Synodiporia App
May. 19th, 2015 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
attention_wenchesP L A Y E R;
NAME: Siobhan
AGE: 27
PLAYER JOURNAL: [Bad username or unknown identity: ”fiercebadrabbit”]
TIMEZONE: US Central
CONTACT: plurk: fiercebadrabbit
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Loki Odinson
CANON: Thor: Tales of Asgard
POINT IN CANON: Immediately post-movie
AGE: The equivalent of fourteen-ish in human years, so several hundred
APPEARANCE: Loki is short and spindly with the gawky look of someone who won't grow into himself for a while, with ears and feet much too big for him and little boy features only reluctantly beginning to cede to a distant adulthood. Pale, with brown hair, green eyes, and a general sharpness about him, he's fairly forgettable, and for a prince, not very prone to finery.
CANON HISTORY: Loki was very well-suited to life as second prince of Asgard. Though he had been brought into the family as a foundling (and child, at that, of Asgard's ancestral enemies), he had no idea of it. There was no reason to think he hadn't been born to his role. He was never subjected to undue discomfort, and thanks to a charismatic, boisterous older brother taking up all the attention, most people were entirely willing to let him be. His father was benignly neglectful, generally involved in campaigns or affairs of state and over-indulgent of the elder prince when he was about, but Loki never doubted the All-Father’s love. Algrim, a fugitive from the destruction of the dark elves, was practically part of the family, and his easy wisdom and quiet nature made him a fine companion for the boy. His mother was his mentor and his rock, perhaps the only soul in the palace likely to actually understand him. And of course there was Thor, the center of everyone’s world, and Loki’s most of all. He might be a bit of an egomaniacal dimwit, and Loki learned early on that his older brother needed just as much protecting as he gave, but that was part of his charm. True, he was not in general to Asgardian tastes, but he didn't actually want friends or anything.
Even in the gawkiest stage of adolescence, Loki was coming into his own as a trickster, a prince, and even as a sorcerer, showing a particular gift for the magical control of water. He was carefully trained to support the heir in more mundane matters as well, studying politics and trade, diplomacy and the fine art of secret-keeping. He'd be an excellent power behind the throne when the time came, and he hardly had to step out of his favored haunts to do it. And then Thor had to go and ruin everything.
That his brother should decide to sneak off on a quest to find the Sword of Surtur and thus prove his mettle was unsurprising, but terribly inconvenient. That he insisted Loki go along too was just typical. Though ripped from a quiet afternoon of turning water into snakes, Loki began to get into the spirit of the thing after the brothers and the Warriors Three wrecked an inn in a bar brawl and landed in Jotunheim despite the madness of the thing. He was delighted to find that he had a mysterious knack for weathering the cold, which was fun all by itself and put him in such a good mood that he let Thor think he was the one who’d worked out how to find the powerful weapon they’d come in quest of. Thor liked that sort of thing. He was already a master of the art of letting the oaf have his way and just congratulating himself on his cleverness.
But then everything began to go wrong. In escaping Jotunheim, they were seen and pursued by Frost Giant sentries, and when Loki was nearly captured, Thor used the sword to deadly effect. It was an accident (an accident Loki told himself the brutes had brought on themselves, to avoid thinking about the fact that he was the one who’d needed saving), but it provoked the Frost Giants to march on Asgard. Admittedly, the murder of soldiers by trespassing princes stealing a magic sword was a fairly good reason for war.
They might still have made it right with a minimum of further disaster, not counting small things like Loki’s lesson about not trying to intimidate Valkyries, had it not been for Algrim. The calm councilor to Odin and second father to the princes carried a darkness in him, and when he realized that the boys had recovered the sword with the power to defeat both Asgard and Jotunheim, he turned on them. Even Loki saw nothing to be wary of when their old friend tricked Thor into handing over the sword, and they watched in horror as Algrim slaughtered their escort and escaped to turn the horrible weapon on Odin and all Asgard. He blamed the All-Father for the destruction of the dark elves, but Loki would never be sure if he’d been waiting for the chance or if the sword and the strain had snapped something within their old friend.
They caught up with him, but not before Odin was nearly slain. Thor handled the battle with the betrayer, of course. That was the sort of thing the bold, strong elder prince was meant to do. He even offered Algrim mercy, but Loki was of the opinion that he’d only made the offer because he hadn’t been the one to stay with their father, seen the pain he was in. It was only later that Loki would try to understand his own decision, though. In the moment, he didn’t think, simply acted. Quite unlike him. He killed the man who’d helped to raise him and ran to his brother for comfort when he realized what he’d done.
