How Misfortunate [Catherine, Sabriel]

The click of an electric lighter burned the tip of the cig in her mouth, her foot tapping incessantly as she lounged on the extravagant-looking chair. Adjusting her sleep schedule was shit, working was shit, her grandfather was deteriorating shit, trying to do her researches was shit, that fucking shinigami was shit, everything was shit. Normally she'd find the idea of smoking abhorrent, but trying a pack seemed like a good enough idea about now.

Same time, same place, same restaurant; That's where she had agreed to meet up with the Arrancar, favorably with no enchanted tag alongs. People passed around and behind her, an expression that'd kill causing them to push away from her quickly. Even the server whom had placed a pretty typical brunch platter in front of her had speedily departed with even a hint they'd get the ginger's ire. The lit cig danced in her mouth as she looked at the food before her, deciding she wasn't hungry at the moment.

She'd just let the damn food get cold if that was how long she had to wait for this lady to show up...

It felt like she had practically moved to the human world permanently at this point and every day the Arrancar seemed to be travelling from one end of it to another, increasing her web of influence by acquainting herself with more and more individuals. She was constantly busy and yet, Sabriel had no real issue with it, somewhat enjoying the role that she had in so many lives. There was always another alliance to form, another story to hear and what was becoming more common, another shoulder for those she met to cry on. It seemed like she was the equivalent of a talking doctor these days or whatever humans called them.

To receive a call from Catherine was rather unexpected, as while the two had gotten along in the dark haired woman’s mind, she did not think that she was a favourite of the redhead’s. That being said, she was not going to say no to the chance of spending a little more time with her and had travelled as swiftly as she could to their meeting place, albeit having stopped once or twice to briefly have a little fun. Nothing too deep, just a little twist of a mind or two.

The restaurant was as nice as ever although Sabriel’s attention was rather swiftly captured by a rather powerful burst of negative emotion, her almost empathic nature picking up on it fast. It was like waves crashing up against her and made it rather easy for the Arrancar to follow it to its source. Unfortunately, it seemed to be stemming from the redheaded researcher herself and as Sabriel slipped into the chair opposite Catherine, it seemed rather apparent that her senses had not led her astray. The woman quite frankly looked like she was at her wits end, which naturally caused concern to rise within the lavender eyed Arrancar.

“Forgive my lateness.” Sabriel said in her usual tone, eyes focused upon the redhead, unable to miss the smell of cigarettes. “My previous engagements took a tad longer than I planned.”

Finally, there she was. A burning puff prompted her to cough a tad, sighing and calmly smothering the burning smoke in a wadded up napkin, a low grunt in her voice as she'd shift herself into a more appropriate position to speak to another in, standing up straight with her attention fully toward the Arrancar - thankfully with no stragglers to piss her off.

"Hei. God kveld-" Wrong language, she'd blink hard and shake her head with a knit of the eyebrows, "I meant, good afternoon. Thank you for coming out again."

Her tone was a bit ragged, short, as she'd pull out her notebook and nearly knock over her glass of water, scrunching her nose and easily stopping it's descent with a mere pull of the souls in the cup, as the damned object seemed to halt and calmly re-orientate itself as if possessed. A tired blink would lead to a roll of the eyes, flipping to a fresh page,

"There anything new you feel up to share with me? Or do you want to just stick with small talk?"

There was no doubt that Catherine was struggling with something and a slight frown crossed Sabriel’s face as she watched the redhead almost clumsily knock over the water. She was not quite acting as professionally as before and there was a moment where the Arrancar wanted to humorously ask where the real Catherine was but she contained herself, knowing that it would probably not go down all that well. Sabriel did not wish to anger her researcher friend after all, as she did already seem a little ragged.

“No problem at all. It is good to see you again after our first meeting went so well.” She replied cordially with a nod of her head.

Pondering over what to say, Sabriel would muse that perhaps she should attempt to broach the subject of Catherine’s unhappiness with her. She could still feel the negativity pouring out of the woman and from such a short distance away, it was rather more intense. The Arrancar had enough experience with such things to keep it from affecting her own composure too much but still, it was not something she could turn off nor was particularly pleasant.

“I took your advice regarding what we discussed last time.” She eventually said, her frown turning into a slight smile. “That attack on a particular country that my ally was considering? I withdrew from his group and became simply a confidant to him. We are still friends and I respect his ambition but I will not raise a hand in order to aid him with his conquest. You were quite right. The risk is too great for me and my group of Arrancar.”

Nodding back, her eyes failing to meet Sabriel's, her fingers would touch the cig gently cradled by the napkin, "Ah, hope you don't mind if I finish a smoke." She seemed more to be asking for forgiveness than permission, re-lighting and taking a puff with little indication for approval; at least making the effort to ensure the smoke wouldn't fly in Sabriel's direction with a slight manipulation of the smoke's souls. The burn hit her lungs again, that little jolt of relief that she knew full well was what caused addiction - she told herself she wouldn't let the one time become a frequent thing.

Gaze floating over her food, she couldn't even remember why she bothered ordering anything, she wasn't hungry - at least she didn't feel hungry. Shit's gotten her in a damn tizzy, she supposed...

Oh, she was speaking again, "..Advice..?" She'd huff with a worn voice, head tilting as she'd then realize what she was talking about; Oh, yes, that.

