Riveted Down [Eliane, Nelliel]

"I don't think the world is so bad. There are just bad people in it, who are allowed to do more than they should."

Eliane was smart enough to know that included herself, though she wasn't necessary happy about that reality. She wasn't really happy about anything, though, to be perfectly fair. That was the whole point of everything she was doing. The only thing that made her happy wasn't something she wanted to keep doing.

"But I think I still hate it, at least at the moment. That's what I was always taught to do."

"Made to do" would have been a more accurate wording, to be sure, but she didn't think she needed to quite spill all that. After another quiet moment, she spoke again, less introspectively this time.

"I'm Eliane, by the way."

Nelliel could understand that view more but it did bring her own musings to mind as well. If the world was a living organism like a human, the microcosm-macrocosm comparison, then these evil people should be attacked by some kind of immune system response, right? The same way the body might try to destroy harmful bacteria. It was a thought on nature and nurture, the chicken and the egg, etc.

"Well, we are our own teachers at the end of the day. Our experiences provide perspectives and it is up to us to rationalise it into how we want to view the world."

Oh. Introductions, how could she forget before going off on these tangents but the conversation was pleasant.

"I'm Nelliel. Nice to meet you, Eliane."

"That's what I've heard. I'd like to get a better view of things before I start making any judgements about the whole world."

Eliane understood that she was naive, that she had no real understanding of how things worked. She understood how people ticked in the most clinical sense; how to upset them, how to read them, how to manipulate them so she got what she wanted. But a more earnest understanding seemed almost alien at the moment.

"Nelliel? I don't want to pry, but the Nelliel from a century ago?"

That was a name she'd heard more than once when it came to her job under Claudia, but Eliane had never been one to commit more to memory than necessary. Still, the name certainly lined up with the fact that she was transparently an Arrancar, and that did elicit enough curiosity in Eliane to ask. If nothing else, it made the woman in front of her marginally less of a stranger.

She grew a little bashful when Eliane brought up the question of past infamy. A faint blush and looking away to the books with a nod. This wasn't surprising, a little perhaps, except that she didn't think she really warranted much attention nowadays with the simple life that she pursued. It was a bit of wishful thinking to pretend that was the case though, the fact she was an arrancar and a former Espada to boot meant she expected to live with some eyes on her.

The burden of those that had power. The best that she could hope was that she could maintain the trust of not abusing it and being a paragon of responsibility and compassion among her kind that was rarely displayed.

"I would assume so. I'm a little surprised the human world knows of me. I spent a lot of time in Hueco Mundo in the last century but I suppose I should expect attention since I chose to live here a few years ago."

"Well, it isn't a very common name, that's the only reason I asked."

It was obvious that'd been something of an odd question to ask, but it was something Eliane could latch onto. She didn't really feel guilty about asking it on those grounds alone, though maybe she should have. No, she definitely should have.

"This is a nice place to live, I think. I'm hoping my sisters can settle in here too."

Opening up about that wasn't exactly easy for Eliane to do, and that much was probably obvious from the way she'd almost stumbled into saying it. Was this how normal, reasonable interactions went? She'd spent so long treating every conversation as a game that she didn't know how to simply talk.

"Oh, you have sisters? It sounds like they mean a lot to you as well."

Nelliel responded and glossed over the other woman's stumble. It wasn't productive to point it out when she was clearly struggling against her own habits, she was fighting against her nurture? It was no easy feat and so the arrancar wasn't going to make it any harder for her.

"I have two brothers myself. I haven't seen them in a long time though, I lost them over the last century. This is a nice place from what I've seen though I miss my home in Africa too but my daughter enjoys her time here being closer to people she cares about."

She shared a sensitive topic of her own to keep them on equal ground rather than leaving Eliane feeling like she had made herself vulnerable by sharing something personal.

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry to hear that. I wouldn't ever want to imagine losing my sisters for that long."

That much was true, but the reality was that Eliane found it almost difficult to truly empathize with the woman, even in spite of that shared connection to one's siblings. It wasn't enough to simply think of that similarity; Eliane made a concerted effort in her own mind to imagine not seeing her sisters again for a hundred years, and then to internalize the sense that this woman- that Nelliel would surely feel similar.

"Is your daughter here for school? I understand the City of Lights has a few well-funded private schools."

It was probably for the best that she not establish she knew that on account of having been involved in funding them, or having looked into them just in case she needed to make any threats.

"Yes, she is."

Nelliel did lament the fact that Alex was so far behind as far as academic studies went but her persistence and outlook was as valuable if not more than what she might lose in school. She valued every day as it passed and could appreciate the moment rather than be fuss over the complexities that people befuddled themselves with.

"You certainly know the place, do you live here or just here for business?"

"Well, both, I guess you'd say. I moved here recently for work. I'm an employee with South Pacific Logistics, I don't know if you're familiar with them."

It occurred to Eliane that might have come off as condescending, though it hadn't really been her intention, at least not consciously. She just didn't really think the average person probably knew or cared very much about shipping and infrastructure companies, particularly ones as newly established and relatively regional as Arlette's company was.

"I don't like the thought of living somewhere I feel like a stranger, you know? So I've tried to get to know the city a little more intimately, that's how I ended up here, actually."

After all, this little bookstore was hardly a bustling hub of trade. It was quiet, off to the side, the sort of thing you'd need to look for. If she was making a new life, though, Eliane was perfectly willing to look just about anywhere.