Daidouji Mayura: Chaos Goddess

by Yashahime

Mayura, a goddess? How did THAT happen? See for yourself!

2. Chapter 2: Control Issues

Daidouji Mayura: Chaos Goddess
Chapter 2: Control Issues
By Lady Crysiana and Yasha-hime

Mayura was sitting in the living room and reading a magazine.  It was one of Yamino's mail order magazines but, she reflected, it was better than nothing.
"Oh, here you are," Loki said, sticking his head into the living room.  He was wearing a pair of Yamino's pants (which were about two inches too short) and one of Yamino's shirts (unbuttoned to the waist because it, too, was a little too small).
Mayura looked up at Loki and managed to only fangirl for roughly a minute.  "...what did you say?"
"Come out to the backyard," Loki repeated patiently.  "I'm going to start teaching you to control the power."
Mayura put the magazine down and headed over to join Loki in the backyard.  Loki was still limping, and the dressing on his rear made an odd and mobile lump in his pants.  He picked up a cast-iron kettle from the kitchen and led Mayura out to the backyard.  Fenrir had dug up a patch of earth for his father out there, and Loki deposited the kettle on it and lowered himself to an awkward and painful seat a few feet away.
Mayura blinked at the kettle, then looked to Loki.  "What am I supposed to do?"
"You're going to learn to boil water," Loki said cheerfully.
"You mean rather than turning it into fire?"
"Exactly.  The trick is to convince the fire that it's inside the water, and should work together with the water rather than fighting it."
Mayura frowned slightly.  "But I don't even know how I turn water to fire."
"You said that it looked like fire when you did it," Loki pointed out.  "It all comes out of your imagination, which I have reason to know is an excellent one."
Mayura gave him a flat look.  She then turned her attention to the kettle.  Loki just waited and watched, hand slipping under the tarp next to him to feel for the fire extinguisher.
The column of fire that consumed the kettle and the area around it surprisingly did not melt the kettle.  Loki whipped out the fire extinguisher and put out the fire that very nearly caught his toes.  He did this rapidly, but calmly, having expected these results.  After the fire was out, he set the extinguisher down and hosed the area off and refilled the kettle.  "Try again," he said in a very teacher-like voice.
"But it just turns to fire!"
"Mayura," Loki said firmly.  "This is not like a math test.  I'm not going to let you quit.  The only way to learn to do this is by trying again and again and again, until you get it right, and if you give up, you are going to hurt someone close to you."
Mayura stared at the ground for a long moment.  "I'm sorry."
"Come and sit here with me," Loki invited in a gentle voice, patting the scorched ground next to him.
Mayura sat down next to Loki.  Loki put an arm around her shoulders.  "Nothing very bad has happened yet," he comforted.  "I think we should try to keep it that way, don't you?"
Mayura leaned against Loki.  "It's confusing.  It's scary to look around and see something and realize that most people couldn't."
"It's what you've wanted for a long time, though, isn't it?"
"I thought so."
"For me, it's disconcerting to know there are things there that I can't see," Loki said.  "It's a matter of perspective, wouldn't you say?"
"It scared you, didn't it?"
"Considering my situation, yes."
Mayura turned back to the kettle, which prompted what resembled a geyser.  Loki whipped an umbrella out from under the tarp and opened it before they were more than spattered a little.
Mayura was bouncing.  "It didn't turn to fire!"
"It wasn't precisely boiling, either," Loki pointed out.  "It's a good start, though."  Mayura nodded, looking cheerful and eager now.  Loki refilled the kettle again.  "Try again."
Ten tries later, Mayura's cheer was waning and her feet were soaked.  "Give it one more try before lunch," Loki encouraged.
Mayura made a face and concentrated on the kettle again, bracing herself for another soaking.  The water proceeded to boil.  "...I...I did it?"
"Oh, just in time for lunch, then," Loki noted.  He pulled out a couple of cup ramen packages, opened them, and dipped out the water for the ramen with a handy ladle.
"Mouuuuu, Loki!" Mayura glared at Loki.
"Should we waste it, then?" Loki asked with a charming smile.
Mayura looked thoughtful. "Actually, I'm surprised you would have cup ramen for lunch."
"If I have to cook on my own, this is about as much as I'm capable of," Loki admitted wryly.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
Loki shrugged.  "When I used to travel on my own, I usually changed my shape, and then it didn't matter.  Or I'd bargain for my supper."
"But Yamino-kun loves to do things for you."
"Aa," Loki agreed softly, looking up at the sky.
Mayura shifted and seemed about to say something, but subsided.
"Hm?" Loki prompted.
Mayura turned away, hoping Loki hadn't seen her blush.  "It's nothing," she murmured.
"Eat up," Loki prompted after a moment, having missed the blush.  "We're going to be here all afternoon."
Mayura settled in for a meal of cup ramen.  She did not look at Loki.  She concentrated hard on not looking at Loki.  Very hard.  "...is something wrong?" Loki questioned after a few minutes of this.
Mayura glanced at Loki.  "No!" she assured him hurriedly.  "Nothing's wrong."
"Are you sure?  You can tell me, you know."
Mayura shook her head.  "It's nothing.  Really."
"If you're sure..."
"It's just...silly."
"There's nothing wrong with a little silliness."
"And it's pointless," whispered Mayura softly.
"I won't force you to tell me," Loki murmured gently.
"Mm."  Mayura looked away from Loki.
Loki leaned forward with the hose and added a bit more water to the kettle.  "Lunchtime's over," he announced with sadistic cheer.
Mayura groaned.  It did, however, break the cloud of melancholy, which given her control was probably a good thing.
"When you can do it ten times in a row, you can quit," Loki instructed.
Mayura stared at the kettle.  The kettle grew legs and hid under the tarp.  "...."
Loki picked up the fire extinguisher and whacked the kettle with it.  Then he placed the kettle back in the burned spot.
"...did you just knock the kettle unconscious?"
"I can hope."
Mayura frowned, concentrated, and caused the water to boil twice before the kettle was back on its feet and wandering around unsteadily.
Loki politely KOed the kettle again and refilled it.
Mayura managed it three more times before the kettle stirred and made a break for the house.  Loki chased the kettle and caught it on the doorstep.  He whacked it three times in a row this time.  "Die, already!"
"Loki!  Don't kill it!" yelled Mayura.  "It's a...thing."
"It's a kettle.  A possessed kettle, but still a kettle."
