cancry | Gula Undercity Log

GULA
Now that you've been guided here by one of its residents, it's time for you to get familiar with the Undercity of Gula. With so much of the rest of the layer consumed already, its Specters have retreated to the last safe haven left for them. Just like the city above, when in the Undercity, you will suffer the same inability to fully satisfy yourself and will always be craving just one more... anything. The entrance to the Undercity is slap bang in the middle of the last remaining garden in the entire layer. A snapshot of what this place might have been like before, it's crammed full of all sorts of plants, flowers, vegetables... if it grows in the ground, it's here. There's evidence to suggest that even this garden was a fair bit larger than it is now, with plants looking like they were uprooted or crushed on the outside of the garden, but it's difficult to tell. In the center of the garden, you'll find a steep set of stairs leading down to the underground where you'll find the settlement proper. The Undercity itself is set up in a giant underground bunker, with a tall ceiling and huge open spaces that keep the place from feeling too claustrophobic. There's a mild bit of spacial distortion going on down here that make the ceiling much, much higher than it should physically be possible for it to be, but that's baby stuff in Purgatory by now. There's a few walls and some makeshift separators that section off parts of the bunker for privacy reasons, but more or less everything is set up in the same huge communal space.The walls, floors, ceilings and more or less every surface have been slathered in paints and cloths in a chaotic variety of colours to make things seem a bit less cold and dull. The effect is... striking, to say the least. In some places, where the paint or cloth has begun to peel away, however, you'll see that the surfaces underneath are cold and black and seem to be made of metal. The general vibe of the place is some weird cross between a convention or an indoor market and an airport at 3:48 in the morning. There's rows of chairs and bed and makeshift beds all over the place for people to set themselves down and take a breather, with wide gaps left in between each row to let people safely come and go without tripping all over themselves and dying again. But despite all the work gone into setting up the place, it still feels strangely empty – going by the number of Specters you can see milling about in here, even with the Executors' arrival, this place isn't even half full and that's a generous estimate. On top of all that, the uncomfortable sense of things being "thin" or "stripped away" increases almost tenfold down here. There's something else, too, but it's hard to immediately identify – you'll have to investigate that yourself to work out exactly what's wrong. Thankfully, despite how dour Gula as a whole is, you're free to come and go as you please. So while you still need to make your way through Gula to reach the next layer, the previous layers will still be available for you to rest and recharge if you'd prefer to stay elsewhere. ⚝ Rest Areas: If you're desperate for some shut-eye, or just to get away from the chaos a bit, the four corners of the bunker have been sectioned off with thick screens and padded mats, blankets and pillows have been spread out across the floor. It's basically a nap area for you to come and chill out and despite everything, it's pretty cozy over here. There's also a radius of about fifty feet around each of the rest area that's designated a "quiet zone", where everyone's expected to pipe down and stay quiet to not wake anyone up. They're generally a good place to recharge, even if sleeping out in the relative open can feel a bit awkward. ⚝ Dining Area: A number of long tables have been lined up end-to-end by the door that you can assume is probably the kitchen. They're covered in colourful tablecloths and a hodgepodge of mismatched chairs line either side of it. Dinner is served twice a day, with a ten minute warning beforehand so you can hopefully find yourself a seat before the rush is over. As for what the food is... well, it's pretty lacklustre! Pretty much everything is dried food, canned food or some horrifying combo of both. At least it's... mostly edible? ⚝ Music Stage: A little stage area that's been set up by pushing a number of crates and boxes together to form a stable platform. It's had a colourful cloth thrown over it and weighed down so it looks a little less slapped together, and there's a few instruments spread out across the stage – there's the regulars like an acoustic guitar and a bass but then there's also... a saxophone? An oboe? A harp??? It's pretty random. There's usually a handful of people milling about the stage with someone banging out the tunes, but it's also used to give announcements and anything else that needs the attention of the whole group. ⚝ Kitchen: Locked. Investigate to unlock further information. ⚝ The Rusted City: The once-majestic city of the Gluttony Layer, now reduced to rust and decay. It's a huge, sprawing urban affair with skyscrapers climbing to dizzying heights and buildings packed in to each and every space that could conceivably hold a building. It reminds you, just a little, of Invidia – envious excess beyond anything a single person could ever own or consume by themselves. But the unfortunate reality of Gula is that much of it has been consumed. Shops have been stripped bare of everything that could be useful and any houses or apartments you might be inclined to check have been raided in much the same way. It's a sad, lonely seeming place that feels as though it's slowly rotting apart from the inside out. Alarmingly, Revenants can occasionally be found here, though they seem to have aimlessly wandered up from the Underside and seem just as confused to find themselves here as you are. ⚝ Train Station: On the outskirts of the layer is slightly busted-up looking train station with a single platform. Rusty old trains come through here every half hour on the dot, stopping only briefly to allow Executors to board. Using these trains, Executors can either travel back to any of the other layers of Purgatory without having to pass through the Underside. Isn't quick travel convenient?
THE UNDERSIDE OF GULA
...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ugh, you're impossible. At least you remember how to be so... yourself all the time.

