With the Lemons! [Ehefra, Helle]

Her brows raised ever so slightly as she was given a bit of insight she quite frankly didn't expect. Though a pause was given as she let a hand rest on her hip. Wait, wans't there another Armstrong in the vandenreich? Maybe unrelated. Still, her attention shifted toward the flower she'd plucked from the display. Ah, right. They had quite a few dead from the Africa operation.

"Even if you're the last. That doesn't have to be the end. You can always uh... keep the bloodline up. You know, once you're older and ready to retire." She pointed out. Europeans were all about that bloodline shit weren't they? She vaguely recalled stories about some...mishaps they had with inbreeding for bloodline purity and such. A lot of her own culture had that shit too. Well... sortof. As ...zealous as she was about foreigners, she hadn't exactly been in a position to learn much about history when she got older. And well, when she was younger, she frankly didn't retain any of it. She could remember those stupid Python classes but she had no idea what values her own family had on bloodlines. It made her feel a bit sheepish, wondering. Did her dad worry about that stuff?

"I imagine a funeral is likely to be scheduled, once we have the time and resources for a memorial." She trailed off. Body retreival was... alas not a statistic she'd familiarized herself with. But well... Hollows. She didn't imagine it was very high. They'd likely have to settle when it came to last rites. Did that matter? Wouldn't their souls be up in soul society by now? Either when dying by natural causes, or whenever the hollows that consumed them were cleansed.

What would happen to them then? Would they become shinigami? A funky thought for sure. Maybe most of them woiuld just live peaceful lives. Or ...you know...die again and wind up back on earth. Maybe it was best she keep these thoughts to herself.
"Well, now that we have you back. I'm sure we'll have less deaths to mourn with you out there to protect them." She offered, hoping the silver lining might lift the mood some.

Way to call yourself beautiful. But even so, her expression grew slightly stern as she glanced over to the clerk as they promptly started to move about to fulfill the woman's request. A grand gesture, but also not one without consequences. With the latest operations, she was certain that, about any day now, a number of families would be finding out about the loss of their loved ones. Many probably already had, and no doubt, would have the very same notion as Helle. And would find it empty and out of stock for up to a week.

A rash and sweeping action made in the moment. What a beautiful microcosm of exactly why focusing on the here and now could be dangerous without regard for the future. "As a Sternritter, your job is in the here and now. I don't think I agree with you. If we aren't preparing for the future, the here and now won't mean anything. Clawing for everything we now currently have is all fine and dandy, and meaningless if tomorrow it's all gone. But that's fine. As Sternritter Director, the majority of your duties will lie in the present. The rest of us specialize in preparing for the future. Myself especially." She stated calmly, turning to Helle and offering a gentle smile.

"I don't like to dance around the point, Miss Armstrong. I think, frankly, that you allow your emotions to override your reason." A glance toward a shelf that was being hastily emptied. " I only hope that you remember that there are another two divisions to the Vandenreich as well. And that you hardly need to shoulder everything yourself."

Ehefra raised a brow at that and let her hand rest on her hip as she watched Helle paying for all of the flowers. And promptly seemed to shift into something a bit more ....esoteric than she had figured. "And that means...what? That things are finite? That doesn't change anything. And so what.... you just ignore the idea of a future because you know it has to end eventually? Planning for the future has nothing to do with whether things can break. You're saying plenty of nonsense. A bunch of things that feel good and wise. It probably feels real nice. Those soft, sombre tones on your tongue? And so what, I should take a lesson in frailty from the woman whose life fucked her nonstop?"

She looked over her shoulder toward Helle. But she met the woman's gaze without hesitation or fear. The contempt in Helle's eyes was simply proving her point that the woman allowed her emotions to hold sway.

":They've dragged me down. I've had my own share of emotional turmoil. Sometimes it's led me wel. And other times, it meant death for people and things I cared about." She noted evenly. Not beceuase she felt nothing, but because she pushed down the slow, bubbling rage that built up inside of her. That this fucking Hag had the nerve to start spewing her stupid bullshit past? What, did they get pissed because she was Blonde haired and only Green eyed? Oh poor Aryan soul. Of course there were signs. In her spiritual pressure. In the tension in her neck and shoulders. But her eyes stayed calm and ....mostly steady.

"And so what. Is that some excuse? Is your conviction somehow more valid because something bad happened to you? Well, if you hold onto it so tightly. Then I envy you. Because surely then, those emotions of yours have never steered you wrong. The perfect woman full of passion and inspiration." It was hard to keep the fatigue from her voice. IT was exhausting, to smother down so much hatred, to try and ....twist it...break it into something useful. And she was only partially succeeding. But she closed her eyes and let out a soft, brutish snort through her nostrils.

And she sighed, her shoulders sinking slightly.

"I envy emotions that are useful." She raised a hand, and reishi crackled at her fingertips. A slim band of energy that slid up the length of her fingers, tracing a pattern before the spiritual particles spilled in to make it real.

A Red Spider Lily.

"For you. Dear Director. And your Emotions."

It didn't matter if Helle accepted it. She'd set it on the counter if she didn't.

And then, she'd turn to take her leave of the shop.