Beauty and the Beast (Social, R)

[Tyr Krom]

    Tyr sat by the riverside that ran its length through the heart of Karakura town. He was never a big fan of modern day concrete architecture, but he could appreciate it for what it provided; a nice place to walk and admire the river. He sat cross-legged two feet from the water's edge, staring at the rush of the river flow past. He figured it was probably around elevenin the morning, and even though the sun was high in the sky, a light breeze brought a nice chill and the subtle promises of an approaching winter. He smiled to himself. "It seems I can always find home in the world, as long as winter is willing to follow me." He took a deep breath, relishing the smells of oncoming autumn, and set out again - this time aiming for somewhere a little more secluded.

    He eventually found it somewhere in the town's large community park, in a small clearing surrounded by several trees. He ran his calloused hand across the rough bark of a tree near the entrance to the clearing. "Oak... Strong and durable... This will do." He ran a hand through his thick golden hair, set down his backpack, cracked his neck and went to work. He took his normal button-up off and his belt, hanging them from a nearby branch of a different tree. He then sat down, pulling out his hand wraps and carefully putting on his boxing tape, as he had done so many times before. The act had become less of a chore and more of a ritual for Tyr. He made sure every fold was deliberate, that it laced through his fingers properly and that it tightened just right as he clenched his fist, making sure that it didn't prevent him from forming a full fist or fell apart as his hand closed - not that he hadn't done it so many times that mucking it up was even possible.

    Tyr squared up with the tree and threw a couple quick jabs, the tree bark splintering and scattering with each blow. The force of impact stung his knuckles, as he hadn't his it squarely just yet. His lips tightened. "You need to work on your form." He can hear his old instructor say. "It is not enough to just throw your hand out and hope for the best, Tyr. You have to be always knowing what it's purpose is; why it was thrown in the first place." He took a deep breath, and tried again. And again. And again.

    About an hour passed, and the tree bark was replaced with dents in the wood and nothing but small splotches of blood to cover them. Tyr flexed his fingers again and again, making sure he retained full faculty of his fingers. He was pleased with his practicing, and had his mind set to move onto the next thing he could find to do, when he heard a roar that would make a lesser man's blood curdle. He looked in the direction of the noise, shocked to hear anything other than himself for the past several minutes. It didn't sound like a wild animal to him. It sounded a little more sinister. He thought back to the Berzerker of his past - a twisted shadow of what was probably once a great man, turned into a grotesque beast of animal pelts and human flesh, donning a bone-white stag mask. If anything, this would be an opportunity for something to pass the time. If everything, this could be an opportunity to rectify a past shortcoming. He grinned, and softly said to himself, "Today just seems to get better and better." before setting out to find the source of the roar.

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna made her way through the down town Karakura area, browsing the many stores that lined the street side. She had originally been sent to the world of the living on an exploratory mission, rumors of a high level hollow had been making their way through the ranks and the finally sent someone (her) too look into it, but after two days of searching she had failed to turn up anything of note. While, officially, she should have been going back to the soul society to report her "finding" she knew that just meant doing a ton of meaningless paperwork, and she didn't really feel like doing any pencil pushing, so instead she was taking some time to herself. 

She had managed to get her hands on a gigai as part of her mission load out just in case something like this happened, so now she was out and about in town doing some clothes shopping and killing some time until the bars opened. As she walked through the streets she could see some members of the opposite sex do their best to steal glance of her without being obvious, but they were all fairly obvious about it, at least to someone with her observational skills. While the bars and clubs were hours from opening she did not intend to go back to her residence until that night so she had left dressed for the evening; she wore an orange T-shirt with a slightly more then ample dip in the neck line with a pair of snug blue jeans and short black heels. 

As she smiled to herself at the eyeballs she drew she heard a roar in the distance, one that was easy to recognize, and one that immediately annoyed her: a hollow had showed up somewhere nearby. Considering she had heard it before she felt it she knew that the beast wasn't a very strong one, but she also knew that she couldn't just leave it unattended considering it might eat someone before another shinigami got to it. With a puff of air blown up into her hair she began to walk quickly towards the direction of roar, opting to stay in her gigai since it's its proximity and strength didn't really seem to warrant her wasting a soul candy (or the time)

[Tyr Krom]

    The source of the roar was not terribly far from where he was practicing his boxing techniques; in fact it was only about half of a mile. After whatever it was that Tyr was hunting had pierced the sky with its harrowing call, tracking it had become a little more difficult, but the sound of trees being crashed into and the apparent fleeing of local wildlife such as birds and squirrels pointed him in the right direction, hopefully. He came to the edge of the small park forest, peering from the treeline into what seemed like a clearing for a dirt path to a trail that seldom saw use, judging from the mild onset of overgrowth in the area... Most of this Tyr did not necessarily observe and note for himself, for his eyes were fixed on a hulking figure in the midst of this trail.

