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

[monomachy]

She grins at him, glad she's been able to cheer him, even a little. "If you ever have questions about how to interact with mortals, feel free to ask me. I spent a long time studying them, and I have lived among the mortals here for a short time." Just two years, which is nothing to her (to them), but she knows it could be considered a long time for someone who isn't immortal.

She follows him towards the East Wing, curiosity clear in her tone. "And what is that?"

[inthenameofhades]

"I'll have to think of which questions to ask," Zagreus says, laughing.

And then he leads her into the East Wing - and into the gallery. All around them are portraits of the gods, and of Zagreus's friends and family.

And it's towards one picture in particular, that he leads Diana to - a group portrait, of all the gods of Olympus.

"This is our family," he says.

[monomachy]

Diana doesn't know what she expects Zagreus to show her, but it certainly isn't this. The only images she's ever seen of the gods are in art and sculptures, worn with age which made it difficult to really parse any fine details. But here are these portraits, the plaques beneath them finally putting faces to names--at least, the faces of Zagreus' gods.

The family portrait makes her stop short, and she stares at it for a long, silent while. She sees a glimpse of thunderbolts, and purposely looks at each other face before finally finding the painted eyes of the King of the Gods. Zeus doesn't look very similar to what little she's seen of him, but that means little in this moment; he is, in some world, alive. They all are. And it is a comfort.

She raises a hand as if to touch her father's face, but stops short, hand stagnant in the air as if she's afraid it will disappear at her touch. Tears have welled and fallen down her face, but she doesn't notice, doesn't seem embarrassed by it. When she finally finds her voice to speak, it's thick.

"Thank you for showing me this." Her tone is an impossible mix of grief and joy, and she can't really parse which is stronger right now. Truly, gratitude is foremost in her heart right now, and she's choosing to focus on that feeling.

[inthenameofhades]

If she wanted to touch, Zagreus would not object. He was here to share his family - their family. He wouldn't begrudge Diana that connection, not ever.

"Of course," he says softly, keeping his voice gently. He can see how much this is affecting her, and he wants to respect that. Give her the space to grieve, and feel, and take everything in. "I wanted to have something, to remember the people important to me. The people that I love. Whenever I miss them...I can come here and remember.

"And...I wanted to share them with you too. I don't have a way for you to meet them personally. I can't give you that. But I can share my memories with you."

[monomachy]

Diana takes a few moments to collect herself, swiping her hands across her cheeks to dry them. Few of these portraits look similar to the marble statues peppered across her domain, mirrors to the ones on Themyscira, but she can see some parts of the stone depictions in these portraits. Maybe she's fooling herself into it, but it's a comfort to see that some things are consistent across worlds.

When she feels ready, she turns to Zagreus and smiles, full of warmth and gratitude. "I would like that. I would be glad to know of them, even a little."

[inthenameofhades]

He gives her a bittersweet smile, and lets her take the moment to gather herself. He has never lost his entire family like she did, but...he knew how it felt to find his Mother, after a lifetime of separation. He knew what it was like to be desperate for information, to find that lost connection.

"Do you know that they all helped me? The Olympians," he says, gesturing towards the painting of them all. "I was...wanting to get away from Father. Find answers. Find someone who had been missing in my entire life. But escaping from the Underworld isn't easy. Meant to be impossible, actually.

"But they helped me. Gave me their blessings, and their boons of power. None of them had ever met me, but they knew I was family. They wanted me to join them. Our family...our family has a lot of faults. Gods can be ugly, at our worst. But they all showed me great kindness, and...I'll always be grateful to them for that."