She didn't know when she finally fell asleep, only that the lights suddenly clicking on in the morning caused her to jolt awake in alarm. Starrk was curled up around her, offering her a considerable amount of warmth and breathing softly in his own slumber. He seemed undisturbed by her sudden movement or the lights coming back on. She'd been around Shunsui enough times to notice that his body was just a little too limp to actually be asleep, but she appreciated the attempt to keep her at ease while she woke up fully and all her senses came to her.
Jumping up in shock and snarling and snapping at me would definitely put a damper on our cellmate relationship, she couldn't help but to think amused. Now, do I let him know I know he is playing hooky, or let him think he is deceiving me? "Good morning Starrk-san. I appreciate the warmth, but I would like to get up and stretch now and you are heavier than you look."
"Sleep is so much more preferable," he responded, ending the comment with a wide yawn that showed very sharp teeth, exactly as she expected for a canine. She didn't get the impression he was trying to intimidate her though. If anything, she almost felt like he was showing off. Here I am. This is my strength and power. Aren't I impressive? She wondered if he even noticed he'd done so.
"I won't stop you from sleeping, but I do need to eat and use the third bowl. I doubt you would appreciate me spoiling the nest," she pointed out.
"True enough," he sighed, and shifted the bottom half of his body off her so she could crawl past him.
Breakfast was just arriving and she gave a brave smile to Harunobo, she felt pleased with herself for remembering his name this time, who looked at her in concern and seemed to relax a little when he noticed she was alright. She had noticed other prisoners being used as manual labour and while she didn't know them all, the ones she did recognize belonged to the 4th, which suggested they all did.
Starrk was one again kind enough to turn his head towards the wall and tuck his nose under his tail as she used the waste bowl. It was embarrassing but her week of field training in the academy, where they had to dig and burry their own latrines, had been even more embarrassing.
"What's the meat today?" she asked wearily as she poked at the white stuff.
Starrk turned his head her way and gave a few solid sniffs. "Pork today, by the smell of it. Nothing added to it."
"That's a relief," she settled into her meal before a horrible thought occurred to her. "Karin," she called over to the cell beside their own.
"Yeah?" came the muffled reply.
"Have you been eating the meat they provide?" she asked worriedly.
"Fuck no!" Karin exclaimed heatedly. "I don't want to know what eating hollow meat would do to a human. Granted, after so many days of plain rice, it's getting damn tempting, even chancing possible side effects. Would it kill them to give us some bean paste or pickled anything?" she grouched.
Great, this was standard fair. Rice, while wonderful, got tedious after a long while and while it would keep them alive, it wouldn't really keep them healthy in the long run. She had a feeling rescue would be a very long time in coming and escape, at the moment, didn't seem very plausible.
To her relief, there were no 'shows' today and she spent most of the day talking to Karin, getting caught up on everything the human had learned while here with the occasional tidbit being added by Starrk and Grimmjow. The hollows were permitted to relieve themselves in the pit and, taking Karin's cue, she followed Starrk out of the cell while he sniffed around to find a spot to do his business. None of the other woman did and it was sorely tempting to inspect the other cells while Starrk ranged about. She put a clamp on that temptation for two reasons. The first was that there was nothing she could do about the other woman anyway and learning their fates would likely just torment her more, and the second, more dangerous, reason was because if the quincy decided to insure she did die, it would be nothing to open one of those cells and the hollow within would have her dead before Starrk could react.
I hate this place, she grouched, eyeing the walls. This isn't seki stone, I can still feel my reiatsu and it isn't being drained, but I can't access it either. I have never heard of anything that does that. A Quincy invention maybe? Manipulating reiatsu is their specialty and preventing others from doing so sounds like something they would be capable of achieving. Still, if it is anything like Kido I might be able to work my brain through it and find a weak spot.
"Karin, how good are you at sensing and melding reiatsu?" she asked after lunch.
Another hollow on his pee break came to inspect their cell, something a good number of them had been doing on their breaks all morning. Starrk and Grimmjow both let out warning growls that had the interloper quickly scurrying to another part of the pit to conduct his business.
"Sensing, pretty good, working with it, not so much. I can channel it into my body, but don't ask me to perform any Kido. It's not exactly like anyone has had time to try and teach me."
She couldn't deny that. Even classes at the academy were being neglected. If they couldn't take the time to train their own students, it was exceedingly unlikely anyone would have the time to train a mere human. Still, some people just had natural talent and it didn't hurt to see how much of that potential latent ability Karin had.
"Can you link with another person?"
"Never tried. Haven't really had any reason to. Why?"
"I am trying to come up with ways to swim through this gunk and actually gain us access to our powers, or at least, be able to use our abilities since we still technically have full access."
"What are you thinking of trying?" Starrk asked. The coyote had his head up and his ears perked forward as he looked at her with interest.
"Well, our reiatsu is still here inside of us, we just can't seem to be able to 'catch it' any more than one can capture air or a person's breath with their bare hands. We need to find something that can capture air."
