It wasn’t really lunch so much as Sophia was watching the clouds. Watching them slide across the sky was fairly relaxing and a nice distraction from life. Her food is neglected as she gets introspective for a few moments. However, she was fairly sure that Kousuke ate lunch up here, so the time to herself wouldn’t last long. It had been awhile since they talked. He seemed like a productive member of the team with how much he found out last week. He probably discovered more things this week. For as much flack the others gave him, he didn’t seem to deserve it. And maybe he could talk to Ama and convince her not to give up on Lance and Val entirely. He’d probably be more persuasive about it.

Tags: Kousuke Archer

"Is that Sophia?" Calls a voice as Kousuke pops his head out from the top of the staircase building. There did not seem to be any other way up there aside jumping. He hops down several layer lunchbox in hand. He walks over and sits down then begins eating. "We haven't done this in a while huh? Not since last with Yuki." he says recalling the girl and wondering where she had gone, maybe she got out...probably smarter than any of them.

"Oh that reminds me, I've been told Love is the best spice. Do you think if we worked together to make cookies we could make some good enough to convince the youma to pick up a new diet?" He asks curiously, it was difficult to tell if he was joking or not. The Earth Knight had more or less recovered from his shock the other day and was back to normal.

"Well either way, how are you doing?" He asks giving her a big grin.

“It has been awhile,” Sophia says, returning the smile. “Honestly, I don’t know why I don’t come up here more often. It is really nice up here. Well, probably not so much when the weather is bad.” She wonders about Yuki. It had been awhile since she saw the girl as well. Since Scorpio actually. However, running off after a battle like that was understandable.

“Well, I never tried talking to them with a plate of cookies. It might help the case. I haven’t really found a way to inject the power of love into food though. But I’m sure I’d make tons of money in the boxed chocolates business if I figure it out. However, I’ve tasted your cooking. I’d say you’d hardly need my help at all,” she says, nodding to his lunch box on the last sentence.

Her smile wavers for a few seconds as he asks how she is doing. “Well, this hasn’t been the worst couple a days I’ve had. But it has been rough in all honesty. Valdis and Lance joined the Covenant, and I’m trying to find a way to convince the team not to kill them. Neither of them are really hopeless, and I think they might come back to us eventually. Lance started a neutral area in Shinjuku and part of the Bay. I’d say he makes a big effort of protecting strangers. And Valdis… I don’t really know what she is doing. She cares about all of us still. She gave Kail the violet crystal before leaving. She seems depressed about something. But I couldn’t get any answers from her. And I need to find a way to purify the Moon Knight’s soul before whenever Val’s prophesied Doomsday happens. How about you?”

Kou munches away at his food as he listens to Sophia. "Well it's usually pretty cold up here so I'm not surprised you don't usually come up." He points out as he munches on anther shrimp tempura. "You should give the injecting love thing a try at some point. I think working with our inspiration abilities is pretty interesting. Though at this point I think I'd need a serious level up to do much more with mine." He admits, the group was pretty sad right now.

He starts coughing after Sophia tells him that Valdis and Lance switched sides and after a few very tense moments manages to save himself from choking. "Well...I didn't see that coming." He admits as he looks up at the sky. He admits that he felt a bit betrayed, but it was their choice and it didn't change what he needed to do. "I'm not going to initiate anything with them, but if they come for us, or if they hurt Ama then I will fight." He says simply.

"Though in other news I found out that the SPECTREs were run by a zodiac member and I found the base. I'm gonna go deal with that after school today."

Sophia pulls her knees into her chest and wraps her arms around them. “Yeah, I wish I could do with more with my abilities too. Convincing others to care and love each other is about as hard as convincing them to have hope when so much bad has happened.”

Sophia smiles as Kousuke says he won’t go after them, “I didn’t think you. And I don’t think they will. I don’t think they want to actually hurt any of us. That doesn’t really sound like either of them. Besides, if they really wanted to, they could have given the Covenant all our information instead of announcing that they were leaving. And well, I don’t think we’d be talking here now if they did. When I spoke to Ama about it, she was pretty upset though. She’s fairly convinced they can’t be helped. That they would just end up like Scorpio did somehow. I was hoping… I don’t know… maybe you can convince her that hope wasn’t all lost on them yet?”

Sophia looks shocked to say the least when Kousuke says he is going to storm a zodiac base. “You aren’t… you aren’t going to do that by yourself, are you? I mean, you shouldn’t go alone. I doubt I’d be very useful, but I’d be willing. And you could get any member of the team go with you.”

Kousuke smiles as she curls up a bit and pats her on the back. "Hey, hey no curling up now, remember even if things are bleak there's still a chance. Besides the others are still working and as long as they are trying it means that haven't despaired yet." He points out and if they could have hope then that also means that could love...or at least tolerate each other.

Though when Sophia mentions what Ama said Kousuke frowns. "To be entirely honest with you Sophia, I'm not sure I disagree with her as far as this being something that will twist them. I don't think it'll happen immediately or even particularly quickly, but if they stay there they will fall." Kousuke says with tinge of pain in his voice. "That being said I do not think a possibility is a valid ground to hunt someone down so I'll leave them be for now, and...if you need I'll speak to Ama with you." He offers, though not to speak to her alone. "I think you and Ama are too extreme in either direction you two should talk more until you can come to terms with each other." He explains.

"But before we go on there is something you should know. Ama's dad was a SPECTRE, Nazo, David and I saved him from the military and I brought him to a safe place, but she's not in a happy place right now. So Don't blame her for her hatred. It's hard to watch something close to you be twisted. I'd be singing a pretty different song if something happened to her." he admits as he lays back.

"That's why I'm not going to let it. Well I haven't decided what to do about bringing others yet. My initial plan is to go in alone. Most of the other knights and senshi aren't that mobile so if we end up needing to withdraw they'll mostly slow me down. Well we can talk to Ama first and I'll give it some thought."

Sophia lets go of her knees, saying, “I guess your right. It could always be worse than it is. And it’s not like things are set in stone for the future. Has anyone told you that you are good for the team? If not, well, I appreciate you.”

She rubs the back of her head as he says he agrees with Ama. “It might twist them. I mean, it is a possibility. But I’m hoping they can hold out against it. I mean, I don’t think they are particularly immune. None of us are. But... hmmm… I guess I believe in the both of them. I’d appreciate if you could talk to her, but you don’t have to try to convince of her of something that you don’t believe yourself.” She sighs, “I guess we are extreme. In truth, all of us are. Maybe that’s our issue. I feel like Ama and I ride the same train of thought but get to two entirely different destinations, and I’m not sure how that even happens. It’s funny. I think Ama has more in common with my predecessor than I do. And I can’t say I understand the Venus senshi of the past that well either.”

“That’s really messed up. I didn’t know. No, I didn’t blame her for her hatred even before. It’s just not an emotion that has staying power with me. And one that is difficult for me to wrap my head around sometimes. I’m afraid that’s David’s sphere of influence... as much as I’ve tried to change that, I think things find a way of balancing out in the end. That’s the nature of it. Or the nature of us. I mean, look at you and Kaguya.” If Kousuke was hope, then Kaguya was despair. And they fell in line with that well.

Sophia looks relieved when he says he would talk to Ama before anything. “Well, if you can get Nazo, your mobility problem will be solved. Then you’re free to bring whoever would be most fitting for it. Please don’t go alone. If something bad happened again… Just get Nazo and take some other people if you are dead set on doing this today.”

Kou looks at her a bit in surprise. He didn't really expect to be thanked, but then again things like this were why Sophia was still someone who most of the group listened to most of the time.

Though when she mentions wanting to believe in them he smiles. "Faith is good, but an important part of believing in something is also acting help it towards the conclusion you want. You can believe the ball with go in all you want but if you don't put forth the time to practice and the effort to aim then the odds are against you." He tells her as he sits up onto the balls of his feet. "I guess what I'm trying to say is even if you believe in them you should still try to help them find their way back." He says not really being bothered by the fact they left in the first place.

Though when she asks him to talk to Ama he raises his hands in front of him. "Hey hey hey, wait a second I said I'd go with you to talk to her. I'm not going to do this on my own. Besides I think the fact that the two of you can reach the different conclusions while following the same logic is part of what makes you both good leaders when you are a pair."

"If the knights and senshi are going to have a leader I think it will need to be you two working together." He admits staring out over the courtyard. Though when Sophia brings up Kaguya he glances at her and sighs. "You're right. I don't like Kaguya, I think she's aggressive and goes out of her way to pointlessly try and hurt people. But I think the Earth chose her because she is better at considering the bigger picture than me, even if doing so makes her unable to move forward or achieve on her own."

Kousuke reaches over and places a piece of paper in her hand. "That's got directions to the base. I've got no intentions of trying to gather the group. It ain't my calling, and besides most of 'em don't like me, but I doubt I'll be attacking before, say 5:30pm and if some other people happen to be there, well I suppose I can't complain." He tells her. Kou was not going to bring the others in on this he was not going to be responsible for that, but it was still their choice so he had just given the option to them.

"But I don't know why everyone believes that I cannot do anything on my own, just because we are a team doesn't mean we have to constantly coordinate with each other. A solid team all aims for the basket, that common goal is the cohesion all its own." He says as he gets to his feet.

“That’s the plan. Once I figure out how. It would help my cause if everyone would be willing to welcome them back like you were. I’m afraid the fact that they would probably get a poor reception might make recruiting them back difficult. Not that Lance ever say himself as one of us to begin with,” Sophia says. “I still feel like I’m missing something with Valdis though. Everything she has done has made sense with regards to better our position. This doesn’t make sense with anything I’ve come to know about her.”

“Alright, we’ll talk whenever we all have time. When will you be available? And I guess we do make a good team together. Taking control of the team together… I suppose it would do quite bit to foster cohesion.” She smiles when they talk about Kaguya, “And I don’t see eye to eye with David, but there are things that he is can do that I cannot. And he has experience that I lack. As for Kaguya, I don’t think she wants to hurt people, but wants to protect herself from being hurt if that makes sense.”

Sophia gives him a sympathetic face when Kousuke says he was unpopular in the group, “No. I wouldn’t say that they don’t like you. I think a lot of them have lost their trust in people and sense of optimism a long time ago then.” She looks at directions to the base and nods. “The base at 5:30pm. I think there are people who would want to be there. And I know we don’t need to constantly coordinate, but this is dangerous. Really dangerous. I also think it’s been shown that a single one of us is incapable of taking on a Zodiac.”