time ticks on

[cancrymods]

TRACING A PATH

True to her word, following the fight in the Luxuria Underside, Lana shows the Executors where they can travel further down into Purgatory. From the now familiar set of stairs, though, comes something unexpected – a cold, damp breeze that chills you to the bone and makes you feel oddly sleepy. The sense of unease this generates is amplified by the reaction of the accompanying Executors – Rei seems particularly susceptable to the drowsiness inducing effect and while Birdie doesn't seem to be affected, she's nevertheless oddly quiet and a little brooding, like she has something on her mind. Either way, it seems wise to prepare for whatever may lay ahead before proceeding. Take your time to spar, train or whatever you need to do before proceeding to the next Layer...

Comments

NPC CONTACT & INVESTIGATION REQUESTS

[cancrymods]

If you plan to investigate anywhere in Purgatory, place a comment under this toplevel detailing your investigation.

You may also use this toplevel to communicate with any of the party NPCs. Currently available are Rei, Birdie and the mysterious butterfly who lead Ariel to the Superbia Underside. Be sure to mention in your comment header which NPC you want to speak to!

[emberserker]

Wolfsbane will head straight back up to Limbo. If they've missed anything, it's probably when they were much weaker and had no idea what they were doing. She'll be checking out the cinema and endless hotel to see if anything stands out now.

[cancrymods]

Nothing much has changed! It's not been overly long since the Executors were last in Limbo so the things that are different aren't particularly new. The theater has a screening of a new movie and the endless hotel is just as endless as ever, but nothing seems off or strange in a way that isn't just... well, Limbo itself being off and strange.

The only notable thing is that occasionally in Limbo, Wolfsbane will get flashes of an odd feeling. Almost like things are... tilted? Nothing is off visually but for a few moments at a time, she'll occasionally get a sensation akin to being stood atop a tall tower that has started to lean dangerously to one side.

Other then that, nothing seems to be amiss.

rei

[schardynfreude]

So this has been a long time coming. It simply never seemed like a good time.

Now's as bad a time as any, and it isn't going to get any better. If he's going to lose his mind, it would be nice to get whatever answers he can first before it's gone completely.

"We should speak," and there's ever so slightly a hesitation before he continues, "my dear." Somewhere safe from the both of them. That's not what he says, even if it's what he means, when he says: "Somewhere private, just the two of us."

[phantasmagorial]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rei looks a little like a deer in headlights at this – she's got the slightly surprised and slightly fearful expression of a kid whose been called to the principal's office with no idea of why.

After a moment, though, she nods. "... Mm. Alright." She doesn't seem happy about it, but she'll go along. "Where should we go?"

[twibeast]

[ For the first time since he became an Executor, Achilles “neglected” his duties and did not join the others in the Underside. He just… couldn’t summon the will to fight after that last memoria. And so he stayed behind, holding down the fort in Limbo.

Still that doesn’t mean he wasn’t consumed with worry and guilt the whole time, unable to sit still once some time had passed. Would they be okay? What if something happened and they were all hurt again?

…Though would be even be much help if they were?

So when they return he’s extremely relieved. ]

Welcome home…!

[ Once everyone’s safety is assured he can be found around the house seemingly lost in thought or taking walks around Limbo, looking at all the passing spectres as if trying to find someone. ]

[emberserker]

[So Wolfsbane mostly just hasn't been talking to Achilles at all since that fight months ago, but something's possessed her to nod at him once she gets into the house and just sit quietly in a chair. Maybe it's the adrenaline crash.]

Oh, good, everything seems in order.

[phantasmagorial]

Achilles...!

[ The instant Rei spots him, she breaks away from the rest of the group to pelt towards him at top speed. Time to HUG THAT DOG!!! ]

[mementomoritz]

I wonder what their names are...

[Medic doesn't seem to have realized that this isn't a group activity- as far as she's concerned, if they're both people watching in the same place, that means they're obviously hanging out together, right?]

[Whether or not Achilles actually noticed she was sitting here until just now.]

I've tried talking to them before, but most of them don't seem to remember that much.

pre-memory dump

[schardynfreude]

As much as Luxuria has been fun, giving him that giddy feeling of higher, faster, further, to give him an opportunity to flex his abilities, the idea of finally letting it go and relaxing means Chiron finally feels something akin to exhaustion. Not helped by the sleepiness from the damp air blowing up from below.

Best to take some time between, the rest and recoup. There are people to talk to, after all. Things to take care of. Preparations to make.

He'll make his way slowly back up, stopping at every layer just to check in on things. Not long enough for any given layer's usual effects to take hold. Just to grab supplies as he sees fit. Note what has and what hasn't changed.

He's around, for any and all to bother. He might be tired from the addictive excursion, but he is, as ever, Chiron.

limbo

[emberserker]

[On a supply run, he'll come across Wolfsbane, looking worn out and staring blankly at a display of happiness-flavoured instant noodles, whatever that tastes like.]

...oh, Chiron. Supplies, I imagine.

[schardynfreude]

Mm. [So, that's probably an affirmative. He's got a crunchy plastic bag with some variously flavored goodies, at least. Whether that counts as "supplies" is up to personal interpretation.] Something like that. What happened to the pep in your step, dear? Are we not out training to be better than everyone else? Ah--did that layer take it out of you?

[mementomoritz]

[Hello, Chiron- here's a pile of books.]

[It's possible that somewhere behind it might be Medic, but it's hard to be sure. She's just walking blind across the Superbia campus with what looks like half their library's history section stacked up in her arms.]

[...is she planning on giving those back when she's done?]

