Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 2, part 4 (Complete)

[Hello Purvis]

>"Or if you prefer, I consider my pack to include everyone."

[Oldmansour]

>"I disagree. Some of us are like that, but not all of us."

>"You are all like that. I've spent my whole life around your kind. I didn't understand it before Satori saved me, but I knew."

>"Or if you prefer, I consider my pack to include everyone."

>A brief, low growl rumbles from the cat's throat. "I do not understand."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I try not to regard anyone as being outside of my pack. The buddha has taught us that we all hold the nature of enlightenment, so I try to treat all people as I would my friends in light of that understanding."

[Oldmansour]

>"I try not to regard anyone as being outside of my pack. The buddha has taught us that we all hold the nature of enlightenment, so I try to treat all people as I would my friends in light of that understanding."

>"And what is a 'buddha'? Someone who is important to you? Someone who guides your acts?"
>"It's something the humans have." Hideo pipes up. "It's something like a God, to them. I think. Humans are strange, taking lessons from beings they invented themselves."
>"And you worry over Kiku to appease your God, then?" the leopard asks you.

[Hello Purvis]

>"No. I worry about her because I care. I don't follow the Buddha's words because he said them, I follow them because they are correct. In particular, I'm with Kiku because she is my friend. However, even though Satori isn't my friend, I still worry about her because it is the correct thing to do."

[Oldmansour]

>"No. I worry about her because I care. I don't follow the Buddha's words because he said them, I follow them because they are correct. In particular, I'm with Kiku because she is my friend. However, even though Satori isn't my friend, I still worry about her because it is the correct thing to do."

>The cat hisses again, but not as sharply. She lowers her eyes, but her body seems tense. If she were human, you would say she was uncertain, torn over something.
>"She can't be lying here." Hideo presses. "Not while Father is here."
>"Humans always lie." the cat shoots back, but it seems more reflexive than genuine. The leopard then abruptly sits down on her backside. "What, exactly, do you want to know about the Satori?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I have heard something unusual has happened; something that apparently most people don't know. What can you tell me about that?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I have heard something unusual has happened; something that apparently most people don't know. What can you tell me about that?"

>"About why Satori hasn't let us in recently." Hideo adds.
>"That's her choice." the leopard replies quickly, automatically. Her eyes dart back and forth quickly, perhaps in confusion, then she repeats, in a more measured tone of voice, "That is her choice."

[Hello Purvis]

>Frown.
>"Why did she make that choice?"

[Oldmansour]

>Frown.
>"Why did she make that choice?"

>The leopard's mouth opens. And her whole body immediately freezes, every muscle still and immobile. She remains that way for several seconds, before her jaw closes.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Can you not say?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Can you not say?"

>"I.... can not?" she says, more a question than a statement.

[Hello Purvis]

>"You seemed to be at a loss for words, I was wondering if you were asked not to say anything, or felt that you couldn't."

[Oldmansour]

>"You seemed to be at a loss for words, I was wondering if you were asked not to say anything, or felt that you couldn't."

>"Asked? No, not-" The leopard's mouth locks up again.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"Something's wrong, isn't it? When you try to think about Satori, something happens. Your thoughts are... blocked, somehow."
>"The same thing happened with Lily. Together, she and I were able to remove this effect. If you'd like, I can try to remove it from you, although I cannot promise success, as her situation and yours may not be identical. In particular, you likely do not have the same... potential, I suppose, as Lily does. That potential is what allowed her to aid me in removing the effect. I can try to remove it from you on my own, but I don't know for certain if it will work."

[Oldmansour]

>"Something's wrong, isn't it? When you try to think about Satori, something happens. Your thoughts are... blocked, somehow."
>"The same thing happened with Lily. Together, she and I were able to remove this effect. If you'd like, I can try to remove it from you, although I cannot promise success, as her situation and yours may not be identical. In particular, you likely do not have the same... potential, I suppose, as Lily does. That potential is what allowed her to aid me in removing the effect. I can try to remove it from you on my own, but I don't know for certain if it will work."

>The leopard takes a cautious but quick step backwards.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>Sigh.
>"Your own 'Father' as you call him, has shown himself to me. If I meant any harm to any of you, do you think he would have granted me such an honor? You may not trust me, but you know you can trust him."

