Mao has had plenty of pets throughout her life. The thing is: as a child and teen, she could barely take care of herself, and clearly couldn't take care of a pet either. She tried keeping birds, cockroaches, rats, turtles, even a cat once. You'd expect someone who can talk to animals to be able to attend to their needs better than most people, but this gift has only allowed her to learn first hand how much the poor creatures loathed her and wanted to be released.
Nowadays she'd rather talk to critters in their natural habitats, and only keeps pests and other short-lived invertebrates for arcane or scientific purposes.
Partita: The Soloist
You are the silence in the theatre as the soloist readies his bow, and the chill one feels at the strike of the first note. You are the undeniable gravity that brings everything together, and you hold captive the fool and the genius alike. You make no promises with life for which path you are to take, and that is why your life can be nothing but extraordinary-- you know no other way. Though the mirror may be your greatest enemy, you know there is no absolution but that in the reflection. Through light and dark, you feel no discomfort in being alone though at times you crave affection. No matter. You persist. And that is your greatest strength.
Your song: Partita in E Major by Bach
The Elegy: The Blooming of the Rose
You are the crescendo, a never-ending strength which arouses great power and love within. You feel immensely, intensely, and every surface you touch is laiden with love-- but beware, one must not cross you. Your ardor knows no bounds and your symphony echoes on. You bring tears to one's eyes when they look at you too long and you inflict hope within tragedy. You are the end-all-be-all, but you are not to be mistaken in fear-- people cannot help feeling everything at once when they meet you, for you are the cosmos which blinds the oblivious and gifts the shadows light.
Your song: Elegies of Thule No. 3 by Tonu Korvits
Coda: The Finale
You are what everyone has been waiting for all along -- the final passage which everyone had yearned for all their lives till alas you came through in the light from the darkness and gave them the beauty of both. Though many are afraid of you in secret, they hope to catch a glimpse of you, perhaps from behind a curtain, for you are the love behind the scenes that no one knew they were missing till they found they could not live without you. You deserve the recognition you yearn for, and though time seems only to flee or stop, your heart beats all the same. You are the fire that cannot die. You are the brilliance that, once one has felt it from you, they cannot forget.
Your song: The Firebird Suite Final Hymn by Stravinksy
// Mao adores makeup and pretty clothes and definitely has a skincare routine with stuff she's made herself (if you can make poisons you can make creams and face masks as well???)
What I'm saying is: come have a sleepover with Mao.
soul aloe : how does your muse handle grief ?
bay tree : does your muse seek glory & accolades , or do they favour a simpler , more personal life ?
botanical headcanons (accepting)
Aloe: Denial. He still hasn't moved on from the major loses in his life, and they still weigh heavily on him. He is also a skeptic who doesn't find comfort in the idea of an afterlife, so he's left with only a strong fear of loss that stops him from actively seeking bonds and intimacy.
Bay tree: Glory, of course. He’s already lived twenty-something long, long years of comfort and simplicity, and hated at least half of it. He wants his name to be remembered, whispered by strangers whenever he walks into a room. The thing is, he's still young, and hasn't entirely figured out how he intends to do that.
Aloe: They honor the dead and move on. They believe in an afterlife, and would only mourn if someone's death was caused by illness or an accident, meaning they didn't even had the chance to die in a fight. That doesn't mean they would just accept their loved ones being killed, and would probably seek revenge.
Bay tree: They're always open to recruiting new followers for Loki. They don't want the glory for themselves, but rather for their cause and ideals — chaos, that is. Whoever has a knack for causing mischief, or just a general desire to stir the status quo is a good candidate.
Aloe: Too quietly for her own good. Enid has known loss before, as some acolytes in her temple had died from old age before, but seeing her whole family die right before her eyes changed her idea of death drastically. She becomes frustrated and angry at herself for not being able to heal or protect her loved ones. She's often too hard on herself.
Bay tree: She has lived a quiet life for a long time, and though she’s convinced that’s what she wants to achieve, she’s been given a taste of adventure and secretly still craves more. The world is full of secrets and wonders, and it would be a shame not to make the most out of them.
Aloe: Stoically. She knows all things perish eventually, and that includes people. She doesn’t fear death for herself, nor for others. If we’re talking a violent, unjust death, on the other hand, she will seek revenge before she moves on, because punishing evil is what she does.
Bay tree: She isn’t entirely sure. She definitely doesn’t seek glory, but rather justice, but her identity is so severely shaped around the expectations that were once laid on her, that she struggles to express personal desires, or make plans for her future.
Aloe: Not as well as she might say. She’s comfortable with death and decay, even her own, but she would have a hard, hard time letting a loved one go. She doesn’t believe there’s a higher meaning to death, other than a soul being stripped from its body and leaving it to rot, so she can’t always shake off this feeling that some lives get extinguished prematurely, and their souls deserved a little more time in their home plane to reach their full potential.
Bay tree: Mao never stops seeking stimulation and excitement, but the greatest joy for her comes when she’s in the company of her loved one. She wants to settle down someday, in the most traditional way: get a partner (or more than one), form a family, keep her sibling close. She adores the domesticity of it, just isn’t ready for it yet.
Aloe: They often contact or summon souls who stayed behind, held by debts or grudges, so the mixture of sadness and comfort in being unable to reach their loved ones, meaning they lived fulfilling lives, is a weird feeling. They have some rituals to honor their deaths, mostly focused on keeping the memory of them alive. They would build small altars and speak to them, as well as share their stories with others who never had the chance to meet them.
Bay tree: They love a warm, comfortable home, but there’s a whole world out there to discover. They’d love to put their name out there, too. Make great discoveries, write books, meet people, put their knowledge at the service of the public... They’ve poured their life into their job, and don’t really intend that to change anytime soon.
Aloe: With resignation. In his life, he’s cared a lot, about numerous people, but eventually they all leave, or they die. He’d like to say he’s stopped caring, but he’s not. He’s just less vocal about it, and would rather take care of people from a distance than getting too invested with their lives. And when they die, he mourns and lets them go... for the most part, at least.
Bay tree: He craves comfort and stillness more than anything in this or any world. Somewhere to call a home, someone to go home to. Company, self-acceptance, a little peace of mind... those are the sort of things he’s always desired, but always seem out of his reach.
Aloe: It doesn’t really care. People and animals alike die, and once they do, they become food. It isn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of becoming food itself for it is a predator by nature, but it’s okay if others do. However, when it actually gets attached to someone (often with a shorter lifespan than it), it actually feels... sad, when they’re gone. It’s odd, and the only way it can rationalize it is that it just didn’t want the fun to end just yet.
Bay tree: It wants to be revered and feared, of course! It’s more or less achieved its goal in life so far, since it is actually sought by many who need its services, so it is already on the right path. It would definitely love to get a bunch of devote followers, brainwashed or else, but it isn’t smart enough to know how to do that.
// Kai relies on strength to fight but they're extremely dexterous with their quarterstaff. They approach fighting as meticulously as their studies, meaning they have polished their technique to a point it's delightful to watch. Even though they're not particularly tanky, they work just fine on the front line, protecting their allies. Also, I know quarterstaffs don't have reach, but I can't see Kai using a pike or a glaive so consider their weapon a very long wooden stick that deals 1d10 bludgeoning damage and is also their arcane focus.
Mao, on the other hand, is a dirty fighter and wouldn't hesitate to headbutt an enemy or kick them in the groin, as long as it works. Also fungal zombies.
