How to Draw Smiles [Klein, Liltotto]

It had been an exhausting week for Klein, but more worth it than anything else ever could have been. He'd spent hours analyzing the abyss within his patient; hours more while she slept parsing the data, trying to reconstruct it and understand whatever it was that she actually was.

But he'd gotten to what he believed was the bottom of it. And in the process, he'd been able to enact plans of his own. Every sedative he'd administered, he'd ever so slightly increased the doses of the tailor-made supplements. Drugs to induce a sense of ease, to induce faint joy, and above all, to cause arousal. Klein was fully intent on convincing her that he was, of course, a catch.

"Well, we're finished for now. I can give you one last dose before you go, to make sure you're not in pain when you get out of here, but we can go over the test results first."

Klein entered with a clipboard full of notes, alongside a tray with a meal and, of course, another syringe of sedative, laced with the usual additions. He'd certainly miss this, one way or another.

Life felt like a dream the past few days for the gluttonous one, lying in bed within a pleasant bit of rest as she had waited for Klein to return like he'd said. The past few days... Well, she couldn't really reflect on them too well, like a warm haze made directly recalling them much, much harder to grasp. All she knew was that it was a pleasant time, and nothing really hurt. The sinking sensation her gut felt was hardly acknowledged, wearing a peaceful face as she stared off at the dark ceiling for the millionth time - an exercise that somehow didn't bore a hole in her mind.

It wasn't like she felt up to walking or getting around, her legs didn't really want to listen to her right now, especially after those deeper plunges into the confusing mist. What would have ordinarily been a pained fearful response was smothered by chemical redirection, those instincts warning her of something off having since been reduced to soundlessly banging on the window in the back of her mind.

Almost a reflex at this point, she sat up when his scent approached, attentive when he had walked in. She genuinely couldn't explain it, or properly contrast her emotions with before.. But she felt happy to see him, like a friend she hadn't seen for a while. Though her attention would draw to a wet feeling around her mouth, fingers raising to touch it - oh, she was hungry, no wonder she was drooling so much. She'd felt a disconnection with that tell tale signal that she should eat - the pain was gone, but the compulsion was strong as ever.. But yet again her attention was forced toward the... Plate of food, than the saccharine scent...

Oh, the tests, that's right.. She wanted to know - nodding along with what he had to explain, "..Okay."

Her tone was unusually light, dainty as she had come to start speaking amidst the week, her sentences shorter or one-worded for the most part, eyes rounded with interest. The moment the tray was drawn close to her, she'd start eating with little hesitance or asking, though a question dawned in her mind when her eyes drew on the needle, a glint of worry in her dull amber pools,

"..What if the pain comes back..?"

"Well, it shouldn't come back. The pain's only because of the way the testing works, so unless you go throwing yourself into more tests, you should be okay."

Klein offered her a light smile, a bit of a joke simply to test the waters. After all, he needed to know just how well he'd done at convincing this woman that he was a perfectly likable guy, and that was one of the best ways to do so. Looking back to his notes, he bobbed his head back and forth for a moment, before starting to run through his notes.

"As far as the notes go, you're definitely something outside the usual races. But you're definitely not some alien or anything, either; you fit into all the usual racial categories at least in broad strokes. Like a Type O person, know what I mean?"

Despite his more carnal interests, this was something Klein was just as fascinated in, and he was speaking genuinely on his findings to the subject in question.

"I think you're sort of right in both senses about being a piece of the Soul King and being a vessel for it. More like the piece made its own vessel, and that's you. Based on my findings, that piece is probably like...well, I guess a stomach. Not that I really understand why the Soul King would need that, but, there you go..."

It only raised more questions. Why was the Soul King shedding pieces like this? Was it some kind of evolution? Had the Soul King at one point been more mortal than he now was? Or was there some other explanation? Well, he didn't want to ruminate too long. Taking the golden injector from its tray, he carefully brought it to Liltotto's arm, and injected the last dose he'd be giving her for the foreseeable future. It also was the dose with the most supplemental additions yet, and so if ever he was going to see a payoff, now would be the time. But if he didn't, it was hardly the end of the world.

