Inside 71: All I Want For Thanksmas Is You

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"I'm not the best judge of that. What's this about carrying voices?" Albrecht looks a bit reluctant. "And you're a devil who... Doesn't devour lost souls?" He pats Rose on the back. "I've done a lot of things I shouldn't have. To be honest, I don't regret most of them. You don't need to be burdened by an old sinner like me."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

"No I... I ate several because another devil told me it would help them," Rose replies, looking down at the ground. "She said they wouldn't be suffering torments so long as I'm carrying them. And... I guess they aren't? But now they're all in my head shouting at me to do terrible things. And they can't hear me. They're all babbling over each other. To make matters worse more lost souls keep drifting into my garden and getting snared so more souls keep ending up in me even though I've only actually eaten three. I-"

She gives a shudder as another blossom grows in her hair, as she grows noticeably more beautiful.

And more terrifying.

A witch-king who lead his nation into depravity and ruin to feed his never ending hunger for dark power. His punishment? To be fed ashes until he burst asunder over and over again.

Rose heaves a sigh.

"They're all broken people. Everyone here, we're all broken people. But I thought maybe I could fix some of us? You don't seem so bad compared to some of the souls in me already. I though... maybe... maybe if I could lead you to redemption I could help the others, too?"

The infernal gives a mirthless laugh.

"I'm probably the worst devil ever, aren't I? Who's ever heard of a devil trying to rehabilitate lost souls?"

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"If I understand you," Albrecht looks doubtful, "You want permission to eat me and make me a voice in your head so that if you ever find a way to redeem people like me, I can go be free again." He shakes his head. "I don't like it. I've always lived by the strength of my body, and to just ride around in yours seems..."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

"Seems like cheating. No, I get it," Rose replies with a nod. "If I leave you here then some other devil will probably come along and snap you. I could make you into a devil too, I think, but I'm pretty sure you would end up as a succubus and you would have the same impulses toward being terrible that I have. I could eat you and make my garden a bit more hospitable and spit you out there along with the other souls, but then you're stuck in a bubble of stone under a lake of lava with a bunch of evil jerks."

She makes a sour face, sticking out her tongues.

Yes.

Both of them.

"Bleh... All the options are terrible."

Yes. All the options ARE terrible.

You know why?

"Hell sucks..."

Because of that.

Rose glances over at the old sailor. "So... what do you want me to do? I'm probably the only devil you're ever going to meet that'll ask for your opinion."

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"Those are all bad options. But two of them are prisons. There's only one that leaves me free. Make me a devil." Albrecht answers after a long wait. He's not sure what Rose will do to him. He can only find out by experience.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Rose takes in a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. She's been doing that a whole bunch.

It's an attempt to keep herself calm and her head clear in spite of the voices howling in her head. The ones that are big on corruption seem pretty enthusiastic about the route this conversation is going and that makes her feel kind of dirty. Any time the peanut gallery approves of something Rose takes that as an indication that it might not be the best plan.

But...

That's what the old sailor picked.

"Okay," Rose says, standing up and stepping away from Albrecht. "Okay. I'm not completely sure what's going to happen. But... okay. I don't know if this will hurt or not, but I'm sorry if it does."

And then she whips her tail around, the thorn protruding from the underside of the spade, and stings the old sailor. He should now have a nasty looking puckered wound oozing black tar. Rose's venom is quite the concoction, carrying in it not just the cocktails devised by the Queen of Poison, but also a tremendous amount of mercurial Dreamheart power as well. The Cursed Name. It's not just a dose of succubus, it's a dose of Buttercup, too. A source of corruption, though? Absolutely. But what will it do to a damned soul?

Rose only has the vaguest idea.

"Please don't be bad please don't be bad please don't be bad..." she begins muttering.

