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

Training

[springforth]

[Persephone has never really taken to the training gym. It was a place where mortals heightened their skills, where they fought or played or used weapons. Nothing she needed. She wasn't one of the fighting gods, for all she'd had to learn some basics in her time.

Is she surprised to see Thanatos here? A little.] Oh no, I was just going to pass through. [ She glances at his sword. Didn't he have a scythe during that last battle?] Practicing?

[controlsthedie]

Yes. We'll be having a mission soon, and I want to be prepared in case something prevents me from using my powers again.

[ Thanatos has no idea he is about to get a power nerf redux soon. At least he's making an attempt before all that. ]

... The hardest part is keeping my feet on the ground.

[springforth]

Should have been like me, learn how to float when you're older and then you have all those years on the ground to...ground you. [She bites her lip to keep from grinning.]

I didn't know you were a sword guy. Didn't you have something different before?

[controlsthedie]

[ Okay, he has to give a small and quiet giggle at that. Maybe not learning to float and shift so early in life would have been a benefit. ]

My original means of cutting mortal's threads was a sword.

[ He holds it out, so she can get a better look at it. ]

All whose hair is cut by my blade are bound towards Hades by the Fates' trade. Although now, I prefer my scythe for its distance.

[springforth]

Remind me not to cut my hair with your sword, it'd be weird if a bunch of petals suddenly showed on Hades's desk.

[She hefts herself up on the balance beam and stands, uncaring of a possible fall. She can float after all.] I guess it gives a little more distance, but isn't it a bit unwieldy? [She makes the motion, two hands swinging an imaginary scythe at about her waist]

[controlsthedie]

[ As amusing as an image that is, Thanatos has to shake his head. ]

It doesn't exactly work like that. It's more symbolic, ceremonial. But it brought mortals some comfort to know that cutting their thread hurts as little as cutting one's hair.

[ Thanatos vanishes his sword in favor of floating upward and summon his scythe with a flourish. He's also single-handedly holding it at the end the handle. ]

However, that was when I was a godling. I use this almost exclusively now.

[springforth]

[She does imagine that would be a comfort. Though, death is a concept she only has familiarity with from the outside. The death of her nymphs, the mortals she killed, on purpose or otherwise. It must feel so different to mortals.

She has to pause midstep on the beam, hands held up high. to turn and stare.]

...What are you doing? [She floats down to get a better look at his scythe and the absolutely bananas way he's holding it]

[controlsthedie]

[ Thanatos has never died either. Although, with everything that has been going on as of late, Thanatos wonders if Death could even die. It seems both possible and impossible.

However, metaphysical questions about Death dying never arise because instead, Thanatos has a puzzled look on his face. ]

I'm holding my scythe? I'd give a demonstration, but the training dummy doesn't have a thread to cut.

[ It'd be a lightshow at best. ]

[springforth]

You are not holding--okay you are technically holding a scythe but this technique is all wrong. Here--let me show you.

[She holds out her hands for it, expectant, but not demanding. Well, not overly demanding.]

[controlsthedie]

[ Thanatos looks at how he's holding it and to Persephone's outstretched hands. He's never actually relinquished his scythe to another before, and he's not sure it's even possible. Twirling his scythe around to switch his grip, he holds it out to Persephone to take.

Once she grasps it, the scythe shrinks and goes limp in her grasp. ]

Oh.

[ He looks at what is now long strands of familiar silvery hair. ]

Apparently, my sisters have a sense of humor.

[springforth]

...I am not even going to ask.

[Persephone gently places the strands of hair in his hands and glances around the room for a practice rod or something. Aha--She darts over to grab one from the wall.]

I'll just demonstrate with this. Just mark an end.... [A flowery vine wraps around one end, extending out in the shape of a blade]

[controlsthedie]

[ And as soon as the long strands of hair and back in his hand, it fashions itself back into his scythe. Thanatos turns it over in his hands. It looks and feels exactly the same. Was that some kind of failsafe, or is there something he could do to allow another to borrow his scythe? ]

... All right...?

[ He's watching. ]

[springforth]

[She holds it up with one hand, gripping up at the middle] This is how you hold a scythe. One hand up here so you can just move into scything.

[She moves the stick in front of her, dipped down, gripping down near the near unbladed end with her other hand] Mine at home has a handle here in the middle but we'll make do. And then you just...[She swings it in a smooth skilled arc at waist height] For you know, actually cutting things.

