Inside 71: All I Want For Thanksmas Is You

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"It sounds like it. Uh, everything goes a little weird around me. Things that shouldn't work do, things that should work don't, uh, things like that. Sekhmet looks a little uncertain. "I, uh, think the most I can say is that I'm the most important piece in a, uh, very important game. I don't know what it's, uh, leading to myself." She still hasn't noticed the flower in her hair.

[Recaiden]

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."

Yone laughs, but a little sadly. Poor dumb imps.
"Like a machine would, empty words. That's clever, then."
She looks over to the indicated imp.
"You're a woman, then? And you'll just come back if injured, how does that work?"
"Don't worry, though. I wouldn't hurt a fly." Well, maybe accidentally.
"Hop aboard the chariot when you're ready."

"Is there any other information we can include in our warning?"

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

Rose laughs.

It's a clear, bright, warm sound. Like a comfy fire in a hearth at home on a cold day.

"Sekhmet, I think maybe EVERYTHING doesn't work the way it's supposed to in the Nexus. This place breaks the rules so much it's legendary. That's why I came here after I retired from adventuring. I had heard anything's possible here and I though 'hey if I could ever find a way to free myself from a soul contract it'll be here'. And now look at me!"

Rose gestures at herself, spreading her wings a little.

She's definitely quite a bit to look at. Especially after eating those souls.

"Sure I've got a few more limbs than I had before, but now my soul's in the free and clear!"

Rose seems pretty happy about that outcome.

"Hehe, well, being called the Fated One usually means someone is pretty important! What's this game you're talking about?"

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet sinks a bit lower in the water. Why did she ever bathe with a swimsuit on? It just prevented her from getting everything warm and wet properly. It certainly was less comfortable. "I don't really know. The game is just a, uh, metaphor. I'm not sure what all of it means yet." She starts to explain. "It's called 'purification.' The two players try to, uh, remove the other from the mortal world by controlling neutral pieces. The goal is to be the first to remove one of your opponent's pieces, they represent the angels and the Archfiends, from the game, and then you play again until one side is out of pieces."

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"That's probably why your mom wanted you to join her since that would help her win," Rose reasons. "But that'll definitely never happen! You aren't mean like her, not even a little bit."

Rose can't help but wonder Sekhmet's ability (and hers too, apparently!) to cleanse lost souls is going to be a major factor. If she can spread light and brightness and kindness through hell then wouldn't that eat the power base of the arch devils out from under them?

Some many questions.

So many possibilities.

It's kind of exciting!

Rose has no idea what will happen but she's sure it'll be wonderful.

Speaking of wonderful, "You've got a flower in your hair, Sekhmet," Rose points out, reaching with one hand to brush a lotus petal with her finger. "I think maybe Elbe's sting might have left a little Dreamheart magic in you."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Thanks, Rose." Sekhmet's heard that she isn't like her mother many times, but it never stops being very meaningful to her. Then Rose pokes at her flower. Her hands fly up to her hair, where the lotus blossom is nestled. She pulls on it gently. "Oh, that's odd. It won't come out." It's definitely a part of her hair. "What does that, uh, mean? The, uh, dreamheart magic?" She lets the flower sit and tries to get a glimpse of her reflection in the water. "Oh! That's pretty!" She does a sexy pose at the water, keeping the flower well in view.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"It's very pretty. It look nice on you," Rose agrees with a kind, supportive smile. "It's like mine! Just a different sort of flower. I'm not feeling like your name is Lotus, so it definitely didn't make you gaiad like me. Just a little bit of wild growth."

Rose's tone suggests that this isn't a bad thing.

"I read up on it a little after the Buttercup thing happened Inside. In some worlds there's this thing called the Dreamheart. It's where souls come from I guess? But it's like... have you ever read any of the old stories about how the gods made the world? In a lot of them BEFORE they made the world there was chaos. And that chaos could be made into anything. That's what the Dreamheart is. The oldest, deepest magic from before world. The magic of creation. Dreams are born out of it. And faeries, too. Like me! You didn't get much dream magic so it's just leaving a little mark on you. That flower in your hair."

And the sting did absolutely nothing else.

Not even one thing.

Clearly.

