That wasn't how it was supposed to work, David grumbled, cradling his leg as he collapsed just eight steps from the top of the stairs. His right hand reached out over the ledge, fumbling with a small tactical light. His left dragged the assault rifle, bringing it to bear on the darkness below.

The snickering, clicking noises were still there.

His trigger finger squeezed down, a short burst of automatic fire cutting into the void.

Even in all black, the flash suppressor illuminated enough of his outline to make him a target. They would be coming, and he was powerless to stop them. Feeling along his nose, the bead of crimson still ran down his face, Yinko's head throbbing. He had used the technique too often. All there was left to do was die...

The sound of gunfire had startled the Priestess from her meditation, and she had run out to investigate, which may have been brave, foolish, or both. Putting on a thicker garment for the late night cold, she looks around, an Ofuda in her hand as was her nature. The priestess didn't own a firearm, and few people were foolish enough to defile the temple with violence. Even among the agnostic they believed there was something special about Hikawa.

When she approached, she saw a weakened young man. The rifle in his hand alarmed her, but the Priestess had to remain calm, lest she cause the situation to turn foul.

"Young man. Why do you defile this temple with a weapon of violence?" she says firmly, carrying the authority of the caretaker of this sacred place. The smell of blood drifted to her nose, the young man was injured. It was her duty to aid the ill-fortuned who came here.

"I can help you treat your wound, but you must abandon your firearm. I do not sense evil in your soul, but all the same I request that you approach unarmed." the Priestess says, waiting for the young man to make his decision.

Yinko rose slowly, shakily to his feet, keeping his back turned to the priestess. Instead, he was focused on the darkness beyond the stairway, the weapon's barrel still aimed towards the cackling sounds. Ejecting the mag and clearing the chamber, he handed the weapon to the priestess, followed by the odd tanto blade, and a collection of smoke grenades.

"Higher ground," he answered simply, pointing towards the inky void below. "Nihil don't dare make an uphill charge, even against one man. They learned that lesson well at Mokelumne." Staring down at his hands, the weapons gone, he took a calming breath. "What are your defensive capabilities here?" Clutching his arm, he shuffled from the stairs. It was only then he turned to the priestess, locking eyes with hers, the orbs burning in an oddly cool, blue flame.

As the young man began to unload a small aresenal on Rei, a large bubble of sweat could be almost visualized going down the side of her head. Where did he get all these from? He didn't look like he was a member of the military. However, the question of where is likely illegal weapons from was minor compared to what needed more pressing attention.

"...There are no Nihil in this area. I would sense them. This is holy ground, even they fear it. Enough of your nonsense, come inside so I can treat you." she says, beginning to walk back to the main building of the temple, holding the weapons in hand. She could sense an odd energy in him, and the eyes seemed to be the focus of it from what she could tell. He was likely aligned with that group Valdis was associating herself with. The one that could supposedly do something about the Covenant. Regardless, there was a wounded young man who needed attention.

In the building, Rei drops the arsenal in a small bin next to the door that was usually used for trash. As far as Rei was concerned it was trash, but David could collect his weapons later when he departed. When David got in, he would be told to sit on one of the mats, while Rei was getting some supplies.

Rei would emerge from the hallways out of the main room with a bowl of warm water and some basic medical supplies and towels. She approaches David and then pauses, thinking for a bit, before putting the supplies in front of him. He was a little...off, she should let him decide how he wants to be treated. Hopefully some warmth and food would bring him back to a more reasonable state.

"I can aid you if you like, but I don't want to invade your space, so I will simply provide what you need to treat your injury until you ask for aid." she says, standing up and then walking to the back again with a deep sigh.

"I will prepare some warm tea, you must be hypothermic. Call if something is wrong." she says firmly, retreating to the back hallway unless David called out to her. Should he follow he would see a small hallway that led to a couple of rooms in the building. The other doors would be locked, but a kitchen with modest looking utensils and equipment was accessible, where Rei would begin boiling water for the tea.

As the supplies were laid out in front of him, David wasted no time, stripping his coat and shirt off, exposing his torso. The skin was rough, littered with various scars, some bullet wounds, others from knives, and other abrasions that hadn't entirely healed. Taking the gauze, iodine, and anti-bacterial cream, he started cleaning the cut as gingerly as he could.

Each touch from the gauze lanced out in pain through his arm, but he would have to cope. The warning labels on the bottles, the ones that said not to use the stuff on deep wounds, he completely ignored. He would deal with antibiotics later, but he wasn't going to take a chance at sepsis or another infection and lose the arm. Grunting, he quickly fashioned a tourniquet, keeping just enough blood flow to keep his arm alive, while preventing excessive bleeding.

