abraxaslogs | when floods they came or tides they raised

"Mothers must like cottages!" Zagreus says, with a short laugh. He takes a good look around the inside, which - with Zagreus being Zagreus - involves a lot of dashing around from place to place.

Zagreus isn't a demigod, but he'd probably fit in well among the hyperactive kids of Camp Half-Blood.

"I don't get hungry, actually! Benefits of being a god. But eating is nice! Surface food isn't quite the same as what we're used to in the Underworld, but I do like it. My host family has introduced me to quite a few mortal dishes."

He really does fit in like he's just another camper at Camp Half-Blood, as if he'd invited the Stoll brothers over to check his space out. He just hopes Zagreus doesn't have the same penchant for pocketing random items along their journey.

Of course, in the Horizon new stuff can probably be reimagined easily enough anyway.

"I guess so. There's something kind of mom-like about them, I guess." Percy laughs. "Or wicked witch-like? Aren't there always cottages in those fairytales?"

Anyway.

"Hold on — you're a god? Like, you're still a god?" Guess who didn't catch up with the rest of that network post because it's too much reading and it was moving too fast and Percy Jackson does not have the focus for that. "Like now that a bunch of us aren't gods anymore because we never were, you are still a god because you were one before then?"

"Wait, did you think I was mortal?" Zagreus says, blinking at Percy. "No, I have most definitely always been a god. I'm the son of Hades and Persephone. We're cousins. So…surprise!”

Which might explain a few things. Like the fact that even though many others, Percy included, changed a great deal in that other future...Zagreus didn't. The young man that stood before Percy now was pretty much the same as the one in that future. Same dark hair, mis-matched eyes, same perpetually burning feet. Same polite and friendly demeanour.

Zagreus didn't change much, because he already was what everyone had become.

"I ... yeah? You know what they say, 'mortal until proven godly' — or something like that."

It's not ... actually what Percy believes, but with everything that occurred in the fake-god-universe, it somehow felt a lot more comforting to assume that everyone who had been through it suffered the same. Mortals becoming gods, mortals realizing how crappy it was to be a god, mortals who are thankful now for being mortals again. And everyone else with some kind of ability was just really good at magic.

It's a simple theory but it helps him sleep at night since that traumatic event, okay.

"Well, uh. Hi cousin." Is it weird to say 'Welcome to the family'? Maybe. Maybe it should be the other way around.

Still, it doesn't seem strange that they could be related as if the shock of such news has been worn down by other crazier things happening to him as of late.

"How are the folks?"

Edited 2024-06-11 18:49 (UTC)

Sorry Percy, but it turns out Zagreus's experience was a bit different. Instead he was a god who became a slightly different flavour of god, before going back to being the kind of god he was at the start. Not exactly the most dramatic of transformations, really.

"You know, I heard that one actually! But then I do live in the Underworld. Not many mortals. Bit of an event, actually, if one manages to sneak in without arriving the customary way."

With the 'customary way' being, of course, by dying.

"Your father's been a great help to me, actually. Lord Uncle Poseidon often gives me boons when I'm escaping from the Underworld." Because you know, that's a thing he just does. For fun, and personal fulfilment.

"The customary way ... yeah, I gotcha."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the subtext of that comment, especially when he did, in fact, manage to sneak into the Underworld on a couple occasions using unconventional methods.

"Really?" Does Percy feel almost a little bit ... envious? It's not like Poseidon went out of his way to help Percy out over the years when he'd needed it. Sure, on the rare and odd occasion, but mostly because helping Percy meant helping himself.

They have a ... complicated relationship.

"So my dad — or a version of my dad — helped you try and escape the Underworld? Hold on, why were you escaping the Underworld? Not that I blame you, the place is kind of a bummer, but I thought with your parents being the Lord and Lady of the Underworld and all ..."

"I...wait, the Underworld is 'kind of a bummer'?" Zagreus says, looking at Percy with a nonplussed expression that suggests that no, Zagreus does not actually think it is 'a bummer'. "And...it's a bit complicated. Father and I...we haven't always gotten along. Mostly haven't, actually."

So at least Percy's not the only one with a difficult relationship with his father. Not even divine children get to escape that Fate, it seems.

"And Mother wasn't around when I was growing up. So when I learned that she existed...I had to leave. I had to go look for her. Father wasn't very happy about that. Meant I had to fight all his Wretched Shades to get to the Surface. That's what Lord Uncle Poseidon helped with, along with the other Olympians. Their boons gave me the power I needed."