    Tyr's eyebrows raised in awe of the... thing before him. To call it a big black bear would be a gross understatement. It was far bigger than that, bigger than the biggest bear he had seen, and it's fur did not seem to be a normal black... It almost looked like its body was made of shadow itself. Its arms, ended with claws that were probably for or five inches, almost raking the floor in spite of it standing upright in excess of ten feet. It also appeared to not have a face, but rather a large white bear-like visage over its face, seemingly made out of some type of bone material. It's eyes seemed to glow yellow in the afternoon sun, much like the oxygen-rich blood on its large white teeth... Though if Tyr was asked to describe it, he would probably just say it is a big black bear.

    It appeared to be hunched over a few deer corpses, facing east down the trail, so Tyr got a decent enough sight of it. His hands involuntarily clenched into fists at the thought of a pseudo-redemption of his destroyed home town, but felt the sore pain from having punched a hardwood tree for the past hour or so. "Damn... I can't hit zis thing - Not very hard anyvays... I have to try somesing else." He sized up the monster, comparing its stature to his own, gauging whether or not grappling would be a viable alternative to boxing. "Oh vell, I suppose I lived a full life." He grinned. "Famous last vords." He said to himself. The sound of Tyr's voice, in spite of how quietly he said it, made the monster stop and perk its head up, staring at Tyr's direction. He figured it was only a matter of time before he was spotted, and barreled out of the woods, taking the monster off guard and tackling it to the ground.

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna continued her way towards to source of the roar she had heard a few minutes ago, and now that she was out of site normal humans, summoned her blade. It was a bit heavier then she was used to with the gigai restricting her natural abilities to a moderate extent, but it wasn't entirely unmanageable, at least for the hollow she was going to deal with. She was drawing closer towards the beast when she heard it give off another roar, though this time she heard a distinctly human exclamation followed shortly afterwards, but not a fearful one, rather it seemed to be....enjoyment? Was there a human fighting this thing already? She sighed to herself as she picked up her pace a bit more, now she had to get there before the man got himself killed or he killed the hollow and lost the soul.

Eventually she entered into a tree line and after a minute or so of searching through the woods she found the target she had been looking for and it did seem that there was someone fighting the hollow already, though based on what sh was seeing they didn't seem to be doing very well. A large, bruised, and semi-bloody man was latched onto the creatures back as it trashed around trying to dislodge him, though it, like the human, didn't seem to being doing a very good job either. She honestly wasn't sure who was winning in this fight, though if she had to guess her money would have been on the hollow, "Who are you and what are you doing?" she would ask the man as he was being flung around by the hollow.

[Tyr Krom]

    Tyr latched himself onto the beast's back, wrapping his arms around the bear's neck and squeezing for all he was worth. He didn't hear much of the young lady's words over the sound of the wind rushing past him, the blood pumping in his ears and his own roaring laughter as the beast thrashed around violently in a somewhat futile attempt to throw Tyr off of his back, though it did register in his head that someone else was present and they were saying words to him. Through the blurred whirlwind that had become of the next several seconds, he could make out that there was indeed someone there besides the beast and him, though he could not make out much besides the fact that it was a woman, and she was holding something very large in her hand. The beast stopped its thrashing for a moment, seemingly to ready itself for another session of improv bull-riding, and that is when Tyr decided to reply.

    "Do not be alarmed, young lady! I am just, uh... Playing with local wildlife?" He chuckled a little before the bear began another series of thrashing around to try and fling Tyr off from around its neck. His hand locked around his wrist, so he remained latched to the beast's neck. The rest of his body, however, flailed around, hitting several trees and definitely doing a bit more than just bruising up his calves. The monster waved its arms about, trying to grab him or maul at him, succeeding in grazing him on his right shoulder. Tyr only replied by sliding his hand up his arm, tightening his stranglehold on the bear's neck , attempting to make it all the way up to the pit of his elbow, where he intended to cross his free hand over the back of the bear's neck, placing it on his bicep and inducing a blood choke that would give him full control over the bear and hopefully render the beast unconscious in a matter of a few moments. The young woman talking to him seemed to fade from his recollection entirely as he focused his concentration on this movement, as attempting to do so in any capacity might break his hold on the bear altogether, and though he had never tried it, Tyr figured he would never be able to win a fight against a bear this size - especially with his hands in the shape they were in.

