isleofavalon | [Nov Catchall] ✵ Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected.

Thank you. [He can say that much at least.

Although he isn't used to any sort of contact since even Osiris would only play with his bangs, he finds this comforting from Thanatos.

As he sits on the couch with him, he looks to Thanatos with a look of concern.]

What I tell you here can only stay here. I don't think it'll be bad if you know. As long as you don't tell. In my world, there are scales. If the scales tip too much then the surface world will be a bed of chaos and all life destroyed. This is why you just have to believe me and not tell anybody. Will you?

I...

[That's a lot to be told all at once, even without getting to the main reason why Set is so distressed as to come here in the middle of the night. Thanatos frowns softly, but only needs a moment of thought before he nods.

Set hasn't lied to him before now... and this is very out of character behaviour for him.]

All right. I'll believe you.

[This is the second time that Set has been told that someone would believe him. The first had been Osiris and now Thanatos. It has not lost his novelty and he's surprised for a moment and then nods.]

I...Thank you. [Osiris had believed him but his brother had been different. Thanatos has no reason other than he simply just does. It means a lot to him. In times such as these, he's grateful and remembers his manners.]

My lord brother was assassinated twice. The first time I was sent back in time to five years prior. I thought to save his life but then he died in my arms once more a second time. The first time I was executed for the crime but I did not do it. I would never. It was the same person, the one who sent me back in time. It was his goal to take my brother's heart, the key to unlocking the scales. To awaken the old gods and end...his own suffering, I guess. [He's had time to think about this and he's not even angry. Just sad. And he pities him. Relates, almost.]

Anyway, for the sake of my world, people must believe that I murdered my lord brother. That I was jealous and murdered him for the throne. Not that it's hard. People always thought I wanted to. But this is the only way to keep the scales as they are and one day, the rightful king will come. He will kill me, take the throne, and everything will be as it should.

[It's...a lot. He's not even sharing everything.]

I accept my fate. I know it is what I have to do but I had eighteen years for the rightful king to grow. To come after me. And now...he's here. He states he has no will to murder me but he must. He will. But I'm...[not ready.]

[He has been able to learn a lot about Set in the time they have been friends. The other god is much like him - quiet, reserved, at least on the outside. They are both straightforward people, and it's easy for him to understand the other god.

And to understand that being believed would be important to him.

As he listens, the story puts him in mind of the drama that the Olympians tend to get themselves into. Set no doubt feels as out of place amongst them as Thanatos would in the mountain palace of Olympus.

Set trails off, and Thanatos is still and silent for a moment before he reaches out and clasps both of his hands.]

Why, Set? Why must he kill you, especially when he has no wish to?

[It means a lot to him that Thanatos has listened to him and does seem to believe him. This is a gift he has only been afforded once before and that was with Osiris.]

Would a god so jealous of his brother willingly give up the throne to his brother's child? Would the people believe that my nephew was strong enough if he could not defeat me and take my life? I am the evil god who took his brother's life out of jealousy. The brother who was loved by all. Who would want me to live? And...[He frowns, truly meaning this:] How else will I see my brother again? He's down in the Underworld now, being reborn with a new heart. If I am to be killed, I can see him once more.

[And at this point, this is what he truly wishes for. All that he wants is to see Osiris once more.]

... I see.

[Again not so different to some stories he has heard before. It would seem that the Greek and Egyptian pantheons are not so different in their various dramas and complicated relationships. How tiring. He doesn't envy Set for any of this.

He gives the hands in his a light squeezes, as if to offer comfort.]

Then I understand. He must kill you, and you will have to force his hand if he refuses.

But I...I still want to see my brother. I would do anything to be able to see him. Yet my nephew being here has unsettled me. I wasn't expecting to see him so soon. [He's anxious and doesn't quite understand it. Feelings are still something he's learning to understand.]

But talking to you and being near you does help. [Having a friend has been much more help than he had ever thought it would be. Thanatos' hand on his is a relief and he does squeeze it once before relaxing his hand again.]

Not that it matters much. My nephew lied about his identity here and during that lie, he'd told me that my nephew hadn't killed me. Horus himself has told me that he doesn't believe that revenge will help our kingdom. He joked about making me his consort. What a child. Joking about such things. Not understanding it's his destiny to kill me.

[Thanatos smiles very faintly when Set tells him that being near him is reassuring. It's an aspect of friendship that is new to him - Zagreus never seemed to need that kind of reassurance from him, self-confident as he was - and he does feel an odd swell of pride in being able to be such a source of comfort for somebody.

But he thinks over what Set says. Not knowing Horus himself, he can't speak for the young god's impetuousness, but...]

Is it Fate, really? [He asks then. Thanatos does not take matters of Fate lightly.] Or only something you assume must happen because you see no other way for it to end?

[There aren't many people that could make Set think about such things but Thanatos does make him do just this. Trying to think over the answer, he frowns in thought.]

I...do not know if it such a thing. Maybe it was never written to be and now, there is no other way to end things. Still, in the very end, he has to do this. I don't know if there is anything that is meant to be, not with how the first timeline was...[Time travel does make things a bit wonky.]

He speaks of lord brother as if Osiris is uncaring when that isn't true at all. In the first timeline, he loved Horus. He was a wonderful father.

[Hm, that's interesting. Then it isn't predestined but only based on the way in which Set has interpreted events. Of course, such things can have just as much of a hold on a person as destiny itself... but more in their mind than if the threads of fate held them to that path.]

