Author Topic: Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 4, Part 3 (Read 46884 times)

Oldmansour · « **Reply #840 on:** February 24, 2016, 08:51:45 PM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 24, 2016, 08:12:39 PM

>I was just thinking back to that time at the Dragon Shrine, when the flame turned blue and spoke with me. Clearly, more than one voice can speak through them, though I do wish I knew who it was that spoke to me.

>I remain at a loss to explain that. Perhaps, if I can find the time, I will investigate that flame myself. Though it would be... unusual for me to do so. Ordinarily, an aberration like that is investigated by the attendants of that shrine themselves.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #841 on:** February 24, 2016, 09:01:22 PM »

>As I said before, whatever it was seemed almost to be avoiding Tenshi, and cut our conversation short as soon as she neared. Why, I cannot say.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #842 on:** February 24, 2016, 09:17:17 PM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 24, 2016, 09:01:22 PM

>As I said before, whatever it was seemed almost to be avoiding Tenshi, and cut our conversation short as soon as she neared. Why, I cannot say.

>Without knowing more about this thing myself, I couldn't venture a guess. I tried to do a bit of research on incidents where the flame changed color in the past, but.. I haven't really been able to focus, like I normally can. The big cat lets out a weary-sounding sigh.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #843 on:** February 24, 2016, 09:30:30 PM »

>It's okay. The mysteries can wait.
>Raise our boxed lunch
>We brought some food for Satori.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #844 on:** February 24, 2016, 09:47:45 PM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 24, 2016, 09:30:30 PM

>It's okay. The mysteries can wait.
>Raise our boxed lunch
>We brought some food for Satori.

>We certainly have enough of them to chew over.
>Kiku sniffs experimentally as you raise the boxes. Okonomiyaki?

DracoOmega · « **Reply #845 on:** February 24, 2016, 09:52:25 PM »

>Nod
>And rice balls and a sliced beef sandwich and some peaches.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #846 on:** February 24, 2016, 10:05:06 PM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 24, 2016, 09:52:25 PM

>Nod
>And rice balls and a sliced beef sandwich and some peaches.

>You came up with all that on short notice. she comments, impressed.
>One of our neighbors is a crackerjack chef. Rin informs her.
>Evidently. Kiku blurs and rears upright, reverting to her humanoid form, sliding away from the door. "I'll be out here. If you need me."

DracoOmega · « **Reply #847 on:** February 24, 2016, 10:33:19 PM »

>Nod and enter!

Oldmansour · « **Reply #848 on:** February 25, 2016, 12:50:48 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 24, 2016, 10:33:19 PM

>Nod and enter!

>The tiger youkai pulls the sliding door open for you, then stands back and allows your entry. The room within is no cleaner now than when you left it, but once again, your attention is drawn by something more immediate than the cleanliness of the place. Satori Komeji is sitting Yamato-style on the floor, her head down, her face plainly wracked with torment. Standing behind her is the messy green-haired woman you saw in the cave last night, with her hand on the hilt of the large dagger sheathed on a leather bandolier encircling her torso, an accusing glare leveled at you and White Rose.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #849 on:** February 25, 2016, 01:42:43 AM »

>Look to the green-haired woman
>"Do not worry. We mean no harm to your mistress or to you; we're here out of concern for her."

Oldmansour · « **Reply #850 on:** February 25, 2016, 03:02:11 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 01:42:43 AM

>Look to the green-haired woman
>"Do not worry. We mean no harm to your mistress or to you; we're here out of concern for her."

>The tanned woman's reply comes in Moscovian, which you don't speak. If you had to guess, though, you'd wager she doesn't necessarily believe you.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #851 on:** February 25, 2016, 03:07:41 AM »

>Take a slow and non-threatening step forward and keep a calm expression on our face
>"Satori? Is it alright if we spend a few minutes with you? We brought you something to eat."

Oldmansour · « **Reply #852 on:** February 25, 2016, 03:16:18 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 03:07:41 AM

>Take a slow and non-threatening step forward and keep a calm expression on our face
>"Satori? Is it alright if we spend a few minutes with you? We brought you something to eat."

>Satori does not look up at you. She just swallows before asking, in a voice that is almost unrecognizable from that of the woman you saw yesterday, "Have you come to kill me?"

DracoOmega · « **Reply #853 on:** February 25, 2016, 03:20:02 AM »

>Gently: "No. I bear you no malice for what you did to me last night. Your heart was not your own."

