Dagger Swagger

Nevaeh and Joe arrived at Queen's nest in the evening. As Nevaeh went upstairs to change, Joe found Loki seated peacefully on the porch. 'Hello,' he said chirpily. 'How was your day?'

'It was okay, dashing fellow,' Joe said. Loki was wearing a green shirt over black jeans along with a black leather jacket. His hair was straight, smooth and shiny as ever in the afternoon sunset.

'This is appropriate for a party, yes?'

'Oh, anything you wear is appropriate, you being so pretty and all,' she said.

'Aren't you a flatterer?' Loki winked. 'How come your friend doesn't say such sweet things as you do?'

'She might if you don't use pick up lines such as, "get out of my face" again in the future,' Joe shrugged.

'What? I never said that!' Loki said defensively. 'I just told her not to touch me during that one moment.'

'Eh. Potato, potahto.'

Soon, Nevaeh came downstairs and they walked up to Daniel's apartment building which was a few blocks ahead from her place. The door to his apartment was predictably open and groups of boys and girls were shuffling in and out, suggesting that there was indeed a party. Nevaeh realised that this was probably the longest period of time that she'd spent without talking to Loki and she wanted to break the ice, but as soon as the thought struck her mind, he went to fetch drinks.

Joe noticed that Loki's face was glowing a little more than it normally did. 'Loki is glowing, isn't he? Did he do a quick facial or something?' Joe asked, blinking a little as if she was staring at the sun.

'Meh,' Nevaeh said.

Joe punched her. 'Don't be mean! Just take a look at him!' she said and spun her around.

Loki was bringing two long island iced teas from the bar, one in each hand, and a guy was following him carrying the third. He did look fine, maybe damn fine, whatever, thought Nevaeh. Loki stopped in front of them and handed them their drinks while the guy standing behind him handed Loki the long-island-iced-tea he was holding. 'Cheers. You can go now.' The boy went away without uttering a word.

'Who was that guy?' Nevaeh asked.

'He offered to help, bless him,' Loki lied kindly.

'Oh, so you are ready to speak to me without needing a door between us? Good to know,' she raised her glass. 'Cheers.'

Few minutes into the party, Loki was quietly telling Joe his version of yesterday; how Nevaeh took him to her shady basement at night, how a big, scary stone threatened them, and how Loki thought it was best to leave his head be after he was attacked which is why he politely declined when she tried to forcedly touch his head, while Nevaeh snidely interjected at times about how he was snappy and dismissing and that she was only trying to make him cheerful again by taking him there in the first place.

Their conversation was interrupted when a boy halted in front of them and waved awkwardly at the girls. He couldn't read minds without some effort, but he did sense Nevaeh's heart skip a beat.

'Angelo,' she said.

'Nevaeh. Hi.' he smiled. 'Joe,' he added nodding and smiling.

'Hi, Angelo,' Joe said, in what seemed to Loki like an unnecessarily flattering voice.

'What are you doing here?' Nevaeh asked him quietly.

'I was around. Dan gave me a call, which came as a shock, considering – you know. Thought I would stop by. I – I didn't knew you two were still dating' he said.

Before she could correct his assumption of her dating Daniel just because she was at his party, Loki interjected. 'And who told you this?'

Joe quickly looked at him, surprised, as if she'd forgotten that he had the ability to speak. Angelo opened his mouth to answer him, but Nevaeh waved a dismissing arm towards Loki. 'We broke up a while ago. We are not dating. It was good to see you, Angelo. Excuse us.' She led the way to the bar, closely followed by Joe who took Loki by the arm as she waved Angelo goodbye.

As soon as they took their seats near the mini bar, Loki addressed an issue. 'Why didn't you introduce me to your mortal friend?'

'Because he is not a friend anymore since a very long time,' she replied so fast as if she knew he was going to ask that.

'Is it because I am from another planet? And you presume that I might strike as strange to the mortals? Because that's discrimination!' Loki snapped. 'Yesterday, you did not introduce me to that Dan-man either.'

'Same case, dude,' Nevaeh said.

'Dude?' Loki's eyebrows disappeared in his hair.

