Bet your Bottom Dollar [Verdada, Catherine]

A soft, melodious hum carried through the basement as Verdada walked through the doorway. Still carrying the melody that she had been singing just moments before. Her eyes shifting slowly towards the hot flush of crimson sprayed across the door and the archway itself. Some of it having run all the way down to the floor with how thick it was.

What a bitter sight it was. How goddamn ironic.

She couldn't help the rueful smile playing across her lips as she stared down at the remains of the two. Two humans htat had entrusted themselves to her. And now the both of them were entirely dead. It was so fuckin sickening~

She knew that she wouldn't be able to replicate the effects of Sabriel's song. After all, it was laced with her aspect of death and her unique spiritual energy. While she could have replicated the song and perhaps the melody, and she could have tried to brute force some similar reaction, ultimately, it was up to her own fucked up soul that would have decided how it would effect them. That tired smile shifted with a breath of a sigh as she crouched over Clair's remains.

Staring at the sight of so much of the woman's face missing. Her eyes shifting to the corner of the table, where the woman had repeatedly bashed her head, until her skull had caved in. Lance had died easier. He'd smashed a nearby mirror and slit his own throat to fantastic effect. The blood was still dripping from some of the surfaces.

Two of her humans.... gone.

She reached up and gently grasped the sides of her face as she giggled to herself, and a single tear ran down her cheek.

"Fucking Hell..."




Two days later, Catherine would receive a summons. A text from Verdada. Requesting her assistance.

"Catherine Reed"

The low rumble of a motorbike approached the location she was given to meet up at - she was fresh off a board meeting and not in the best of moods consequentially - mostly from having to watch that corpse run his mouth for several hours while everyone else never noticed him. He was deteriorating, she could tell, he was slipping... The facade could only be kept up for so long.

hey. i'm here. She'd quickly spot another text, asking to confirm if she was in the right place.

She hadn't a damn clue what that little witch wanted to do, but she was likely someone more willing to present the riskier parts of learning about her hollow abilities. There had been attempts on her end to do all manner of things - open a way through the Garganta, make a cero, even a bala, anything... She definitely had capacity for it, but her goes kept sputtering out, even with all of her research on the topics so far. Though she was aware Arrancar could only do it so easily because it was practically cooked into them, surely she had a bit of that?

Hopping off her bike, she'd remove her helmet and place it on the seat, engaging the locking system of her own design and approaching the housing. Deep breaths - she can't catch her off guard again if she didn't walk into a trap, she knew better now.

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight

As Catherine approached the dwelling, it didn't take very long for the disheveled Arrancar to step out into the sunlight. Her coat a bit of a haphazard mess slung around her shoulders rather than being properly worn. A cigarette, unlit, hanging out of her mouth as she adjusted her glasses and smirked. "Hey there, hot stuff. Get inside, Hermana. I need your help with a few things. Your .... hollow pericia." She hummed as she stepped to the side and gestured for Catherine to step inside.

No real greeting or how -do -you-do. After all Catherine seemed to hate that familiar shit~ So Verdada made it a point not to be too chummy with the girl. Well, when she wasn't being AGGRESSIVELY chummy just to irk her~ But for the time being, she was moving things along. Which no doubt would pique the girl's interest. It wasn't often that Verdada was dialed in and focused. And whatever was going on, the look on Verdada's face was VERY focused.

"Catherine Reed"

Well someone looked like shit. Least she kept the bullshit low this time, surprising - whatever it was must be serious if she cut down on the slop and looked so intense. She didn't quite like getting so few details on what she's helping her with, not that she expected to get said details in the first place, but Verdada never called her in like this before, "Whatever it is, remember you owe me for it."

Stepping inside, she'd get a scope of the place, most particularly checking her surroundings with Signal to make sure; the arrancar was a subject of interest but she was also the unstable sort, she had no idea what rat might've been running the wheel up in that head of her's today. Maybe she can squeeze out some advice of how to develop certain aspects of her hollow side...

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight

She simply glanced over her shoulder at Catherine, but made not a single comment. Something perhaps unnerving for Catherine, given how impish and playful Verdada so often was. It was as if she was an entirely different person. All the same, the actual interior was clinical. Sterile levels of clean, smooth steel walls as she made her way deeper into the place. It almost seemed like some sort of abandoned clinic. All the same, once they were far enough down the hall, it opened into a little atrium. Without a word to Catherine, she promptly walked to an elevator and headed down. Gesturing for the redhead to slip in with her as the woman promptly pushed the button for the bottom basement floor.

After a few moments of more or less silence, unless Catherine attempted to start up some conversation. But frankly, it was very clear Verdada was focused, and any attempts at a little chat would be given noncommital and idle answers at best. It wouldn't be until they got to the bottom floor that some energy seemed to seep into the woman. A sortof medical theatre was front and center. A glass cage around an operating theatre with seats all around it. A sort of surgical area that was designed for teaching. At present, a Hollow was strapped to the table. Though there was some changes added to the thing itself. The glass was reinforced. Extra layers had been clamped to the outside of the barrier, and thus the glass didn't let light pass through as much, tinting it a little. While some sort of insulator was added to the seams between them, as if to make it water or soundproof. The creature hardly seemed to respond to their presence and Verdada smiled over her shoulder as she addressed Catherine.

"You're familiar with hollows, right? I've been chatting a bit with some other arrancar, and I've come across an ...interesting technique. However, my attempts at ...emulating it. Have had some unexpected results. This here is Buck. One of my test subjects. Currently under sedation." She hums as she gestures past the operating theatre and towards a room filled with notes, books, and a number of rather grotesque photographs. Bloody scenes of dead hollows pinned to a corkboard in the corner. All the trappings that Catherine no doubt might recognize, of an independent research project of a questionable nature.

