cancry | meet and greet

If you've been paying any attention to the screens around Invidia (and it's honestly harder NOT to pay attention to them than it is to actually do so) then you'll be familiar with Esme, the woman whose face graces every single screen. Some initial poking around has revealed that Esme is a sort of idol to the people of Invidia, whose enviously glamourous life has taken the city by storm but that's more or less all you've learned so far.

But it looks like you might have the opportunity to learn more sometime soon.

Just as the dark sky of Invidia gives way to what passes for daytime, all of the screens in Invidia light up with the same video – it's Esme, perched on what looks to be a fancy throne in the middle of a white void, nothing to distract from the glaringly insincere sincere smile on her face as she addresses the camera.

"Good morning, lovelies! ❤ I've been soooooo busy with work and filming lately, I haven't had even a single second to see any of you in person! And what's the point of all that hard work if I don't even get to see your smiling faces at the end of it? So today we're having a very special event! For this afternoon only, I'll be on the Starlight Stage on the roof of our mall, all ready to shake hands and sign things and see all of you lovelies face to face again! Make sure you hurry on down to see me, okay? Bye-bye-bye! ❤"

With a wave and a sickly sweet smile to the camera, Esme signs off.

Looks like you've been given an opportunity to do a little investigating...

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[ She shrugs. ]

Who knows. Maybe? It makes about as much sense as anything else in Purgatory.

[ Which is to say: not a whole lot, but we're rolling with it anyway. ]

It's different for us, though. Eidolons. I know that much, at least. Once we start remembering, it's easier to keep remembering, because we know we're missing something. Specters just end up rotting away.

Edited 2020-10-11 01:23 (UTC)

...

[Another pause--at least he was listening rather than dismissing the idea out of hand.]

It's true that we've been operating on vague direction that I feel none of us truly understand. Perhaps that's been careless of us; as of the moment I don't know if preventing reincarnation entirely is a wise choice given that too could have unknown consequences, but it may be worth treading far more carefully in our actions.

I don't want to disappear myself, not before I at least understand who I was.

But the alternative is ending up a Revenant when the place has worn at you too badly, isn't it?

Some might think it better to live and die...well, 'die' as they choose, rather than be erased entirely. Is it wrong to fault them for that?

...I certainly don't want to be erased. But I also don't want to be stuck here in this dump for the rest of eternity.

[Medic frowns, looking thoughtful.] Do the Cogs force you to reincarnate, or do they just mean you can, if you choose to? I think we need a lot more data on this than we have.

Well, it would seem that's the entire purpose of Purgatory, isn't it? To make someone move past their mistakes in life.

Exactly. No matter how much you tried to push against it, you'd eventually be drawn down to the Cogs and get churned through them. No matter how happy you were here or how much you wanted to resist. It's a little messed up, right?

From that viewpoint, yes. But I'd rather not stay here forever, either.

Well? What else is there but this? What else could you even do?

So you'd let all these souls, all the specters, in this city and in others, just wither away and cease to be.

That's a little dramatic, don't you think? It's not like they disappear even if they do end up turning into Revenants.

But they will, eventually, all become those near mindless creatures. And then where will you be? No one left to cheer for you.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but people die all the time. Even if some of the old ones end up turning into Revenants, they'll always be new people showing up.

[He waves a hand like shooing a fly.] Of course, of course. All those people with all those sins. Surely they all come through here. It isn't as though it could ever become a trickle.

[And he leans forward, elbow propped on a crossed knee, chin delicately in hand. He's got A Thought.] You awoke at some point and you became this, yes? And, yes, you haven't necessarily seen anyone else do the same, but it's entirely possible someone could come along and take over, isn't it? Topple your little empire and have all the power? Humor me.

They could sure try but what would even be the point? How would they be able to top everything I've got? They couldn't. It's that simple. It'd be fun to see them try, though.

[ Look up "suicidal overconfidence" in the dictionary, gang. ]

You've got fans and a house. Sad little queen of a sad little hill. [Another flicking motion.] I've seen more impressive.

Been more impressive.

[It's a bold...lie given his memories, but the more she speaks, the less he thinks he's worth their time. There's something about all of this - and the words coming out of his mouth - that reverberate somewhere inside him. But he won't examine that too closely. Because it won't get him anywhere.]

You must have been a terribly sad girl in your life, to want everything so badly. Do you remember? You must have been lonely and ignored. Or simply ceaselessly greedy and narcissistic; these things tend to go either way with an envy so strong.

Are you actually going anywhere with this, or are you just really in love with the sound of your own voice?

[ Her tone is flippant, but her her smile has become considerably more thin and her eyes have narrowed, just a touch. ]

I'm told my voice can be quite sonorous.

But I am merely wondering about your memories, if you even have them, if they ever returned to your or if they withered away to naught but dust or if you simply woke up with a gaping need in your chest.

That's a pretty personal question.

[ She's not quite glaring daggers at him, nothing as overt as that, but her distaste is palpable. ]

How about this? You tell me what you remember and I'll tell you how much I remember.

Mmm...a fair trade.

[The question really becomes: how much of what he says should be the truth, and how much fabrication?]

I admit I don't have it all at the moment. I certainly recall a time when I was younger and, aha, livelier, full of love and joy for my beloved. How she loved to explore and discover and drag me along for the ride. [This is perhaps the most genuinely soft he's looked around Esme. But it's a subtle shift when it slides away again.]

I recall a grand throne room, and myself upon the chair, lording over all in my domain. I remember the city, oh, yes, not unlike this one--bigger, I would say, but the specifics and particulars in Purgatory are so flexible, aren't they? Buildings tall enough to pierce the sky, though they did not actually, and all the signs of a prosperous world within a world. Crown jewel of the land, a mighty capital, opulence and elegance in the details.

[None of it is a lie. Just...omission.]

It doesn't have a happy ending, as I recall, but such things rarely do.

[*Phoenix will remember that.]

meet and greet

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