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◆ Who: Zagreus and You
◆ Where: A city park fountain, near sunset
◆ Summary: Zagreus has never been on the surface for this long, and is having trouble getting used to it.
◆ Warnings: None.

The sensible thing to have done when first arriving and being appointed a greeter was to listen to that greeter's advice and take it easy, settle down in the little place that was to serve as his temporary(?) new home, rest up. But Zagreus never was one to be sensible, let alone rest. He'd never been on the surface for this long - never been allowed on the surface this long. It was as if, in this place, even the Fates couldn't touch him.

And so he'd taken to running across the entire city, full of boundless energy as if Hermes himself had blessed his step. It wasn't for hours that he was finally forced to slow down, the setting sun glittering as it bounced off the crystal structures that stood tall in view no matter where he wandered. Zagreus shielded his eyes from the harsh light he still wasn't used to, as he panted for breath, looking around where he'd ended up.

It was a garden... or, so Zagreus interpreted it. There was greenery abound, with cobblestone paths cutting through the grass and trees and shrubs. A fountain stood at its center! Exactly what he needed. Without even a second thought, Zagreus sprinted to the fountain's edge and leaned over the edge, slurping at the water.

It was a mistake.

He spit the water out as he wiped his mouth. "Eugh! What's in this water?" Zagreus squinted at the fountain as though he'd just taken a big sip from the Styx itself, mouth tinged with a metal taste. Beneath the shimmering water lay coins... countless of them, of all manners of size and shape and material, looking nothing like the drachmae Charon traded with. The water itself didn't look all too pure, either, and while it was far from the worst thing he'd ever put in his mouth, he wasn't pleased.

"Who in their right mind would tarnish a fountain with coin and dirt?"

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Zagreus's eyes - no, his entire being - lit up, as he shot to his feet grinning wide.

"A shrine for a god? What sort of god?" He'd already once again forgotten he was in another world, and likely wouldn't have even heard of this god Xie Lian was talking about. Nevertheless, he was enthusiastic to know what sort of being this mortal would worship. He'd never met a devout mortal before.

Oh dear. Xie Lian had the sinking feeling there were about to be too many questions.

"You probably won't have heard of him, but... The Crown Prince of Xianle? He's a martial god."

He left out the bit about also being a god of misfortune and scrap collecting.

Zagreus tilted his head to the side, shrugging slightly in that inquisitive manner he did whenever he was intensely interested in something. His grin didn't dim, the fire in his laurels and licking his feet burning hotter.

"A martial god? A god of war, then, like Lord Ares? You're right, I haven't heard of him, but I'm curious to know more. What's he like? What sort of place is this Xianle?"

"Well, not war if he can help it, but he is a very strong fighter. He prefers to protect the people. As for Xianle... I'm afraid it's long gone."

Oh, hm, that certainly was some fire...

"Are you alright, young man? You seem to be, ah, burning just a bit."

"Gone...?"

Ah, but Zagreus was pulled from his thoughts by the comment about burning. He looked down at his bare feet, which sizzled on the concrete of the walkway. It was a lucky thing he wasn't currently standing in the grass - though he'd left behind plenty of blackened footprints already.

"Oh, right, don't worry. I get that from my father. My feet have always burned, for as long as I can remember, and I'm not used to the ground not being so fireproof. It's been a bit of a nuisance, actually." Even the rugs in the House and the bedspread he slept upon were fireproof - to accomodate for Lord Hades's firestepping more than his own, of course. "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you from your story. Tell me more about this Prince of Xianle. What is he the god of, if not this Xianle that's now gone?"

"I see. As long as it isn't painful, then..."

Was that a common trait where he came from? Xie Lian worried it might be rude to ask.

"Xianle was the Crown Prince's homeland, when he was mortal. It was wiped out around 800 years ago, though. As for what he is the god of..."

Well, that was the question, wasn't it.

"He can offer protection to those who pray to him. Ah, one moment..." Xia Lian rummaged through a sleeve, pulled out a talisman and offered it over.

"Here! This protective talisman can draw on his power to ward off evil."

"Painful?" Zagreus chuckled, shifting his fiery feet as he glanced down at them. "It isn't painful. I can hardly feel anything in my feet." Thus the lack of need to wear any kind of shoes.

Zagreus's expression shifted suddenly, upon hearing the words 'when he was mortal'. He'd never heard of a mortal becoming a god... Half mortals, sure. His mother was half mortal - he was a quarter mortal. But someone who was just... mortal, and nothing more?

Wordlessly, Zagreus reached out to take the talisman in his hand, turning it over between his fingers. It... felt unpleasant to the touch, and he kept switching it between his hands as if he were holding something too hot to handle for too long.

"Ah, mate, is it supposed to make your skin itch?"

