#spellbound things

Because I want it that way.

I'm late, but oh well. Sunday turned into a full day for me, but here's a little snippet for your enjoyment.

***

“You know what they’re going to find down there. Don’t you?”

I grumble at this younger witch and point again towards the chess board. She shakes her head.

“No clue. Those caverns are a lot bigger than they think.”

“They packed food,” she points out and I snort.

“Are you gonna make a move or what? We’re gonna be here awhile.”

“I have no idea how the pieces even move. And I wouldn’t dream of messing up Peeta’s chance at beating you. But if you really want to continue to sit here in silence, I’m okay with that.”

“Kid. I’ve been sitting in silence since before you were born. Since before your mother was born and if you think--”

“Great so then you’re probably dying to talk to someone. I mean, not literally dying, but figuratively speaking. My sister isn't exactly great company, after all. Let’s start with what happened here last night. You must’ve noticed something. You’ve got such a great view, and you strike me as a very observant sort of person.” 

It's snowing where you are? Gah. It was 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) where I live two days ago. It's still warm enough for short sleeves. What is this discussion of Christmas already???? Granted, I am currently freezing my nose and fingers off whilst sitting at an ice arena, watching my son's third hockey practice of this long ass week, but also the Gulf of Mexico is a twenty minute drive to the south of this arena lol. I love hearing about the weather wherever my followers are.

So, to answer your question, the thing is... a lot of people in the USA celebrate Christmas even if they're not religious. The secular version of the holiday is more about spending time with loved ones and exchanging gifts than it is about anything Jesus and religion and church related, so it wouldn't take much for Katniss and Prim to blend in, in this regard. In general though, Spellbound Katniss and Prim would observe something similar to pagan holidays and traditions, where the sun cycle (solstices and equinoxes) and the moon cycles take center stage. And a holiday like Samhain/Halloween would also be a large part of their lives.

But in terms of Christmas, the pagan traditions of Yule and similar holidays would've been incorporated into their modern witchcraft practices. Also, to point out the elephant in the room, since a lot of pagan customs and traditions are alive and well within Christian holidays (gotta make the new religion palatable, so rulers tended to keep or borrow a lot from other religions), they wouldn't even stand out that much for this one. The decorated tree, the celebration of the hearth and home, even the mistletoe can be traced back to non-Christian and pre-Christian traditions.

So I see Spellbound Katniss and Prim having a decorated tree in their house, with homemade ornaments representing the stars, the sun and the moon, or derived from a celebration of nature. Think decorated pine cones and intricate feathered ornaments. Preserved flowers and leaves, that sort of thing. They'd bedeck their home in fragrant greenery and candles, have a quiet gift exchange between the two of them, enjoy a good feast and warm drinks like spiced cider and hot chocolate. They'd probably have a bonfire in their back yard and sing, maybe cast a few spells for the new year, enjoy the stars in the cold winter night, that sort of thing.

At least that's what they'd be doing before Peeta walks into their lives and they form their coven. ;) Then some adjustments might be made.

Thanks for the ask!

I put away my sketchbook and try to go back to sleep. It quickly becomes apparent that that isn’t happening. So I make my way slowly up the stairs. The door to my old room squeaks slightly, and I just catch the sounds of a creature halting whatever nocturnal activity they were engaged in. I flip on the light and am still blinking to adjust to the brightness, stepping back in shock. But I can see immediately why I’ve been relegated to the couch.

“Wow,” I mouth the word.

+++

I’m trying to get this one ready for a Wednesday update, but it keeps making me go 🤨😖 So we’ll see.

Hey Anon! So ngl I have been holding onto this for awhile because while the layout of both their houses has existed in my head all this time, I've never put it to paper. I'll go ahead and confess that I ran into the same problem as you, so I decided screw it. They're custom built houses and therefore I can do what I want. Let me also caveat this by reminding everyone that I'm not an artist, and I'm not an architect. Scale is probably crap or nonexistent on these drawings lmao. As you will see, they are definitely not twin layouts. Also forgive the shitty quality, my scanner is not great.

Now, I encourage you to continue to dream whatever the heck you want and toss my drawings to the wind if you don't like them lol ;) Thanks for the interest!

First up! Peeta's house. So it's been a hot minute, so I don't expect anyone but myself to remember, but Peeta first slept in a different room because it was in better condition. I labeled it as such on the upstairs layout, but that could also be labeled as "Bedroom for future toastbaby" lol. EDIT: I just realized a huge mistake I made here so I may need to redo both layouts anyways. *sigh*

Lol pretty sure we covered this in the first few chapters, but no. Buttercup's link to speak with Prim is a form of telepathy between a witch and her familiar. She is the only being, human or otherwise, who can talk to him like that.

Katniss could, theoretically, learn how cat body language and sounds operate to communicate with each other, so she might understand certain things about their emotions or state of mind, and when she is in cat form, she might be able to recreate those communication cues accurately, but it wouldn't be the same as Prim and Buttercup carrying on full sentence conversations with each other.

Hope that makes sense!