Traversing the Jaws of Death [Catherine, Safira]

A stinking expression was hidden by the darkness of her helmet, as if an answer like that would be reassuring. Fine. Belaboring it wasn't getting what she wanted, and there were too many open questions for her to really want to throw this one to the wolves and watch the feast. It wasn't as if she wasn't willing to talk, but she was definitely gonna be a tricky thing.

"Nope." A curt response was given as she started the bike back up again, "Needed parts for my projects."

A low grumble of the engine brought them forward, a few minutes later they would have made it to the cache; what looked to be a quarter of the remains of a mall or some other collection of shops, the bike slowly navigated through a thin hallway until stopping in front of a shop. Her helmet removed, she'd wipe her brow and walk in through one of the shattered windows, fiddling with some device on the wall to turn the pitch black room into a well lit safe haven with a modest amount of survival supplies.

Though, the young lady seemed to give a pile the stink eye, immediately going over and suddenly wrestling a tiny hollow that resembled some kind of pill bug, making a noise of frustrated disgust before dropkicking it into the opposing wall.

"Get lost you little pests! Fuckers are everywhere.." She'd grumble, pulling out two folding chairs from behind what used to be the point of sale, setting them up and sitting down with an annoyed sigh. Just a small break and she'd start going through her collections.

This little child needed to learn how to deal with a pest problem but she had done a favour, so Safira would reciprocate with a slight movement of her hand to fire a sickly green bala to make the worthless creature get pierced by a flash of hollow light. She gave it no regard while the insignificant hollow dissolved into reishi.

"Projects? It's peculiar that a human would be so interested in hollows that they'd risk life and limb to investigate them."

She set aside her façade of childish attitude with her new unassuming appearance but she recognised the immediate value in a fullbringer like this, and so her serpentine eyes lingered on the woman without shifting from her position to take a seat.

Would you look at that, she did have the ability to shoot her. She hardly bothered killing those annoying things; as much of a pest they were, if she let them get bigger it was easy harvesting for parts. Though she didn't make much indication she was paying attention to the girl's actions, leaning back in her seat.

"Ain't risking life and limb if you're not an idiot." Was spoken with all the casual confidence of someone who had either seasons of experience, or was a massive fool new to the game. With a judge of her equipment, it was clearly the former, "Hollows are big, stupid animals at the end of it all. And like animals, I rip em' up and use their parts for other shit."

The glass containers she'd move to take out of her bike's trailer spoke as much: firmly sealed jars containing all manner of viscera, some mask fragments tied together, and other parts were pulled out and set to be organized in this little enclave of safety.

"You have yet to get talking about yourself. What were you doing so close to the hole?" She'd speak through organizing things, as if she'd forget to question her.

The arrancar walked up behind Catherine while she worked, a grin on her face like she was fascinated by what she was doing. It was a delicate process with intention and purpose. Why wouldn't she be interested in this?

"It was for my projects too. Why wouldn't I be interested in this new kind of hollow, never seen before, making an appearance? They're all quite bestial, aren't they?"

She asked and reached for one of Catherine's containers that she was sorting. An organ of some description that was roughly the shape of an egg. If she really thought about it she might even be able to discern what exactly the hollow might've looked like since they tended towards taking animalistic forms.

"I'll make a trade. Three answers for every one of these."

Safira offered and crushed the jar in her hand so that the liquid splashed down her bare arm and left the organ in her hand. Three answers for one was a good deal, far better than one answer for one organ. It might infuriate the little girl but Safira had already sized her up. It was unlikely that she'd win in her current form but she felt confident in escaping if she needed to. Rather than let her companion simmer though, Safira made good on her end of the deal.

"I fought the strongest hollow in that hole. His name is Asher the Empty-Hearted. He controls all these weaker hollows as their apex predator and can enthral them. Three answers. Any more questions?"

An eye was occasionally kept on her back as she sorted the items by date and size, some containers as small as one's hand while others were practically tubs either filled with innards and other liquids, or had a rather massive organ inside. Some even possessed minute movements despite long having been separated from it's host body.

"Whatever the hell was happening down there, they're older and denser than any hollow i've seen.." She'd calmly remarked. In the early stages of this little catastrophe, she had caught sight of what she only described as 'dinosaurs' at the time. Old fart started getting tons of information and soon requests for those thing's heads, people were raving in fear and anticipation for the sight.

Her head whipped to look at the small Arrancar as she made an offer - three answers for one of them. Though before she even had the opportunity to respond, it was already crushed, the lump of flesh sitting in the girl's hand. The redhead was stunned, and almost went to punch her for breaking her shit without even an 'ok', but she quickly went on to hold up her end of this agreement she decided on her own.

She fought the guy these things kept raving over, Asher? Looked like she lost pretty miserably to her. Either she was a piece of work to even hazard a try at it, somehow without getting taken completely over, or she was another Arrancar who was in over her head and somehow got lucky. But she held her tongue, thinking for a moment as she glanced the shelves. It wasn't like she was dying for fuel, it was an easy trade at the end of the day. This was a game she was willing to play.

"Who are you?" Her shoulders loosened, giving a slight gesture to take another. She had to take it easy, no need to get too greedy up front...

