what power art thou who from below

CHARACTER NAME: Loki (Odinson/Laufeyson/Friggason)
CHARACTER SERIES: Marvel Cinematic Universe (with some input from comic canon and mythology)

[OOC]
This is the permissions list for OOC (out of character), activity.
Answer the following questions with "yes" or "no", as well as additional information if desired.

Backtagging: Dear gods, please yes. I can be slow, especially during the week.
Threadhopping: Please ask first, unless in a meme or party thread designed for it.
Fourthwalling: I'd appreciate if you ask first in a serious thread, but in general I'm okay with it for this character. He will expect some knowledge of mythology in humans, and will expect a lot of canonmates to know him as that asshole that attacked New York. Now that variants have been introduced into canon, he's going to be chill about increasingly bizarre things, such as Loki-Alligators.
Offensive subjects (elaborate): As a player, I don't have triggers, but I can be sensitive OOCly to suicide/self harm, transphobia, domestic abuse, rape/sexual violence, and animal abuse. I will play threads wherein these things come up IC but content warnings are helpful as a heads up. I will content warn for these kinds of things in my own responses, as well.
Additional note: While my version of Loki is 99% MCU-based, he, like his comic-canon counterpart, is genderfluid and pansexual.


[IC]
This is the permissions list for IC (in-character), activity.
Answer the following questions with "yes" or "no", as well as additional information if desired. With IC permissions, it's a good idea to elaborate on what other players can expect from your character if they choose to do any of the following:

Hugging this character: Sure! He will make faces and give you incredulous looks and pretend he doesn't like it (unless there is already friendly CR, or you're a child).
Kissing this character: Yes. For platonic kisses, same as above. He will occasionally kiss friends on the head, forehead, temple, or cheek, and this is not flirting for him. For romantic kisses, if it comes out of the blue expect sputtering and "wtf?". He probably won't smack you, though. Probably.
Flirting with this character: Do it. He'll flirt back. He may also escalate to see if he can make you uncomfortable. When Loki flirts, it does not necessarily mean he has genuine romantic interest in you.
Fighting with this character: Yes! Please keep channels of OOC communication open for fights both verbal and physical. I make every effort not to godmode with this character and expect the same from RP partners in a physical combat thread.

PLEASE NOTE: in a verbal spat, Loki will be as nasty as he wants to be and if he doesn't hurt your character's feelings, he is not doing his job. Almost nothing is off-limits to him IC to pick at, so if you're getting into an argument with him and want to make sure it doesn't go off the rails, please PM me. Otherwise, I have only my own OOC limits for what I'm willing to attack to go on. As a player, I am not usually comfortable attacking a human character's race (I will roll with fantasy racism), gender, sexuality, disability, or fatness/lack thereof. Loki will demonstrably use misogynist language in canon, but generally I won't go there--however, if you really want him to get nasty and the occasion calls for it, I am likewise willing to discuss that OOC via PM and have him be truly awful, within my own limits.

Injuring this character (include limits and severity): He's not that easy to injure. Sometimes you will think you've got him and what you've gotten is an illusion of him. That said, I'm okay with anything short of permanent maiming.
Killing this character: Ask first, particularly in nexus_crossings. For memes, I'm a little more easygoing.
Using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: PM me first. He doesn't mind telepathic conversation, but his psychological structure is strange and complex, so if your character is trying to read him or influence him, you must check with me so we're on the same page. Surface-level conversation with no reading of deeper thoughts/emotions is okay; you don't have to check with me about that.
As a note, I will sometimes imply that Loki is capable of reading or influencing minds or emotions and chooses not to. Generally, if he picks up something the other character isn't saying, he's just cold-reading. Please feel free to PM me if you want him to pick up more, or if you feel I'm getting too godmode-y with him.