'Loki, have you noticed all the girls staring at you?' Joe said, nudging Loki. She mostly wanted to end, or at least halt their annoying bickering. Nevaeh scoffed, nevertheless glancing around like an undercover detective. Quite literally, all the girls were indeed staring at Loki, smiling and blushing. Nevaeh scoffed again.

Joe waved at a guy near the door. Nevaeh recognized him as David; the guy Joe was dating. He made way towards the bar and approached them with a 'hey.'

Nevaeh was distracted by a fairly big bunch of girls who were giggling among themselves while looking in their direction. David took a seat next to Joe, kissing her on the cheek.

'See? You didn't introduce me to him as well!' Loki said in a this-is-it kind of voice. Nevaeh tore her gaze from the girls to look at a visibly annoyed Loki. Before she could answer, Loki continued. 'You know, I am much more than capable of introducing myself! But you are going out of your way to tick me off–'Loki was interrupted as a group of four girls stopped behind them and one of them patted Loki on the back. 'Hi!'

Nevaeh was vigilant enough to notice that the four female personal-space invaders had emerged from the same bunch she was staring at before. It was a good thing there weren't any empty seats near the bar.

'Hello,' Loki blinked, wondering what these strangers could possibly want from him.

'Can we buy you a drink?' one of them asked.

'Oh,' Loki smiled widely. 'How can I refuse? I am Loki.'

They were giggling girlishly as they introduced themselves. 'So, what are you ladies up to?' asked a smiling Loki, standing up from his chair.

'Let's go over there! It's crowded here,' a girl said.

'That is an awesome accent, by the way' another gushed, as Loki walked away with them.

'Suckers,' Nevaeh said.

Joe raised a mocking eyebrow. 'A girl that never gets bothered is getting bothered! Now, that's a party!' Joe said, raising her glass and sipping. Nevaeh watched through the corner of her eyes as the rest of the girls introduced them to Loki who was gently shaking their hands, making them blush in turns.

'You see it's not that difficult, touching someone's hand,' Joe said.

'What are you talking about?' asked an irritated Nevaeh.

'You know what I am talking about! I know you saw them,' Joe said. 'I know you haven't even shaken hands with him yet. Why do you always have to behave like a weirdo?'

Nevaeh watched Loki amidst a flock of girls, shining like a star.

Joe's statement was met with snide laughter that came from behind them. 'You said it, Joe!' Daniel laughed. 'Looks like your boy-toy abandoned you,' he added to Nevaeh. She suddenly felt so frustrated at the sight of him that she felt like hitting him, again and again till he was unconscious, and the sight of bandages on his forehead wasn't going to gain him any sympathy from her. 'Maybe he tried touching you and got thrown off in the air. Is that why he is finding company elsewhere?'

'Thrown off in the air? Is she a Ninja or something?' David whispered to Joe, who chose to ignore him.

'Daniel, just because we are at your party doesn't mean that we want to engage in a conversation with you. I just wanted to make sure there was a party,' Joe said.

Loki was pleased with all the attention he was receiving till he saw Daniel approach Nevaeh and Joe. He stared at them from a distance, not needing any magical aid to hear what was going on.

'Yeah, whatever. I came to let you know that your gothic dude is just as big a freak as you are, Nevaeh. He did this to me!' he said, pointing at his forehead.

'Bullshit,' Nevaeh laughed. She slid down from her high chair to face him like a thug. 'He was with me the whole night, Daniel.'

'Oh, I know. I am not saying that he beat me up, but he closed your front door and then I stopped right in front of my house to beat my head over a tree! And not just once!' he yelled. 'He did something! He was the last person I talked to before hurting myself, and I don't even remember what he said!'

They rolled their eyes, whereas David was completely confused. 'It is sad that you would do that to yourself, but blaming it on him because of jealousy is a new level, even for you' Joe said. It was common knowledge that Daniel was no stranger to blatant lies.

'Of course you don't believe me!' he tried to approach Joe, but Nevaeh pushed him back in his place. 'You will always defend the freaks! Well, guess what, Nevaeh. You hit the jackpot! He is so twisted himself he wouldn't even realise how abnormal you are!'

