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"Can Cry" Mod Account ([personal profile] cancrymods) wrote in [community profile] cancry2021-11-11 12:19 am

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
    ...?
schardynfreude: (in a splendor rose blush)

[personal profile] schardynfreude 2021-12-04 01:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Well. I did say armor-plated. A knightly bug of a sort. It is still you underneath, is it not?
ourtomorrow: ([kenzuna] ah?)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-12-04 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ Prehnite searches for the seams on his gauntlets, finds one, tugs it off. Here's a human hand!

Now to figure out how this affixes back on - oh, it could just. snap on. with magic. that works. ]
Do Executor forms tend to reflect our lives?
schardynfreude: (see what you've become)

[personal profile] schardynfreude 2021-12-09 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm...I think so? I don't see why it would be something disconnected from us at random. My form, such as it is-- [And he shifts, in a flash of pink and purple and crystalline tinkling, to the white robes, the longer pulled back hair.] --reflects, in fact, what I used to look like in another time of my life, earlier in it.

Though what that means for you, I haven't the faintest. Perhaps you were some sort of...soldier? An...insect-themed one?
ourtomorrow: ([bugge] perch)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-12-09 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Prehnite debates this. Possible, but... ]

I had a friend. A partner. He's the only thing I remember. I recall him being much smaller than this, but - he wasn't human.

That could be it.
schardynfreude: (open up your eyes)

[personal profile] schardynfreude 2021-12-09 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh...oh that's delightful, actually. Chiron is touched. (And that seems so much like Monarch--)] After your partner...oh my boy, what a big heart you must have.
ourtomorrow: ([kenzuna] soft)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-12-09 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I couldn't say.

[ But he smiles. He thinks he'd like to have been a big-hearted person. Perhaps that's something to aspire to be. In the absence of a past, he can still choose his future.

Well. Most of a past. Prehnite gives the gauntlets, the whole rig, all the way down to the spiky buggy feets, a fond smile. If this suit is to honor Wormmon, then he knows he can fight well in it. If he thinks of Wormmon, there's no way he'll ever give up. ]


He was precious to me.
schardynfreude: (Default)

[personal profile] schardynfreude 2021-12-09 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
It's something to hold onto tight. He may be gone, or you may be gone from him, but the spirit apparently lives on. We have to carry what inspires us with us where we can get it.
ourtomorrow: ([kenzuna] glad)

[personal profile] ourtomorrow 2021-12-10 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ An excellent sentiment. Prehnite is touched. ]

I'm sure he feels the same.

[ Even if he's unsure whether Wormmon is still alive. If he's in Purgatory, will they be able to meet again...? Should it prove possible, Prehnite would like to move through the Cogs together. He'll keep an eye out. ]