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It had taken Ruby a few days to come to terms with her new situation, though a rare show of practicality had won out in the end after a lengthy discussion with Sheriff Graham and the man she knew as David Nolan. She wasn't going to be leaving the Nexus any time soon, at least not for a permanent return to her home, and if she was going to stay in the hotel, money had to be made for the sake of general upkeep. Her skills were admittedly limited, though thankfully there was work to be had in the hotel for someone who had grown up in a world of customer service and food preparation. Getting a job in the bar had seemed an appropriate change of pace, or at least all the change she could currently handle in a world that had been turned inside out for the moment, and after she'd been accepted for the position she'd started almost right away.

In addition to being a decidedly and thrillingly more swank environment than she was used to, the clientele was definitely more diverse in that it was a room full of people she'd never met before. For all she lacked in knowledge concerning the outside world she was attempting to put forth enough effort in charming everyone to get by in terms of the standard awkwardness she had purely by being the new girl in a very strange and new environment. She'd been serving the same food and drinks to basically the same people for longer than she cared to remember, and if this was her first attempt at branching out, she didn't want to botch it up.

The small, round tray was steady on the flat of her palm as she sat a round of drinks down at one of the tables, smiling when the patrons paused their conversation to gesture their thanks, and then continued their conversation. Ruby continued on, too, tucking her now empty tray under her arm as she looked around for someone waiting to be served.

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Magic was multi-layered and always changing; it was also incredibly old. He had never really been asked about it before - on Asgard, beyond what was used for their technology, his 'tricks' garnered little interest, and was also seen as a smokescreen to take away from apparent his lack of fighting ability. Directly faced with a question he wasn't sure how to describe it - not in a way a layman might understand.

"Illusions, sometimes," he said. "You can manipulate light to create an image. And a few other things, but I don't really know how to describe them. I've never had to, before." And things like teleportation, astral projection - they were finicky, and he also used them offensively. Even to a girl like Ruby, he didn't want to discuss his arsenal too much unless he had to.

"Illusions," Ruby repeated, turning that over in her mind. She'd become aware of magic as a somewhat tangible thing since she figured it was the only way to explain how she'd arrived her along with everyone else in the hotel, inexplicably, from other points in time and from other worlds. Speaking with someone who could manipulate and use magic was still a novel thing, though, and Ruby had never met an interesting man who wasn't additionally all the more interesting for being pleasant to look at, as well.

She smiled slightly, jokingly, and waved a hand at the entirety of his face and what upper body she could see over the edge of the table. "Is all of this an illusion?" She asked. "If so, it's a masterpiece. Kudos to you, Sir."

For a split second, Loki didn't know what she meant; but once he understood, he had to laugh. "Is someone putting you up to this?" he asked, teasingly, leaning forward slightly on his elbows. "Have I any childhood bullies around the corner who slipped you enough money to convince you to flirt with me?"

Not that a prince of Asgard ever had bullies, but that was besides the point.

His laugh was the reaction she had been aiming for, and when it came Ruby laughed too, as his laugh and smile were just charming in a very contagious sort of way. He looked so much more approachable when he smiled, and it was a far deal less intimidating than his appearance when she'd first approached him.

"Are you telling me you don't have women telling you daily how attractive you are?" She said incredulously and still smiling. "Oh Loki, honey. Say it ain't so."

"Well, of course not," he said, amused. "I'd need to be around women daily in the first place. And they might be shortsighted." Loki was not, after all, the very picture of Asgardian nobility - he didn't have enough muscles, nor golden enough hair. It was just strange, when he was removed from all of that, and his brother's rather towering, distracting presence.

He leaned back in his seat, considering her. "I suppose I can blame it on the fact you come from a small town," he said, but he said it lightly, teasingly, not meaning to cause offence.

"You're not around women on a daily basis?" Ruby asked, and on that she really was confused. She had only met him a few minutes ago, but usually there were oodles of women waiting to make their way to a man like him. "Well, the only way I can figure that is legit is if you are very good at hiding from the horde."

At his comment on her compliments being blamed on the fact she came from a small town, Ruby had to laugh. "There are plenty of handsome men where I come from," she said, nudging him gently with her foot under the table. "That's how I know how to recognize a prize handsome fella when I see one."

"I'm very antisocial," Loki admitted, with a somewhat roguish grin. Ruby's attention was, alas, bringing the charming prince out of him. It tended to only make its appearance during festivities, though of course lately it hadn't really been present even then. "But even when I'm not hiding in rooms or closets or what have you, I'm not always being trailed by women.