    Much to Tyr's surprise and dismay, the beast showed no signs of faltering. Normally, a blood choke would pinch the arteries leading blood into the brain, and would render a full-grown man unconscious in roughly 8 seconds. On a bear this would be more, but if highschool biology taught Tyr anything, it was that all mammals have the same basic anatomical structure, and that a chokehold on a bear would still have a similar effect, albeit with a delayed response. This... thing, however, didn't even seem like it was tiring itself out at all. The blood choke did succeed in firmly securing Tyr to its neck, however, and all of its efforts to throw him off of it proved fruitless. It hadn't occurred to him until now that this creature as well as the one that destroyed his home were very easily distinguished as being somewhat otherworldly beings.e then pieced together that maybe standard practices would not work on them.

    He was thinking of a way to try and defeat this monster without dying when it decided to throw itself onto its back, crushing Tyr between itself and the ground. His body suffered relatively minor trauma compared to his head, which slammed itself into a rock on the ground. His vision went black for a moment and reality came rushing back with stars as his grip loosened from the shock of the blow. "I have to kill zis thing." he thought to himself frantically. "I have to kill zis thing NOW." And that is when Tyr probably made the worst mistake of the day - He let go of the beast and assumed his boxing stance.

    The thing reeled around to face him as he gave it three quick jabs in the gut, grimacing in pain as his bloody, swollen knuckles collided with the monster's body. The thing made a lazy side swipe at Tyr, which he quickly bobbed under and counterattacked with a, elbow strike into its side. Another lazy swipe was also deftly maneuvered around and answered by an uppercut to the beast's jaw. It reeled back for less time than Tyr anticipated, though, and responded to his attack by grabbing him and biting into his left shoulder. Tyr yelled out in pain, grabbing the bear by the face and pulling it away from him, its teeth refusing to let go and ripping large tears into his shoulder as its mouth was forced off of him. He then pulled its head towards him, delivering a headbutt that probably hurt him more than it hurt the beast, establishing that whatever material its white mask was made out of was very,very hard.

    The beast slammed Tyr on the ground and flung him back, breaking a branch across his back and sending him straight into the dirt. Tyr coughed, blood coming out of his mouth and onto his beard. He staggered to his feet, tiredly reassuming his boxer's stance. Both of his shoulders stung painfully in the crisp autumn air. His legs felt battered and bruised, spikes of pain going up and down his shins. The only thing he could hear was his own labored breathing, every inhale sending a shockwave of pain through his ribcage. He felt an itch in his back that he could only assume were pieces of wood splinters lodged in his back. Still, he managed to laugh heartily at the bear. "It'll take more than that to kill me, monster! I'm not dead just yet!" He called out mockingly, a grin spread across his face.

    The beast cocked its head, and replied "No, but you will be."

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

Yetsuna's question went unanswered, though whether the man was ignoring her or couldn't hear her due to his own laughing was a question that was up for debate. She watched the spectacle for what it was worth an idiot man being thrown around like a ragdoll, and to some extent it was amusing, but she knew she needed to step in or the stranger might not end up walking away. Just as she was about to make her move the situation seemed to calm, the bear hollow stopped his thrashing for a moment, probably in an attempt to catch its breath, giving the man a chance to speak. She wasn't overly surprised to his response, some stupid, half-though response that anyone would have know was false, even if they weren't a shinigami, tough she couldn't really blame him for his answer either, he didn't know what she was.

"You might wanna get off that thing before you get hu...." before she could finish the hollow began thrashing once more, though this time it also attempted to claw the man at the same time. While largely failing to land any real blows it did manage to sink it's claws into him once or twice before finally failing back and slamming him into the ground. The impact of the attack, at least from her angle, caused the man to release his grip, and he laid on the ground for a short moment, seemingly dazed, and rightfully so for a human, that blow looked like it had hurt. She was about to step in and take over just as the man began to stand and took a boxing stance, "I'll give him points for tenacity," she thought to herself. He dashed in and punched it a few times before the beast took its turn to wail on him and sent him flying backwards through the trees. 

Resting against the tree that stopped his backwards movement he looked up at the creature and said something cocky, and suddenly made her feel like she was looking at a male counter part to herself, albeit his IQ seemed a fair number of points lower then her own. The hollow growled something back, "And there's my que," she thought to herself before launching her sword over her shoulder and towards the hollow. As it began to raise its paw to strike down the man her blade would tear through it's skull before burying itself in the tree with a hard "THUNK".  She began to walk over towards the injured man as the hollow started to fade, examining the giant she determined that she probably should have stepped in a bit sooner then she had, "Well, you're a fine looking mess," she said to the man, her tone similar to that of an annoyed mother.

