cancry | new year, new you

new year, new you

It's been some time since the Executors made their way down to the Gula layer and while things have been quiet, that doesn't necessarily mean they haven't been busy. The snow that had been falling steadily for the past week or so has finally eased, even if a thick blanket of the stuff seems to remain in all the Layers you've travelled to. The ever present threat of an Authority has been mitigated somewhat by Gerda being... well, Gerda and though her intentions and the full scope of her motivations are still a mystery, she at least seems to be willing to assist the Executors so long as they do the same for her in turn.

All the errands they've been running have done a lot to help the Undercity – the kitchen is stocked, and the communal areas feel fuller and livelier. Music often rings out from the stage and all in all, things seem fuller and warmer here.

And yet, that quiet hunger continues to nip at you every moment you spend in Gula. Even if it weren't for the Gluttony Layer's effects, though, there would be answers aplenty to be hungering after – the mysterious butterfly accompanying Ariel, the question of Rei's lack of memories... and of course, the mystery girl who seems determined to see you all returned to mindless Specters once again.

Do you still believe you have what it takes to travel to the bottom of Purgatory and restore things to their natural order?

There's only one way to find out for sure.

[ ... And we're back! After our holiday break, the Gula chapter of Can Cry's metaplot is now continuing! Happy New Year, Executors - let's see what you make of it! ]

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[Felix nods and looks for Rei.]

This is Rei. She can do it.

[ At Sword's prompting, Rei nods her head and steps forward. She looks nervous, but determined. This is what they've settled on, so she'll do it. ]

Yes. Gerda... all you have to do is make a contract with me.

[ Rei extends her hand to Gerda, just as she's done to all the others, as her Executor mark glows pale gold. Gerda takes hold of her hand in turn with a smile.

You feel something stutter, like gears failing to turn. A rusted mechanism bursts back into motion after years of being chained into stillness.

And then everything goes – ]

The first thing you remember is the hunger.

It had once come in faint waves, lapping at you gently but insistently. Winding around your feet like a cat clamoring for attention. Like that, it was nothing more than an novelty, a curiosity you could indulge without worry. You would fill your belly to bursting and, satisfied, the hunger would recede, leaving you clearheaded and calm. Even when the hunger begins to nag at you with more and more frequency, you're not worried. Food is plentiful. So long as you can fill your belly, everything will be fine.

Until it's not.

One day, the hunger simply... stays. You eat yourself sick, until your stomach aches in protest, but no matter what you do, it doesn't vanish. It merely lingers there, growing more insistent by the moment. You wade through the days, trying to ignore the rumbling in your stomach. You find yourself waking up each morning and thinking of food before you can remember your name and who you are. You spend hours in the kitchen, concocting things that are and aren't food and eventually, you stop bothering to cook it before you shove it into your mouth. You start to lose track of time. One day blends seamlessly into another. A week turns into two, then three. It's like water through your fingers but you don't care enough to try and stop its flow.

You're not even sure where you are anymore. You're not even entirely sure how you got here. The only things you know for certain are the hunger gnawing at your insides, the burning in your throat, and the pain in your chest as it stretches wider and wider. It's like someone has replaced the air inside your lungs with fire. It's like walking underwater, or breathing through a straw, but you don't stop because stopping is unthinkable. You need to keep moving, to keep going, to keep eating.

And then one day, something changes. Something deep inside of you shifts, the way a river bends when the wind blows in a new direction. You follow along with it mindlessly, content to float along so long as the direction you go guides you to your next meal. It doesn't concern you when your teeth turn brittle and sharp or your nails turn black and elongated. Your bones crack and reshape themselves as if to give you more room to fill. You forget how to speak, much less walk, and yet, somehow you manage to stumble forward anyway.

Later - endless years later - you will learn the word Revenant.

For now, all you understand is that you're starving.

Eat. Anything to fill your belly, to fill the hole inside you. Eat. It doesn't matter if it's raw, if it's still wriggling, if it's screaming and fighting back. Eat. Eat. Eat.

You find yourself to a place full of swallowing, sweating heat. The food here is plentiful, even if you're certain none of it is really meant to be food. There are things like you down here, maws filled to bursting and claws sharp enough to rip out your throat. But it doesn't matter; you'll tear them apart if you have to. Sometimes you do - and in those rare moments, you almost remember what it's like to be something other than starving. Sometimes, when your mind is calm like that, it makes you feel like you should be able to recall something important.