Mayura gave Loki the Sad Puppy Dog Eyes.
"You can't be so soft on these things," Loki scolded.  "Where do you think this kettle would wind up if you let it wander around?"
Mayura had picked the kettle up and was petting it and cooing at it.
"...geh...Mayura, are you listening to me?"
"And I'll call you K-chan!" Mayura declared happily.  She blinked at Loki.  "Did you say something?"
"You can't keep the kettle as a pet," Loki said firmly.
"Oh, but I bet it doesn't eat much!"
"You don't even know what it might eat!"
The kettle rubbed against Mayura's arms like a kitten.
Mayura beamed at it.  "It likes me!"
Loki sighed and gave up.  "And I thought Skuld had weird pets..."
Mayura held the kettle out to Loki.  "Isn't K-chan adorable?"
"...it's a kettle, Mayura," Loki tried again.
"Papa might even let me keep it..."  Mayura cradled the kettle in one arm and hugged Loki with the other, sparkling.
Loki heaved a huge sigh.  "I give up."  Mayura had gone back to making of the kettle.  Loki sighed third time and gathered up the supplies.  The lesson was over, for sure.
Mayura walked over to Loki, still holding the kettle.  "Thank you for the lesson, Loki-kun."
"I'll teach you more tomorrow," Loki promised.  "As it is, you've learned some control over the power today, so you should be able to manage not to do things accidentally for a while."
"...oh, before we go in, I think I heard Yamino-kun banging the living room pillows on the floor."
"Imps," Loki grimaces, "are notoriously difficult to kill.  Impossible, really.  You have to banish them.  But at least they won't bite if they're unconscious."
"Should I go do the wavey wavey thing at the living room pillows then?"
"Probably a good idea," Loki agreed.
Mayura set the kettle down and went into the house.  The kettle heeled.  Loki heaved a sigh and put the lesson supplies away before entering the living room cautiously.
The kettle was battling one pillow while Mayura went through the ritual to banish the imp in another one.  Loki stomped on a pillow that was trying to get away, and got his shoe chewed up for his trouble.
Mayura hurried to banish that imp next, then took care of the one that the kettle now stood over victoriously.
"Yamino-kun," Loki said wryly, staring at his masticated shoe, "I think it's time to go shopping."
"It looks like it, Loki-sama," agreed Yamino.  He was poking the other pillows on the sofa with a broom.
Nothing leapt up and bit the broom, so the living room seemed safe for the moment.
"Where are you going to go shopping?" asked Mayura.  "I mean...nowhere around here sells stuff like what you wear..."
"I'll have to take what I can get," Loki shrugged.
"Can I come?"
Loki shrugged.  "If you want.  I don't promise to take any advice you give, though."

"But you have to wear the hat!" Mayura protested.  "The hat makes the outfit!"
"I categorically refuse," Loki said bluntly.  He wasn't wearing the gloves, either, but that was because his hands got hot.  At the moment, the jacket (a long, loose, hooded blue fleece thing with short sleeves on it) was draped over the side of the cart as Loki admired himself in the mirror.
The indecently tight jeans and long-sleeved midriff top were drawing scads of feminine attention, and Loki was enjoying that.  He liked the jacket, too, he had to admit.  It had pockets he could actually get his hands into.
"Pleaaaaaaaaaaaase?" said Mayura, clinging to Loki's arm.  The girls in the vicinity sighed at seeing another hot guy already taken.
"You won on the issue of K-chan.  I get to win on the issue of the hat.  No."
"Can I at least see how it looks on you?"
"...I don't think I trust you enough to say yes.  I don't want the thing permanently affixed to my hair."
"I wouldn't do that!  And if I did, I'd fix it!"
"You wouldn't fix K-chan," Loki pointed out reasonably.
"But I don't want you to wear the hat forever," replied Mayura.  She crossed her arms.  "I just want to see what you look like in it."
"We don't get to shop anymore if I say no, do we?"
"No, we don't."
Loki heaved a dramatic sigh.  "Oh, all right.  But just for a minute."  He pulled on the jacket and the gloves, then eyed the cat-eared hat with disfavor.
Mayura held the hat out to him, beaming.  Loki grumbled to himself as he pulled the hat on.  "It looks stupid."
Mayura clapped her hands together.  "You look so cute!"
"Stupid, cute, I suppose they could be considered synonyms in a case like this."  Loki reached up to pull the hat off.
The hat, surprisingly, came off.  With no ill effect.  Loki put the hat on the nearest return rack and backed away from it.  The hat stayed where it was.  Mayura looked amused.  "Now you can try other things on."
"I intend to.  ...in another store."
"Are you buying that one?"
"Everything but the hat and the gloves, I think.  The gloves are uncomfortable, and you know my opinion of the hat."
"I know."
Loki headed for the counter.  He kept casting wary looks over his shoulder at the hat as he did so.  The shop girl stared at him blankly for so long that Mayura finally pushed him away from the counter and took over the transaction.
Loki winked at the shop girl over Mayura's head.
The shop girl melted.  The hat attached itself to Loki's head.  "...geh..."  Loki glowered at nothing.
"Hello, Loki," Heimdall said from the doorway to the store.  It was evident that he and Freyr had been walking by.   Loki closed his eyes for a moment and directed some very heart-felt curses at the Norns.
"Ahhh, what a cute hat!" Freyr cheered.  "I want one!"
Mayura turned around, shopping bag in hand.  "Loki-kun, I'm so sorry!" she wailed.
"I knew it," Loki ground out.  "I knew the hat was a bad idea."
"I don't even know why it happened," said Mayura, though she did turn to pay for the hat as well.
"...why are you paying for the hat?  I don't want the hat!"
Freyr was trying to drag Heimdall over to the stack of hats; he wanted to get one for each of them.
"Because we can't stay in the store while I try to figure out how to get it off," said Mayura reasonably.
Heimdall was clinging to the doorway and telling Freyr in no uncertain and very graphic terms that he did not want a hat.  "Of course you want a hat!" Freyr grunted, prying Heimdall's fingers loose individually.  "They're cute!"
"Why not?" Loki wanted to know.
"I think Kaitou-san and Kazumi-kun need some space."
"I do not want a hat," growled Heimdall, clinging more firmly to the doorway.
"Yes you do!" Freyr insisted, pulling on Heimdall's waist so hard he had completely lifted his friend off the ground.
