Sophia rings the bell to the shrine. She knows her request is odd, but someone should probably have it done. It was Kousuke’s tree, and if he was gone forever, he deserved something. Probably much more than anything Sophia could give. He did risk his life for Amarissa.

She puts a coin in the offering box and says a prayer. If Kenji and Kousuke could join them again, she prays for them to return to the team. Whether they did or not, she would try her best to make sure the remainder of the team pulled though.

She walks around the main hall of the shrine, looking for Rei.

Rei is sitting in the workshop in the temple, calmly drawing charms and fortunes for the shrine. Botan and Momji were spending less time while preparing for some academic projects, and the Priestess gladly underwent the tasks in their absence. The room Rei was in was very basic and simple, empty of unnecessary objects, with but a low table, ink well, and stack of papers and slips both inscribed and blank near her. Her expression was serene, her poise elegant in the way she went about her work.

When Sophia finds Rei, she doesn't turn, only calling out when she enters.

"Good afternoon. You are one of Valdis' friends and a member of that club yes?" she says, having sensed the young woman's presence from before.

Sophia bows, “Yes, I am.” She looks a little sheepish. But for her fallen companions, she would ask. However, she begins talking a little fast, mostly because of nervousness, “I had a few requests. You can stop me if this gets too long or you aren’t interested. I don’t wish to cause any inconvenience to you. I think Valdis already showed you the tree outside Ackademi. I think it would make quite a few people feel better if you could give it some sort of blessing. I don’t really know what is appropriate for this. In addition, there is a comatose boy in hospital who we are unsure will wake up. I was wondering if there was anything you could do for him. We would be exceptionally grateful.” She bows again.

She feels, perhaps, the third request is the most likely to be rejected, “Actually, I suppose my last request is mostly for myself. At the Shinjuku theatre, there was a girl who didn’t make it. And even though, her soul was corrupted, I don’t think she really wanted to hurt anyone. I wanted to do some kind of funeral for her, but I don’t know what would be appropriate for that. I understand if you are uninterested in this though. The others don’t really understand why I am so upset about it.”

"...." the priestess is silent at first when she is asked a number of things by Sophia. It was certainly supposed to be a substantial amount of work involved, though the events that caused what Sophia was requesting had played out before her during her daily fire reading. She closes her eyes to give a moment's thought to the process, and then stands upright, firmly looking at Sophia.

"I will perform a blessing for this tree, though I don't know how much impact it will have. A greater power than my own is involved. As for the boy at the hospital, I can come and set up wards to prevent evil spirits from interfering with him. A purification of the soul is required to improve his status, as I saw in the fire a very powerful evil infecting that one." she says, then pausing and thinking in response to the last request.

"...The one you refer to was not a natural entity of this world. If I might ask, why do you think she didn't want to hurt anyone?" she says. While she was aware of the events at the theatre to some extent, it was more the sensing of supernatural powers and brief visions of the battle, with many details left out. To hear Sophia's side was needed.

“The group can’t give them much, but we’d like to give them anything that we have available. I’d be grateful for whatever you could do for them both,” Sophia says, somewhat regaining her normal level of enthusiasm. Not perfect, but it gets close.

When Rei starts asking about the battle, she starts to look sheepish again. Explaining her reasoning had never gone well except for a late night hysterical talk with Valdis. And she isn’t sure whether Valdis just did it for her benefit. “Her last words were thank you when she was purified and passed away. I don’t think most people really want to hurt people. People aren’t ever just evil. Saying that would deny the good that people inevitably do in their lives. And I don’t believe the youma are simple monsters. Some of them come from people who had normal lives… who had family, friends, spouses. Turning into something like that must be painful. And no one should just pass away without someone who cares about them. Everything about them seems tragic... I don’t really have proof for any of this. I just have a feeling about it. Sorry if I am rambling a bit."

She looks around at what the priestess was doing, "Ummm... nevermind. It isn't something that you have to do." She'd find some other to do this if she needed to.

”I don’t think her or any of the others know that a good chunk of the Youma aren’t from this Realm Granny.”

