A Miracle, Magical Encounter [Klein, Liltotto]

"You're right. In time, maybe they have to go. But isn't that still better than indiscriminate killing? Being put on trial for risking the well-being of other people, isn't that different from all of us being sent along the cycle before we're ready?"

Klein hated the strong. Hated everyone who put themselves above him. But that hate made him strive to match them, strive to pull them down to his own level. That was why he loved strong women more than anything; when he made them his, it simply meant that they were, in the end, nothing better than he was.

But, he shouldn't say things like that. It would make his guest uncomfortable, and besides...there were some women for whom his feelings weren't quite so straightforward.

"The hunger of all hollows is existential. It isn't just hunger, it's an eternal emptiness. Something we all lack. And, in my case, it's something more. I was made to always need more."

Taking his seat on the opposite end of the table, Klein smiled to himself as he dug into the meal, more concerned with his guest than his own enjoyment. After all, she seemed amenable, if not completely on board with his ideas. Even if he couldn't sway her to his side, he could plant the seeds of doubt into her. If he sent her on her way, in time, he could find a very dear accomplice.

Even the sensation of hot food in her mouth alone was enough to perk her up, spending time both listening to her captor, and trying to bring her hunger back down to the typical level of annoying. Food vanished from the plate faster than one could think, and she had gone for another plate within barely a minute of starting. What was he trying to do here, garner her sympathy? Strange tactic, but not unheard of - it was better to butter up your captives than torment them... Least that's what she recollected from her psychology and other intersecting courses in college a good forever ago. It just told her to be on alert.

"It's hardly indiscriminate when they target people," She'd say between inhaling plate's worth of food - she wasn't interested in savoring, she just needed every little lap of energy and calories in her as soon as possible, "But by the Gotei's standards, yeah I guess you could say that. Just killing to fill a quota... Said quota keeps the balance in check, but it's still uncaring for everything else."

It wasn't like the Shinigami's job required them to care for the lives of any but their own, and the ones they needed to shuffle along to another world. Sure, there were some exceptions or newlings who deviated from the norm, but overall...

Plate after plate of food rapidly vanished, a neat stack forming next to her with every emptied platter.

"Always need more?" A brow raised as she rather impolitely licked a plate clean, "How's that different than the typical endless yearning for your void to fill?"

"The Gotei only want results. I guess I can't blame them for that, but when I'm the one they want dead, it's not so unreasonable to want them gone, is it?"

He knew someone who was affiliated with the Quincy, the Vandenreich, would understand that much. He didn't much care about convincing her that he was some soldier of justice or anything like that; he didn't even think that about himself. Rather, he was correct. Convincing someone else of that was just his natural inclination.

"Other Hollows can sate things temporarily. Their reiryoku stores can be remade. But me, I was left with nothing. Imagine the soul like a balloon, and mine has a small little hole in it. We all still need to fill that balloon, but no matter what, I can't get enough for even a second."

With a shrug, Klein chomped down on more food, unconcerned with politeness any more than Liltotto was. If anything, he found her impropriety cute.

"For most hollows, it comes and goes in waves, like normal hunger. For me, it doesn't really matter. Just an endless state where I've never really had enough to mean anything."

That applied to far more than energy, of course. It was everything in his life, everything in the world. But such a thing was the way of Arrancar, to be wholly defined by their fundamental flaws. He needed more wealth, more women, more knowledge. He needed to be seen as the greatest person in the lives of everyone he knew.

Klein needed the world, and even when he had it, he knew that it wouldn't be enough.

Her eyes narrowed as he went on, explaining his plight in life... She understood that inability to fill one's self entirely; her nature was similar to that of Hollows after all, except she had more liberty in keeping herself in check, the basis of her being not inherently rooted in negativity and therefore not driving her to madness. What she used to be, was wrapped within what she is now - human, but neither erased nor collided with the other; just a peaceful coexistence.

"I feel like you're just trying to buy my sympathy," Regardless of how much she could relate to that, there was still the matter of the reality in this situation, and this offness she felt, "I'm not gonna forget the fact you've pulled me down to.. Where ever this is. Strapped me down, i'm not even going to make guesses as to what you were doing while I slept, and now.."

She gestured a fork at him, "..What exactly are you planning to do with me, now? I was brought here against my will, and you kept me sealed up. If your intentions were for the better, can't you just unbind me and let me go?"

"Woah, now. I won't pretend that I'm totally in the right. I get my hands dirty to make sure that I can see my work through, but that's work. If I was going to do something like that, I wouldn't do it in your sleep. I like to give girls I'm interested in nice clothes, bring them to dinner..."

