The Dreadful Dinner

After twenty minutes, Loki had thoroughly debriefed Daniel over his role during dinner. Daniel was told to look pretty, stay polite, but not too polite, look excited over their moving, and avoid any kind of suspicious behaviour. With the help of a glowing flowchart, Loki had descriptively explained Daniel of the different ways Loki could kill him if he did not follow his orders correctly. He literally had respective set of murdering techniques reserved for each of his command. For instance, Loki had stated that if Daniel tried to say anything out of script to her parents, then Loki would shape-shift him into a moth and drown him in his champagne, which Daniel was guessing will somehow be served tonight at dinner instead of their usual scotch.

'I still don't understand why I have to be Nevaeh. You can make an illusion,' Daniel said.

'Yes, I can, but that's risky. An illusion can't touch anybody. Also, your behaviour over dinner will be closely judged by me, thereby finalising the severity of your punishment. If you do anything wrong, I would have to make a few changes,' Loki said airily.

'So this is some sort of test to see if I obey you?' Daniel asked shrewdly.

'Yes, finally you understood something,' Loki nodded, 'and let me be very clear once again. Any funny business, any passing hints towards her parents, and I will make your life a living Helheim,' Loki said icily. 'Let's just say that being Nevaeh will be your tiny spark of happiness before we move ahead.' Loki said smilingly, but his smile faltered as soon as he fathomed over his own words. He sharply looked at Daniel with sudden anger in his eyes.

Loki bent low over him till they were face to face. 'I think I don't need to make this clear, but if you try anything twisted, I will twist your head 360 degree and rip it apart from your body,' Loki whispered. 'After I transform you into her, your hands stay where I can see them, on the dining table. Not on your waist, or your thighs or even your knees. Your hands stay away from your body. You can't rub your face, place your hands on your hips, or your neck, and if you do, I will snap your spine by my fingers like a twig,' Loki hissed, baring his teeth.

'I – I – I know. I will – I mean – I won't – never,' Daniel stuttered, barely audible. Loki held his posture for a few more seconds, but straightened himself when he heard Daniel whimper.

'Alright, then. I think you are thorough with the ground rules. After we are done with dinner, we shall go to your punishment destination,' Loki said, clapping his hands together and wrapping things up, 'let's get going!'

Precisely two hours later, they were finished with their entrees and were sipping their champagne. Her parents were digging in their pastas. Samuel had made four toasts till now, getting a little misty-eyed and red-nosed after each of them while Ariel let her tears flow openly as she dabbed her face with a napkin every now and then. The tone of the evening was pretty cheerful nonetheless. Loki was sitting opposite to "Nevaeh" AKA Daniel.

Both her parents were anxious about their daughter's departure, but Loki couldn't help but feel that they were more worried about Asgard than for Nevaeh. Ariel was repeatedly giving Nevaeh tips over how to stay calm and behave properly around her new companions. Loki couldn't understand the fuss they were making over her; she had been nothing but a delight when he had first met her. When Samuel began telling Loki that he shouldn't be worried due to their never-ending cautionary words towards their daughter, Daniel had managed to shoot Loki a knowing look, subtly reminding him that he had expressed very similar sentiments regarding their departure.

Daniel had been to a fair-share of Queens' quiet family dinners, but this was a completely unusual one. Why wouldn't it be? He, Daniel, was in the body of his ex-girlfriend, shape-shifted into the same by an evil God, who was fashionably sitting in front of him with his legs crossed, wearing a lime-green t-shirt over black jeans, and now telling an alien joke to her parents, who were chuckling merrily and were somehow okay with their daughter moving to another planet with that said God.

'Sweetheart, are you feeling okay? You have barely touched your pasta!' Ariel asked, extending a hand and touching Nevaeh's cheek. Loki arched an eyebrow, subtly implying that Daniel's response will be scored and added to his overall statistical report card.

'Yes, mom. I – I had a sandwich in the evening so—'Daniel paused to clear his throat as Ariel nodded in response. He could never get used to this bizarre, new voice.

'But you should eat more, especially when we have to leave soon,' Loki said and waited.

