Miseries And Company [Liltotto/Lucia]

What a strange goal for someone who smelled so- No. No. Don't think about how she smells. Block that thought. Even if she was currently her captor, she was still a person, that would be a line she isn't willing to cross. Either she was to weather whatever this 'research' entailed, or her comrades would come save her; the expense of her comfort was all too familiar of a price. She doubted whatever seal put on her would be removed, at least not without sufficient replacement - it was more convenient to have her this weak.

"...Can't imagine how research on something that isn't a Quincy will help with that, but alright..." She'd breathe out that comment under her breath. She doubted Lucia looked upon her with anything but scorn, if that was her true feelings, "..Are you really okay with that? Killing countless people; men, women, and children? To what end? You're a Quincy too, aren't you?"

Her voice was weak, small, and unimposing. There was nothing but a sense of genuine wondering in her flat tone, using conversation to distract herself from the gnawing void within her begging to be satiated.

"They don't have to die. Removing those abilities would be more than enough. I just haven't found a way to do it yet, but I will."

She'd certainly tried. The scars that covered Lucia's body were ample proof of how hard she had tried to rid herself of what she considered such genuinely evil abilities. But they were buried deep in her being for now; she simply had to live with this for now.

"I'm a Quincy, yes. But once I get what I want, once I can destroy those abilities, I'll make sure that I purge them from myself, too. They're sickening, you know. People deserve better than that."

Momentarily, she grew quiet; it was very hard to think at her usual level on an empty stomach. So she didn't want their deaths, she just wanted their abilities gone. Less extreme, but still quite extreme... From the sound of her answers, she was quite adamant on this. There was no convincing her out of it terribly easily, but.. Urgh.

"They're what was forged so your ancestors could survive," Her voice carried softly, in remembrance of experiences both her's and others, "What are they to do, when they can't fend off Hollows? Are you planning to entirely rob them of... Of..."

It hurt. It burned. The hunger sent shivers through her frame, toes and fingers curling as she fought the desire to bite her company,

"..I'm star..ving. I need to eat... something, anything spiritually-dense..." She pressed one of her temples into the dirt, it was so hard to concentrate, "I'm serious, I don't want to eat you..."

Despite her feelings on the matter, Lucia did not consider herself a cruel woman. If her quarry was in such grave condition, she would assist. That was just the right thing to do, the good thing to do, and she tried her best to do good, even if that meant she had to act in ways few might agree with. It was all just in service of something more important.

"Here."

Lucia pulled a small orb from her pocket, one of several she had on her person. The ball was soft to the touch, almost squishy, and radiated faintly of an obvious spiritual power. Whatever was within it swirled around at the movement, a faint white color. That cretin who supported her called the fluid within 'weihwasser,' and she didn't much care to ask about the specifics of its function. She knew that when she ate the capsule, it restored her energy, and that it tasted faintly sweet.

In a way, she'd have preferred it be bitter medicine. Regardless, she set it down in front of the woman she'd captured, not hugely inclined to feed her or anything similar.

Accepting strange looking and smelling objects as food was far from usual for her, but she was desperately holding herself back at this point. Anything that could quiet that familiar aching itch right now, even a little, would be better than nothing. She hardly needed clear vision to know it'd been placed on the ground for her, grunting slightly as she'd command a shaky hand to grasp the object.

It was gone into her mouth, hardly a moment seemed to be given to chew it - simply vanishing to be devoured by the void within her being. Her shivers seemed to diminish a little, as she could catch her breath - it wasn't a huge boost, but it was a marginal improvement...

She didn't want to fall asleep, she genuinely did not want to; she needed some idea of where she was being taken to communicate to the others later on...

Were they all okay? She was genuinely unsure, if she even managed to dispatch of the threat. She only personally knew that her team made it out alive, everyone else was up in the air in terms of their safety... What even threw her?

No, no this was no time to let concerns take over, she had to focus. She just had to believe they were safe.

"..Who are you even working with to do this..? Are you even sure they have your best interests at heart..?"

"It isn't my place to tell you who they are."

Lucia's expression didn't shift as she spoke, but her attention was still primarily on her captive. Whenever someone came to pick her up, then she could leave and get back to something more productive. Well...this was productive in its own way. It meant she'd keep a good business relationship with that creature, at least until she could manage to reproduce the equipment on her own. Though, frankly, it didn't feel likely she would be reaching that goal any time soon.

"Whether they have my best interests at heart doesn't matter. We see eye to eye for now. We agree that the world would be better without the Quincy."

There wasn't anything she could say here to convince this young woman otherwise, was there? It wasn't like she was stupid or naive enough to think she could change a person's mind on their goal in one conversation. Lucia was clearly bent on ridding the world of that spirit-erasing power; there was little room to argue, in all earnesty - she knew full well how disastrous those powers were in the wrong hands, with the loosest senses of responsibility, for everything of all walks of the realms... But how were they to defend themselves, let alone anyone else? It wouldn't cease the threat Hollows posed...

...Her eyelids grew heavy. Oh, so she was falling asleep again anyway. Pinpricks of anxiety made her slowing heart tick a beat or two; she knew full well when she next awoke, she would fully be at the mercy of her captors. But that was fine, it will all be okay.

"..Lucia," It felt disingenuous to refer to her by first name, but it was all she had the energy to speak of with how quickly the darkness of sleep was coming to claim her, "...I hope you're certain in what you're doing... And... Have no... regrets in the end..."

The fleeting strains of consciousness escaped her grasp, nothing more than a slumbering body to be moved.

"It's the only thing that gives my life meaning."

Whether Liltotto heard her or not hardly mattered much to Lucia, truth be told. She was ironclad in her resolve, and not simply because of some unshakeable faith in her convictions, some bullheaded unwillingness to see the world as it was. No, rather, she believed in herself specifically because she had seen the world so clearly.

She was on the side of right. The side of helping the world, saving people from the cruelest fate imagineable.

Only after her quarry had fallen back into unconsciousness did Lucia finally hear the familar voice of that wretch who paid her for this work, holding back a sigh as she greeted him politely, took the tools she was owed, and allowed him to take his prize. He had some idea of what he would probably do to the woman; it wasn't her problem, at the end of the day. Whatever happened in that laboratory, wherever it even was, was none of Lucia's business.