Rising slowly to his feet, he pulled the black shirt back on, folding and placing his jacket on the bin containing his weapons. Pausing to look out a simple window, he saw movement in the darkness. It never penetrated the perimeter of the shrine, but he knew the Nihil had to be out there. Fighting in night was to their advantage, not his. He was disoriented, and his eyes hadn't yet adjusted fully to the dark.

Taking a deep breath, he swallowed his pride, quietly walking towards the kitchen.

"Thank you," he started.

When she had noted that the young man was quickly tending to himself, Rei had decided that she was not needed to continue on here, and went to the tea. She could sense immense turmoil within the young man, possibly the most that she ever witnessed in person. The fact that he could hold it together to even extent was admirable. Regardless, the Priestess would lend what aid that he was willing to ask for and to accept. It was not her way to force help onto others.

When footsteps approached and David entered the room, the tea was approaching a ready state. She turns to him and smiles lightly not in way to communicate any negative emotion, but to exact a sense of calm out of others.

"Please sit at the table. It will be ready soon. Why did you come here? I am happy to help any who come to this temple without violent intent, but I couldn't help but to notice you had fighting related injuries. What exactly did you get involved with? You spoke of Covenant, but they are rarely so bold as to act in the town." the priestess says, waiting for both tea and answer to be ready.

"Do you honestly think you are that safe?" Yinko's piercing blue eyes tracked up to the priestess, and held their gaze like a waiting viper. "Not ten minutes off the boat from Hawaii, and I was attacked, in the heart of town, by one of those Covenant underlings. They are growing bolder, and they don't care about political or cultural views about the land being sacred. They wouldn't have done what they did to my homeland if they had any appreciation for the rules of war."

Taking the tea graciously, he waited for the priestess to take a sip first, both out of respect, and out of paranoia.

"I've been fighting the Covenant ever since I broke out of the Camps," Yinko explained, his voice echoing with an odd, omnipresent radiance. "I was hoping to find the resistance here, to help coordinate our efforts, but apparently Japan is still living in a dreamland. Then again, it has been that way since time began, hasn't it?"

"...This place may be the safest in Tokyo, at least from the creatures. The entire perimeter is surrounded by Ofuda wards, and I am a skilled exorcist that can remove evil from their bodies by force. I have already vanquished a few of those creatures. Regrettably, only those with a natural disposition and talent can use these types of abilities: the JSDF at large are incapable of such things, plus superstition keeps them from taking it seriously. I somehow get the feeling that you will also feel at least somewhat superstitious." she says calmly, having a feeling that no matter what she said that this young man would have to come to his own conclusions.

When her guest mentioned that he had been fighting since he broke out of the camps, Rei frowned a little, but listened patiently as he stated his intentions. She nods a little when he mentions that Japan was living in a 'dreamland' of sorts.

"Well, ever since Sapporo had fallen, the national policy had been defensive only, since the horrid loss of life that day made it 'not worth' the cost of launching offensives. Japan was unique in that it's a land that other than the island bound Obelisk, there were little in the way of attacks for an extended period of time. People who wanted to live something of a normal life flocked here. I can't say that I blame them really." she says, then looking at the tea, she kneels and sips it, looking at the leaves as they spin around in the cup.

"What resistance do you believe you will find in this falsely idyllic nation? You seem to believe already that something is here, but what if what you are looking for simply does not exist?"

"If it doesn't exist," David half whispered, half growled, "then we MAKE it exist!" Explaining this to the Japanese was difficult. Maybe in China, it would make sense, Viet Nam, or even Taiwan, but Japan's culture just didn't grasp it. "How much history do you read? At what point in time has there never been an underpowered, underfunded, yet motivated resistance that couldn't keep the enemy on it's toes? Why not here?"

"No need to be so angry." Rei scolds as she takes a long sip of her tea, interjecting just after her guest said that we would 'make it exist'. Letting him finish his sentiment, she nods a little at the idea of a strong resistance.

"I might know of a few individuals who have been making headway against some smaller incidents, but at the same time, should I trust you to associate with them at large? They are seeds of hope trying to grow in a poisoned world. If they persevere and meet their full potential, perhaps the Covenant can be ended." she says, firmly looking at David with her eyes.

"You have great pain written on your face and your soul. You have strong will to keep fighting, but is it out of vengeance or a desire to carry out the greater good? Clinging to negativity will cause you to be drawn into their fold whether you want to or not. The Covenant are masters are manipulating the pain of our hearts and inspiring fear into their opponents. I will aid you any reasonable way I can, but only if it's for the correct reasons. I can sense that you could be the seeds' greatest ally or greatest enemy, depending on how well you can control yourself." the Priestess says with a calm yet firm tone. She had seen a vision recently of how the 'dark side of love' could stand against the Covenant, but the man she sees her barely seems able to keep it together.

