Captain's Log:
You do tend to find friendship in the strangest places. Places like, for example, a cottage halfway up the side of an active volcano.
The locals of Mt. Palmerston tend to be a cagey lot. They make a living mining coal off the mountainside but are very careful to stay close to the base. They fear a Devil lives further up the mountain and that this creature collects human souls. They are right.
Trekking up the mountain path, I hesitantly knocked on the door and yes, a Deviless answered (they look mostly human but with glowing red/yellow eyes and smell of sulphur). To my surprise, she was quite approachable, friendly and downright grateful for the opportunity to sit down for tea with someone else and just talk for a while. I told her a little of home, how things were faring in London, and eventually left with a rather improved impression of the race.
I would routinely stop by Mt. Palmerston for fuel on every run anyway so I made it a habit to pay her a visit when I did. The tea was always good and she was ever-eager for more information regarding the political happenings back home, particularly as it related to the embassy the forces of Hell had established in my hometown. She told me that she had been a member of Hell's aristocratic class until a few years back when the lower-class rabble had overthrown the existing order, declared Hell an "Iron Republic" and forced the upper-classes to flee.
On one particular visit, I noticed her fidgiting in her seat and asked if anything was the matter. She explained, very hesitantly that she was simply homesick and wanted something to remind her of her old life. Specifically, she wanted my soul. All souls belong to hell by right anyway, she reasoned, and mine seemed like a good one (flatterer).
Well, I had just wrestled my own sould back into my own body from a particularly flatulent ape and had grown somewhat attached to it. I politely explained my reservations and she quickly laughed it off, saying she knew I would say no and that no offense was taken.
I think I will pick up a crate of souls in London (they're fairly affordable) to surprise her with on my next visit.