Oldmansour · « **Reply #854 on:** February 25, 2016, 03:50:19 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 03:20:02 AM

>Gently: "No. I bear you no malice for what you did to me last night. Your heart was not your own."

>"Yes it was." Satori replies, only now looking up at you. Does she look like a wreck. "Last night.... Was just the last of decades of... of abuse, of, of evil!"

DracoOmega · « **Reply #855 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:04:13 AM »

>"If the heart that committed those deeds was truly your own, then you would not feel so guilty about them now - you didn't then."

Oldmansour · « **Reply #856 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:22:09 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 04:04:13 AM

>"If the heart that committed those deeds was truly your own, then you would not feel so guilty about them now - you didn't then."

>"Everything I did... everything was, was what I wanted to do. What I thought I, I should do." Satori's head droops. "That day... changed me. Made me... lose hope."

DracoOmega · « **Reply #857 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:35:17 AM »

>"As it would anyone. It was a horror no one should have to experience, and even seeing that moment from a distance, I cannot begin to imagine how it felt."
>"But Satori, what happened to your heart that day was not just a result of the tragedy you experienced. How much do you remember about last night, after Kiku freed me?"

Oldmansour · « **Reply #858 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:38:54 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 04:35:17 AM

>"As it would anyone. It was a horror no one should have to experience, and even seeing that moment from a distance, I cannot begin to imagine how it felt."
>"But Satori, what happened to your heart that day was not just a result of the tragedy you experienced. How much do you remember about last night, after Kiku freed me?"

>Satori raises her hand to her head. "I remember everything. I rememb...." Trailing off, she looks up at you. "'That moment'?"

DracoOmega · « **Reply #859 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:46:18 AM »

>"When you and Koishi saw the bomb fall on Mayoiga. The entity which took root in you showed it to me."

Oldmansour · « **Reply #860 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:51:46 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 04:46:18 AM

>"When you and Koishi saw the bomb fall on Mayoiga. The entity which took root in you showed it to me."

>Satori is plainly baffled. "But... why, why would I do that?"

DracoOmega · « **Reply #861 on:** February 25, 2016, 04:52:27 AM »

>"Why would you do what?"

Oldmansour · « **Reply #862 on:** February 25, 2016, 05:00:22 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 04:52:27 AM

>"Why would you do what?"

>"Do that. Why would you see that, why would anyone?"

DracoOmega · « **Reply #863 on:** February 25, 2016, 05:11:07 AM »

>"You didn't do anything. It did - the... 'deathbringer', I shall call it, for want of a better term. As for exactly why it showed this to me, I am not certain."

Oldmansour · « **Reply #864 on:** February 25, 2016, 05:39:43 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 05:11:07 AM

>"You didn't do anything. It did - the... 'deathbringer', I shall call it, for want of a better term. As for exactly why it showed this to me, I am not certain."

>From the door, you hear Kiku say, "Or maybe it was you." as she steps inside. "Maybe there was a part of you that hadn't been corrupted, despite everything that happened last night. Maybe that part of you was trying to show Lotus here what had happened to you. What that creature was, to give her something to target, something to shoot at."
>Satori stews over that. "I don't... No, that, I don't remember..."

DracoOmega · « **Reply #865 on:** February 25, 2016, 05:42:10 AM »

>"What do you remember?"

Oldmansour · « **Reply #866 on:** February 26, 2016, 01:13:33 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 25, 2016, 05:42:10 AM

>"What do you remember?"

>"After... After you hit me with that, that spell of yours, there was..." The tormented shrine maiden holds her hands to her head. "Darkness.... Cold.... Then, light."

DracoOmega · « **Reply #867 on:** February 26, 2016, 01:32:36 AM »

>"So you don't remember anything of what transpired outside in the shrine grounds, until you were resting on the ground alone?"

Oldmansour · « **Reply #868 on:** February 26, 2016, 01:46:25 AM »

Quote from: DracoOmega on February 26, 2016, 01:32:36 AM

>"So you don't remember anything of what transpired outside in the shrine grounds, until you were resting on the ground alone?"

>"I... felt everything dark inside me bubble up, boil over. My mind... The things I felt..." she whimpers.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #869 on:** February 26, 2016, 01:57:00 AM »

>"Satori, there has been a malicious entity residing within you since the day you saw the bombs fall - a being almost the literal incarnation of death. That black splinter I spoke of last night was only the tip of that iceberg; it had spent decades growing within you, infecting you with its own mentality. It was not your fault that it attached itself to you, and no one could remain untainted by such a thing while it dwelled in them. But now, for the first time in forty years, you are free of it."