"Well. Yeah? The endless sound of screaming? The rivers made of lava or poison or lava-poison? The lack of sunlight? All the dead souls, and monsters, and angry spirits that can't wait to tear you to shreds in revenge?"

Of course, leave it to a son of Hades not to find the Underworld an unpleasant place to be. Why would he? He grew up there, it's probably all he knew for a while.

It'd be like telling Percy the ocean sucked. He'd be pretty confused too.

Tartarus was like a hundred times worse than Hades itself, but the latter was still a bummer and he's sticking to it. In fact, he waves a hand as though to punctuate his point when Zagreus mentions 'Wretched Shades'. Where else would you find said Wretched Shades if not the Underworld?

Anyway.

"Did you end up finding her? Your mom."

"Hey, you only hear the endless screaming in Tartarus! And the light from the molten lava of the River Phlegethon is quite charming, I think. Well, when it isn't flooding. Usually charming!"

So, perhaps Zagreus's standards of 'gloomy' are very, very different to Percy. This was someone who was currently wearing several skulls, after all.

Indignation about these baseless attacks on his home aside, Zagreus smiles when Percy asked if he found his mother. "I did. And...she's come back home, too. For most of the time, at least. When she isn't visiting Olympus."

Percy looks as though he’d like to debate that fact. Because ‘charming’ and anything to do with the Underworld feels like the set-up to a really bad joke, with the kind of punchline that earns you a permanent place amongst the souls, many of them dreary, some of them downright miserable.

But then again, coming from a guy who was born and raised in the Underworld, maybe this is just normal. Maybe the Phlegethon is … charming to him. It’s really not unlike the kind of vibe he has with Nico on most days.

At least moms are something he feels pretty confident in talking about, given he’s got the best mom to exist.

“Right. ‘Cause your grandma gets her for half of the year? I met her once, really briefly — at least my world’s version of Persephone. She kind of stopped her husband from killing me, so she gets a two thumbs up in my book.”

Zagreus and Nico most definitely share a vibe. A vibe made of darkness and skulls.

"Yes, Grandmother would be...upset...if Mother didn't make sure to visit," Zagreus says, in a tone of voice that suggests that an upset Demeter is most definitely best avoided. "Also, glad to hear that Mother stopped Father from killing you! What did he want to kill you for?"

That last question is said utterly casually, almost as an afterthought. Zagreus might as well be asking about the weather.

“What do they all want to kill me for? Who knows? Maybe I breathed wrong? My hair stuck up in the other direction that morning?”

Percy shrugs, his response just about as casual to match Zagreus’ tone. Just two kids of the gods with their trauma, dealing with it by not dealing with it at all except through a healthy dose of humour.

“She found me amusing enough to keep around, so I guess I’ve got that going for me.”

"Well now I don't feel special anymore," Zagreus says dryly. Usually being the brunt of Hades's displeasure was his fate.

Although he does wonder, all the same. Zagreus would be the first to declare that his father could be a real bastard. Capricious, and uncompromising. But he also generally did have a reason for the things he did. Reasons Zagreus did not always agree with, but reasons nonetheless.

"But if Mother likes you, that's a good thing. Sometimes I think she's the only person who can actually make Father change his mind. She's certainly the only one who can make him admit he's wrong."

"Dude, you are totally free to take all of this attention," Percy says with raised hands and an amused smile.

But he's serious. If Zagreus wants his dad's full and undivided attention and all that comes from it, he's more than welcome. In fact, if all the gods and monsters could just pretend he doesn't exist? That'd be awesome.

"Yeah, I guess that's a pretty common thread across both of our worlds. It's good that he'll listen to someone. And between your dad and Zeus, I'd still rather take your dad. But like, only by a teeny bit."

Percy pinches his fingers together to indicate the miniscule scale at which he'd rank two of the three gods that make up the triumvirate of insane godly power.

"You haven't gotten along well with Lord Uncle Zeus then?" Zagreus says, head tilted to one side as he considers Percy. It's becoming rather clear that Zagreus has much, much better relationships with his uncles than Percy does.

Although, it's not necessarily a surprise either; he's not blind to how their family can be...challenging. After all, it wasn't that long ago that they were all worried about potential war with Olympus...

when floods they came or tides they raised — opens + closed

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i'm so sorry for the delay! computer + health issues smh but i'm back now!

No worries, it happens!

<3

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