Nevaeh was about to punch him right in the face when she was pushed aside by Loki, who came and stood right in front of Daniel, looking down at him through cold eyes.

Loki flicked his hands. Two long, silvery-bronze daggers slid out in his palms. Daniel yelped and backed away two steps, staring at him through wide eyes as if he were a wild peacock who had crashed his party.

'I think the word you actually meant was 'extraordinary,' you pathetic mortal,' Loki hissed. There was a stunned silence across the room as people just gapingly stared at them. Loki didn't care though. He was staring at Daniel, refusing to break his stance.

Daniel backed away from him with a wild expression on his face. 'Dude, you – you are insane.' He turned around and began walking away from a still waiting for an answer Loki, who didn't appreciate being dismissed. Loki flung both his daggers, and sent them plummeting towards an unknown Daniel's sides. Their sharp blades passed an inch from his ears to hit the wall in front of him within a blinking second. Daniel jumped so wildly that Nevaeh feared he might hit the roof. He shrieked loudly as he turned around in horror and fell down on the floor.

'What was that word again?' hissed Loki amidst the gasps of drunken spectators.

'Ex-ex-extraordinary,' Daniel blurted. May be due to fear, or humiliation, but he was shaking horribly.

Loki cackled loudly, bending a little in his knees. 'Now, that's better!'

Nevaeh couldn't help but laugh a little, and she really tried not to. No one in her entire life had thrown a dagger at someone for her, let alone two. For some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off of Loki as he walked ahead to plunge the daggers out of the wall and pocket them in his leather jacket.

Everyone was still frozen by the recent events, now mumbling something amongst themselves in hushed tones. Loki knew it was time to leave. He gave Nevaeh his arm, and without saying anything, they headed out, closely followed by Joe and David.

Joe was still stunned by Loki's bold move and glanced at Nevaeh who looked as though she were dazed. After they were out of Daniel's apartment building, Joe made it clear that she wanted to have a word with her as she shooed David away who stood a little ahead on the sidewalk.

'I'll meet you at home,' Loki said, 'or the beach. A dip won't do me any harm.' Nevaeh nodded, but couldn't find her voice.

'What a crazy party huh!' said Joe sighing.

Nevaeh laughed, slapping her on the back. 'I know, right!'

'Okay, I got to ask. Why are you looking so happy right now?' asked Joe frowningly. 'You are kidding, right? Your alien friend just threatened your ex-boyfriend with two knives!'

'I know! It was pretty cool—'she was interrupted by Joe who held out a palm in front of her nose to stop her from talking. 'Cool? Did you just call that cool?'

'You do realise that this is the most flattering thing anyone has ever done for me?' Nevaeh said genuinely. 'I don't understand your confusion. What are you so shocked about?'

Joe cleared her throat. 'You registered Loki's blood thirsty reaction as flattering?'

'Deeply. And it wasn't a reaction, it was a gesture,' Nevaeh said. 'How did that incident register to you?'

'Geez I don't know, it is so difficult!' Joe said sarcastically. 'A dude from another planet tried to kill a guy in his own home, at his own party, and then ended the scene by evilly cackling out-loud like a maniac! What was your question again?' Joe finished.

'Why are you exaggerating? He didn't try to kill Daniel! He didn't even point the daggers at him when they were talking!' she said disbelievingly.

Joe stared at her. 'Did he not throw the daggers towards him which missed his head by inches? Which I think was pure luck! Dan could've died!' Joe yelled in anger.

'Did he die? Was he hurt? No! He was being a jerk and Loki just showed him his place!' Nevaeh said.

'Is this a witch thing? Getting flattered after an alien tried to kill your ex? Please tell me it's a witch thing!' That was her last hope in understanding Nevaeh's bizarre reaction.

'Stop calling him an alien! I am done here!' Nevaeh yelled and stormed off, leaving an annoyed Joe behind.

'Call 9-1-1 if he puts a dagger through you!' called out Joe and storm off towards David who was nervously glancing in their direction.