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

[helborn]

[He nods at Thanatos’ words. He tries to calm himself but it’s difficult - when he snuck into Hades on his first Jaunt he’d left very quickly out of fear, and the only other beings he’d felt this amount of entropic energy from was his mother... and Death in Liminal, but she was actually nice. Maybe this Thanatos will be, too?]

[... He’s staring. He shakes his head and tries to gather his courage.]

Yeah. She did mention that. And... whatever you’re sensing must be confusing... I was in another world between worlds before I got here, and we picked up skills snd... other things... during our missions.

But under all of that I’m. Um. My mother is Hel, Norse goddess of the dead. A different pantheon.

[controlsthedie]

[ An Prince of the Underworld from a different pantheon? Maybe a god after all. Thanatos isn't comfortable with the other one presuming things about him. Fearing Death is one matter, but outright telling him what he is sensing like he knows better is another. All without giving his name, just his standing.

Night-born Death slowly takes to the air. ]

I am Thanatos, Death Incarnate, and son of Nyx, Night Incarnate. I serve Prince Zagreus and Lord Hades.

[ Minor Chthonic god or not, Thanatos will not serve another, and he will make sure this son of Hel knows his loyalty will not change. ]

[helborn]

Um. I'm Casper.

[Should he be scared? He should probably be scared. Should he shut off his emotional responses? He's not sure. He offended Death in some way, oh boy.]

I'm just... I've been told how I can be... how I can come off weird to senses... including death senses... so I just thought...

[Should he go? But he can't escape anyone on a train like this. It's not like it's big and open and he can make his own space.]

[controlsthedie]

I am able to sense many on this train who have strange relations with death. None have been so bold to face me and tell me what I sense upon a first meeting.

[ Thanatos remains floating in air, but he hasn't done anything further. ]

As I said previously, I am not on assignment. I serve Prince Zagreus, who is on this train. Do not give me a reason question your intentions, and there will be no issue, son of Hel.

[helborn]

S... sorry. I kind of get nervous and then put my foot in my mouth and I... sorry...

[He looks down, cheeks flushing a yellowish-red.]

I... um. Sorry...

[controlsthedie]

...

[ Is this something that all Princes of the Underworld do? Open their mouths before thinking what to say? One is enough, and Thanatos hopes this isn't a sign of things to come. He's not sure he'd be able to survive it.

Mort squeaks softly within his hood, breaking up the silence from Thanatos. Ah. ]

If you intended to simply inform, then I accept your apology.

[ Did that work? Thanatos already said he's not on assignment with set loyalties. Oh gods... godly politics are exhausting. ]

[helborn]

... Yeah. S... sorry. Um. So... are you... um.

[Bob squawks from the climbing structure again. Pull it together, Casper.]

Mm. Right. Were you.. um. Practicing with a sword for any particular reason? Or just to keep your skills fresh?

[controlsthedie]

[ There is a series of faint squeaking from inside Thanatos's hood. Mort seems to have opinions to express, and Thanatos's eyes flick towards the bird. Why the hell...? Souls are generally supposed to be in people's bodies, and yet it is becoming more and more frequent that someone's soul is found somewhere else.

Well, onto the question. ]

There are some worlds which render one's natural abilities useless. I'm making sure I have options available.

[ Thanatos has come across one world. He's basing this off of one mission. ]

[helborn]

Ah, makes sense. I'm not much of a sword user... I've been practicing with the bow and arrow.

[He gestures to the ice bow and ice arrows, before tapping his leg. A long clublike object appears in his hand, clearish frost on the outside with a blue core running from the middle of it down to the handle.]

[... It's a baseball bat.]

But this is what I use most often.

[controlsthedie]

I've never seen a club like that.

[ He's from a time when baseball hasn't been invented yet. He notes the icy nature of his weapons, pondering if he has a boon from whomever is Demeter's equivalent. Do they need a magic to exist, or do they do?

Also, fire beats ice, Thanatos thinks with a small bit of pride for his Prince of the Underworld. ]

[helborn]

It's typically used for a sport, actually... mine just happens to be a relic with my mother's power. Some of it, at least. ... Though at this point it's more mine than hers...

[It damn well better be, with how much he's used it.]

[controlsthedie]

A relic used for sport.

[ Blood and darkness. Who plays sports using relics? That seems many different kinds of foolishness. ]

[helborn]

No, it's not usually a relic. This one just happens to be.

[controlsthedie]

[ Thanatos just stares for a moment and says bluntly, ]

I do not understand your pantheon, son of Hel.

[helborn]

One of my uncles is a horse and another is a giant snake and another is a giant wolf so you know what, that's fair.

Relics can be a lot of different things. It's just something you channel your power through. It doesn't have to be ancient, and it's usually easier if they aren't so they're less suspicious. As far as most people are concerned, either no gods exist or just one all-powerful one. You can't exactly go around with a giant spear or something and say it's blessed by a god.

[controlsthedie]

[ Thanatos continues to stare. Are they really going to do this again? He knows what a relic is. He wasn't born yesterday. ]

Then your world differs greatly from my because mortals are aware of the gods, and if they possess a divine relic, they aren't shy about it.

[ In other words, yes. Someone can go around with a giant spear and say it's blessed by a god. ]

[helborn]

[He's just saying! A relic can be anything! Forgive him Thanatos, he is socially awkward.]

Yeah... sounds like it. My leg's a relic, too. Or at least the runes on it count as one.
[He rolls his pant leg up enough or Thanatos to see rivory-colored metal and strange runes.]

[controlsthedie]

[ Once Casper starts rolling up his pant leg that is when Thanatos decides he is going to look somewhere else. He's no prude, but he really isn't interested in someone showing off body parts. Real or constructed. Thanatos would have been content to sit at the single ladies table with Hestia, Artemis, and Athena for eternity if he didn't start having feels for one(1) idiot prince. And he's also not interested in a stranger showing off all his relics either. ]

... There's no need to show me every relic you own.

[helborn]

No I... I just meant... never mind. S... sorry. Should I just... leave you to practice on your own?

[controlsthedie]

[ Thanatos thinks a brief second. Yes, he's passed that threshold. ]

No, that's unnecessary. I'll continue my practice at another time.

[ And then he poofs in a burst of light and darkness. ]