"Catherine Reed"

Vigilance was at an all time high as she followed the arrancar into the belly of her workshop, a tension in the air as she'd go through steel walkways and a cramped elevator, the scents of age only serving to further unnerve her. As they descended, a comment or two was made, but she quickly got the impression - someone wasn't chatty today, and that furthered her lingering, silent anxieties. Such a chatty nutjob like Verdada, keeping words sparse? Either something happened, or she had something planned; either possibility sounded unsavory.

Finally, they arrived, Catherine giving a cautious scan of the room, the scents of sanitizer and faint hints of blood hitting her nose in a confusing cascade. A Hollow tied down to a medical theatre, thick insulation between they and the beast, and not to mention the corkboard of gruesome images... Not that she'd gag, she'd seen and experienced far worse, though she was disgusted by Verdada's means of procuring information. It was a creator's best interest to ensure the subjects of their craft were as salvageable as possible, especially if they were living. Ugh, she felt gross feeling anything but animosity for that monster...

"Yeah, I know hollows plenty well," She'd sigh, placing her bag on the floor, "You suck at names. Read more books. Fiction, that is."

She doubted whatever 'sedation' she used for this thing would be enough to keep it properly conked out, unless she got her hands on some kind of poison or venom of their own kind. Trusted that glass as much as the woman behind her in the event that thing woke up and went rabid.

"So, what do you want me to do, exactly?"

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight

Verdada couldn't help but smile just a bit wider as she saw the look on Catherine's face, no less the commentary in response to her naming conventions for her subjects. She gave a brief chuckle as she reached up and lightly peeled her glasses off, gently wiping them clean with the inside of her labcoat as she explained.

"Your expertise is exactly what I need you for. I've gotten a fair number of ...run of the mill subjects. Simple, stupid beast like hollows. But i need something a bit .... stronger for my experiment. You know the type. An evolved hollow with full mental faculties, for an experiment. Most subjects I can just strong arm, but well. Evolved hollows are more tricky and have a tendency to get away. `I've tried using normla hollows. But you can see the results. None of them have survived long enough to get a good understanding of what's going on, aside from Buck here. But one subject isn't enough data. Buck here is an evolved hollow in fact. Or sortof. He's not fully there. But he was more cognizant than the others. I wanna see if that's consistent with other subjects."

She put her glasses back on and looked up to Catherine, smiling a bit wider. "You do owe me for the trip to Hueco Mundo after all."

"Catherine Reed"

"Aww, big bad Verdada in all her terror can't bag a hollow with more than three brain cells on her own~?" She couldn't help but spout her surprise in a sarcastic manner; she'd hardly call catching a hollow anywhere near a simple trip to Hueco Mundo, especially given she doesn't recall Verdada making any expectations of owing clear on that... Ah well, given those photos she was mighty curious what the hell she was using these things for. Doubted she bashed their brains in for a photo op.

"Fine fine, i'll snag you one if you give me a few hours, I know where to grab the chatty ones. You're in luck that i'm curious." A waving hand, she'd turn away, as if to leave and go get the job done unless Verdada stopped her in this instance.

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight

Verdada raised her brows, but didn't cease her smiling as Catherine took the opportunity to mock her. No, rather that smile of hers deepened. As if she knew something Catherine didn't know. but that was quite alright. No, she was rather ...intrigued by the response. "By yourself?" She tilted her head with a bit of curiosity. Certainly she had anticipated it would be a group activity. She didn't imagine that Catherine would just do this all by herself.

Still. She paused and took a moment to ....consider. Well, perhaps Catherine just preferred to work alone. "If you don't mind me asking. What is it about hollows that so fascinates you? There's any number of species of spirits around. Shinigami. Quincy. And even ones far more sinister than hollows. The Demons for example. What was it that has your attention placed so very squarely on hollow kind?" She ventured. Offering her question just as Catherine was about to leave.

They had, after all, exchanged services here and there. She also knew the scents of hollows well. Not just hollows, but the smell of arrancar was also on the girl at times. And so she decided to be direct and simply ask.

"Catherine Reed"

"By myself." She'd casually affirm as she was almost to leaving the room entirely; it wasn't like bagging a Hollow was going to be difficult, if anything the most annoying part was finding one. Whatever, nothing an hour or two of travel and using her senses couldn't pin down... What, what did she want? Her head immediately whipped around to look at Verdada as she began her sentence, a quiet expression of perplex wafting on her features as she heard out her inquiry on...

"Hollows have the most of interest to tell me," Was spoken with an annoyed sigh; fine, she'd entertain it for a moment, "Quincy I know plenty about - but i've hit a wall that nobody left seems able to jump over. Shinigami? Cogs in their stupid little machine, even if I wanted to learn anything of them they would have nothing to say to a puny mortal; i've got them figured out on m' own. Demons are parasites, there's little else to em'."

She'd turn away, and almost continued her departure, but stopped as her hand was on the door, not quite turning around, "..Hollows are the biggest unknown in this existence, yet near nobody's dug into them. I'm no coward."

With that, she would depart, vanishing for several hours with little idea of contact or progress.

---

The sun hung low in the dusky sky by time she would have returned, the coughing purr of her motorcycle indicating her arrival. A middling sized hollow crying out for mercy was strapped to the attachment, it's limbs rendered naught but useless broken sleeves of bone and flesh, bound by wire and tagged down by strange talismans.

A simple 'I'm back.' was tapped into her phone, as she would begin wheeling the crying creature to the door with little issue or struggle, her body bloodied and her expression murderously irritated. She hated the yappy ones.

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight