Ruby was glad the gun didn’t seem involved any more, but the constant drinking wasn’t all that much of an improvement. Aizawa was already slurring her speech, and the words that came out of her mouth made it clear she wasn’t fully in control of her faculties any more. That, or she just didn’t care about being indecent, it was hard to tell. She tried to ignore the way her cheeks heated up, glad that her dark complexion would keep any blush from showing. At least she didn’t seem interested in provoking her, because she quickly moved onto the next subject.

She couldn’t blame Aizaw- no, Tsuki for still having doubts, but Ruby had none of her own. She’d seen dozens of people touch the holy papers that day, and many more before that. Tsuki didn’t have that advantage, and neither did she seem to be very familiar with- or appreciative of- religion in general. 

“Er…” Ruby floundered a little when she was offered the bottle, trying to think of a polite way to turn down the alcohol. She must have been very obvious, because Tsuki pulled it back almost immediately. Though she was still a bit concerned about all the drinking, at least the religious question was more her domain. 

“The scripture contains many references to intoxicating agents, some of which can be quite contradictory,” she said. “In general, the clergy err on the side of moderation. It is not wrong for one to enjoy life’s pleasures, but to cloud the mind is to close your heart to the beauty of the world the goddesses have created. Er, at least that’s what the priests say.” It wouldn’t do to antagonise her, after all. She was quiet for a moment, unsure how to broach the subject of what would happen next.

“The priests will be expecting me back down soon,” she eventually said. She knew the casual tone of voice probably wasn’t going to fool Tsuki, but she had to say something. The last thing she wanted was to have more people come in unannounced.

“I should probably go back down for a bit and talk to them… They will want to talk to you as well…” she said slowly. She couldn’t imagine Tsuki having a good reaction to the thought, so she quickly went on.

“You said you wanted more proof, right? Well, they can give you that. Everyone can touch the paper, and if that’s not enough there are other plans. There’s a temple in Iceland that has an artefact that used to belong to the last moonchild. Just a small trip- all expenses covered of course- and you will [i]know[/i]. If we were wrong, you’ll never have to hear from us again.”