[bc56]

Dread Bog

Albrecht's eyes go very wide as he's stabbed. The wound heals over quickly, but the other effects are already showing. Albrecht's body is changing. A full, feminine figure forms, long flowing hair of clear water pouring down over her shoulders. A spade-tipped tail pokes out of her rear, bat wings unfold from her back, horns expand from her forehead. She gasps in a high, female voice, and reveals rows of sharklike teeth in her mouth. When the changes subside, she stares down at her striking, female figure. "This is... Different."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Rose hadn't been one hundred percent sure what to expect.

But... Really?

Considering what Sapphira's poison had done to her and Charcoal?

This isn't terribly shocking. Maybe the most surprising was how fast it acted. Could the dose that Rose got from Blossom have anything to do with that? Rose isn't sure.

But!

"Different like... bad different?" Rose asks cautiously. "You aren't feeling any loyalty to the Queen of Poison, are you?"

Rose is desperately hoping the answer to that question is no. Making devil minions means they're feel some loyalty to whoever made them, right? So if anything that should be directed toward herself and possibly Sekhmet. But then again, the free-willed nature of fae might mean this succubus/nymph mostly just feels a sort of desire to help like Rose does toward Sekhmet rather than being a full blown thrall like Charcoal was before she was purified.

Speaking of...

Rose tries to gaze into the new devil-fae's eyes. CAN she see into them? Can she look into her soul? Is it a mess of corruption? Or is it a point of mostly clear light orbited by black blobs? Rose is hoping for the latter.

[5a Violista]

[Some Street]

Obsidian actually doesn't know how to raise people from the dead yet; she only knows how to control undead. "Yeah! Thanks, I guess. Having rare talents is something I'm really good at."
The teenage girl reaches up to grab a branch, and pulls herself up. She hangs there, by one hand.

She reaches towards another branch, and switches over to hanging from that one. "So, yeah, you can ask, if you want."
Obsidian pauses. "So you know how dragons are supposed to collect things, right? I mean, everyone knows that." Well, Obsidian didn't but then two people told her about it. "I met one who said she collects friendship. And that sounds, like, so cool, right? But I didn't want to copy her completely, and decided that maybe I should steal hearts! and snatch sorrow! and things like that."

Obsidian twists herself from the branch.
"But, I mean...I haven't really stolen anyone's heart yet," she says. "Not really sure how you're supposed to do that. But I'm going to! one day!" She twists more, to directly face the levitating mouse. "Oh! Maybe you have ideas on how to steal a heart?"

[bc56]

Dread Bog

The new succubus shakes her head, scattering droplets through the air nearby. "No, not bad. Good, actually! I feel fresh, clean. A bit oily in spots." She stretches, feeling out her new form. "Wowie, this feels pretty nice. I'm really limber." Rose can't see this new being's soul. Remember, every time it was done before, there was physical skin to skin contact. "Who's this Queen of Poison?"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Wowie.

Yeah. Yeah! There's some Buttercup in there. There MUST be. This might actually do it. This might be the solution Rose is looking for. Sure she would have to spit out all the souls that she's got so far but who c-cares, right? She's plenty strong enough all her own. She doesn't need borrowed power. Not anymore. She can talk them through... maybe not repentance. At least a bit of regret. Something. Her new friend was definitely way more like a person after she woke him up. Maybe that would be the case still even with eaten souls?

Too many questions.

Too much to figure out still.

But... but she's going to do it. She promised.

"Clean is good!" Rose replies, smiling wide with both mouths. "And I guess a little oily can't be avoided. I'm like that, too. A bit of hellfire, a bit of oil? But we can overcome that, right?"

She reaches out to take her new friend by the hand and gaze into her eyes again. She has to be sure. She MUST be sure.

"We don't have to be bad. This is a new start. We can make better choices this time."

Then she makes a sour face at the mention of Sapphira.

"She's the one who tried to turn me into an awful meany. There are a bunch of really powerful devils like her who think lots of lost souls and all their meanness make them free, but they're wrong. I've seen them. They've still got light, deep down inside. It's just all gooped over. I'm going to find a way to help EVERYONE here. And I want you to help me help them, if you like?" the infernal gaiad says. "So! Introductions! Hi, I'm Rose! What should I call you, friend?"