"Once the magic gets used up the flower will probably wilt and fall off and you'll be fine."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Okay, uh, that doesn't sound so bad." Sekhmet smooths out her hair and admires her flower a bit more. "How long will that take? Maybe Prumathe should see me with this? What do you think he'd think?"

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"I don't think it's even a little bit bad," Rose says with a firm nod. "It's what let me give Elbe a new start as a naiad that's kind of succubus-y instead of just making her into a mean, nasty, awful succubus. I think the goop Sapphira used was just meant to make devils out of fae but what I've ended up with is definitely different. You wanted to get a better look at the venom, right?"

That question asked, Rose scoots a bit further into the pool and lifts her tail out of the water, holding up the spade with its thorn so Sekhmet can examine it if she wants to.

"I'm not really sure what you're expecting to see. It's just black ooze. Unless you've got a magic way of looking at it?" Rose inquires, peering back over her shoulder at Sekhmet.

Well.

There it is Sekhmet you said you wanted to see it.

The barb looks like it just sort of folds out from the underside of Rose's tail spade like the claw on a cat. It's wickedly sharp and glistens like oil on water.

Probably don't get stuck with it again, Sekhmet.

"From everything I know about Prumathe he's going to think you're beautiful no matter what, my Princess," Rose says confidently. "And he's right, too."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Not now, I, uh, need to take a sample," Sekhmet explains. "I don't want to expose myself to it, uh, again accidentally. Even if it doesn't seem to, uh, do anything serious. Better safe than, uh, sorry." Sekhmet leans back, letting some parts of her body rise out of the water. "You're right about Prumathe. But I, uh, like that about him. Although sometimes I, uh, want an honest answer about whether I look good."

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"Oh..." Rose replies a little sheepishly, turning back around and ducking into the water. She's feeling kind of embarrassed now. "A sample, that makes sense..."

Duh.

Of course she meant a sample, Rose.

Why would you think she just wanted to look at it?

Probably because Sekhmet was able to look into Rose's soul just by making contact. Apparently that is a thing devils can do? Rose really needs to get a better handle on how this stuff works.

Thankfully the subject changes!

"I'm definitely serious. The soft blue goes well with your dark hair. I've got these really dark purple roses-" she says, poking at one. "But I've got black hair, too. So they don't stand out as much as they would if they were a lighter color."

Rose really doesn't have any control over the color of her hair flowers. Though given how many varieties of rose there are she's kind of curious why she got THAT one.

Boy, Sekhmet sure is worried about her appearance. It's almost as if she didn't know...

Wait.

DOES she know?

"Hey Sekhmet? If you're ever worrying over how you look you know you can just change how you look, right? You're a succubus, same as me. Same as your mom too, I think? They can naturally change how they look to make themselves attractive to anyone," Rose says, rising out of the water a little and holding both hands over her face. When she pulls them away she's a completely different woman! Blond haired, much lighter skin tone, blue eyes, rather on the slender side quite unlike Rose's curvy shape. "Tada! Part of the deal I got back when I was a warlock was a succubus' natural shape-shifting, so I've done this a WHOLE lot. It's actually really easy once you get the hang of it."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"I'm not a..." You are, Sekhmet, you are. Look at yourself. See how you're acting. How could you not be? Then Rose changes. "Wow! How did you... I could?" Sekhmet seems flabbergasted for a second. "Could you, uh, teach me?"

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"I'm PRETTY sure you are. You've got the right shape and the right accessories," Rose replies, waving vaguely at Sekhmet's wings and horns and tail. "But since you were born as a tiefling I don't think you got all the right instincts to go along with it. I bet you needed to learn how to fly through trial and error, right?"

She did.

There was crashing.

So, so much crashing.

"Which means you weren't born with the knowledge of how to be a succubus. Which is probably for the best, really. When a succubus decides that they want to be mean they can be REALLY mean. They're actually a lot like wildling fae, now that I think about it," Rose comments thoughtfully. Corrupting and seducing and consigning anyone who falls for their wiles to hell. Not great.

"Okay, so, first thing first. You need to start by getting a really good mental image of what you want to look like. It's usually easiest to start by trying to mimic someone who's nearby," Rose says. "Once you have a good mental image you just-"

A beat.

