Afternoon Tea?

[Xellos]

The ruins were bathed in a peaceful golden light this afternoon. Strange birds sang beautiful, but haunting songs that echoed off the foliage and old stone formations covered in greenery. Beautiful flowers soaked up the light and basked in the tropical climate.

It was a beautiful, but dangerous place. He kind of liked it that way. Dressed in clothes that looked too warm to wear in such a humid and warm place, the purple-haired young man sat atop one of the old towers in the ruins. It was the tallest one that looked safe. With his legs crossed delicately, he sipped at a cup of tea. He sighed contently, looking out over the jungle from his vantage point. He'd heard rumors in his wanderings of monsters showing up here, and he was very curious to see what kind. He was not concerned with his well being; he was more than fast enough to flee if the situation got out of hand. He hoped it didn't, but it was always good to be prepared.

The exact reason he kept an eye out behind him as well...

[Yuu Kanda]

The sound of ripping foliage echoed about the forest. The snapping and crackling of branches signaled the presence of yet another being on the island. Obviously this one didn’t care about being heard. No, this one had taken a very nonchalant attitude towards his being discovered or not being discovered. He was in a foul mood. Any adversary was quite welcome. Until then, of course, he was content with letting his rage out against the plants and trees about him.

He had woken up on the beach by the coast but a few hours earlier. It had not been a pleasant waking. He’d felt like he’d been handed over to Komrin and shaken around like a maraca. The pounding headache he’d had, one top of the sand coating his hair, face, clothing, and the inside of his mouth and right eye had done nothing to make his situation any more pleasant. This was not England. Tch. This wasn’t even Europe. At this point in time, he wasn’t even sure if this was earth. In any case, it was not “home” and it was irritating.

He’d been fighting an akuma alongside the Bean Sprout. It was a level four, if he remembered correctly. He was about to strike at it, then the next thing he knew, he had been engulfed in a blinding white light, then everything went black. Of course, until he’d woken up yet again to discover that not only was he not doing his duty, but he wasn’t even near London. The chances of his being presumed dead were high. In any case, he would be presumed missing. That, more than anything else, was what had set him off. He was Yuu Kanda! He was an exorcist, one of the best in the Black Order! He’d faced off against foes of equal and greater power than the level four! To have the assumption made that he had died in battle...That was probably the biggest blow to his honor that he could imagine.

The dark-haired teenager scowled as he approached a stream. Thus far, there was no sign of life, no way of returning home. What good would a stream do him? It couldn’t talk. It couldn’t tell him where he was.

Kanda was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a tree branch snap behind him. He continued looking down at the stream, pretending to be oblivious to whatever it was behind him. However, when a shadow began looming, he glanced over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes. What the...? It looked like some sort of a mutant bear. In any case, this was likely the battle he’d been looking for, for the past few hours.

The exorcist leapt across the stream to the other side, creating distance between him and the fiend. “Innocence, activate!” He called out, placing Mugen out in front of him. As he called out this command, Kanda ran his index and middle fingers over the black blade of his sword. As if resonating with his touch, the sharp edge gleamed silver, the normal color for a blade.

Before the mutant was able to take as much as a step forward, the young exorcist sprung forward.

[Xellos]

Xellos delicately set his teacup down on the saucer that accompanied it. The sounds coming from the jungle had definitely caught his attention. With a wave of his hand, the tea vanished and the staff he carried re-appeared.
With inhuman grace, he left his perch atop the ruins and hopped to the ground, landing with ease on both feet.

Carefully, he entered the forest, silently brushing aside foliage to observe the fight.
Oh.
So that was one of the monsters he'd heard about.
How interesting. He smiled his usual smile, leaning up against a banyan-like tree, resting comfortably in a groove in the bark. This young boy put of a strange aura. He felt like clergy, but not exactly.
How very intriguing.

[Yuu Kanda]

Within a few moments, the mutant was dead... Or at least that was what the dark-haired male believed. There was too much blood on the ground for the opposite to be true. A few slices in the right areas from Mugen had done it in. After 'tch-ing' the mutant for its weakness, Kanda sheathed his blade and turned his back on it, heading off in the direction he'd been going. There was a certain amount of rubble underfoot. That tended to lean towards the possibility of a village...and life. Of course, he was also taking something of a gamble. Rubble spelled out 'disaster'. The possibility of that disaster still lurking was high.