[bc56]

Dread Bog

When Rose touches the nymph's hand and tries to look inside her, she can see the soul this time. Strands of darkness wind around her central light like rings of a planet. She's not exactly the same as Rose, but very similar. "I'm Elbe." She seems to consider that for a second. That wasn't her name before, was it? Well, it feels like it's her name now. What else would she call herself? Like many succubi and nymphs, she doesn't care about her state of dress. She's completely unclad and unashamed. And this too strikes her as something new, yet completely natural. "Rose is a pretty name. Like your flowers." She looks out over the vast swamp. "What do we do now?"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Words can not describe Rose's relief when she gets a glimpse of the naiad's soul. As with her own, there's some darkness, but the core of who she is? Bright and clean with maaaybe a few little icky spots.

"Thanks Elbe! I like them, too," Rose agrees. Then at the follow up question Rose puts her fists on her hips, throws out her chest, spreads her wings dramatically and says! "I have no idea! I'm kind of making this up as I go. I don't think there's really any precedent for what we're doing. You'll probably want to find a spot nearby to root first. Water's definitely not in any short supply, even if it DOES smell kind of gross."

Maybe a teensy bit more than kind of.

"I've got a rosebush on this little island, so I'll be able to pop over to here from my weald back in the scorching depths whenever I can to check up on you. Have you the stingy thing on your tail, too?" she asks, glancing back to try to get a better view of Elbe's tail. Given how malignant the Cursed Name is Rose is guessing that Elbe is going to have a way to spread it just like she can. Even if it might not take exactly the same form. "Because I think it might be a good idea to start finding lost souls to wake up like I did with you. Then we can talk with them and find out how terrible they are. I think some of them might be such meanies that they would still be terrible even if they were infernal faeries instead of normal devils. Like this one I met named Corpse Blossom. She was rotten."

In more ways than one.

"And be really REALLY careful about eating lost souls. They make you stronger but then they're in your head telling you to do bad things. Like if I had just eaten you instead of waking you up you would probably be telling me to beat people up so they're afraid of me and listen to what I say. That would have been bad for BOTH of us."

Rose just stands there staring at Elbe for a few moments before stepping forward to hug her.

"I'm so glad this worked out okay."

[bc56]

Dread Bog

Elbe is hugged! She hugs back quite willingly. "I don't think I want to root here." She scoops up a little of the water and sniffs it. Blech, it's all full of stinky muck. "A nice clean river would be a lot better." She pulls at her tail. That's an odd new feature, but again, completely natural. She squeezes the spade tip, and a little white sting, shaped like a shark tooth, protrudes out. "I've got one." Most of the advice goes over her head. Elbe's only been a devil for a minute now. She doesn't understand all of what Rose is talking about. She paces back and forth on the little island. She's certainly gotten the sexy succubus sway down already without thinking about it. "Do you think we should find other souls and convert them too?" She could be in charge! She likes that idea! "But maybe we could go back to the mortal world? I... I want to find out what happened. To my family."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

"I don't blame you," Rose replies with a laugh. "It's smelly and gross. It might just be temporary until you can find a better place. You can always leave an old spring or river to find a new one. Who knows! Your magic might even be able to clean up the water here a little. I've been using mine to clean up the hellfire that keeps popping up in my lava flows back home."

Then DOOP! goes the sting! Huh. Yeah, Elba's definitely looks different. She's got a fishy theme. Probably because of the bog.

"I think we should find other lost souls and convert them, too," Rose nods. "We just want to be careful with who we pick. Some lost souls might be so bad that we can't help them, not yet anyway. Just make sure to talk to them first before you sting. Find out who they are and why they're here."

At the mention of the mortal world Rose looks down at the little shrub she's grown on the muddy island. It's a patch of color and warmth in a very drab, bleak landscape.