"Hmm... I'm not really sure how to describe it. I've never actually had to put this in words before. You just kind of... suffuse yourself with the magic and let it rearrange you? That's probably a terrible explanation."

Rose really isn't a great teacher. At least not when it comes to spellwork. Now, if she needed to teach someone how to create scrolls or the proper footwork to use when fencing with a great sword against someone using a polearm? She could do a REALLY good job of explaining that.

[5a Violista]

[Visiting Brimstone Park's Springs]

Venus decided to keep her promise and come visit Brimstone Park, some time after the Thanksmas party.

She's wearing a way-too-big T-shirt and a wrap skirt. She's got a hat, too, but...still no shoes. Shoes are hard when she can change what her lower half looks like. (It looks human right now.)

...
It's only when she gets to the park that she realizes that she didn't decide on a way to communicate with Rose. Or even know if she's here. She could be out.

. . .
Well, if she's not here, then she can always come back later, right? Get to know the layout of the springs first, or something like that.
Venus looks at the springs. Yeah, honestly, it looks pretty nice. Not quite popular yet, but there are several people here. Not wanting to intrude on them, she looks at the rose bushes. Roses are so fun to draw; she really should have brought something to draw them on.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"I, uh, did." Sekhmet rubs her head. She remembers a lot of bruises from those days of practice. Sekhmet looks at Rose. "Do you, uh, mind if I look like you?" That would be easiest to imagine. She focuses on Rose's appearance. "Okay, uh, get a mental picture, then, uh, fill myself with magic." A crackle of fiendish power runs across Sekhmet's skin. She shifts her weight slightly and runs a hand through her hair. "Let it, uh, change me." She closes her eyes. Nothing happens. She's still holding the power, charged and ready. She's still focusing on the way Rose looks. But she doesn't change.

[Rebonack]

[Visiting BPS]

Shoes are kind of a problem when your feet can be hooves, aren't they? Especially deer hooves. Does anyone even make shoes for deer hooves? They definitely wouldn't be able to work like horse shoes. Not even a little bit! Maybe Venus could try keeping a little bag with her to put her shoes on when she wouldn't need them? And then when there aren't any shoes in the bag it could be used to hold other useful things like pretty rocks or unusually shaped pieces of driftwood. The lack of shoes might be a problem today, though, given that it's snowing in earnest.

Regardless!

Brimstone Park is a pretty interesting municipal park for sure. It covers four blocks, give or take, with about a third of its area devoted to the lava-filled caldera on its south-west side. The caldera is protected by not one, but TWO rose hedges so even if someone manages to climb over the first prickly fence they'll have a second one to contend with before they actually reach the rim of the caldera. This is, no doubt, to make it harder for people to fall into the lava while trying to take the perfect selfie. There are several raised viewing platforms, however, for anyone who really wants to be admire a big hole in the ground full of molten rock from a safe distance.

The rest of the park is given over to a series of thermal water features. The hot springs are the most popular, of course. Rose hedge screens provide some privacy and there are even some little hedge-based changing rooms. One of the hot spring pools has been commandeered by a bunch of red faced monkeys lounging in the water, their fur dusted in snow.

Aside from the springs there are also several geysers, vents, and even a few bubbling mud-pots. The park also sports a few picnicking tables but they're pretty well covered in snow right now and most people aren't going to be considering out door dining on such a cold day.

As Venus is admiring the roses she may be quite surprised when a nearby mound of basalt sort of... shifts... and an oread pops out of it! Like most nymphs she looks like an attractive human woman, though she has volcanic glass for hair. That isn't her only odd feature, though. She also has two curly ram-like horns that look like they're made of obsidian, a pair of bat-like wings, and a tail with a little spade at the end. She seems to have had the good sense to fashion a dress for herself out of shimmering black material. All the stone on her body is iridescent, flashing with greens and pinks and purples when the light hits it just right.

"Hi! You're a gaiad, right? Like Rose?" the oread/succubus says from her perch atop her boulder. "She's on the other side of the portal at the bottom of the caldera right now, but she'll be back in a little bit. I think she's busy making some new friends."


[Brimstone Park]

Rose waits with anticipation!

...and nothing happens.

HMM!

