Luxuria Intro Log

[cancrymods]

PROCEEDING...

With the real super power of teamwork, the Executors have successfully managed to make their way through the Gula Underside and defeat the previous Authority there. With Gerda now freed from her past regrets and given the power of an Executor, Gula and its inhabitants seem to be in safe hands... for now at least. More interesting – or concerning, perhaps – is the tentative ally you've gained in the form of Birdie, the mysterious girl who attacked some of your number in the Superbia Underside. While she seemed to be nothing but an enemy back then, a surprising connection has been formed with who you now understand to be the Authority of Purgatory itself. While she doesn't necessarily believe the Executors will be able to repair Purgatory, she is at least willing to admit that she shares their goals of wanting to see Purgatory restored... either to its former state, or to something new. But what does that mean for the Executors? And what does that mean for Rei supposedly born from the Authority's discarded heart? There are still many questions the Executors need to answer and as a blast of dry, hot air blows up from the next layer, you can only hope that Luxuria holds the key to at least some of them...

LUXURIA

♪♫ Wet & Dry – Sakuzyo After the humidity and noise of the Gula Underside, passing down to the Lust Layer of Purgatory initially seems like a relief. The air here is dry and sharp and though you hear noise drifting up to meet you and see a whole rainbow of lights clustered together in the dark, it doesn't seem as though it'll be quite as overwhelming as some of the bustling Layers you've had the pleasure of exploring before. But as you set foot down into Luxuria and feel the heat of the ground under your feet, you begin to wonder if you might just have hopped out of the frying pan and into the fire...

Comments

[discutio]

I did. Or the person that I was certainly did.

[schardynfreude]

I'm not entirely certain there's much point in making a distinction in this particular moment.

[discutio]

Isn’t there? I would call the distinction more crucial now than ever.

[schardynfreude]

If you insist. In any event, perhaps a sense of duty pervaded.

[discutio]

…You think this changes things, don’t you?

[schardynfreude]

I think...it should alter your perception.

[discutio]

This is…a complication, to be sure. I may need some time to contend with it.

But do you have so little faith in me, to think I would turn away from you or Achilles now?

[schardynfreude]

I didn't say that. I don't think that you would. Necessarily. If you've stuck by me in spite of all I've done, this wouldn't change that. But it is as you say: a complication.

[discutio]

[Phoenix leaned his head on Chiron’s shoulder, sighing.]

…It is. But I would not have it complicate matters beyond repair.

[schardynfreude]

I could have killed him before. Quite easily. Even after your friend interrupted. But I didn't. I don't know why, but I get the impression that he wasn't...right. Ready? That it wasn't actually time yet.

[discutio]

…

[He was thoughtfully silent at that, turning his sunglasses over in his hands.]

Perhaps there was some specific time and place. And perhaps you—he knew that as well, somehow.

[schardynfreude]

And that's why I was waiting for him in the ruined city? I suppose.

[Is it...important? To him, maybe. But Phoenix--]

Are you...all right?

[discutio]

I'm-...

[Was he, really?]

...no. I'm sure I will be, just...not right now.

[schardynfreude]

That's fine. You've stuck with me through my fits and starts. I can...stay here for you as well. If you have need of me.

[discutio]

...please.

[He leaned a little more insistently against Chiron.]

If...you wouldn't mind. I don't wish to keep you from anything you might need to do.

[schardynfreude]

[Arms around him. Please be as cozy as possible.] And what, exactly, do you think I'm so busy with that I can't be by your side?

[discutio]

[Phoenix pressed himself against Chiron, arms wrapping around him securely.]

I don't know.

[schardynfreude]

A rhetorical question. There is nothing so pressing that I cannot be here when you have need of me.

[discutio]

Right…of course it was.

[Clinging to him this insistently, it was probably becoming easier to tell that Phoenix was very faintly shaking.]

…I can not stand this. Could I have ever been so useless?

[schardynfreude]

And what could you have done? In the face of gods and monsters, kings and fate.

[discutio]

I dont—something. Anything.

[schardynfreude]

Being shown favor does not mean you are granted the power to change the course of a history already writ in crystal.

[discutio]

[He didn't answer that immediately, likely because there was no real argument he could make.]

...I could still have tried.