"I can't make portals out of hell. Maybe I can learn eventually, but I can't do it yet. But there's a natural portal at the bottom of my caldera. It's under a lava river though and that wouldn't be very good for you. My friend though, Princess Sekhmet? She can make portals. I'm sure she must have made one back to the mortal world by now. So I'll head back to my weald and make sure she's okay. Then I'll tell her about you. We can come back and get you and you can set up in one of the nice rivers around the City and look into what happened to your family. Does that sound okay?"

Rose offers a genuine smile. "I'll come back for you, I promise. You'll just need to be REALLY careful around other devils. Most of them are really mean."

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"Do you have to go? I don't want to be alone here again." Elbe looks around. She remembers being abandoned on this rock for an untold time. It sucked. At least there's a rosebush this time. "Just... Go quickly." She waves Rose towards the bush, sinking into the water and disappearing beneath the waves.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

"I'll go quick, I promise," Rose says as she vanishes into the large rose hedge and emerges in the-

[Scorching Depths]

The bottom of the lava river is looking a little less bleak. Rose brambles are everywhere now, ignorant of the heat and pressure of the molten rock, deep burgundy blossoms shining with internal light. There are also burned corpses, lost souls, ensnared in the brambles and drifting like macabre buoys. The infernal gaiad emerges from the tangle of rose vines and immediately heads through the portal clutched within what looks like the trunk of a shattered, petrified tree. And, of course, that takes her right back to-!

[Brimstone Park]

Rose suddenly pops out of the caldera and immediately calls out!

"I'm here! I'm fine! Did Sekhmet make it out?"

It's hard to guess how much time has passed in Tartarus versus out here in the mortal world. The former seems like time passes MUCH faster compared to the latter.

[Shadowcaller]

Yone hops to her feet and stretches. Ah, free! And good that she didn't panic there, in the end.
Then, with a wave, the chariot appears next to her. By this time, I think the imps could have gotten it under control. Hopefully that includes the brakes.
She picks up her paintbrush again.
"Let me know once you've appointed someone to accompany me. And which of you was it operating the voice of that false-human?"

The imps in the chariot all look shocked and then quickly fly off screaming as they spot the freed Yone.

They're ignored by their boss however who only throws them a quick glance before turning back to Yona. "Huh... uh, the voice? That's the device's own actually. Can't let someone accidentally sell their soul now can I?" He grins as he crosses his arms over his chest. "It has some intelligence, but couldn't sell anything even if it wanted to as it's under my ownership. Not a perfect design yet but I have some ideas for adjustments for the future..." The imp lord looks back at the woman only to then turn to the imp that carried out the tome. "But here, this guy will follow you around for a bit." He declares with a gesture. "Just don't harm her, she'll just come back anyway."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Rose popping out of the park attracts attention. "Rose? Rose!" Sekhmet comes running down the caldera to give Rose a big hug. "You're alive! I thought for sure she would..." The tear stains beneath Sekhmet's eyes finish her sentence for her. She's not someone who's lost friends that way before. "Are you all right? What happened? Where have you been? How did you escape?"

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"Oof-" goes the Rose as she gets glomped the moment she surfaces. This is definitely the sort of greeting she would prefer over getting confronted by evil doubles. "I'm fine, I'm safe! I learned a bunch of REALLY important things! Just... wowie ZOWIE I'm so excited!"

And then she gives Sekhmet the lowdown. How she used the holy power Fate had given her at the church to flashblind Sapphira. How she had hidden in the swamp and got attacked by the centipedeel. How she met the spider devil and learned about eating lost souls. How she discovered eating lost souls, especially LOTS of them, probably lead to people like Sapphira and Terror being so awful despite there still being light deep down under all that corruption. How she searched for Sekhmet and met Terror. And most importantly-

"After I left the castle I was looking for a place to plant a rose bush and saw a lost soul stranded on an island. I woke him up and talked with him, a man named Albrecht. He had done some bad things but nothing SUPER terrible I was thinking maybe... I could talk him through repentance? He really missed his family. I asked him if he wanted me to leave him on the island, to gobble him up and carry him out with me, or to sting him and make him a devil too and he picked the last one."