[Tyr Krom]

    Tyr steeled himself for what was to come next as the monster lumbered forward. He wasn't going to last very long, and he was slowly becoming aware of that as it neared, fully realizing how much bigger it was than him, how much more durable it was than him. He hadn't even scratched it, yet it managed to injure him thusfar seemingly without anything reminiscent of effort. He grit his teeth, feeling the force deafen his ears... And yet he heard... Drums? They were low and rhythmic, a sort of tribal beat in his head. From somewhere in the distance, he heard the onset of electric guitar, pounding out really loud and fast metal as the world around him changed for a split-second. The trees were burning, and the sky was a mix of crimson red and black ash. The beast was relatively unchanged, but seemed to move slower, and seemingly to the beating of the drums. Before he could fully grasp the change of scenery, however, the whole situation was gone was gone; the metal, the burning, everything. He briefly thought to himself if it was even something he saw, or something he'd like to see. He felt his head throbbing painfully where the rock had struck him. "Great" He thought to himself. "I'm going to die, AND I'm seeing things."

    The beast raised his claw into the air for another lazy swipe, and Tyr readied to dodge it as he had before. He had to thank whatever greater power existed that even though it was powerful, it telegraphed its attacks very well. He probably could've dodged it even if both of his legs were broken. The thought amused him, for the time he had to amuse it. He only thing he dodged, though, was the next unbelievable thing he saw. Was what looked like a giant sword split it's way through the beast's head and the entire body screamed forward towards him. He managed to sidestep it in time, feeling a shot of pain up his shin as he pressed his weight onto it. The bear's corpse flew, slamming itself into the trunk of a tree and embedding the sword into the trunk. He exhaled, not noticing he was holding his breath the entire time. He looked, bewildered, at his savior.

    His world flashed again as she stepped towards him. She had wings, and was decked head to toe in leather and metal armor. Same as before, this vision lasted a split-second, and once again the world was as it had been before. The image stuck in his head a bit longer, and his mind went back to the stories of the Norse faith. There were winged women who picked over battles and took the souls of warriors to Valhalla. He was sure he wasn't dead; the pain made sure he was aware he was alive. Then what was she doing here? He had to know. He stared in disbelief at the woman standing before him. He hadn't even heard her question, though he saw her lips move. "A Valkyrie?"

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

"Not quite" Yetsuna replied to the man as she walked towards the tree where her blade was lodged as the hollows body disappeared into nothingness. As she got closer even she was impressed with how hard she had managed to throw her sword, she had managed to bury it about halfway to the cross-guard. With a singular hard pull she ripped the blade out from its wooden prison and then began walking towards the bloody puddle that was some spiritual human, "You aren't far off though." The man was a right mess, she could tell both his legs were shattered, he probably had a few ribs dinged up as well, the fact he had managed to move out of the way of the hollows corpse was actually slightly impressive, though she doubted he could do it again in his current state.

With a puff of air directed upwards she'd take out her phone, seemingly ignoring the man for a moment as the distinctive "clack"ing of a phone's keyboard as she wrote out a message to someone. "Well, the good news is I got a medic on the way, the bad news is is I have to met him somewhere, which mean I have to get your blood all over my outfit," her voice was half joking, half serious and might be slightly off putting depending on the man's sense of humor. With a flash of light her blade would disappear into thin air as she began to bend down to pick the pile of blood and muscle up, "This'll likely hurt, but you'll deal with it if you wanna live," she said casually before throwing the man over her shoulder, "Hang on to your dinner, I'm already getting your blood all over me, I don't need you vomit too," she said shifting back to her half joke, half serious tone before taking off with a shunpo.

After a dozen or so shunpos, likely seemingly like a long blur to the man, he would find himself in an apartment and on a couch. "Heres the patient Doc, take care of him please, I gotta go change, my entire right side is soaked in blood." "Yeah, I can tell. Go, I'll get started." She'd begin to walk away as a black robed man leaned over to inspect his patient, "Man, something did a number on you, you get into a fight with a grizzly bear or something?" he'd ask sarcastically, "Just stay still for a bit, you'll be right as rain before you know it." After minute or two Yetsuna would come back, freshly showered wearing jeans and a white shirt, "How the patient Doc? Miss anything?" "Nope." "Sweet," she said walking over the still injured man, his injuries were beginning to heal, but not much. Sitting on the arm rest near his head and crossing her legs, "So what's your name you muscle bound numskull?" she'd ask, her tone warm and friendly.

