candybox | OPEN POST: Zagreus

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It sounds more serious than it is, don't worry. I just have a bad habit of bleeding everywhere like mortals do.

That sounds rightfully unpleasant. Are you sure you don't need some help?

It's a bit messy, that's all. Thank you for offering, though.

You’re welcome.

How did this come about, anyway?

Bar fight. It went worse for the fellow who started it, I can assure you.

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I can't tell if you're being intentionally dense, Dionysus has played an elaborate prank on you, or if you're just very confused.

He would not dare lie.

By divine decree, it shall be forbidden to pronounce it as meems within the House of Hades.

Incredible. You have a knack for coming up with pointless rules, but that has to be the most petty of them all.

Tell me, boy.
Are you familiar with the mortal phrase 'shooting fish in a barrel?'

No? Why would anyone want to shoot fish?

It is not to be taken literally.
But refers to any act that is so easy, so effortless, that one almost feels guilty for partaking.

Difficult to believe you're even capable of feeling emotions like guilt, Father.

Difficult to believe you're incapable of recognizing when you're being intentionally riled up.

No, I can tell. But I can also believe you'd seriously abuse your authority just to annoy me.

[you're not funny DAD!!!]

You told me I should lighten up more.

Why does it have to be at my expense? That's no different from how you always are!

Cheer up. It's not killing you.

[you are so blocked >(!! ... which is not the first time this has happened and probably won't be the last]

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Please don't! You're likely to provoke the wrath of the entire House of Hades, inflicting that on everyone.

Besides, Hypnos isn't the type to blame me for that sort of thing, so no need to worry.

But it would also be funny. :(

And I guess so. But he's too laid-back sometimes!

Doesn't that get on your nerves?

Truthfully, I don't think there's anyone who doesn't find Hypnos a bit grating, at least some of the time.

But he's also one of the only individuals who brings cheer to the House, and he always means well. That's more than I can say for some.

That is SOMETHING.

And you're talking about your dad?

I am. Father is nothing more than a bitter and spiteful old man. I'll take Hypnos's eccentricities over that any time.

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It's my day off work, so my only plan is to enjoy the freedom of absolutely no commitments whatsoever.

And yourself? Aside from being rudely awoken by a person who will not be named.

[ ~~voldemort.~~ ]

Oh, I'm jealous.
I have class today and then a meeting with the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood.
Boooooring!
I'd much rather do nothing all day too.

Far be it for me to be a bad influence, but if you don't want to go, you could just
not go?

My Mom would really freak if she knew I skipped class and that meeting though...

Oh, just tell her you were feeling ill that day and needed to rest. And that you have a friend taking care of you, so she doesn't rush over to cause a fuss.

…
Wow you're really good at this.
Do you play hooky a lot?

Something like that. I have an overbearing father, so I know a bit about how you feel. Learning to bend the rules was one of the few things that made living with him bearable.

Wow, never allow your Dad to meet my Mom.
They'll just give each other ideas.

I spent most of my life in the mortal realm because she didn't want me around anyone from Olympus.

She only agreed to let me go because Hestia offered me a scholarship and THAT even took her a while to come around to.

But okay, Mister Bad Influence, now that we're playing hooky what do we do?

it seems we're more alike than you thought!

We could meet up and play video games, perhaps watch a movie? or hang out somewhere you're unlikely to be recognised.

What would you like to do?

We're partners in crime now!

And uhm... Hm.
Video games and/or a movie sound fun but I can't invite you here...
Artemis would probably kill you.
Or try to, at least.
She has a very strict 'no guys' policy unless you're her brother.
Or you have donuts.

I can't spend much time on Olympus anyway, so I think I'll spare myself Artemis's wrath for now. You're welcome to come to my place in the Underworld, or we could hit up an arcade or cinema somewhere?

Well lucky for you I love the Underworld!
The deciding factor will be what you have for video games.
Do you have Mario Kart?

Yes! Mario Party, too.

Oh, you're going DOWN, Zagreus!

You're welcome to try! The best of three shall be the winner. Sound fair?

