I know I always come and go

[controlsthedie]

Who: Thanatos, Zagreus, Ryo, Persephone, Otoha, Soldat
Where: all around the train
When: backdated to Llama Days 2-4
What: Thanatos has some handmade items to give out before the next mission, hoping it'll help them
Warnings: Let's be real, Thanatos is probably going to embarrass himself and be tsundere

Thanatos has been working hard, spending much of his time finishing his projects. Even if he can help heal now, there is still so much he can't do for these missions and, more importantly, his friends. He can't give boons or favors. This is the best he can manage. He hates feeling like a deadweight with no purpose. What good is it to have the time and freedom to help but lack the ability to?

For Zagreus, Ryo, Persephone, and Otoha, he slips a note under their door saying that he'd like to see them whenever they have a moment. For Soldat, Thanatos just keeps them one morning since they are roommates.

He seems nervous when he does get to talk to them, like he wants to shift away at a moment's notice. Thanatos almost shoves his creation(s) at the other.

"I made--here, just take this! It should help on the next mission." He steps back as if to say that they cannot give it back to him.

Comments

[dyingpro]

Zagreus lets out a small chuckle at the end of Thanatos' story, rubbing his neck in embarrassment with his free hand, the one not currently holding Cerbie still despite the companion's attempts to the contrary. "So I suppose Cerbie now has to fight Cerberus to the death over and over again until he wins?" He knew that the Cthonic Companions mirrored their original owners in some respects, but Cerbie's story is almost painful to listen to in how accurate to his lived experience it is.

"Don't worry, Cerbie, Cerberus isn't so bad once you get to know him. I'll be sure to teach you all his weak spots, and all of his vices. I hear he's really into satyr sacks." He smiles at Thanatos, then, adding, "Thank you for the story. I'll be sure to write that down somewhere and keep it for posterity while I'm making Cerbie a tag. And this knotted thread, too, is it supposed to be a collar for Cerbie or something? This really means a lot to me, Than, thank you."

[controlsthedie]

"What? No. Cerbie and Cerberus are going to be friends. They aren't going to fight each other. I hope." Thanatos hadn't thought of that at all, but now he wonders if Cerberus might take offense to his imagine being used. And... he wonders if Zagreus understood the real message of the fable or not. Thanatos thought it was obvious, but....

"It's for you, actually." The knotted bracelet has thin silvery strands, thread from a Night's Spindle, a red thread, and a gold thread all knotted together. "I think I found a way for you to defy death a few more times if you ever need to."

[dyingpro]

"Well, maybe they can come to an understanding," Zagreus smirks, slowly failing in his quest to restrain Cerbie, who is still attempting to lick his owner with his silky cloth tongue. "Hopefully like Father and I might, one day. I'll never be like him, and I think he's getting used to that idea, now." There's a pause, and then, out of the blue, Zagreus asks, "So dogs on the surface really only have one head?"

The prince admires the bracelet in a different light now that he knows it's a Keepsake, and not a decoration. "Oh, Than, I-- how? How is that possible? I thought my life thread could only be tied so many times."

[controlsthedie]

"Dogs from the surface only have one head and one tail, but they share the same loyalty as Cerberus." Thanatos adds the bit about the tails because he doesn't want to mislead Zagreus.

"I think the reason you can only come back from the brink so many times is that there isn't enough to knot together after a couple deaths. However, when I was sewing Cerbie, if I ran out of thread, I tied to another and continued."

Thanatos smiles, pride filling his voice. This has to work. He can see the threads woven by his sisters and knows when it's time to cut them. The connection has to be there. This will help Zagreus; he's sure of it.

"So... when you use that keepsake, you'll be borrowing from my thread. That's the idea at least. The red thread symbolizes your thread, red like your blood. The gold thread symbolizes mine and my golden ichor. I knotted it with some of the thread from the Night's Spindle and... don't laugh, but I used my hair. My sword has this whole 'All whose hair is cut by my blade are bound towards Hades by the Fates' trade' thing, so I though it would help. Then, I bound the whole thing with some drops of ichor as I infused my power into the bracelet."

He reaches for the hand wearing the bracelet and holds it gently. "With it around your wrist like that, I can feel... something. I think it'll work."

[dyingpro]

"Well what happened to their other heads?" Zagreus asks, obviously concerned that all Earth puppers seem to have lost their extra heads somehow.

Something Thanatos says makes Zagreus' eyes widen, and suddenly he feels his red blood drain from his face, making him more pale than usual. He suddenly feels Thanatos' life thread more keenly than he ever has before, even without his relative closeness. It must be from the new bracelet, working exactly as Thanatos had intended. "Borrowing from your-? Than...!" The prince suddenly moves forward, wrapping his free arm around Than's shoulders, hugging him tightly, the hand holding Thanatos' squeezing firmly. "This is such a thoughtful gift, and I appreciate it so much, but I can't... I couldn't take from your life thread! What would happen if you, if Death Incarnate were to d-"

No, Zagreus can't even finish that sentence. His fingers cling a little tighter to Thanatos' himation. "We all know what happens if I run out of thread. I just come back. You don't have invulnerability like you do in the Underworld, Than. I can't risk you over my sometimes foolish decisions."

... okay, more often than not foolish decisions.

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos is about to explain that dogs only have one head from the start when Zagreus reacts in a way he hadn't expected at all.

"Saving Buttercup was a foolish decision?" Thanatos shakes his head and shoves away the guilt that his focus had been solely on Zagreus. Zagreus died saving her, and if Zagreus hadn't then reached for her, Thanatos would have left her behind. (Even if he tries to convince himself that he would have gone right back in for her, Thanatos knows there might not have been the time.) Thanatos doesn't have that mindset, especially after a demon had grabbed him.

"If I die, assuming I can, I'll come back too. Everyone on this train does. Doing this... it just gives you a chance to do more if you need it. You were amazing back there." You could do so much more than I could. I was just some faulty Ares or Hermes. "You're not dying nearly as much as you did back home. You'll be fine."