Superbia Intro Log

[cancrymods]

SUPERBIA

With the dragon of greed thoroughly slain, the Executors are at last free to escape the sensory hell of the Avaritia Underside and descend to the next Layer. There's still sound and chatter, of course, but compared to where you've been spending all your time until now. Welcome to Superbia. And make yourself comfortable... because now that you've arrived, the stairs that guided you down here have disappeared and you won't be leaving any time soon. Feel free to use this arrival log to chronicle your initial misadventures in the Pride Layer of Purgatory. As noted in the location page, several locations will require further investigation if you'd like to get some information on them, so get investigating! Drop a comment down to the Investigation Request subheader if you'd like to explore. Get out there and have fun!

Comments

[schardynfreude]

It won't matter to you if I look not unlike a disconcerting monster. Others might hold a different opinion. [chiron i promise they wont give a shit actually]

Did you...come into more knowledge of yourself, recently?

[discutio]

I seriously doubt that, but you're right in that I wouldn't very well know the difference.

[Then he paused again, measuring any number of possible responses--what he should have said, what he could have said, what he wanted to say.]

...Something like that. It seems I spent some measure of time as a historian of sorts.

[schardynfreude]

...Huh. That does seem like something you'd be suited to. And you'll fit in quite well in a school setting, Professor Phoenix.

[discutio]

[Phoenix huffed out a brief and quirt laugh edged with something almost sarcastic to it. This was going to be a whole world of trouble just blending in, on top of everything else he was dealing with right now.]

One can only hope. I presume an ordinary school to be a fair bit simpler than archaeology.

[schardynfreude]

I wouldn't count on it, in a place such as this. Always a catch. Always something else going on. You just have to see the angles and...think ten steps ahead.

[discutio]

[He paused long enough to reevaluate his image of the board; it was already getting tricky to keep track.]

No, of course it's never so easy.

[schardynfreude]

[This feels just familiar enough to keep him from panicking into a blubbering pile. But also just familiar enough that he hesitates longer than he really ought to in doing...anything. What a strange in-between to be in. But at least he isn't hallucinating other people. Not really. What a strange thing, to be a calmer, cooler man than the madness ▮▮▮▮▮ had been. But maybe there's a cause. A root cause he's dancing around.]

My title and my power both are appropriate. I was a prince and a healer of the people with magic gifted to me by the gods. But I can't help...I cannot help but realize the drastic change in my memories. I'd noticed before but was in little fit shape to voice it properly. Is it strange to notice architecture? I had never given it much thought before Aera-- [He cuts himself off from that thought. If his breathing seems just a little wet, I'm Sure It's Fine.]

Well. And a technology jump. Drastic alterations in fashion sense. I scarcely...know what to think.

[discutio]

...

[Phoenix was silent under the pretense of considering his next move, frowning slightly. Maybe it was cruel to keep quiet, but where to even begin? It wasn't as if he knew every single thing himself, either.]

[Eventually, he took a slow breath and spoke.]

I encountered fragments of a tale much like that in my research. Almost as if it was what we sought specifically.

[schardynfreude]

[He doesn't make a move this time. Looks down at his tinted fingers, the discoloration and the dark tint in the veins. If he focuses, if he fights, he can push it back down. But it isn't as though he has to hide it from Phoenix.]

It's a gift. [He insists.] A blessing. Perhaps others have been so blessed in history.

[discutio]

...Perhaps so.

[He doubted it.]

I don't know enough to confirm or deny that.

[schardynfreude]

Time passes...so strangely, in the city in my memories.

...Phoenix, I- you know that I fear becoming something of a monster by any definition. But I don't think I've any choice in the matter.

[discutio]

I don't agree with that. [Briefly ignoring the game, Phoenix reached out a hand as if requesting Chiron's own.]

[True, he didn't know enough. He didn't know the details, or really understand what had happened or how things had unfolded. But he could venture an educated guess that the person Chiron had once been was isolated for a very long stretch of time--physically, or perhaps in a way far more damaging.]

You have a choice. Even should you become something terrible, you can still remain as Chiron. Even if I have to drag you back from it myself.

[schardynfreude]

[Hand? Take hand? No...no, he can't do that. He couldn't possibly. What if he passes it on (they're already dead) what if Phoenix gets it (then it can be healed) what if-] I know what makes a daemon. And do you think a daemon is a monster?

[discutio]

[Even if Chiron didn't take it yet, Phoenix's implied offer wasn't rescinded; his hand stayed exactly where it was.]

I don't think you a mere daemon. Even in those memories, even at what I assume to be your worst, you were still capable of intelligent speech and thought. Whatever you were or are, I don't think you beyond the reach of basic human compassion.

[schardynfreude]

They're people, Phoenix. They're just people! They were all just scared, sick people, capable of speech and thought and compassion up to a certain point, a tipping point where something else took hold. And they needed someone to take it away.

I may not be a daemon yet, but I have...had...everything inside me what makes one.

[discutio]

And even then, you're still a person, Chiron. You're so concerned about becoming a monster that you overlook this fact.

[schardynfreude]

...Ha. Ha. You're right. We're all already dead, so what truly does it matter, in the end?

[discutio]

It matters if it upsets you. It matters that I wish to reassure you.

It matters because I consider you my friend.

[schardynfreude]

This is why chess is good. The mental stimulation isn't just about the pieces on the board. My brother and I would have long discussions over a board, for hours on end, with little progress in the game itself. You're trying some tricky maneuvers, friend.

[discutio]

[Phoenix sighed quietly, shaking his head and adjusting his sunglasses with his free hand.]

I seem to do that, when I need to make a point.

[schardynfreude]

You're my friend, in spite of everything, and you will remain so even after this disease starts ravaging my admittedly already dead self. Is your point.

[discutio]

That's correct. If such a thing transpires, I won't simply stand by and allow you to become some kind of monster.

[schardynfreude]

...I suppose I'll simply have to take your word for it. I...am not sure what to say to the others, however.

[discutio]

Whatever you like. I am sure they will think the same as I do.

[schardynfreude]

People aren't always so kind when they see something frightening.