abraxaslogs | March open

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March open

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.

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Of course, the Doctor believes that he'd be absolutely impeccable company. And if it were possible, he wouldn't necessarily ask Zagreus if he could tag along and be introduced, he'd simply...well, invite himself.

"Oh, that," said with a cheeky grin. "Bumpy, straight off! But we're usually having the time of hour life, my friends and I." He can't resist a good pun, and he tries to enunciate the word clearly enough, his intention being to draw a laugh if he might be at all able to. "Logistics can be a snarl and if I meet my younger self, I can create a paradox." He'll leave out that his younger self(ves) have many different faces. "Though most paradoxes resolve themselves, by and large. For me, though, I have the gift of knowing exactly where and when and how and all the particulars. Handy, that, when you're a Time Lord."

It takes Zagreus a moment - mainly because in the Underworld concepts like 'hour' don't really mean much - but when it clicks, he does laugh.

Once he listens to the rest of the explanation though, he says: "'Time Lord' - is that the name of your pantheon?"

Because of course, he assumes that the Doctor must be a god. With the power to control his journey through time? Surely that's a divine ability. Not to mention there's just...something about him. Something ageless that rather reminds him of his own divine friends and family.

Pantheon. Well, that's a new one. Actually — no, it isn't. A time or two (...or more) through the long years, others have thought of him as a god, godlike, something of the sort. He tends to recoil at the notion and though he's well aware of his failings, he's blind at times to how his boasting and posturing at the worst creatures the universe contains might, at times, mimic the blind arrogance of a deity. Or, at the least, a more ordinary(ish) sort of man just really quite full of himself.

"Species," he clarifies. "I didn't choose the name, though. Lacking panache!"

And never mind that there aren't any others left. At least — that he knows.

"...Species?" Zagreus says, blinking briefly. "You mean...like nymphs? Or giants?"

Zagreus has never heard of anything like a time nymph before, but...well, there's a first time for anything. Maybe that's closer to what the Doctor is?

"Well — sort of there, yes. Nymphs and giants I know of, at least, are their own species. My people were humanoid in features, with a few important physiological differences, of course. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system, thirty brains, and a partridge in a pear tree," he deadpans.

"Time Lords...only observed all of time and space, stood back and watched. I took a different approach." Which is probably the biggest understatement of at least this current century, depending on timelines and all known or unknown universes.

Perhaps that little reference of the Doctor's would land better if Zagreus knew the song Twelve Days of Christmas. Or what a 'respiratory bypass system', 'partridge', and 'pear tree are'. So instead, the Doctor just gets a bit of a blank look in response.

At least the desire to not just stand back and watch is rather more understandable to Zagreus.

"You like to be more active, I take it," he says.

He's quite used to those blank stares, honestly, even from people who do understand his references. But even though he's quite aware — generally — what people and creatures from different times and places all about the universe should understand at any given point, he tends to just say whatever pops into his mind in any given moment. Which could be why people think him strange...

But onto the next thing!

His travels, yes — "I get around, yes. Bit of sight-seeing out there in the big multi-colored, multi-faceted, complex and beautiful universe. Stop off on occasion if people ask for me, then onto the next place! Being stuck anywhere as long as I've been here isn't how it's supposed to go."

For anyone here, of course.

"It must be a big change for you," Zagreus commiserates. "I suppose my experience is rather the opposite. Usually I can't leave the Underworld for very long at all. I've only ever seen a bit of the area around the entrance to the Temple of Styx, so...I've never been able to see this much of the Surface before. This kind of freedom isn't usually available to me.

"It's taken a bit of getting used to. I'm glad for the experience. But if I'd spent my life always being able to go wherever I please, only to find that one day I couldn't any more...I think that would be rather difficult."

Is it rather difficult? Is he going a bit mad(der) by the minute, by the hour, by the day (in that dreadfully linear way that time moves here)? No, no, definitely not. Not even close. He's absolutely fine, never better, no one needs to worry he'll tilt off and lose his grip, or anything at all.

Then again, the Doctor has never lied to anyone better than he lies to himself, so. There is that.

