#Thor's version of the sleipnir story goes ''look at this very cool thing my brother made!''

[kinnoth]

Dunno when/where I'll be able to use this so may as well write it down before I forget

It doesn't make sense that Thor and Loki have no responsibilities within the institution of Asgard. I've read a lot of fic and the vast majority of them have the two of them just indolent a lot of the time. Thor does "training". Loki just seems to spend all his time reading. Like yeah, that's great, but like they're fuckin royalty. They're sons of the king of nine realms. They're by definition politicians. That's a position that comes with a lot of power. To leave them idle is to waste the political content of two able men.

I'd believe it that they're both still learning to some degree, but I think Thor has been put to use commanding the armies of Asgard. Directly beneath him is tyr, captain of the einherjar who operate as a sort of "city guard" of Asgard, as well as captains of the other various military branches. Above him is Odin, although in recent years he has intervened less and less in Thor's decision making. Through his command of Asgard's armies, he is responsible for the peacekeeping of the empire and the allocation of its armies' resources. He does regular tours to Asgard's various outposts -- it was Odin's idea to get him acquainted with the way the various outposts are run, its Thor's idea bc he genuinely likes to get to know the soldiers on the ground.

(side note, Asgard's armies incorporate the auxiliary troops of its various vassal states. Outposts are run by aesir soldiers but staffed by locals. Thor endears himself to the boots on the ground by learning their various languages and dialects rather than using allspeech across the board. Side note of the side note: Thor is better at languages than Loki is, in terms of actually talking to people. Loki excels in the acquisition but not the practical application, with the exception of vanir. He is much more proficient in vanir)

He is flanked and surrounded by dozens of advisors. By the time of his coronation in thor1, he is not mature enough to run the empire by himself but he is comfortable enough with all his advisors that he could have done it with good support.

Also in his obligations are his duties as god of thunder (storms and rain) and fertility (harvest and crops). Although he does not attend to these responsibilities with the relish of his responsibility to battle, he attends to them nonetheless. As he is responsible for the production of the crops, he must also oversee its harvest and taxation.

Loki has fewer formal responsibilities, as second prince. Most of his roles are in support to or supplementary to Thor's, as Odin and Frigga are grooming them to take over for each of them even if they are not allowed to marry . He has no role in the leadership of the military, but the obligations he held were diplomatic in nature. When Thor would go visit the military outposts, he would sometimes tour the vassal courts. He would sit in on council meetings and basically act as one of the junior aesir diplomats. But everybody knows there's no power in aesir diplomacy. They're a pretty face in front of a big gun.

(if Odin had left any of his brothers alive, Loki would have had a direct mentor to shadow, but part of the reason Asgard rules by means of such military force is that Odin has no more relatives by which to engage in direct diplomacy. Most of Frigga's male relatives were killed in the war. Loki is getting there but Loki, while clever and reasonably competent, is still very young and inexperienced.)

He was liked enough by the various nobility, but his lack of social maturity (he isn't really sure how to be feel out when to be gracious and when to draw the line; he has a taste for humiliating people when they get on his nerves) and confidence made it so that foreign diplomats lacked confidence in his word (let me speak your manager syndrome) and also tried to get stuff over on him. He is also learning, and not there yet, but has a much less robust support system.

Odin occasionally joins them on their foreign obligations, but when he is there, it's like neither of them exist, and nobody treats him like he is anything but high king, so it is difficult to learn anything from him. His debriefs are high handed and condescending.

Loki's real interests lay in civil engineering, but there is no glory in building up Asgard's infrastructure, so it's treated as the second prince's pet project more than anything. Loki's greatest accomplishment before thor1 ends up being the shield/wall around Asgard's citadel.

(the story of this echoes the sleipnir story I think lol. Loki and his scholars design a shieldwall system and commission a dwarf to build it. None of the dwarves will take him up on it, bc lol they answer to Odin, not this punk, except one. The dwarf demands the sun and the moon for his asking price. Loki is like "lol ok 🙄" and thinks a) the dwarf is using some sort of figure of speech b) if he does want the sun and moon, Loki can probably trick the dwarf into thinking he's being paid the sun and moon c) if these aren't the case, Odin will be so pleased with the new defence system that he will pay some exorbitant sum and bail him out. None of these things turn out, Odin is unimpressed and waves him off. Loki, his head literally on the line, goes to Thor, crying and scared. Thor beats the dwarf and chases him out. The dwarf leaves in such a hurry he forgets his horse. Odin claims it for his own, and acknowledges the shield is useful, but only acknowledges Loki's contribution in passing. They are 17/18 at the time. Thor comes to recount this story fondly. To loki, this was a great humiliation.)