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

[crypddyd]

[It takes him a moment to do just that. But for once it's not because Lion is too caught in his own head to notice him. No, he just needs to gather his wits a bit.]

I must look quite pathetic to you right now...

[swordofajerk]

You do.

[Geez, Sword.]

But this isn't like you. What happened?

[crypddyd]

Memories. Years worth of them. I... the desire to destroy nearly over took me, so I fled.

[swordofajerk]

[Better than the boar he was. Or at least what Sword can remember.

Hm.]

Remember that memory I had months ago?

[crypddyd]

I do. And that I was not of much help at the time.

[theres a wry, unhappy smile in his face at that]

[swordofajerk]

That's not my point. My point is in that memory? I was furious you and Ruin died. He broke our promise [whatever fucking promise that was], and you were my king. Would I be that furious at someone dying if they were violently insane? Would I want to follow someone like that?

[crypddyd]

Perhaps sentimentality. Or the devotion of a knight.

[as soon as he says it though it feels wrong. Makes him scowl like he bit a lemon. Others maybe. But not Sword. This man did not tend fools lightly]

I can not say. All I know is that That Man was no king, no matter what blood or crests might say. Just a sad lonely beast tormented by ghosts that weren't even real. How pathetic... knowing now it was illness, not some grand purpose like he likely died believing.

[he chuckles darkly]

[swordofajerk]

You died in a battle against a monster. Whatever else is wrong with you, the man I followed fought it and won. He died, but he won.

[Don't make him say it, Lion, he is bad at this!]

[crypddyd]

[ A memory from months ago flitters through his mind. One of the many of Edelgard he got all at once but that he largely put aside due to how insane it seemed. His sister, only in strange monstrous chiton armor. Massive. Her long fingered hands coming for him but him standing strong against her.

And feeling not the righteous rage he had expected. But only grief. Grief and pity.

The rest of that battle- how he got there, who else was there, how it ended. All were missing. But that feeling was clear as anything his battered mind could hold.

Could it be...?]

Edelgard...

[tears start to build in his eye, knowledge that the woman who had ruled most of his life was dead filling him with relief and sorrow in equal measures]

Then... Does that mean the Kingdom... it is saved? Our people freed?

[swordofajerk]

I don't remember anything after that point. [Or much of anything at all. The holes in his memory are more like oceans.] But I was happy for a moment before you two died. So.

[crypddyd]

So in the very least, we accomplished something.

[The idea of his quest being complete... it brings both a calmness to his heart but also an aching emptiness. That he never saw it hurts, even if he died like a true man of the Kingdom- on his feet, fighting]

[swordofajerk]

Mhm. So...stop this bullshit or whatever.

[He is so bad at this~]

[crypddyd]

[He pauses... then smiles softly, like the sun rises and set on Sword's whim.]

How could I possibly stay distressed with such an impassioned plea?

[swordofajerk]

[Oh what is that smile who allowed Lion to have that smile what the fuck.

Sword just huffs and looks away, extremely self-aware in a weird way, thanks.]

Good. [A beat.] Did--did you just tease me?

[crypddyd]

Me? Certainly not.

[swordofajerk]

You're a bad liar, Lion.

[crypddyd]

[He smiles with perhaps too many teeth, as if he doesn't realize how Much it makes his expression.]

You have so little faith in me?

[swordofajerk]

And if I do?

[Seriously sir, put those teeth away.]

[crypddyd]

[He chuckles sadly]

Well, all I can do is try and restore it with time. I am not that man, but I can try and learn something from him.