"If you've so many handsome men back home," he added, "can I expect someone to jealously pop out of a door and take a swing at me, then?" He wasn't going to suggest all pretty women have a suitor - Sif, one of the most striking women he had ever met, was certainly courted daily, not that she paid them much notice. But a woman didn't need to take a companion in order to be angrily fought over, and Ruby had the sort of face kings launched armies over.

"Ahh, I figured," Ruby said with a nod when Loki said he was antisocial, though she certainly hadn't thought much of the sort. Loki seemed gentlemanly and pleasant and intelligent, which, when she thought about it, could mean that good conversation was harder to find for him. If Asgard was anything like Earth in that way, anyway.

"Nah," Ruby said with a wave of her hand. She flirted readily enough and had done so even back home, though nothing had ever come of it. She couldn't imagine anyone bothering to imagine they had a claim on her, let alone so much to come and get angry that she was talking with another man. "No one to make jealous, at least on my end. I trust no one is going to hate me forever for telling you you're cute, either?"

"They might hate you, but not out of jealousy, I assure you," he said. In reality, though, Ruby struck him as the likeable sort. There were some people who, through no real effort of their own, made it difficult for anyone to dislike them. Thor was one of those people. It was a natural gift, a personality trait that caused others to skew themselves in their favour. Loki didn't have it, not in the least, so he recognized it quickly in others. Ruby had it in spades. "They'll just be so impressed that you've taken pity on me. And perhaps a bit confused." He tipped his head to the side, and grinned at her. "I'm the pitiless sort."

"Aww, no way," Ruby said with a shake of her head. Granted she'd just met Loki and Ruby, while somewhat naive, wasn't so naive as to think she could tell everything about a person's disposition after a few minutes of pleasant conversation. She had no idea of Loki's story, other than what little he'd told her and the fact that he was quick to think others would dislike him. It was possible he had a whole multitude of sins to be held against him, but Ruby knew of none. Why wouldn't she be sweet to him?

"You've been nothing but a gentleman with me," she told him. "Pleasant and intelligent and entertaining and interesting. Granted we're all of five minutes into knowing each other, but still. I don't think I can be blamed for being charmed in the least."

"Well, I try," Loki said, about her saying he was being a gentleman. He'd been forgetting himself lately, after abandoning his home and generally being displeased with the entire world. He usually needed a reminder in order to jumpstart that behaviour, though it was easier in the presence of sweet women. They were rare enough to jog his memory.

Also, the fact his mother was now here meant he had to be on high alert for keeping track of his manners.

"Well, you started us off quite nicely," he said. "And I can't be blamed for being charmed by you, either."

"You succeed," she assured him. "I admit, I'm so pleased that you're as nice as you are being to me right now. One never knows what to expect from a man as handsome as yourself in terms of ego and approachability. You being such a gentleman makes you extra handsome, just so you know." There were men who made that part of the package, that knew what a kind word could do to turn a woman's head and therefore said all of the right things until they got the reaction they were looking for. She wasn't sure if Loki was exactly that sort, she supposed they were so new to each other's acquaintance that it didn't matter, but she didn't think so.

"Aw, thank you," she said when he said he was charmed by her as well, her smile bright and pleased. "I'm enjoying sitting here and speaking with you. If no one can manage to tell you how handsome you are on a daily basis, do they at least tell you what a charming conversationalist you are?"

"I'd still act this way regardless of how pleasing I might look to you," Loki answered. "You'd have to give your respects to my mother and my teachers. I won't pretend I grew naturally this way." Actually, ask any random Asgardian, and their opinion of the 'natural' way a frost giant might behave would be rather low.

"No, not really," he said. "It's hard to find good conversation here, sometimes. I think you agree, people who think they are good conversationalists wish only to speak of themselves. Most everyone here is confused and talking about how they need to get home, or how they never want to go home." He raised his eyebrows at her, as a thought occurred to him. "Are you here, alone, or have you any companions from home here as well? I met a few, in these halls."

"If I were to ever encounter your mother, I would have to commend her on many things, I think," Ruby said with a smile. "Though raising a gentleman would surely be among the first. I'm not sure how it is on Asgard, but from what I understand it is a struggle sometimes for mothers and sons. She surely deserves equal praise for any I can heap upon you."

Conversation with Loki was interesting in that he wore his whip-sharp intelligence like an old, comfortable jacket as opposed to a badge of honor he had to beat everyone all about the head with. She liked listening to the sound and cadence of his voice, liked the earnest eye contact he made with her as he spoke. Ruby was long used to talking with people, but Loki was proving to be amongst some of the most interesting strangers she'd met since coming to the Nexus.

"I have met two people from my world here," she said. "One of them has been here for a while, so you may have encountered him. David Nolan? The other, Sheriff Graham, came through at the same time I did, apparently, as we arrived at almost the same moment. Both of them come from different points than I do, though. David Nolan from the future, and Graham a few weeks past. Have you encountered anything like that here? Or is there no one from your home here with you?"