Sekhmet appears to be missing something important.

"Okay I think you're still holding onto the magic," Rose says as she wades through the water to look at Sekhmet from a few different angles. "Yeah. You've got it all bottled up. You need to let go and let it do its job. It just needs some direction and a little push."

[5a Violista]

[Visiting BPS]

The problem is that you need shoes that come off easily and can be put back on easily.
And Venus hasn't really found any good-quality flip-flop sandals. They're all cheap and trashy. Hardly any of them have actual soles, and their between-the-toe part is plastic and uncomfortable, and they're thin and break easily and...all-around cheap and trashy. Seriously, it's so hard to find shops that sell decent-quality flip-flops, and she doesn't really know any of the local brands to know which are okay and which aren't just by looks.
Can't even just go with her old tennis shoes, since one pair was stolen by some kids and the other went missing when she first gained deer hooves, and June needs the other pair of shoes they have for work. And buying other clothes has actually had more precedence over buying new shoes so far.

...
Plus, when she thought 'lava' and 'hot springs' she imagined the ground would be warmer.
Luckily, walking on toes seems to help. Maybe it's just in her imagination, or maybe it's because her toes went a little numb, but it probably helps. Honestly speaking, she probably should be walking around on just deer-lower-body to get around this problem, but she still doesn't trust that she won't get murdered or arrested just for existing, if she does that.

Venus, seeing no need to visit the caldera, is glad that it's fenced off.

"Oh! Um. Hi!" she says to the oread/succubus. Venus nods. "Yeah. I'm Venus. I met Rose not long ago." Looking over in the direction of the caldera, she is relieved. "Oh, good. I wasn't sure if she'd be here or not. Looks like I'll just have to wait, then."
She looks back at the rock-lady. Oh, wow, does that dress look good. "So...hi. Nice to meet you."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Let it go?" Sekhmet seems uneasy. She always keeps a tight leash on her magic. "Oh, uh, okay..." She nervously loosens her grip and lets the magic wash through her. She feels the same feeling she did when her mother bestowed on her her succubus's figure, of her body shifting and reorganizing itself, and a moment later...
"Stars! It worked!" Sekhmet stares down at her pale hands in wonderment. She pats her head. There are no horns there. She feels her back. There are no wings or tail either. She brushes a lock of blond hair out of her face. "Wow! This is incredible! I'm human!" Sekhmet twirls around excitedly. "I, uh, need a mirror!"

[Rebonack]

[Visiting BPS]

Venus may have to eventually just knuckle under and get some not-great sandals. Maybe she can find someone who makes old fashioned traditional style sandals? That would be neat, right? Because otherwise her feet are definitely going to get too cold.

While it's true that the ground IS pretty warm near the caldera that warmth doesn't really reach beyond the park. The walk over probably wasn't fun.

"I'm Obsidian," the oread replies. She is definitely not a dragon and should not be mistaken for one. "Nice to meet you too, Venus!"

The oread then spends the next several seconds of relative silence humming and kicking her feet a bit from atop the boulder.

She seems a bit restless.

"Hey, has Rose told you about what she's doing on the other side of the portal?" Obsidian asks. "It leads to a fiery, lava filled part of hell."

Oh that doesn't sound great.


[Brimstone Park]

"Let go," Rose confirms.

And then, just like that, it works!

Rose laughs at Sekhmet's delight. Not a mean sort of laugh. One of those delighted 'I'm having fun along with you' laughs.

"See? It's really easy. You're a natural. I don't..." she looks around, as if expecting a mirror to just suddenly appear in the hot spring nearby. "I don't think I've got any mirrors here. Hold on a second, let me ask around."

Then her form just kind of dissolves into the pool.

Sekhmet will be left alone for a few minutes.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Rose leaves and Sekhmet is left alone with a burning urge to play with her newfound power. After a moment of thought, she transforms again.

By the time Rose returns, she's gone through the shapes of several friends, and is currently a slight, pink-haired woman. Unfortunately, Rose probably doesn't recognize Geneva. It was a relatively easy shape for Sekhmet. She's been Geneva before, in a manner of speaking. "Hi Rose! Did you find a mirror?"