Rose has got this giant, dopey grin on her face.

"He picked the last one and I was worried what if it made him like Charcoal before you cleansed her but it DIDN'T! He became an infernal naiad, a water sprite, and her soul was almost totally clean like what you did to me and Charcoal! She wants to be good Sekhmet! This is a new beginning for her to be a better person and not make the same mistakes she did before! She wants to come out here to the land of the living and find a nice clean river to live in. She wants to find out what happened to her family and her children and maybe her grandchildren. I promised that I would come find you and we would come back for her."

Gripping Sekhmet's shoulders, Rose says, "If you haven't returned the crown yet we need to go do that right away. But as soon as we're done we need to go get Elbe. She's been alone for so long, she deserves friends and companions."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"I, uh, already returned the crown." Sekhmet hung onto the other artifacts though. "I, uh, don't know about the bones, but the only special thing about the hair, uh, is that it's mine." She listens to Rose's story intently. "How did you?.. I, uh, think I need to take a look at your venom." Sekhmet's doesn't do that. Not even close. She closes her eyes and focuses. "I, uh, don't know where she is. Can you help me find her?"

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"Oh! Good. I'm glad they got it back. Were they happy we returned it?" Rose asks.

Then she takes Sekhmet's hand and closes her eyes as well.

Picture the swamp

Picture the little, lonely island out in the middle of it. And island with a rose bush growing on it, the only color in a vast bleak landscape. The blossoms shine like beacons in the gloom.

"Right there, out in the swamp. Even if you can't get us there exactly don't worry! I can tell where I've put my plants I'll be able to lead us there through the air."

Honestly being able to fly when you're traversing a bog is REALLY helpful.

Flying rather than slogging through the mud?

Rose will take that option any day of the week.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park -> Dread Bog

Rose can feel Sekhmet probing into her mind, taking every detail of the scene into account. Then the portal opens. There's Elbe, seated on the island. As the portal opens, a look of fear and panic falls on her face. She whips around, her tail lashing out instinctively...

And Sekhmet is right in the way, as she's coming through the portal. Could Rose stop this in time? Or will Sekhmet end up stabbed?"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Given that Sekhmet decided to go through the portal first and Rose is behind her?

She doesn't even see it happen, let alone have a chance react to it. By the time she has stepped through the portal herself Sekhmet has already been smacked with the stinger.

Rose just kind of stands there for a second.

Dumbfounded.

What would their venom even do to Sekhmet?

Would it do anything?

She's got iron in her body and she's really powerful some maybe hopefully nothing?

Rose moves quickly, placing herself between Elbe and Sekhmet with her arms and wings spread.

"Elbe no this is Sekhmet she's a friend!"

Sometimes friends sting friends. That's just how things go.

[bc56]

Dread Bog

Sekhmet raises her arm to block... And is stabbed in the arm. An oozing black wound appears there. She grabs at it in surprise as it already is fading, the venom absorbed into her. "Oh, I feel funny." She stumbles, and when she catches her balance, her gait has changed, no longer her usual careful, measured step but the seductive sway of a succubus. She subconsciously adjusts the neckline of her dress. These clothes feel so restrictive! She needs something lighter, more breathable. A single lotus blossom sprouts in her hair, but she doesn't notice. "Okay, uh, you're Elbe? Let's, uh, get you out of here."
"Sorry I stung you. I panicked when I heard your portal opening."
"Let's just get out of here before we, uh, attract attention."

[Rebonack]

[Back to Brimstone Park!]

Okay that flower is conspicuous.

But...

It doesn't seem like the string really did much of anything to Sekhmet? That's probably good. She's already a succubus right? Because that's what her mother made her? And a little Dreamheart magic never hurt anyone, anyway. "Come on, back out this way."

