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

[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.

[discutio]

We've all seen what I presume to be terrible things by now. You're still Chiron, no matter what you look like.

[schardynfreude]

I've heard your point, all right. You have such optimism. I wish I could share it. Not everyone on the other side of the board is always so, hm, reasonable.

[discutio]

I do think I pride myself on being reasonable.