"A balloon," Karin offered. "You blow air into balloons and the air remains for some time."
Balloons were not something they had in soul society, but Nanao had seen a few of them in the living world so she knew what they were. There was very little she actually didn'tknow about the living world thanks to her trips to deliver letters, but mostly due to Rangiku's insistent prattling.
"Balloons, good idea Karin. What are balloons made of?"
"Thin, stretchy, rubber, I think. Of course, we don't really have balloons here and I can't see how we could manipulate the reiatsu into making one as how we can't hold onto it in the first place."
"We are full of reiatsu," Grimmjow snorted. "We just can't access it."
Nanao frowned over the thought, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to think of a way around the problem. Grimmjow was right, each of them were full of reiatsu, but they couldn't manipulate it. And yet, hollows needed to eat reiatsu to survive, so how come they didn't starve while they were currently unable to do anything with it? She asked that question aloud of their cellmates.
"The power is in the meat that we eat," Starrk answered. "You could say that the reiatsu is given physical, or a solid instead of gaseous, form. Once it is inside of us, it returns to a gaseous, non-manipulative state as it joins our own pools."
"While it's still in a solid state inside of you, can you use it?" she asked.
"Maybe. We have never tried before." Starrk stared off into the distance as he thought about it.
Nanao could see his mind work as he tackled the mental puzzle. It was a look she'd seen in Shunsui's eyes on occasion. Shunsui must be beside himself with worry and guilt. It's like Lisa-san all over again, right down to the not knowing I am alive and fairly well considering the circumstances. I hope Genshiro-san won't let him drown his sorrow away in sake like he tried to do after Lisa-san went missing, but I am not very optimistic about it. How many fukutaichou did he go through before I had to beat him over the head with my kido book to get him half straightened out again? Six? Seven?
"It could be worth a try," Grimmjow grunted from his cell, bringing her attention back to the conversation. "Next time we eat we can try to manipulate the power into a really small bala, something they might not even notice."
"There is danger in trying," Starrk remarked. "If they know we found a way around their system, they will quickly rectify the situation. I doubt changing the wards would be their solution." Starrk didn't say it but the answer was obvious; death.
Without Starrk and Grimmjow to protect them, Nanao severely doubted the survivability of either herself or Karin. Best case scenario would be they would be executed, preferably by hollow consumption so their souls would not be obliterated. Worse case scenario… they would be selected for breeding and would spend the rest of their lives being raped by hollows and bearing their young.
"It's probably not worth it," Karin added. "I doubt the energy you could gather and use would be very much and not at all likely to be helpful in anyway. It would take a large amount of energy to break through these walls. While there do seem to be switches on the walls to open the door on the arena side of these cells, I doubt the main entrance has one. That would be pure stupidity."
"She has a point," Grimmjow agreed.
They spent the day racking their brains, tossing ideas back and forth. For every plan one of them came up with, at least two others could find flaws with it that made it either impossible or too dangerous to attempt. It was after dinner when Karin came up with an idea that just might work.
"I think we are looking at this the wrong way. Let's go back to the balloon analogy. The thing about the air, or reiatsu in this case, in a balloon is that the balloon itself has no control over it. It is simply the vessel. Each one of us is a balloon and we can't manipulate the reiatsu inside of us, nor can we manipulate the air around us. But, what's to stop one of us from being the person to manipulate the balloon itself."
The thought horrified Nanao and she strongly suspected that Karin had no idea what it was she had just suggested. Starrk had also stiffened beside her, but there was a look of contemplation in his eyes and he seemed rather alert; a look she recognized from the few times Shunsui was tackling a rather complex and interesting puzzle to which he might have found the solution to.
"You are suggesting, that one of us be the balloon while the other person be the hands that manipulate it," Starrk clarified.
"Exactly!" Karin exclaimed.
It was quickly followed by "Are you fucking insane!?" from Grimmjow and a "It's wrong on a lot of levels!" from herself.
"Why?" Karin asked confused.
"Karin, you are basically suggesting something akin to enslavement or spiritual rape. To give complete control of oneself to another is not something that is done lightly, nor easily. Something like this would take a considerable amount of trust."
"Don't you work together to perform group Kido though?" Karin questioned confused.
"We do, but each one of us is weaving our power into a web of strands that form a new whole. We are still only manipulating our own power from our own bodies. To take another person's power from their body and use it for yourself, especially without permission, is punishably by death."
"It is not a bad idea," Starrk hummed.
"What!" she and Grimmjow yelped in shock.
"They would never expect it. No doubt the concept is as foreign to them as it is to us," Starrk pointed out.
"I appreciate the shelter you have offered me Starrk-san, but I am not certain I trust you that much. I don't even think I trust Kyoraku-sotaichou that much!" She wasn't even exaggerating. The mere idea of giving up complete control over her reiatsu, her very being, was terrifying. Someone could drain you to death without even realizing it in the heat of battle. She cared for Shunsui, she really did, but if the situation called for it, he would do so, even to Jushiro, without a second thought. Oh, he would be guilty later, but he would do what had to be done.
"I could not safely access your power anyhow, Ise-san. Hollows have a voracious hunger, especially with how little we are being fed. I would merely consume whatever I took from you and add it to my own strength. If this is to work, it would be you and Karin who would need to draw from our power."
She felt shock ripple through her even as her mind raced with the idea of not only harnessing the power of a hollow, something she wasn't positive she could do in the first place, but Starrk had a ridicules amount of it. Not as much as he'd once had as an Arrancar perhaps, but he was still the equivalent of any taichou. She did absently notice that Grimmjow hadn't protested this time.
"You want me to draw upon your power?" she stammered; just be sure she had heard Starrk right. "You would trust me that much?"
"I trust you far more than I trust them," he used his nose to indicate the upper portion of the arena where the spectators sat to watch the events. "How good are you at manipulating Kido?"
"I have been asked, multiple times, to join the Kido Corpse," she admitted with a hint of embarrassment.
"She's an expert, easily on par with any of the taichou," Karin spoke up. "And don't sell yourself short," Karin interjected before she could deny it. "Did you, or did you not, make a shield strong enough to hold one of their precious sternritter at bay? Or was that a story you made up?" Karin challenged.
"Which one?" Starrk asked, eyeing her intently.
"Kyoraku-sotaichou was with me," she protested weakly.
"Not important," Karin denied. "This was something you did all on your own."
Nanao sighed before giving them a name. Starrk raised an eye and Grimmjow made an impressed grunt. Karin let out what sounded like a string of curses, but it was muffled by the walls too much to pick out individual words.
"I think," Starrk gave her a puppy grin that was rather cute, "that this just might work. Here, come sit beside me and rest a hand on my head. My power is great, not as great as it was before Yhwach changed me, but still equivalent to your Taichou. If you can handle his power, you should be able to handle mine."
"If it's so strong, shouldn't you have become a vasto lorde by now?" she questioned.
"Perhaps," he agreed. "Or perhaps the thing that prevents us from manipulating reiatsu also prevents us from evolving." That made about at much sense as everything else in this messed up situation did.
Hesitantly, Nanao moved to sit beside him. Starrk plopped his head down onto her lap without even a 'by-your-leave,' causing her to stiffen in shock before hesitantly resting a hand on his head. The white hide beneath her own was warm and smooth. It was stiff, but with a bit of fleshy give. It almost reminded her of cured leather.
"Now close your eyes, reach your senses out until you can feel my pool of power. It is right here beneath your hand. It will be deep and sleepy, like a slumbering dragon. Move your hand to the left and scratch right behind me ear."
"Why?" she questioned confused as she did as ordered.
"Because I can never reach that spot and it's itchy," he sighed contently as her blunt nails worked the spot.
She stopped, staring at him in disbelief, before letting out a small chuckle and continuing to scratch the spot while he made content doggy growls that completely belied the fact he was an extremely dangerous hollow. It oddly helped her relax a fair amount. She closed her eyes and focused on the body beside her own; his head resting in her lap, the heat he radiated, the calm she never expected from a hollow, not even the oft time energetic Nel. She could feel his power, deep and vast like the depths of a pool where one could never hope to find the bottom. He had described it as a sleeping dragon, but that wasn't the impression she got at all. It reminded her more of a large, calm pond with unfathomable depth. One that was full of poisonous water for anyone foolish enough to approach it without the strength to swim in such waters; who would slip into slumber and die without even realizing they were doing so. Fortunately for her, she was strong enough to resist the lure to sink beneath those waves and let herself go.
She didn't notice when the lights clicked out, for her eyes were closed as she concentrated. It was a lot like slipping into a meditative trance. Slowly, she approached the pool and cupped her metaphorical hands to try and get some of the 'water' that was Starrk's reiatsu. The foreign energy burned her fingers as it slipped between them like mist. She let out a gasp of pain, clutched her hands to her chest and snapped her eyes open to stare at the darkness. She felt panic rear up in her before Starrk's calm voice informed her the lights had been switched out and that she hadn't burned her eyes in her attempt.
"I felt your fingers stirring my power. What happened?" he asked once she got her panic back under control.
"I burned my fingers. They still feel raw," she answered, trying to peer at her hand in the dark without any luck. What I wouldn't give for a kido light right now, she bemoaned.
"I see," Starrk sighed. "Perhaps we should rest for the night. It is late and we have mentally exhausted ourselves throughout the day. I am going to stand and lean against your side so you can follow me to the nest."
"Alright."
Starrk's body came against her own. Her hands still stung, but in the dark it was impossible to tell if it was a mental pain or if there was any physical damage to her appendages. She still wrapped them up to be on the safe side once they arrived at the nest before curling up under a few pieces of clothing. Starrk's body laid down next to hers once she was settled and she felt his heat begin to warm her. It was oddly comforting.