Loki regarded her carefully she he spoke, chewing another delicate bite of lavender cake. She looked genuine enough about her desire, and he could certainly understand how she wouldn't particularly want to return home, where everything would remind her of her brother. But it was rare for tributes to actually like the Capitol, even though some of them made due. Loki wondered briefly if there was some other reason she didn't want to return home -- some issue within her remaining family structure, perhaps. Maybe she was afraid that her parents would blame her for Pietro's death. He made a mental note to look into it.
"Are you?" he asked, his face all pleasant surprise, eyebrows slightly lifted. "That's quite a swift adjustment." Especially considering what Stane had taken from her, specifically. Loki's gut twisted. What he had taken from her, too. Was that why her desire to stay in the Capitol disquieted him? Was it because, despite respecting her and even finding her charming during the course or this brief conversation, Loki knew how dangerous it would be to actually seek out the company of a Victor whose Games he had helped design?
He wiped his slender fingers on a napkin and looked at her curiously. The implication that she, perhaps, wanted his advice had not escaped him, but he was reluctant to give her any without having a better conception of her plans, first. "May I ask how you plan to grace us with your considerable talents? Natasha is -- rightfully -- well-loved in the Capitol, but from the little I know of you so far, I suspect that your own path might diverge from the one she's chosen."
Chosen was a bit of a strong term, he knew, but that was not the narrative that the Capitol wished to display. And Loki, of all people, was nothing if not extremely conscious of the Capitol's narratives.