"Control?" a brooding, booming voice hissed in the ether of their minds. As the young man glared, a slight tremor emanated from the far edge of the room. A simple picture frame of the late shrine's priest and grandfather to his host reverberated. Closer still, the tea cup in the dark man's hands shook. Closing his eyes, trying to steady his hands, the blue irises glowed against the backlit eyelids. In the "Negativity is all that gave me this control." The frame vibrated faster, rocking along the hearth, edging its way closer. "Unless you have a better way to maintain control..."

(I could have sworn I posted here sooner than this)

Rei could feel the tremor, but she was unmoved by it. Psychics were uncommon yes, but not entirely unheard of. She simply looked at him with the same sense of calm she had from the beginning.

"But negativity will lead to your self-destruction. A valuable soldier is of no value if the life is thrown away needlessly, yes?" she says, attempting to relate with him through the military terms and expressions he was so fond of. Granted, there was still a world of difference between the two and the priestess hoped he wouldn't take some kind of offense by saying it that way.

"My method is to use inner calm and control to maximize your potential. You can do great things, but do you want to keep on this path to your own demise, or do you wish to make a difference in the long run?" she says, as she begins to stand up calmly, rising to her height and exhaling a little.

"I will take you on as an apprentice. I can grant you room and board, and you will work here and learn Shinto traditions. Whether you embrace the faith or not is up to you, but the lessons learned by honoring the spirits of the land and maintaining the shrine will be valuable. You can learn the Japanese culture and how to not stick out as much to the...Covenant you worry about so much. It is not an instant change, and it requires several life adjustments that I feel like you might not find easy, but if you want to maximize your psychic potential I feel it is far more productive to go about it with positive energy in your life and a place where you don't feel like your life is constantly threatened." she says as she begins to walk toward the hallway, presumably to leave David with a few moments to think on his own.

"I can teach, but only if you are willing to learn. In time I will lend you my personal insights into psychic potential, but ultimately your fate is in your hands along with what you would do with said knowledge." she says calmly, then leaving the young man to decide on his own what to do.

The priestess takes some cleaning supplies and walks into the room where David had dressed his wounds. She kneels and starts to clean up the mess, throwing the scraps and used supplies in a bag to be disposed of later, along with scrubbing the floor vigorously of any blood traces. As she touches the blood inadvertently, she is overcome with a vision of David's recent experiences and more notable moments in his life. It is for a few seconds, but she frowns.

"So much pain...it is regrettable..." she whispered to the empty air, before she resumed her cleaning, being especially careful not to contact the blood again.

"An apprenticeship?" David asked, raising an eyebrow. Perhaps it did make sense, but only if the miko had the talents she was claiming. "Though, what proof do I have that you can regulate and improve my control, or that you are talented in a psychic capacity?" The trembling stopped, the portrait halting on the edge of the shelf, David's hands relaxing. Taking a slow breath, he tried to calm himself, pushing Yinko away. Still, claims and faith were not their cup of tea. Reality required evidence and sound judgment.

Rei pauses in thought when David asked if she had any proof. She didn't have any way to show proof to David: her abilities were always inherently psychic and were best at seeing the future. It wasn't as though she could launch fireballs as she would please, or use her mind to move things around like David could. She shakes her head slightly whilst looking at David.

"My own abilities are something that cannot be 'proven' in the same sense that you are asking for. I have visions of the future, of the fortunes of others, and brief glimpses of fate. I can sense the spirits and banish the evil ones from the world with ofuda. I can purge the taint of evil with enough effort and aid from the kami." she says then turning to a small smile.

"Some of these I could teach you with some effort, if you want my aid you have to ask, but I cannot simply draw forth the evidence that one who has been through so much demands. However, I can tell you that you and a number of others faced a great evil yesterday and with a tremendous effort you prevailed, setting a tainted soul free from the shackles of evil. You were instrumental in hold the enemy down long enough to fall victim to the attacks of others."

The statement was calm and collected, recalling what Rei had seen in a recent fire reading. Perhaps that would be the evidence enough: not that Rei entirely cared about it. He would have to take it at least partially on faith of what she could aim him with.

"Okay," David breathed. "If... you would be willing, I would... I'd be willing to undergo your training." It was a complicated decision. Really, he wanted to just find a decent job, lay low, and start making contacts again with his lieutenants back in California. Of course, being a warlord probably wouldn't fly with the priestess.

"How did you know about the encounter with Scorpio, however?" he asked. "That... even with your abilities, I find it difficult to believe you could sense I was there."