My Milkshake Brings All the Spies to the Yard...

[atrickygod]

Who: Kid Loki and Natalia Romanova
When: Sometime during Loki's sad excuse for a party...
Where: A kitchen in Stark Tower
What: In which Loki tries to make Natalia a milkshake...and fails.

Comments

[red_in_ledger]

Natalia had been avoiding ingesting anything. She really had. It was standard procedure, in case of drugged food or liquids. She could go without longer than any of the other girls.

But they had already been working on reduced rations. One could never be certain of anything on a mission and as such needed to be able to operate without full stomachs. Similarly, withholding food was a common interrogation technique. What use was a spy who broke at the first sign of sustenance?

Unfortunately, she was reaching a point where she would need to eat soon. She would just get some packaged food, she rationalized. There would be signs if the packaging had been tampered, and it should be safe otherwise. It was highly unlikely they could purchase tampered food from the factory.

She slipped into the kitchen and had to stare at the sight in front of her. The place was a mess. She had heard Americans were wasteful, but just leaving dairy and fruit out to spoil? That was just disgusting. She was almost relieved when she spotted Loki.

[atrickygod]

Loki popped his head up over the counter and grinned.

"Hello! I am looking for the blending machine, but I am afraid I cannot find one." He straightened up and moved towards the food he'd set out earlier. He made a sweeping gesture over the fruit, iced cream, and other items, saying, "See I wish to blend all these ingredients to make milkshakes. They are quite good. Your internet told me so."

Pulling out the Stark Phone, Loki pulled up a picture of the frosty glass topped with whipped cream and a cherry. He showed the picture to the girl.

"Have you ever tasted one before?"

[red_in_ledger]

Coming a bit closer, Natalia shook her head. "Nyet," she replied softly, staring at all the food. "We do not have such food to spare, especially on such frivolous things."

She reached out toward the nearest strawberry, before catching herself and holding her hand close to her chest. "Such a waste..." she said quietly, more to herself than to the child with her.

[atrickygod]

Pulling back the Stark phone, Loki scrolled through the screen until he found the short milkshake recipe.

"I do not plan to waste it. I wish to make a milkshake for all my friends," Loki explained. He pulled out a large bowl nearly twice the size of his head and dumped all the ingredients in at once. With that finished, Loki began searching for a big spoon.

"If I cannot find the blending machine, I shall make do without." He pulled open a drawer next to the large fridge and discovered a collection of silverware. He selected a thin wooden spatula-shaped spoon and returned to the bowl of ingredients.

"This should not be too hard, I think." Loki rolled up his sleeves and began swirling the contents around.

[atrickygod]

Loki shrank back from the girl and her sudden diatribe. He continued to hold himself around the chest, more for protection now than nervousness. She had appeared so docile only seconds before. He could not tell if this was a girl thing or a mortal thing. Furthermore, he did not understand why she was so angry. He had only made an observation and here she was purposefully piercing herself with the rose's thorns again. Perhaps the girl was insane. It wasn't a good idea to upset crazy people.

Clearing his throat, Loki murmured, "I apologize. I did not mean to offend you. You just act very different from the girls I have met back home. I thought you peculiar."

He picked up the rose.

"I just do not like you as you like me, but that does not mean that we cannot still be friends," Loki explained, pulling the petals off the flower.

[red_in_ledger]

Natalia just looked down her nose at him. "You are either a very bad liar, or you are very stupid," she retorted. "You did not mean to offend? What part of calling me stupid, of telling me I'm not worthy of being in your presence is supposed to be unoffensive?"

She brought her thumb to her mouth, swiping away the bit of blood that had welled up before showing him her hand again. "And the condensation over such a small thing! It is already almost done bleeding. Yes, it hurt, but I did not need healing, and certainly not such a rude lecture."

Crossing her arms, Natalia sniffed at him. "If girls at your home let you insult them so, I do not have high opinions of them. I might be mostly nice, but I will not let people be cruel to me. So tell me why I should want you as a friend, when you are mean."

[atrickygod]

The last petal dropped from Loki's hand to settle with the small red pile on the ground.

"Oh, but you shouldn't want to be my friend," Loki said, glancing up at the girl. His face held no expression. "Bad things can only happen, as you can see

[red_in_ledger]

"I already told you that," she shot back. "Friendship at the least, a kiss at the most. Yes, learning magic from you would be cool, but the other two are more important. I'm close because I like you and I touch you because I think you are attractive and that is how I was lead to believe Americans show interest."

She stepped closer to him. "Apparently it is that you are stupid," she scoffed. "That does not make sense. You can be my friend, but I cannot be yours? You can have pure motives, but I cannot? I can ask of you the same question, you know. What are your motives with a little Russian girl, far from home, lost in a strange country? What cause might you have to want to gain her trust, and just how might you be planning to betray her?"

Natalia turned the full force of her glare on him. "So stop with this 'mortal' stupidity. Stop trying to sound like you are just so much better than I am. You are just a lonely kid. I want the same thing you do. But if you continue to be cruel, I will leave and make friends elsewhere