"Well, want can I get for you, coffee?" Dira smiled warmly at Loki, making him feel almost uneasy. "It's always the best thing late at night?"

"Coffee would be impeccable, thank you." Loki smiled back to her, teasing and deciding to play it cool.

Dira beamed obliviously at his change in attitude. "Alright then." She said and swung herself out of the booth and went back to behind the counter and began on the coffee.

Loki tilted his head back and closed his eyes and the sound of the coffee machine and clinking cups rattled at the back of the diner.

"You're not from round here then, are you?" Came Dira's bright voice.

Loki open his eyes and stirred head slightly to the side so he could see her.

"No." He replied warily and curtly. This was his game, he thought, too make this pitiful young woman believe there was nothing too him, just a hopeless wreck at the end of the night. She was clearly too clueless too know there was more to him, but she'd learn that in the end with her last dying breath.

"So what was it, a costume party or something?" She glanced over his outfit.

Loki looked down at his Asgardian clothing, he had been passing unnoticed since the battle at New York and had cared little for what he was wearing, but he would need to stay around here for some time to recover his strength and dressed like this would certainly get him noticed. "Yes, it was. Just visiting an old friend." He lied to her plainly.

"Been a long journey has it?"

"You could say something like that." Loki moaned. Then he became curious. "What about you, you from here?"

"Me?" Dira poured the coffee from the machine into a small tea pot. "Nah, I'm from Washington city, born. Been here three years."

"Washington city?" He inquired, wondering how she could been born there yet have an accent so laced with Englishness. "You're not from Britain at all?"

"Ah, no. But schooled in England."

"Privately?"

"Err, yeah."

"Must've had some money behind you in order too afforded privet education across seas. Are you rich?"

"Um, yeah." She smiled meekly as she slid a tray laden with tea pot, cup, serviette, tea spoon and milk onto the table.

"Thank you." Loki's mouth twisted up into a smile as he flirted with her. "Please join me." He indicated opposite him.

"Well, I shouldn't really, I'm supposed to still be working. But I can't see myself getting anyone else at this time of night. Anyways you look like you need a talk." She slid into the booth opposite him, sat up straight and placed her hands upon the brim of the table with elegance.

Loki couldn't believe how easy it was playing this girl, he was going to enjoy when he revealed that he wasn't as sweet as he seemed. He reached out and began pouring the coffee. "So, tell me, how does a rich girl end up working in a diner?"

"Is that a chat-up line?" She joked, and raised her eyebrows only slightly.

Loki was caught off guard for the first time, this woman wasn't the usual Californian type, he could deal with her friendliness, but when she flirted he was not prepared.

Loki was a great mind, but he'd always let his brother have the girls, women intimidated him. Of course the women here were so foolish to him that he could possibly fear them, but this woman Dira was becoming more like an Asgardian women too him.

And the truth was, she was beautiful. In the split second he had he glanced across her, the way the lighting reflected off her skin, and how he too reflected in her mysterious eyes. He suddenly felt that there must be more to this woman than he understood.