Children often see their parents in a different light to those who aren't their offspring. [He comments with a certain knowing wisdom.]

What seems caring and loving to anyone else might be little more than irritating and restrictive to the child.

My lord brother died before Horus was born. Lord sister had just announced her pregnancy shortly before Osiris was murdered. I do not know why Horus feels this way about a man he has not met.

[Which should open up more questions for Set and one day they will but not right now.]

I think if he had seen the father that Osiris was...he would have seen why that man deserves vengeance. Instead he says that he would prefer not to become a murderer. As if murdering a beast counts at all.

[Set hates to be called a beast but he knows that many consider him one. Back home, that's all he is.]

I just...don't know what to do. What to say to make him even consider ending my life. But even that fills me with anxiety...

You say he deserves vengeance... but you didn't kill him, Set. So what would killing you be avenging?

[He still has both of Set's hands gently held in his own. The kind of connection and contact that he rarely allows for anyone, but Set so quickly became somebody that he appreciated having in his life. Someone that he could be himself around without being concerned that he might cause offence.]

Perhaps you're nervous about it because you know you don't deserve it. Not really. [And then, something he has said before and will continue to say, no matter how much Set protests to the contrary.]

And you're no beast, my friend. I don't think that Horus believes that either.

[Thanatos brings up points that make sense. If Horus truly believes that Set did not murder Osiris then what would vengeance against Set really accomplish? Although he doesn't understand why Horus doesn't believe he killed Osiris when everybody does. What happened when Horus was raised in that oasis?

But Set can't think about that right now and he doesn't even know where he'd begin. What he can focus on is how comforting Thanatos is right now, holding his hands, and listening. Nobody's ever done this for him before and Set realizes how much he likes having somebody like this to help him. Even if it's just to listen.]

I...thank you for saying that. And for listening. I think you have points but I guess...I just don't know. I don't really know what to think. Or to do. When I asked my lord sister to raise Horus, for him to come back and kill me, I was ready. I was confident. But I guess I thought I had more time.

[And this, really, is what confuses him. If Set did not kill his brother, and he knows he didn't, why would he be so determined to have his nephew kill him? Even as a god, Thanatos could easily acknowledge that gods could be terribly perplexing sometimes.]

I think that Horus is perhaps not such a child as you might think.

[Thanatos does not know Horus and he has promised not to speak of this conversation to anyone, but perhaps he will go out of his way to seek out the young god and get the measure of him in his own way.]

Do you really want him to kill you? Do you think that Osiris would want you to be killed to support a lie?

[The last time he had seen Horus before coming to this world, he had been only five and crying for his father that had died. In the second timeline, he hadn't even been born yet. But now, here he is. A man. A man with experiences that Set can not understand. Perhaps Thanatos does have a point.

But in considering what he says about Osiris, he admits:] He had given me his wife and Horus. For me to care for them. But it simply did not work out that way. If I wanted to keep my brother's murderer from causing any more havoc then I had to be the bad guy. If I had raised Horus, as Osiris wished, then his lineage would have been questioned.

And without my lord brother...there just isn't much else left for me.

[Thanatos is quiet for a moment, then he lets out a soft huff of air and shakes his head.]

It's a complicated situation... I expect with details I haven't fully grasped. [He isn't going to invalidated what the other god is saying, but he isn't going to pretend that he entirely understands either. The Chthonic gods tend to be far less complicated than the Olympians, and this sounds like something that perhaps they would understand better.

But Set is his friend, and he can understand that at least.]

If you want comfort, I can offer it... but I'm not sure what I can say.

[Really, there are more details but Set isn't entirely sure where he should start. What more does there need to be said?

So he nods.]

Thank you. I...think I just wanted to talk? I can't say for certain. There's still this anxiety inside of me but it feels better to talk now.

[He's never really had the chance to be able to talk to someone about his problems before. This is the first time.]

[Thanatos nods. Though he had never really done much of it himself, he can understand the value that can be placed in simply talking through a problem. And he is... honoured that Set would feel he can place his trust in him like this.

But this is what friendship is, isn't it?]

If you feel better, then I'm glad.

[And he smiles then - a small, soft thing, but still a smile.]

Do you want to stay here for a while longer?

Could I? I did wake you up and I know that being woken is...not pleasant. [Set, as a god, did sleep mostly for the enjoyment of it. Like eating. It wasn't exactly a need but something the gods did for no sake other than it was something they liked.

And he's found that being woken before he wakes up on his own leaves him grouchy. He'd never considered this for Thanatos when he'd asked to come over but it is something that he considering now.]

If you want to sleep then I understand.

[Thanatos only shakes his head. He's awake now, and despite his body needing it he has never taken to sleep in the way that his brother so easily does. His nights are often unsettled and he wakes up often, and besides... he does enjoy having Set around.]

No, not at all.

[Getting woken up by stones hitting his window is a new experience for him and had it been anyone else he might have been grouchier about it, but he finds he doesn't mind it this time.]

I'll get us something to drink, and we can sit a while.

...Thank you.

[The words always feel foreign on his lips. They are not words that he is used to. But ones that he knows Thanatos should hear.]

You're welcome.

[Not used to being thanked, responding to gratitude feels strange to Thanatos as well. He wraps his fingers gently around Set's wrist and stands, lightly pulling him along.]

Come with me, I don't want to leave you sitting here alone.

[Nov Catchall] ✵ Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected.

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