Elaine immediately let the light go out, grinning a bit.

"We're just playing with you, Tony," she said.

Tony harrumphed. "Yeah, well, shoo. I have work to do. No, Dummy, I don't want a smoothie, and no, you can't use motor oil. Really, Dummy? Really? I didn't need this, useless pile of joints and wires." Tony took the oil can Dummy handed him before the bot whirred away happily.

"I actually came down to ask you something," Elaine said. "I'll go away after that."

"Ask away, then." Tony sat down to fiddle with bits of code, now ignoring the bots chasing each other around.

"When's the next time you're planning to go to Malibu?" Elaine asked. "Fairly soon, right?"

"Yeah, a week or so." Tony glanced over at her. "I assumed you all were coming with, pack of hyenas that you are."

"Yeah, essentially," Elaine agreed, nodding. "So, bearing that in mind... I was wondering if we could drag Loki with us."

Tony stared at her for a minute. "You want to bring Loki, the trickster god, to my house in Malibu with lots of important and very expensive stuff."

"You want to leave him here with all of your robots and good tech?" Elaine asked. "And you want me there without any sort of supervision whatsoever when I get it in my head to practice more? Which I will, don't get me wrong, as soon as the threat of a migraine fades I'll be right back at it."

Tony sighed. "Fine, bring him along, but if he ruins anything you're paying for it. You get to keep track of him."

Elaine grinned.

"I'll keep an eye on him," she said. "And Thor will be there, right? He's supposed to look after his brother anyways."

"Yeah, like that works out ever," Tony grumbled, poking at something. "Fine, fine, he can come. But I'm telling you, any trouble and I'm getting him a hotel room. In a very crappy hotel. More like a Motel 8 or something."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Elaine assured.

"And then I'll donate him to the city college to dissect," Tony added as an afterthought. Kae just broke down laughing.

Elaine couldn't help it, she dissolved into giggles as well.

Tony pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. Because clearly everyone was out to get him.

Still grinning, Elaine went to find Steve. She wanted to show him what she learned.

Steve was in the living area, curled up in a chair looking at one of his drawings, coloring it in carefully.

"Hey," Elaine said softly, going over to him. She perched on the arm of the chair.

"Hey." Steve smiled at her. "Everything going okay? With the magic stuff."

"It's going great." Elaine grinned and held up one of her hands. "Look at this." Concentrating, and ignoring the faint pounding of the oncoming migraine, she willed the little light into existence one more time.

Steve grinned. "Wow. That's great! I'm impressed." He smiled at her.

Elaine smiled back, although it was a little strained, and let the light go again.

"Mind if I sit with you and watch?" she asked. "I'm not going to practice any more today, my head is starting to throb."

"Yeah, no, sure," Steve said, pulling another chair over easily. "Don't push yourself, you can always show me later." He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"I know," Elaine said as she curled up in the second chair. "I'm done for right now. I just wanted you to see."