Loki was unsure of the reasons behind his drastically changed attitude. When he was first sent to Midgard, he'd been bitter and angry that two mortal girls had complete power over him. But their open-minded and kindhearted innocence had shown him something. They didn't need to be ruled, they needed to be loved. So although he wanted to hate the rather clumsy and squeal-y teens, he couldn't. Sure, he could be mad at the Avengers and hold a grudge and smolder and brood; but what would be the point? Now was the time to quench his curiosity about Midgardian clothes, customs, and technology. Sure he'd done some research before trying to overtake the realm...but the little things excited him.

Things like surprises, one of which the girls had promised him today.

"LOKI!" Mandy called. He joined her in the living room and sat next to her on the couch trying to look as apathetic as possible.

"Yes, mortal?"

"Okay give up the All-Powerful-Giant act. I think you'll like this," Mandy said, frowning at his attitude. He sighed as melodramatically as possible and leaned back against the couch cushion in defeat. "As I'm sure you know, Odin is paying us to take care of you."

"Really?" Loki looked up, shocked slightly.

"I guess you didn't know. But yes, he has. We get a check in the mail every week. Since Jane and I already have enough saved up for college, we've been saving up and today we're going on a shopping spree." Loki didn't have very many outfits since he'd arrived. The girls gave him the necessities in order to have a fun trip like this.

"Cool." he said. The father of falsehoods often liked to use words or phrases (usually slang) that he picked up off the streets or some of the girls' friends.

"Want to know the best part?" Mandy smiled slyly.

"What's that?"
"Jane and I had a long talk before she went home the other day. Today you get a small amount of your magic back. If you're responsible about the use of it, you can keep it. If you get into trouble, then we take it away again. Do you understand the terms?" Mandy explained. Loki seemed to glow slightly with the prospect of having some of his magic back. Every day without seemed unfulfilled. He needed even a little of it to feel whole, and Loki was excited.

"Okay! I can do that, Mandy!"

"Good, come here," she motioned for him to sit closer to her on the couch. The girl became suddenly serious and took his hands in hers, closing her eyes to increase her concentration. She spoke in a low voice, the Icelandic words barely audible to Loki, "Gud skadi pu getur verid, I per og ut af mer, taka petta galdur nota pad rett, ekki meira, fyrr en pu sero ljosio." (God of mischief you may be, into you and out of me, take this magic use it right, no more till you see the light)

Suddenly the man's skin flashed a pale blue and his eyes a pale pink. Before Mandy could open her eyes and shriek, though, he was back to normal. He wanted to see what he could do. He summoned a cup of coffee from the kitchen and handed it to Mandy. He made a small book disappear and reappear a few feet away. It was nothing he could escape with or do serious damage with, but it was magic.

A girl burst in the door and yelled, "I'M HERE! THE PARTY CAN START!" Loki jumped a little but otherwise didn't smash any vases over her head (an unfortunate event in the case of one poor UPS delivery man).

"Hey! You ready to go to the mall?"

"Yes! Let's do this thing."

"Loki, get in the car!" Everyone piled into the car and Mandy's mom took them to the mall, which was nearby the Wal-Mart she worked at. Jane winked at Mandy, who returned it with a mischievous smile and both of them grabbed one of Loki's hands and dragged him into Hot Topic. When they finally left a good twenty minutes later, the man owned three pairs of skinny jeans and a few ironic Avengers t-shirts. Jane had also found a black shirt that read Mischief Managed in swirling letters from the Harry Potter section of the store. They went from store to store, grabbing something here and another something there until they finally loaded everything into the car and went to Wal-Mart to do some necessities shopping.

Jane ran to grab some food (and rootbeer for Loki) whilst Mandy and Loki went to get bathroom stuff for everyone. Mandy grabbed Loki a new toothbrush and some children's toothpaste in his favorite flavor. Loki went down the isle, sniffing every available shampoo or body soap and either smiling or grimacing depending on if he liked it or not. After making several decisions and having Loki beg and plead to purchase Lavender body soap, Mandy headed to the front of the store to locate Jane so they could check out. Loki stopped at a small display stand and his eyes widened with excitement. "OMG THEY SPARKLE!" he shouted, pointing happily to a pair of women's sunglasses.
"Yes, yes they do," Mandy sighed as she dragged him away by the back of his shirt collar. "Looks like we need to get him tested..."

"Tested for what?" Jane asked, falling in step beside Mandy and making Loki jump. "I heard him yelling and found you pretty fast, no need to be scared Lokster."

"What kind of test? Will I have to fight a warrior or something. Maybe wrestle a bear?" Loki asked, his eyes narrowing.

"No," Mandy laughed, "You'd just have to answer some questions and such. It would be easy."

"Oh. Asgardian tests are much more difficult," Loki said softly. When the girls finally finished loading all the bags into the cart and paid for everything, they realized Loki had run off.

"I'm gonna kill him when I find him," Mandy huffed. Jane had taken the bags out and loaded them into the car while Mandy tried to find the trickster. "Loki Odin-Laufeyson, when I find you I will kick your skinny Jotun ass so hard..."

As she was muttering threats under her breath, Mandy came upon a rather comical sight. Loki had used some of his magic to switch around all the shampoo scent labels, leaving several patrons in that isle rather confused when Lavender didn't really smell like Lavender at all, it smelled like peaches. And peaches smelled like citrus and so on. She giggled and continued walking, looking around for more clues on where to find the runaway God. She passed changed DVD covers, CD music artists, and camera brands before finding him in the toy section, cowering in fear. "Loki?"

"Help me, I do not wish to be smote," he whispered, reaching for her, but otherwise not moving. She took a few steps forward and embraced him gently, looking around for what could be frightening him; until she saw that they were standing in the Avengers section. She knew immediately what toy Loki was so terrified of: Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.

"Loki, honey, it's made of foam. That's a flimsy mortal material that can't hurt anyone," she said, leading him away by the hand. "It's alright."

"Thank you," Loki said, smiling childishly once more as they passed groups of very confused shoppers who couldn't quite understand the new product labels.

"Let's head home."

"Okay!" so Loki skipped to the parking lot and gratefully went home to rest after his first shopping adventure.