Warnings: LOKI IS NOT ALWAYS GOING TO BE NICE. I do not condone, as a player, most of what he does. IC =/= OOC. It is never my intent, as a RPer, to hurt another player's feelings, upset, or manipulate them OOC. It will often be Loki's intent to do one or more of these things to the other character. (Honestly, I play Loki pretty soft, but if no one had ever been offended, I wouldn't have put this note in my permissions.)

On the flip side, he is capable of kindness and sympathy, but until he's close with another character, he will grit his teeth and dig his heels in every step of the way there. He does consider himself a kind of god of the outcast, and is more likely to show his softer side to those on the fringes of their society. He's also warmer toward LGBTQIA+ people, particularly humans.

Opt-Out/Questions: All comments on this entry are screened! Feel free to way whatever you like.

Additional: For nexus_crossings, I prefer not to assume CR except where it's obvious in canon. Any kind of friendly or romantic feelings will grow out of interaction and I will default to castmate relationships as shown on-screen (PM me if you want to discuss something specific). For memes and PSLs, I have a few shipping notes HERE, and a general kinklist HERE. I will happily ship and smut, but honestly my bread and butter is gen, where RP is concerned, so never be afraid to approach me OOC for a plotline.


Get your own copy of the IC/OOC Permissions meme!

Primarily for Parthas, but applies to memes and other games, as well.

( Read more... )

Midwinter is well past; the equinox is a few weeks hence. Already, preparations for Spring are underway, with Loki and the children making a point of buying plants, planning the garden, and tending to a very pregnant reindeer in the stables. It's still chilly, though, and this morning there was a thin layer of ice over the meadow. Loki sees the children off to their various schools before venturing into the cold alone, in Jotun form, to savor the last sting of the season.

By the ocean, Naglfar is locked in ice, which will do it no harm, but Loki stands on the shore watching it. The wind whistles about the bony mast, and the ice creaks, but no gulls cry. They've gone further inland for warmth. At the moment, the beach is his alone.

Or is it?

In the early evening, Loki's phone buzzes with a text from...well, Loki.

You haven't seen our new pony yet. And now we have reindeer. I think you'd better come visit soon.

The children are having pizza an movie night here with some friends. Care to visit?

The first order of business in preparing for a visit by a large group of slightly-wild individuals was for Loki so secure the children's bedroom as a quiet space. He doesn't expect anyone to just barge into every room in the house, of course, but Agnarr still gets a little overwhelmed by a lot of loud noise at times, and some soundproofing was in order for him, for the other children, and potentially for Spitfire. He's not sure how the kitten will respond to guests, but a space to retreat makes sense for any cat.

The second order of business, more upbeat and cheerful, was to let the children loose with streamers and posters to decorate. The result is a riot of multicolored paper streamers, balloons, and handmade banners covered with glitter glue, written in English and in the Asgardian take on runic language. The messages are mostly 'hello' and 'welcome', since there's nothing specific being celebrated.

The one additional complication is the Pokemon that has inexplicably taken to Loki. A comfey, it's essentially a living flower crown, and while he didn't ask for it to float up out of the meadow and fall in love with him, he's reluctant to chase it off or lock it up in a Pokeball, so he has a tiny floral familiar constantly hovering over his shoulder or alighting on his head. He hasn't named it yet. He's not sure he should get attached.

In any case, all four children are hanging around the porch when people start to arrive, as Loki sets out a few non-alcoholic drinks. He suspects the band will bring their own liquor, should they desire it, and if not, there's lemonade, chocolate milk, and fruit punch, which is what the children should be drinking. He has promised them pizza, later. Even if the band brings their own food, he will have to deliver on that promise.

Loki was being playful when he suggested a "love nest" near his cottage for Harley and himself, but the idea made her smile, and if there's one thing he enjoys in all of his relationships, it's earning a smile or laugh from the other party involved.

There is plenty of space around the cottage, in the meadow beyond, in the nearby woods. He's going to need to break ground for a place for Megatron eventually, too, but Harley was the first to welcome him into her home, and there is a kind of fitting symmetry in building a place for her now.