[controlsthedie]

[ Once Persephone makes the first swing, a weird unease settles in Thanatos. The motion is so unlike what he does. Did the Three Fates really... they must have.

Thanatos can already sense that his targeted attack is impossible, so he tries something else. Spinning around his scythe, he creates a purple magic circle under a training dummy. He keeps the circle smaller than usual. No one living will actually be inside. No one will actually die. It's just a show of magic. Thanatos twirls the scythe back behind him; the need to float high enough for the large weapon to clear the floor becomes all the more apparent.

And lacking any other idea of what to do, Thanatos tugs the edge of his hood over his head more. ]

[springforth]

Hey--I'm not--[Persephone tugs on the edge of his chiton, where it drapes over his shoulder]

I get it, you're used to how you do things. And I don't...I don't actually like to use it as a weapon. Bad memories. [Small sigh] I forget sometimes that you didn't really have a reason to learn any of this.

[controlsthedie]

[ Mort also squeaks, likely trying to bring comfort just as Persephone does, but Thanatos doesn't release his hold on his hood. ]

I begged my sisters to give me a new way to collect souls. A way that didn't involve me getting so close to mortals. I cut my hair to keep it out of the way of my duty. I offered it to them. The scythe is what they gave me.

[ He had to figure out the rest. He wanted distance, so he used it in a way to keep others further away from him. That involved using the end of the handle. ]

[springforth]

[Persephone gives it another tug, light but affirming she's still there.]

You know I wasn't trying to put down how you do things right? Or at least, it wasn't my intention. I learned all this from my mother, but of course Nyx and the Fates don't know how to use a scythe. I'm an earth goddess, they're--they're them. No need to use a scythe for anything.

[controlsthedie]

I know that. It's just...

[ He sighs. And Mort squeaks softly. He used to be a lot better at hiding his insecurities. ]

I'm, I don't know. Trying. I guess. ... Can you show me that again?

[springforth]

Of course. And don't worry about it, if you can't get used to it. I wouldn't be able to get used to how you do it.

[She'll go through the motions a few more times, trying to make it simple and easy to understand. If she had an actual blade to this, it might be more effective to show how the motion actually works, how it cuts, but she's stuck with flowers]

[controlsthedie]

How I use it probably wouldn't help to cut grain.

[ He tries a few more swings of the scythe two-handed. Thanatos tries a swipe higher up. He tries a swipe aimed low. It feels really awkward, like the weight of his scythe is off. It doesn't help that the handles of their scythes vary.

He stops and looks at his scythe. He holds it out again. ]

... Persephone, Goddess of Spring, I grant you permission to hold Death Incarnate's scythe.

[ It doesn't feel any different to him after saying that, but maybe, just maybe this weapon of his had a failsafe designed by his sisters. And maybe Persephone will be able to hold an actual scythe in her hands this time. ]

[springforth]

[Persephone watches him, unsure on how to help, but really wanting to. There is hovering involved, literal and figurative.]

You're not trying to cut grain though...

[Blink. Blink blink. She very gently reaches out for the scythe.] I accept?

[controlsthedie]

[ The scythe remains as is. Thanatos looks at it. No change, though there's no feeling of death or power radiating from it that he can sense. His weapon is just a fancy looking tool in Persephone's hand. ]

That's... different.

[springforth]

[Persephone just hefts it up, taking up the weight with ease and holding it in her hand with a practiced ease. If there's anything different, she can't tell]

Is it? [She looks it over] Looks like the same fancy thing you've had this whole time.

[controlsthedie]

It looks the same, but... it's not. I don't sense... anything from it.

[ ... He didn't just break his scythe, did he? (No, he didn't. The power's with him not the scythe. The dork.) ]

[springforth]

Huh. Well...it feel like a scythe. A fancy one but still.

[She places her hands in the right spots, showing him with really outright instructing.] I'm not Death Incarnate so...

[With the scythe raised, she gestures him to step back a pace. Then she slices through the dummy's head, easy, quick, in control. There is no sense of being outside herself, of something taking her over. Why would there be, this is just a dummy in a training gym. Yet, somehow she'd worried.

Yet, there are parts of her both thrilled and queasy at the sight of the dummy's head falling to the ground]

There. [She holds out scythe out roughly, looking away from the sight, from him]