It was a particularly cool morning when Laurel went outside, thinking that she would go for a walk before she spent her day holed up inside. She had been putting off reading about the history of the facility, S.H.I.E.L.D., and some of their operatives across the world. Instead, she had been practicing magic and reading about new spells to try when she isn't sitting up talking to Loki. She would be stuck in the main living room all day, she had decided, taking notes and figuring out how all of the puzzle pieces of the Avengers story fit together.

As she walked, she noticed a figure near the treeline, gold and green sparks swirling around him. Getting closer, she could see that Loki was sitting there, his legs crossed in front of him as he held his hand over the ground, repeatedly making flowers grow and shrink back into the earth. "Hey, you." He looked up, smiling as he saw her approaching. "What are you up to?"

"Environmental manipulation," he told her. "You start with tings like this, and ultimately learn to control the Earth."

"Mhm. So you're growing flowers as a means of world domination?" She laughed and sat down beside him, Loki extending his arm and wrapping her legs in vines. "Ah, I see." The vines retracted as he kept working, this time growing a few sprigs of lavender. Instead of making them shrink back into the ground, he picked them and handed them over to her absentmindedly, starting to grow more complex plants now. "Thank you." Laurel held her hand out, making a few daisies sprout out of the ground. "I'd make you a laurel tree, but that would be kind of hard to bring inside."

Loki furrowed his brow, concentrating on trying to make some sort of bush sprout in front of them. "You must have learned that recently. I don't think Strange spends his time teaching you to grow flowers."

"I didn't get it from Stephen. It's from those Celtic books you told me to read."

"Hmm."

"Hmm?"

"I'm doing this the Asgardian way, which, frankly, is far superior to Celtic magic," Loki told her, both of them watching as he made flowers bloom on the bush. "What shall I try next? Blackberries?"

Laurel shrugged, voicing her doubts. "I don't know if you can make them grow from that, but you can try. If Asgardian magic really is that good, you should be able to."

He gave her a look that said, "just you wait", holding his hand out and making the flowers shrink, turning darker and curling in on themselves until they had turned into berries. He grabbed a handful, passing her some and tossing the rest of them in his mouth. "Asgardian magic really is that good."

They did taste good. And she was impressed that he could make the plant produce fruit that didn't naturally grow on it. It must have involved reworking the internal chemical structures of the plant. "Teach me."

"No."

"No? Just like that?" She stopped sprouting smarocks from the grass, turning to look at him. He continued his work on the blackberry bush, not bothering to afford her any eye contact. "I've known you for how long now? I'd say we're… well, not friends in the traditional sense, but we know more of each other's shit than the others do. You could at least try and help me."

"No. You can't handle Asgardian magic."

"Try me," she dared him, crossing her arms. "It can't be that difficult."

Stopping his work, he finally met her eye. He held up his palm, creating a glittering green vision of an alien planet. "Asgardian magic has the power to raze cities and destroy planets. It's far more powerful than the Mystic Arts that you have become accustomed to, more powerful than the Celtic magic that you have been so recently taken with, more powerful than any kind of magic from this realm. It is more difficult to master and it is harder to control. It is meant for Asgardians to wield. I will teach you, but you must realize that in all likelihood, you won't be able to master it."

"I have to get some work done now, but how about later tonight?" she proposed, already excited to learn. "I'll meet you on the roof?"

"Alright," he assented, saying nothing more.

Laurel practiced her magic for a little while longer before standing, brushing the grass off of her legs and telling him to stay put. She went to fetch her tablet, stowing it under her arm and grabbing drinks for the both of them. "Laurel, there's no way that's Loki out there with you, is it?" Natasha asked, looking out of the window. "I don't think I've seen him outside in a long time."

"He's not technically off the premises, so he's allowed to be out there, and he's not doing anything dangerous."

Nat squinted, saying, "He's growing plants out there, I think." She shook her head, adding, "I don't know what he's up to half of the time, but I would be very careful about trusting any of it. He's always got a plan."

Laurel sighed. "Nat, he's just growing plants. I don't think he's scheming to take over the facility with shrubbery or anything. All he's done is grow a wall of blackberry bushes."

"I'm just warning you," she offered as Laurel began walking towards the door again. "He has an endgame. I don't know what it is yet, but that's why we're keeping an eye on him. You've read the files. You know what he's capable of."

He's actually capable of being a decent person, Nat. He's capable of not destroying everything he touches. He's capable of being - well, not perfectly pleasant, but nice enough. Laurel made her way back to where Loki was sitting under a tree, practicing his magic. "I didn't move," he beamed proudly, as if he was expecting a reward.

