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….
"That was a rhetorical question," Storm rolled her eyes.
Just then, our ordered dishes were brought, and a new silence settled at the table for a while. This time, a focused one.
"So," tearing herself away from dinner, my companion spoke again, "you'll be okay if nothing happens between us?"
"It's not the most ideal option, but yes: I'll be okay with it," I nodded, finishing chewing a piece of chicken.
"So you like me, but… you don't like me?" Oh, women…
"Oh, Storm!" It was very hard for me not to laugh, but I managed to hold back, a wide grin splitting my face didn't count. "You managed to guess correctly and be completely wrong at the same time. I really do like you. Jokes aside, one can admire you like a work of art; your presence is pleasant to me, and your character is appealing. But that doesn't mean my thoughts revolve only around dragging you into bed."
"No, undoubtedly, if you wished for something like that, one humble and cute God would be very glad. But I still fancy myself a being somewhat superior to the standard male with his impulses, and therefore the aesthetic pleasure of admiring you, as well as enjoying your reaction to my admiration, suits me quite well."
"So," she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "you mean to say that, ahem… you wouldn't mind at all… well, with me, but devouring me with an admiring gaze pleases you no less?"
"Remaining friends with a beautiful and kind girl might not be as wonderful as being in a closer relationship with her, but it is still immeasurably better than being enemies with her or never meeting her at all."
"Loki…" Ororo closed her eyes wearily, touching her face with her fingers. "You are… Loki." The look of a person completely convinced of her interlocutor's madness was included.
"I'll take that as a compliment," I sipped the wine. "Well, while you decide what place to allocate me in the friendzone, or whether to allocate one at all, what do you say about the local cuisine? Should I pay a courtesy visit to the restaurant critics, or were they right?"
"Oh, an ancient Norse god uses slang like a twenty-year-old adolescent and makes it his goal to just sit and stare at me," Storm sighed sadly.
"Don't forget the critics! Feedback is very important in the advertising business, without it, people start lying," I sent some rice into my mouth.
"Are you really going to visit them?" Ororo raised her eyebrows incredulously.
"Well, not personally, I'll send an illusion, but that won't make it any easier for them," I honestly confessed to my nefarious plans.
"You don't think I'll say a single word of reproach against the local dishes after that, do you?" Now Munroe's face reflected a considerable amount of irony.
"That's exactly the plan!" I raised my fork with importance.
"So you admit you are currently blackmailing me with the threat of cruel reprisals against several innocent people if I say anything unpleasant about the cuisine of the restaurant where you brought me?"
As a liar, Storm was so-so, I wouldn't give her feigned indignation and amazement even three points on a ten-point scale.
"Mmmmm…" I pretended to think deeply. "No. I'm just very honest. And fair."
"Honest in what?" Now a smile crept onto her face too.
"In my intentions."
"And fair?"
"In my intentions."
"And why isn't that blackmail?" she tilted her head to the side.
"Because I don't want to extract lies from you."
"Explain properly already."
"I am the God of Deceit; no one has the right to lie to me. If I was lied to in the reviews, then the critics deserve my divine punishment. And I told you everything simply because you asked. I promised everything would be as you wished," I winked at the girl and raised my glass again.
"…Fine," Storm sighed after a long minute. "I like everything; the cooking here is delicious. And I'm not trying to deceive you. And… you can't be dissuaded anyway, can you?" I nodded and spread my hands.
"Then okay… you can keep doing what you were doing… however strange that sounds, and however much I realize you would have continued anyway…"
"Much obliged," I smiled my best smile.
"And now let's just eat this wonderful chicken and diligently pretend this conversation never happened, okay?"
"As my beautiful goddess wishes." And her cheeks darkened again, and she looked away.
Anyway, this conversation, albeit in a very frivolous vein, relieved the young mutant's tension and lifted her mood quite nicely, although she would hardly admit to the latter, and generally, all this was outrageous, immoral, and so on.
The rest of the conversation passed in a much calmer and freer manner, and in the evening, after escorting the lady to her chambers, I was even rewarded with a kiss.
A chaste one, on the cheek. All in all, a good evening; I'll have to repeat it sometime.
….
Contrary to initial expectations, the topic of mutation captivated me, especially since I couldn't find the New York branch of Kamar-Taj no matter what.
It wasn't that I was running around the streets like a scalded cat twenty-four seven listening to the magical background, but I devoted a couple of days a week to searching, yet came up with zeros.
Somewhere in the movies, a note for Thor with the exact address flashed by, but I couldn't recall its contents.
Despite the capabilities of Loki's brain, my original brain remained in another world, and the transfer to the "new carrier," however it was accomplished, clearly copied only the more-or-less active memory, not all its depths from birth.
I managed to reconstruct the appearance of the building's facade in my mind, but New York is a big city; you can't scour it quickly.
Stark also didn't seem to be going off the rails yet, so it was too early to meet him.
But there were mutants around for every taste and color. I mean, aside from gorgeous beauties, here, Storm alone was saving me, but let's thank the universe for that too. Storm is a cutie.
However, I digress.
….
Bonus Chapter on every 500 power stones;
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
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[email protected]/Yggdrasil_Loki