Brawling By The Congo [Catherine, Gaoh]

Pt'ew!

Another shard of tooth went flying from her as she patched up her arm, face discolored with bruises. She was already feeling the ache and throb in her jaw from newer teeth coming up to replaced the shattered, frustrated spitting of teeth following every few minutes. At her side, laid a hollow with a long body and a sufficiently thick tail it seemed to like TOO MUCH to beat her with, dead in the brush as the tree's shadows hung heavy over the both. Good thing she got out of it without anything broken, but it did scrape and bruise her up nasty... Smelly ointment coated and stung her wounds, a vial of blood she extracted at her side and ready to guzzle.

Her spear and shield forged of metal and hollow fragments lied at her side on the log, her nature plenty clear to any who may find her, though such finding would be met with a fierce yet cautious gaze almost immediately with detection...

Birds cried, scattering from the treetops as the air distorted, teeth forming from static. The garganta split open in the sky, Gaoh dropping into the jungle with a quiet thud. Reeling back, he'd stand with a hand rubbing his neck, eyes closed. Leftover annoyance crossed his expression, a knot of muscle in his back complaining all the same. Maybe he had gone too long without resting, or maybe he had gone too long without fighting. Either way, he needed to loosen up.

Gaoh sported a sleeveless gi, the belt replaced by a thick rope, its ends covered in tar. With bare feet, he stepped between the trees before a tingle hit his neck. Turning, red eyes slid across and between; not so much a glare, but anticipation. Nothing to smell, nothing to see, but something was there. The faint feeling of a hollow, and something alien.

With a smile he'd move, following the edges of his senses.

Not long after, he'd step into a clearing, the corpse catching his eye before the woman. Large, meaty, the kind of beast you had to give grit to put down. As his gaze slipped across it, Gaoh's eyes found Catherine, bruised, battered, still very much on-edge. But his smile did not falter, a whistle of admiration escaping between his teeth. "Been at it, haven't you?"

Her gaze tracked him silently as her body grew rigid, ready to fight again, regardless of her opponent's potential strength. As much as there was nothing but bitterness for that old rotting bastard, she certainly lived up to the Andersson spirit - there was no such thing as flight when danger came rolling around, if only she had the size to back up the family attitude.

Keeping her gaze on him, even as he expressed a good impression, she reached for the vial of blood and cautiously brought it to her lips; hollow blood was absolutely nasty going down, but it made her fix up faster. If this was gonna become a fight over a corpse, she wanted to make sure she was as close to winning as possible,

"Sure have. Can take on ten more of those things at once if I felt like it," Probably would've been easier if she had ten bodies to weave between as opposed to one... She drunk down the vial til it was nothing but a tiny trickle, cringing at the flavor and despising how quickly she drank it. Settled poor on the gut as always...

"Ten more?" Gaoh's gaze turned back to the corpse, and then back again to Catherine with a light hearted chuckle. "Looks like one did you pretty rough. No shame in that, you know." He moved closer to the woman, stepping over the tail before taking a seat on top of it. Arms crooked between his legs, hands gripping one another.

"You look like you fought hard." Gaoh's eyes lingered for a moment on her drinking - whatever the hell it was. Not interesting enough to focus on. "Ask me, that's what life's about. Get hit hard, hit back harder. Nothing else like it." Warmth settled across his face, nodding towards her weapons.

"So what's the story, little gladiator? On the hunt, working out anger?" his head would cock to the side, eyes patiently watching Catherine. She was tense, there was no getting around that. If she wanted to pick a fight, he wasn't going to let his guard down. Whatever grit the woman had, Gaoh was curious to see - but he wasn't going to get killed over it.

She drew a cruel smile - some growing teeth, blood, and shards visible through the peeking of her lips, "If you think this is rough, you should've seen me after the goliath a few months ago. You'd cry and weep."

That was quite a rough battle in her recollection, though it was rough to remember a fight that perilous when the most recognizable elements were the blood in your throat, the sting in your eyes, and the life-wracking mania that kept you going through the pain and horror. She took a sour expression when he sat on her prey's tail, but didn't do much else to object. Whatever, wasn't like he was messing up the corpse before she got to inspect and dissect it. Least he seemed to be on the same page in terms of the brawl of life.

"..Bit of poth-" She drew another expression, cringing and with a brief hack, spat out a whole tooth with blood and fragments. Ugh, that was probably the last one... Her mouth still felt sore and fresh, "Both. Heard one of those hole hollows had fled here and were mucking up the woods. And I so kindly put a spear in it's spine."