Thor stopped the war. Thor won back Odin’s respect, Sif’s affections, even the easy friendship of the Warriors Three. Thor was honored for ending the conflict, with nothing said of his part in starting it. And Loki let him have it. Not his sort of thing, glory. He retreated back to the temple to practice his magic and hide from everyone, sharply aware that there was something inside himself he didn’t dare let out again.
CANON PERSONALITY: Loki is a smart, sensitive teenager, and it’s a dreadful thing to be in any world. He copes mainly by understanding his place and everyone else’s and playing those complex webs of interrelated intrigues like a musician at his harp. He lives in his brother’s shadow because he fits nowhere else, but he’s learned to thrive in the shade, and if there are moments of resentment toward Asgard’s golden prince, he needn’t acknowledge anything so petty. Or that's the ideal. In reality, Loki is a long way from being the master manipulator and cold tactician he believes himself to be, prone as any child is to high emotion, heedlessness, and a distinct lack of self awareness. His overconfidence makes him unlikely to suspect anyone of manipulating him right back. He is loyal to those he loves, but neither fair or kind to anyone else. And murdering an old family friend has just recently thrown everything into question.
Cultivating Thor as his perfect counterpart is one of Loki’s particular projects, and it’s honed everything else about him. He stokes his brother’s ego and solves problems for him, making sure Thor takes the credit, and damned if that’s not a good way to stay in control of people without getting too much attention. He does go to some effort to make sure Thor knows who the clever one is, but couches it in terms of affectionate teasing, nourishing a knack for both flattery and sarcasm. He’s aware of Thor’s unpredictable nature, and learning to be two steps ahead (so as to catch him before he runs off a cliff) has sharpened natural skill in manipulating all his little chess pieces. Hiding behind Thor when a situation gets hairy... Well, that’s really just common sense. He’s tall. He can handle it. That he resents his brother as well as adores him is clear to everyone but Loki, and his jealousy of anyone who takes Thor's attention away from him is painful to watch. For good and for ill, Thor defines Loki as Loki would like to think he defines Thor. The events of quest, war, and Algrim's death have forced him to realize that his brother is both more capable than he'd ever quite realized and a better person than Loki will ever be. He's not sure how to deal with that.
For all his occasional lapses in judgment, he knows to play to his strengths, unlike some people. Loki is, however, not nearly as good as he thinks he is, and it’s not rare that his plans get away from him. Usually, he can selectively arrange those memories so as not to hurt his own ego, which he’d hate to admit is as fragile as Thor’s, if of a different kind. He only has to impress himself. He reaches an easy rapport with people he considers worth negotiating with and among the sort of very Asgardian personality he's most used to managing, his subtlety is effective. His spiteful streak can work to his advantage and he feels no compunctions about a bit of meanness and conniving to get his way, and other people's emotions are none of his concern except where useful. He's never had much in the way of friends as a result, but he has had a network of vaguely connected people whose moves he can predict and prod at in a useful way.
Loki is an odd one for Asgard. Magic is a less than honorable pursuit, especially for a prince, and most practitioners are female. This has hardly made him sympathetic to the plight of women, just bitter and defensive about it. He tends to find girls confusing and off putting at best, though more likely to have a brain he can pick at than most of his own gender. Typical Loki. Everything is about him, or at least his family, and everyone else can go hang. His motivations and ideals are reasonable and just, and he's always right, so disagreement is hardly to be brooked. Spending so much of his life managing his brother has led him to the belief that manipulating what people know and believe for their own good is perfectly reasonable. He's also completely hilarious (ask anybody), and skipping a joke because it would be mean would be a waste.
The disastrous few days that have just rent his life to bits have left him confused and lost. He can’t pretend that his murder of Algrim was a sneaky plan or even for the best. In a rare moment of honesty, he recognized it for cold-hearted vengeance, and understood that in the dark elf’s place he’d have done the same. This means there is something in him that he doesn’t understand or control. He’s always been the spider in his web, playing with everyone else’s chaos, and the confusion that’s come with this inversion of how things should be is almost as bad as the guilt. He knows what he did and that being maddened by grief and fear counts for very little in the grand scheme of things, but he also knows that he can be maddened by grief and fear, that whatever seed grew into betrayal in a lifelong friend is in him, too.
