𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄 ━ loki laufeyson¹·¹

3│INTERLUDE: JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE

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❛ ᴇᴛᴏɪʟᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɪɴᴛᴇʀʟᴜᴅᴇ: ᴊᴜsᴛ
ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏғғɪᴄᴇ ꒱


❝ DAMN, HE GETS TO
DRIVE BEFORE I DO? ❞

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M I D G A R D

Throughout Agent Rose Daly's unusually long life, she had seen enough that the extraordinary things had become ordinary. It made sense in her line of work that seeing things fall from space was nothing short of mundane, but Nick had disregarded her grumbled complaints. He'd sent her off with Phil to some backwater town in New Mexico— though she supposed the road trip was sort of fun.

It was a bit of a downgrade from Malibu, California, though, and her godson Tony's mansion— even in its currently blown-up state. Still, it was rather relaxing to roll down the windows and let the warm southwest air whip through the car as they sped along. They'd been driving for most of the day and as they got away from the city, the desert roads stretched out before them with nothing around in the vast emptiness. She'd entertained herself by watching the expanse of blue sky pass overhead before she turned to the crossword puzzle book she'd brought.

Now the sun had set, allowing the air to cool for the night. Stars twinkled above them like diamonds in the darkness of space. That was one thing she would never tire of looking at: with all the changes to the world around her, the night sky had remained a constant (disregarding its seasonal variations, of course.) When everything got to be too much, it reminded her of how small her problems truly were in the grand tapestry of the universe.

They'd been sitting in a companionable silence for some time, but Rose finally broke it to remark dryly, "well, that was a lovely family reunion."

"Stark's your godson," Phil reminded her, unnecessarily. "You're the one crazy enough to agree to being the godmother of a self-centered egomaniac."

She pointed at him warningly. "Hey, all of that may be true, but he's my family. Only I get to say that about him. Tony's a self-centered egomaniac. There. Besides, I didn't know he'd be like that when he was born. He was a sweet kid."

"That's hard to imagine," the agent commented, making a slight face at the thought of the infamous Tony Stark being 'sweet.'

She shrugged. "Trust me, it was pretty adorable watching an eight-year-old genius make improvements to the toaster so that it would melt your butter and put it on your toast for you. Speaking of sweet, I'm starving— I would kill for some donuts."

"I don't think you have to go to that extreme; there's a gas station up ahead. They'll probably sell them to you for less than five bucks." He lifted one hand off the steering wheel to point at the artificial glow of lights that had just appeared over the crest of the road. "Besides, we need gas."

The woman straightened in her seat hopefully. "I could really stretch my legs. Once we fill up, can I drive?"

"This is a rental, Rose. After you totaled the last one and left me with the bill, I'm not about to make the same mistake twice."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "That was one time! Which would you have rather had in one piece: me or the car?"

"The car," he deadpanned, earning a playfully annoyed look from the brunette. "But seriously, I just wanted you to pick up the tab. In fact, I'm gonna have you pay for the gas since you always stick me with the check."