Seasons don't fear the reaper

[controlsthedie]

Who: Thanatos & OTA
Where: sleeper/passenger car hallways, greenhouse, training gym
When: Kazoo, Day 2 or 3 (after Jack's "Musical" Mayhem, before dance)
What: Death is being a dork: chores, flower growing, sword practice
Warnings: none

Chores: Death approaches the dust

[ A new month means a new type of chore assignment, apparently. At least this one doesn't need someone coaching Thanatos on what to do. He takes to the passenger area first, dressed in the train's standard blue hoodie and cargo pants to keep his own stuff clean. (Zagreus wanted to wear red not blue, so Thanatos just gave him the spare red hoodie he had.) Floating towards the ceiling with a feather duster in his hand, Thanatos gets to work.

Thanatos may not have paid much attention to Dusa while she worked (or at all really...), but he knows that she was always up high dusting the rafters. Sorry if he startles anyone going through a door to see legs dangling down. He's dusting the top of the door frame. ]

Greenhouse: Thanatos's Poppy Pot has sprouted!

[ Done with chores for the time being, Thanatos has returned to his usual way of dressing (chthonic death god style) and is crouched low to the floor. Mort is perched at the edge of a pot. They stare at nine tiny points of green pushing out of the soil. Thanatos is smiling, awestruck. (An expression that wasn't as rare when he was a godling days ago.) ]

They sprouted… they actually sprouted....

[ Thanatos speaks softly as if he fears being too loud would bring destruction upon them. Green. Growth. Life. He thought they would never sprout. They would never grow. Yet, here they were. Poppies, his and Hypnos's shared symbol, growing in this pot. Nurtured by Death of all people. ]

What do you think, Mort? Do they need more water?

Training gym: Trying not to float like a butterfly

[ There should be a mission coming up soon, and Thanatos is determined not to have a repeat of the last time. He had lost his powers, his divinity, and had become useless. He would have been a liability if other passengers hadn't come to his aid.

Gods, if Thanatos froze like that while Zagreus needed his help.... No. That's not going to happen. He's going to make sure that he can still fight, still protect… well, more than just Zagreus. It's still strange to think that he's developing a new role for himself on this train.

He summons his sword, not his scythe, and sets his feet upon the ground. Thanatos starts with a few basic motions when he notices he has company. ]

Pardon me. I'm not taking too much space, am I?

Comments

[irrationally]

[ She steps over and bends down a little, like she's also trying to take a good look at the sprouts now. ]

Are you actively trying to kill them? Right now?

[ Look, she can't assume Death itself kills things by said things just being around it - after all, she's standing next to him right now, and Alice still feels pretty alive. ]

If you're not, then it's no surprise they're instead living and thriving.

[controlsthedie]

[ It's hard to tell if she's trying to be reassuring or haughty. Thanatos assumes the former more because he doesn't feel like having an argument. He's too happy about his poppies sprouting. ]

I am not. However, I've never attempted something like this. There is little opportunity at home.

[irrationally]

...

[ For a moment she grows quiet, looking at the sprouts rather than at him. ]

You seem to like it. [ Alice finally concludes. Thanatos guessed right - Alice really was just trying to be reassuring, though it's really hard to tell at any given time if that's what she's doing, considering her severe case of resting grumpface.

But there's no particular fighty tone to this. ]

If so, you should continue. It's not as if we have anything better to do while waiting here on the train between missions. You may as well do something you enjoy.

[controlsthedie]

I... Yes. I think I enjoy this. Even if it takes longer than I expected.

[ Mort gives a small squeak in agreement. Thanatos returns his attention to the tender greens. ]

I thought if there was one flower I could grow, it'd be a poppy. And if I could successfully care for one until it flowers, then, maybe I could try growing others.

[irrationally]

It's good to start small. [ Even though - in her eyes - his attempt seems to be going pretty well. But she can imagine he didn't just want to accidentally ruin a whole plot's worth of flowers if his little experiment didn't end up going as well as it seems to be doing now.