"...but it's a free floor show," Loki pointed out.
"Isn't Kaitou-san too old for Kazumi-kun?" asked Mayura, frowning at the scene.
Heimdall lost his grip on the doorway at that point.  Freyr crashed back into the hat display, still gripping Heimdall's waist.  He sat up quickly, shaking his head to clear it, and snatched two hats out of the air to place on Heimdall's head and on his own.
"Actually," Loki corrected, "Heimdall's the elder."
"...I suppose if you take maturity into account..."
Heimdall removed the hat from his head and stalked out of the store.
"By about four hundred years," Loki continued.
Freyr followed with both hats, after hastily paying for them.
"...oh."  Mayura stared after Freyr and Heimdall.  Her mind decided not to process the comment, and she asked, "How long have they been together?  I mean, with the way Kaitou-san acts towards me, I didn't think he was dating anyone."
"I think you may be misinterpreting," Loki said.  "They're just friends, as far as I know."
"Really?" asked Mayura, staring after them.
"Freyr treats everyone he likes that way."
"Oh."  Mayura shook herself.  "Let's go sit down and see if I can get that hat off."
"Food court?" Loki said hopefully.
"You're buying."
"...I did figure that."
"Yes, food court."
Loki headed that way immediately, moderately content despite the hat.  Mayura kept looking guiltily at the hat as they walked.
"How did you attach it?" Loki asked.
"I didn't even know that I did," admitted Mayura.
Loki bethought himself to reach up and tug on the hat.  The hat did not come free.  "Well, damn," Loki said descriptively.
Mayura sighed and sat down at one of the tables when they reached the food court.   "What do you want to eat?" Loki asked.
"I don't know what they have here," said Mayura, looking around at the various eateries.
"Let's find out before claiming a seat, then.  I'm starving."  Mayura stood back up and headed towards the shops.
Loki decided that he wanted Chinese from the Panda Panda Buffet.  Mayura decided on the same, since, as she said to Loki, she hadn't ever had it before.  Loki disappointed a bunch more fangirls by buying dim sum for the both of them.
"Thank you, Loki-kun," chirped Mayura.
"Don't mention it," Loki said politely, grabbing one of the little metal openwork tables-for-two.
More fangirls were disappointed by this.
"Not too bad," Loki judged the food, some fifteen minutes later.
"I should try to get the hat off," fretted Mayura.
"Have you thought of a way to?" Loki asked dryly.
"Try it, Heimdall, it's good!" Freyr urged about six tables away, pushing a plate of yakitori toward Heimdall.
Mayura looked over at the sound of Freyr's voice.  "Oh, dear.  Kaitou-san got Kazumi-kun to wear the hat."
Heimdall, who was indeed wearing the hat, glared at Freyr and generally sulked.
"I wish I had a camera," Loki sniggered.
Mayura turned her attention back to Loki.  Finally she stood.  "Stand up."
"Eh?"
"I have an idea; stand up."
"...okay."  Loki stood up.
Mayura placed her hands on Loki's cheeks and moved them up his face, into his hair.  Her fingers went under the brim of the hat, and she lifted it off his head.
"...." Loki said to this.
Mayura stood holding the hat in front of her for a few moments before she turned bright red and stared at the floor.  Loki cleared his throat and took the hat, placing it on Mayura's head.  "Why don't you wear it for a while now?"
Mayura blushed a brighter red if that were possible.  "...um...you said you wanted to get other clothes, I mean, if we're done with lunch..."
"Well, I do need more than one outfit," Loki agreed.
"So we should get going?"
"If you're finished eating."
"I am."
"Oi, Daidouji," Koutaro-kun smirked as he walked up.  "Does your father know you're out on a date instead of in school?"
"It's not a date," muttered Mayura.  "And," she added, "he knows that I'm not in school."
Koutaro folded his arms.  "It looks like a date to me, and I should know, don't you think?"
Loki chose to remain very still and silent for this discussion.
"I wouldn't know.  I've never seen you as a guy; you know that," said Mayura.  Loki snickered behind his hand as Koutaro fell over in shock.
"Why aren't you in school, Koutaro-kun?" Mayura asked.
Koutaro resumed an upright position.  "My father had me excused today.  He has a place of business in this mall he just acquired, and I'm supposed to check it out covertly for him."
"Oh.  Are you capable of doing things covertly?"
Koutaro twitched.  "Of course!  And anyway, they don't know who I am, so it's easy."
"Hm," Mayura still looked doubtful.  "What kind of store is it?"
"It's a clothing franchise," Koutaro explained.  "Down that way."
"Oh, exactly the kind of place we're looking for, right, Mayura?" Loki said, dropping an arm lightly around Mayura's waist.      Mayura Looked at Loki.
"Loki-kun, what are you doing?"
"Hm?  You don't want me to?"  Loki reluctantly dropped his arm.
"This isn't a date."
A trace of disappointment showed on Loki's face.  "If that's what you prefer."
Mayura turned to Loki with a look of pure innocence.  "If it were a date, you wouldn't have flirted with the shop-girl, so of course it's not."
"I didn't flirt with anyone."
"Uh huh."
"Winking is not flirting, and it got us a discount, anyway," Loki said virtuously. Koutaro stood there with his arms folded, just watching.  He didn't think he liked this guy much.
"You intentionally made her faint, Loki-kun.  That's flirting," retorted Mayura.
"I can't help it if there are women with weak wills."
Mayura glared at Loki and turned her back on him, her arms crossed.  "I should leave you to shop by yourself."
"...what did I say?" Loki blinked.
"...not a date.  Right," Koutaro said dubiously.
Mayura stalked off without another word.  "Mayura!" Loki protested.
Heimdall commented from behind Loki, "So being mortal turns you into a moron?  Remind me never to try it."
Loki looked over his shoulder.  "Ho.  If it isn't an adorable little kitten," he said with a smirk.
"At least I didn't just let an angry chaos goddess go wandering on her own," retorted Heimdall.
"Why don't you just run on back to your daddy, Heimdall?  I'm sure he'll love the hat."
"I suppose I should leave you alone to wallow in the fact that you were just dumped..."
"Nice try," Loki congratulated.  "It's not working."
It was about this time that people started screaming and fleeing the general area.  Heimdall looked behind Loki and said, "Hm.  I don't remember you ever doing that with your powers."  Loki ignored Heimdall and went after Mayura.