That little rising of concern was snuffed quite easily, her expression brightening an unusual amount for her typical attitude with the Arrancar's attempt of lightening the mood. It was moreso a reaction following his own, but that tiny bit was enough to reassure her - he hadn't lied to her since she gotten here, and the last few days had been.. Pleasant. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she'd felt plenty at ease, a lightness to her body that she hadn't quite experienced before... Her mind was too distracted to really care or register how strange that was, all she knew was that this was the happiest she'd sustained herself in a quite long time, much so that it was occasionally overpowering.

Listening to him with intrigue, a slight smile sat on her face - as if that was the safest way to visibly communicate that sensation that she could instinctively draw to. It was a little hard to pull your face when you could barely register it as your own.

"Yeah," She'd calmly respond, nodding her head in pronounced agreement with the concept. That was nice to know, at least - a little of everything, versus something completely alien? It made her stop, and go flat-faced in thought for a moment, as if she really had to concentrate for just a little.

"Oh, yeah, I had" There was already an answer known to this, she knew it well, she couldn't remember where she learned it, but it was as inherent as breathing, "Like, an actual organ?"

She never really got a read on whatever was going on with that region of her body, brief memories of unproductive checkups out of curiosity went by, some doctors confused by her results or amazed she was seemingly walking around with an 'incomplete' system. It literally being a stomach and not something stranger was not the expected answer... Was whoever the Soul King is just dropping vital organs or something? Something like that had organs to even lose in the first place? Huh..

"I guess, that makes me feel a little bit better... That i'm not too different..."

Liltotto looked at her offered arm as she spoke, watching the needle plunge beneath her skin so easily, a quiet scream on the senses grown hoarse from calling to her as the medicine emptied into her. It was just a brief burning in her arm... And then, everything was fine...

"Do you know what that is?" Her voice sounded airier, genuine curiosity guiding her thoughts, "The Soul King? I kept trying to look into it... I couldn't get a straight answer."

Her legs sat crisscrossed with her coming to lie on her side. She felt funny, but it was easier not to think about it.

"Something like an organ. I don't know if it has the same purpose as a real stomach, exactly, but it's definitely the same in principle. I guess maybe it's modeled after the idea of a stomach, not really a true stomach, but that's not something I can discern so quick without more time to analyze the data I've got."

He would have certainly liked an excuse to hold her here longer, but that wasn't reasonable, all things considered. Klein didn't feel like pressing his luck on any potential followups on a missing member of the Vandenreich, and besides, he'd already said she could go after a week.

"I don't know what it is exactly, but I've done research, looked into history records where I can. As far as I can tell, he's in charge of the Soul Society. That's the 'royal court' they're guarding. But anything more than that is kinda locked up. If I knew more, I'd tell ya."

Klein's hand moved over, gently toying with his patient's hair in a way that seemed almost thoughtless, but was in fact a calculated action on his end. It was a good way to test the waters.

Her gaze seemed to convey some vague affirmative of understanding, almost reflexively placing a hand on her belly - something they didn't quite understand well enough then. That was alright, maybe they could keep in contact just in case he figured anything else out. She just couldn't help at stare at the only other scent in the room, an inexplicable heat on her senses as she listened to him answer her following question with great intrigue. The dissatisfactory answer lacking in much desirable detail did not make the pleasant expression melt away.

"I understand," That soft reply came so readily, her face partially pressed into her pillow, golden locks strewn over her shoulders and across the place of rest surrounding her head. She seemed to think for a moment, before her eyes would brighten slightly,

"Oh, is it possible you could share any of this with the Vandenreich?" She wasn't in the frame of mind to even consider how stupid and naive a question that was at it's core, "Ehefra's been trying to figure out what's going on with me for the longest time... She might be grumpy about it, but it'd help."

Did she put her hand atop his? She just realized her hand had been moving in her line of sight, visibly having come to rest on his own. Oh. She didn't remember doing that... There wasn't any harm in it, just don't think about it..

"Mm, I'll see what I can do. I know they're looking for information and all that, so if their goals align with mine, I might be able to reach out."

There wasn't a chance he would do that about this topic, of course. But he'd already built plenty of rapport with the organization by now, under a thoroughly different guise. It would be easy enough for Klein to obscure his actual movements, any intentions that one might be able to discern simply another layer to his goals.

As her hand came to rest atop his, Klein allowed himself a small smile, and brought the hand up to give a gentle kiss. Pushing limits was how testing worked; this was no different, even if it was hardly his work now.

"If I do manage to put together an agreement like that, I'd like to think that I might be able to see you again under better circumstances."

"Oh, good. Okay." She didn't quite pick the nuance of that snuck in conditional, a response and expression as if he had wholeheartedly agreed overtaking anything else; she had faith in him to do well with what he'd gotten from her. Again, doubt attempted to pull at her thoughts, but it was nothing more than a loose touch, a stray thought that he may not have meant what he said.. No, she had no reason to think of him in this way.. Right? He'd been nothing but helpful, hadn't treated her poorly at all, kept her fed... She didn't quite consider that this was the bare minimum anyone could do in the moment, rather she thought of it as exceptional in her current frame of mind...

Was that what this burning was?

A kiss came upon her hand, eyes rounding in what looked like a bit of surprise. Her already gently blushing face had unconsciously grown with intensity, to the point even her ear tips were red. That little suggestion of seeing one another again, it provoked two emotions - excitement and anxiety. The first, that tidily manufactured emotion, a desire for connection hijacked; the second, her real underlying perception, a chaotic buzz of vague memories involving pain and suffering, connected to this Arrancar, the terror and discomfort that only her body knew. One engulfed the other here.

"Hey," Her grasp on his hand tightened just a little, fingers rhythmically running along the side of his palm, the dreaming look in her eyes conveying no malice, "You look tired. Come lay down with me. I've barely had company outside of... You working."

She paused, as if to intentionally correct herself before letting the words slip out. She didn't want to acknowledge the reality right now.

On the inside, Klein was undoubtedly over the moon, ecstatic in a way few should ever have been about such things. But it meant he'd succeeded, it meant that he was achieving all of the goals he'd laid out for himself. Knowledge, and now a pretty girl. What more could he ever have asked for? What more would he ever want?

"Tired? Mm, well, I dunno, I feel like I've still got plenty left in me."

Even so, he moved closer to her, looming over her in a way that might have been considered unsettling in a normal state of mind. But Klein had made sure that she was more receptive to understanding his side of things here.

"I'll gladly keep a pretty lady like you company, though. For as long as you'd like."

Instinctive caution attempted to scream over the mindless cushioning her consciousness gave the situation in seeing the figure over her, a brief rush of anxiety quickly hushed and placed away.

There wasn't any danger... It was just Klein. Polite, considerate, sweet-smelling Klein...

She'd brush part of the sheet over onto itself to allow him to come in, a twisting in her stomach turning into a fluttering in her chest, the sensation of warmth and scent putting her at ease. Why did she keep getting these feelings? This was exactly what she wanted..

That craving, from another life, one that was frequently denied the pleasure due to the very nature of it's existence, one that couldn't so much as touch... It surfaced, that wish for meaningful connection, of any kind, of all kinds.

"Hey," She'd speak that flippant word again when they were comfortably together, a hand of hers still affixed to his own, "Since this might be the last time... I wanted to catch up a little with you. I don't think I know you... All that well.."

Her hand squeezed his once again.

"Could... you tell me some more about yourself?"