The Lioness and The Serpent[Amaranta, Safira]

"Of course I do. Don't get me wrong the resort looks lovely, but I'm pretty sure I can find something just as nice, and you know, a place where they won't tear my bikini off during the trip. I'm not on the menu, but if the price is right, I'll drag some pathetic whelps along, sure."

Amaranta certainly acknowledged the rise in spiritual pressure, though intimidation was as far away from her mind as a ship millions of miles away from land. If anything, that only elicited a wide curve of a grin across her lips as she viewed the act as a sort of challenge. She bowed to no one. In no uncertain terms, if the scenario didn't fit her fancy, there was no reason to pursue it. To be more precise, her rise in spiritual pressure entices her more as the seconds grow on, but she bides her time to see where these negotiations go.

"Nothing too extreme, really. I'm a simple lady. I'm on someone else's payroll, but, I don't mind earning more cash, you know? Money makes the world go round', as they say. I think a long-term stay would be preferable, too. A nice beach house to retire in after a long day, you know? Those should suffice. I can't guarantee I'll drag every arrancar in that I come across, especially if they're elusive as hell, but if I knock em out pretty good and they stay in one place, they're all yours."

"Hmm."

She smirked at the woman's requests. Money and a place to stay? How plain and simple it was almost disappointing to be met with a bland request like that after she had said a simple vacation wasn't enough. Oh well, it could suffice. She was happy to build wealth but she didn't value it at all when money was just an illusion for the weak. What benefit did money have? None. It was the biggest degradation of human society as far as she was concerned when what used to be bartering was replaced by promises. The promise that if you gave an amount of money then you would receive something in return but it was all built on mutual agreement.

"Sounds like we have a deal then...."

Safira cocked her head in expectation. It was good courtesy to give a name after all when you were doing business.

"Not so fast. I'm not finished yet. I'm still weighing the risk and reward here. Now that I think about it, I don't think money's going to cut it, either. Spending time on an island with your little minion reminded me of my displeasure with this place just now. A poor first impression, I'll say. And I never did hear about the type of experiments you'd be conducting, either... Working with you might compromise what I've got going on already."

Now that she actually thought about all this, money and a house were things she already had, albeit under the roof of an overgrown dinosaur and a bratty boss with a fixation on protagonists and anime. She knew them well enough. This lady on the other hand? She'd only met her today. What could she stand to gain from someone she barely knew?

The spiritual pressure piqued her interest, enough, sure, but something about working for someone she barely knew didn't quite sit right with her. Those two had proven they were worth standing beside. The true benefit in any of this was the sheer potential of being able to fight entertaining opponents till her heart's content, something that could be obtained regardless of her working under her. She'd fight strong enemies and turn them into her rivals. That's what mattered for her in the end. Playing lapdog for too many people would make her lose sight of that. Besides...

One had to wonder why someone with her spiritual pressure didn't take center stage herself. She preferred to act from the shadows no doubt. Her appearance and demeanor certainly spoke to someone who carried themselves with the royal air of a ruler, commanding subjects at her leisure while she sat on a lofty seat.

"On second thought, I can't say I'd imagine enjoying working under you, so I'll pass. We've only just met today, your employee annoys the hell out of me, and I have enough money to live off of in the next few years, anyway. I can get by just fine on my own. Besides, I'd like to fight strong arrancar. Not send them here for some project I know little about. Sorry for wasting your time, lady. You're plenty strong enough to add to your collection as is, though. I'm sure you'll wrap a few good men and women around your fingers."

"Tch. I hate people that back out after a deal's made."

She chided the other arrancar, leaving an afterimage in her place which promptly disappeared for the real Safira to appear next to Amaranta with a scowl. Her hand coming up with a cero to hit the lioness with all the force of a grenade going off next to her head.

This woman had every opportunity to be civil but chose not to. Fine. She could give this woman the barbarian kind of bargaining too. It seemed like it'd suit her a lot better anyway.

A wide grin formed across those leonine features the moment Safira vanished from her prior position. In that next moment, she was right there firing a cero right at her head. The movement, sudden as it was, was not entirely difficult to evade, but Amaranta was bold. She didn't want to evade it. She wanted to see what this woman was all about. Shifting her arms upward to protect her head, she was blown back by the force of that beam as she crashed into the wall. Cushioning the crash with her feet, she bolted off of the wall like a bolt of lightning, roaring in with a fist to her head.

"Now that's more I like it!"

"Quiet down you mutt, you should make your highest priority not breaking anything."

She leered while her head was calculating just how much she'd have to spend to fix the damage Amaranta was causing. Oh wait, she could just get Klein to do it with his reishi powers. That would save her so much trouble and it was only fair for him to clean up his little kitten's mess.

Twisting on her own axis, Safira spun around to grab Amaranta by the neck and pull her out of her lunge. The sudden shift of force being taken advantage of to leave her in freefall before the former Espada lifted her leg parallel to her body and kicked the lioness into the hard ground with an axe kick.

"Ha! I'll live with it. This type of negotiation is more my style anyway. If your so worried about ruining the lavished décor, drag me outside then. After all, I don't want any excuses when I win."

Boldly grinning, even as she found herself swept within the sequence of a well-timed attack, Amaranta chortled in response to the woman's words. A bold statement, to be sure, believing in an assured victory considering their differences in ability so far, but such was the ego of the Burning Lioness. Indomitable confidence even in the face of insurmountable odds. Even under the woman's heel, her spiritual pressure radiated in tandem with her excitement.

"You're quite full of yourself, I hate when people can't back it up."

She retorted and twisted her foot to further press Amaranta into the ground. Just enough to keep her there and give Safira a chance to swing her foot back and kick the naked arrancar with enough force to blast her out of the room and soar through the air like a falling stone in the far off water.

No point lingering here though and waiting for her undressed foe to rush back to destroy her nice décor, so she followed suit with a flick of her wrist to beckon her zanpakuto to follow along while rushing at Amaranta. The other arrancar should count her blessings that she got given a little bit of breathing room with the distance even if it was only momentary.

"Heh! Don't go counting me out just yet. I'll show you everything I got even if I go down swinging."

Even as she felt that foot digging into her belly, her expression didn't waver in the slightest. She was over the goddamned stars. Soaring through the air after being kicked out of the lavish room, Amaranta held her hand out as her own zanpakuto answered her call. Claymore in hand, the leonine woman rushed forward to meet the woman directly, swinging that large piece of metal in an overhead strike.

"Besides, I like when my potential superiors can show me what they're made of. Why serve someone who can't show what their made of? Forget all of the materialistic shit. I just want to keep growing stronger fighting mighty opponents. Its your fault for teasing me with your spiritual pressure, anyway."

She wielded such a cumbersome tool, Safira would show her the error of trying to use something so boorish against her. This snake lady was just as flexible as her namesake after all, and so when the claymore came to meet her Safira sidestepped and let it pass next to her. How did Amaranta expect to hit her with something that that required absolute commitment? A sword like that not just change its trajectory on the fly.

Not like she could.

"Vile Lance."

The words were followed by a cero being shot directly at Amaranta's midriff. While the cero was designed to impale the targets, if Amaranta's body refused to yield to the force of it puncturing her body then it was more than capable of carrying her away.

"There is no potential here. I am your superior."

Her superior in every field.