descent

[cancrymods]

growing heavy for the vintage

Like flakes of snow, the days spent in the Sloth Layer slowly but surely begin piling up. Life here is quiet and easy, even with the anxiety that comes with needing to move onto the next layer. But as the days drag out, so do the mysteries at play here – with the gradual uncovering of the odd doppelgangers and the seeming lack of any way to proceed to the next layer, it leaves the Executors at a loss for what to do. Until one day, everything changes. It comes entirely without warning – the ground lurches under everyone's feet in a sickeningly familiar way as a brief but violent earthquake rattles through the town. Then all of you feel it; a snapping sensation deep from the very foundations of Purgatory followed by the most cataclysmic impact any of you have experienced in your lives – or unlives. Snow explodes up from the ground, houses creak and lurch and the whole layer seems as though it might shatter apart under your feet. It seems like it's going to last forever. Then, finally, it stops. The silence that follows is even more pronounced in comparison to the hell-rattling noise from before, but as some semblance of calm starts to return, you realize several things. First is how eerily quiet the town is. Surely after all that, you'd hear a Specter or two... but there's nothing. Secondly – a splash of something wet strikes your cheek. Then again. Until it becomes clear that the weather has taken a sudden drastic turn and in place of the gentle snowfall from before, the heavens have opened with a torrential rainfall. Why? Possibly because of the steadily growing heat you suddenly feel burning up through the foundation of the layer and radiating out through the town. Will you investigate?

Comments

[crypddyd]

...

Hello Lord Ardyn, your city is very lovely.

[Lion says as he plods out from the melting mass of cooling lava and flowers, clots of both stuck to his hair.

Before falling face down on the pavement, practically re-dead]

[discutio]

Don't encourage him.

[unfortunately, phoenix cares a whole lot]

[schardynfreude]

...Perhaps my timing could have been better. Ought to tend to him...

[mementomoritz]

[Medic is already moving to try and get in healing distance of Lion as he falls, doing her best to brace his exhausted body up with her own almost comically smaller frame, so she's within easy earshot of him when he calls the city Ardyn's own.]

Oh! [She points excitedly with her free hand, her face lighting up.] Look, the street signs use an alphabet almost like Chinese, just like you said!

[She remembers. Of all the things they spoke about in that movie theater, what feels like a lifetime ago, she still remembers this.]

[Because it was new, and interesting. Because he was spending time with her, and it made her happy.]

[schardynfreude]

[He blinks, in surprise, and looks at the signage. A hand presses lightly to his chest, and a little laugh bubbles up.]

You remember a detail such as that?

[mementomoritz]

[She blinks, head tilted in that curious little motion she always seems to make when she's puzzled about something.] Of course, why wouldn't I?

It was interesting, I always remember interesting things!