And so he’d like to be left alone to practice his water magic.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Loki is a skilled apprentice, but an apprentice nonetheless. His magical skills are limited to mainly the manipulation of objects and energy and control over the elements. His spells are most effective with words and gestures, though they can be guided entirely by will if necessary. He has studied magical theory and alchemical arts, but not extensively.
Loki is also a born and bred politician, with practical knowledge like of the local version of economics and treaty legalities as well as broader skills such as diplomacy and low-level espionage.
Despite being tiny and wispy and certainly not impressive at home, Loki is a Jotun and far stronger and more durable than a human of his size. He can shake off significant damage from mortal weapons if necessary. He is also resistant to extreme cold (and made rather ill by excessive heat).
INVENTORY; Everyday Asgardian clothes (cloak, boots, gloves, belt, light armor), traveling bag with flint and tinder, knife, a length of rope, a few days of field rations, ink and paper.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: Vikings are surprisingly hard to converse with.
PROSE SAMPLE: The power of a spell is in its whisper. Anora's adage was hardly even helpful at the moment—words and gestures were properly restrained, but the magic still felt unsubtle and amateurish as he tried to grasp what should be so simple. Fire was the problem. When he worked with water, mist, and ice, he hardly ever needed to speak anymore. Stone and metal flowed at his command, and he had no particular trouble with air. But for some odd reason, the simplest of the elements continuously tried to elude him.
While not his best element, fire hadn't always been against him. It responded to his calls when he needed it, and it only struggled against him a bit, struggled the way he understood water was meant to for other apprentices. But it had gotten worse since... everything. Since the Sword of Surtur, and his own use of it. When he had absentmindedly reached out a moment ago to toy with a torch in the wall, it had burned him, and his fingers rested now in his practice basin, smarting despite the cool water.
Now, guiding the spell with his uninjured hand, Loki moved the tongue of flame through slow arcs of motion, like he was just learning its nature. Now that he was paying attention, he was sure, all would be well again. These losses of control could not be permitted. That led to danger and disaster and to letting out that uncontrollable anger inside. As that thought solidified in his mind, he snuffed the flame entirely in a moment of quiet panic and stared at the dark, cold spot he'd left behind.
NAME: Siobhan
AGE: 27
PLAYER JOURNAL: [Bad username or unknown identity: ”fiercebadrabbit”]
TIMEZONE: US Central
CONTACT: plurk: fiercebadrabbit
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Loki Odinson
CANON: Thor: Tales of Asgard
POINT IN CANON: Immediately post-movie
AGE: The equivalent of fourteen-ish in human years, so several hundred
APPEARANCE: Loki is short and spindly with the gawky look of someone who won't grow into himself for a while, with ears and feet much too big for him and little boy features only reluctantly beginning to cede to a distant adulthood. Pale, with brown hair, green eyes, and a general sharpness about him, he's fairly forgettable, and for a prince, not very prone to finery.
CANON HISTORY: Loki was very well-suited to life as second prince of Asgard. Though he had been brought into the family as a foundling (and child, at that, of Asgard's ancestral enemies), he had no idea of it. There was no reason to think he hadn't been born to his role. He was never subjected to undue discomfort, and thanks to a charismatic, boisterous older brother taking up all the attention, most people were entirely willing to let him be. His father was benignly neglectful, generally involved in campaigns or affairs of state and over-indulgent of the elder prince when he was about, but Loki never doubted the All-Father’s love. Algrim, a fugitive from the destruction of the dark elves, was practically part of the family, and his easy wisdom and quiet nature made him a fine companion for the boy. His mother was his mentor and his rock, perhaps the only soul in the palace likely to actually understand him. And of course there was Thor, the center of everyone’s world, and Loki’s most of all. He might be a bit of an egomaniacal dimwit, and Loki learned early on that his older brother needed just as much protecting as he gave, but that was part of his charm. True, he was not in general to Asgardian tastes, but he didn't actually want friends or anything.
Even in the gawkiest stage of adolescence, Loki was coming into his own as a trickster, a prince, and even as a sorcerer, showing a particular gift for the magical control of water. He was carefully trained to support the heir in more mundane matters as well, studying politics and trade, diplomacy and the fine art of secret-keeping. He'd be an excellent power behind the throne when the time came, and he hardly had to step out of his favored haunts to do it. And then Thor had to go and ruin everything.
