Humans Are Odd

"Seven hundred? Jeez...well, I've ran into beings that have told me they are even older than that, but they were probably lying to make themselves feel important. You though, I think you're telling the truth. You aren't experienced enough in human affairs to know how to lie yet." Jack couldn't help but laugh a little as he took the cigarette from his mouth into his hands, tipping off the ashes. "I'm twenty eight myself, practically an old man for humans." Another laugh.

At Yysara's continued questions though, his demeanor changed, becoming a bit more subdued and reserved. "It calms me because it quiets my nerves and my thoughts...things I'd like to forget but I can't." He remarked in a straight forward way. It wasn't as if he could spill all the messy details about the Civil War to her, but he could at least try to explain somewhat. "These things are filled with poisons...you inhale for a bit to absorb the flavor then exhale. I really shouldn't, but like I said, they help me." The man said. He probably should look into those e-cigs or whatever they were called.

"Lying is not just for humans. Hollows and arrancar do too." Yysara pointed out, trying to hide the tiny laugh that escaped her at the man's words. She was inexperienced in the human world but she could lie. Pastel made another inappropriate comment about the human and she shushed her with a pat to the head. The snakes coiled in her lap slept on oblivious, not caring for any part of the conversation going on.

"I have no reason to lie to impress you. You've told me the truth about so much, it would be...unfair for me to offer you only lies in return. I am an arrancar whose true form is that of a serpent being and I am  possibly six or seven hundred. Also that is a lie, you said they lie to be almost a century, so why would you be so old if you are only a quarter of the way there?" Now she was utterly confused. How come that short of time was old when it was way less than half!? "You are a young man. There there."

Trying to console him, she scooted closer without disturbing the sleeping snakes and patted his knee. This was consoling, she...knew that yes.

The reserved Jack made her pause, maybe she had hit on something too personal? It would be best to not ask more and she just nodded. "I see. My apologies. I am glad you find solace in those... poisons at least."

Watching him, she wondered what it tasted like...The flavor must be good to deal with the poisons in it and if it helped him forget things... "Can I try one?"

"Generally, you want to pat somebody on the back instead of the knee if you are looking to comfort them." The Quincy scoffed, humored at the Arrancar's attempt at human interaction. It was nice she was considerate enough to try. Still, snake monster eh? That would explain the snakes in the boobs and everywhere else...also that crazy colored snake who seemed to dislike him already.

Reaching into his jacket with his empty hand, he pulled out a cigarette and his lighter with a quick movement and offered them to her. He was used to Kostya bumming smokes. "You have to light it first, the end needs to burn to start the whole thing. Be careful though, these are addictive. Probably why I'm still smoking them." Another laugh escaped the man.

"Oh! My apologies." Yysara moved up, leaning close to Jack so she could pat his back for a moment before moving to sit back again. The snakes on her lap slithered to the ground, finally waking from such movements. "Like that?"

Taking the cigarette and the lighter, she stared at them. "I do not think I could become addicted to these... But I shall try it once. Thank you for the advice."

Yysara lifted the cigarette to her eyes and noted the one end had some sort of poofy stuff in it. Careful glances at Jack showed that part went into your mouth, so she set it between her lips. Staring at the lighter, this was something she needed to figure out. Having seen him do it once or so, she turned it over and set it in her hands before opening the top. Then she stared. Now what?

Well, it was a little awkward, but like he thought before, she was making the effort. "Yeah, like that." He laughed. She couldn't get addicted to stuff like this? Man, being a hollow kinda sounded pretty awesome right now...the Quincy daydreamed a little bit, imagining what his sword powers would be. A badass tiger or something, yeah, that'd be awesome...Ooh, right, she needed help.

Leaning over and masterfully holding his cigarette between his index and middle fingers, Jack cupped the lighter and the cigarette and placed his free hand on top of hers, pushing down on the mechanism and flicking the metal with his thumb, igniting it and causing a tiny flame to pop out and light the lady's smoke, flipping the cover back to snuff it before moving his hands back and smiling just a bit as he sat back up.

"There you go, not that hard."

Ah so she was doing it right! Yysara gave a tiny little smug smile. She was getting the hang of this whole thing and nodded at Pastel who nodded back. They could do this!

Yysara did not hop in surprise as Jack did his magic trick, though she stared down carefully as he did so. It was surprising of him, he had just done it for her instead of showing her how to light or explain. So...nice...

The lid closing cut off the flame, which was smart so she would have to note it once she was done trying to figure this out. Eyes glancing at him, she had seen him do this enough that it did not look hard... A hand reached up to hold the thing in place as she breathed in through the thing... Smoke filled her lungs as she inhaled before she started coughing.

It tasted weird but not bad, though she was now spluttering for a bit as she pulled the cigarette away for now.

