#anniversary of an oath made to a 15 year old backed into a corner.

[silent-sentinels]

a renewed vow.

[discipulusmaleficus]

all the p flowers!!

@squibbed​ - botanical hcs

pansy : does your muse often reflect on their own actions ? do they ever think a lot about the past , and what they could have done differently ?

Not if he can avoid it, which is most of the time. It would only make him feel bad, right?

There are things he still feels guilty about (despite all efforts to ignore them), but he's not good at actually taking responsibility for his actions, and he isn't particularly convinced that it's possible for him to be better.

peony : what would a ‘ happy life ’ look like in your muse’s eyes ?

He'd settle for anything without the dread of his weird familial obligations and curses hovering over his head, tbh.

A lot of his old recurring daydreams focused on running off to become a goatherd in some isolated corner of the world. He has a vague, idealised notion of something reasonably steady and safe and cottagecore, but is also aware he'd likely have some issues with that in practice. (This may also be taken as evidence he's not built to be happy anyhow.) Literally joining the circus also may have been a thing for a while.

He hardly dares hope for a significant other most of the time.

poppy : what comforts your muse ?

Fun fact: before he starts wearing other things (which is big deal), the hooded black robe was something like a security blanket that he could feasibly carry around with him 24/7. Not only does it prevent people from perceiving his wretched countenance, it's surprisingly soft, gives him some protection against the cold on an everyday basis (if not against overheating), cuts out what seems like entirely too much glare in his peripheral vision, and will never fail him in a way that can't be fixed with enough sewing.

So, as for small things: being swathed in fabric, animals he doesn't hate, wine, maybe black tea, probably cards and pens and whatever else he plays with, the comforting sentiment that you were doomed to failure from the start and that there's no point in getting up in arms about it,

But also, let's be honest, how many times has he felt unhappy about something and then immediately concocted some ill-advised, unnecessarily risky summoning expedition or the like to avoid or 'fix' it???

parsley : describe a holiday your muse enjoys , and why they enjoy it .

I've answered a slightly adjacent question here (/gotten entirely carried away) and made some notes on all his notable holidays (or those I have a take on atm), since I've never bothered do that. There are a lot of days that are simply incidents for minor sacrifice or particularly good days on which to do X or Y, and he theoretically has religious obligations on a lot of days which aren't actually that celebratory at all. Really, one wonders how he keeps track of everything.

(All based on very surface-level research. I also really need to do more with the Kemetic influence at some point (curse his silly chimera religion), but information on that's generally scarcer and I'm tired.)

Parentalia (February 13-21): Offerings to and/or calling upon the spirits of departed ancestors, culminating in the Feralia sacrifice at midnight. Traditionally all business is put on hold for the duraction - his family's perspective probably differs somewhat in that you might want to use those spirits for something, rather than exorcising them.

Valentine's Day: Kal obviously always brings up his distaste for saints, but mostly he's just following the tradition of feeling bitter and unloved. Unless he isn't single...?

Caristia (February 22): Celebration of living family. You're supposed to bring everyone together and put all disagreements aside, which obviously always works perfectly and creates no tension whatsoever. Exchanging of wine and gifts and such. Kal probably begrudgingly makes the pilgrimage at least some of the time in adulthood.

Terminalia (February 23): Time to renew the curses on the boundaries of your property. Also to move them if you want to slowly encroach on the lands on the peasants. Or if you decided that was a bad idea and need to put them back.

March 1: 'New year', maybe.

Liberalia (March 17): "Celebrates the maturation of young boys to manhood," usually at 15-16. Also time to replace the mysterious effigy you have hanging in the woods and possibly the 2-3 robes you wear constantly.

April 1: He's not going to turn down an opportunity to fuck with anyone, right?

Kal's own birthday (April 14): I get the impression he mostly recalls waking up pre-pre-dawn for ritual reasons, and a lot of scrutiny of how well his schooling was progressing. He generally doesn't bother telling people about it.

Easter: sometimes he burns bibles for the occasion

Parilia (April 21): Sanctification and appeasement of the goats. Honestly kind of a big deal.

Vinalia urbana (April 23): Has mostly devolved into an excuse to drink.

Lemuria (May 9, 11, 13): Another festival of the restless dead. Has perhaps been kind-of-merged with The Beautiful Festival of the Valley. Which involves flower garlands.

Opet (July 19): For him, one occasion on which he’s obliged to venerate Amun-Ra and beg Him to maintain His contracts, I expect.

Neptunalia (July 23): Involves hanging out in the woods building huts of sticks (in the sun / rain), praying the fish will continue to be somewhat edible, and theoretically merrymaking.

Tekh (August 7): See Vinalia urbana, except it has to be beer, which he's less fond of.

Portunalia (August 17): "On this day, keys were thrown into a fire for good luck in a very solemn and lugubrious manner."

do they have to be your keys

Vulcanalia (August 23): If you want, you can ritually not sacrifice small animals by dangling them over open flames for a while and then taking them back unscathed. This is supposed to make your incendiary spells more effective in combat.

Meditrinalia (October 11): See Vinalia urbana.

Anniversary of Exile (October 23): Generally a time for swearing fealty to the legacy of your Ancestors and solemn oaths to One Day Conquer The World Once Again or whatever. Occasion of a ritual theoretically supposed to increase your own Dark Power, on which a fair number of Kal's intermediary relatives took it upon themselves to sacrifice their enemies. He probably abandons it at some point but is likely to be conflicted and in a less-than-stellar mood.

There are likely also minor acknowledgements of other historical dates of import to his cult family.

Birthday of Kallistemon Zorabi (January 29): Quite similar to the above, with a slightly more optimistic bent.

Halloween: I'm going to say this is agreed upon as a good time for necromancy, which means he's likely to busy himself with some nonsense as an excuse to spurn the holiday itself. For quite a while he denigrates it as a Mockery of "actual traditions", but I suspect he could learn to enjoy it if he bothered.

Saturnalia (December 17): Known as the season where slaves were traditionally served by or before their masters. Associated with the freedom to insult your betters, gambling, and the giving of (often small or gag) gifts. Kal is on board for all of this and will fairly often give people the worst things he can manage for 'Christmas'. (This is also a good way of thumbing his nose at Christmas.)

Bacchanalia (thrice yearly): About what you'd expect from Dionysos. He may have participated at school/university, and it's a good time if you like being driven temporarily insane (who doesn't), but you can't really do it properly if there's not a cult around. That's just sad.

Agonalia (quarterly): Occasion of sacrifice to various entities. True to the name, generally just kind of stressful, as you had to either kill something or (if you really couldn't afford to) offer apologetic blood sacrifice.