Upon entry, Eva had overheard Loki's annunciated vow to Baldr and tried not to have a heart attack or sarcastic outburst, but had instead taken her seat, having touched the heads of each of the boys on the side opposite her own as she'd gone by (Baldr, Mateo, Brayden, Nate). Once Warren pushed her chair back under, she caught his hand to squeeze it before giving him an eye-roll (so British - yes, she'd been late), then used the other to greet Thor with an affectionate pat (partially in sympathy) after the baby rejected him for greener pastures. Her head slowly turned to the right to set eyes on Warren after Nate's revelation about rental cars, unsurprised. "You have your own horse, now, sweetheart," she reminded Warren with mock-empathy in her eyes, paired with a smirk. No need to rent. That end of the table had been ill-seated, she realized, belatedly. Angel, Loki, Jon. Eeesh.
Thor made his proclamation about family, though, and she beamed with pride. Even though there were standing issues with present parties, she had an active hand in salving all the wounds. Eva's eyes sparked with amusement at Thor's teasing of Nate, but the tables quickly turned on her. "I discuss all matters with the king," she assured the adviser as her hand squeezed Thor's in solidarity and because she couldn't squeeze Nate's for assurance. A magical caress to his jagged jaw would have to suffice, she thought, just before Brayden chimed in. "Yes. Especially by the people in this room," she agreed and gave a wink to the young man. "Loki's right," cough, oh, that was harder to say than she'd imagined, "they're bad-ass." She was a queen, sure, but she called it like she saw it. "Why don't we think on a codename, hm?" The seed was planted.
Then Loki needed to antagonize: "...job security, Nathaniel?" Way to cheer Brayden up, brother-in-law... Make him think his dad's job is in danger. "The discussions we've had have all been favorable," Zap said to Nate, not having looked once at Loki. Her eyes shifted to Thor, then to Brayden again. "What would I do without your dad, right?"
Brayden laughed, though he'd been distracted by the realization that he could finally have a codename. "For sure - he never stops working. You tell him to go do something else all the time." Even if that 'something else' was spending time with him...
Zap nearly spit out her freshly-sipped drink of water at that. She laughed, from the belly, and patted her hand against the table to gather her wits. "I do," she conceded. Her free hand fell on her baby bump and she leaned to the side to see where Torben had crawled off to. Ahhh. He'd made an appearance between Uncle Baldr and Papa Jon. And he was getting nibbles. "Don't give him crust, he doesn't have teeth," she warned her father, who ignored her.
"He has a tooth," Mateo argued between bites.
"Excuse me?" Eva said to her son, tone reflecting her surprise at the backtalk and at the possibility she'd been wrong about her own baby.
"Right here," Mateo said, pointing to the spot in his own mouth where he'd seen one on Mateo.
Loki angled his head and confirmed what the lad had claimed, then smirked down to the queen. "You must be distracted, sister," he surmised, then he raised his glass and tilted it to the baby in Forge's lap. "To his majesty's first tooth," he drank, rather pleased with himself, especially considering it was common knowledge the queen was feeding the baby from the breast. How could that development been missed? Goddess of Motherhood... Fuck, fuck, fuck. "It must have just happened, perhaps for his first taste of pizza?" the adopted Odinson offered to help smooth his jab at the queen, whom he'd been trying to win over. He was dicking it up.