new year, new you

[cancrymods]

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! ]

Comments

[alcahest]

[ ever since their descent into Gula, Mona has left behind the fashions she's stuck to from the moment she first awoke in Limbo — high collars, long sleeves, covered from the tips of her fingers down to her toes without so much as a flash of ankle — and opted for less concealing clothes for the first time. this means that on her sternum, part of a strange gem is always visible now; it glows faintly, and it's clearly not a fashion statement, because you can see the places where it goes into her skin.

she hasn't made a big deal of it, though if anyone has asked her about it, she has explained. mostly she's just been enjoying new clothes.

but never mind all of that! we're having a group meeting!!! up at the Invidia mansion, since the effects of Gula are unpleasant and some people are rightfully avoiding it as much as possible. ]

We've been helping Gerda for a while now, but... We have to decide what we're going to do next, don't we? Should we be trying to go to the Underside?

[emberserker]

Of course! What kind of question is that? Even if she's being all too friendly while we're down there, we've got to get through. There's something seriously wrong with that hellhole.

Investigation

[calculated_risk]

[Genius has been doing her best to bring various types of games and entertainments down here, figuring that mental stimulation is important. She's also been hosting the occasional karaoke singalong, just for fun. She's not above grabbing a fellow Executor for a game, either.

Eventually, though, she does seek out Gerda.]

Hey...I don't think we've talked much yet. I just had some questions, if you're okay with that.

[discutio]

We have to do something.

[sorry mona he has no idea anything's different]

If we opt not to defeat her outright, then we need to either gain her Authority or have her utilize it to let us through.

[cancrymods]

[ Thankfully, it's not hard to find Gerda – she seems to have good sense for when the Executors want to track her down, so Genius manages to nab her before too long. ]

Oyo? You mean like an interview? Why not! It sounds fun!

[phantasmagorial]

Defeating her outright is going to be difficult unless something happens to trigger the same transformation the others went through. And she seems to understand a lot more about the nature of her powers than I expected, which makes her even more dangerous.

I was hoping by now she might have let us pass through, but... it really feels like she wants to keep us around running errands forever.

[swordofajerk]

Maybe it's time we renegotiate.

[And he's not saying "possibly with swords" but. Well.

It's Sword.]

[discutio]

...

[Phoenix thought about that for a moment, frowning slightly.]

If we can't renegotiate peacefully, then our last option may be to force such a transformation.

[alcahest]

Oh — no, I know we have to reach the next layer... I only meant to ask if we want to push forward on that now, or if we should be investigating Gula more thoroughly first.

[ Mona's not surprised that anyone might simply have thought her reluctant to proceed, though. it's true that she usually is. ]

[alcahest]

[ ah... it always comes to this so quickly. even with someone who's been nothing but friendly, they talk about her like she was inevitably an enemy. like she's not even a person, like she's just an obstacle, or a monster. Gerda hasn't done anything to wrong them and they're already talking about getting rid of her. that... frightens Mona, a little.

but they can't have this argument every time, not when she's the only one who has a problem with it. the best — the only — thing she can do here is try to find another way first. ]

Do you think... Gula is meant to be this way? Was it always like this? If it's not — if there's something wrong, then...

[ maybe they could fix it. ]

[discutio]

...I don't know, Mona. If there is such an easier way around this, then of course we should pursue that first.

[But it wasn't always that easy.]

[Phoenix didn't want to default to the cruel option. Didn't like that he was becoming the sort of person that was first to suggest it. But some people couldn't be reasoned with. They'd been lucky in Superbia, and then incredibly unlucky in its underside. Mercy had nearly killed them all, in the latter case.]

[Maybe there was just no right answer.]

[ourtomorrow]

That's bothered me, too.

[ Preoccupied him to the point of distraction, really. ]

Has anyone felt the effect grow or fade?

[schardynfreude]

It wasn't. [Chiron is just going to lean over here in this corner, frowning thoughtfully.] It was not always this barren and empty, no. There are those who remember living in the city above, and there used to be resources aplenty. Things only began to go so downhill once the Gears stopped turning and people were unable to move on from Gula.

Why this layer in particular is hit with these problems as opposed to others, one can only speculate that it's something to do with the nature of this layer. Though it does still bother me that an entire undercity exists as though planned.