"Well, she's here now," Loki said. "So you might run into her sooner or later." He still felt oddly paranoid, as if letting his mother out of his sight was a risk, but he told himself he had to calm down. That was irrational, he knew, and he would rather that emotion remain in his brother's domain.

"I met a David, some time ago," Loki mused. "Though he went by the name of Charming, as well." Even if his memory hadn't been sharp, he would have remembered for the man's odd resemblance to Fandral - physically, anyway. Behaviour wise, he was anything but. "And my brother is here, and a few others. They all seem to come from different points in time from me. Apparently," he said, tipping his head slightly to the side with a playful smile, covering up how he truly felt about it, "I misbehave in future. I really don't know."

"Oh really?" Ruby said. "Aw, well that must be wonderful. If your mother is as lovely as you, I mean." Ruby didn't know her own mother, and while she did miss her Granny she was also aware that her newfound freedom in the Nexus would be nipped in the bud quick if Granny was here. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a conversation as long as the one she was holding with Loki with a man.

"Charming? Are you serious?" Though, she somehow wasn't as befuddled by that tidbit as she should be. She had no idea why David Nolan would be introducing himself with the moniker of "Charming", especially to a random stranger like Loki, and she couldn't make an educated guess because she didn't know him well enough . She shook her head. "Huh. Granted I don't know him very well, but that's the first I've heard of that."

At the statement that he'd been misbehaving in the future, Ruby laughed and leaned a little more across the table as though to be able to better hear him. "But you've got such a sweet look about you, and you're such a gentleman."

"I can say," Loki said, "with absolutely certainty, that I don't stand a chance in loveliness in comparison to my mother."

At her remark about Charming, he raised his shoulders in a shrug. "Again, it was a David, and a few months back. It's highly likely it's not the same man you know. There are quite a few people in this place, and from what I know, David is hardly a rare name." Though, if they were from the same world, that would be... interesting. Charming had said a few things that, he was certain, Ruby could not know about, or else she would not have reacted so strongly at the knowledge that Loki knew magic. Portal jumpings and other worlds... Charming had mentioned them with familiarity.

He smiled at her, showing his teeth, amused at what she said. While he had a vague idea of what he apparently did in the future, he certainly knew his own past. He was not exactly angelic. "Then you'll be as surprised as I was," he said.

"That would be a gentleman's reply," Ruby said, grinning. "I do adore that you're consistent in that way."

"Ah, right, right," Ruby said with a nod. David was hardly a rare name, that much was for certain. "Like I said, if it is the same guy I don't know him very well, but from what I do know, there's not so much that's charming about him. He was very, ah, discourteous to one of my friends. So if it is the same guy and he is going around calling himself that, it must be in the ironic sort of way, like when giant dudes call themselves 'Tiny'."

His smile was so brilliant and sudden that it took her a bit by surprise, and she lost all track of what she was otherwise thinking or saying. He was so new to her, so utterly foreign and charming and regal that his handsomeness kept taking her by surprise even though she'd been looking at him appreciatively since he sat down. She exhaled on a sigh and gave herself a shake of the head to get her wits back about her, then gave him a scolding shake of her index finger, though she was still smiling. "Stop being a dreamboat, Loki. You're distracting me from my attempt at intelligent conversation."

Loki smiled, faintly. "Perhaps," he said. "What do you mean by 'discourteous', though? If you don't mind my asking?" Such a word could cover all manner of sins, he knew.

"I'm not sure what it is that I'm doing," he said, still smiling, but with a slight shake of his head in return. She was pretty, but by no means was he attempting to lure her anywhere. Still, he didn't mind the compliment, when it came. "But I don't think I can stop it. I'm sorry, Ruby. You're just going to have to shoulder on through the assault."

"Well," she said, "it's a long story, but he was doing a bit of two-timing and lying between my friend and another woman. My friend got the worst end of that stick, I think." She shook her head, though she smiled. "You know how stuff like that goes. I mean, I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt anyone, people in those sorts of situations so rarely do, but it turned out messy, as it always does. But anyway, my friend was very hurt and got lots of scorn from our community and you know, I'm very loyal to my friends."

Ruby tipped her head back and laughed at his reaction, shaking her head as she did. "No, no," she said. "When I tell you to stop being a dreamboat, I mean 'never stop being a dreamboat.' Confusing, I know, but as you just said, I don't think you could help it anyway, even if I didn't enjoy all of this." She gave a vague wave to his general outline, grinning. She didn't feel like he was attempting to lure her anywhere or anything like that, or that he even was at all interested in her. She was just enjoying the conversation, and of course, all the sensory joy that came along with it.

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