Brawling By The Congo [Catherine, Gaoh]

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?"

"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.

"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."

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.

"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?"