How Misfortunate [Catherine, Sabriel]

"Bit me."

Such a simple response to a loaded question, a weary look grown as she remembered full well those words he spoke to her, hung over her with that monstrous form...

Let this be ah reminder; ya fear's too great to kill me, girl.

She remembered the burn of teeth pressing slowly into her shoulder, as if he wanted that reminder to be as slow and excruciating as he could make it. A clawed hand crushed her lungs to the point of barely even able to catch a breath from the ear-piercing screams. The memory of acid burning her flesh, of frigid air stabbing into her newly formed wounds as the grass beneath her itched her skin...

Didn't realize she had been holding the spot where that scar was presented for a pinch too long for someone just adjusting their clothes. Externally, looked normal, calm, composed outside of subtly irregular breathing...

...Within betrayed the mounting signs of a panic attack.

The answer was awfully simple and Sabriel frowned slightly, watching Catherine carefully, using both her empathy and skills at reading body language to try and figure out what was going on inside the redheaded researcher. What she was picking up was distressing and as the lavender eyes of the Arrancar moved to watch Catherine’s hand as it dwelled upon the scar, the Arrancar’s own body language shifted. She did not like what she sensed at all.

Wary but figuring that since she had already gone so far, she should keep gently pushing, prepared to make a more active move if Catherine blew a fuse, so to speak. The redhead was difficult to read and given how quickly she was shifting from calm to manic, Sabriel was far more on guard than normal at this point.

“He bit you?” She asked simply, tenderly encouraging Catherine to resume with her tale, albeit with a growing sense of dread.

"Bit. Past tense of bite. Bite, verb, to use teeth in order to cut into or through something."

She understood full well what Sabriel meant by that echo of her statement. She just didn't want to answer it. Those weren't memories she wanted to think about, to remember, to wonder on - because the next time they clashed she'd surely win. She had to win.

She wasn't that girl anymore.

"No need to delve. Anything important come up on your end?"

Suppress it.

After so long spent being completely honest, it was somewhat curious that Catherine would choose now to clam up. Was the Arrancar getting close to the root of the redhead’s issues? A possibility but as Sabriel pondered about her next move, she wondered if it was wise to keep pushing, given how little she honestly knew about Catherine’s abilities. Having the woman before her blow a fuse now could cause quite a mess, a situation that the dark haired truly did not need.

Yet, it was difficult for the Arrancar to stop now, given how far she had come and who knew whether Catherine would ever be so forward about her past again. Honestly, the conversation had aroused Sabriel’s curiosity to such a degree that the lavender eyed woman now had another problem. Her own desire to know more, one that was becoming so strong that it was overriding Catherine’s seeming desire for the Arrancar to stop pushing. A rare occurrence.

Holding back her interest for now, Sabriel would acquiesce to Catherine’s wish to change the subject. “I am not sure about the importance in the grand scheme of things but a Quincy friend of mine was attacked by a rogue Shinigami just lately. It was quite the savage attack from all accounts and the girl was lucky to survive.”

..And that was the last licks of her smoke. Good thing the desirous Arrancar decided to heed her request to divert; she may have been willing to tolerate the entity's whims given how interesting a subject she was, but there was such thing as giving the bear too much to eat. Always had to maintain some level of control over the path of conversation or battle.

"Rogue shinigami, ah?" She'd speak through her meal, "There's a fair amount of those. Bout a quarter of them are worth anything - can't tell the difference between the rest and the vermin from the Gotei. Sucks for her, though; never heard of one screwing around with Quincy in a good while..."