"Oh! No, they're not supposed to have that effect."

Xie Lian had been so sure that, at worst, they would just be mostly ineffective. Had they really gone that bad? Unless...

"Ahem, young man, you wouldn't happen to be a ghost, would you?"

Giving up on holding the unpleasant little piece of paper, Zagreus dropped it, letting it flutter to his feet where it began to char a bit from the proximity to the flames. He took a step back, hoping he hadn't offended the man.

Of course, the question shot at him sort of offended him.

"A ghost? You mean a shade??" Was this man asking if he was dead? Not that there was anything wrong with being dead - he had a great many dead friends! - but it was rather presumptuous and also a bit of a touchy topic for the prince. "No! No, I'm not dead! Even if I was, what sort of question is that?? You can see clearly I'm solid and breathing." Having died doesn't count as being dead, right? He can die, he just can't be dead, right?

Xie Lian made and aborted reach for the talisman, stopping with a slight grimace as it caught on fire. Really, he could have just dusted it off to make use of later...

He sighed and straightened up, smoothing the frown off his face

"I'm sorry if I've offended you, but ghosts can be quite solid where in my experience, as long as they're powerful enough. They can even breathe, even though they don't have to."

He quickly pushed down thoughts of one particular such ghost. Now was hardly the time.

Powerful ghosts... Zagreus can't say he's ever met a 'powerful' ghost, but he knew they could appear solid enough if they were strong willed about it - Theseus and Asterius were quite solid. So the young priest(?) had a point.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I've met plenty of good shades, and count quite a few of them among my friends, it's just..." It's just that ever since he'd gotten here, he'd been wondering just how long it would take for him to keel over and return to the Styx. That it hadn't happened yet defied all logic, and honestly made him quite hopeful. To have someone point out so plainly that perhaps he wasn't meant to be alive...

"... I'm not used to being allowed on the surface this long, that's all. Though I've been on the surface at least a hundred times, I usually can't stay for more than an hour at a time at best." Lately it had been more like ten minutes at best. "I'm assuming that talisman is meant to ward off anything associated with death - including the Cthonic."

"It is meant to ward off malicious ghosts and spirits and such, though truth be told it has no way of telling the malicious from non-malicious..."

It was just that usually the deal lingered as ghosts for less-than-positive reasons.

"I'm afraid I have not heard of the Cthonic one way or another. Have you been held prisoner somewhere, that you were not allowed on the surface?"

This man didn't recognize the word Cthonic? It wasn't an easy time, trying to adjust to what people did or didn't share in common with his world. For all Zagreus knew, there were people here who likely didn't even know what death was - and, as Hypnos put it so aptly time after time, death was his family's life.

The phrase about being a prisoner, though, did make him laugh, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Hah! Maybe I would have once called myself a prisoner, but I'm sure my father would have accused me of being quite over dramatic. If I'm a prisoner to anything, I'm a prisoner to Fate. I was born in the Underworld; that's what Cthonic means, 'of the Underworld.' It's for this reason that apparently the surface world isn't very good for my health. Neither are talismans meant to ward off the dead, it seems."

So he lived... In a hole? A very deep cave? Hmm.

"Ah, I see. That does sound a bit difficult. I'm sorry my talisman had an unintended effect. Id offer to make so some other kind, but I don't really know what sort would even be beneficial."

Certainly not any sort of luck charm.

Okay, that wasn't the reaction he was expecting there either...

"You, haven't heard of the Underworld either? But, you've heard of ghosts... Do ghosts simply freely roam the earth where you're from?" How incredibly odd, and inconvenient sounding. "Oh, but don't worry about the talisman. I understand Cthonic beings aren't exactly popular with a lot of the living." Which was a shame, in Zagreus's humble opinion.

"Well, there are limitations on where they can get to, depending on how powerful they are... Oh, but not everyone who dies becomes a ghost! Most souls will pass on to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. It's only those with a particularly strong motivation to stay in the mortal world who become ghosts. Usually it's something like a grudge or the desire for vengeance, but there can be other reasons."

Oops, Xie Lian was rambling a bit, wasn't he. It really was interesting learning about other worlds, though.

"Ah, forgive my rambling. So, am I to understand that the dead pass on to this Underworld, where you're from?"

Well, what Xie Lian was saying about the ghosts in his world was technically true of the shades in Zagreus's world as well. As for reincarnation, the concept of rebirth wasn't foreign to him, though it was primarily gods who'd be reborn.

"Every living thing that dies ends up in the Underworld, one way or another. Our Underworld exists to keep the dead from disturbing the living - and vice versa, really. No living mortal is allowed in, no dead mortal is allowed out. Even among the gods there aren't many exceptions. But your gods don't oversee the dead in your world? It sounds like the dead are free to stir up trouble as they please there."