That his brother should decide to sneak off on a quest to find the Sword of Surtur and thus prove his mettle was unsurprising, but terribly inconvenient. That he insisted Loki go along too was just typical. Though ripped from a quiet afternoon of turning water into snakes, Loki began to get into the spirit of the thing after the brothers and the Warriors Three wrecked an inn in a bar brawl and landed in Jotunheim despite the madness of the thing. He was delighted to find that he had a mysterious knack for weathering the cold, which was fun all by itself and put him in such a good mood that he let Thor think he was the one who’d worked out how to find the powerful weapon they’d come in quest of. Thor liked that sort of thing. He was already a master of the art of letting the oaf have his way and just congratulating himself on his cleverness.
But then everything began to go wrong. In escaping Jotunheim, they were seen and pursued by Frost Giant sentries, and when Loki was nearly captured, Thor used the sword to deadly effect. It was an accident (an accident Loki told himself the brutes had brought on themselves, to avoid thinking about the fact that he was the one who’d needed saving), but it provoked the Frost Giants to march on Asgard. Admittedly, the murder of soldiers by trespassing princes stealing a magic sword was a fairly good reason for war.
They might still have made it right with a minimum of further disaster, not counting small things like Loki’s lesson about not trying to intimidate Valkyries, had it not been for Algrim. The calm councilor to Odin and second father to the princes carried a darkness in him, and when he realized that the boys had recovered the sword with the power to defeat both Asgard and Jotunheim, he turned on them. Even Loki saw nothing to be wary of when their old friend tricked Thor into handing over the sword, and they watched in horror as Algrim slaughtered their escort and escaped to turn the horrible weapon on Odin and all Asgard. He blamed the All-Father for the destruction of the dark elves, but Loki would never be sure if he’d been waiting for the chance or if the sword and the strain had snapped something within their old friend.
They caught up with him, but not before Odin was nearly slain. Thor handled the battle with the betrayer, of course. That was the sort of thing the bold, strong elder prince was meant to do. He even offered Algrim mercy, but Loki was of the opinion that he’d only made the offer because he hadn’t been the one to stay with their father, seen the pain he was in. It was only later that Loki would try to understand his own decision, though. In the moment, he didn’t think, simply acted. Quite unlike him. He killed the man who’d helped to raise him and ran to his brother for comfort when he realized what he’d done.
Thor stopped the war. Thor won back Odin’s respect, Sif’s affections, even the easy friendship of the Warriors Three. Thor was honored for ending the conflict, with nothing said of his part in starting it. And Loki let him have it. Not his sort of thing, glory. He retreated back to the temple to practice his magic and hide from everyone, sharply aware that there was something inside himself he didn’t dare let out again.
CANON PERSONALITY: Loki is a smart, sensitive teenager, and it’s a dreadful thing to be in any world. He copes mainly by understanding his place and everyone else’s and playing those complex webs of interrelated intrigues like a musician at his harp. He lives in his brother’s shadow because he fits nowhere else, but he’s learned to thrive in the shade, and if there are moments of resentment toward Asgard’s golden prince, he needn’t acknowledge anything so petty. Or that's the ideal. In reality, Loki is a long way from being the master manipulator and cold tactician he believes himself to be, prone as any child is to high emotion, heedlessness, and a distinct lack of self awareness. His overconfidence makes him unlikely to suspect anyone of manipulating him right back. He is loyal to those he loves, but neither fair or kind to anyone else. And murdering an old family friend has just recently thrown everything into question.
Cultivating Thor as his perfect counterpart is one of Loki’s particular projects, and it’s honed everything else about him. He stokes his brother’s ego and solves problems for him, making sure Thor takes the credit, and damned if that’s not a good way to stay in control of people without getting too much attention. He does go to some effort to make sure Thor knows who the clever one is, but couches it in terms of affectionate teasing, nourishing a knack for both flattery and sarcasm. He’s aware of Thor’s unpredictable nature, and learning to be two steps ahead (so as to catch him before he runs off a cliff) has sharpened natural skill in manipulating all his little chess pieces. Hiding behind Thor when a situation gets hairy... Well, that’s really just common sense. He’s tall. He can handle it. That he resents his brother as well as adores him is clear to everyone but Loki, and his jealousy of anyone who takes Thor's attention away from him is painful to watch. For good and for ill, Thor defines Loki as Loki would like to think he defines Thor. The events of quest, war, and Algrim's death have forced him to realize that his brother is both more capable than he'd ever quite realized and a better person than Loki will ever be. He's not sure how to deal with that.
