One Particular Harbor [Ira, Candice]

If Ira had been a little less on edge already, he probably would have whistled at the fact that his faint ribbing had gotten her this riled up. He shrugged it off, pretty used to dealing with people who were just kind of like that, and continued walking. Honestly, he appreciated her dropping the over-cheery thing, it made the conversation feel a little more natural.

"Damn, you were here day one, huh? I can't imagine even tryin' to cut through all this right after it happened. Guess you had someone who got caught up in that Kurosaki bastard showing up, eh? My condolences."

Ira was old enough to still remember hearing stories about the war, and how Ichigo Kurosaki had been a hero that'd suddenly disappeared. Hearing that he was back woulda been one thing, but hurting people? Obviously, Ira didn't think too highly of that.

"Yeah, it was pretty manic. Well, I guess it still is. And it sure has dragged the city into the spotlight of the world."

Candice tensed at the mention of Kurosaki though. She'd done her homework and read her history books, and that has-been was going to get what was coming to him. He certainly deserved it after all that he'd done to Gigi.

"That Kurosaki bastard has made a whole bunch of new enemies doing what he did, I reckon. A villain like him needs to get put in their place, so next time he rears his ugly head..."

Squishing the knuckles of one hand into the palm of the other, it was probably unsurprising that the hair-trigger woman was all too ready to throw down with the monster. She did want to mean it too, but she also promised that she would train before then. Like really train. Because that guy had levelled some real heavy hitters without taking more than a few little scratches, so she needed to be in top form.

"But, uh, thanks for saying that. I didn't mean to pry before, you just threw me off with the whole age thing. My partner is kinda like that, looks a few years younger than she is etcetra, but she's the one in the hospital. Doesn't make much sense to me."

"Real heroic of ya, that's a good outlook."

Ira, really, wasn't one for heroics or anything like that. He understood doing the right thing and all that, but he didn't exactly see a world where he could just jump right into the fray and start throwing down with villains. He'd promised to live out a good life with this body, after all. Couldn't quite go around wasting it.

"Honestly, seems like that's more normal than I'd have imagined when I was younger. Feels like every time I run into some quincy or shinigami or whatever, they look like they're maybe thirty, but turns out they've looked that way since I was born."

Yugiri immediately came to mind, though it occurred to him that he probably knew other people that he'd simply never bothered to ask. Ah, geez. Ira was already starting to let his head run wild on that one.

"Think it's kinda strange, really. Not that I'm one to talk, and I've got some dear people who're that way, but it always throws me for a little bit of a loop."

"Yeah, I'm a total hero or whatever."

Maybe there was a small measure of conviction to her words, but Candice could better be described as tired. It was pretty easy to pick her apart when it came down to it, for all the bluster and bravado that she tried to carry herself with faded away ever so quickly. Ira at least seemed knowledgeable about some things that she really wasn't.

"Wait, is that like a common thing for Quincy too? Can't say I've ever known any Shinigami long enough to take stock, but I thought these people were more... I don't know... Human?"

Surely Ehefra wasn't going to pull that on her was she? Or maybe it was something that she didn't want to discuss. Because how did you ever have that conversation? It wasn't like Candice had told her either. She ran through the simulations in her head, the results leaving her with more to consider than she had expected.

"I swear I just start to wrap my head around this stuff and then it all gets flipped around."

"Dunno about common, but unless I heard wrong, that Grandmaster of theirs is a couple hundred years old or somethin' like that. Guess it's not all that surprisin', all that spiritual power ya tend to pull in, I've known a few normal humans that end up gettin' old that way too."

Ira had just come to accept that becoming strong in the world ended up getting you a lot more years on the clock. In a way, maybe that was just one more reason he had to be getting stronger. He had a lot of sights he'd promised to see with these eyes of his, and he wasn't planning on missing out on any of 'em.

"World's a pretty crazy place. I know Quincy kinda go through a whole rigmarole when they get their powers, so I can't imagine they're exactly the same as you n' me."