[calculated_risk]

...sure, I guess it's kind of like one. I was just wondering...how long have you been the Authority here? And how did you get that role in the first place?

[emberserker]

Well, I don't doubt that Greta's cooperation is linked to our supplying Gula. If we leave her behind, she's like to become hostile like the other Authorities. So, all things considered, investigation might give us an edge. Either finding a way to subdue her when she inevitably turns against us or a cure for that effect Gula has on people.

[emberserker]

Exactly. The other layers are themed to their sins, of course, but the only pressure to continue with those vices is in the layer's society. Avaritia's gambling and wealth disparity, for instance, or the celebrity culture here in Invidia. But in Gula, they've a supernatural compulsion to consume.

[alcahest]

We probably can't change it until we reach the Cogs, then... so we couldn't offer Gerda anything other than telling her to wait.

Could we... send the people in Gula up? We have the Authority for the previous Layers, after all. If they could just wait in another Layer while we go to the Cogs...

[swordofajerk]

And risk this happening to the other layers as well?

[discutio]

I'm afraid Sword's right. There's no reason to assume this incessant consumption will stop or even slow in the slightest degree.

[emberserker]

So what we need to do is find the source. If you're right and the Cogs caused the hunger, then unfortunately, Sword's theory of this nonsense spreading to the other layers will happen sooner or later. And if you're wrong and it's something on the layer, then it'll be all the simpler to dispatch and give Gerda a reason to send us on our merry way.

[schardynfreude]

I disagree--I don't see any reason to assume the consumption will continue if they go elsewhere. We all feel something down there, certainly in the Undercity but even in the city itself, yes? And why should we think it an inherent property of the specters themselves that, if they begin to consume on other levels, those resources will vanish instead of replenish as they do normally? To me, it seems a quality of the layer, not of the specters, as Wolfsbane has just floated as a possibility.

We've done her her favors. If that isn't enough for us to simply ask her to allow us through, we ask her what it will take and go from there.

[alcahest]

I'm still going to suggest it to her. Going up.

Even if we don't know for sure that it will help, it's something that might ease their suffering, so we should at least try.

[ to just leave them here, without even attempting to come up with a solution for their sakes, just because Gerda might let them through anyway — that's too cold, even for a pragmatic approach. ]

[mementomoritz]

Going up... hm. I wonder... [Medic frowns thoughtfully, looking as though she's turning an idea over in her mind.] Gula is the first instance of outright, direct compulsion, but- do you think they've been getting steadily worse, as we go down?

[She counts down on her fingers, going layer by layer.]

Invidia had a culture celebrating celebrity, but there was nothing punishing you for not trying to be one.

Avaritia technically didn't require you to pursue wealth- but it did have a capitalist economy, so it was set up in a way that meant residents had to seek out at least some amount of money in order to get by.

Superbia didn't force anyone to feel the same kind of pride that the first Miss President felt, that attachment to their school and refusal to lose their place there- but it did forcibly prevent them from ever leaving or moving on, with the time loops.

We've been progressing steadily from societies set up to encourage a layer's particular sin to natural laws that enforce it.

Do you think that something from the breaking of the Cogs might be radiating upward, making things worse the closer we get to the source?

[mementomoritz]

[Medic... frowns, and shakes her head.] I don't think trying to force a Revenant transformation is a good idea.

Purgatory is already unstable, already damaged- deliberately pushing an Authority, someone heavily bound to an entire layer of it on a spiritual level, to get worse... I feel like we might be compounding the damage in ways we don't understand yet.

If it happens on its' own, then it happens, and we can't do much about that. But we probably shouldn't break things on purpose until we know more about what we're doing- or at least find some way to more accurately monitor the results.

[Remember, kids: the "fuck around and find out" approach to science only works if you can properly record your data.]

Besides, Gerda seems nice! Confusing and possibly repressing the memories of a major traumatic event, but nice. [She shrugs.] If you don't kill someone and then later you decide they should be dead, then all you have to do is go kill them, right?

But if you kill someone and then later realize you shouldn't have, that's a lot harder to fix.

[swordofajerk]

[The look on Sword's face is just "well, that's terrifying".

Moving on.]

And if you suggest they go up--assuming they even can--and this spreads to the other Layers, what are you going to do?