[5a Violista]

[Visiting BPS]

It wasn't a fun walk over.
Fortunately, it wasn't her first time walking barefoot through snow, either, so it was about what she expected.

Walking isn't actually that bad because you're still moving. But just standing here makes it worse, so Venus starts bouncing on her feet.

"Oh, that sounds weird," Venus says. Then, she adds, "No, she hasn't told me about her plans there. When we talked, she was still trying to decide how to do hot springs. Looks like she already finished all of that."

She looks around. . .
There's just an oreo here, so it should be fine, right? No cops and no murderers, and besides, this is Rose's place. Probably safe.
Venus steps aside to a place that looks like it might be more obscured from the public, and turns away from Obsidian. She pops off her face, and replaces it with one that looks exactly the same.
Except now she's shorter and has a deer for a lower body. It's better for the cold, apparently. Still got all the same clothes, though.
She turns to face Obsidian again, to continue the conversation. "So, what are her plans for that part, anyway? Not that Venus thinks she'll ever see it, anyway, because, y'know, lava.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Buttercup, You're Under Arrest!]

"I don't think she can talk through me?" Buttercup replies, looking thoughtful. "That's what the summoning dance was for. If it had worked, then Big Mama Buttercup would have been able to talk through one of us and do magic through one of us and lots of things!"

The 'lots of things' probably wouldn't have been great for Inside.

"Oh yeah! You could always got to the Enchanted Forest to talk to her! There should be a great big threshold tree in the middle of the weald one of my sisters grew into. You just walk through there and then you're in the forest."

That's probably the magical forest Nick was talking about.

"I haven't been to the forest yet, I'm sure it's really pretty. Maybe we could go together!"

Because friends do things with other friends. That's just what friends do.

"No, Big Mama Buttercup isn't talking to me right now. I think she just had the one thing to say to make you feel better and safer," Buttercup reasons. Then she pouts when Ithuriel insists something crazy! "It does TO make friends. It makes more friends named Buttercup. That's why we do it. But not right now, because it makes people who aren't Buttercup scared sometimes."

[Buttercup, You're Under Arrest!]

Ithuriel raises an eyebrow and makes a note. "Really? Sounds like she can't come here normally then." So clearly if they just put all the Buttercups somewhere else-

No, she wouldn't do that. She still kind of wants to go with the "punch some sense into the queen" strategy.

"We've been over this already, making "friends" by forcibly changing someone into Buttercup is not making friends, it's stripping a person of their identity, their personality, everything that makes them them. You mentioned having a partner, didn't you? How do you think they'd feel knowing the person they love is gone?"

Wait, Ith, you're letting yourself get distracted!

"...we'll come back to that. Do you have any way of getting her attention?"

[Rebonack]

[Visiting BPS]

Obsidian leans forward on her boulder, smiling wide. She is SO excited about the plan!

"Okay, so, you know how hell is full of lost souls right?" she begins because of COURSE everyone knows that hell is full of lost souls. Like, duh. That's just common knowledge. But she still wants to say that just in case Venus doesn't know that. Obsidian hasn't been in the Nexus very long but from the few people she's talked to she figured out pretty quickly that it's really strange here and sometimes people don't know about things that everyone should know about. "Well, most of the time devils gobble up the souls after they've been tormented for a while and get stronger but then the soul is ALSO telling them to do whatever sorts of sins they got thrown into hell for. But sometimes devils don't do that. Sometimes they turn the soul into a new devil because they want a minion."

Minions can be very helpful.

Leaning even further, on the veeeery edge of her boulder, Obsidian adds, "But Rose? She's different. She doesn't turn lost souls into devils she turns them into infernal nymphs, like me! And because I'm not a devil that means I don't have to be mean and horrible. It's a new start! A chance for me to do better than I did when I was human! Ooooh and it gets better! Because when we turn a lost soul they become an infernal nymph, too! There aren't that many of us, yet. But I think if we are careful and approach this tactically we might be able to take over hell and redeem EVERYONE!"

Obsidian gives a little clap and a squeal of glee. She just can't help herself. "And I don't mean to brag but I'm really good at strategy and tactics and leading armies so I'll probably get to help! Isn't that EXCITING!? Wowie, I just can't wait!"


