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Okay. So the city was weird. He didn't understand why it was suddenly weird. But it was weird. But you know what? That was okay. Yup. Totally okay. Let the city be weird. He was over it. It wasn't like anything so far had tried to bite him, kick him, smother him, set him on fire, drag him across the street at night into the woods. There were many reports of sprained or broken ankles from all the holes caused by the sudden population of rabbits. As far as he could tell, that was the extend of the danger that all of these things were causing.

Oh. And the flowers.

With a cry of surprise, Isiah pulled his hand back from the white poinsettia he had been inspecting. He had noticed them before. Had wanted to take a closer look at them, as he'd never seen a white one before. Always before he could, he spotted a rabbit and gotten distracted by them and all their adorable glory, instead. Today, there were none in sight. So he'd gotten closer, reaching out his hand to see if it was fake or real, and had jerked his hand back instantly. He'd stuck his finger into his mouth, sucking at the droplet of blood that had begun to trail down his finger. Okay. So it was fake? But why would someone leave flowers with leaves so damned sharp just out where anyone could fall on them?

Isiah was equally ignoring the Powered's presence as she almost passed by him, having only been in America for not even three years. He'd heard things here and there, mostly from co-workers in the kitchen or customers when he'd work the front. But he'd just brushed it off every time or forgot quickly about it. He'd never seen anything himself. It always just felt like people were talking about some TV show that had gotten really popular that he'd just never managed to find himself. He had no interest in watching the news himself. His life had finally started to become something he was enjoying, he didn't want to ruin it with all the bad news that was constantly being reported on.

Still sucking on his papercut-sized wound, the blonde was suddenly pulled to the side roughly, as if some muscled dude just caught him ogling his girlfriend and was taking him aside to punch his face in. At first, his usual instinct to fight back was triggered, conditioned over years of getting into fights almost every week over in England. But when he turned to see who it was, his hands just starting to raise into fists, he stopped and relaxed.

"Damn," he said, his hands going back down to his sides, the fingers relaxing. Unless she actually was going to punch him, he wasn't going to hit a girl. Which he wasn't taking off the table just yet. She still could. That wasn't just a normal shove or push. That had force. He wasn't a muscly dude himself. But he had enough that he wasn't a pushover. "That's some strength you have there."

When she started yelling about the flowers being hostile, he just held up his cut finger. "They sure are," Isiah agreed, sticking his finger back in his mouth when he saw a fresh droplet beginning to form once more.

Isiah instinctively moved further towards the road than the flowers as the strangely strong girl positioned herself between him and the plants. You could say he was a bit physically shy. He didn't like having people too close to him or especially touching. Besides....The way she was glaring at them, he was afraid she'd just start shredding them to pieces with her bare hands and he certainly didn't want to be too close if that happened.

"It's cool," he answered around his finger, moving a tiny step closer to let someone pass with a stroller behind him. He had been almost out in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking traffic. Finally tasting less blood on his tongue, he took his finger out of his mouth and inspected it, thankful for his thick blood to congeal fast. "Moving, unfriendly flowers. I might have to look that up. Some experimental hybrid gone wrong?" Or more of this strange magic that seemed to be surrounding him this year. As much as he didn't want to refer to it as magic, there was little other explanations for what he'd been witnessing and experiencing.

"Are holidays in Destiny City always this exciting?"

Isiah grinned a little wider, always glad to make someone else feel comfortable enough to let down their guard and show even a smile after she'd been so tense just moments ago. He still didn't fully understand it, but he was willing to listen to her explanation in silence. A very rare state of being for him.

Once she was done, he gave a whistle. "I might have heard something here or there. Maybe I wasn't paying attention." He stared at the flowers for a few seconds in silence, clearly checking for any movement. The only signs of life was the wind blowing the petals. He'd be inclined to disbelieve her had he not the cut on his finger to prove there was more to these plants than what looked on the surface. He had never heard of a leafy flower being strong enough to cut so easily into someone's skin. Stung like a b***h, too.

"I've not been here for four years. Not even three, yet. I'm from England, if you couldn't tell from the accent." To emphasize, he laid it on thicker than usual at the end, something he normally only did to make fun of himself when in the presence of his friends. "So I have missed a lot of this city's mischief."

