Author's Note: So this is why I shouldn't get bored, sitting in one spot for an hour straight trying to refresh the page. This is what happens when I sit at a computer for an hour trying to get the internet to work for a homework assignment, and fail, causing my mind to start wandering after about 45 out of those 60 minutes. And this is what happens when I just start typing down whatever stray thought wanders into my head and try to arrange it. Hey look, OOC. Maybe.

No particular point to this one. For the record, my internet still didn't work that great after I wrote this up.

That man… That man he's been seeing around the area recently.

Well, he's interesting, he muses from the shade of a nearby tree, watching the other weave in wild circles around a Mutarion, deft, precise sword strokes seeming so very contrasting to the way he moves. And might be a decent challenge for once, too, he adds to that thought, when he sees more how it works and how it doesn't.

You have a very interesting battle style, he comments, when it is over and the dragon-creature falls.

The silver haired man jumps and flushes from where he is gathering up some of the remains. Ah, well. It developed out of necessity.

No reaction to his having been watching? Had the other known he was there? Could I ask a duel?

You kind of remind me of someone, the other man says, somewhat interestedly. The man takes a curious look at him. Come to think of it, you look rather like them too, though more with my color hair.

I could be the result of that one not-quite-remembered one night stand that you two swore never to talk of again, he says seriously, with only the telltale quirk of his lip belying his tone.

The silver haired man smiles. No, he breathes. No, you're too old; we're too young. And he's male, at any rate. I'm sorry that we aren't the parents you might be looking for.

Ah, but he doesn't deny it, and how amusing is this? That apology seemed almost genuine, and for all he knew it could have been. Ah, he sighs, miming disappointment. And here I thought it would've explained so much. Hmm. He hasn't had the chance to talk with anyone for a while, not while out hunting Mana, and the other swordsman isn't bad company. Especially not compared to that woman who keeps insisting on marriage. He hasn't seen her in a while, and considers it a good thing.

Anyways, you wanted a duel? the other man asks carefully. I suppose it wouldn't hurt…

Oh, if it'll… inconvenience you, then I don't need it. That's a lie, but he shrugs anyway. I just haven't had a good match in a while.

I'm not sure if I can challenge you then, the other swordsman confesses, again almost apologetically. The sword isn't the weapon I first learned, but… circumstances led to me not being able to use my first choice any more. There's someone I know who's probably- not probably, would be- better at this, though I don't know where she is.

Oh, I'm sure that your abilities would be enough of a match, he drawls. I'm afraid I'm terribly rusty myself; I haven't had a decent challenge for some time, after all.

Hah, well, he laughs, both sheepish and hesitant and somewhat determined at the same time, we'll see if I can provide it. And all of a sudden he's moving, fast enough that he's a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye, surprising enough that he barely manages to summon the blade of light in time to parry and he smirks. It's not a nice sort of expression; it's feral and the light of barely-restrained madness dances in his eyes, and the red- brilliant, glittering red- in them is all too apparent now. But yes, that man. He is rather interesting, he decides.

...He showed up out of nowhere, went "sup gais?" and decided he was living here from now on. ...Though his crazy was amusing me far before he ended up in my head.