Thus, he's taken the nest concept and run with it, hiring an architect, consulting on plans, and even going so far as to select the perfect nearby plot of land to build upon. But Harley needs the final say in the design, if she's going to live there, and he wants to make sure he didn't get too whimsical.

So, on a windy day in early spring, a small fluffy bird with russet flanks and bright green eyes lands boldly on Harley's shoulder at the edge of the Plaza. There's an envelope in its beak that's bigger than it is, which begs the question of how the hell it carried it so far in the breeze--except there's something pretty familiar about said bird. And the seal on the envelope is in the distinctive pattern of a twin-horned helmet.

Under the walls we gnaw like mice
Virtue is unmasked
The hands of the clock betray your vice
They give what none has asked.
For they have burrowed beneath the graves
and found what the good gave most:
Refuse cast by the righteous waves
In fossil, wraith, and ghost.

V. Watkins, Ballad of the Mari Lwyd

Does the Nexus remember the Mari Lwyd, or the four giggling children that led her through the streets last year? This year, she is decked out in even more fantastic ribbons, skull painted with colors and glitter, with a mane of braided greenery over the shroud that hides her puppeteer. Peeping out from the tangles of plaited evergreen are bright loops and shimmering clusters of ice crystals--frost flowers, but enchanted to hold together in a way that this phenomenon never does in its natural state. All in all, the Mari is more grand and glamorous than before; a higher bar is set.

The children, like their horse, are in bright colors and jangling bells, and the girls have multicolored ribbons in their hair. They know exactly what they are doing, after the playful run last season. They sing loudly at the door of each house they approach, demanding to be let in and fed in the name of the Horse of a Thousand Stars. Loki is nowhere to be seen, but surely someone is beneath that colorful shroud, making the head bow, the glass eyes roll, the skeletal jaws snap and dart at any who stray too close.

(It would be rude to peep beneath the cloth, but if you do, you will see nothing but shadow, and hear the echoing laughter of a god.)

Those who are kind enough to let the children in will get chased about in their own homes--in play, of course--and the horse will caper and threaten as before, until Agnarr or Sigrid takes the ribbon bridle in hand and guides her back into the snow. Behind them, the children will leave oranges, apples, nuts, or sprigs of evergreen tied with glittery cords and bows.

Locked-out lepers with haloes come.
Put out the clock; the clock is dumb.

This is, in a way, just a prelude, a warning. A loving parody of the chaos that will ride in the dark nights to come. The Mari is not a tradition of Asgard, but Loki understand the message and the story she tells on a level so deep they may as well be part of his bones. For this one moment in the year, the outcast emerge to claim their own. The lords of misrule oust the righteous, the safe, the comfortable, and take their place for a breath of time. Memento Mori.

In the evening, the children are all bathed and fed and cuddled. Stories are told by the fire as dusk deepens. At length, though, the time for Something Else draws nigh. Loki tucks a sprig of mistletoe behind the ear of each of his little girls, and takes them by the hands. Una is old enough this year.

Transforming as they leave the house for the meadow, Loki stands ghostly-still in a white dress, evergreens wound into her hair. For about half an hour, she sings short kulning calls and cries for the girls, letting them imitate and praising their efforts. Sigrid is very good. Una is excited and eager, but her attention span is more limited, and when she shows signs of wanting to go play in the snow, Loki calls the lesson closed for today. She herself sings the ghostly call that invites the Hunt to her side. And then she kisses the girls on the cheek and sends them inside to sleep.

This is about to be no place for children.

As before, Loki cannot allow herself emotion for this event, in which anyone caught outside is at risk of an unfortunate experience. She casts the same spell as before, with some regret. She will recognize no one except Thor, and whatever actions she takes for the sacredness of the season will be utterly impartial.

