Blind Date

Chapter Seven

Between them Saga and Loki finished preparing the meal; Saga explained the operation of things Loki wasn't familiar with, such as the oven and stove top, and Loki followed her instructions. Once prepared, the stew needed two hours to cook, then a sort of biscuit/dumpling was added after an hour. Saga rolled the sticky dough it into little balls while Loki removed the stew from the stove. He was more used to cooking over an open fire, so he preferred to cook it over a burner rather than in the oven.

Thor and Bruce arrived while we were adding dumplings... well, actually Saga was threatening to throw one at Loki and he was promising that his revenge would be much worse than a dumpling.

"Are we interrupting something?" Thor teased.

"Only Saga threatening to do me bodily harm," Loki replied.

"I have far better aim than most people expect," she told them.

"It's like old times," Loki added with a smile.

"Old Times?" Bruce asked.

"We had a friend called Saga as children," Thor explained. "Loki was often annoying her with pranks and she was often threatening him in retaliation."

"Oh, they were my pranks," Loki said, his tone knowing. "You were innocent, I suppose?"

"Well," Thor shrugged but his smile said he wasn't sorry.

Saga handed the bowl of dumplings to Loki and washed her hands.

"Can I get you some wine?" she asked.

"I brought some," Bruce offered. "I didn't know what we were having so I brought red and white."

"We're having beef but I'm not fussy about having red with red meat," Saga said, drying her hands. "I even have some Rose. Which would you prefer?"

"Uh, I'll try the Rose, actually," Bruce said. "If that's okay."

"Sure." She went to the fridge and felt the braille labels until she going the rose, then brought it to the counter

"Oh, here, let me," Thor strode over as she was fishing in a drawer for the bottle opener.

"Brother, no," Loki held his hand up, still covered in dumpling mix. "If she needs help she will ask for it." His expression said he wasn't kidding and Thor stepped away.

"Of course, I meant no disrespect."

"Do you want to sit at the table or on the couches?" Saga asked.

"Table's fine with me," Bruce spoke up.

"And I," Thor added.

"Okay, well take a seat. What wine did you want, Thor?"

"I find I have a liking for the red."

"Coming up."

She filled the glasses using her level indicator and Loki took them to the table so she only had to bring the two wine bottles.

"I hope you haven't gone to too much trouble," Bruce said as she approached but Saga was too busy counting to answer.

"Sorry," she said as Loki took the wine from her. She pulled out her chair and sat down. "I'm still not used to the dimensions down here, everything's a little different so I'm a bit slow."

"Take your time," Thor assured her.

"Don't rush on our account," Bruce added.

"To answer your question, no, not too much trouble."