[Brimstone Park]

"Ooh, the pink hair is cute," Rose says cheerfully. "Who's that?"

Then?

She holds up a little palm mirror for Sekhmet to look at herself with. It isn't a very big one. Probably just meant to help apply makeup.

But hey, it's something right?

"I borrowed the mirror from a guy who's bathing at one of the springs! I told him what it was for and he was happy to let you use it so long as he gets it back."

[5a Violista]

[Visiting BPS]

Venus blinks.
No, she didn't know that.
Or that.
Or that.
To be honest, she's kinda lost most of the time that Obsidian is talking. If she were going through it slower, she could have puzzled out what she was saying. But by the time Obsidian gets to taking over hell and redeeming everyone, Venus is still back trying to figure out what 'gobbling up a soul' is an analogy for and how devils became trustworthy enough to visit hell and why Obsidian seems to think souls can even become minions to devils when the power differential is clearly pointing in the other direction...
Deer-in-headlights.

...
If Obsidian only used one or two of the words that Venus knows means something different than she has ingrained, then she figures she could have used context clues to figure out what she means. But Obsidian used four of those words in just a single sentence.
"U-um, sorry," Venus says, "I have no idea what you're talking about. You're going to take over some place, I get that."

She looks around, takes a breath, and decides maybe asking specific clarifying questions will help. "In the first place, what are souls even doing in hell? More importantly, why are devils there? For that matter, doesn't redemption require willful choice? If you're going to force redemption on everyone, how is that any different from what devils wanted to do?"
She blinks again.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"She's a friend. Uh, she helped me learn to use some of my other powers." Sekhmet takes the mirror and looks at herself, laughing. "Wow, I look just like her!" She looks at Rose and seems to ponder for a second. "I wonder if I could do you?" She focuses, and her appearance changes again. "I can!" Sekhmet looks exactly like Rose. She lifts a hind leg experimentally. "Uh, this is really different."

[Rebonack]

[Visiting BPS]

It sure is fortunate that Venus is already half a deer since that makes deer-in-headlights reactions much more natural to her.

Obsidian's enthusiasm drains a little when Venus clearly isn't sure what she's talking about and, thus, lacks her enthusiasm.

"Oh, sorry. It seems like the same words mean different things to different people here. Rose said that's just the way things are in the Nexus," she sighs. Oh well. She'll have to take things from the top won't she? Clearly what she's talking about and what Venus THINKS she's talking about must be totally different things.

Okay.

First question.

"Being tormented for their sins?" Obsidian replies, a bit puzzled. She was SURE everyone knew that's what hell was for. What's the point of even having hell if not to punish the wicked? "Like I got chased through a swamp by faceless foes until this GIANT centipede devil ate me. But Rose rescued me from the centipede and carried me around for a little while until she figured out how to wake me up! Then she told me about what she wanted to do and how it was a chance for a new beginning and I told her I wanted to help, too so here I am!"

And that's Obsidian's story.

"Some of the lost souls haven't wanted to help Rose, like this REALLY mean sorcerer king! He's just gross and terrible so he didn't get turned into a nymph. Most devils don't really ask lost souls if they want to be a minion or anything. They just turn them into one or eat them. Rose only wants the help of people who WANT to be better. There are a lot of people like that in hell, people who realize that what they did in life really wasn't worth it. But some are just PURE evil," Obsidian recounts. "I know I did some really mean things and I feel pretty bad about it now, but this is my chance to do something good instead."

That other question, though? "What do you mean why are devils in hell? Where else would they be?"

That's a weird question, Venus.


[Brimstone Park]

Rose grins like an idiot when Sekhmet mimics her. "I know right? The back legs felt normal because of the Buttercup thing but I bet they must be REALLY weird to just have them all of a sudden. They aren't the weirdest thing, though, check this out."

And then?

Rose opens the maw on her lower body.

"Haha look at it, isn't it spooky?" she asks. "Like this GIANT mouth right in the middle of me. When it chomped up a lost soul the first time it really startled me; I didn't even know it was there."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Aaah!" Sekhmet backpedals, startled, but recovers. "It, uh, actually isn't that strange. I, uh, think the magic might be compensating for, uh, changes in shape." She climbs back into the hot spring. "Ahhh." The way it soaks into her salamander body is great. She can see why Rose likes this.