"I suppose the Grandmaster being built different makes sense, given that he's the person in charge of this madhouse, but that only makes me wonder why he didn't fight when the enemy came to his doorstep?"

Candi imagined that the Grandmaster was probably frighteningly strong, how else could he lead all these lunatics? Maybe that was a naive assumption, that he would lead through power, but she wagered that there was only so far one could go in the absence of such. That was a shot in the dark though. It was like Ira said, they were on the outside looking in so there was probably a lot that they would never really understand.

"Maybe they think the same of us though? I mean, umm, about you and the whole body-snatching deal. Like, that's not something normal people just do and it seems like a good trick to have in a pinch."

Going around advertising her own powers was usually her deal, or rather just flexing them a little, but it was all very literal really. There was only really one way to explain that she shot lightning from her fingertips. But what else did Ira do then? Was it just the body-hopping thing? What if she like swapped into a Quincy? It was easy to distract herself with more questions, and that was easier than thinking about the present.

Ira's eyebrow cocked upward at Candice's appraisal of his situation, and he wasn't entirely sure if she just hadn't actually been listening, or just didn't care to really think about what he'd said. Either way, he couldn't exactly say he cared for that particular appraisal of how he'd ended up in this body, and his eyes moved back toward the road ahead as he spoke with a bit of edge to his tone.

"Dunno. I don't exactly go around stealin' bodies though, couldn't do it again even if I wanted to. But there's plenty of weird people around here, so I don't think my situation's all that strange."

He didn't exactly think she was trying to be malicious here, but that might've actually been worse if it was the case.

"I'd say if that's someone's bar for weird, might be good for 'em to get out a little more."

A part of Candice was genuinely pleased to have also managed to get under Ira's skin, that nagging voice in the back of her mind that really wanted to just burn Ira down because she had shown some weakness. It would have been all too easy, and maybe it would put a smile on her face so she could feel better about her own insecurities. But Candi didn't want to slip into that headspace again, it wasn't even like she had done this intentionally. Ira hadn't exactly given her a comprehensive breakdown of how her powers worked, she'd just assumed it was like a choice.

"Oh, right. So it was just a one-time kinda deal that didn't exactly go as you intended?"

She almost didn't expect an answer, as a new level of awkwardness set in between them. It wasn't like she needed to play nice with random people that talked to her on the street, but she did feel at least a tiny bit responsible for that tension. That was weird. Candi didn't like feeling responsible.

"Pretty much. Guess that's what happens when ya put a little too much stock in old fishermen's stories, eh?"

Ira shrugged it off, though, not wanting to get too caught up on what had happened. He'd spent a long enough time in this body by now that he'd accepted it was just his now. His eyes mostly moved over the City of Lights as he was talking, almost surprised that somewhere this well-built and well-defended could've even been attacked.

"Not the end of the world, though. If nothin' else, gives me a better head start on figurin' out all these strong folks' secret to stayin' alive for a real long time without getting old. Wouldn't've done me much good as an old man, would it?"

"Make the best of what you've got, yeah. Lose too much time in the past and you forget to live in the present or whatever."

Candice had just about wrapped her head around what had happened when Ira threw that last little nugget of information at her. She was a he? That was unfortunate for him. Maybe? Certainly coloured everything a little differently. She paused, imagining for a moment what it might have been like if the Thunderqueen had just thrown her into a man's body. She'd still look good, of course, but would it still be her? Were there some parts of her that were intrinsically tied to being a woman? In so many ways, she was glad that she didn't have to find out.

"So you were a man before? Sorry, this one's definitely insensitive so I'll just rip the bandaid right off, but are you still a man or -like- not? Not that it matters, be whatever the fuck you wanna be, but I just assumed you were a girl and figured I'd rather get at least that part right."

It had slipped out so innocently, but she'd apologised to this geezer! Ah jeez, she'd probably never live this one down. The big, tough, Candice Catnipp caught pandering to some random schmuck on the street. How the mighty had fallen.