Her head dips into a nod for a moment, but then curiosity takes over enough for her to ask: ]

Why a poppy though? [ Do they have some special significance to him? ]

[controlsthedie]

[ That is exactly why he only has a pot. Any potential damage is isolated, and no else's hard work and time would go to waste from his nature. Thanatos would hate for any of the food crops to be ruined especially. ]

Poppies are the flower symbol I share with my twin. They have properties of both sleep and death. So, I have a stronger connection with them than any other plant.

[irrationally]

[ Flowers of sleep and death, huh? Talk about some cheery flowers..

But rather than commenting on that specifically, there's something about what he's saying that draws her attention more. ]

You have a twin? [ If he's Death, then the twin must be Sleep, right. Alice is at least smart enough to figure that out. ] I didn't know that beings like you had siblings.

[controlsthedie]

[ Alice is completely correct. Sleep is his twin. ]

Oh, I have many siblings. I don't cross paths with most of them, but that's fine with me.

[ He doesn't think they'd get along, and in some cases, they might be in direct opposition to each other. ]

... I'm actually the youngest.

[ It sounds very strange for death to be so young, but divinity and fate and Hades game timelines work in mysterious ways. ]

[irrationally]

I was the youngest too in my family.

[ Look, it's something they probably have in common with.. well, a lot of people out there. Everywhere there's siblings, there's bound to be a youngest sibling, after all. But maybe this is Alice's incredibly lame attempt to try and bond a little, since she's so bad at this whole social interactions thing. ]

Although I only had one older sister. I can't imagine what it's like to have more than that. I think it'd quickly start to feel strange to be the youngest then.

[controlsthedie]

[ That's two of them, and Thanatos will grab onto this topic of conversation because he has no other idea. He's not sure how to be social either. ]

A lot of my siblings are far older than I. Some, I've never met.

[ And some aren't even allowed in the House. One started a war.... ]

[irrationally]

[ Either you have a war-starting sibling, or you are the war-starting sibling. Alice is definitely the latter here. ]

The way you live is so odd. [ But there's no malice in the statement. Not even judgement, from the sound of it. It's just an objective statement - or at least, it feels like one to her. ] I can't even imagine not having known my older sister. She was quite a bit older than me too, but at least we lived in the same house, so we often saw each other.

[controlsthedie]

[ Being the war-starting sibling sounds more fun. Less mess to clean up and a good mention in an epic poem. ]

It's the only way I've known to live. My family is just that.

[ He also has a single grandparent and a single parent. ]

Did you and your sister get along?

[irrationally]

Hmm.. mostly.

[ Her answer is a little slow. She's not too used to talking about herself - especially in the context of any kind of feelings - a lot, but Alice figures this is harmless enough to say. ]

It wasn't as if we argued or anything of the sort. But since she was so much older, we didn't have a whole lot in common. I probably was little more than just a rambunctious child in her eyes. She tried to read me books, but I prefered to go on adventures instead.

[controlsthedie]

That's similar to my relationship with most of my family. We don't have a lot in common, and that's the extent of it. My eldest sisters tell me where to go, but it's not a familiarity. More like work.

[ He doesn't think they would read him stories or go on an adventure. They wouldn't talk with him. Then again, they never really "talked" with anyone, not when they spun and weaved the fates, hinting of what's to come without saying everything. ]

[irrationally]

I'm not so sure if it's that familiar. I mean, even if we weren't close playmates or anything of the sort, I.. I did love my sister. And I like to think she cared for me as well. [ Though it's hard to know that for sure. It's not like Alice can still just ask her about that.

She shakes her head. ]

If all your sisters do is make you work, then I'm not so sure whether they truly care for you.

[controlsthedie]

...

[ Thanatos's brows furrow. Put that way, it is different. The Three Fates have their ways, and there are times he's afraid to invoke them and cause something to inadvertently happen. He's only asked them one thing, dedicating an act in their names in hopes of a favor. But that's about it. ]

No, then it's different, but we are gods. When the alternative is being at each other's throats, it's well enough.

