bigapplesauce | Zagreus' arrival [Open]

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Zagreus' arrival [Open]

The first thing Zagreus is aware of, is the obnoxious degree of coldness in the air. In fact, he can see his breath; that's just downright inauspicious, for waking up.

Not that an inhospitably cold atmosphere is out of the ordinary. No, not in the slightest, and his immediate response is a sort of resigned annoyance. However, the sight that greets his eyes, looking beyond his offensively visible breath, is definitely not expected.

Open sky, framed by stark bare branches. He starts to get up...only to slide gracelessly from the crook of the tree he'd apparently been passed out and huddling in, with a noise of general outrage.

Luckily it's a very short fall, but it's still disorienting when you aren't expecting it, and he definitely isn't. Brushing himself off and narrowing his eyes at his decidedly parkish surroundings, Zagreus tries to recall if maybe, just perhaps, there is a reason this is happening. Nothing presents itself. How typically uncooperative of reality.

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He nods as though this is all fairly standard stuff. "So, probably the former. I wonder under what circumstances the other poor souls tend to arrive?" These are the kinds of things he wants to know, and that he could probably find out most easily by being affiliated with someone. If he could just get a grasp of the logic and rules of this situation, he'd feel a lot less dispossessed.

Surprisingly fastidious, he disposes of his meal's trash and takes up a morosely boneless position on the couch. Remarkably relaxed of him, when it's not his space, but he can't even be bothered in his current state, and she's no threat anyway.

"Any circumstance whatsoever, is the impression I've been given," Lucy answers with a shrug. Not that she has gotten any first-hand accounts regarding this. She hadn't asked Peter, and hasn't really had an indepth conversation with anyone else.

See, Zagreus is being a good guest, cleaning up after himself and everything. And yes, Lucy is essentially harmless, after all. It's unlikely she could be much of a threat to him even if she wanted to, unless she was very determined. Like, 'blow him up' level of determined, but she reserves that for her special someone.

Ah. So that's that idea terminated. There's probably not a pattern there to dig out. He sighs. He isn't even really sure why this is so frustrating a circumstance, but given time he'll be a rankling mass of negativity and potential violence.

More's the pity, really. A nice threat would do him a world of good, quite possibly. He'd have no question how to deal with that, and it'd be wonderfully settling to the nerves. "I'm in your debt, you know." When he says this, it sounds like a warning. The food and shelter are trivial, and if she has any sense, she'll know that. He would have gotten by without either, decently enough, though admittedly probably with more troublemaking. But answering all his questions, and not making him the authorities' problem instead of hers, well.

"Didn't think you'd be one to care about debts," she answers, going back to settle on the bed. She isn't really expecting anything in return, except maybe a future unwillingnes to sell her out or something to that effect. What are friends for?

And he hasn't been a problem to her. Honestly, it's nice to have someone to talk to who isn't so easily phased by the details of her life. And neither of them has the highest opinion of the Doctor. There's a familiarity there, and she hardly cares about pleasing the authorities, or about making his life difficult. She's just not a very spiteful person, not unless she has reason to be.

He feigns offense, at that. "Lady, you wound me." Truth be told, Zagreus cares about debts with the geas-like compulsion of any fairytale creature, and with the same propensity for repaying them in the most harmful manner possible, regardless of the spirit in which they were intended. Still, he doesn't actually bear her any specific ill will. Aside from that brief spat in their earliest meeting, where she'd thought he was the Doctor, she's treated him fairly neutrally. This is a surprisingly safe strategy. Her apathy may well be a blessing in disguise.

"My sincerest apologies," she answers, not particularly sincerely. "But please don't feel pressured to repay me, et cetera."

What she meant is that she doesn't think Zagreus cares about returning kindness for the sake of it. And she's never cared enough to be properly scared or disgusted by him - she saves that for her husband. Her feelings about Zagreus is probably something like positive but vaguely disapproving, which ends up somewhere around neutral.

No, that concept would definitely be foreign to him. It has yet to occur to him that kindness might motivate her at all. He generally assumes that people operate more or less like himself. He strikes up with people or does things to/for them out of boredom frequently. It's a great way to get things happening.

"You needn't worry about that. But perhaps you'll need a favour someday." This is like some awful parody of the lion and the mouse fable.

"Perhaps," she agrees. The situation is weird enough that there might be plenty unforeseen events yet in store for her, so who knows.

"If these rebel people decide to get tetchy about something or other, or if a common friend of ours shows up, it's not entirely unlikely." They have a lot of common "friends" who could cause trouble, after all. Very few of them she would actually welcome. And the ones she would like to see aren't the sort to make trouble.

There are indeed plenty of mutual acquaintances who might kick up a fuss if they knew Zagreus was in a densely populated area uncontained. But he hadn't really thought of her as someone terribly likely to inspire enmity, unless it's just by association via her husband. He just really hasn't kept up with the social sphere like he ought to. Tsk, tsk.

"As much as it pains me to say, if any common friends show up, you'd probably do well to let my name go unsaid." Of course he wants the drop on anyone and everyone. But just as a piece of friendly advice, anyone with a history of brainwashing might warrant suspicion, if they're known to have been in contact with him.