She was weakened and fully aware of that, Asher had stolen her zanpakuto from her, a tool which was formed out of her removed hollow mask. Somehow she needed to try to begin the process of recovery and this seemed an ample opportunity. The other woman seemed interested enough to buy into the deal and so Safira gave her a wicked grin before opening her mouth and swallowing the foul organ in one gulp like a snake in a bird's nest for eggs.

The outstretched tongue that had retreated back into her mouth before giving a side eye at the other woman. She'd already offered three answers for that piece and since the fullbringer made no attempt to choose the next piece but rather gestured to peruse the offerings, Safira figured she got to choose. It was only fair like that really, since the other girl got to ask any questions.

So she reached out for one that looked like it had a decent amount of residue in it. Densely packed with hollow energies and the nucleus of what it had come from. She was purposely using her pesquisa to claim the ones that had the most to offer her.

"I'm Nahash, the hollow that forced the Vandenreich and Shinigami away from this place. Two more for this piece."

It was not a lie but it was a half truth nonetheless. The work she had done here as Nahash should carry more weight than Safira Aldrovandi carried. So she let her new business partner think about that while she got to work on her task of swallowing this piece of hollow remains.

She watched unflinchingly as that first piece vanished down the throat of her company, continuing her organizing with little regard to the disturbing sight. There were most definitely worse sights in the world to be privy to, and this didn't even clock at her top fifty. She didn't really care to let the little lady pick from the articles, clearly she was trying to regain her strength gulping down organs like that, and if it meant she got her questions answered with little hassle, she didn't care.

A bit of surprise flourished in her, she didn't expect her to actually hold up on it; normally in this situation she'd get a cheeky bastard trying to circumvent the rules and squeeze more out of her than she agreed to. There was an expectation in her saying the contents were insubstantial enough for a full three answers, or to try something. If she was intending on playing fair, this Nahash, then that was no problem to her.

"So that was you. Caught wind of what you did, thought you were bigger. And paler." She was exceptionally careful not to word or tonally hint toward anything being a question that she didn't intend to ask, "Alright Nahash, where are you from? Surely if you were from the hole you would've gotten your ass beaten far sooner and come out of it another zombie already. And, what was your true intentions in coming into contact with Asher the Empty-Hearted?"

"I'm from Hueco Mundo. I made a deal with some other arrancar who had similar interests. For some of us, keeping the shinigami occupied here works in our favour, it's not even about personal gain from the hole but keeping the shinigami away."

Brazil was more apt to say but the identity of "Nahash" did originate from Hueco Mundo. She adopted it to approach Criella and make a deal that was mutually beneficial. Anything otherwise was just more than necessary to give.

"I did not expect to encounter Asher the Empty-Hearted. He turned out to be the surprise hidden at the bottom of the Hole. I am curious about these new hollows after all; how they became what they are, how they might grow, or evolve. They represent a different branch of evolution."

She finished explaining before cracking a smile that showed off her fangs. The little arrancar's eyes flicked to her interrogator before back at the arrangement of hollow pieces, telling her that she had used up all three questions for this piece. Did she have any more?

It seemed their interests lined up with each other on one front: the hollows of the chasm and what may lay within it. It was difficult getting an opportunity to actually gather data on the hole itself since those raving lunatics were lying in wait, among them she definitely saw normal humans under the influence. If this Asher was as strong as he sounds, which if it was enough to screw up someone strong enough to contend with the Gotei he definitely wasn't someone she wanted to accidentally stumble upon, sounded like a good way to also become a mind slave. The thought made her skin crawl, so she kept away and did calculations and measurements of how to prepare for it if those bumbling idiots managed to actually kill that guy and clear a way to investigate. The size of the largest beast to come out of the hole alone told her estimations that whatever was under there must be huge, dangerous, and ran deep - It excited her a little.

With a slight gesture of the head, she'd compel her to take another as she walked to a makeshift desk she formed from the sales counter, pulling tools and an unfinished project or two; they looked like heavily modified guns, the shape and assumed weight of them calling into question what their purpose is meant to be.

"So what are these interests? How many guys you got under you?" She thought for a moment, really considering some details as she carefully picked at wires and circuits, "I've heard about hollows and Arrancar congregating someplace in Brazil, haven't seen that on Earth since a bundle of them buddied up with demons for the war. Do you have a hand in this present organizing?"

Oh, now she was asking some interesting questions. Those were the types of questions that Safira might consider killing someone after telling the answers to so she gave a crooked smile at the young woman who had taken a seat. She picked out a small jar. It wasn't the most desirable one to her. This was just a tongue that had been removed from a hollow and wasn't the most energy rich amongst the pieces.

Breaking the jar and tongue in hand, the petite serpent advanced on her questioner before presenting it to her.

"Let's make this more interesting. You eat it; fullbring comes from hollows. I wonder what a fullbringer devouring hollow flesh might do. Eat it and I'll answer those questions."

That wasn't true. Her reason for making this woman eat it had nothing to do with how it might affect her growth. It might increase the hollow factor in the abstract but Safira just wanted to see if she'd do it.

"How old are you anyway? You look like a fairly young human and you must've travelled far to come here."

She poked with idle small talk while letting the fullbringer consider the changed terms. Though they were enlightening ones nonetheless.