The Light of Life [Klein, Safira]

"I don't imagine it'll all fill in right away, but that should be most of the work done."

Klein's eyes only briefly moved to the spent vessel now in Safira's lap. It was hard to say whether or not it had died in the process of doing its job, if only because it was hard to say if it had ever been alive in the first place. Well...not in the first place. But after he'd finished working on it, at any rate.

"So? Now what?"

There was some expectance in Klein's voice, the obvious sense that he really wanted answers on what was supposed to be next for them. Not in the sense of "himself and Safira," he understood pretty well what their little setup was and exactly how he was going to be handling it from here on. No, he was talking bigger picture than that.

"It was to be expected but I made preparations for that possibility. I have no intention of drawing out a maturation process any more than is necessary."

The first statement was easily addressed but his question left her quiet for a little bit. The immediate future required no great deal of thought. She had made an agreement with Kurosaki and she would keep it, even if he had done nothing to justify her help. However, their interests mutually aligned and so that was enough in the same capacity as her agreement with Criella to destroy the Gotei and Vandenreich's blockade.

"With my curiosity towards Africa's situation satiated, I was thinking I might broaden my horizons. Brazil was a nice reprieve from the lassitude I felt for a while but if I wait too long for fruit to ripen, it may just rot."

A frustratingly cryptic comment that brought a grin to her face as she pet the creature on her lap, what benefit was there to letting it live? She could put it down as a mercy but the faint breathing was the only sign that she had affected the sacrificial lamb in any capacity.

The serpent was inclined to share her intentions with the other hollow but her silver tongue was not as direct as he might like. So she was of the determine just how deep that fixation of his went towards her.

"What does your missing heart crave more than anything in this world, Klein?"

That was a cryptic answer, but Klein supposed he shouldn't have expected anything else from someone like Safira. The window where he felt like he might have been able to expect anything meaningful out of her was closed; he was going to once again have to tiptoe around her as much as possible. In a way, he was going to miss the little arrangement they'd had, but that should hardly have been surprising.

"More than anything, huh?"

Klein thought about that one. He could be honest, or he could say something simple, straightforward, easy. I want a world full of violent women who listen to everything I say. Nothing wrong with that mental image, but it wasn't necessarily what he wanted more than anything.

"Well, that's a toughie, you know. I'd like to make sure I've got lots of lovely ladies around me who can give me a nice comfort in these troubled times. But you can't trust most people, you know. So I'd have to make them myself. Or...make a few improvements on the ones already out there."

He had ideas, of course, and he knew that Safira had to at least in part understand what he was capable of. He'd brought her a shell so close to her own former appearance, after all, and he knew it would have taken a real genius to figure out the difference just from appearances. If he could combine that sort of work with what he'd already managed with his Rhinemaidens, if he could add the fundamental new life that he was so close to with the Nibelung, he could probably do something that would make him a very, very wanted man.

"I think I'd like to replace the world with people who appreciate me a little more. You know, like you do."

To turn this world into his doll house, how ambitious. It made the grin on her face widen at the thought of the three worlds filled with facsimiles, it was an amusing thought to picture. Safira supposed there was some similarities but they had different minds on the matter.

"Most interesting, Klein, but how would you achieve such a goal when the shinigami and humans would try spoil it?"

Safira continued to entertain his grand ideas out of interest. Maybe they were just fantasies at the moment without any practical way to accomplish it but she was also looking for any conflicts of interest. It would be very unfortunate if Klein's ambitions were to clash with her own.

Everything was looking so nice right now, it would ruin her mood and sadden her if she had to squash his dreams.

"It'd take some time. I'd have to replace them, too. It's a process, I don't pretend it'd be something easy to do."

Of course, ideally he could simply make changes to people already alive. That was much easier, and even that was more work than he wanted to necessarily do. But he had no problem with creating new shells to fill with life. He certainly had no problem defiling the bodies and spirits of the dead for the sake of creating something new.

"Humans aren't really worth worrying about. Not like most shinigami are, either. There are big people in the way, but I don't really want to get into it with them on any even footing or anything, I'd just lose. But, you know most people don't like to fight their friends, their family. That would give me a big advantage."

That sort of psychological warfare, that one could say bordered on torturous, was hardly even worth commenting on for Klein. It wasn't as if he'd ever minded manipulating people into doing what he wanted.

"That's true."

She approved of his willingness to use psychological warfare and she gave shinigami the consideration she would give a dog she didn't like at the best of times. Could she really care if they suffered? Of course she was building to a question that she administered like a drawn sword to give him.

Safira did want to see what he'd do with it.

"But where do I fit into this dream of yours? Your words and this thing in my lap has me very curious about that."

"Hmm?"

She was really putting him on the spot now, wasn't she? Not that Klein could say he was at all surprised. Safira was a snake in the truest possible sense, and she'd locked him in place with a gaze that made the possibility of a strike all too clear. But he wasn't one who would be scared quite so easily. You didn't survive Hueco Mundo like that, you didn't make it out of so many fights just by getting intimidated.

"Was I wrong to assume that you appreciate me? I'd hope not. I like working with you plenty, you know. The perks are good, the pay is nice. Not many people I could trust to support my projects, and you always seem to understand where I'm coming from."

Of course, it was all flattery, though one would be hard-pressed to call it empty flattery. In some sense, he did like Safira, even if he understood all too well that he could never genuinely trust her or put his life in her hands.

"I don't have a reason to replace you, do I? I think the best part of having nice toys is being able to show them to your friends."

"Not at all, I would just like to think it was mutual. I would be very upset if you preferred this thing over me."

Safira had no doubts that he would say anything to save his skin and that his word was less reliable than her own. Her pride demanded she keep her word most of the time, even if her silver tongue deceived the person she was dealing with, but a coward that wanted to survive above all else would say anything.

His actions spoke enough for him though. He could have not gone through all the trouble of assisting her and that would make her situation a lot more difficult to navigate. It took some nerve to use her like he did and then willingly return her power to her. It said as much that she let him continue to speak like he did, like they were equals, it was proof he had climbed a few places in her eyes.

"Since you were so willing to share, I'll reciprocate. My transformation has given me a lot to think about and elements of myself have become clearer. I intend to break past the limitations I've known for so long that have been holding me back. So, what comes now is simple."

"Let this empty shell be a gravestone for my old vain self, I do not intend to evolve but to transcend beyond a mere hollow, and what better whetstone to sharpen myself against than the shinigami themselves?"

"That's pretty ambitious. But, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, and if any Arrancar could do it, you're probably at the top of the list."

Not the very top, admittedly. Klein felt like there were one or two other Arrancar whose circumstances might have leant them a little more of a leg up on the idea of transcending their existence. But, even if they did have that leg up, he really, really doubted that they'd have even half the ambition to accomplish it as she would. That kind of thing went a long way.

"I've got a lot of research I need to do on those shinigami anyway. They have a few things about 'em that I think we don't really understand well enough. Besides, not very fair that they know so much about us in comparison."

There was a very genuine sort of pouting tone to Klein's voice, a legitimate grievance at the idea that he was working at a disadvantage. Even so, he shrugged it off, and returned to the more pressing topic at hand.

"If we're doing that, I'll only need a little bit of time to get ready."

"Do not worry yourself, Klein. I'm sure I can spare a few shinigami. As rare as they are to appear in the living world's trafficking scene, they are known to appear."

As good faith, Safira was more than willing to enable this endeavour of his for all his good work. There's no doubt in her mind that this would prove fruitful to her own ends as well so to not support him when she had the means was pure folly.

"You have time, so don't rush. I'll pass the details onto Sumana and she can handle it while I mature."