Neon Cathedral [Carmen]

His note on her unexpected arrival was one she had heard so many times before. Like perfectly recited lines from a play she had memorized, the quip was something she had begun to subconsciously anticipate. This would be followed by a faint grin on her part as she moved to accept his offering whilst muttering a quiet gracias in return. 

She cradled the cup in both hands, leeching the warmth from the porcelain surface before bringing it close to her lips. In truth, the woman rather detested the taste of tea, but the heat it supplied was something she greatly enjoyed. Carmen sipped at it, testing the temperature of the liquid and enjoying the pleasant feeling that traveled down her throat. The bitter taste could be overlooked for the moment. 

His next question was also one she had answered numerous times before. Although she always provided the same answer, it was still rather difficult for her to admit to the reason of her appearance. Fighting the demons that continued to haunt her during these hours of rest was something she tried desperately to keep hidden from superiors and inferiors alike. This weakness of hers was something she utterly despised. Her captain was perhaps the only one who knew of this struggle, the only one she trusted enough to admit it to. Carmen bowed her head before admitting to it once again. "I'm afraid I have nothing to blame but my insomnia for this visit, as usual." She spoke softly, her tiny frame shrinking slightly at the confession.

"I hope I am not disturbing anything of worth. One of these days I'll fall asleep right away and not come to pester you at such an ungodly hour, te prometo." Carmen watched the rapidly cooling tea dance circles in her cup as she tilted it forward and back, her tired eyes conveying all that she felt. She felt grateful he was always so welcoming, but at the same time felt guilty for her selfish need for company.

She didn't offer him a response to his question, merely following him to the door and proceeding through it first as she usually did. The woman waited quietly for him to follow her out, her gaze falling nowhere in particular as she let her mind wander in the few seconds that passed before he was beside her again. She let him lead by a step, her lip slipping slightly beneath her front teeth when the question of the sleeping pills arose. Of course she hadn't been taking them, he knew it as well as she did. The capsule remained full in her drawer never to be opened or used. His gift had been accepted graciously when it had been given, but her will to solve her problems without the aid of others was something so strong not even he could truly break through it. She did hold on to them, though. As if they were some precious keepsake. Why did she do that? Not even Carmen could understand the reason. After a long bout of hesitation, she finally spoke up with a tone attempting at cool-headedness.

"Of course. They work wondrously." Wait, no. No, that wouldn't do. If they did work - if she did take them - what reason would there be for her presence right now? She was usually quite clever when it came to dodging these conversational bullets. Her mind worked at an abnormally faster rate compared to other individuals. Even then, she always tended to slip up around her captain. It must be the time of day. "I just... don't sleep for long, is all." She added pathetically to try and rescue her excuse. Carmen should have just let it hang, the man was far brighter than she, and the add-on would only prove to destroy her credibility even further.

A brush of cold tickled her bare arms when they had left the comfort of the barracks. She crossed them before her chest in attempt to combat it, refusing to show even the slightest weakness with a shiver. Oh how she hated her bouts of vulnerability. The lab was still quite a distance, but Carmen could manage. "What awaits you at the lab, Capitán?" She offered the inquiry in order to distract herself from the weather conditions, her eyes glancing up towards the man beside her, curiosity crossing her tired features.

She was genuinely interested, of course. Everything he did intrigued her. The way he treated her being the most intriguing part to it all.

Carmen grinned at the familiar phrase. His accent was horribly misspoken, but the words still held the same feeling as they had when spoken by a native tongue. "It sounds like it, señor." Carmen replied, an encouraging tone coloring the words. She was certain he hadn't been, her first language was one that was quite unnecessary in the Soul Society, and only those that had time to study it would do so. King was always incredibly busy, or so she believed. 

She did as she was told when the duo entered the elevator. Her hand grasped the rail in time for the rapid descent that followed his command. She wore a surprised expression at the sudden change of pace, but stood steadily until they had reached their chosen destination. The door opened smoothly, his words hitting her ears before the sights awaiting her could fully materialize. 

All she saw were the bodies.

Barely humanoid in appearance, stuck suspended in some form of liquid. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she took them in all at once. Truthfully, she didn't know how to react to any of it. This part of the Captain's research had been cloaked in mystery up until the moment she had stepped off of the elevator. Why had he chosen to reveal this to her now? 

She wanted to go to them, to touch the cases that held them in place, to inspect their forms in such vulnerable states. Her mind reeled with the desire to quench her curiosity, but she remained obediently by King's side, letting only her eyes reveal the shock and wonder that she felt in the presence of these beings. He had identified them as the hollows and arrancars. How had he been able to capture and subdue them without garnering any attention? Who else knew of this? Carmen's mind was a mess of different questions and their possible answers and yet she had no way of tackling them. She looked to her captain with a look of feigned indifference. "Quite an... interesting collection you have here, señor." Carmen's voice remained smooth, her eyes glancing over yet again to the hollows trapped in the numerous tubes.

"What purpose do they serve?" Y por qué está mostrándolo a me?

The story of how this secret basement came to be made perfect sense. She let a hand trace one of the glass tubes, her eyes focusing on the being held captive within it. Carmen saw him, her captain, spending the solitary hours he was given perfecting this project. Suddenly she felt guilty for taking said time away from him. Her fingers curled, meeting at her palm before her hand fell from the glass completely. A sigh escaped her lips as she threw an offside glance at the man's back. He was proceeding forward through the row of hollows and she went to trail him slightly. Their brains, eh? The fascination made sense. He paused in his walk, looking back at her, testing her. Her exhaustion had prevented her from fully shielding her thoughts from his inquisitive eye, one look into her own would reveal all he needed to know. She was shaken, yes, but she accepted it. She accepted him was perhaps the more correct term. 

Was she willing to follow him down this dark tunnel the previous captain had started and he had nearly finished? He wouldn't have taken her down here if he didn't believe she would himself. Carmen looked at her feet for a moment in contemplation, her hand, cold from placing it on the glass, still balled in a fist. This wasn't just about him, though. This was about doing good for the whole of Soul Society. How could she argue with that? "I understand your withholding such secrets from me, sir. Something this important needs to be handled with the utmost care, no?" The woman paused a moment, studying his features as he studied hers.

"I trust you." The three words held more meaning than she had intended. They came out of her raw and unfiltered. Sure, they applied to the situation at hand, but she had meant it more than just in that sense. She looked down at her feet again, the suspended hollows all seeming like they were watching her every move. To be truthful, those words had never been spoken to anyone else. No one had gained such a token from her. Not a one.

His probing after her abrupt confession (something that was still rocking her a bit) made it hard to compose an acceptable answer. She was about to say something when he let the final words drop oh so nonchalantly from his lips. 

About us?

Carmen looked up at him abruptly, her wide eyes locking with his own. What was he saying? In that moment, she felt so small. She had once known what she was to say but her prepared response had slipped away in a wink of an eye. Her bottom lip slipped underneath her teeth and she looked down again. Usually she could charm her way through anything. Her captain just... unnerved her so. 

"I feel no different in regards to you- or your division, King- Sir." Two slips in a single sentence. She mentally cursed herself for it. "Your secrecy has no effect on my..." Carmen looked up at him as she wracked her brain for the appropriate response. "Respect I hold... towards who you are and what you do." 

The number of times she could keep dodging bullets was dwindling. That much was for certain.

His gratitude did not alter her facial expression much. She still looked sternly at him and his work, examining the tubes as he spoke of them. His inability to bridge the gap between an Arrancar's memory complex and their own intrigued her, her mind immediately reeling as it tried to think of solutions. Her arms crossed before her frame as she pondered the problem. Much like her captain, she, too, had been gifted with an incredibly intelligent mind. Breaking apart the big pictures of things to closely examine the tiny details was her forte, as was her innate ability to examine such abstract ideas in various points of view. 

Arrancar were incredibly similar to them in appearance, however their spiritual energies were perhaps the farthest thing compared to those of a shinigami. Even so, the missing link was there, they just had to find a way to get to it. She was certain she could find the way; her mind already working to build the solution from the pieces given. Her concentration left her when his voice broke through it, grabbing her attention fully.

Carmen watched his words fall from his mouth, absorbing the words and garnering an understanding of them simultaneously. She nodded at his explanation and his assumption of her perception. The woman had become an expert at taking in knowledge and storing it to be surveyed over later. A skill she had possessed but had extensively conditioned since joining the 12th division. She had been trained from the best.

"Yes, hollows, although better than nothing, are incomparable to the capabilities of having the memories of an arrancar within your grasp." Her voice trailed as she visualized the vast amount of knowledge that would be unlocked when the correct key was used. She glanced back at one of the arrancar suspended within its tank. "How close are you, Captain, sir? To bridging that gap, I mean." Her gaze returned to him, genuine curiosity swirling in the dark of her eyes. She longed to help him in any way she could. If only he had shown her this place sooner. Perhaps the solution would already be in their possession. Oh, well, aiding him now was as good a time as any. She smiled politely at the man in her company, the expression resonating in every one of her facial features.

"Yes, I would love to give it a try."

She eyed him, listening to his warning and then going towards the open seat without hesitation. "I am offended you must even think to warn me of the dangers, Captain. I've endured much worse I imagine." Her hand gripped the arm of the seat as she lowered herself slowly into the apparatus. The woman's breathing slowed as she eased her head into the awaiting helmet, her unwavering eyes focusing on King as her fingers ghosted over the button. She shut them and breathed in slowly through her nostrils before clicking the button with her thumb.

Everything went black for a moment, her vision shutting down in favor for the mental image that had been procured as soon as the button had been pressed. Carmen took a shaky breath, her hands tightening into balls on her lap as she was forced into the dream-like state. The memories flashed by so rapidly that focusing on a singular event was nearly impossible. Her perceptiveness made it possible to capture the gist of the bulk of them, however. A different world had been the consistent backdrop for most of these retellings, the subject having spent a vast majority of its time wandering uselessly around Hueco Mundo.

The memories continued their procession within her mind. Beads of sweat formed upon her forehead and her breathing became a bit more labored, but she managed until the entirety of this creatures life had passed behind her lids. A deep breath was expelled from her chest as the machine shut down and she was free from its influence. Her hands reached to massage the throbbing in her temples, the skin there also coated in a sheen of sweat. Minutes would pass before she would be able to stand fully, so she sat regally in the seat as she searched to find her captain. Once she had met his eyes, a smile broke through her once indifferent expression. "What an interesting... point of view to be exposed to..." She murmured as she replayed the images more slowly. 

"You're correct, though. Nothing of importance has cropped up in these images." Her enthusiasm for it had dwindled after she had come to this realization. The information was valuable, but incomparable to what could be harvested from the mind of an Arrancar. "I know you are busy. I'm impressed you have come this far with a plate as full as yours. I wish to help you in any way possible I hope you know." Carmen spoke softly, her form still heavy from the exhaustion she felt. Her eyes were growing perpetually more heavy with every second that passed.

"Use my abilities however you see fit, Captain."