Mayura was sitting on a bench which resembled the eye of a hurricane--nothing was threatening her, but the chaos had her as its central point.  She was, at this point, crying.  "Mayura," Loki said, sitting beside her.  He was understandably disheveled, and he had a few cuts here and there, but nothing major.  "Why are you so upset?" he asked softly.
"I can't make it stop, Loki-kun," sniffled Mayura.
Loki gathered Mayura up into his lap and rocked her like a child.  "Shh, come on.  Calm down."
Mayura wrapped her arms around Loki's neck and pressed her face against his shoulder.  The chaos did not immediately stop; the books that were flying through the air gradually got more and more sluggish before drifting to the ground.  "It's all right," Loki soothed again.  He was glad the chaos was easing, but also smart enough not to say so.
Mayura finally sighed against Loki's shoulder as everything settled down.  People who hadn't run were shakily coming out of their hiding places.
"Do you feel like shopping some more, or would you rather go home?" Loki questioned softly.
"I...can we just stay like this for a few minutes?"
"All right," Loki agreed, resting his cheek on the hat between the ears.
Mayura finally pulled away a little.  "Are the stores even still open for us to shop here now?" she asked.  She almost managed to sound normal.
"We can try the next wing over," Loki offered.
"I hope nothing happened to Koutaro-kun..."
"...I think he got a concussion, but nothing serious."
Mayura attempted to look Loki over.  "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Loki lied, as the little bruises and cuts decided to choose that moment to scream at him all at once.
Mayura hugged Loki impulsively.  "I'm glad."
"I wouldn't mind having a few more clothes than this, though," Loki said wryly, without releasing Mayura just yet.
"Then let's keep shopping for a while," said Mayura.  She looked around.  "...somewhere where the books weren't just flying around."
Loki chuckled.  "Come on, I think there's more stores we haven't been to down that way."  He gestured.
Mayura rose.  "I wish I could do something about this..."
"At the moment, there isn't much," Loki said.  "With a bit more training, perhaps, but not now."
"Un..."
"We'll make a donation to the mall, if it'll make you feel better."
"I'm more worried about learning how to make this not happen in the future," replied Mayura.
"We're working on that, remember?"
"I know."
Loki led Mayura toward the other stores, pausing at one point to drag Koutaro out of the middle of the floor and prop him up by a wall.  Mayura walked along with Loki, looking thoughtful.  Finally she said, "I know why the hat got stuck to your head."
"Eh?" Loki blinked.
Mayura smiled slightly.  "I was annoyed at you for smiling or winking or whatever you did at the shop-girl."
".........."
"I still didn't do it on purpose."
Loki heaved a huge sigh and resigned himself to having no fun until he got his power back.
"Why are you sulking?"
"I'm not sulking," Loki denied immediately, so as not to get into more trouble.
"Alright," said Mayura, sounding suspicious.
"Really," Loki insisted.
"Mm.  Does the hat look cute on me?" Mayura asked.
Loki considered for a moment.  "It does," he decided.
Mayura smiled.  "I'll keep it then."
"Oh, good," Loki said with relief.
"It'll only get glued to your head on special occasions."
Loki wondered silently if the garbage disposal would be able to handle the hat.
Mayura was silent all the rest of the way to the next clothing store.  "Is something wrong?" Loki asked as they entered the store.
"...do you want it to be a date?"
"I wouldn't mind," Loki said softly.
"I'd like it too," murmured Mayura, leaning against Loki slightly.  Loki put his arm around Mayura's waist again, smiling.  "...this means that I get to choose at least one outfit for you."
"You already did," Loki reminded hastily.
"That doesn't count," said Mayura.  "You didn't keep the hat."
"...it looks better on you than on me."
"I promise the outfit I pick won't be bad."
"You picked out the hat."
"But I'm not making you wear it."
"You still picked it out," Loki pointed out, perusing racks.  "...leather..."
Mayura turned away from Loki to examine a rack of clothes.  "Hey, this is like what you usually wear."
"Not exactly," Loki said, sweat-dropping.
"Well, okay, it's a dress, but it's close," said Mayura.
"You aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"
"...no, I just like the dress."
"Good, because I don't do drag if I can possibly avoid it."
"It would probably look pretty on you though," added Mayura.
"No, Mayura," Loki said much more firmly than he had intended.
Mayura smiled and continued to peruse the clothes.  "If I got something here we could match."
"Your father would have a heart attack," Loki said dryly, taking a pair of hip-huggers off the rack and looking around for a good shirt.
"He didn't have a heart attack when I wore the cheongsam the one time."
"Eh?" Loki questioned, picking up some fishnet consideringly.
"I think he was upset because the slit was up to here."  Mayura touched a point on her upper thigh.  "But he didn't tell me not to go out."
Loki dropped the clothes accidentally as he considered that mental image.  "...who were you going out with?" he managed to ask relatively evenly.
"Koutaro-kun.  He used to be scared of girls, so he asked me because I was his friend," said Mayura cheerfully.
"I have a hard time imagining that...how old were you both?"  Loki stooped to pick up the dropped clothes.
"It was a couple years ago..."  Mayura went over to help Loki.
"I think I'll go try this on," Loki decided, holding the clothes in front of him at about waist level.
"Oh.  Alright."
Loki found a clerk who was more than happy to let him into the dressing room.  Said clerk was male...but not acting like it.  Mayura snapped her fingers in front of the clerk's face.  "Stop fangirling at my boyfriend."
"...w-what?" the clerk said dazedly.
"I said for you to stop fangirling at my boyfriend."
"...boyfriend!?" the clerk shrieked in dismay.
"Yes, boyfriend!"
"A guy like that, hooked up with a girl!?  No way!"
Mayura gave the clerk a dark look.
"What, do you use a strap-on or something?" the guy demanded.
Mayura blinked as something occurred to her and walked out of the store to sit on a bench.  It took a good deal of effort to control her annoyance at the clerk before it actually did anything.
Loki walked out of the store several minutes later, wearing the hip-hugger leather pants and the fishnet top with a pair of black high-heeled boots he'd purchased earlier in the day.  He had a bag with his other clothes in it, and at least one other shirt.  "I hope I didn't keep you waiting," he said to Mayura.
"No, I was just out here trying to not hurt the store clerk."
Loki sniffed disdainfully.  "He's crying in a corner and chewing on his liver," he reported.