[Tyr Krom]

    Tyr could do little more than wince and grunt in pain as the young lady tossed him over her shoulder and... Teleported? Fast-traveled? He blinked a few times, finding himself indoors, and lying down on a couch, no less. Between the pain and momentary blackouts he was having, he couldn't tell for sure. Maybe it was all in his head. Ever since the berzerker incident, he tried his best not to rule out the extraordinary, but the events of today once again had him questioning his sanity, and he was certain that as the day went on, the questioning would get more intense.

    The first thing that came to his mind was the beast - a black bear the size of a kodiak roaming a Japanese park. The thing felt no fatigue and seemingly didn't feel pain or fear, either. He wasn't entirely sure, but Tyr could've bet money that it talked at some point, too. Thinking back on it, he counted himself lucky that he didn't fight that berzerker back in Norway. He would've died in minutes. However, the point seemed moot, seeing what condition he was in right now anyways. The second sip of information he had to drink in was the Valkyrie. She seemed fit, sure, but she didn't seem fit enough to handle that sword-shaped steel girder like it was a goddamned paperweight. What's more is that a woman of her size shouldn't have been able to pick him up like he was a pillow and perform what he could only conclude was a historic breakthrough in land travel. It was more than enough to color him impressed and dumbstruck. What was certain to him now was that whatever world he just barreled headlong into - he was most certainly out of his league.

    He tried to sit as still as possible, assuming any shifting and attempting to get more comfortable would only result in more bleeding and more pain in his chest and legs. Considering he'd already lost a bit by now, he figured being able to not pass out from blood loss or shock was more important that minor discomfort. He managed to cough out a chuckle at the apparent doctor's questioning about fighting a bear. "Well, Doc, now that you mention it..." He thought to himself, though he didn't say it out loud until he could gauge the actual mannerisms of the people in the room. However, when the Valkyrie questioned him directly, he had little choice but to respond. He coughed violently. "Tyr Krom... vhat is yers?"

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

"Yetsuna Yishnir." she replied before leaning back on the arm rest using her her arms as supports, "So what are you doin her Tyr? You obviously aren't a local, your accent screams 'tourist'."

[Tyr Krom]

Tyr chuckled to himself. He hadn't really thought about what he was doing or why he was doing it for a good long while. What could he tell her? What was he doing here? He himself was unsure. "I'm here to destroy monsters and see the world." As easy as it would be to say such, it was not true. "I'm here to escape my past." Tyr didn't believe that. His past was what had made him. He wouldn't run away from it. "I'm looking for the black robed man." There was a thought that he hadn't made for years before today. He had forgotten about him halfway around the world.
"I'm just here for fun times." It'd be inaccurate to say. He pondered her question for a while, chewing and ingesting it.

"I'm not really sure. I sort of let the vorld take me vhere it wants me... I'm also halfheartedly looking vor a man in black robes." Tyr said, coughing violently. Pain shot up and down his body with each cough. "Though today gives me more questions than answers, honestly."

[Yetsuna Yishnir]

"Black robes isn't exactly a great description of someone to go off of," Yetsuna comment, "Hell most the people I deal with on a daily basis where black robes, the guy HEALING you is wearing black robes," she continued poking fun at the man slightly. "Why you looking for the guy anyway? Murder your family? Kill your wife? Beat the shit out of you in a bar," she asked him casually hoping that none of the guess' she made in jests were actually on point. As their conversation went on Tyr would continue to start feeling better and better as bones and blood vessels mended and gashes closed, though it was unlikely he'd be able to get up for another few minutes, though he could probably try if he wanted, though the doctor would force him down if/when he tried.

[Tyr Krom]

Tyr nodded knowingly, and gave a half smirk at Yetsuna's assertions as to why he sought this man. "I'm assuming he's dead. Only ones who saw him were the Hersir and myself. Destroyed a monster like that black bear after it ransacked my town in Norvay..." He trailed off. Her prowess was similar to that man, and she had just said she works with many black robed men. They were probably unrelated, but at this point Tyr was too open to deny himself the pleasure of conversation. After all, she might be more like him than he knew. She saw something similar to the Berzerker, when he'd met no one else who could. It was possible she saw ghosts as well. With the otherworldly powers she possessed and his vision of the Valkyrie, he wouldn't be too surprised if she really was some medium between the living and the dead. "You can see them too... Vhat are they?"