the movement also swishing his cape a little, both items similarly white-colored and covered in Icelandic words, as was the cane in his other hand. The notebook was tucked out of sight for now under the vest. "Hello, how do you do?" he asked, drawing on the lessons his friends had taught him and doing his best to put on good manners for this meeting instead of being his usual blunt self.

This student was clearly a bit unsure with himself, occasionally picking at a wrinkle or fold in his costume. The tug on his collar as he had come in hadn't been a one-off, it seemed to be a nervous habit. He did his best to look her in the eye as she talked to him, though, and her friendly smile put him more at ease, leaving him with no clue that she had been just as nervous as he had been moments before. "Which would you prefer?" he asked, remembering just as he finished speaking that he needed to introduce himself, too. "Halldór Valdemarsson. Or Conceptimancer. Whatever name's more appropriate." And then before he could stop himself, he blurted out a small thing that had been on his mind since the first second he had seen her. "I like your costume."

He started relaxing a little more with each passing moment. Her smile, talking about her costume. He nodded when she decided on their hero names. "That makes sense," he agreed, though he gave a slightly sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "My alias is a...little bit of a nerd joke," he admitted, as he stepped forward to follow her, and giving another respectful bow. That he was taller than her made the motion a little awkward, but he'd gotten comfortable enough that he didn't really notice anymore. It was just something one got used to when you were taller than many of the people around you.

"Surprises, you say? I can't wait to see them, I hear a lot of good things about Momma Bear." He was already starting to look around, take everything in, and they'd only just started. 

So many doors, he thought as he followed her obediently. This place was huge! Of course, it would be, this was a big agency, and while this was the headquarters he knew it wasn't their only location, with branches in several cities. He was practically bubbling with excitement as Bonnie (Little Chef, he reminded himself) started explaining things.

He displayed just as much curiosity as they stopped at the gym, though he flashed her a slightly embarrassed smile, this time for a much different reason than his initial arrival. "It is true I'm not muscular," he admitted. "But I am much more athletic than I look." He stepped through the doors to take a more thorough look around the place. "I don't mind my limits being pushed, though." If he had minded he would not have remained a hero student after the such an eventful first year, he was sure. "I could definitely use more self-defense training, does Gerard teach that? My quirk isn't useful to combat improvisation."

When his tour guide pulled her sleeve back, he glanced curiously, visibly wincing, though he recovered quickly--it was more of sympathy than fear of his own pain. Yes, he could quite readily believe everything she said about Gerard now, he was satisfied that he'd be getting plenty of training in here in addition to what he got from school.

He turned around to fully face her, and nodded. Now that she mentioned it he seemed to recall a thing on the news about Mother Bear's pilot program about reforming villains and vigilantes, and Bonnie had been mentioned as a particular success.

And then she mentioned cookies. It was such a subject change he blinked, mental balance thrown off for a moment until he figuratively reoriented himself. "Doesn't everyone?" he murmured, cocking his head slightly to the right. Surprise still colored his voice even after recovering from the sudden shift. However the next question required barely any thought at all, and his smile grew wide and enthusiastic. "Macaroons. The coconut in them has a texture that is just...perfect to me. Why do you ask?"

What she did gave, in his view, a more pointed answer to his question than what she said after, and he quite gladly took the offered treat and nibbled on it, savoring each small, delicious bite, appreciating the work that went into it even if it had been done by quirk, because, after all, even if she could do it that way, she probably had to train to do the more complicated stuff, just as he had to practice visualizing things in his head for his own quirk. "Thank you," he said quietly as he followed her once more, making sure she understood he very much appreciated the effort she'd put into making it for him.

His ears perked up, figuratively speaking, as he heard other voices, indistinct for now in the distance. Naturally, this place was full of people after all, with the work Mother Bear and all her sidekicks did. People of all ages worked and lived here, no doubt. Though he was more occupied by thinking about what Bonnie suggested--he wondered what she thought his choice said of him? And more importantly, what she asked. He took his time, a few more seconds to finish off the last crumbs of the macaroon, the last few pieces of coconut, before he stated, almost philosophically, perhaps just a little practically, "Even if I'm not, there's not really any more I can do to prepare just standing here, I suppose." Despite what he said, though, he did pause before wherever it was they were headed next, to hopefully satisfy the bit of curiosity that her own bit of philosophy had prompted in him. "What does my choice say about me, to you?"

Complicated. He mulled that over for all of three seconds, trying to decide if that was an insult or a compliment before deciding it was probably neither. Complicated when applied to people was rarely entirely good or entirely bad. And that was about all the time he had to think about it as a crowd of faces turned to them and then what seemed like an avalanche of small, young people surged toward them like a force of nature.

He suppressed old, panicked instincts at realizing that would mean a lot of hands reaching out toward him, reminding himself these were children. And perhaps, someday, fans. Until he got to know them well enough to consider them friends and family, think of them as fans, he told himself. His grandmother had taught him how to handle fans, plus, he'd given some thoughts on how to first introduce him to the children here, and so he put on his best smile once more and swept off his hat as he gave an overly theatrical bow before they got too close. "Hello, hello, Call me Conceptimancer," he told them, putting on a tone of voice to project through the hubbub without raising it, a trick he'd been taught in a class of all things. Sometimes it paid to know how to get the attention of civilians without shouting at them, as people tended to get offended at that.

And then seemingly from nowhere as if he was using his quirk, or magic to pull them from his hat, but actually producing them from pockets on the inside of the jacket, he brought forth a large handful of small, hard candies to start handing out, hoping this would be ok, especially considering he noticed that Bonney was handing out her own baked goods. The truth was the candies had been conjured with his quirk, but actually done ahead of time, so the children would have long enough to enjoy them before the impermanence kicked in and they vanished, but not so long it ruined their appetites in case there was a mealtime coming up anytime soon. Hal had given this a great deal of thought in the leadup to today and he really hoped he had neither overlooked anything nor greatly overthought it.