Mayura glanced at Loki.  This took a while, since she ended up stopping to stare.  "...uh, why?" she asked when her brain started working again.
Loki smirked.  "I didn't wink at him."
"Should we keep shopping?" Mayura asked, sounding cheerful.
"By all means.  Two outfits does not a wardrobe make."
Mayura looked around as she started for the next store.  "More girls are staring now."
"They can look all they want," Loki said, putting his arm around Mayura again.  Mayura blushed and smiled at Loki.
"You know," Loki remarked after a moment, "it was most unfair of you to tell me about that cheongsam."
Mayura blinked at Loki.  "Why is that?"
"I was wearing tight jeans at the time."  Loki's hand slid from Mayura's waist to her hip.  Mayura sputtered and elbowed Loki in the gut.  Loki caught the hand attached to that elbow and kissed the back of it flirtatiously.
"We're in public."
"So?" Loki queried with a charming grin.
"So don't do that."
"Don't do what?  Touch your hip or kiss your hand?"
Mayura had gone back to spluttering and blushing.  Loki chuckled and put his hand somewhere more neutral again.  "Come on, we've got about six more stores to go to."

Yamino smiled at Mayura and Loki as they walked into the house.  "How did shopping go?"
Loki looked pale and vaguely green.  "There are more bags...in the cab," he said unsteadily.
Mayura started to take Loki towards the couch, then paused.  "Where's the stick that we've been using?"  Yamino handed Mayura the stick, and she proceeded to poke the pillows on the sofas while he went to get the bags out of the cab.
None of the pillows bit--for the moment.
Mayura sat Loki down on the couch and settled next to him.  Loki buried his face in his hands and moaned pathetically.  "What is it with you and cars?"
"I don't like them," Loki murmured.  "And they don't like me."
Mayura rubbed Loki's back.  "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault.  I thought it might have had something to do with my power, but I guess not."
"You just happen to get carsick, then?"
"Un.  I hate cars," Loki repeated, rubbing his still-churning stomach absently.
Mayura kissed Loki on the cheek.  "...if it would make you feel better, I could tell you why the pillows were all in your room," she offered.  She was blushing, again.
"Oh?" Loki prompted, lifting his head curiously.
"Well...I was thinking about you, and then, I guess it was an illusion, but it was a really detailed illusion and, uh, you...stuff but nothing bad and then it went away."
"Really, now..." Loki breathed with a great deal of interest.  "Just how far did this illusory me get?"
"Nowhere," said Mayura firmly.  "...well...okay, somewhere, but I still had all my clothes on and your hands didn't get underneath them."
"So...just to A?"
"...well, okay, maybe I was on my back, but...huh?"
Loki abruptly flipped Mayura onto her back on the couch and loomed over her on his hands and knees, grinning a sexy little grin.
Mayura looked startled, then blushed.  "Loki-kun...!"
"If an illusion of me can get to A," Loki purred, "I'm honor-bound to try it for myself."
"But..."  Mayura trailed off.  Her brain wasn't helping, since it wasn't supplying anything that could be used in the way of a protest.  Loki bent his head and kissed Mayura in a way that no mere illusion would ever be able to match. Mayura wrapped her arms around Loki's neck as her brain happily shut down.
The front door blew off its hinges for the second time in as many days, admitting Freyr.  Again.  "Loki, you bastard!" Freyr screamed in pure, unadulterated outrage, yanking Loki roughly away from Mayura.
Loki found himself making a hard landing on what remained of the doors, right at Heimdall's feet.
"Sorry," said Heimdall, actually sounding contrite.  "This is my fault."
Mayura was off the couch and staring at Freyr.  "What are you doing?"
"Why," Loki grunted painfully, "am I not surprised."
Freyr was so full of righteous wrath (which he had not been before seeing the fishnet and leather on top of Yamato Nadeshiko) that he didn't pay any attention to Mayura.  "I won't allow you to defile any more innocent maidens, Loki!"
"I accidentally told him you were on a date with Mayura," Heimdall explained.
Mayura attached herself to Freyr's arm.  "Kaitou-san, he was not defiling me."
"I wasn't even planning on it," Loki added.  Freyr clearly did not believe it, and shook his fist at Loki, snapping something in Old Norse.
Loki sputtered and leapt to his feet.  "Say that again, you little--!"
Heimdall turned his attention to Mayura.  "Let's see how fast you learn."  He tossed a binding spell around Freyr.  "Do that."
Mayura blinked, then copied Heimdall's motion...and the binding spell.  "....wow!  I did something on the first try!"
"...sort of," Loki said dryly, discovering that he could not move.
Mayura face-faulted.  "...gomen..."
Loki gave Heimdall a dirty look.  "You intended this to happen," he accused.
"I didn't think she'd be able to do it," said Heimdall, looking amused and interested.
"Teach her how to undo it.  Now," Loki ordered Heimdall in a borderline psychotic voice.
Heimdall shrugged and turned to Mayura again.  "All you have to do is untie him.  Make sure not to confuse 'untie' with 'undress'--that could be interesting with the door missing."
Mayura, predictably, collapsed into sputtering.  Loki bit Heimdall viciously.  Heimdall yelped.  Mayura frowned.  "Loki-kun, I'm not sure if I should untie you if you're acting like that."
"I wouldn't be forced into this kind of behavior if I weren't trapped in a binding spell!" Loki retorted acidly.
Heimdall put a good bit of distance between himself and Loki.  He glanced at Mayura.  "It's safer for you if you simply vanish the bindings.  If you can't, you have to mentally untie them."
Mayura attempted to do so, with little success.
Loki's eyes narrowed as they fixed on Heimdall, holding a look that promised a great deal of agony at some point in the future.  He never had dealt well with having his liaisons interrupted.
Mayura closed her eyes and smiled with relief as she felt the bindings start to come undone.   Loki was wise enough not to spring at Heimdall, but the look in his eyes didn't change.
Freyr coughed politely; he, too, wished to be freed.  Heimdall gave Freyr a Look.  "Are you rational now?"
"Freyr is always rational," Freyr responded sulkily.
"Rational in the sense of not trying to murder Loki."
Freyr's look suggested not.
"You know, Heimdall, for some reason, I just never thought I'd hear you say that," Loki commented.
"I'm perfectly rational about wanting to kill you," said Heimdall.  "I wouldn't kill you for doing something like dating someone who liked you already, no matter how I felt about that person.  And I'm not letting you go," Heimdall added to Freyr.