"Oh, you know—" He waves a hand in the air, not quite finishing that thought. "I have my moments. But you, Zagreus — are you finding it odd a bit? Well, odder than the very notion of being here at all. But it's the most freedom you've known and you're not here by your own choice. The pros and cons of forced transdimensional displacement, as it were."

"Yes, of course I am," Zagreus says - because while the Doctor might be reluctant to admit to his own difficulties, Zagreus is not. "I've never lived on the Surface for longer than a few hours. Or something like that, I think. When I said it's taken getting used to...that's a bit of an understatement, really. I like the Surface, but...it's not a place I'd choose to live all the time. And I miss my family, and my friends. I miss Than and Meg."

There's a reason that over in the East Wing, Zagreus has put up portraits of all the people he cares about. Perhaps if the Doctor had had a little more time to snoop uninterrupted, he'd have stumbled across them.

"But I suppose...I don't know if I'll ever get an opportunity like this again. This is probably the only chance I'll ever have to experience what the Surface is like for myself. So...I'm trying to enjoy it. Besides, if I really didn't want to be here I'd just go find a way to die so I could wake up back home!"

Because, you know, that's how Zagreus usually gets home.

"Naturally," the Doctor adds, as though he can relate to the missing of family and friends. Thing is, he can, but rather than elaborate on that, he shifts away from seeming to understand too well. "Anyone would. Or — many here, in fact, from what I've gathered."

He supposes for himself, he doesn't dwell to think on it much if only because while he misses everyone he's ever loved — friends and family alike — being separated from them is the inevitable progression. He doesn't presently have anyone to go back to, but there's an ever present ache for his beautiful ship, his home, the one who's tended him all these years as he dashes about the universe.

"You'll get back to them, though, promise. I'll make sure of it," the Doctor gives a little affirming nod. "In the meantime, this is absolutely an adventure to take advantage of while we can. Less with the dying bit, though, because it doesn't quite work like that here."

That's one way in which Zagreus and the Doctor's experiences are different. Zagreus might be similarly long-lived - but he's not used to the people around him really dying. His friends and family are the immortal and the already dead: barring very unusual and unlikely circumstances, Zagreus expects them to be around forever.

Some of them, like Chaos, have been around forever.

"You will personally, will you?" Zagreus says, with a small smile of amusement. "And don't worry, I'm used to dying. I do it all the time! In fact I'm pretty sure I hold the record by a very, very large margin. Though - what do you mean, death works differently here?"

"Yes, I've done it a time or two myself and it's not my preferred adventure, if we're being honest, though I don't doubt you have everyone beat."

Given how old he is and how many friends he's lost, one would think the Doctor should have learned better by now not to get attached to friends with such painfully short lifespans, but if he hasn't learned by now, he really never will.

More importantly, though, they need to get a few things straight — "Used to it, you may be, mate, but this entire world is vastly different from yours, mine, anything I've ever seen. Now, I suppose I can't speak with absolute certainty, not having witnessed it myself, but I know enough about this place to assume death would be permanent here. At the very least, let's not test the theory, eh?"

"Well...usually death is permanent, for everyone except the gods. And some immortals," Zagreus says, blinking with mild confusion. "Father's always quite displeased with anyone who tries to break that rule, and I imagine the local death gods must feel similarly."

After all, you couldn't just have mortals coming back to life all the time. The Surface would probably get uncomfortably overcrowded that way - and unlike the Underworld, they couldn't just expand it whenever they needed the extra space.

"And don't worry, I have no intention of going home anytime soon, but...you really think that even gods would die permanently here? As if we were mortal?"

"A thousand years of befriending species with considerably brief lifespans — yes, I'm quite aware of its permanency."

All too aware.

"I think anything is possible here, and you should be as careful as everyone else."

In the time he's been here, his own autonomy has been fussed with in ways that are exceedingly unsettling; the way those birds in the Nether had been able to infiltrate his memories and recite them out loud to others, for instance.

"I'll be careful," he promises. "And...I do appreciate your concern."

Even if Zagreus still doesn't feel like he would die forever, like a mortal does...he can still appreciate someone who cares for his wellbeing.

"Good! Excellent. I do prefer it when people listen to me."

As well they should (he thinks).

Zagreus might be one of the few.

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Shall we wrap up around here?

good to put a bow on it! 🎁