"I see. That sort of system does sound like it would prevent some trouble."

Though the idea of never having the chance to meet San Lang struck him as very sad.

"The gods don't oversee the dead, no, but if the living are having trouble with a particular ghost they can pray to one of the martial gods. As long as that god is being dutiful and answering prayers properly, then they or some of their subordinates will go down into the mortal world at take care of it."

Zagreus tapped his foot in thought, hands on his hips as he contemplated that sort of way of doing things. Until recently, he'd never really appreciated the work of the House of Hades. But Zagreus had something most gods never held: empathy for mortalkind. And he recognized that it was just as important to care for mortals in death as it was to care for them in life - in no small part thanks to his conversations with Thanatos.

"And your Prince is one of these martial gods, sworn to protect the living from the dead who would cause such troubles." No wonder that talisman had made his skin itch. Zagreus couldn't help but smile. "It sounds like he and I would get along well." The fire-stepping prince then held a hand out for the sack of junk - sorry, 'scraps' - beaming wide. "Here, let me help you carry this back. It's the least I can do to repay you for burning up your talisman there."

"Yes, that's right. He's dealt with problem ghosts a number of times."

Xie Lian hesitated a moment before unslinging his bag and handing it over. It was deceptively heavy.

"There's reallyu no need to apologize, though I thank you none-the-less. It's right over this way."

He pointed and began to lead the way.

Zagreus took the bag with a bit of a grunt - expecting it to be heavy but certainly not that heavy. The priest was significantly stronger than he looked. How in the world did he manage to carry this thing around like it was nothing?

Of course, the weight wasn't much to Zagreus either, it just came as a surprise, and so he slung the bag over his shoulder as he followed after.

"Ah, sir, I didn't catch your name. Mine is Zagreus."

"Ah, how forgetful of me. My name is Xie Lian. Pleased to meet you, young master Zagreus."

He lead them to his makeshift shrine, a somewhat rickety old garden shed that looks like it had been in disuse for quite some time. So far, he had managed to outfit it with a small table, a simple basket, and a painting of himself as the Crown Prince who Pleased the Gods. It was a shame he didn't have San Lang here to paint him a finer one (and save him the embarrassment of doing his own self-portrait) but it would do.

"Here we are! You can just set that down in any corner. I'll go through it later."

"Xie Lian?" It was an odd name, definitely not Greek, but Zagreus couldn't help but feel that it reminded him of the name Guan Yu that Varatha had revealed to him. Probably just a coincidence. "You don't have to call me young master - my best mate Orpheus already does that too much. Just Zagreus is alright with me."

Zagreus wasn't sure what exactly he was expecting from a scrap collector for his shrine to look like, but this certainly wasn't it. He let out a small cough to stifle and surprise or comments, simply handing off the sack. Well, at least this Prince of Xianle had one follower, and one shrine. It was more than Zagreus had, or probably ever would have.

He curiously approached the portrait of the Prince, and squinted his eyes, looking between it and the man before him. The resemblance was probably also coincidence - perhaps people just dressed that way regularly in his world. Or perhaps he styled himself after the god as a devout follower.

"... I've never heard of a mortal becoming a god, you know. Half-mortals with one parent as a god, sure, but even the mortals most smiled upon by the gods were never granted immortality. This Prince of Xianle must have been exceptional."

"Yes, surname Xie, given name Lian... And very well, if that is what you prefer."

Xie Lian did his best to sat Very Neutral as Zagreus scrutinized his painting. Really, he could probably just admit to being a god, as Zagreus clearly wasn't an ordinary moral... But rules or no, it would still be embarrassing, at this point.

"Ah, well, he was rather exceptional in that he ascended very young." Too young, really.

"But all gods start as mortals, where I'm from. It's just a matter of having the right fortune and ability and achieving the right sort of feat. I've never heard of a god having a child after ascension..."

And if it were possible, surely Pei Ming would have managed it by now, right?

"Surname? Sorry, not sure what the difference is between a surname and a given name. I was given the name Zagreus, and that's the only one I've got." Even among mortals, surnames really didn't exist in ancient Greece, let alone among gods who had family trees that looked like Celtic knots.

Zagreus sat cross-legged like Xie Lian, though leaning back on his hands casually as he laughed at the mention of gods being ascended mortals who had no children. "Really! Then our gods are nothing alike. The rulers of Olympus were born from these bestial elder gods called the Titans, who came about at the beginning of time from Mother Earth, Gaia, and Father Sky, Uranus. As for children, Lord Zeus alone has fostered more children than anyone can count - including Lady Athena, who I heard was born from his head, without any involvement of a mother! The Olympians are one big happy family of gods." That last part was said with a great tinge of sarcasm.

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