Rose will lead the way back out of the portal and onto the edge of the caldera at Brimstone Park. It's pretty hot here, but thankfully not set people on fire spontaneously hot. Rose gestures at the springs further away from the caldera, as well as the stream that runs out of the park and into Steele River nearby.

"Welcome back to the land of the living!" Rose declares. "I've got that stream flowing out of my park here if you wanted to check that out. It's a little on the warm side and not that big. Or if you wanted to try something a little bigger there's Steele River right over there. Inside has a few rivers flowing through it, so you've to a few to choose from. Or-"

She points off into the distance. "The bay isn't too far away, if you wanted to settle down somewhere a bit more salty. But after how you died maybe you won't want to spend more time in the sea than you have to."

Being a bay naiad is definitely an option.

Then?

Rose will fuss over Sekhmet. "Are you sure you're okay, Princess?"

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"I think I'll rest in the stream for a bit before going to look for somewhere all my own." Elbe heads over to the stream and dives in with a splash.

"I'm fine. I, uh, think I could do with a dip in the hot springs after, uh, that adventure." She immediately begins removing her dress, without any care for the people watching. That's probably the first major sign that something's different about her. She made a major fuss about changing in private and staying decent before. But maybe Rose thinks that it's good for her to be warmed up to and flaunting her beauty a little? She did express that sentiment before.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

Rose waves to the departing naiad. Wowie! This story sure has gone well, hasn't it? They got the crown back AND they made a new friend and Rose is just STUFFED with potential maybe friends? She still needs to decide how she's going to approach that. Maybe wake the lost souls up one at a time? Get to know them and a little better and find out if they would make good nymphs or if maybe she should just keep them contained? It's while pondering these things that Rose heads over to the boiling spring and slips right in.

She dunks her head and just...

Stays underwater for a little while.

She can feel the scalding spring water just scouring away all the muck she had been swimming through and frankly it feels GREAT! Rose even opens her maw and gurgles some scalding water to get that bog-taste off her tongue.

Popping her head back above the surface and giving her hair a deft flick, she smiles back at Sekhmet and-

Huh.

She's just changing right there?

This part of the park is a little secluded from the springs Rose had set up for mortals to bathe in. After all, she didn't want anyone cooking themselves on accident. It's hedged off by those lattices of volcanic stone covered in climbing rose brambles. But even with the privacy this part of the park has Sekhmet had STILL wanted to use one of the little changing rooms Rose had fashioned before.

Maybe she was finally getting comfortable with who and what she is? That talk with Fate she had must have really impressed on her how important it was to be herself!

"Hey Sekhmet? When you disappeared were you talking with Fate?" Rose asks, gazing up from the boiling spring at her friend.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet tosses aside her dress and underclothes and slides into the spring next to Rose. "I, uh, can't talk about it. Literally." She shakes her head. "If I tried, I'd be, uh, struck mute." What happened for those few minutes is for her and her only. She is not allowed to speak about it to anyone else. "Why do you ask?" She gets herself comfortable and undoes her ponytail, shaking her neck to let her hair hang free. "Ahhh, this feels delightful."

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

No bathing suit at all? Just hopping into the water and enjoying it?

Yes, Rose is in agreement with you here, Sekhmet.

This is the way.

"Oh wowie, really? It must have been something special and important," Rose replies thoughtfully. "Everything just happened so quickly I was curious where you went."

Honestly she was kind of curious if Fate said anything about HER.

For good reason, too. There have been a few really suspect things happening to and around Rose of late. She decides to voice her thoughts.

"By all accounts I don't think I should have survived punching your mom in the nose. She should have gutted me, but she missed. Then there was that holy light. And Elbe! She became a naiad instead of a devil. Though I guess she's pretty devily still... But! I think Fate was maybe helping me too? Because a lot of the stuff that happened while I was in hell turned out pretty okay!"