Lock, Stock, and Feral [Gaoh/Amaranta]

Sands invited Gaoh to explore. The endless possibility of what could shift in and out of the landscape, who or what you could come across. It was dreamlike in its own way, while being mindlessly numb in others. A perfect pastime when you didn't have to worry about dying from old age.

So he had taken to the hills and valleys of Hueco Mundo, a garganta delivering him half robed, the garment doubling over itself at his waist. Gaoh rubbed at his wrists, bruising evident across his arms and solar plexus. Hurt, but nothing he couldn't ignore. Most of the swelling had gone down, a deep purple having long begun to fade. With space closing behind him, he ventured aimlessly. As hours passed, he'd follow a faint trail amongst the dunes, ending at the top edge of a deep valley's cliff.

Down in its center, a circle was forced into shape. Consisting more of repaired material than anything maintained, it looked like an arena drawn by a toddler. Still, people fought - if you could call them that. Peering down, he watched a pair of hollows gutting each other back and forth, brutal and mindless. No skill, no thought. A waste of blood and time. With a look of disgust, the arrancar moved to leave as another arrived; smearing one of the combatants into paste.

"Oh." The surprise evident across his face, Gaoh stopped in place before turning back, crouching low, watching.

"Whew." Gaoh whistled, a half grin forming as the woman closed the distance near instantly. "Fast kitty cat, aren't you?" He half guessed at her appearance as he stood, eyes narrowing. She was strong - not that he couldn't tell from her display of brutality, but with her closing the distance, he could feel it. Still, there was no accompanying sense of danger, bloodlust or otherwise.

Only the itch of desire against his knuckles, that thirst deep within. Just how far his fist could reach, what heights he could achieve. Curiosity killed the cat; this cat wouldn't kill his curiosity.

Having made up his mind in less than a moment, Gaoh leapt from the dune's peak, sliding down with a geyser of sand trailing behind him. Loose robing billowed around him as he did, chest laid bare except for the markings of his estigma. A cloud of dust greeted his arrival, stepping through with a wide smile and laugh as he looked up, meeting Amaranta's glaring sapphire swith burning embers. "And a big one! I just thought they were tiny." He gestured loosely behind her, at the hollow corpses.

This much closer, his skin tingled, hairs on the back of his neck standing. Yet the only expression that crossed his face was a relaxed joy, chuckling as he shook his head at the remark. "Perspective, huh?"

"Gaoh." The man replied, not surprised, but pleased with Amaranta's attitude. Refraining from a bow, his back stiff and footing sure, even amongst the sands. Instead, he crossed arms as she spoke, acutely aware that her disposition was afforded by strength, caution weighing on his heels. To treat her joviality as a sign of her temperament could end as a fool's errand - but still, his knuckles itched.

How to do it was all he could imagine. Even while listening, he thought of how Amaranta would strike, how to maintain the balance he'd need to stay out of her range. Bigger, more spiritual power by magnitudes - ah, if it came down to life or death, he had no chance.

"Can't say I know you. Can't say I know what I was looking for, either. Mark that down as a 'maybe', then." A momentary flick of eyes back to the bodies, before tilting his head back to better match the giantess' view, a toothy half smile. Each word dug deeper in his mind, more movements playing in his head. Catching a limb, a backhanded blow, but no imagination could cover the divide.

"What about you? Out looking for blood, or are you aiming to earn some attention?" Laughter danced in his eyes as Gaoh matched her gaze, a spark among crimson seas. She would need to be a kindred spirit, as much as she was a mountain to be climbed. Likelihood growing higher that he'd have to release as combinations flicked behind his eyes, exhilaration simmering; the sound of a knuckle cracking filling the air.

She was fast. If Gaoh had been giving Amaranta anything short of his full attention, faster than he could react. But with eyes wide open, and a dozen combinations moving in his mind's eye, he managed, still far from enough. Both arms raised, one palm rising to meet her wrist, the other towards her elbow. Rocking back onto his heels, Gaoh's stance braced with tightening muscle, attempting to pull and throw the woman with much of her own force. Yet the lioness was not so easily tamed.

Where the arrancar's grip met Amaranta's limb, it could not succeed. Her strength was momentous, barreling through like a cannonball. Eyes widening, Gaoh grit his teeth as he attempted to shift the blow by any margin, and braced for impact. A day late, a dollar short.

The man's mind went black, impact cracking like thunder as it sent him flying into a geyser of sand. A ragged breath escaping him as consciousness returned, the momentary blackout having stained the corners of his mouth red, chest imprinted with Amaranta's fist. Air hissed from between clenched teeth, Gaoh blinking as he stared at the sky. There was some pride to be had in knowing his assessment was correct, not that it did anything for the pain.

Rising upwards, Gaoh drew his focus inward as his skin reddened, and speech cracked his lips.



Red turned to black, and the arrancar forced a smile, light cracking his skin. A step forward and the cracks gave way, shattering to reveal the four-armed behemoth beneath. An arm reached across, tearing the remains of his top without care as Gaoh loosened a glob of blood, wiping his mouth with the back of another hand. "Knew it'd be a mountain!!" he roared with gravel, another step forward. "Just didn't know how steep."

Gaoh's eyes - all four of them - focused on Amaranta. Pain wracked his chest as arms shifted with open palms, inviting in their own way. He shifted his stance carefully, feet widening before making an advance. Daggering movements, sharp, precise, quick to adapt; aiming to reconvene while not giving an inch. Incoming blows would be met with multiple limbs, defensive measures being taken with utmost caution, crimson glare tracking even her slightest twitch.

One was met with four; the Lionesss' blows faster, harder still, even if lacking in formal training. They needed to be respected, in order to climb. So four hands shifted to deflect her one - the first a grip, the second a palm, the third a fist, and the fourth a chop. Alternating in sequence between both of Amaranta's, shifting the lead hand with each shift in target. Grip, fist, chop, palm, grip, grip, fist, chop, palm, palm - each contact blowing the arrancar backwards, dealing significantly reduced damage as he pushed off incoming attacks, lucky enough to divert some in their entirety. But he could not advance, relying solely on the output of his released form to inflict some kind of damage.

Gaoh could tell, instinctually; that wasn't going to matter. There was only one way to overcome this.

Each palm stung, weariness taking hold in his forearms. Stray blows dotted his chest, each one stinging with a heavy welt. Attempting to direct the woman's force required incredible timing, even a fraction of a fraction increasing the amount of force he needed to counteract. Each arm mattered, each movement - a breath with absolute focus, darting eyes from her movements shifting forward, crimson watching the sapphire's hunting him down. "I see you, Amaranta Valeria."

Gaoh's rhythm switched. From four to one-two-one; alternating between elbows and palms. Retracting into an elbow with the opposite arm on strike, the window between his movements sharpening razor thin. No movement was wasted, no thought was given to footing, to anything around them. If he had no chance to match her raw physicality, then they'd dance, one woven so many times before. A hair split off course, friction to light a match.

Their world slowed to the pace of fists.