voidtreckerexpress | Seasons don't fear the reaper

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

[ 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. ]

[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.

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?

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]

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. ]

[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?

[ 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.

[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.

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.) ]

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]

Well, that's... I suppose that's a good thing, given who I am.

[ He doesn't know his sisters, but it's a small blessing that his scythe appears to have a failsafe in the form of its shape and abilities. He takes back his scythe, and the familiar feeling returns to him.

Part of him wonders if Persephone could once more take the scythe and have it remain a scythe without him giving verbal permission again, but once he sees her expression, that idea disappears. His scythe does too. ]

Are you all right? I can fix the target. I saw someone use supplies around here.

It's...It's fine--just--did that help? Did seeing the movement in action help?

[Persephone gestures to the scythe, still not quite meeting his eyes]

It did....

[ And yet somehow Thanatos feels like he has done something wrong. Brought up something he shouldn't have. ]

Maybe another time you can show me another way a scythe is used. Although, I don't know when we'll find a grain field to harvest.

Seasons don't fear the reaper

Chores: Death approaches the dust

Greenhouse: Thanatos's Poppy Pot has sprouted!

Training gym: Trying not to float like a butterfly

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