March open

[inthenameofhades]

Who: Zagreus and you!
When: After the Eplum event
Where: Horizon (& Zagreus's Domain specifically)
What: Zagreus finally visits Horizon
Warnings: NA

Immediately upon his arrival to Horizon, Zagreus's appearance had altered to align much more closely to how he appeared at home: red and black exomis adorned with three canine skulls on one shoulder, a belt made of more skulls, arms adorned with golden bands. And around his head a crown of fiery, ever-burning laurels. The only difference was the now the symbol of the Chariot had been etched into the metal greaves he wore above his fiery feet.

Driven by the compulsion to create, he had also swiftly begun construction of his Domain: a space for which the most immediately notable feature was the river of blood surrounding it. Perhaps you will dare to attempt to cross it.

[[ooc: Starters will be in the comments below! And if you would like a custom prompt, feel free to poke me at blueflowers!]]

Comments

[inthenameofhades]

"Well...that was just one time. And I didn't end up leaving forever, so Cerberus isn't upset anymore, I assure you."

Although...Zagreus did hope the fact that he was now here wasn't upsetting Cerberus. Or anyone back home. It was an unsettling thought, to realise that to the perspective of his friends and family, he must have just...disappeared.

But those are thoughts for later, because now Cerberus is racing after the bone. And Zagreus does briefly wonder why Nanaue made a whole new bone rather than tossing the one already at his feet. But then he shrugs, picks up the bone himself, and throws it across the desk after Nanaue's.

Once more, there's a chorus of snarls as the three heads battle it out for dominance of the bones.

"...Maybe we should have tossed him a third," Zagreus says, watching the chaos unfold.

[nomnoms]

"Where go?" he asks as soon as the bone is flying from his hand again, glancing at Zagreus and not the chaos unraveling as the three-headed dog fights over two bones now.

Personally, Nanaue enjoys watching the battle - and he's almost considering jumping into the fray himself. Cerberus looks like he'd be fun to wrestle. But at the suggestion, a third bone does materialize, which he throws into the mix.

[inthenameofhades]

"The Surface," Zagreus explains. "Where mortals live, and the Olympians. There was...something that I needed to find. Someone."

There's a few more moments of frantic tussling between the three heads - until all three realise that they each have a bone. At this point, Cerberus then settles down on the massive dog mat in the corner of the Great all, each head happily gnawing on their own bone.

[nomnoms]

Nanaue is, momentarily, more interested in the conversation than the scuffling of the many-headed dog.

"Dog no go? Good smell, good find some-one."

Doesn't Zagreus know this about dogs?

[inthenameofhades]

"Cerberus has an important job in the Underworld," Zagreus explains. "He guards the entrance; make sure no one escapes."

Which technically meant that he was supposed to stop Zagreus leaving as well. But...that was something that could be gotten around, through judicious use of a distracting satyr sack.

"And besides, Father would never have allowed him to join me."

[nomnoms]

"Escape?"

He considers that for a moment, and then next thing Zagreus says.

"Escape jail?"

[inthenameofhades]

"No, not jail," Zagreus says. "Although I suppose Tartarus does share quite a few similarities. But...no, Cerberus stops anyone escaping the Underworld. The Land of the Dead."

Did shark men have a concept of the afterlife? Zagreus didn't know, but he was probably about to find out.

i'm so sorry for this entire conversation...........

[nomnoms]

"Dead land..."

Nanaue does appear to ponder this concept for another good, long minute.

"... smell bad?"

Never apologise for Nanaue!

[inthenameofhades]

"Well I suppose some parts of Tartarus aren't the best, but...no," Zagreus says, with a soft chuckle. "I should be clearer, the Underworld isn't the Land of Dead bodies. Those remain on the Surface. The Underworld is home to all the souls of the dead."

ty :') can start to wrap this for new event stuff!

[nomnoms]

Oh! He nods.

"Dead go hole."

Nero taught him this. You dig a hole for the dead, instead of eating their corpses. Otherwise their friends and family get mad. He still thinks this is wasteful, but maybe they all go deeper into the ground. Like this Underworld Zagreus is speaking about.

Sure thing!

[inthenameofhades]

"Of course," Zagreus agrees. "The Underworld is...after that bit."

Or at least, that was the simple explanation.