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

[funbreaker]

"I see. Where I'm from, the belief is that if one does good in life they will ascend to one of the seven heavens, whereas if they were a sinner, they will be cast into the pit of one of the seven hells. The sort of wrong-doing committed plays a part."

Which is worth mentioning now that Thancred understands that this Underworld is also split into parts depending on what someone did in their lifetime. He's not sure if it's surprising or expected that there are similar concepts in other worlds.

But now they're in a different wing, one decorated with a number of portraits. It's a clever way to remember those from back home without actually trying to recreate them here — which doesn't tend to end well. Thancred scans over the different faces, a hand braced on his hip. The people he finds in them have quite intricate outfits and otherworldly appearances, which isn't shocking given that they must also be gods... or god-adjacent.

"You have quite a few friends, Zagreus," he can't help but point out with a lopsided smile. But he does end up in front of the family portrait, which features Zagreus and Cerberus (just met) and then two others.

After a beat, Thancred glances back to the prince and nods to the portrait. "Your mother and father?"

[inthenameofhades]

"Seven heavens and hells?" Zagreus says, blinking. "That...seems rather a lot. And mortals certainly do go to heaven after they die. Only my Olympian relatives live there."

It was a way of structuring the world that seemed quite strange to Zagreus. Surely it made more sense to have the dead all reside in the same realm?

At the painting of his family, Zagreus nods. "Yes. My father is Hades, and Mother is Persephone. And you've met Cerberus, of course."

[funbreaker]

Thancred shrugs, mainly because he wonders more and more if the seven heavens and hells are even real. Surely everyone simply ends up in the Lifestream, their essence to eventually be born anew in some other form.

He's more interested by the gallery of paintings now, and takes a closer look at the family portrait.

"That's quite the lance you're holding in it," he can't help but notice. Of course he would take notice of the weapon Zagreus wields before any other specific detail.

He continues down the hall, reading the plaques and studying the images. Most of them have impressive titles — Death Incarnate, Primordial Originator, and so on — and then...

"... Training Dummy?" He tilts his head at the portrait of a skeletal figure. It doesn't exactly fit in with the rest.

[inthenameofhades]

"Gigaros," Zagreus explains. "Father's weapon. Not something I usually get to wield. Or, well, ever. But I got to hold it this time!"

Even if it was just got the portrait, and not to actually fight anything with. But that might indeed explain the size of it - next to Zagreus the weapon was comically large, but it was just right for Hades's massive stature.

"And would you believe that Skelly actually chose the title himself?" Zagreus says, giving a nod to the skeleton's portrait. "He takes the job of standing around and waiting for me to hit him very, very seriously."

[funbreaker]

So it was for the purpose of the portrait. That made some sort of sense, in that a father might only allow a son to hold their prized weapon in a controlled and limited situation. Zagreus seems quite pleased about it, even now, and Thancred can't help but smile. He still remembers leaving his gunblade for Ryne.

"And that's... the majority of his purpose?" he asks with a frown and a tilt of his head, still studying the skeletal figure that looks more like ashkin than anything else.

"I've heard of striking dummies, certainly, but those are inanimate," he explains with a dismayed shake of his head. "This is quite a different take on it."

[inthenameofhades]

"According to Skelly? Yes. Supposedly there was someone employing him to do so, but I never managed to convince him to tell me who," Zagreus sighs. That mystery was one he wasn't going to be solving any time soon. "If he did have any other purpose...he never told me."

It was certainly possible that he did, Zagreus supposed. Even after all this time, there was still much that was a mystery about Skelly. But Zagreus couldn't force him to give up his secrets.

"But if you are interested in weapons, I could show you the Infernal Arms," he suggests. "Or at least, the replica's that I've made. Not quite the same as the real things, of course. Bit hard to recreate their malevolent sentience properly."