Standing somewhere up high and actually hidden (all your characters seem to have unwholesomely sharp vision) from the Hunters below, the grey-coated man surveyed the battle. He had seen the boy that had caught his interest being attacked by a Speigel, but his attention was averted when one of the cloaked machines warped behind and attacked him. He now looked about, trying to see what had happened to the young hunter, when his eyes fell upon a stray saber-type laying unactivated near the edge of the bridge.
Quite more than just a bit disquieted, the coated man bounded from wherever he was down to the battle field and dashed across, dodging Sinows both active and not as he went. Without hesitation he leaped over the edge of the bridge curled nearly into a ball for a short moment as he attached two short straps near the bottom of his coat with practiced skill to a loop of tough fabric on the back of each of his padded shoes. He then extended his legs so that his fall was slowed just enough to keep from breaking his ankles and legs upon landing.
Even as the man fell he could vaguely make out a small human shape that was apparently just standing in one place. Unless the boy was carrying a scape doll, the man couldn't think of any way he could have survived the fall, at least not until a moment later, when the boy's MAG came into visibility as more than just a misplaced blur.
The man landed almost silently on the ground behind the boy, who turned quickly around on impulse and winced. Apparently he was still injured. There was an awkward moment of silence before the boy opened his mouth to speak, "Who a-"
"Quiet," the man cut him off. Unbeknownst to the child, the man was silently probing his body for injuries with the use of his mind alone. The boy attempted to speak again, but was interrupted by the peculiar light-headedness a Resta from the coated man brought.
"That should keep you alive," the man said briefly. He bent and removed the straps of his coat from his shoes, then stood back up and peered upward toward the the place from which he had jumped. He could still see a few flashes of flame from the Speigels or Bernie's Inferno Bazooka.
"Who are you?" the boy said quickly to keep from being interrupted again. The coated man turned around to look at him. Two intense green eyes stared out from the shadows of his hat, which for some reason didn't fly off when he jumped. They were keen and perceptive, but in a way they were also soft, with a veiled hint of forgotten compassion.
"Who am I?" the man asked, "Well now, I don't even know who you are."
You should with all the time you've spent staring at me, Kira thought to himself. He hesitated slightly before answering with, "Kira." There didn't seem to be any particular concern in telling this man his name, seeing as he couldn't really be tracked down if he didn't have a home (just an assumption, Surankai. If I'm wrong, let me know).
"My name is Arai," the man replied. With that, he resumed scanning for a path back up to the bridge.
"Thank you" the boy murmured.
"It was no great thing," Arai said, shrugging off a jump from at least a hundred feet above and curing wounds that, even with a resta or two from someone else, save maybe Zi'Zuku, would have taken weeks to heal. Kira blinked. Though he didn't intend to keep Arai from hearing his words, Kira was still somewhat surprised that he responded.
"Why haven't you joined the group?" Kira asked, though he knew it was none of his business. As long as Arai was finally talking, though, he might as well try to get some information out of him.
Arai didn't answer immediatly. He seemed to have found the path to the bridge he was looking for. When he finally did respond, it was with the words, "For several reasons. The only one I'll tell you is that I don't want the others getting angry with me if I don't help them. I didn't come here to destroy the products of my previous work."
"Even if that other guy keeps attacking you?"
"I find our fights rather exhilerating," Arai said with a wry smirk. "You didn't by chance see him with a MAG, did you?"
"No."
"Good."
__________________________________________________ ___
That came out a lot longer than I expected. Probably beacuase I started it two hours ago and then sat around, waiting for a reply from Surankai or somebody else who can go online and occasionally making changes or adding stuff to it.
What happened to Nasca?
[edit] It's pronounced 'Uh-RI', not 'AH-ray' or something. Emphasis on the second syllable.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kadou on 2003-09-19 20:29 ]</font>
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