"Of course," she agrees. "For both our sakes, probably." Most of them aren't very pleased with Zagreus, and would definitely be suspicious if they found out him and Lucy had been buddying up. Even if they haven't actually done anything to arouse suspicion.

Granted, Lucy herself doesn't have an awful lot of enemies, and generally doesn't pose much of a threat. But she tends to mingle in controversial circles, to put it mildly. They're certainly more interesting, and tend to be less judgemental and annoying to deal with.

Indeed, he'd mostly said it for her sake. It's not like he's worried about being found out by anyone from their universe, or like he would avoid them for any amount of time. It's just the idea of being an unexpected factor that appeals. And it would be such a waste for Lucy to get incarcerated or have her mind forcibly checked out when he hadn't even done anything.

"Though, if anyone else should turn up...I wouldn't mind hearing about it. In fact, I'd be most appreciative." If someone they know is going to wind here, Zagreus wouldn't take any bets on who it's likely to be. Really, given that this is a pretty strange situation, it's only a matter of time before some Doctor or other shows up.

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy answers with a smile. "And likewise, really. Best to have some warning." She's not entirely sure she'd like to be Zagreus' informant, but in most cases she wouldn't mind telling him either. There are a few she's like to protect, people she's actually ended up caring for. Some of them can hold their own against Zagreus, and some of them probably can't. But for the majority of them, she doesn't care too much. She'd rat on the Doctor in a second, probably.

"Certainly. Very sensible." See, Zagreus is capable of interacting with people without resorting to violence, trickery, or mental invasion, and having the outcome be favourable to everyone involved. Magic! As long as that person is amoral and hasn't any expectations for him to live up to.

"You know, you're a lot more sane than I would have expected, all things considered." This is his version of commenting on the wallpaper, and it shows in his idle tone.

Magic indeed! Lucky for Lucy.

"I've put some work into it," she agrees. Perhaps not entirely sane, by most people's standards, but more stable, which is something. "Who'd think a year and a half in solitary confinement would improve one's mental state?" Given that this is Zagreus, she doesn't really want to discuss her mind too intimately. But he has a point.

Who better to discuss it with? It's not like he'll forget it's there if she doesn't mention it for long enough. "That does seem to be a bit of an oddity. I was never incarcerated for nearly that long, and it never did my mind any favours." Admittedly one of those times had been in a watch in a pond, and more than one of those times had been preceded by some degree of mental torture. That might factor in somewhere.

That probably would make a difference, yes. Lucy's incarceration signified the end of mental torture, relief, and the saving of the world. It was complicated. But it allowed her some peace of mind, and time to work through her issues a litte bit. It probably also could've gone the exact other way and just made her crazier. Who knows.

"To be fair, isolation was probably an upgrade from what I had before. And no one interfered with my mind while I was there."

This seems reasonable enough. "Isolation is, in my opinion, almost always an upgrade." Sensory deprivation is not and being trapped is certainly not. But yes, give him a suitably solitary environment and he'll not be the worse for wear, as long as he's not agitated to begin with. "Was mental interference something to worry about?" That sounds a lot more in keeping with his imprisonment experiences.

"Well, it was while I was staying with Harry - the Master," she answers. She still tends to think of him as Harry, even though that's not his real name, nor the name most people associated with the Doctor know him as. "He seemed to treat my mind as a playground, honestly." It's interesting that he, who had an interest in keeping her safe and happy, was so careless and invasive, where as Zagreus who probably couldn't give a shit, only did it with permission.

What an odd situation that must have been all around. He and the Master are not entirely dissimilar. But ascending to any sort of power by means of political election? Not exactly the top of Zagreus' strategy pile, though it's hard to say he wouldn't resort to it in a pinch. Likewise, he doesn't entirely understand the motivation in keeping humans. They can be enjoyably manipulated, but it isn't exactly difficult or worth revisiting...the true artistry lies in how to set up a domino effect with those manipulations. He supposes she must have been compelling despite her relative lack of value as a target. It really does take some degree of familiarity and interest to breed contempt for boundaries beyond the purely incidental.

"Then your mind was in good company with the rest of the universe, as I understand it." The Master he remembers is more orderly, but hers was mad, more than mad enough to make the universe a plaything. That at least he can understand.

Lucy can't even begin to contemplate the Master's motivation when it came to their relationship these days. She knows she was good for him, in the beginning. She calmed him, distracted him, grounded him a little, and she knows he cared, but it wasn't enough. Especially once h had reached his primary goal and had time to waste. He got bored, and frustrated with the Doctor, and often he took that out on her. She's not sure why he thought it fit to play with her mind. She hasn't considered it for a long time.

"Fortunately for them, though, they didn't have to remember it," she anwers, just a touch bitterly. It's almost tempting to ask Zagreus for another favour. But she's not that desperate, and she's grown used to having a mind that mostly sort of works, and isn't particularly keen on jeopardising that.

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Zagreus' arrival [Open]

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