The anti-lying stone is more of a calculated risk for him. It will only work for Elicia so he doesn't have to worry about it being taken away from her and used against him directly, and he thinks not even Tony Stark is enough of a dirtbag to actually try to use Elicia like that. But it was more a moment of desperation where he wants someone to believe in him. So yeah, that was a little... hm.

One angle to consider the pleading with the adults is that yes, he really likes Elicia and wants to keep hanging out with her. But the other consideration (because he never does anything for just one reason) is that if he goes to those kind of verbal lengths at least, it makes him look really good, and kind of makes Tony and the Avengers look more like the bad guys in this situation. Because hey, Loki is really a nice guy, he likes kids, right?

The thread with Molly is another case of dual purposes too. Because Ikki and Elicia are basically the only two people he gives a crap about in the village, so he is concerned with their safety. But on the other hand, demanding answers of someone because of the children is a way to try to hit them emotionally and force them to answer when they otherwise wouldn't. You see politicians using the won't someone think of the children argument all the time to get their way with ridiculous stuff. So he's setting himself up to be able to start doing that when it's something he wants anyway.

Does that make sense? XD