"Heh, yeah, it takes you a bit. Nobody's an expert smoker off the bat." Jack smiled with a bit of a chuckle. "Still, you get the idea...now, where were we again?" The Quincy mused quietly to himself, thinking about what he could teach the Arrancar next...not much else to talk about in terms of humans, so they should probably move on.

"What do you know of the Shinigami? I suppose we should cover them next." He asked, taking another hit and exhaling the smoke away from the two.

"Why...? Why would you get used to it?" Yysara was confused, why would someone go through this? Maybe it was different to humans? She did not know what to do with the remains of the cigarette, pulling it from her lips and looking. What should she do with it? She offered it back to Jack, wondering if she should set it in his mouth herself. But he already had one...


"Ah...um... They purify souls?" It felt silly admitting such a thing, she was a Fraccion to an Espada! How could she be so ignorant... but well that was about all she knew. At least it was only this nice human she had met she looked ignorant for and not her superiors or peers.

"Because us weak puny humans can fall prey to addictive things, like nicotine, which is in these." Jack replied with a small grin, before looking a little dumbfounded as she tried to give the lit cigarette back to him. He gently pushed her offered hand back with his free one, laughing a little.

"You smoke it until it gets down to that orange part. Tip the ash when it gets to be too much, or just let it fall, doesn't matter really." He explained, lifting his own to take a quick hit. Blowing the smoke through his nose his time out into the air, he then looked a bit thoughtful as he tried to think of a way he could explain the Shinigami to Yysara.

"Yeah, they do that. I guess the best way to describe them is they consider themselves the police of the spirit world. They charge themselves with making sure deceased souls in the human world enter the afterlife properly...the shinigami themselves are organized into a military sort of structure, a bit like how your Espada work I suppose." He was sure she would ask further, but that was a pretty good way to start things off.

"Huh. That seems... annoying." Yysara looked at the cigarette, she didn't want to keep coughing but Jack didn't seem to want it. The dark haired man was laughing, which was more confusing and that confusion showed on her face. Glancing down at the snake around her neck, she put it in its mouth after a rather annoying comment.

The snake, if a snake could, looked confused but kept the cigarette in its mouth. It even seemed to be smoking it somehow... And it followed Jack's directions with unsnakelike smarts.

Pulling her notepad and pen back out, the creamy blonde woman started taking notes again as attempted to put down everything she head learned. So thats what they really did... She'd heard things but it hadn't really settled into her head. Once she'd written down what she needed, her crimson eyes glanced back up. "They...do their job... By sending on beings like myself, yes?"

It would make sense, she knew what hollows were at least...

The Quincy opened his mouth to say something, but...was...was the snake fucking smoking?

Jack couldn't help but fall into a burst of uncontrolled laughter as he was greeted to the sight of a snake with a cigarette in its mouth taking a drag. It was like something off of Youtube except he was right here. He almost fell off the grate he was sitting on he laughed so heartily, wiping a bit of tears from his eyes as he fought to regain control of himself.

"Oh man...I'm sorry about that...but your snake there, that is some funny shit." He got out, still trying to quiet his laughter. After a few moments, he did, and with a clearing of his throat, he straightened out the collar of his shirt underneath his jacket and sat back up.

"Anyways...sort of. Hollows are more similar to human souls than Shinigami. After all, a hollow is born when a human soul died violently, or suffered at the time of their death, or many other ways...I hate to say it, but your kind isn't exactly the happy go lucky sunshine type." He chuckled a bit, lifting the cig to take another hit.

Jack was laughing! What was so funny? Yysara looked around, wondering if something had happened behind her. Her crimson eyes scanned all around her as she tried to figure this mystery out!

Was he dying? Should she help him? As he laughed, Pastel used her tail to pull the cigarette out and exhale.

As Jack finally spoke, Yysara stared between Pastel and the dark haired quincy. "I am...glad she amuses you...? Do you want to hold her?"

Yysara patted the head of her snake, a small laugh sounded as she started to think of it from the human's point of view. Her snakes were smarter somehow the longer they were around her, but to a person like Jack who wasn't used to such things... Deciding to be friendly, she teased her snake verbally. "Don't become addicted, I do not want to have a problem in the Corona's tower. I do not think everyone would like the smell like I do."

"I know what hollows and arrancar are. The core soul of myself, it died in childbirth and I suppose I wandered around filled with regret?" The Quincy went on to explain things, which filled in her spotty knowledge though she knew most of it already. Yysara wasn't sure how to explain things, but she was sure Jack understood since he knew so much about the other races. She wasn't that girl who died, but she was at the same time.

It was odd how that worked. "We are not the happy type... Maybe that is why we are generally violent?"

Jack looked at the little multicolored snake holding the cigarette with its tail, doing his best to stifle his laughter. "N-nah, I'm good. Just be sure to watch her, don't let her smoke more than a pack a day." The Quincy joked, letting a laugh or two through his attempts.

