The fight (Stella/ Gaoh)

Even decades later, these woods smelled like blood. The memories had faded greatly, a burnt polaroid at the edges of Gaoh's mind. A lesser man would regret the actions, he felt. Now, he only saw them as one would highschool pictures. The idea of who he once was, and where he had gotten since. The blood on his hands, that bore the estigma across his body; there was no shame, no self hatred in that. Nothing but relief.

Strolling through, a plain gi adorned his frame, belt replaced with a paper rope. His arms and feet bare, he kept a casual pace. The shadow dancing from the leaves above, sunlight glittering against the markings of Gaoh's skin. Turning past a boulder, red caught in his periphery - "Ah." The smell wasn't his memory after all.

Crouching down, the arrancar touched the massive smear on the stone, rubbing it between fingers. Fresh. And by the tingle on his skin, not human. Couldn't blame whoever did it, sometimes a hollow needed to go down. Still, whoever did it might still be near. Depending...

Gaoh sighed, standing back to height with a flick of his wrist, the blood scattering onto a nearby tree. Nothing he could sense, not that it was his strong suit. Maybe that meant it was a good thing, maybe not. Either way, though? "HEY!" Gaoh cupped his hands, shouting between them. "IF YOU'RE THERE, COME ON OUT!"

It'd be interesting.

A woman stepped out from the trees. Not dressed like a hunter, at least not anything Gaoh was accustomed to. Quincy, maybe. The ones he had met loved their white and blue, but they had come out swinging. A peaceful quincy? Well, peaceful enough - someone had killed more than a few hollows nearby, and it wasn't him. His eyes wandered to her axe as hands dropped from his mouth, resting across his chest.

"Depends on you, girlie." Gaoh chimed, his gaze flicking back upwards. "Going to put that away, or are you trying to start something?" He'd grin as if there was something funny about what he said, a lightness in the red of his eyes. The memories of this forest were fading, after all. Why not make some new ones?

"Benefit of the doubt, but you think I'm going to eat you, given the chance?" the arrancar did little in the way of shying away, an eyebrow raising to match his grin. "Think we have different ideas of what those words mean."

Leaning against a nearby tree, Gaoh nodded at her spirit weapon, no concern with however she'd act or react. After all, she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Whatever her idea of that was. "Answering the question you didn't bother to ask, no, I don't attack people randomly. Most of the people I assault ask for it." He laughed at his remark, chin against his chest as he contained it. Looking back up at Stella, he'd wipe a solitary tear from the corner of his eye, blinking rapidly.

"But hey, if you wanna fight?" Gaoh's grin widened into a smile, a tooth filled horizon. "Bet you'll be able to tell me what your version of 'benefit of the doubt' is a bit easier without words in the way."

The crimson of his eyes lingered on her with each word, nary a lost strand of attention. Whatever was in the woods wasn't as important. Someone calling Gaoh a cannibal - now that was important, or interesting; but for the arrancar, they were synonymous.

Gaoh's face twisted in derision, the corners of his smile folding with disgust. "Some arrancar never get over what made them hollows in the first place. Same as any other bad apple." He had met enough to be familiar with the type, rare as arrancar were. Some bullshit a shinigami pulled a century ago, from the slapdash history that Gaoh had picked up along the years. His moody disposition did not last the moment, a hand running through hair as he stepped away from the tree.

"So, you are a quincy?" he nodded to himself, walking towards Stella with a vague look of satisfaction at the downturn of his mouth. "They really don't change the fashion much, do they?" The memory of another white clad woman with tatters of blue flashed, an encounter lost to time. Gaoh's smile returned as he spoke, a toothy grin.

"That's the attitude, girlie!" A pleasant exclamation as he took another step closer to Stella, now but a few feet away. Tilting his head, Gaoh gestured with his eyes at her weapon, spreading his arms low at either side, toes pushing into the dirt. "Ladies first."

Gaoh beamed as the quincy accepted his invitation. Straightforward in her approach, lacking teeth - paired with her hesitation, the arrancar already felt he knew Stella better, despite their ideas of a friendly spar seeming at odds. Certainly in terms of aggression. Something to be said for Gaoh's disregard of her weapon, seeing an axe as little more than a tool. Oh well. If that was her choice, he wouldn't judge.

"Don't be shy now, girlie!" An exclamation as he moved to meet her strike, a shift in weight as his stance lowered. Knee bending, palm rising, Gaoh's grip would aim to meet the axe's handle, his opposite arm drawing back and underneath. Forming a fist with knuckles facing dirt, the position afforded the karateka a glut of choices. Strikes, feints, chops, elbows, kicks; enough to give an over analyzer choice paralysis.

Gaoh had no such qualms. He just wanted to see if it'd make her flinch.

Tightening his grip around the axe handle, Gaoh would twist his body in sync. If Stella maintained a tight grip, she'd be flung with the weapon back and out as he stepped inwards to throw. Enough force to sting, if he clocked her right, but enough to knock the wind and then some out of a civilian. Relinquishing the weapon instead, she'd find it disorienting if not more than overcome-able. Regardless, he'd release his grip and stutter back a step, fist still drawn.