Because Loki had to work until five and most of the places she wanted to take him were closed then, they kept their adventures mostly for the weekends. Sometimes Jane and/or Thor joined them, but usually not.
She'd taken him to see the Empire state building, which he'd been unimpressed with.
"There are taller mountains on Jotunheim," he'd said airily.
"Yeah, but those are mountains," she'd pointed out. "This was built by us mere mortals." But he had just shrugged.
She'd taken him to the library, too, which he'd claimed to dislike.
"Too many children," he'd said with distaste. It was true. They'd gone on a Saturday, and there were more children around than was exactly pleasant. Still, he hadn't let her leave without checking out a bunch of books on her card. And he demanded she take him back every week so he could get new ones. At first he hadn't been able to understand the concept of borrowing books simply to return them.
"But why wouldn't you just keep them once you had them?" he'd asked, not wanting to give back the first ones he'd gotten.
"Because," she'd said. "First of all, that's stealing." He'd simply raised his brows at this. "And second of all, they wouldn't let you get more books if you didn't bring back the old ones. So then you'd have to buy every book you wanted to read. And that get's quite expensive."
"Ah," he'd said. "I understand now." He'd actually seemed mildly impressed that mortals had thought of such a clever system.
His choice in reading material amused her to no end, as well. He took out everything from Books on deep-sea creatures to self-help books on getting fit. The only topic he steered clear of was fiction.
"Fiction is boring," he said. "There's no new information to learn. Just someone's ramblings on nothing in particular."
Darcy, a fan of novels, turned her nose up at this. "You have quickly become a snob," she accused.
He just shrugged.
The Museum of Natural History had held his attention, though. Darcy had counted that as a big win. She found that with every new place she was trying to impress him: see! Look at how interesting and wonderful my planet is!
He'd liked the exhibit that showed a visual representation of Man's evolution from Neanderthal to Homo Sapien.
"And then from Homo Sapien to Asgardian," he had said, standing at the end of the line of pictures and posing for her.
Darcy had laughed. "Wow. If only we'd known that we would grow up to be Gods."
The more time that she spent with him, the more Darcy began to worry. He was too...nice. Entirely too nice. It should not be so enjoyable to spend so much of her time with him- and it was a lot of time, between the weekends and coming over with Jane multiple times a week after work. He was quickly becoming her whole social life. And yet they got along, mostly. He would get mean and antagonistic at times, but she would just play off of it until he seemed to forget about it. Sometimes he was even kind.
One particular instance came to mind where a cat had been stuck in a tree. A boy was calling for it to come down, and the cat was trying but couldn't seem to make itself jump. They had been walking by and Loki had silently stopped and started climbing the tree (not high at all, really. Like five feet perhaps). The cat had scratched his arms, but Loki had still brought it down to the boy, who had been overjoyed. Loki had just gruffly brushed it off. But it had made a huge impression on Darcy. The impulse to be kind was there. He wasn't just a conscienceless, selfish villain. He just needed someone to foster those impulses and show him that it was good to be kind.
She had actually recently had to admit to herself that she had...feelings for him. Like, romantic mushy ones. It was a disaster! She could not be falling for the God of Mischief! She just couldn't. Even if he was decidedly sexy for a supposed-villain. She'd never seen him do anything terribly evil. Although, his powers were, technically, gone at the moment, which might have been what was holding him back. But still...she just couldn't help liking him.
This revelation had led to her running over to Jane's to talk to her about it. Jane was making tea when Darcy burst in.
Because she found it better to just get these things over with, Darcy launched right into her problem, not really letting Jane speak.
"Okay, okay, okay," Darcy said, pacing. "I've got like, a major problem, Jane. It's about Loki."
"Umm, yeah," Jane said. "About that-"
"Shh, Jane. Shh. Let me get this off my chest and then you talk your sweet little mouth off. Okay so Loki. Jane!" She cried. "Whyyyyy is he so pretty! I don't like it! He's entirely too pretty and too funny. It's a terrible combination. Terrible and deadly. And I think I like him, Jane. Like, like like."
"Umm, about Loki, Darcy- I really think-"
"No, Jane! I really think! Or rather, I don't know what to think! I mean, on one hand, yeah, he's the God of Mischief. He's evil. That's not a good thing, is it? No. Of course not. But then, on the other hand, he's really funny and sexy and I just like him a lot. Which is also not a good thing. So two not good things combine and we've got a Big Problem That Darcy Has Put Her Foot In. And that's not even taking into account sex! Which I don't know if he wants or not, because he is annoyingly not responsive to my subtle and not so subtle hints that we should...like...have some. So I don't know! I'm so confused, Jane. I'm just confused and horny and I like the God of Mischief and I'm totally fucked, and not in the good way. What do I do?"