[There's a look that crosses his face for a moment, something pinched and--angry, frustrated, simply just very tired of whatever this was? But it flattens out.] Do any of us really know how to be ourselves if we don't remember ourselves?

What nonsense are you talking now? You're acting the same as you always have, even without your memories. It's clear whatever our personalities are is natural enough to remain with or without them.

You are certainly the same as always. Are you going to drink that milk or simply squeeze the life out of it?

I don't see how it's any business of yours.

[Wolfsbane reads the instructions on the bottle (what is this pleb beverage), shakes it up, and proceeds to down the entire thing, even with her face contorting at how gross it is. She stares into the bottle afterwards, disappointment shifted over there for now.]

What is this?

I felt the label made it clear. Why...did you drink the whole thing?

It's... I don't know what it is about this layer. It's more than a cultural fixture or an errant spell like in the last three. This layer... makes you want more. Need more, no matter what. Haven't you seen it?

Is this...

There's certainly something strange, but I have not, of late, spent much time here other than making deliveries. [Whether they are on heads or not is not the issue here!] Each is a manifestation of some...inherent sin, yes? [what's a catholicism asks the jesus expy]

Yes, it's a cultural and religious idea through much of Earth. Like Rei said, this one is Gluttony. But the other Layers only encouraged their sins with more mundane means, or in Superbia's case, the last Authority's pride only mattered in that it led to the loop. This one's different.

[He seems to consider this for a moment...and then shrugs.] We'll figure it out one way or another. We always do in the end.

[She shivers, glaring into the empty bottle.]

And what, languish here for months before that, like we did in the other layers? Most of us can't stand this place for more than five minutes!

Is that really most of us, or is it just you?

[This could be mocking or it could be honest. Or it could be both. He hasn't been down there long enough yet to know, but it's also Wolfsbane, so.]

Oh, says the person who hasn't even tried because this place is so miserable.

Haven't been there long enough to know if it's miserable. I got tired of walking up and down the stairs so often on every trip up and down, and decided a quicker way might be more expedient.

Because you haven't even been using the train station. That's back, by the way, they've got one down here.

Of course I've been using the train station. But the train station does not stop in the Undercity, now does it?

No, but you're acting as if you had to trudge through every layer yourself. Honestly now, I think you're just trying to infuriate me as a distraction from all this nonsense.

Tell me, does your self-aggrandizing ever get exhausting?

No more than dealing with any of you lot. At least I know I can do what I'm here for. How many of you can be depended on?

Do you want to do this all on your own, because you're the only one you can depend on? Do you want to be alone?

...

[She crushes the hard plastic bottle in her grip, shaking. Glaring at nothing.]

I don't know how any of this happened. I don't know how I feel so different now than I did when I was alive. But even if I wasn't a good person then, I only wanted what I deserved! And now look where I am. Stuck with the lot of you in all of this, while you all keep disappearing or wandering off or picked off by that girl for all we know! We might not even all make it down as it is!

Ahhhh, so now you want us all to do everything together, to make sure we're all safe, is that it? What a startling change of tune. What is it you think you deserve now?

[That seems to take her by surprise, at least enough that it snaps her out of this and she stares at him for a second.]

I don't even know how everything ended in life, why would you ask me that? All I want is to get this through with. Purgatory is enough of a pain as it is.

And your next life, you think it won't be a pain as well? Though I suppose you won't remember all this frustration in the beyond.

What about you? Then again, no one can ever really tell what you're thinking.

(no subject)

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