[5a Violista]

[Visiting BPS]

Oh no
Obsidian answer questions is spawning even more questions! She didn't mean why were souls in hell, she meant how were souls in hell. "But, like, what's even the point of hell if you torment people there? That just sounds ridiculous," she says, mostly to herself, since, to be frank, Venus understanding the answer to that question is largely irrelevant to understanding Rose's master plan to conquer hell.

Venus shifts in place.
She listens.
Okay, she thinks she's starting to get what Obsidian's meaning. (Though, to be honest, this would be a whole lot easier if everyone just decided to use different words when they mean different things and not use the same words to mean different things.)
And, devils, "Where else they would be? That's..." she was going to say 'obvious' but obviously it's not obvious because they both think different things would be obvious. "That's...they'd be in the world, where everyone el-" She pauses, and waves her hand to brush away any further discussion of this. "Wait, no, discussing theology has nothing to do with the point of the matter. The point is, I think I get what you're saying now."

Venus places both her hands in front of her, with the hand vertical to sort-of make a box. "There's this pointless place made by some sadistic son-of-a-gun."
She raises and lowers the hands. "You were there, and you died and also got eaten by bugs."
Her left hand hand moves to the left and then back to the right, and then back to the left, to symbolize someone coming to that box and then leaving. "Rose rescued you and brought you back."
And the hand goes back to the right, and her other hand raises upwards and turns palm-down. "And now y'all are going to reclaim it and rescue more people."

Venus looks up at Obsidian, to check to make sure she understood it. "Is...is that right?"
Because,
if so,
Yes! She understood it! Not only that, but "Oh, that sounds really great!" There's the enthusiasm Obsidian was initially hoping for. "Is there any way I can help out or do you know if there's anything I can do?"

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"Haha, are you kidding? It's definitely that strange," Rose counters. "Hmm... I wonder if it can..."

She purses her lips tight and then begins making really creepy hissing and gurgling noises with the maw. After a few seconds of disturbing monster noises she gives it a look of consternation.

"You really aren't good for anything other than eating lost souls and looking weird, are you?" she asks her maw. Then she sticks out its molten tongue and blows a raspberry. "It hasn't really got lips so I don't think I can actually talk with it. But it IS good for barfing up lava. I think it just sort of... pulls it in from the lava river over in hell. I'm not totally sure how that works. I guess it's sort of like a naiad pulling water from their river?"

Rose smiles at Sekhmet relaxing. She's glad their day came full circle back to where they started. However...

"Hey Sekhmet I've still got a bunch of lost souls in me. I'm thinking I should start spitting them back out and waking them up. Find out if any of them want to get a second chance like Elbe got. Right now they're all babbling at me to do evil things and it's kind of creepy and distracting."

With a *glop!* she shuts her maw and settles back into the spring.

"Even creepier than mouth number two."


[Visiting BPS]

"Okay we're definitely talking about different devils," Obsidian concludes pretty quickly, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "What's a devil where YOU come from?"

They need to define some terms here.

"But yeah, I think you get it now! Hell IS pointless and sadistic. Why torture people forever until they just get gobbled up by a devil? Or turned into a devil? It seems like that would just make things worse. That's why Rose's idea is such a GREAT idea! People die, they get punished, then if they've learned their lesson we turn them into an infernal nymph and they get to start over! Rehabilitation instead of punishment, that's what Rose called it."

Obsidian is glad that Venus is getting it now.

"Hmm... I'm not sure. You should probably stay away from hell since like you said it's a pointless sadistic place. But I think the new nymphs like me coming out of hell could probably use a friend to talk to?"

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Oh! That's a really good idea!" Sekhmet replies. "Do you want me to, uh, help with that?" She's a much more powerful devil, she could definitely be useful. "But, uh, first, uh, it would be kind of awkward if I still looked like you." Sekhmet concentrates again, and her body rearranges itself somewhat. Her face and build return to their originals, but she retains the salamander lower half. The flowers in her hair turn into lotuses, their petals wavering like chemical flames. The change is convincing enough (thanks to the bit of fae magic in Sekhmet) that Rose might even be convinced to call her Lotus. "That's better, uh, right?"