"Fresh off the plane, you could say." responded the blonde, ending with his usual playful grin, hands stuck in the pockets of his jacket. The smile did not waver the more she spoke. He wasn't too afraid of being mugged or jumped. He'd had plenty of scraps over in England and could handle himself pretty well, having learned how to fight dirty and think on his feet from the constant fights. He felt, even if the other person had a knife, that he could protect himself just fine. He'd been attacked by many different weapons in the past.

Odd, though, that his grandparents hadn't mentioned any of this or thought to at least tell his parents of what they were sending their son into. Perhaps, since he was such a s**t over there, they expected him to be okay. He wasn't sure if he should feel happy that they thought this much of him or feel neglected that they didn't seem to care. Feeling neglected by his parents wasn't anything new, but them giving him credit for something was. It was an equal dilemma.

"More dangerous here than one would think?" Shrugging a bit, Isiah brushed a bit of dirt off the sleeve of his jacket, clearly not taking it as seriously as Elpis would have wanted. In his defense, he wasn't aware of the secret struggle going on in the city that the common folk were being unknowingly pulled between. "I appreciate the warning, though. I'll keep my eyes out for anything suspicious."

Oh, there was more? He didn't think there'd be more, all that was pretty straightforward, as far as Isiah was concerned. Just the usual "Bad dudes exist, be careful!" that everyone knew about.

As she made mention to outfits, his eyes instinctively looked hers over. He'd known people to wear all sorts of odd getups and hadn't thought much of the very odd one she was wearing. Were those wings framing her hips? That was certainly like nothing he'd ever seen before. Was there a convention in town he'd somehow missed hearing about? Did people dress up in costumes for parties during the holidays around here?

"All very good advice," Isiah answered, browns eyes meeting the girl's once more after his very innocent scan of her entire body. Special Ops trained to deal with murderers and nasty criminals? This city was definitely weirder than he could ever have imagined it'd be. But he supposed it might not be unheard of for a city to employ special police or military to keep itself safe from personal attacks. Maybe. Honestly, he didn't care all that much. Whatever you had to do, it didn't affect him much as it were. He'd been here years and somehow avoided all this until just last week.

But still. He wasn't born yesterday. He had been on the road of becoming one of these criminals himself if he'd kept up his bad behavior.

"I don't make it a habit of beating up murderers on the reg, so you're good." With the smile never wavering on his face, it was difficult to tell if he was being serious or just making a joke. In fact, it was a bit of both. He was taking it seriously, but being serious on the outside wasn't really his way, no matter how much other people got irritated at him for seeming to take everything far too lightly. "Anything else a sorta newcomer should be aware of?"

"Righty-O," came the perhaps not comforting reply, as Isiah raised a hand to give a quick salute. He understood. Really he did. But he didn't understand why all this was so important to tell him. Did he look that much like an ignorant, dumbass teenager to not already know all this? Probably. He was soon to be 19, but that wasn't much older than a teenager. He probably still looked like some idiot kid who'd take this information and shove it into the dumpster heap, ignoring it because every 16-year-old knew better than those older than them, right?

Okay, yeah. He wasn't much better than a high school some days. He still believed, if he got into any trouble, he could still fight his way out. He wasn't tall for a guy and his bulky winter coat hid what little muscle mass he did have. He likely looked no tougher than a 13-year-old blowing steam out of their a**.

With the same hand he had used to salute, Isiah brushed a strand of blonde hair back under his beanie. "I'm sure many people would argue I never keep my wits and am as dumb as an earthworm. But I assure you, I understand. I got your PSAs"

Watching the woman rub at her face and get clearly frustrated with him didn't damper Isiah's spirit at all. Annoying people with his attitude was a regular thing he did, both on purpose and accidentally. Which is what it was this time. An accident. He normally reserved pushing buttons for those he knew a bit better. Someone who he knew wouldn't react really badly to it. Though he also wasn't going to make it any easier on the woman in the weird outfit nor did he feel any kind of guilt for being the bringer of these feelings into her day.

"Ah, yes, the rabbits. I got that covered." Ruffling in his pocket, he withdrew the bag of rodent treats he always carried around with him nowadays, whenever he happened upon some of the furry phenomenon. Replacing the treats, he looked down the street one way before returning his gaze, the smile always on his face a little lighter. The fun and games were obviously over with him, the playful sparkle gone from his eyes. "I'm always careful, as crazy as that'd seem even to you. But I also have somewhere to be, if that's all?" The tone of his voice said he had to be somewhere within the next few minutes, but there was also no rush if she wanted to say more. If there was anything good at all to say about Isiah, it was polite.