Valdis walked into the room, catching the tail end of their conversation. Val was defiantly an interesting site to behold. She was dressed in traditional Miko clothes as she normally did while she was at the shrine, however the robe on her shoulder to her neck was shredded and stained red with fresh droplets of blood. Her hair was sticking up at odd angles on the side, as if she had been lying on it for a bit. You could see slightly pinkened skin from the shoulder that was bare, steam slowly rising from fast disappearing wounds on her neck.

”On a side note, I found out cookies aren’t always a fail proof way to bribe something”

She smiled at Granny with a crooked grin. Valdis fixed her hair by running her hands through it; she had been sneaking back through the shrine unseen until she had heard the conversation….realizing it was just little mouse she didn’t see the harm in popping out.

”This is about the ice youma correct?”

Despite her odd and possibly alarming appearance Val was quite calm and composed. Val looked over at Granny, she could see why Little Mouse’s request was odd…and unusual but Granny herself said that the group needed someone like Sophia to balance things out…this was a good place to start. Although Valdis did have a theory on what happened with the Youma.

”Little Mouse, some of the youma are from a place where they are evil, that is how they are born. While it may not be true for all, it is true for some….but if you go by your theory that no one is born being evil it means they may become evil yes? That theory works for this realm and those born in it… Honestly I think the ones from the youma realm, are born evil…but quite possibly may become…less evil…if evil can taint good, then perhaps it can work the other way around. I have notices a lot of the youma are living lives as people of this realm. They would have to interact daily with people around them…depending how long they have been active here, it’s a possibility they to are affected by those around them. I’m thinking that may be what happened with your ice youma…perhaps she had grown some attachments to this realm. “

Valdis looked back to Granny.

”Theory may sound off a bit but currently my manager is a youma…it’s a bit odd having her around…but only time she’s attacked anyone was when Nazo made me disappear while a group of thugs was harassing us. She went ballistic when I went missing….now chances are it was just a frustrating day for her…possibly made worse by having to watch me….and she snapped”

Valdis looked back at Sophia, coming back to her point.

”Point is, if the youma’s are forming attachments…no matter how odd or loose they may be…A funeral I think would be appropriate. So at least there is something for the ones possibly left behind. That and the senshi are suppose to be the epitome of good yes? They may litter the ground with our bodies and then wash their hands of them, but the senshi should not do the same. Especially if we are to prove that we are different from the covenant.”

Valdis glanced back at Granny.

”There is an abandon shrine that supposedly is supposes to be the center of a dark evil portal according to the ghost stories surrounding my house. We can have the funeral and grave yard for the youma up there. It would be out of the way and not out of place there.”

"Did you ever consider that the creature may have been trying to deceive you? That particular creature was rather talented at the deceptive arts, and who's to say that 'thank you' wasn't meant to confuse you and produce exactly this reaction so that her evil brethren would be able to exploit such behavior later?" Rei says, firmly, then noticing Valdis enter the room, her eyes narrow. She had been down there after the Priestess told her explicitly not to!

An Ofuda flies at Valdis, landing precisely on the wound. Valdis would feel as if she were set on fire while the anti-evil ward purged the excess chaos energy from her.

"I told you to stay out of there. If you were even a moment more careless you would be headless." she says, angrily but with concern for Valdis' well being. Ever since the day they spoke at length about evil and the creatures, Rei had been a little more protective of the eccentric girl. While she had indeed smacked Valdis with less Ofuda, there were moments such as this it was warranted.

Afterward, the Priestess allowed Valdis to go on about her theory about the youma and the way they interacted with the world. It was an interesting idea, but not one that the Priestess was inclined to fully believe in.

"An interesting notion, but don't put being above the Covenant above your own personal safety. Showing humanity is meaningless if it results in you losing yours. I will however come perform funeral rites if you would like. If there is any sense of good, then may the ritual grant that entity some degree of peace." the Priestess says firmly, then exhaling a little, looking at Valdis.

"I do ask you, stay out of that tunnel until a chance to resolve that...problem...comes about properly."

Sophia looks at Valdis’ freshly healed injury. “Did you try to feed a crocodile?” It would of explained why something tried to bite her arm off.

