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

[discutio]

I think she's right. And I certainly don't think I'm making a mistake--or rather, if I am I simply don't care. I meant every word I said to you before, and this time I intend to follow through on that promise rather than prioritize something so foolish as seeking some undesirable end for the good of the world.

[The world meant nothing to him, after all. In another world, another time, perhaps he would have spoken that sentiment aloud and refused to accept the outcome laid before them. Refused to let the greater good necessitate sacrifice. Selfish? Probably. But he didn't care much about that, either.]

Whatever comes of this, I have long since chosen my own path--to stand at your side, wherever that leads. No matter what either of us become in the process. I chose to do what Ignis would not, so that neither of us need be left alone again. However...I think that Medic's idea is a worthwhile pursuit to examine. Whether it is possible to accomplish or not, I would know that we tried to strike upon our own path rather than take a road laid out before us.

[He held out a hand towards Ardyn, smiling with something bright and dangerous.]

Ardyn...let's all break down this world and rebuild it from the ashes into something greater. Together. Whether we should succeed or fail...better that than never to have bothered dreaming of something better.

[emberserker]

[Anger flashes across her face, but when nothing happens, Wolfsbane stays where she is and surveys the group.

She's thoroughly sick of Purgatory, but it's true -- the whole thing needs fixing. Not just the Cogs.]

Rejecting fate because it wasn't fair... tch, I really would be a heretic. Then again, by this point perhaps I already was. So we're compromising, then? Change the system, but nobody has to stay?

[schardynfreude]

...

[He looks around at those remaining, eyes narrowed, a look of suspicion, uncertainty.]

If that...is truly what you agree to.

[#doubt, but apparently that seems to be where people are leaning.]

We break this wide, wide open. We reach into the center of this mess, and we rearrange it to our wills. We do away with these ridiculous concepts of sin, we tear apart the Cogs that would see everyone possible chewed up and spat out, and we rewrite this wretched reality into one that does not erase what is already there if it isn't desired. One that involves stepping forward only when one makes the choice to. We don't lose ourselves unless we truly desire that kind of oblivion.

We don't simply leave the system the way that it is. As this nonsensical hell.

[He reaches out a hand--and familiar stairs form at the base of the Citadel. Each one appearing in a sparkle of pink crystal that Chiron- Ardyn- is known for, one at a time, up and up, up past the darkness that lingers overhead and disappearing to, in theory, connect to the sheer cliff above.

He reaches out his other hand, and instead crystal, a smoky substance, like pneuma made gaseous, on the other side of the Citadel. It swirls for several moments before through the purple-black haze, a path downward.]

Don't disappoint us.

[discutio]

My dear, have I done anything to disappoint you yet?

[That smile, dangerous and defiant and full of mad possibility, hadn't left Phoenix's face.]

Let's find out what kind of end we can bring this to. Whatever may come of it, I'll be at your side.