"Besides," said Mayura, sounding confused, "Weren't Kaitou-san and Kazumi-kun on a date earlier?"
A look of absolute horror crossed Freyr's face.  "Date Heimdall!?" he squawked.
"...well, you get along really well, and you live together, and you act like you're married..."
"We do not!" protested Heimdall.
"You go shopping together," Loki pointed out with a smirk.
"The only thing I can think of more horrible than that would be dating Loki!" Freyr shuddered.
"You know, that brings back memories," Loki said dryly.
"...I can't hear you, I can't hear you, I can't hear you!" Freyr caroled at the top of his lungs.  He would have covered his ears had he been able.
Heimdall, by this time, was working his way through annoyance to actual anger.  
Mayura frowned thoughtfully.  "Hmmm..."  She gestured.  "...oh, that doesn't look like I wanted it to."
Loki made his annoyance quite eloquently clear despite his lack of a voice.
"I'm sorry!" sniffled Mayura.  She did not quite start to sob.
Loki sighed silently and pulled Mayura into his arms yet again.  It was fortunate, he reflected, that he liked the way she felt there.  He found this thought so appealing that he kissed Mayura for it.  Mayura blinked, then relaxed into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Loki's neck again.  She absently pulled away the silence spell.
Freyr's voice returned in the middle of a particularly vile curse--aimed at Loki, of course.  Heimdall was snickering and continued to do so when he got his voice back.
Fortunately for Freyr's sake, Loki found kissing Mayura to be more interesting than the insults--particularly as he had just begun to do things with his tongue.
Heimdall sighed and dragged Freyr towards the door.  This was a very impressive sight.
Mayura, of course, missed it, since clinging to Loki and enjoying what he was doing with his tongue was much more important at the moment.  Freyr kicked his feet like a naughty child and spat a few of those deadly insults at Heimdall.
"We have to get Gullinbrusti from the mall and neither of them knows we exist right now.  Stop whining."
"He's going to defile Yamato Nadeshiko!" Freyr protested.
"Only if she wants to be," retorted Heimdall.
Freyr sputtered and turned green--the envious sort.  Heimdall grumbled about idiots as he dragged Freyr off.
Loki failed to note that they had gone.  Mayura snuggled closer to Loki.  Loki's hands started wandering under Mayura's clothes.  In front of the open doorway.
It did occur to Mayura, vaguely, that there was a reason she shouldn't be doing this.  When she heard Yamino picking up the remains of the door, she jerked away from Loki, blushing.   Loki made a mindless noise of protest, his brain having long since turned over operations to his libido and retired for the day.
Mayura kicked him lightly.  "Public!  Bad!" she managed.
"...why?" Loki demanded in a whiny voice.
"...because!"
Loki whined again.  And then was attacked by a pillow imp.

It was a fairly quiet couple of days after that.  Mostly because Mayura was twitchy and pushed Loki away half the time he got close to her, despite the fact that she knew it bothered him.   This time when Mayura started to push him away, Loki pulled her back into his arms.  "Why are you doing this, Mayura?" he demanded.
Mayura looked away.  "Because...I feel my power doing something and I don't want to hurt anything."
Loki made an annoyed sound.  "You can't be so weak-willed!"
"Weak-willed?  What I feel for you is the most intense thing I've felt in my life!  You go out of your way to make me lose control, and then you blame me when I say I'm afraid of that?"
"You either control the power, or it controls you--and so far, you haven't been the one in control!" Loki snapped with just enough truth to bite.
"So why is it that you can't wait until I do?" snapped Mayura.
"Because I'd rather not walk into a room somewhere and see an illusion of myself doing what I'd rather be doing!" Loki retorted.
Mayura jerked violently away from Loki.  "Leave me alone."
Loki let her go.  "Fine, if that's the way you want it, I will!" 
Mayura stalked out of the room.
As Mayura left, Freya waltzed in the front door.  She stopped to stare.  "Loki?"
Loki had seated himself on the couch in a huff, crossing his legs and folding his arms across his chest.  Today he wore indecently tight jeans, the boots he'd taken a real liking to, and a peasant-style blouse that had been in the women's section at the store but didn't look it.  "Freya," he greeted with a nod.
Freya happily threw herself at Loki with all the force she could muster.  Loki spotted a mouth gaping on a pillow that Freya was about to slam her knee down on.  He snatched it up and whacked it against the coffee table four or five times.
The result of this was Freya tumbling onto the couch and laying there, disoriented, for a moment.  "..."
"...be careful where you sit; we have an infestation of pillow imps," Loki warned his guest.
Freya blinked at Loki.  "...you what?"
Loki held the KO'd pillow up.  "Pillow imps.  They bite."
Freya turned herself so that she was actually sitting instead of sprawled.  "How...?"
"Loki-kuuuuuuuuuun!" came Mayura's wail from elsewhere in the house, "There's something big and ugly in the backyard, and it's not listening to me!"
"..." said Freya.
"Coming!" Loki called back.  "Excuse me a moment, Freya, this is important."  He left the room rapidly.
Freya stared after Loki for a moment, then followed.
Just as Loki reached the top of the back stairs, something struck the back of the house hard enough to make the whole building shake.  Loki's feet dropped out from under him, and he slid all the way down on his backside.  "Ittetete..." he winced.
It probably didn't help that Freya pitched down the stairs to land on top of him.
"Freya," Loki said in a pained voice.  "Would you mind getting off of me?  Preferably before my house is smashed to pieces?"
The crash had brought Thor running as well.  He stopped on the stairs and coughed politely as Freya pulled herself off of Loki.  Loki loftily ignored this and got up, continuing on to the back door.  "...a troll."  He took several steps back and gestured for Thor to go first.  "I believe this is your cue, Narukami-kun."
Thor headed outside, commenting, "You always ask me to deal with your relatives..."
"That's what I'm paying you for!" Loki retorted.
"Hai, hai."
Freya looked very confused by this time.  "...what's going on?"
"It's a long story.  Better stand back so you don't get splattered," Loki said absently, looking around for Mayura.
Thor was back a few moments later.  "Boring.  Nothing like being at home."
"Mayura?" Loki called anxiously.
Mayura dashed into the house after Thor and decided to cling to Freya and cry.  Freya's confusion increased.  Loki twitched visibly.
Freya poked Mayura, who was sobbing into her chest.  "Oi..."