The new information is a lot to take in. Covenant members from someplace not Earth… She guesses it’s no weirder than a girl given powers from the planet Venus.

“I don’t think it matters much where she came from. Whether she came from another realm or not, she is still a person like any intelligent creature. Personhood isn’t something reserved for us born on Earth. She deserves to be respected as such.”

“Valdis, your theory is interesting. But I don’t think of people as becoming evil. Actions are evil. People are not. People can always change their actions and how they do things. I would consider taint or corruption to be a burden on the mind and soul that leans actions or thoughts in a certain more negative direction.”

“Either way, whether evil is intrinsic or not, whether she was from this world or another, whether she faked the reaction or not, a person should have someone care about them. As far as I can tell the Covenant didn’t care about her… She just ended up being used as part of a plan as an expendable unit. So I’ll mourn her just as I do the rest of the fallen. I can’t imagine how painful an existence must be for someone never to have experienced friends or family. It only makes the situation more depressing.”

Sophia brightens up as Rei agrees. “Thank you for doing this!”

As Rei mentions the tunnel, she looks back at Valdis’ red arm. “Umm… what’s in the tunnel that threatens to take people's arms?”

”YEOW MOTHER FU…”

Valdis hissed as the Ofuda burst into a purple flame, she clasped her hand on her shoulder….She looked at the chard remains of the Ofuda then back at Rei…then back at the charred Ofuda and sighed.

”…I had successfully not ignited one of those sine the broom incident….”

She scratched the back of her head.

”Relax Granny wards were placed back up like the way you showed me.”

Valdis raised an eyebrow…Sophias views hurt her brain….was she incapable of realizing that entities were made of different base natures?

”That is like saying that a bird is like a frog because both breathe the same air and eat bugs… While we may share some similarities we should assume they are the same as us. But…before I try to jam my views down your throat lets clear up a miscommunication. We seem to have a different opinion on what the definition of evil is… Mine is someone or something profoundly immoral and malevolent.”

Valdis paused for a moment before commenting on the part of her little speech that made her itch.

”Who makes those actions then? Actions are fueled by the choices by people. Yes a good person can be manipulated into acting evil, but what of the person who was the manipulator? What is to blame for their evil decisions hm? This is like the whole guns kill people argument and spoons make people fat…”

Valdis rubbed the bridge of her nose, she felt a head ache coming on and was proptly reminded why she proffered Rosa’s company.

”I do not argue the fact we should give the youma a funeral; if at the very least to give you some sense of peace.”

Valdis turned back to Rei.

”We won’t find a resolution to that problem if we don’t study and try different things. You’d be interested to know my blood has an interesting effect on it…..”

Valdis looked back to Sophia when she asked what was in the tunnel.

”A bunny with a taste for human flesh”

"..." Rei really didn't have anything in particular to add in. The philosophies between Valdis and Sophia should be explored and debated to compel both to think. It was a matter of perspective and belief that had no true good or bad answer. When Sophia had asked what was down there, the Priestess shook her head and sighed.

"A soul who made foolish decisions, one whom I cannot help, but one whom I cannot simply let run free to endanger others." she says with tinges of regret in her voice

Sophia looks between Valdis and Rei for a few moments. It was apparent that she wasn’t going to get too much of a straight-forward answer here. However, she then looks curiously at Rei. “You’ve given up all hope on this creature?” She’s a little surprised the priestess would think someone is beyond reaching.

She shakes her head. “No one is beyond hope. My view of evil is that it is an absolute. And no person is an absolute. Therefore, there is always room for improvement and change. One can always become better than what they are.”

She turns to Valdis, “Even the manipulator probably isn’t truly evil by my definition though. Misguided. Confused. Trapped by their own emotions. Whatever. Most people don't just do evil acts without some kind of reason, as strange as it may be.”

She starts smiling again, “But thank you for agreeing that the youma should have a funeral. It does mean a lot to me. However, I suppose I would be bombarding your with tons of work if I asked for a funeral for every single one. Perhaps, I should find some private means of paying respects to the dead…”