cancry | Luxuria Intro Log

Luxuria Intro Log

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...

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There was someone...immeasurably important to me. I was charged with his safety, but it was more than simple obligation--perhaps it had been so for a long time.

[He paused to at least try collecting his thoughts, other hand pushing his sunglasses more firmly into place.]

Shortly before I lost my sight, I was given some sort of...vision. Flashes of a future years ahead, and a voice--'to cast out the Usurper and usher in dawn's light will cost the life of the Chosen'.

Then, years later--it all came to pass exactly as I had been shown. I don't know when he learned the same. But I know that I didn't tell him. I--who I was said nothing, and I don't understand why.

Oh Phoenix…

[ His voice carries no judgement, only sympathy. ]

There could be… many reasons why you didn’t. Visions can be fickle, easy to misunderstand and hard to believe. It can be… difficult to act in such small glimpses of a future you don’t yet know, especially when it pertains to those we care about… even when they come to be true.

But more than that… I think most people wouldn’t have been able to say anything. When it’s someone you care about like that…

...I should have stopped him. I should have...there had to be some other way.

[Dramatic irony is a bitch.]

Phoenix. [ He carefully takes his hand away from the other’s and instead gently cups his face with both of them. ] Lo—

—Face me a moment, please.

[ He tries to turn his face towards him. ]

Do you remember a conversation we once had many layers ago? All the way back in Invidia?

[He let Orthrus guide him without argument, more or less meeting the other's eyes as best as he could.]

...I'm not sure what you mean. That was some time ago.

It was after Esme attempted to poison us. I was blaming myself for letting our young charges eat the food in the first place.

You told me kicking myself would do no good.

...

[It was hard to argue with himself, even if Phoenix clearly wanted to.]

I know… that the circumstances of that incident and what we’re speaking of now are completely different. And perhaps this is somewhat hypocritical coming from me of all people but…

It’s easy to blame yourself. To think about what you should have done. And regardless of what me and anyone else says to you there will always be a part of you thinking that way. I know better than anyone that it never truly goes away.

What would the one you cared so much for have wanted for you though?

That's-...

[The attempted answer came out far more quiet and unsteady than Phoenix would have liked.]

...this isn't right. None of it was. It was too cruel to Chiron and Noctis alike, and I...did nothing. What was I thinking, Achilles?

You were thinking like a human, my love. Most sane people wouldn’t know how to deal with something like that. Even a beast like me just admitted that he’d rather take the coward’s way out.

[ The mention of Chiron though… ]

…Is that how Chiron is indirectly involved? As a part in this cruel fate?

[He drew a slow breath before leaning forward enough to rest his head against Achilles'. Simply facing him wasn't of much comfort to Phoenix, and the extra contact helped.]

'To cast out the Usurper'. [He repeated it with a bitter note that was deeply, deeply tired.] The darkness to be dispelled from the star. That...is what Chiron was.

[ He’s more than happy to rest their heads together, dipping his down to meet Phoenix’s. But at those words he goes completely quiet.

An Usurper. Darkness to be dispelled from the star. Their world had declared this fate for the man Chiron once was, his Chiron…

‘It wasn’t right.’ ‘It was too cruel.’

He feels a fire in his chest, a quiet anger bubbling like molten rock but he doesn’t let it come up. He just stays quiet for a long time. ]

…I see.

I didn't understand it until later....actually, I would dare say I never fully understood it at all. [At least, as far as he could remember. Bits and pieces he knew, both in memory and from what Chiron himself had said. But it wasn't quite a clear enough picture for Phoenix to claim he comprehended it all.] ...But I know it wasn't his fault, what became of him. And Chiron isn't...what I once knew him as.

Neither of them should have had to die for all this.

I believe you. I’m certain it wasn’t his fault either.

It all sounds… incredibly cruel. Like you said.

...

[He tried to collect himself again, struggling to put a complete mess into more even lines of thought.]

My only purpose was to protect him. Everything I ever did was for him, and I...was content in doing it. I loved him, and I don't understand why I would not have done everything imaginable to stop him from sacrificing himself.

[ Ah.

There’s something… becoming increasingly more familiar about this now but Achilles can’t put his finger on why. But he puts that out of mind. ]

Oh Phoenix…

[ He moves his hands finally to put his arms around the other to try and pull him closer if the other allows it. ]

[Phoenix pressed against him insistently, hugging Achilles tightly and letting his head drop against the other's shoulder.]

It doesn't...make any sense. I would have gone with him, so why didn't I stop him?

[ He holds him as tight as he can, moving his head just enough to press a small kiss to the side of Phoenix’s own. ]

I said it before, dear… you’re only human. A human given a maddening dilemma.

To have been burdened with this knowledge in the first place… it sounds like it is not only Chiron and your Noctis who were dealt a cruel fate.

This isn't about me. I'm not the one who had to die to save our world.

But you are the one that knew who would have to. Who loved him.

That is cruel burden to put on someone. To make them struggle with.

Then why didn't I do anything about it, Achilles?

I don't know, Phoenix.

But you didn't do anything terrible - it's not your fault.

[He took a deep breath and tried to collect himself, to only minor success.]

...Forgive me, I...am merely frustrated, I think.

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1/3

I had to I’m sorry

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