voidtreckerexpress | Death Just Needs A Little Conversation [Open]

Who: Ryo and Open (angled towards those with death powers/connections)
Where: ICP/Garden Car
When: Nebula 3
What: Ryo is coming to terms with the fact that he's kept his death-related Diagad powers, so now he's asking for help with them. (They're not what he's afraid they are, but he doesn't know that yet.)
Warnings: Probably a lot of death talk, but we'll go from there.
Notes: It starts as an ICP post, but he won't be replying on the network, only in person. Anyone is welcome to join in; he's just angling for people with Insight Into Death. (I'll also match prose or brackets.)

[Ryo looks...uncertain at best, but much closer to 'worried but trying not to show it' as the ICP flickers on.]

If anyone is connected to death, or has death-related powers, I could use your help.

[-wait that sounds bad-]

It's nothing crazy - I just have...questions.

[He can't quite bring himself to say what he's actually worried about, so instead it's just:]

I'll be in the garden car, if you wouldn't mind coming to see me.

[And the ICP flickers off. He's not planning on having this conversation in front of the train and everyone, so in-person it is. True to his word, he's sitting on one of the benches in the garden car with Lagos in his lap, holding the plush bird and trying not to let his fears run away with him. He may not be entirely succeeding. It may be obvious.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't have any new powers. I am not like Death. With her power also of Life. Likely whatever has caused this couldn't alter my nature.

[ To Thanatos's mind, that's the truth. He's not trying to lie to comfort Ryo. He truly believes that he doesn't have those life powers he had in Jinnjar, and he doesn't. It hasn't manifested in Thanatos proper in that manner. ]

The only way I can heal is to use something outside of who I am.

[ Again, Zagreus is the exception. ]

[The thing is, now that he's got that little bit of hope, not only is Ryo not letting go of it, but he's also starting to reframe things through that lens. His Sense had been altered, and...had anything changed with Thanatos?]

[Lagos takes that moment to speak up - do it again! do the grippy thing again! - and Ryo's gaze snaps to Mort. That's it.]

I don't think that's true.

[He speaks slowly, still feeling his way through the words.]

I think you kept your life powers, and...I think they might've gone into Mort. How else could he be moving?

[There's a beat, and then Lagos rattles loudly. Holy shit.]

[ Mort grips Thanatos's finger again as Thanatos looks at Ryo. Him, still have the powers of Life? That... that can't be.... Could it? ]

I've been just been giving Mort ambrosia and trying to imbue him with more of my power like I've done with the keepsakes and Companions I've made. I'm not healing him with whatever threads those were then.

[ But if Ryo doesn't have that death power.... Thanatos looks at Mort who flicks his ear with a squeak. ]

I don't know. I'm Death Incarnate. I can't heal or strengthen anyone with my own power. I need...

[ An item.... ]

You couldn't with the powers you had before, and I couldn't sense people's connections with death before, but here we are.

[If it was possible for his Diagad power to change, there's no reason it shouldn't be possible for Thanatos.]

And you gave Lagos your power, and that didn't make him move.

[Lagos rattles at that. Yeah, and he's kind of jealous, not gonna lie.]

[(Cerbie is an outlier and should not be counted.)]

Perhaps, but I created Lagos before I started giving Mort ambrosia. And I wasn't even sure if I could create a Chthonic Companion, much less if I could give one to a mortal and have the bond form and work.

[ He's not trying to argue, but he's also taking in everything he knows is different. It's not as conclusive as not sensing death upon Ryo. ]

I've not felt anyone using the keepsakes or calling upon my power, so maybe I'm unable to make one to the standard of my mother.

[ He pauses and brings Mort to eye level. ]

... There's also the possibility that Mort has gained a new power from that place. He was more mobile then.

[ Leave it to Thanatos to believe that it's more likely for Mort to develop a new power than himself. ]

[There's something to be said for his first point, but Thanatos moves on before Ryo can suggest an experiment, or asking Zagreus more about Cerbie's ability to move on his own.]

[There's less of one to be made for his second point, and Ryo is about to argue that they've been fortunate enough not tno need them yet, not that Lagos has even told him what that power is-]

[But then Thanatos gets to his third point, and Ryo just stares at him. Really. Really.]

Thanatos. Mort didn't get a new power on Diagad. You did. You know it, and I know it. A lot of people kept theirs - why is it so hard to believe you didn't keep yours, and that it's affecting Mort?

[He's got some idea - he's got what's probably a very good idea, with Thanatos's world missing a god of life and Thanatos missing said nonexistent god like a hole in his heart - but he needs Thanatos to say it. Hell, Thanatos may need Thanatos to say it.]

How would you know? Your sense has never worked fully around me because I'm a god. A god born to be Death Incarnate, specifically.

[ Thanatos sighs. He didn't come here to talk about why Mort has started moving. He came here to help Ryo who requested to talk to those related to death. ]

Does your belief that you will not cause others' deaths hinge on me believing I have another power? I don't like to lie, and if I had any kind of power of life, I wouldn't feel as incomplete or broken.

[ Which is nothing new with how Thanatos has talked about himself for months now. ]

[He's set to keep arguing - his Sense may have changed but he still knows it better than Thanatos; quit avoiding his point - when Thanatos's next question stops him dead in his tracks. He's...he's pushing again. He's pushing, because while he does think there's something there, he's also hanging on to hope, and it's a lot easier to do that if someone else is there with him, going through the same thing.]

[But does he need that?]

[He falls silent, turning the question over in his mind, giving it the consideration it deserves, because it's also what Thanatos deserves.]

[It takes some time, but what he finally settles on is:]

No.

[His voice is quiet as he continues, words slow and halting, like he's still thinking them over even as he says them, because he is.]

It's...it's easier to have that hope, when I'm not the only one whose power might have changed, but...no.

[He wants to feel better - he wants to stop being afraid - but he's not going to bend Thanatos over backwards to do it.]

[ He feels like he has failed Ryo, but this may be the limit of what he can do for him. ]

I can't give that to you. Other mortals might. However.

[ Because no matter how human he may look or act, it's important to remember that he is still a god. ]

Death Just Needs A Little Conversation [Open]

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