"Mayura," Loki said after a brief consideration, "this is definitely not your fault."
"Eh?"
"You didn't summon it."
"...okay.
"As a matter of fact," Loki said thoughtfully, "I'm surprised it didn't show up earlier."
Mayura sighed.  "Can you be slightly less vague?"
"...must I?"
"Yes."
"...it wanted to eat me."
"...why?"
"Be...cause I'm Odin's blood-brother, and they've never really forgiven me for that."
Mayura blinked.  "I'm sorry, what?"
"Will someone explain what's going on here to me?" demanded Freya.
Loki grimaced.  "Mayura has my power at present," he said briefly to Freya.  Then he turned back to Mayura.  "Odin is Aesir, like Narukami-kun and Heimdall.  Freya and Freyr are Vanir; the Vanir are somewhat distantly related to the Aesir.  I, on the other hand, am jotun.
"Jotun and Aesir have had this eternal enmity thing going on since Odin killed the Great Fa...Ymir.  Trolls are a type of jotun.  You could say it was my...cousin," Loki allowed reluctantly.  "Distant cousin.  Quite distant."
"...And it wanted to kill you," said Mayura.
"Eat," Loki corrected.
"Loki is an unusual child of the 'Great Father,'" commented Thor pointedly.  "As you can see."
Loki gave Thor an annoyed look.  "I don't pick on your childhood speech habits, do I?  No, I do not!" he sniffed.
"Sure you do.  You pick on anything when it suits you."
Loki ignored this loftily.  "In any case," Loki continued to Mayura, "while it probably would kill me right now, I've been eaten before--with some unusual side effects on occasion."  He glanced over his shoulder at Yamino, who was puttering in the kitchen.
Mayura blinked, then decided she didn't want to know.  Freya finally managed to say, "...what do you mean, she has your power?"
"I mean exactly what I said, Freya.  Mayura has my power at the moment."  Loki grimaced.  "I'm handicapped."
"..." said Freya.  She glared at Mayura, who was oblivious, still stuck several lines back in the conversation.
"It really wanted to kill you?" she asked again, dumbly.
"There are a lot of things like that out there right now," Loki divulged, giving Freya an irritable look.
All the windows and doors to the outside abruptly disappeared into wall.  Mayura said something markedly unladylike.
"...what happened this time?" Loki demanded.
"...I'm a little worried about you," admitted Mayura.  "...they're really gone this time," she added.
Thor made an annoyed sound.  "Don't worry, I can handle anyone who comes along."  In a softer voice he added, "You really don't have to be worried."
"He's right," Loki sighed.  "You don't have to be worried about me.  I've spent several millennia protecting myself against things a lot bigger, uglier, and stupider than I am."
"But you're crippled right now!"
"I do still have my wits; I'm not senile!" Loki snapped defensively.
"Besides," added Freya, staring icily at Mayura, "I'm staying to protect him."
"Oh," said Mayura.  She closed her eyes for a moment.  "This is harder...how do I do this, Loki-kun?"
Loki eyed Freya.  He was going to have to tell her her possessiveness was unwarranted and unacceptable.  That was not going to be fun.
Mayura made an annoyed sound and the doors and windows reappeared.  "There," she said with finality.  There was a pause, during which Mayura Looked at Freya for a moment.  Mayura then took care of the need to tell Freya that her interest was unwarranted and unacceptable…by glomping Loki and kissing him.
Oh well, Loki decided silently, you only live once.  He wrapped his arms around Mayura and kissed her back enthusiastically.
Freya was actually speechless for a few moments.  Before she starting shrieking words that it would have horrified Freyr to know that she knew.  Mayura ignored this.  Loki tuned out quite a bit, but one finally caught his attention, and he broke off the kiss to demand incredulously, "Do you even know what that means?"
Freya stopped shrieking as soon as Loki stopped kissing Mayura.  She did, however, continue to be enraged.  "You...you..."
Mayura turned to Freya.  "I'm sorry, Freya-san, but I couldn"t think of another way that you would listen to…"
"............" said Freya.
"Well, it's certainly the most direct way," Loki observed thoughtfully.
"I thought that you were a lot like Kaitou-san," Mayura added.
"...." said Freya again.
"They are siblings."
Freya blinked a few times, then burst into tears and ran out the back door.  Loki sighed sadly.  Mayura leaned against him.  "...will she be alright?" she asked softly.
"I hope so," Loki said just as softly.  "I never wanted to hurt her...but..."
"You don't love her, and you can't help that," murmured Mayura.
Loki buried his face in Mayura's hair.  "Un..." he agreed.  Mayura stroked his hair.  Thor blinked, then quietly moved to elsewhere in the house.

It wasn't long after that that Thor went to seek Yamino out.  "Oi, Megane, I'm taking off."
Yamino, who had been rearranging the now-less-carnivorous pillows in Loki's study, stopped to look at Thor.  "Does Loki-sama know?"
Thor shrugged and sighed.  "Yeah, talked it over with him, and decided that my job would be easier if I just made sure his 'cousins' didn't make it to town at all.  Which'll keep me away 'til he's back to normal or until they get sense, whichever comes first."
Yamino smiled slightly.  "And you wanted me to pack you something to take?"
"…well…"  Thor had the grace to look embarrassed.  "Yeah, kinda, since I won't really be…I mean, Loki's giving me cash, but."
"I'll go get something for you, then," said Yamino. 
Thor smiled.  "Thanks."

"Aren't you ready to go yet, Mayura?" Loki demanded impatiently.  For him it had been easy--throw on a pair of Speedos under a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, some sandals and a towel, and he was ready.  Mayura, on the other hand, was taking forever!
"I'm ready!" called Mayura.  She came down the stairs in white sundress (one could see her light pink bathing suit underneath) and carrying a bag.
"Finally," Loki muttered under his breath.
"You look pretty," said Mayura.
Loki was impatient enough to leave to ignore that.  "Come on, the cab is here, and I want to get that part over with."  Mayura blinked at Loki and walked past him out to the cab.  The ex-god checked his pocket to be sure he still had the bottle of Dramamine, then steeled himself and got into the cab next to Mayura.
Mayura was settled in happily.  She was even humming.  True, she was humming something that sounded suspiciously like "The Cockatrice is a Bluebird" but these things can't be helped.
"...where did you hear that song?"
"Kaitou-san sang it once.  Everyone else in the area started running away."
"Wise of them," Loki murmured.
