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‘What is that?’ Loki pointed at the little bag Mobius was carrying. Whatever was in it smelled sweet.
Mobius looked around. ‘Eh? Oh, those are Maltesers.’
‘What now?’
‘Maltesers.’ Mobius stared into the bag. ‘Ah, you probably never had those, with your grapes, and nuts, and…’
‘It’s not that funny!’
Mobius smiled and shook his head.
Loki raised his chin. ‘At least let me taste one of those… malteesars, then.’
‘Maltesers.’ Mobius handed him the bag. ‘Take only a few, please.’
Loki looked into the bag and took out a few little brown balls. ‘They’re sticky.’
‘I believe that the same goes for grapes and honey.’
Loki slowly put one of the maltesers into his mouth. He almost crushed the others in his hands. ‘It’s so sweet.’ He put the others into his mouth as well. ‘And crunchy.’
‘They are sweet because of all the sugar.’
‘It’s like… it’s disgustingly sweet, but I want more. I like the feeling when it melts on your tongue.’
Mobius sighed. ‘The more you eat, the more you’ll start feeling like that.’
Loki thought for a moment. ‘Can I have more?’
Mobius looked at his bag of Maltesers. ‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I need to snack now or I will faint during my next mission. Sorry.’
‘You are not sorry,’ Loki sulked.
Mobius was quiet for a few seconds, before he dug a few crumpled dollar bills out of his pockets. ‘Do you know where the cafeteria is?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘Then go get a bag of your own. When you walk in you’ll see a rectangle-shaped candy machine with colorful packages inside. As you see, the package of the maltesers is red. The bags are a dollar per piece.’
‘Is there a reason why they use the… I mean, my current midgard currency?’
‘They accept everything. This is just what I got on hand.’
Loki walked to the cafeteria with the dollar bills in hand. He saw the machine right away. Next to the display window there was a small screen, luckily without a cartoon of miss minutes. The display told him to pick cash or credit.
Loki picked cash. The machine demanded that he put it into the slot. Loki did so, even though it felt beneath his worth to listen to what a machine told him to do. Next it asked him to pick a number. A number?
When he looked at the candy behind the glass wall, he could see little numbers underneath. Above the maltesers there was a small 21.
He punched it in. The machine thanked him and with a thump, a bag fell down.
Loki narrowed his eyes when he took the bag out of the machine. What he got didn’t look like Maltesers. ‘Dropsleutels,’ it said on the front, whatever it meant. ‘That is not what I wanted!’
The machine didn’t reply. Loki sighed, before once again selecting cash and putting a dollar bill into the machine. He selected number 31 this time, the number under the Maltesers. He blushed a little when he did get the right bag this time.
With his ego a little bruised (No way was he just beaten by a stupid machine) he walked to a nearby table. He opened the bag of maltesers and left the dropsleutels for what they were.
He put a handful of little balls into his mouth. It was almost disgustingly sweet, but he still wanted to keep eating. It had a nice aftertaste, too, sweet and chewy. He almost liked the aftertaste better than the actual taste. And you got used to the sweetness quite quickly, actually. He grabbed another handful. Was there a reason they didn’t have this on Asgard? It felt like he would never eat another almond ever again, now.
‘Loki? Oh…’ Mobius sighed. Loki was hanging over his table, with two empty bags of Maltesers next to him. ‘I wanted to ask if you would fancy lunch, but I guess the answer is no.’
‘...I don’t need lunch right now.’
‘And you didn’t even touch the dropsleutels.’
‘I tried one. The coloured part was nice, but the black part was disgusting.’
‘Most people like the fruit gum, but not the liquorice. That’s okay.’
Loki sighed. ‘I feel a little… nauseous.’
Mobius chuckled. ‘Have some rest. And maybe don’t eat two bags of maltesers for a meal again. It doesn’t have a positive effect on your health.’
‘I feel like I know that.’
Loki heard a thump. Mobius had put a water bottle on the table. ‘Have a sip, or two. I’ll be getting a sandwich. Feel free to keep sitting here.’
Loki didn’t know whether to reach for the bottle or to punch Mobius. He chose the bottle, figuring he could always beat Mobius with that.
It disturbed him that his want for maltesers wasn’t gone. He’d get more once he felt better, in a few hours or so. He still had a few dollars left.