"Oh, Darcy..." Jane said.
"Indeed," came a voice from the hall.
"Loki?" Darcy shrieked, her cheeks blushing furiously. "Son of a bitch! How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough," he said. "Since you came in, actually," he amended.
"That's what I was trying to say," Jane said. "That Loki and Thor had come over for a bit. I'm sorry, Darcy."
Darcy just shrugged. Oh well. So now everyone new. She was so embarrassed though! Ugh. Loki had called her a child. She didn't think he'd really meant it, but he'd said it, and now she just wasn't sure about anything.
Loki had honestly been shocked at Darcy's admission. He'd been aiming for something along those lines when he'd decided to start winning her over so she would be more willing to help him get the band off of his arm, but he hadn't really ever expected it to work this well. He had actually been...slightly touched by Darcy's profession. She was horrible at lying, so he knew she was speaking truth. Not that there was any reason she should lie. But still, he knew that she believed it.
Deciding on a split-second to roll with it, he lied. "I...I find that I like you as well, Darcy. It was my intention to admit my feelings for you in a somewhat more...private, manner," he eyed Jane. "But no matter. I am glad to have this out in the open now."
But Darcy just stared at him intensely for a moment.
"What the fuck, Loki. You do not."
Well, not exactly. But he was the God of Mischief! His lies were supposed to be pretty damn believable! What was wrong with her? Why wouldn't she believe him?
"I do," he said belligerently. "Just because you said it first doesn't mean that I don't feel just as strongly."
"I don't know what the fuck game you're playing at Loki, but it's mean and I don't like it."
Ye gods! She actually looked hurt! Just how had this gotten so far out of his control?
He looked to Jane, who had watched in silence- Thor still out running to get milk- but Jane held her tongue. She just looked commiseratingly at Darcy.
"Sorry Jane," Darcy sniffed turning to go. "And fuck you, Loki." She flipped him what she'd explained was 'the bird' and left.
When she'd gone, Loki just felt at a loss. Somehow this mortal always managed to do the unexpected. Jane apologized.
"Sorry, Loki. Darcy's got...intimacy issues, you might say." She eyed him over, unsure. "Now I'm not sure if you meant what you said or if you were just trying to manipulate her, but you should know: Darcy hates to be manipulated. She would respond much better to a simple plea for help. Not that she should be helping you..." she trailed off. "Sorry. Just. You know. Things seem to be going pretty good at the moment."
Pretty good? Pretty good! Things were most certainly not 'pretty good'. Every day the passed he began to chafe more and more at the restrictions that had been placed on him! Every day he longed more strongly to have his powers back! He was a God. But the Allfather had him toiling amongst the ants he would sooner crush beneath his boot. He was given a ridiculous mortal woman as a plaything to keep his brilliance occupied trying to understand her. No. Things were not 'pretty good'.
And yet he could not even snap at this woman of his 'brother's, or she would be certain to tell Thor, which would be counter-intuitive to what he had planned. He must continue to act the complacent fool for her. It was infuriating!
"You're right," he managed to say smoothly, the lie rolling easily off his tongue once he had committed to the path. "Of course. I shall find her in the morning and apologize for however I have upset her."
Jane nodded, satisfied with this. Thor came back just then, victorious with the half-gallon of milk. Loki forced his mind to stay at least somewhat focused on the events at hand, though part of him could not help but plot his course for handling Darcy.
He could not tell her the whole truth: that he wanted his powers back. She would not help him if she knew that. He thought over what she knew of his sentence here. That he had been sent by Odin to help rebuild the city. That his powers were taken from him. That he had to wear the band on his arm. But, he was quite sure it had never been spelled out to her that it was the band that was withholding his powers from him. That was it! He could weave some story, play on her sympathies...
He smiled. Yes. In the morning he would find Darcy and 'apologize' to her. Well. Actually, he had to work until five, he remembered with annoyance. Fine then. No matter. He would find her after work tomorrow. And 'apologize'.
Darcy packed her backpack angrily. She was still fuming over Loki. She knew he hadn't meant it. She could tell when people liked her. Call it a gift. And he didn't. Yet he had lied about it. Why? To spare her embarrassment in front of Jane? Not likely. Probably just part of a plan to get her to help him with something. Well, fuck that!
She'd made a complete fool of herself over him. She needed some time away, to think about her role in his life. She liked him. She'd thought they'd been friends of a sort, before this. But if he was just using her to get something he wanted, should she keep being in his life?
She had a couple vacation days saved up. Jane and her had been planning to use them this winter by going to Florida, but...Darcy needed out for a while.