It's one of these days when your mind is calm that the wind changes again. It's like the surface of the water has been disturbed, casting new and strange lights onto your face. The air seems to vibrate and hum with energy and like a moth drawn to a flame, you can't resist the urge to draw closer to it. You fight your way through the other things like you, all of them equally desperate, all of them hungry and fighting to get there first. Somehow, you win. You stumble through the thicket, tripping on overgrowth until-

Until you see her, for the first time. All this time later, you don't remember anything except her kind blue eyes and the way some part of you had cringed and recoiled at her presence.

All too soon after this, you will learn to call the power she has Authority.

Hearing you approach, she turns to you. You have enough awareness of your form now to know you must be a disgusting sight - somehow both gaunt and bloated, claws and teeth sharp enough to rend flesh and hideously misshapen. But the look she gives you is not one of fear, but deep pity.

"You poor thing." she says to you. "You must be so hungry."

You don't remember the last time anyone spoke a single word to you. Your own voice is a splintered thing, stuttering and stumbling out of you as you try to respond but -- but you do have a voice. Somehow, in all this time, you'd forgotten that you did.

"H-Hung...ry..."

Your throat overflows with saliva. She's just standing there. Her eyes are so, so kind and she's saying something to you, but it's just noise in your brain and you're so, so hungry.

You open your mouth and lunge.

Edited 2022-02-09 17:42 (UTC)

When the Executors come to, Gerda remains frozen in place. Going by the look on her face, it's clear that she also saw whatever memories flooded into your minds the moment the contract was established.

Before anyone can say anything, Gerda bolts.

Wait-! [Medic tries to run after her.]

[She doesn't know the terrain as well as Gerda, doesn't have any idea where she's going. She knows she won't catch up. But this is a person in need, someone she could treat, try to help.]

[She has to try.]

[Veil runs, too. She has no illusions of being able to treat anyone. She's not confident she really understood the implications of what she saw. But Gerda is her friend, and if there's anything she can possibly do to help, she wants to do it. Even if it's just being there while... she doesn't know what.]

You idiots--

[And off Sword goes, though mostly to get to the girls before something stupid happens. To the other three:]

Let the rest know what happened!

I'll get them!

[ Already transformed, Prehnite buzzes out of hiding on his bugwings, then zips off to grab the other Executors. Gerda had established more of a rapport with Medic and Veil...they're better for tracking her down, hopefully calming her.

As he flies, he types with one hand: ]

Did you all see that, too?

Edited 2022-02-09 18:16 (UTC)

[ it takes a moment — frozen in horror, retching — before Mona's trembling legs are able to move, and she sprints to catch up with Prehnite, her breath coming in sharp gasps as she begins to sob. she fumbles to pull her phone out and calls Chiron, clutching it to her ear with both hands like a lifeline while it rings. ]

Please pick up, please, please...

Edited 2022-02-09 20:01 (UTC)

[ They might not know the layout as well as Gerda, but with Medic's powers, she'll at least be able to recognize the telltale sense of an Executor transforming before Gerda picks up speed and becomes harder to track.

Pursue her? ]

[Veil does not have Medic's powers ~~actually she's a little behind on powers since I haven't hit up the page in several dungeons~~ but she will pursue to the best of her ability.]

[Continuing to follow, while shouting:]

Can we please talk about this?!

[Sword is following right behind them.]

Can either of you sense her?

I could feel her transforming down this way- definitely an Executor transformation, like when we fight. Not like a Revenant. But she's moving fast and it's hard to keep track.

[ Thankfully, with all of them in pursuit, Gerda doesn't get too far away. She's speeding ahead, but with Mercy especially helping to track her, it becomes clear she's heading for the locked kitchen she once let them into in the Undercity. ]

[OH GOOD! THERE'S PROBABLY NOTHING BAD IN THERE OR ANYTHING.]

Just keep track of her and tell us where she's going!

[The kitchen. That. Hm. Sword has a bad feeling about this but honestly, when doesn't he have bad feelings about everything? Still, he goes ahead and transforms, just in case. Even if Gerda isn't wanting to attack them, something else somewhere might.]

[Okay, so you know that one place you probably hoped she wasn't going to?]

She's definitely heading for that locked kitchen, in the Undercity!

[Yeah, sorry, she's just gonna confirm that for you. She said it in bold and everything.]

[ Knowing now where she's going, it doesn't take all that long for the gang to catch up. Unfortunately, it seems they're a hair too late – the door to the kitchen hangs wide open and billowing heat pours out, reeking and festering.

If you dare inch in further, you'll see that the once-closed meat chiller has been wrenched open and inside it is a familiar set of stairs leading down, down into...

Well, at this point, it's hardly the unknown, is it? ]

UNDERSIDE UNLOCKED

Lady Gerda...

[why does she get the feeling this just became a rescue mission]

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new year, new you

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1/???

cw: binge eating, memory loss, body horror, cannibalism

continued CWs as above

done

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