When the Odensjakt emerges, there's a crack and roar of air displaced, the skies split to permit thousands of shadowy steeds and riders to emerge. Skurge is at their head, and Loki notes with interest that he's not wearing his plate armor this year, only his leather jerkin and a loose cape. Maybe he no longer feels the need of that visual reminder of his status. He's not an ex-soldier or a failed executioner now, but the shepherd of the dead.

"Will you lead this year?" Loki invites him, leaping lightly onto the back of a spectral, red-eyed horse. "Or shall I?"

He looks deeply flattered, and maybe a little tempted, but he shakes his head. "You lead. I'll bring up the rear and keep the formation together."

It would do no good to say so, but Loki is proud.

Skurge takes his place at the back of the Hunt, and gives a sharp, shrill whistle. Then the onslaught begins, the loud chaotic ride through the darkness. They will enter unguarded buildings and turn things upside down like vandals. They will damage and break things left outside in the roads. Unlucky wanderers (or perhaps, some who seek them out deliberately) will be grabbed by icy hands and tumbled through the night with the wild ride.

They circle the Plaza, turning things upside down, and then they ride out into the Wilds like a storm, screaming into the wind from the sheer joy and adrenaline rush of the Hunt.

When the sky turns watery gray overhead, when the sun creeps toward the horizon, they quiet slowly and break apart like clouds. Skurge stays to the last, sitting up on his horse as Loki stands in the snow beside him, Jotun-shaped, all blue and red and white frost.

"I don't think this is exactly how Odin did it," Loki comments quietly as the sun glints off distant tree-tips. "But it feels right. What do you think?"

"Didn't really know him," Skurge says thoughtfully. "But I'm good with this."

"Until tomorrow night, then," Loki smiles up at him.

"Wouldn't miss it," Skurge gives a cheeky grin, and dissolves into the air, back to Hel.

Loki bows, and sings him a brief farewell, only a few high, crystalline calls. And then he turns toward home, and family, and the warmth of his own hearth.


----

((OOC: So, I am bad at keeping up with things, but this is important, so: same deal as last year.

Please feel free to tag in with your character(s) reaction to any of the above. They can encounter the children, they could hear the sounds of the Hunt, or for a more lol-like experience, they could join or be caught up in the Hunt themselves.

Two things should be noted. First: Loki will not recognize any character except Thor, potentially not even his own alternates. He did that on purpose so his fondness for certain individuals cannot get in the way of what he considers a sacred duty. If you get close to the Hunt, even if you’re on good terms with him and don’t wanna go, you’re coming along. Feel free to yell at him later. He may or may not be remorseful, but probably not.

Second: People who either join the Hunt voluntarily or gain control after being snatched up are essentially invited to participate. Feel free to smash some stuff up, steal food or drink in small amounts, etc. Please assume all vandalized stuff belongs to NPCs not other player characters, unless you have that player's permission! The Hunt’s purpose is not to kill or maim, but to frighten and disrupt. Anyone who gets too personal or otherwise overly enthusiastic risks falling out of synch with the rest of the Hunt. If that happens, the character may be yeeted out of the group and find themselves in a corner of the Plaza or Wilds they didn’t start out in.

For each tag-in, I will respond with at least one prose-heavy tag (maybe more, depending on time or inspiration) detailing what the character is likely to have seen, felt, or experienced in the Hunt or during the visit with the hooden horse. It is also okay with me to handwave that your character observed/got caught up in this, as long as rules of the Nexus comm are respected.

Additionally, if you want some crazy shit that is not Nexus canon, PM me and we can talk it out. I can't promise anything because I'm constantly behind on all my threads these days, but I'm willing to talk it over!))

He senses her presence before she even speaks. Skurge, too, tenses in his saddle, and Loki gives him a sober nod before pushing past him. This is not a fight that will be won by strength or numbers. Skurge may have a score to settle with the Death-Goddess, but it will not be settled with weapons. Loki is careful to put himself between them.

( He's the king of the ninth world The twisted son of the fog bell's toll )

((Musical Inspiration))