what seemingly insignificant memories stuck with your character?
Most of Loki’s banal, everyday memories are connected to Thor, because they bunked together as children and were treated as a matched pair, with Loki the “grooming pony” for Thor the champion racehorse, ever at his side to buffer, protect, and “healthily” compete with Thor. So it’ll be things like, how Thor’s hair looked on a sunny day, or how terrible Thor’s armor smelled after sparring practice. Possibly one important memory of Loki’s unique to MY Loki muse is one banquet that would have turned out disastrous for Thor–who, in my headcanons, is mildly learning disabled (dyslexic and attention-deficient)–had Loki not been hiding under the banquet table feeding him lines from a passage of epic poetry about Odin that Thor was meant to recite to the entire table of diplomatic guests. I love this headcanon because it shows the backbone of Thor and Loki’s young relationship, to which Thor often later defaults: Loki, concealed in the proverbial woodwork, but hardwired to protect and support his big brother, who enjoys attention and is seen as the infallible golden child (something that carries its own unhealthy, unrealistic pressures).
what does your character pretend or try to care about?
Loki TRIES to care about NOTHING, even pretending this to deceive HIMSELF (Frigga was right, despite the context of telling him he is “perceptive about everyone but himself,” in that Loki has a peculiar blind spot, partly self-preserving and partly self-thwarting, when it comes to inward reflection), but it never gets him far. In fact it’s usually detrimental to his long-range plans, particularly when Thor, Frigga, or even Odin is involved. What Loki does care about? Self-sufficiency, self-worth, intellectual stimulation and growth (despite Ragnarok!Thor’s strange allegations of “stagnating” and “becoming predictable”), keeping a sharp wit, KNOWLEDGE for its OWN sake, SECURITY (often perceived as synonymous with power, which he doesn’t really want nearly as much as he tells himself), HERITAGE, BIRTHRIGHT, and FAMILY. Loki’s ENEMIES like to pretend that he wants the throne and power, but again, the Throne (capital T) to Loki is equivalent both to being seen as a worthy match to Thor (who is also an archetype for Worthiness in general and for Asgardian Worthiness specifically) and to safety/security/stability. Despite being a chaos-monger and an agent of perpetual fluidity/change, Loki is surprisingly attracted to stability (see myths!Loki’s marriage to Sigyn, Goddess of Constancy).
icyxmischief 