"I felt sorry for him."
"...you wouldn't by any chance be blessedly tone deaf, would you?"
"No, just polite."
"Politeness only goes so far, Mayura."
"I like Kaitou-san."
"......"
"He's a very sweet person, usually."
"...whatever," Loki said sulkily, folding his arms.
Mayura gave Loki a sideways glance.  "You're sulking again."
"I am not," Loki sulked.
"Yes you are."
"I am not!"
Mayura just smiled.  Loki sulked some more.
Mayura looked out the cab window.  They were already approaching the beach, to Loki's relief.  He reluctantly let go of his sulk and asked, "Should we rent lockers?"
Mayura shrugged.  "I don't usually, but we can."
"It's been about..." Loki considered.  "Thirty or so years since the last time I was at the beach.  I'm following your lead."
"Oh.  Well, come on then."  Mayura headed straight towards the beach once they were out of the cab.
"I was going to college in America at the time," Loki commented, patting Mayura's ass blandly.
Mayura swatted at his hand absently.  "America?   When was that?"
"About thirty years ago, as I said," Loki responded, blatantly ogling a passing female, who promptly orgasmed and then fainted into her boyfriend's arms.
Mayura elbowed him lightly.
"What?" Loki said all too innocently.
"You're flirting again," complained Mayura.
"It's nothing," Loki dismissed.
"Alright," said Mayura easily.  Loki did not, however, stop ogling women.  And a few men.  Mayura attempted to ignore it.  And headed for the water.
Loki found a convenient spot and dropped his towel.  'Convenient' meaning 'surrounded by the most nubile young women who drooled to watch him take off his shirt and shorts.'  Mayura walked by the water for a few minutes, then returned to look possessive and take off the sundress.  "You should put on some sunblock or you'll burn," she commented.
"I didn't bring any," Loki shrugged.
Mayura handed him the tube she'd been using on herself.  Loki was no longer in place to take it.  Instead, he was accepting a tube from a pair of blushing girls in string bikinis--and applying it on them.
Mayura glowered after Loki, then put the tube down and headed for the water.  Stalked towards the water, actually, looking rather annoyed.
Loki was, by the time she returned, handing out phone numbers.  Mayura grabbed Loki's arm and dragged him away from the girls, to a relatively unpopulated area.  She was twitching.  A lot.
"What did you do that for?" Loki demanded in an irritated voice.  "I was having fun!"
"What are you doing?" snapped Mayura.
"Having a good time.  Isn't that what we came here to do?"
"We came here to have a good time together."
"Where's that in the contract?" Loki demanded sulkily.
"You were the one who said that!"
Loki ogled a passing couple.  "Hm?  What did you say?"
Mayura slapped Loki hard across the face.  Loki's head turned with the force of the blow.  "Congratulations," he murmured in a completely different tone than before.
"...eh?"
"Did you notice that nothing else happened?" Loki asked seriously, turning his head to look at Mayura again.  He rubbed the red mark on his cheek absently.
Mayura looked around.  "...nothing else...you were testing me?"
"It was the only way I could think of that you wouldn't be expecting," Loki admitted apologetically.
"..." said Mayura.  Her eyes narrowed.  "Whose number were you really giving out then?"
"Heimdall's," Loki shrugged.
"Those poor girls..."
"...it was either his or your father's.  With any luck, Freyr will answer for him."
"Poor Kaitou-san," sighed Mayura.
"...at least it is a chance for him to talk to other girls?" Loki offered.
Mayura gave Loki a sideways glance.  "I still think there's something there with Kazumi-kun."
"I doubt it.  Freyr doesn't do kids."
"Kazumi-kun will be very unhappy for the next few years, then."
"Doubtful."
"Hm?"
"Freyr's attention span isn't that long," Loki said dryly.
"...what do you mean?"
"The longest crush he's ever had lasted thirteen months.  The shortest lasted one week and three days."
"Oh."  Mayura frowned.  "That's a very short time for someone who lives thousands of years."
"Exactly my point."
"Who did he have a crush on for so short a time?"
"...me," Loki admitted wryly.
"..."
"He was fourteen or so.  It was vaguely cute at the time."
"........."
"...what?"
"I can't imagine you and Kaitou-san..."
"We dated for about two days.  And then we both swore solemn oaths to never, ever, ever, ever try that again."
"Do I want to know?"
"Probably not," Loki admitted.  "It involved sex and a great deal of pain on my part."
"..."
"...he's clumsy around his crushes, and it was a lot worse when he was fourteen than it is today."
"...oh."
"...what's the matter?" Loki asked.
"If Kaitou-san were on top of Loki-kun and he didn't know what he was doing, that must have hurt, is all."
"....um," Loki said, trying not to twitch.  "He wasn't on top."
"...really?"
Loki lost the battle.  "Yes, really."
Mayura looked away.  "Sorry!  It's just...with you and Kaitou-san..."
"What about it?" Loki wanted to know.  The twitching was under control again...for the moment.
"Well, between you and him...um...I'm going to be quiet now."
"......."
Mayura, as she had said she would, remained quiet.  Loki abruptly pinned Mayura to the wall of the arcade they stood next to and kissed her fiercely.  It was a very demanding, toe-curling kind of kiss, and not the least bit passive.  At all.
The part of Mayura's brain that was still functioning after the first few seconds wondered where this was coming from, though it didn't protest.   Loki finally raised his head.  "I don't do uke if I can avoid it," he murmured in Mayura's ear.
Mayura blinked at him.  It was clear that she wasn't ready to process words again yet.  Loki sprinkled a few kisses up and down Mayura's neck, then reluctantly drew away.  Mayura took a few moments to regain her balance.  "Um," she said.
Loki sighed.  "If we don't stop here, we'll be arrested for indecent exposure," he said regretfully.
Mayura muttered something.
"Hm?"
"You'reprettyclosetoitalready."
Loki grinned.  "Sou da na..."
Mayura blushed.
"I thought you might like the bathing suit," Loki said innocently.
"...it's nice."
"So is yours," Loki said with a leer.
"Hmm," said Mayura doubtfully.
"Of course, you'd look just as good in a flour sack, and even better in nothing at all," Loki added.
Mayura turned bright red and sputtered.  Loki chuckled and put an arm around her waist again.  "Come on, let's go back before our towels and stuff get stolen."
Mayura leaned against Loki, smiling.

To Be Continued...