As she explained her story, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her origins. She hadn't even gotten a chance to live as a human for more than a few minutes before she passed, and probably she had been a Hollow ever since. His face became dour for a mere moment, before doing his best to smile.

"Well, that would be true, but I think life is what you make of it, even in the afterlife. The core of yourself...you are who you are now, and that is what matters, yeah?" He did his best to reassure the Arrancar, even though she probably didn't need it. Perhaps it was for himself more than her.

"I think you're right, a lot of souls when they go hollow are unable to restrain themselves or their emotions...thankfully, it seems you Arrancar have gotten past that stage. Hell, even human beings like myself have trouble staying calm sometimes." He laughed.

"Got it. No more than a pack." Yysara nodded thoughtfully, sensing it was a joke but at the same time taking the advice. A pack a day. She wondered if the snake would really smoke more but Pastel seemed to be enjoying it however she was. Noticing the expression on Jack's face, she tilted her head in confusion as a question mark almost appeared above her head. Her eyes a bit wide, she blinked slowly. "Yes, it really is what matters. I plan on it honestly, learning and living... Is something wrong? You seemed upset for a moment there."

She wondered why he seemed to think she needed reassurance, she was doing this wasn't she? Learning all she could so she could also utilize it and be useful, in addition to the fun of it.

"I don't think any soul when it first goes hollow can. It seems the older you are, the calmer you become. The hunger...eases when you become an arrancar as well it seems. Either that or we are just able to restrain it well." Yysara smiled very softly, understanding what the dark haired man was saying. "What things make you angry then? Maybe I could understand humans a bit more if I know of you at least, though they seem similar to arrancar already."

"Nah, it's nothing. Just thinking of the irony of it all. In the process of giving life, a life is also lost. If there is any sort of god, they've got a morbid sense of humor." Jack smiled a bit, though it still hid a bit of sadness behind it. Death was a part of life, and he knew that, but it hard to accept it sometimes, especially when he had been a part of a needless war. "That's good, though. Keep yourself true to it. The past is important but we live in the present."

With that, he lifted his smoke back up and took one more drag, finishing it off. As he let out the smoke, he pulled out a small container to put his used butts in, closing it as it made a snap. At Yysara's question, he looked a bit lost in thought for a few moments...

"What makes me angry? Well, the thing about us humans is that we're all different. For instance, I can't stand seeing needless violence, but some of my co-workers have no problem inflicting it...In a more general sense, humans do not like to feel betrayed or hurt by those close to them."

"I am not sure if I want some sort of god to exist. It would have to be amazingly powerful and...There are enough beings in the world that could destroy it..." Yysara gave a tiny shudder, she was unsure of how to react around those much more powerful than her. Anger one and it would just go on a rampage... Death wasn't entirely scary to her, though she did want to continue living. Giving him a soft chuckle, she accepted his words with a nod.

Watching carefully as he finished the cigarette, she popped Pastel's from the snakes mouth and gestured for him to let her put the remains in while the snake pouted. "That's enough out of you. I swear."

"Those sound like reasonable triggers for anger... Seeing violence when you don't like it... Being hurt by trusted people..." Yysara nodded thoughtfully. What would she get angry over? Someone who hurt her snakes. That was all she could think of at the moment. Smiling, warmly for once, she tilted her head to the side as she spoke. "You have helped me a ton, Jack, my brain is full for now on things to think on. Is there some way I can repay you? I know humans must travel on foot or long distances... I could repay you by letting you use my garganta if you wish to go somewhere."

That was all she could think to offer him, not liking violence too much herself. She wouldn't want to inflict any...

Extending his hand and popping open the container for Yysara to put the finished cigarette in, Jack simply hummed in thought as he listened to her words...she had a point? How strong or powerful of a god could there even potentially be, given the power of certain people across the spiritual realms. What if the human concept of "God" was merely a spiritual being who had showcased his power to the people of old? It was an interesting train of thought...

...One that he couldn't get too lost on, as he snapped back to reality. A nod followed. "Yeah...though, to be fair, there are also humans that get angry at the dumbest things...perceived insults to their way of life, I suppose." He laughed, noticing she gave him a real smile. Well, that was a bit of a change. He couldn't help but return it. She was nice company, given his usual acquaintances...

"We Quincy do have our own fast way of traveling, so its not so bad. Its what I used to get you up here. We call it Hirenkyaku, or flying god step if you want to use more common terms. Meh, both of them are pretty outdated...hard to change tradition I suppose." Another laugh. "Instead, how about you show me Hueco Mundo sometime...so long as I wouldn't be murdered upon entry." He teased her, though knowing how Yysara took things, she would probably think he was serious. Ah well.