[irrationally]

[ Alice pauses.

She stares at the flowers around them, but then turns her gaze towards him, finally moving to properly sit down on the ground rather than awkwardly squatting. It's hurting her legs at this point. ]

Are you saying gods don't want anyone to care for them? [ After all, Alice is pretty sure all humans desire that to some extent. They're not meant to be solitary creatures, even when Alice very much likes to pretend she is. ]

[controlsthedie]

No, not exactly.

[ He looks at Mort as if the small mouse could help him explain what he knows but never had to put into words exactly. Mortals knew the stories, knew about the gods' wrath. It was never his job to explain. ]

With gods, especially those on Olympus, power and pride can put them at odds with another. There have been different sets of deities ruling the world, each having overthrown the last, their parents. Chthonic gods, gods who live in the Underworld opposed to Olympus, don't seem to have the same sorts of problems with each other.

[ Zagreus and his father excluded, of course. ]

[irrationally]

Those gods sound an awful lot like humans.

[ After all, don't those do the same? Constantly overthrowing each other, trying to get one up on each other. Humans constantly treat each other in that same awful way. Gods not being much different than that would explain why not a single one of them ever bothers to help out some humans. ]

Then again, it sure makes it sound like you're just settling for having that kind of relationship with your siblings. [ In that 'it could be worse' sort of way. ] That doesn't exactly sound ideal still.

[controlsthedie]

[ Thanatos hasn't had a lot of occasion to really think or experience his world differently. The catalyst for change was Zagreus flipping the Underworld upside-down, forcing something different to happen. Then Thanatos arrived here. And people treated him like a person, talked about how the life he "lived" was unfair to him. Still, it's the only life he's ever known. ]

Before I was taken here, I was... trying to help my twin keep his job.

[ Zagreus had convinced him to try to repair his relationship with Hypnos, to be nicer to him, and Thanatos was making an honest attempt. He didn't want to leave every talk with his twin feeling horrible. ]

[irrationally]

[ She's quiet for a moment, almost as if she expects this story to go on.

But it doesn't. Yet Alice is curious enough to just plainly ask: ]

And how was that going so far?

[controlsthedie]

Not well. I couldn't get through to him, couldn't make him understand that he risked losing his job. And now...? There's nothing I can do about it here.

[ Thanatos was trying, and he has nothing to show for it. Does Hypnos even have his job still? If he can't make it back home at the point he left it, is that another thing he's ruined? ]

[irrationally]

.. well, I do suppose a sibling relationship isn't going to be fixed that easily.

[ Especially not when it's as strange as Thanatos' apparent relationship with his siblings. It sounds like there was hardly any there at all, of course it's going to be rough if he has to build it all the way from the ground up.

She pauses, then slowly exhales. ]

But you should see him again once you return home, right? It's not as if this is the end of it.

[controlsthedie]

If I can make it back home at the same time I left it, then I can continue. However, he may have already lost his job by now, and I don't know where I'd find him if he's not at the House of Hades.

[ Hypnos could just fall asleep in some corner of the world, and Thanatos wouldn't be able to see during the brief times he's at the House. Would Hypnos be allowed to stay at the House even if he didn't work there? Their mother has an influence, but she's been distancing herself from Hypnos.... Could he stay in Thanatos's room? It's not like he uses it. ]

[irrationally]

[ At the same time as he left it, huh.. Signs have been pointing towards the fact that time most likely is moving on back home while they're here, so Alice knows she can't offer him much consolation when it comes to that. They'll have to come to terms with a changed world when they go home.

But.. ]

You couldn't just.. call him?

[ She's not even implying a phone call, mind you. Alice is from a world that's firmly before those kinds of things were normal. ]

Or are you trying to tell me it's impossible for gods to get in touch with each other any other way than just randomly bumping into each other?