[Oldmansour]

>Sigh.
>"Your own 'Father' as you call him, has shown himself to me. If I meant any harm to any of you, do you think he would have granted me such an honor? You may not trust me, but you know you can trust him."

>The cat isn't making this easy...
>She extends one of her rear legs backwards, then freezes again. Once again she tries to speak, but her mouth will not move.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"I can try to help you. If you truly don't want me to, then I won't, but I would ask that you let me at least try."

[Oldmansour]

>"I can try to help you. If you truly don't want me to, then I won't, but I would ask that you let me at least try."

>The leopard does not move.
>Hideo carefully approaches the large predatory feline, and walks around her, looking her up and down. "I think she's trapped." he says at last.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"Then I must do what I can to help her."
>Approach her and touch her with the ring.

[Oldmansour]

>"Then I must do what I can to help her."
>Approach her and touch her with the ring.

>"Good luck. ... Is what you say here, isn't it?"
>The leopard's body tenses up even more as you approach her. Her muscles shift, but she remains immobile. The only things on her that move are her eyes, which follow you very warily. She seems afraid of you. Very afraid, even. You are certain that, if she could move, she would either strike at you or flee from you. But she needs your help, and her claws are a risk you're willing to take.
>Stepping around slightly to the side of the large predator, you place your ring on her flank. Instantly, a shooting pain flies up your arm, and you clench your teeth to keep yourself from yelling. The leopard is in pain, but it doesn't seem to be physical, rather mental, in nature. Even at this level of contact, you can sense her fear of you. Or rather, what you are.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>Push past that. Let her see the kind of person we are.
>And look for any sort of interference like we found in Lily's mind, too.

[Oldmansour]

>Push past that. Let her see the kind of person we are.
>And look for any sort of interference like we found in Lily's mind, too.

>Bracing yourself against the pain the leopard feels, you open your own heart to her. To show her the purity of your intentions.
>This contact is remarkedly different than with Lily, and not just because the leopard doesn't have her own ring. She doesn't want you inside her. She doesn't want you NEAR her, let alone in this kind of contact with her. She does her best to keep her self concealed from you, but she can't mask her pain. It doesn't seem to be directed at you specifically, but there is something in her that has been wounded.
>Spotting the same power in her that Lily had is not hard. The veil of grey that was within Lily was relatively thin, but the one within the snow leopard is at least three times as big as that one, and a great deal denser. Whatever put that veil here spent a great deal more time, or effort, or both, on the snow leopard than on Lily. Penetrating this one is going to take some work, especially with the feline fighting you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to give the veil a metaphysical prod, and let her know that we can treat it. Everything will be fine.

[Oldmansour]

>Try to give the veil a metaphysical prod, and let her know that we can treat it. Everything will be fine.

>Jabbing the grey curtain yields a different result than poking at the one in Lily. That one rippled like a curtain. This one is much more solid, and barely gives at all. You do, however, have a brief vision in your mind's eye. For an instant, you find yourself looking at a sickly orange wall from behind thick steel bars, a feeling of fatigue and weakness, and a sense of despair.
>The snow leopard returns your encouragement with fear, but you also sense an undercurrent of confusion, directed at both the wall within her psyche, and at you.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>She may be concealing herself from us, but we will leave ourself open, show her beyond any doubt that we mean her no harm. We will likely need her aid to remove the veil, so we must first show her everything we are, proove to her that we only want to help.

[Oldmansour]

>She may be concealing herself from us, but we will leave ourself open, show her beyond any doubt that we mean her no harm. We will likely need her aid to remove the veil, so we must first show her everything we are, proove to her that we only want to help.

>Leaving yourself bare before the mind's eye of the snow leopard, you invite her to behold yourself and who you are.
>"I do not... understand." the feline stammers out. "You are... human, are you not?"

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"Are you the same person as others of your kind? Humans, youkai, animals such as yourself, all of us are individuals. We are not defined by others of our kind, but by ourselves."

[Oldmansour]

>"Are you the same person as others of your kind? Humans, youkai, animals such as yourself, all of us are individuals. We are not defined by others of our kind, but by ourselves."

>"No human has ever cared for me beyond what I could give them. Entertainment, food, power, that is what humans use the creatures of the world for. That's how they use everything, even other humans."