[schardynfreude]

Ah...? Have I stumbled across a most fantastic sight? Why, those books seem to be moving by themselves, as thought by magic!

[Says the magical bastard himself. He'll just pluck a few from the top, to skim the titles.] And what are we so studiously researching today?

[mementomoritz]

[Medic is the same as always, because of course she is. Nothing gets her down, not when there's science to do! And she sure is doing it- her tests with Mantle have been going so well, and she's taking copious notes on anything and everything as per usual.]

[Except...]

[While she's flitting to and fro, someone paying attention might notice that she stops, every so often. Just slows down and stares into the distance, quietly lost in thought, before shaking herself out of it.]

[She seems more hesitant around the others, too- hanging back in a doorway before coming in to join her fellow Executors, less quick to speak up or reach out.]

[But it's probably fine, isn't it? It's not like she can be hurt...]

[emberserker]

[It takes a while for Wolfsbane to recover after she wore herself out in Luxuria, which might be a reason she's not immediately demanding everything she wants. But then, she hasn't been doing well for a while, has she? Maybe it's that that makes her stop and approach Medic herself.]

What is it? Something's going on with you.

[mementomoritz]

[Bless your blunt honesty, Wolfsbane. Medic looks awkwardly torn between the desire to stomp her feelings down like all the adults in her afterlife have modeled for her constantly and her own total inability to convincingly lie.]

[...also she just doesn't want to be dishonest with Wolfsbane. She's her friend, it feels wrong to lie to her.]

I just remembered a... [She rubs one arm absently, looking pensive.] ...how do you know if you maybe did something bad?

post-memory dump

[schardynfreude]

It starts as dramatically as ever. With Chiron simply nowhere to be found.

And when he does return, he's not quite right.

He's very troubled, you see. But he'll not care to talk about it. He'll be fine. He's Chiron after all. Except-

Except for the times when he's not Chiron. When someone else, some presence, some personality that has on rare occasion poked to the surface, seems to be much more awake and alive (so to speak) than before. You might start to talk to Chiron only for him to snap something needlessly cruel. Someone with a sharp smirk and a sardonic laugh. Maybe, instead, you speak to both of them, struggling for control. Maybe he doesn't want to speak at all, trying to fit so much inside himself that opening his mouth would surely make it all spill.

It's fine. It's fine. It's all coming together now. He's going to fly all apart. He'll never be whole again. He's more whole than he has ever been.

He remembers. Everything.

[discutio]

"Chiron, is that you?"

Whenever he did return, of course Phoenix would seek him out--more than likely back at the mansion, finding his way to the other man's side with a light hand on his arm.

"Wherever have you been?"

[schardynfreude]

Getting himself lost in the deepest darkest pits he can, fending for himself, screaming. The usual.

Not that he's going to say that, of course. He starts, only a little, at the end. Is that him? Is it?

"Hard to say for certain," he muses airily. "On both counts."

[mementomoritz]

Hi, Chiron! Have you seen the remote anywhere?

[Meanwhile, poor Medic is just rummaging around in the couch cushions of the Executor home, trying to find their TV remote. She got interrupted by memory-related emotional drama in the middle of watching the Death Note musical a good three layers ago and she hasn't had time to get back to it since.]

[Odds are, she's not going to finish it today, either. But she doesn't know that yet.]

[schardynfreude]

[It's strange, the way he suddenly wants to explode at her, as though such an innocuous thing would be worth the effort. The temperature in the room doesn't literally drop, and Medic is the most unlikely to notice any change in The Vibes in the air, but rest assure: those are some rancid-ass vibes to anyone else.

He takes a breath, clenches his teeth. Hisses it out slow.]

I have not been in much mood to watch. [Each word feels like a deliberate pick, slow and precise.] I would hardly know.

[swordofajerk]

Chiron flounces and goes about his day, but Sword is watching. There's just something off about him, but he can't place it.

(Distantly he thinks he remembers a time before he died, where another person was suddenly just ever so slightly off, but this isn't then and Chiron isn't...whoever the fuck that was. Sword doesn't care to remember the name.)

[schardynfreude]

It comes out strongly when training. Chiron has always kept up at least some training, and now, in spite of the desire to rest, is hardly any different.

But when he goes at his targets, it's with some kind of fury. He puts so much effort and energy and flourish into each attack. His weapon changes shape at a thought, from his own, to Rei's, to Phoenix's, even to Sword's. His movements are as precise as ever, and yet the angles of attack and the fervor don't seem to be as Chiron as it once was.

"Are you going to actually do something," he chides from a distance, "or merely ogle me? I'm terribly flattered." He is not.

[syrinfacet]

[ The fight with Lana had not gone as planned.

Even if they had managed to stop her and incapacitate her, Mona's injuries had made something in Galea snap. There had been a flurry of memories with it and...and she had lost control. Flown into a rage, completely unreasonable, an unstoppable force of wreckage. Had she hurt Lion and Mona in her rampage? She couldn't remember even now.

She'd regained her true form as a dragon. But at what cost? Her siblings would be ashamed. Dragons were supposed to protect others. That had been her duty as guardian of Liatris. Wasn't it supposed to be her duty here too?

...did it even matter now? Did anything? She'd left her family behind. She was dying, back there on Ophloxis. Even if she left Purgatory, she would still...

If you find your way back to Limbo, there's a strange shimmer to some streets, kaleidoscopic, not quite fitting the hazy scenery. In turn, there's...something atop a high building, and...stained glass reflecting from sunlight onto the streets below...?

Wouldn't be hard for an Executor find out what it was. ]