To anyone in our mortal coil, how we understand death is superficial. We are inclined to see it as final, while others means another chance to be reborn again.

Phooey, Daria thought to herself as she threw another draft in her wastebasket. When asked to write a special assignment for her advanced writing course, it felt too personal for her to say "no" to. In the end of the day, all she found herself doing was wandering around campus in the wee hours of the fall morning. Taking in the heavy and comforting fog, which was about as accurate as it could be to describe her own brain. This was a personal topic, what did "mortality" really mean to her? A professional challenge, no doubt. That was how this class seemed to like to challenge her: knowing her talents and macabre interests and turn it into something extra productive.

Truly evil of a plan, Daria muttered to herself. But as a junior now, she couldn't find herself rejecting it either. She had grown enough since her teen years. Enough to be a snarky young adult rebel from a snarky teen "rebel".

But everything was going for a loop, ever since the weirdest thing happened. A demigod arrived, coming from the very gated doors of the underworld to knock on the dim dingy door to what Daria thought was reality. "Death" had a whole new meaning now, so words became harder for her to come by. She wasn't even sure where to take herself at this point, instead wander and hope inspiration came. Or perhaps a voice of some insight.

Since meeting the snarky demigod, life just seemed to...change so much. Maybe that meant she actively sought him out, maybe she didn't really know.

Compared to her preoccupation with her assignment, Zagreus was less interested in the subject of death and more with life. Having been mostly surrounded by chthonic gods or shades his entire existence, he had a constant, nagging feeling that he didn't quite belong. Up here on the surface, though, when mortal lives are so brief and a single death is the first and last, he's not sure he fits in here, either.

It's so bright, everyone is always so busy, days speed by faster than he can keep up, and the surface in general is much, much more frantic and less orderly than how he'd grown to resent his father's carefully managed domain, which is a blessing, but also terribly confusing. More than that, there's a lot to learn, so he'd enrolled at this 'college' thing he'd heard about, where he'd met Daria.

The early hours of the morning are one of his favourite times of day, and he gets to campus early to pick a bench to read and watch Eos throw open her gates for Helios. Or, as the mortals would now call it-- dawn. When he spots a familiar face headed his way, though, he bookmarks his page before waving at her.

"Daria! Over here."

There was so much Daria wanted to know. For nothing more than her own safe understanding. Which wasn't all that fair to Zagreus. After all, he had his own feelings too. Probably of the exact opposite. Being in the mortal world for some time, and trying to get used to life here, he probably had just as many questions about the mortal coil as she did.

She did truly think about this too. It was just so weird because Daria always felt safest in her own element, with her own sense of knowledge. It made her maybe a bit uneasy to know that her own view of the afterlife was shaken so much.

So...would his place be where she went if she died?

-

Ah, he noticed. She adjusted her hoodie out of habit and walked on over with a faster stride. She was an early riser too, all the better to talk about this kind of thing without the annoying prying eyes of classmates.

"Hey," she said, softly. "Morning...What are you reading?"

"Literature. I'm told some of the more recent storytellers here on the surface tell tales just as impressive as the ancient bards and poets," Zagreus says, picking up the book to show her the cover. It's an anthology of the works of Shakespeare, so his idea of 'recent' is... a little skewed, even if it's not inaccurate.

"And you? I didn't expect you to be here this early."

"Recent, huh? I should buy some velvet and taffeta then, what do you think?"

Jokes aside, she welcomed herself down and decided that it was a bit too early to joke around...too much. But she hoped it was a little funny to him, at least in tone. She knew he was from an era waaaaaay before hers, but it was a funny idea to consider that her time compared to Shakespeare WAS recent. In her head, it was true and she knew it. It was wild to think hard on it.

"I grew up reading Shakespeare plays. People called me weird for it. They said I must be boring because I liked 'boring books'."

She shrugged, "Good thing I never wanted them to think I was interesting."

OPEN POST: Zagreus - Hades

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@ salutosinedelectat

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Thank you!

yw!

@ agetes

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@ teekl

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@ flowerettes

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throwing this at the wall

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