♥ is there an article of clothing that means the most to your muse? Several, in fact. His mother’s teal and bronze shawl; his horned helm, though that has become as much an irony to him as a badge of honor; the vambraces and breastplate he wore in Avengers Assemble, because it featured his children Fenrir and Jormungandr, and was a symbol of forging his own heritage independent both of Odin and of Laufey.
◎ does your muse plan for the long-term or short-term? One of Loki’s unique strengths is his ability to juggle both forms of planning. He is not only a “mastermind” who devises long-term plans that extend for a period of months, but also–and perhaps MORE usefully–he is adaptable to dynamic circumstances in which those plans fall apart completely and he must scramble for a new strategy. Loki is excellent at thinking on his toes. Occasionally this gives him short-sighted lapses, however, in which he discerns ways to survive immediate crises but then has no idea how to dig himself out of the ensuing consequences. Promising Thanos the Tesseract in order to escape torture and death is one prime example; another is escaping eternal imprisonment in Asgard by posing as Odin.
◆ what is one secret your muse has? The depth to which Loki suffered under Thanos’s thumb–extensive torture, experimentation, and “enhancement” which may not be as apparent as in, say, Nebula, with all her cyborg prosthetics, but which was still indelibly traumatizing, remains largely undiscovered, even by Thor. This is in part because nobody has given him the courtesy of asking, and also in part because Loki would rather be condemned as a mere villain who was in complete control of his circumstances than be branded a victim, because of the feudal, self-sufficient culture in which he was raised.
☛ what is your muse’s biggest regret? Without a doubt, telling Kurse how to escape the prison beneath Asgard ( ( “you might want to take the stairs to the left”), in order to form a just-in-case alliance, which led, however indirectly, to his mother Frigga’s murder.
//Oh heck yeah. And I actually say this as much for headcanon reasons as for anything I can point to in canon, fair warning, but….what does water do, and how is it referred to in most pagan elemental rituals? It’s reflective. It’s the source of mirages. Illusions. Bingo, you have the core of what Frigga and Loki’s Seidhrs achieve. So water elemental magic gained from the Frost Giants would absolutely comingle with Frigga’s witchcraft. The combination of the two may have even augmented Loki’s capacity for illusions, and made him the prodigy of magic that he is.
1. Incredibly freaky, alarming bdsm. doesnt know what a safeword is
2. Gentle, ankle-revealing, heated moments with his would-be, roguish yet caring lover; the year is 1817, he’s an aristocrat, and he can only fuck after 328 pages of buildup and erotic walks through the orchard
//No worries!!!! It’s been YEARS but a looooong time ago I wrote a meta on how I believe that the Asgardians have “accelerated” (for an alien with a long lifespan, and normal for a human) prepubescence and adolescence, a genetic evolutionary thing because of how many millennia their cultures were feudal and required kids to grow up and become warriors super fast (this was not originally my theory, but I can’t remember where I got it and if you’re that person and still following me please reblog for credit!).
Then, once they hit about 18-20 years old, aging drastically slows down, to like, several hundred human years for every Asgardian or Jotun year. So Thor and Loki are about 30-35 years old in Asgardian years, at 1,050-ish or so human years.
People often bring up Valkyrie/Brunnehilde as a point of contention to this, as well as Hela: but Valkyrie’s aging process was slowed down by being in Sakaar, which Loki and the Grandmaster both confirmed was a temporal anomaly, and Hela was sealed away in suspended animation by Odin’s life force, which probably arrested her aging as well.
I don’t like the theories that espouse Loki and Thor being adolescents, and this “explaining” Loki’s errant behavior in Thor 1 and Avengers, because that really infantilizes emotional trauma that’s totally legitimate (imagine you find out your family is not your family and further you’re a member of a race that’s been imperialistically colonized and treated as very nearly animal and “inherently” evil….that’s gonna leave a mark on anyone). Loki’s problems are issues of identity crisis and legitimate, serious mental illness, not a kid having an “emo fit.”
But honestly, these are all a matter of headcanons and personal preference for me. I have no context in canon for or against it, I just know that Odin adopted Loki exactly 1,048 years before “present day” in Thor 1, according to info on the screen about dates in the movie.
“ … brother, you do not know what good it does me when you accept … that blame is shared between us.”