For all his occasional lapses in judgment, he knows to play to his strengths, unlike some people. Loki is, however, not nearly as good as he thinks he is, and it’s not rare that his plans get away from him. Usually, he can selectively arrange those memories so as not to hurt his own ego, which he’d hate to admit is as fragile as Thor’s, if of a different kind. He only has to impress himself. He reaches an easy rapport with people he considers worth negotiating with and among the sort of very Asgardian personality he's most used to managing, his subtlety is effective. His spiteful streak can work to his advantage and he feels no compunctions about a bit of meanness and conniving to get his way, and other people's emotions are none of his concern except where useful. He's never had much in the way of friends as a result, but he has had a network of vaguely connected people whose moves he can predict and prod at in a useful way.
Loki is an odd one for Asgard. Magic is a less than honorable pursuit, especially for a prince, and most practitioners are female. This has hardly made him sympathetic to the plight of women, just bitter and defensive about it. He tends to find girls confusing and off putting at best, though more likely to have a brain he can pick at than most of his own gender. Typical Loki. Everything is about him, or at least his family, and everyone else can go hang. His motivations and ideals are reasonable and just, and he's always right, so disagreement is hardly to be brooked. Spending so much of his life managing his brother has led him to the belief that manipulating what people know and believe for their own good is perfectly reasonable. He's also completely hilarious (ask anybody), and skipping a joke because it would be mean would be a waste.
The disastrous few days that have just rent his life to bits have left him confused and lost. He can’t pretend that his murder of Algrim was a sneaky plan or even for the best. In a rare moment of honesty, he recognized it for cold-hearted vengeance, and understood that in the dark elf’s place he’d have done the same. This means there is something in him that he doesn’t understand or control. He’s always been the spider in his web, playing with everyone else’s chaos, and the confusion that’s come with this inversion of how things should be is almost as bad as the guilt. He knows what he did and that being maddened by grief and fear counts for very little in the grand scheme of things, but he also knows that he can be maddened by grief and fear, that whatever seed grew into betrayal in a lifelong friend is in him, too.
And so he’d like to be left alone to practice his water magic.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Loki is a skilled apprentice, but an apprentice nonetheless. His magical skills are limited to mainly the manipulation of objects and energy and control over the elements. His spells are most effective with words and gestures, though they can be guided entirely by will if necessary. He has studied magical theory and alchemical arts, but not extensively.
Loki is also a born and bred politician, with practical knowledge like of the local version of economics and treaty legalities as well as broader skills such as diplomacy and low-level espionage.
Despite being tiny and wispy and certainly not impressive at home, Loki is a Jotun and far stronger and more durable than a human of his size. He can shake off significant damage from mortal weapons if necessary. He is also resistant to extreme cold (and made rather ill by excessive heat).
INVENTORY; Everyday Asgardian clothes (cloak, boots, gloves, belt, light armor), traveling bag with flint and tinder, knife, a length of rope, a few days of field rations, ink and paper.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: Vikings are surprisingly hard to converse with.
PROSE SAMPLE: The power of a spell is in its whisper. Anora's adage was hardly even helpful at the moment—words and gestures were properly restrained, but the magic still felt unsubtle and amateurish as he tried to grasp what should be so simple. Fire was the problem. When he worked with water, mist, and ice, he hardly ever needed to speak anymore. Stone and metal flowed at his command, and he had no particular trouble with air. But for some odd reason, the simplest of the elements continuously tried to elude him.
While not his best element, fire hadn't always been against him. It responded to his calls when he needed it, and it only struggled against him a bit, struggled the way he understood water was meant to for other apprentices. But it had gotten worse since... everything. Since the Sword of Surtur, and his own use of it. When he had absentmindedly reached out a moment ago to toy with a torch in the wall, it had burned him, and his fingers rested now in his practice basin, smarting despite the cool water.
Now, guiding the spell with his uninjured hand, Loki moved the tongue of flame through slow arcs of motion, like he was just learning its nature. Now that he was paying attention, he was sure, all would be well again. These losses of control could not be permitted. That led to danger and disaster and to letting out that uncontrollable anger inside. As that thought solidified in his mind, he snuffed the flame entirely in a moment of quiet panic and stared at the dark, cold spot he'd left behind.