'Go where?' enquired Samuel.

'Oh, Nevaeh wanted to stroll through the city, take a good look around before leaving for Asgard,' Loki said warmly.

'That's nice. I wish we still had that carpet from before!' Ariel nudged Samuel, who immediately rolled his eyes.

'You are never going to let that go, are you? It's been a decade!' Samuel lovingly complained. 'We had this flying carpet sort of thing, but it was torched when Nev was little. A minor accident,' Samuel shrugged. They were almost finished with their dinner. Merely staring at his pasta was sending a hollow rumble inside Daniel's heart, having no clue of what punishment was soon to follow.

Daniel immediately felt like screaming at the top of his lungs; I am not your daughter! I am the scum you guys hate! Your daughter is unconscious in my home! Because this evil God erased her memory! But Loki was sitting right in front of him with a fork in his hand. He feared that it would penetrate his throat before he could even muster enough courage to say something like that in front of her parents. Daniel was about to run a hand over his face, but he stopped his hands midair as soon as Loki locked his forbidding eyes upon him.

Soon they bid farewell to her parents and exited the house to walk behind the beach. Daniel was still shocked over the bizarre dinner, wondering how her parents were so cool with everything. As soon as they reached the dark, empty side of the beach, Loki instantly transfigured him back to his old self. Daniel was just glad to be safely inside his own body once again, but he couldn't understand why they had halted here on the beach.

'You did okay, boy. The dinner went well,' Loki said, but his eyes appeared to be slightly unfocused for Daniel.

'Umm, thanks,' he mumbled, but Loki was looking a bit lost in his own thoughts.

'The ocean looks so dark at night. Take a look,' Loki nodded towards the waves of the sea crashing against each other amidst the pitch darkness. 'Can you imagine she jumped from her terrace right in the middle of the ocean just to save me? She can't even fly! It happened the night I presented her with the tiara which was the secondary cause of today's tragedy,' Loki said.

'So the tiara was a reward for saving you?' Daniel asked.

'No. It was my way of proclaiming my love for her. It was a magical night despite my dying and coming back to life,' Loki hushed. 'If you had not shat over our precious time today, I could've made her last night on Earth just as memorable. Memorable,' Loki scoffed bitterly, 'isn't that ironic? Instead, I spent the evening in wiping her memory and I am pretty sure my night will be spent in regretting the same. All because of you. Well, I hope your punishment brings me at least an ounce of satisfaction.'

'What is my punishment?' Daniel asked, now wondering if Loki was going to drown him in the sea, instead of his champagne.

'You will see.'

'Is it here? I mean – you said—'

'I know what I said. And no, it's not here,' Loki said.

'Then, why are we standing here?' Daniel was confused.

'We are waiting for a cue,' Loki said simply.

'From who?'

'Whom,' Loki corrected him. 'From an almighty being.'

'You – you mean another god? Oh, god,' Daniel muttered weakly running a hand over his splitting head; he had no idea how much longer he could keep up with this mythological theme.

'Oh, yes. The most powerful of us all! He whose intellect has no equal! The one who is superior to all the other Gods in the entire Nine Realms! He is the most righteous, sacrificing, heroic, legendary God you will ever meet!' Loki said delightedly.

'More – more powerful than,' Daniel was too flustered and scared to complete his sentence, so he just pointed a trembling finger at Loki who instantly chuckled.

'Oh, yes. Look at me!' Loki said, waving a hand in front of his own body, 'in mortal clothing, standing on a beach after a lovely, family dinner! That is hardly god-like behaviour!' Loki clicked his tongue in disapproval.

Daniel had never once seen or heard Loki put himself down and praise someone other than himself, not even during dinner, where he had claimed to be prettier than Nevaeh and her parents had laughingly agreed to it. But listening to Loki admiring this new God made his stomach curl up in a tiny ball.

Seconds later, a gleaming doorway opened to their right. Daniel shrieked in surprise, whereas Loki simply turned around to glance at the opened portal.

'Finally,' Loki muttered, 'come on, boy. Time to leave.'