"Oh, girlie. You have the wrong impression if I strike you as a crier." Gaoh spoke with laughter at the back of his throat, eyes dancing with much of the same as Catherine struggled with her words. "Sounds like you have a bit of a grudge with your 'goliath', but settling for what you can get. Can't say I haven't been there before." he'd shrug, leaning back onto the corpse with hands splayed on either side.

Gaoh's eyes did little to wander as he spoke, intent on the woman's disposition. There was a fire ready to be lit in her, ashes still smoldering from the kill. Was it grit he had seen, or spite? There was nothing in the way Catherine spoke, or acted; aside from irritation and exhaustion. Seemed like she was getting better, though. "So, what's next? Carve up your little buddy -" he slapped down on the tail "- roast the bastard over a campfire and onto the next one?"

Gaoh's smile flickered a moment after the words left his mouth, eyes darting to the side as he thought aloud, a hand cupping his chin. "Can humans even eat hollow?" It struck him just how long ago he had been 'human', how long ago it was he knew nothing of the world beyond. Now he was traveled, experienced, and.... Detached. Expression souring at the thought, he shook his head, a sigh escaping. "Probably wouldn't taste too good, either way."

"I don't 'settle'. I get what I want, when I want it," That dirty squint she'd give him got her irritation across quite well. She's no settler - if her eyes are on something it's either she gets it, or she has to work harder to get it. If that wasn't how it worked, she would've been dead years ago. She'd gotten another drink of the vial, as horrid the flavor was it did get her back into form faster - if the guy had any funny ideas he'd have her at 75% to worry about.

"First off, not my buddy," Her eyes rolled with the mere thought, "Second, no. It's a research subject and materials to me. The things that crawled out of that chasm are nothing i've ever seen before. If only I got a look at their leader before he croaked..."

Now wasn't the time for daydreaming about the excitement she felt in her findings, she had to be ready for whenever this guy decided to be a problem, "Can say, from personal experience as of fifteen seconds ago - yeah you lot sure taste like hot liquid ass. Sure hope you stay tasting that way."

Gaoh's indecision disspiated as Catherine spoke, gaze rising back to meet her irritation. Spite it was, and 'better' was jumping the gun. "Doesn't seem like it makes you happy, 'getting what you want, when you want'." The man's tone straddling the border of joy and mockery, intentional or otherwise.

"Or am I interrupting the part where you throw a party after getting what you want? Bust out the lights, some drinks -" he'd haphazardly gesture at her vial, a similarly disheveled grin on his face. "- though, can't imagine celebrating with that." Not that he knew exactly what it was. Some kind of hollow fluid; by the color, he'd guess blood. Weird thing for someone to have, let alone drink.

"Can't say little buddy here is much to research, either." Standing, he'd kick back lightly at the corpse. "Otherwise it'd still be alive. Killing something usually tells you everything you'll ever know about it, good or bad. Especially when it crawls out of a hole in the ground. Even exceptional holes, from what I've heard." Which amounted to not a lot; Gaoh had largely avoided Africa when he saw the news. There wasn't much 'fight' to be had with against something the size of a house. Not one he was interested in having.

"Sure lotta talking like you know me here, Arrancar." A breathy tone would respond to him, adjusting her position to instead sit on the log with one extended leg, the other bent toward her chest; if he was interested in ambushing her, she supposed he would've tried to make a move by now. Good enough reason to turn down the hostility even a little, regardless of how annoyed she was getting with his presumptive attitude.

"Not exactly," She'd raise an eyebrow with that view of research that she had quite a strong disagreement in, "There's a lot you can learn about something if you get a good look at it's body - inside and out. Bone constitution, organ distribution, diet, habits, defensive and offensive parts... Already tracked and fought the thing; unless you're assuming I'd do something as idiotic as jump straight to killing it?"

A click of the teeth and shake of the head conveyed disappointment in such an assumption.

"Hasn't upset you enough to try and hit me." He jabbed back at her tone, the glint of teeth behind a smirk. With how she'd reacted, Gaoh was unsure of the kind of remarks he'd need. Something gaudy always felt insincere; unfocused, ill-determined. Not that he could find particular agreement with her view. A researcher - not common, not for him.

In fact, Catherine was the first he'd ever met.

"When something dies, it stops growing. Might have some idea of what it was, or how it ticked, but you'll never know what it could've been." Rolling a shoulder, Gaoh stretched the arm across his chest, eyes closing as his neck rotated to the symphony of cracks. "Got to kill something slow if you really want to know it." The arrancar's arms dropped, eyes slipping back onto the woman.

"How else do you get rid of that nagging 'what if', yeah?"