Loki treads carefully; his words, he knows, touch upon sore terrain, and Thor is still Thor: temperamental until the end.
“Thank you.”
Shared blame, making neither of them the villain in this particular moment. Or in this particular regard. “I would hate for you to unduly carry a burden such as this upon your own shoulders, when you alone are not at fault.” He explains. “I am thankful, then, that it does you good to know that we can share in this moment together, neither of us being the solitary beholder.”
His head bows, in reverence. “Aye, you are welcome.”
Loki gauges Thor just as his brother’s head dips. There is deference and openness. Excellent. Perhaps now is the time to speak words. more difficult than Loki can ever remember.
“ … brother, I. Am about to say something that will concern you, but you must listen to every syllable, without interruption.”
“Sometime … sometime in the future, I know not exactly when… . I will need to go away.”
He cannot bring himself to say “I will leave you.” There is too much chilling permanence in those four words, and Loki, a wordsmith, for whom every letter is a weapon, cannot wield such a killing blow upon the one person who yet believes in his goodness.
“I will need to do things that will seem, to you, to be wrong, and wicked, and hurtful. I will seem to have abandoned all that we have rebuilt. I am asking you to not press me for more knowledge of what I do. And I am asking you for something more difficult still.”
Loki clasps the side of Thor’s head, and Loki pierces Thor with an unwavering, if watery, jade stare.
{ “Trust me.” }
He presses their foreheads together.
Oh, my brother. Mirror of all that I have been and have dreamt of becoming.
My only true kinsman. My conscience, and my courage. My catalyst to greater things. Everything that I am not.
Monster-slayer. Me-slayer.
My jealousy and my drive. My hero and my best friend.
Please look into our childhood and see that I have always loved you, and always will.
Never doubt.
“Trust the one called Liesmith. Wait and know that all that I do is for a greater purpose. Do not believe your eyes or your ears, but believe me.”
“And in time, you will have your answer.”
Thought I may not be here to give it to you, you will have it. You will.
“I rarely sleep for long periods at a time. When I do, awakening is a lengthy process, and I am vulnerable, which I do not care for. Since my … time … with a certain intergalactic warlord, I have found that rest is frequently disrupted by disturbing dreams. This I also do not care for. My bed is large, and I share it with lovers and spouses, and if they have had nightmares, various of my children who crawl in with me. I do not seek out physical affection but when I receive it while resting from someone I trust, who knows to approach me slowly and let me know that they are there before touching me, I enjoy it greatly.”
“I shall address your questions in order. One: It has been a series of fits and starts, owing largely to my need not for excitement, which I can find easily, and challenging roughness, which I enjoy thoroughly, but rather, for security. I am a Trickster and so I am not known for my need to be reassured of a loved one prioritizing me, and not abandoning me, even when I am … . difficult, emotionally and psychologically, to placate. But I have that need, in great measure. And it often alienates those I love. Indeed, it is rather embarrassing to confess, but I am rarely the one who does the leaving, despite my notoriety as a heart- breaking scoundrel. All gossip, no substance.
“Two: I am bold with flirtation, shy with intimacy. Once you are past my initial boundaries I am extraordinarily, passionately intense. You will never feel neglected.
“Three: No. I knew what I wanted and what pleased me. I have never felt uncomfortable being what you refer to as pansexual and genderfluid. My mother made certain that I was allowed to explore my identity from the earliest stages of adolescence, without judgment. My partners have existed along the entire gamut of gender. And this has been delightful.
“Four: my ‘type,’ eheh, ah well, that is classified, aside that it falls into one of two extreme categories: rough hewn and challenging, or soft and passionate. One thing that, perhaps paradoxical to you, I am not fond of? Liars.”
“You’ve a good eye for aesthetic choices. The Pre-Raphaelites are one Midgardian analogue to the decorative schemes Asgard achieves. But no, shy of the statues I had erected on my own behalf, I was not master of any architectural project. However I did commission a large portion of the illuminated manuscripts in the Royal Library’s special sorcery and history text collection, befriending a good many of the illustrators. And after I exiled Odin to Midgard, I did have a larger theater constructed, alongside a large additional library wing, and a program of small educational temples for aspiring Seidhr Masters. All of these adhered to the Asgardian visual program, which combines what Midgardians would call the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Norse Animal Style, Symbolism, and Art Nouveau.”
icyxmischief 