"Smart decision. The less events you're connected to down here, the better. World's far smaller than anywhere else, would be annoying to get driven out, ah? No need to be like those stupid demons - their hedonism got em in the end." Little bits of her true accent bled into her words unintentionally, but she earnestly didn't give a shit to hide it or make a fuss, "Besides, would be hard to keep in touch if you're always running... Huh? You feeling sick or something?" She just noticed that rather poor expression; ah fuck was she making a sour face?

Making a simple gesture to show that she was alright with Catherine smoking, the Arrancar would continue to watch the redhead. The negativity was growing and every action that the woman took seemed to be tinted with tiredness. It was slightly difficult to watch and Sabriel could not help but find her mind briefly wandering again. There was no doubt about the fact that Catherine was truly suffering and the dark haired whip wielder knew that she was going to have to mention it sooner or later. Such a state of being was not one that anyone deserved to be in, even more so someone she thought of as an ally.

Nodding as Catherine replied to her original comments, Sabriel would find the smile that had been on her face fade away as the redhead mentioned her previous, more unhappy expression. That was unfortunate but it did bring the topic around to what the lavender eyed woman wished to talk about.

“I wanted to ask you that, now that you mention it.” She answered with a slight sigh. “Forgive me for saying so but you seem rather distracted and it is difficult for me not to detect your unhappiness. While I share the intense joy that I am able to draw out of others with my presence, unfortunately it also means that if someone is suffering, I can feel that rather strongly too. You do not quite seem like yourself, Catherine.”

The cig danced between teeth with that little opener - uh oh, she had a good idea of what was coming... She was more primed to the idea that she could get a little research on disease; hollowkind definitely seemed to have evidence of harboring pathogens, though they were oft generated by other Hollows, or small hollows, sometimes even parasitic feeding off a larger host. She wished her work in creating a safe way through the Garganta were more successful, the most she could induce was a small tear that'd seal up, might as well have been cutting a wave...

Her expression got unusually hard as she spun around several thoughts, but she couldn't pretend not to listen. What the hell was this, pretend that she couldn't care for herself month? She hadn't been alive this long without being able to fend for herself, sometimes bad days just happened. With a small 'tsk', she'd write down notes of what little she gleaned; not only was this one a manipulator, but she was a heightened empath at that... Guess she couldn't hide away her feelings.. She didn't quite like that.

"Oh you know. Just a bad day. Not a thing special," She'd breathe out, keeping the rug sweeping brief, "Tell me a little more about that ability though, don't think it's come up in our talks yet, ah?"

There was a look that Sabriel gave the redhead after Catherine spoke. It did not last long but enough to be caught if the researcher was on the ball. The Arrancar was not convinced that a simple bad day was enough to cause the negativity that was pouring out of the woman but for the moment, she would pivot slightly to focus on the question asked. She certainly planned on returning to the previous topic soon enough though. Call it unusual for an Arrancar or whatever you like but the dark haired woman did not like those she knew to experience such dark feelings.

“It is not something that I can switch on or off and I confess that it is an ability that has developed rather recently.” She responded with a smile. “I have come to be able to sense when someone around me is feeling a particular way, whether it be a positive or negative emotion, which in turn allows me to adapt when it comes to approaching them. The reasons why they feel what they do are a mystery to me and I most certainly cannot read minds but it has proven to be quite a boon for me although there are side effects as well.”

Pausing momentarily, she would add. “That is the reason why I asked about your welfare, Catherine. If what I am getting from you is accurate then a bad day is not even close to describing what you are going through at this point in time.”

Her eye reflectively twitched with the sensation of rising cortisol in her system, taking another drag as Sabriel described a quite, upsetting ability. Ahhh, empathy types... She'd write it down in her notes as that cig was burned down to it's butt, smothering what little burned before... She needed another one, she deserved it. Another one of those pale sticks were pulled from a white box in her pocket, brought to her lips and lit with no hesitation past the lingering thought of if she should.

"What can I say?" She'd speak with a dreary tone, smoke between her teeth, writing more notes and speculations based off what she had just heard, "M'h bad days are just worse than some others. Managing shit, researching shit, hunting shit, carving shit, lots of other shit... Hah, the average person has little to worry about compared to me, all comfortable in their ignorant lives... Sheltered away from the truth, unknowing of what's there past themselves, not even a drop of curiosity or wonder... It's just nine to five, go home - nine to five, go home - nine to five, go home..."

There wasn't much intention to mistakenly slip into a soft rant, it simply came out of her as she tightly gripped her pen and wrote noticeably faster, teeth biting down on her cig as she sought to withhold some feeling, a rising sense of delirious ecstasy boiling in her chest, a little uncertainty of if she was even talking directly to her company at this point, "All while they get walked all over... Well, i'm not that hapless.. I know better, I am better..."

As she leaned back and listened as Catherine spoke, her empathic tendencies were becoming more and more fixed upon the woman before her. It was as if Sabriel was starting to feel not only the redhead’s almost depressive feelings but something else behind them. The woman was restless and while the dark haired Arrancar did not need her empathy to recognise the signs, as just watching Catherine’s actions were enough to show that someone was seriously wrong, her abilities only made it more apparent.

“Do you despise humans so much?” Sabriel replied with a raised eyebrow. “Is that the reason why you are so eager to bury your own emotions and appear as though you are more machine than woman? To differentiate yourself from them? You are going to fall apart at the seams if you continue down the road you are going, just look at what is happening to you now.”

Sighing, she would add with an honesty that she did not particularly wish to speak with. “You are a nervous wreck, Catherine and this self destructive behaviour needs to stop.”