"Dang it, I forgot to bring treats," Laurel laughed, handing him a drink as she sat down. "Looks like you've got enough berries growing here to feed the entire facility, though. Maybe you should move them over to the greenhouses."

Loki waved his hand, all of the plants disappearing. "I think I'll try an orange tree next."

"In New York?"

"It's magic, Laurel. You really think I'm limited by the climate?"

So Loki sat there, practicing growing orange trees out of nowhere. Laurel sat and read, occasionally looking up to see what he was working on. He managed to master a wide variety of trees, vines, and flowers, handing Laurel a couple of each of them. Before she knew it, she had amassed a full bouquet of flowers and a pile of fruit. Meanwhile, she finished file after file, sent some emails, and caught up on business. They parted ways when they went inside for lunch, but she was proud that she had managed to get him outside of his room and the library.

When it was finally time for her to head to the library, Laurel stowed her laptop away in her room, grabbed her phone, and set out for the rooftop. Loki was already there, swirling pillars of green and gold light illuminating the flat roof that they had used to practice spellwork for weeks now. He sat on the edge of the roof, his legs hanging over the two-story drop. Long ago he had put up a forcefield, just in case one of Laurel's spells backfired and sent her over the edge, but she still approached the ledge with abit of apprehension. "Hey." Sitting down next to him, she watched as he twirled a couple of sparks around in the air.

"You really want to learn Asgardian magic?"

"If you're willing to teach me."

"I've already made a pile of books for you to read on the subject. They're next to your chair," he admitted, standing. He offered a hand to help her up, Laurel not registering how much of a symbolic gesture it was until a moment later. He never touched anyone. That just wasn't Loki. Steve and Thor were huggers, never shy about giving people bear hugs when they needed them. Tony would pat you on the back when you'd done a good job. Bruce was always ready to offer a comforting hand. Nat less so, but she still offered high-fives on occasion. But Loki, Loki never touched anyone. He never really associated with anyone, but when he did, he absolutely refused to touch them. But he had extended a cold hand, Laurel finally realizing how much of an odd friendship that they had struck up.

Excitedly, Laurel looked to him and asked, "What's first?"

"Light."

"Light?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Light is… there's got to be something more than that."

Loki nodded, conjuring a glowing ball of green light. "It's the easiest, and one of the least dangerous things you can work with. Remember, Asgardian magic is not meant for mortals. I hesitate to admit it, but I wouldn't want to see you blow yourself up. Now hold out your hand." She obeyed, Loki passing her the ball of light. She held it for a second, tossing it into the air and catching it with ease. "Now I'm going to stop casting it myself. Take over for me."

"Take over for you? How - " The flame had already shrunk to the size of a pea, Laurel concentrating as hard as she could on keeping it alive. It lasted for a minute, flickering out and dissolving.

"Better than nothing," Loki shrugged, conjuring another ball of light. "Try again." He tossed the ball over, conjuring yet another to play with while Laurel focused on keeping thisbone alive.

Twelve tries later, she turned to see that he was juggling green and gold balls of light. "I got it, look!" He smiled, seeing the baseball-sized ball of light in her hands. "I don't know how, but I got it!"

"Now let it die out and conjure in on your own," he instructed, taking a seat in the ledge again. Laurel decided to join him, trying to summon even a spark of light as he continued to juggle.

"You're not giving me much advice here, you know," she frowned, having managed to create a tiny spark that died out within seconds.

Loki scoffed, turning to look at her in the green and golden light. "You already know how magic works. It comes from the person, the universe, or the dimension. The Midgardian Mystic Arts focus on the universal and dimensional energies, but Asgardian magic draws on the person, which is why it is so difficult for you Midgardians. If you aren't careful, it will drain you. That is why Strange teaches the way he does, because magic coming from inside the person has killed mortals trying to wield it. That is also why I cannot teach you all that much, or you would quite literally burst into flames. If you even push your limits, you could get very sick."

Creating another spark in her hands, Laurel nodded. "I'm not getting tired, though. The books said it would happen."

"You will only feel it if you overextend yourself. I would recommend against that."

By the end of the night, she had managed to conjure a ball of light the size of a grape. Loki said it was a whole lot of progress for one night, but she had still wanted to practice more. It was nearing one in the morning, though, so they decided to part ways and try to do more spell work in another day or two. As she lay in bed that night, Laurel kept snapping her fingers, creating a couple of sparks that would light up the room before disintegrating. Most of them were blue and silver, her colors, even though she was already better at green and gold.