Hello again!

It's been a long wait, but if you'll remember, I did say that I might upload one or two more entries when I found the time. This particular entry does nothing in the way of wrapping up this fic, but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway! I've been very busy with school and having to deal with a lot of personal issues, besides working on my novel. I received a number of reviews asking about that book - thank you all for your interest! You're amazing - but I don't feel that I can give out a working title at this point. However, it has a lot to do with pirates, and very little to do with superheroes... ;)

Enjoy the read, and God bless you all!

Entry #40: Camping Trip [Or, "The Magic Word"]

And thus, the hectic second day of the Great Avengers Expedition wound to an uneventful close. Tony Stark was happy and full of coffee, Thor was happy and full of chocolate, and Loki was munching on the last of the Graham crackers (much to Natasha's chagrin).

Clint and Dr. Banner were cooking fish over the fire, and everybody else was reclining in the little circle of light, warm and contented.

Well, everybody except Loki, that is. He had been eyeing Tony Stark's instant coffee packets all afternoon.

Unfortunately, Tony was of the naturally suspicious and possessive sort—especially when it came to defending his personal property—and he had consequently decided to stow them away in his sweater pockets.

All of the Avengers except for Thor (who was oblivious) had been observing this silent showdown with great amusement throughout the evening, and they were all equally shocked when Loki actually up and asked him an unusually straightforward, unartful question: "Mister Stark, I would like to sample some of that instant coffee."

They were less shocked at Tony's straightfoward, unartful reply: "NO."

Loki's entire face crumpled into such a pitiful, bedraggled expression that all of the Avengers did a double-take. Even Thor. Unfortunately, the big blonde demigod's first impulse was to give his little adopted sibling a bone-crushing sympathy hug. Loki was not at all pleased with this idea, and Thor wound up chasing him around the campsite, hollering "COME BACK, BROTHER! I WISH TO CONSOLE YOU!" at the top of his lungs.

Steve was, unfortunately, the nearest available human shield, and was forced to referee when Loki actually leaped into his arms, caught up as he was in the sheer panic of the moment.

Steve staggered under the sudden and unexpected weight, knocked over an empty folding chair, and then nearly caught his pant legs on fire. He hopped backwards, desperately trying to keep his balance.

Clint and Natasha had both dissolved into fits of hysterical laughter, and even the stoic Dr. Banner had to hide a smirk. Tony watched the spectacle from his folding chair, sipping his instant coffee and greatly enjoying his front-row view…

It was a long time before Loki could be persuaded to release his strangle-hold on Steve's neck, and took Natasha's most eloquent coaxing (and some additional discouragement from Steve) as well as a solid promise from Thor that he would refrain from physical displays of affection, and merely verbalize his sympathy henceforth.

Natasha felt rather sorry for the demigod, and gave Tony her most impressive glare. It had absolutely no affect whatsoever.

When she confiscated his giant bag of super-sized marshmallows and threatened to use them for fire fuel, however, the billionaire had a rapid change of heart and fished one of the packets out of his pocket… but he couldn't resist saying (in his most condescending tone), "What's the magic word?"

Loki frowned, and then blinked twice. "Of what are you speaking?"

"You know, the magic word," Tony prompted, dangling the instant coffee packet just out of Loki's reach.

A very slight crease appeared between the demigod's eyebrows. "I was not aware that mere mortals had any knowledge of the ancient arts."

Tony glanced up at him in brief confusion, but seconds later his brown eyes lit up with a sudden inspiration. Dr. Banner had seen that look too many times to count and quickly averted his gaze. There was no telling what was going through Tony's mind, but it was obvious that his super-genius gears were grinding.

"But everybody knows the Magic Word!" Tony declared with dramatic flair, widening his eyes and withdrawing the coffee packet. "And unless you say it, I'll just have to have ALL the instant coffee."

Dead silence fell over the campsite. The Avengers all stared at each other, some smirking and some befuddled, but the light was beginning to dawn on them.

"Ak'tash!" Loki shouted imperiously. Steve looked up at the sky as if waiting for some astronomical phenomenon, Bruce twitched nervously, and Clint squeaked in alarm. Natasha didn't even bother to look up from her book.

Tony sighed in mock-exasperation, quite pleased with himself. It looked like his instant coffee was safe for the time being. "Really?" he drawled. "Really? Where did you go to Magic School? Asgard's educational system is obviously second-rate. I doubt you even got a bachelor's degree."

The crease in Loki's forehead grew deeper, and he yelled something completely unintelligible and unpronounceable.

Tony shook his head. "Nope."

Loki tried again, this time with a word so long it took him three full breaths to say it all. Tony rewarded him with a stare that would have made an ice cube melt in utter shame. "Wrong again."

They went on like this for a full hour.

Loki would spout off some ridiculous foreign word, and Tony (who appeared completely serious unless you knew him as well as Dr. Banner did) rejected them all, usually with a remark like, "I never did like that kind of cheese," or "That's a city in Portugal, isn't it?" or even "Gesundheit!" when he could not come up with a suitable reply.

A few hours before nightfall, Loki had finally exhausted his supply of magic words, and looked ready to fall asleep in his folding chair. Steve had to help him back to their tent (after a long and lengthy explanation by Tony about his earlier deal with Loki) and everyone else stumbled off to bed not long after the two new roomies left the campfire.

Bruce and Tony were the last ones to leave. "I was thinking of going on a hike tomorrow," mused the scientist. "Relax… explore the woods… collect botanical specimens…"

Tony stifled a yawn. "Great. I'll come with you."

"You?"

"Sure. Why not?"

Bruce tried to think of a delicate way to break it to Tony. But what he ended up saying was, "I don't think you'd get five miles."

The blood-shot glare Tony gave him was enough to silence any further objections.

Thank you so much for all the support you gave me when this fiction was just starting: I'm still touched by all the reviews I received.

In the meantime, expect an update soon on Case Red! ;)

~Alassiel