Klein allowed himself a guilty-looking smile at that, shrugging as he visibly conceded that he was describing the situation at present.

"Well, I do all that before I try anything. As for what I want with you now, it hasn't changed just because I can tell you're not a quincy. If anything, I'm more resolute than ever. You're something special. I want to know what it is about the soul that forces Hollows to hunger. What it is that divides souls into everything in the world. But you...you're not quite anything typical, are you?"

Even with such a question, Klein's demeanor hadn't shifted from its gentle, innocent way. It wasn't a facade, after all. He believed so resolutely in himself and his convictions that he simply wouldn't ever speak about them as if they were intrinsically meaningful.

"I don't mind letting you go when this is all over. I'll drop you off somewhere nice, give Lucia a call to undo her seal, and that'll be that. But do you think people would work with me just because I tell them about what I'm doing? No. In fact, I don't think the average person would even understand. But you would, right? You understand there's something beyond the divisions of the soul that the world is bound by. It's in your nature...whatever that nature is."

There was only an unfazed expression in return to that smile. Her hunger had finally come down enough that it wasn't immediately painful, but it was still rather miserable, taking more shares... It was tiring, having to eat so much in one sitting, especially in a strange place full of strange and unfamiliar scents, at the mercy of a total stranger who's intent became clearer as he spoke here.

Her tired eyes gazed about, as a gap of silence formed past his last word, before her lips would part again, "...And what if I don't want to help with this?"

"Then I'd ask why."

It was a pointed response, one laced with a combination of annoyance and genuine confusion at the matter. After all, why would anyone disagree with his ideas here? It didn't make sense, from Klein's view. His reasons were solid, his methods not entirely unreasonable. If it was his personal life, he would understand more, but this wasn't that.

"Is it just my methods?"

"Dunno," She'd have cleaned another plate by time she was talking again, "Maybe the fact your helper grabbed me fresh off dealing with a major catastrophe? I'm not even sure if all my colleagues are OK, I haven't even had a chance to step foot back home."

Sighing a heavy breath, she'd grip the plate with notable intent, "Sure, grateful for the food - thanks for that. But, everyone could think i'm dead or worse by now. I wanna go home, sleep in my own bed. Eat my own food. Go to work... Just like normal. Just like every day."

A dreary look flooded her gaze as she was actually given a moment to think about it with a clear mind; how many of them survived the onslaught in the city?

"I'm not incredibly fond of the idea of you sending off a young woman to hog tie Quincy for her goal, either."

"You're a kind soul, huh? Well, that's fair. I'm more of a big picture guy, you understand. What I'm researching here is much, much too important for me to try and keep everyone happy and safe."

The mention of Lucia, however, did make Klein shake his head briefly, holding up a hand as if to further reinforce that he didn't wish for that line of thinking to go any further.

"Now, don't put that girl in my camp like that. I give her equipment, and this is how she repays me. It's a business relationship, and nothing more than that. Personally, I don't really find her moralizing about the nature of Quincy all that compelling, but I see where she's coming from. Whether or not I was sending her out, she'd be doing that. I know, seeing as she came her to find help on her own."

Taking a sip of his drink, Klein stared at Liltotto for a moment or two. He was willing to play ball with her, of course. If only because he was so benevolent, and so good natured.

"I'd estimate my research will take a week. Maybe two, depending on the data I get. If you'd like, I can get reports on the state of things up where your friends were. I can try to get a message sent to the Vandenreich that you're alright, too, but that would take time, and I can't promise you won't be out of here by then anyway."

She considered his words, her position, though there was one thing she wanted to gently correct; "Nah. I'm no kind soul. Just a selfish one."

Even if he wasn't in full support of her endeavors, he was still supplying a troubled person the means to enact their will. On top of that, he didn't sound very interested in actually allowing her to leave so soon; stating the length of his research was enough to tell her that. Ugh... She didn't have much means to struggle or get away on her own right now, the seal on her was a stubborn reminder of that.

...Whatever, it wasn't like this was the first time she was used for some other's purpose. At least this had a perceivable end date, but...

"Fine, i'll cooperate - but on one condition."

Her expression was different than the flat or almost dismissive air she held. Rather, it held an old cluster of emotions - that of which she wished she had when all she knew was sent to their assured destruction, "Promise me a single thing: Nothing, not a single thing you gain from me, is to be turned on any of the Vandenreich, Or Quincy as a whole. If I have even the slightest indication it's been used in order to destroy them, I will hunt you down with all my might and kill you myself."

A slight peek at her sharpened incisors was visible as she spoke this threat, as to further press this condition.