[BiTPR2] Hell Episode: Like a Bat

[Rater202]

It kind of does. A mask over a mask... Not exactly something easily done...

If Hell won't give its power to anyone, then why would making masks from the Warden's bones make you seem like a Warden?

Is there power in the Warden's bones? Sarah checks.

[Frozen_Feet]

Of course there is power. There is some power in everything in Hell. But it's not of the quality that makes the wardens move. It's not of the quality Sarah's chains had. It's not the quality of the sand made of crushed sinners.

Instead, it feels like the power of rocks and raindrops back on Earth. Diminutive. Without will. Something Sarah could shape to a degree, but nothing to write home about on its own.

If the masks work, they do not work on principle of making the bearer more powerfull in any real sense. They do not give their bearers anything more. They simply make them seem less . The effect is in the eyes of the wardens, not any intrinsic property of the masks.

But yes, it would take some doing to fit one over Sarah's existing mask. Maybe she should take it off?

[Rater202]

...Sarah has Jehoel's memories.

She knows the pros and cons of taking of a Hollow's mask naturally instead of using the spell.

It would be excruciatingly painful. Sarah would loose the lion's share of her current power, and she'd be helpless for a time...

It'd be worth it to hide from the Warden's, but she might not be strong enough to break her chains if she is killed and resurrected again...

Still...

Sarah touches her hands to her mask, slides her claws under the seam... Pulls...

Nothing. It's stuck on like glue. Even pulling as hard as she can don't even make it budge.

It's almost like she can't undergo Shinigamification when her shinigami potential is elsewhere.

[Frozen_Feet]

Possibly. It certainly isn't her physical strength. One does not need to be able to break chains if Hell to tear off their Hollow's mask.

But it's impressive for Sarah to give a try, given she has some idea of how painfull it would be. Is her aversion to pain starting to fade? Or has it perhaps assumed some devious, unconscious form that is holding her back?

[Rater202]

Whatever it is, Sarah isn't in a position to use the masks and cloaks--she can't make a mask herself, she's not that skilled a craftsman, let alone one that'd be wearable over her existing mask, and she has no way of getting cloth for a cloak. She also has nothing to trade but freedom from the chains, and, well, she might be innocent but she doubts that the majority of Sinners are in the same position. She doesn't want to be responsible for setting Mengele or Jack the Ripper back on the world.

Pause for detached, ironic laughter.

What she needs, then, is something that will make the Warden's think she's a Warden...

...But that would require taking Hell's power into herself.

But Hell refused to give to her...

Of course, she's stronger than Hell now, so maybe...

Sarah awkwardly bites the skeleton and tries to siphon out what little power it has.

[Frozen_Feet]

It's a lot of bone to chew through and infinitely less nourishing than even the sands of the lower levels. There's no hint of whether it'll work. Maybe Sarah should go back to just stealing a mask and a cloak from other sinners. Or, she could try to find the gates of Hell and rush through next time they open.

[Rater202]

Well, that didn't work...

Maybe she'll be safe hiding inside a skull if she stays out of sight of the eye sockets?

She flies back to first skull sh landed in, the one overlooking the gathered Sinners, and climbs inside.

[Frozen_Feet]

She's safe for a time, at least. No-one and nothing come looking for her while she nests inside the empty skulls. If she wants to, she can spy on the cloaked figures to some degree. It's hard to see through the mists, but the cloaked figures resumes carving pieces out of the giant skeleton. Others carve them into buttons and masks for the cloaks.
It's a quaint look at everyday life in Hell. Or is this everyday? How many sinners know about these cloaks?

In general, Hell is quite empty save for the desert. That's not very promising. Only a fraction of all souls end up in Hell to begin with and it appears only a fraction of them manage to stay on their feet. Sarah may be at the peak of her power now, but if she won't get out soon... how long can she last in this infernal world where there is no sun, no moon, no cycle of seasons or any other clear way to tell the passing of time?

[Rater202]

Well, she could try to find and re-kill Hitler.

Just to say she did.

But he's probably either sand, under a robe she'd never recognize him under, or in no state for rekilling him to be in any way meaningful.

Yeah, now that she thinks about it that silver lining she imagined earlier is really more lead than silver.

It seems that there's nothing to do but...

She could be here for a long time.

She retreats further into the skull, where no one can see her, and closes her eyes.

Nothing matters. Hollows? Hollows just exist. The Soul King might maintain the current world, but he's no God. Everything that exists is either random chance or the actions of flawed, imperfect beings. There was no greater purpose to anything, and the universe itself was uncaring.

Hell itself was proof of this: This isn't a punishment, despite what people claimed. Every so-called punishment was the same no matter the sin and only the evilest men in the history of the world could even begin to approach the kind of suffering one goes through here. The punishment doesn't fit the crime and is thus cruelly excessive. Thus, it's not a punishment at all. Just semi-random cruelty.

There's no Judge who reviews each case and decided who goes to Hell. IT's automatic, and the process doesn't seem to take context into account--Sarah is proof of that.

Sarah explained it to Stumpy. To the Piece of Mikael's power.

Hell is proof of what Sarah herself already believe.

Sarah is a Nihilist.

Honestly, it's comforting to know for sure.

If nothing matters, then everything matters.

Or rather, the Self is what matters.

More specifically, thoughts, feelings, memories, desires, and choices matter.

Everyone's do, if everyone exists. And everyone does exist.

Sarah won't be around forever--whether it's reincarnation or being rapped down here until she returns to the desert what she took from it, whatever happens to her soul next, Sarah won't exist anymore.

Right now, in this Hell, Sarah exists.

And the only thing that matters to Sarah at this moment is Escape. Getting back to Svetlana... Back to Mom.

...And after that?

Replacing this flawed system with a perfect one is impossible. Not only becuase perfect is impossible, but becuase the only way to do that is to replace the Soul King. If the Soul King maintains the universe, then removing him from power for even a second dooms everyone. If he doesn't, replacing him does nothing.

But that doesn't mean that smaller changes can't be made. Adjustments to the cycle.

Sarah was a Fullbringer. She was a Vasto Lorde.

Human and Hollow.

Living and Dead.

And absurdly powerful, now.

Like a demon. Or some kind of super ****ed up god.

If Sarah got out of here.

When Sarah got out of here.

She'd find a way. Some magic. Some ritual. Some spell. Or maybe just finding the soul of the universe itself and bending it to her will like her birth-mother's necklace. Once she was strong enough.

She would nudge the flawed system. So that no one like her would end up in Hell again.

One day... One day she would make this right.

If nothing matters, then nothing has a purpose... But the purpose that the self gives it.

But what people choose for themselves.

Sarah's purpose, even if it takes a million years. She'd fix Hell.

She'd make this right.

Mom meditates. Sometimes on a concept, for a purpose. Sometimes just because.

With her eyes closed in her sanctuary, Sarah meditated on her purpose.