Dropping the cigarette in the offered container, she nodded her thanks. Jack became lost in thought for a moment but Yysara merely waited patiently for him to think of what he wanted. He would say or not, that was up to him... It seems whatever it was was not important as he went back to helping her learn about humans. "So...arrancar are just like humans. Though overall less aggressive? And less likely to use lethal force to solve arguments? Interesting... I wonder if all the other races are like this."

If there was a joke, she did not see it but it was nice hearing laughter so she just kept smiling as Jack did so, while noticing his smile. She would have to note such a thing, that laughter made one want to smile...

"Oh! Ours is called Sonido but gargantas are useful for getting much larger distances. Such as across the globe in an instant or in the large empty deserts... Besides, I could jump such a distance as you did with your hirenkyaku..." She was musing mostly to herself, looking down as she took more notes, his next set of words causing a small jolt.

"That is perfectly fine. You would not be attacked even, not in my company. I could take you directly to the Corona's Tower, where I live with my Espada or I could show you all of my snakes, or other parts of the desert..." There was a hint of an air of excitement to Yysara now, she had made...some sort of friend with this Quincy. Friends shared things, like all of her snakes. And of course the desert. Maybe the large bath too? It was open to all who lived there and guests...

"Well excuse me princess." Jack laughed, his tone obviously one of humor as he smirked just a bit. "Some of us are only mere humans with mere human muscles. We're only physically capable of what our bodies let us do, not counting any quincy techniques." There were ways to enhance their body, but those were things one wouldn't exactly discuss with a non-quincy, especially one they had just met.

At her change in demeanor, Jack was taken aback slightly by how excited she seemed to get. It was a side he had yet to see out of the Arrancar. "Well...alright then, next time we'll go to your place. I have yet to see it...the guys won't believe it. Who said being friendly doesn't get you places?" He chuckled, closing the canister back with a snap and placing it inside of his jacket.

"I was just comment...oh. You are teasing?" Yysara picked up on the humor, pleased with herself as she noticed the smirk and tone. Yes! She had done it! Maybe she could try teasing back? "It is such a shame, there is much fun in leaping over such tiny buildings in a single bound."

Pastel rubbed against her cheek, showing her pleasure in Yysara's attempt to make fun as well.

His chuckle made her laugh lightly, her head tilting again as she smiled. "Then it is settled. I will come back and you will come visit the Tower and the Desert. Being nice seems to work well, I shall continue to be so then. I wonder if Master would wish to meet you? Or the Septimo... or the Corona?"

"Guess I won't ever know that joy, unless boss springs for cyborg legs or something." Jack smiled a bit, entertaining her joke. She was getting humor at least, that was good. He didn't want all of his jokes to completely miss the mark, that was never any fun.

"Just a heads up, being nice doesn't work with everybody. Some people are resolved to be dicks, so defend yourself if you need to, verbally or physically...though I don't need to tell you this, you're a freaking Hollow." He paused, a chuckle. "Ah, you'd take me to meet your Espada AND your Leader? I'm flattered~."

"I wonder if we have cyborg legs?" Yysara pondered, there was some weird things in the tower that she couldn't explain easily other than technology of some sort. Maybe there were cyborg legs in there somewhere?

"I will keep your advice in mind then. I am not much of a verbal fighter though..." Her snakes pulled her sword towards her as they slithered back up her clothing. She was moving to stand and gave Jack a nod. "Our home is in the Corona's Tower... So it is possible even if I do not introduce you for you to meet the ones who live there. I could take you now if you wished, but you did seem busy and I would not keep you."

"Hmm...tempting, but nah, I should probably get back soon." Jack responded with a hum to his voice, before his smartphone vibrated in his pocket. "See? They're already bugging me." He chuckled, taking the device out to dismiss the message. It was one of his subordinates as usual, updating him on Jagdarmee activities. Nothing truly important.

Standing up, he straightened out his jacket and smoothed out any creases in his slacks, giving a friendly sort of smile at the Fraccion. He extended a hand towards the woman as a sort of formality. If she was going to be in the human world often, better to practice their behaviors.

"Was a pleasure meeting you, Yysara. Next time, hide that energy of yours, hm?" He teased.

"I shall see you another time then." Yysara was back to the small smiles as she watched Jack pull out his communication device. She had a similar one, though she doubted it was entirely human in function. Fixing her kimono lightly, she adjusted it so it was sitting right before she glanced up to see an offered hand. Taking it lightly, she shook it slowly but thoughtfully. Yes... good... she could do this...

A blink was her initial response to Jack's final words, before she laughed very softly. "Yes, of course. It was nice to meet you as well. You be safe and do not attempt to leap buildings, and thank you."

With a wave of her hand, a gaping maw in the world's fabric opened as she turned around. Stepping into the portal, is closed like a mouth behind her as she headed home.