As the exorcist proceeded to move further away from his supposed kill, something caught his ears. It sounded like water and wind were working together...but for what reason? It was only when he felt the ground beneath him vibrate that he turned and looked. Upon the sight of the creature alive and well, or at least undead and pieced back together, he drew his katana and took his battle stance. Hn. He'd thought it was a regular bear, an ugly bear, but a regular one. Now, he was questioning whether or not this was an akuma. It wouldn't be surprising. That d**ned Earl had probably figured out some way to turn beasts into killing machines. He'd been able to do it with humans, why not take it one step further.

But at the same time, he'd seen the inside of the creature. There was no metal skeleton. It was regular flesh and bones. But regular flesh and bone couldn't piece itself back together after being chopped up and torn apart by a blade. Not even he with his tattoo was able to regrow or reattach limbs.

He was growing to dislike this place more and more with every passing moment. Clear sky, white sand, crystalline ocean or no, a foul taste had grown in the back of his mouth the moment he'd awoken from his apparent slumber. He wanted to know where the h*ll he was, and he was already to the point where he was going to let Mugen do the talking for him when he encountered, if he encountered, the first person he saw. Being forced to fight this...thing was one matter, not one he minded too much at this point. Being dragged away from a mission was another. That was something that someone would be paying for, dearly.

The creature growled and strode over to where Kanda stood, claws raised. Yuu wore an intense glare as he anticipated the strike... And skewered the creature as the claws came down, getting somewhat nicked in the process. If he couldn't bleed the creature to death, then he'd just have to tear out his heart.

[Xellos]

Xellos watched with a renewed interest. The creature had seemed dead at first, and he had thought the same. When the young Exorcist had turned his back, however, he watched in mild amusement and alarm as it pieced itself back together. Irritation rather than interest now. If this new tactic provided by the other man didn't work, he would have to assume nothing short of burning the creature to death would stop it. His grip on his staff tightened marginally.

With another slash, He pondered silently to himself if he shouldn't just hop right in and kill the thing himself. It would be no difficulty, or at least he hoped. Usually, hacking a beast to pieces did the trick, but apparently not these ones.
He doubted now that the same trick would work again. With that, he murmured an incantation, and the gem at the head of his staff began to glow. A small smirk crossed his features as he pointed his staff at the monster, and flames erupted from the ground, completely engulfing it. He was careful not to harm the young Exorcist, as he might prove useful later.

[Yuu Kanda]

A devilish grin spread across Kanda's features as the creature appeared to stop moving once more. But as the tip of Mugen left the vital, they shifted back into a frown, then a sneer as it continued breathing. As he was distracted by how on earth this was happening, he didn't see the creature's claws...at least not quickly enough to dodge them fully. The very top of his ponytail was caught. His waist-length locks fell down about him. In the time that it had taken his hair to fall loose, he had sprung backwards and cast Ichigen. Almost simultaneously the mutant burst into flames. The young exorcist raised an eyebrow at this turn of events, watching as the thing turned into ash. Ichigen didn't do that...

"Tch." He spat at the pile of ash before him. He could have handled that thing on his own. He didn't need any help. ...Who was it who had cast that magic, in any case? Could it have been that idiot rabbit, Lavi? Well, it was plausible... Of course, that fool ought to have known better than to jump into his battle like that. A mission was one thing, but something like this was another matter entirely. He had his honor to defend. He didn't need someone jumping in at random to save him. Hn. Well, whoever this was, was certainly not on his 'thank you' list.

The dark-haired male glanced about, growing more hot and sweaty as he stood in the humid air. The fight had not helped any... His black eyes caught a glint coming from above, before he was able to mentally complain any further. That was likely the source of the magic...but was it an Exorcist? Were they at least able to use Innocence? That was the only sort of magic, akuma and Noah aside, that he was able to fully comprehend. Anything else was somewhat beyond him at this point in time.

Now, the question was: how on earth was he going to get up there? He wasn't able to fly - he didn't have a giant hammer like the rabbit and he wasn't about to activate Sangenshiki. He didn't need to waste his life, literally, on something so trivial as this... There it was again. That glint... Kanda shielded his eyes from the sun as they began to focus on the figure towering above him. This was the only other person in sight... He 'tched' at nothing in general before huffing and making his way in the direction of the flame-caster.

[Xellos]

A high, bubbling giggle echoed across the leaves. It sounded reminiscent of carbonation in soda, a rising, tingling laugh that sounded entertained at the same time as cruel.

"Oh my. I guess I overdid it." There was a shift of the branches beside the banyan- like tree, and he made himself visible, stepping out of the bushes beside it. He smiled brightly at the young Exorcist in a completely harmless gesture. It was hard to believe that this man had just incinerated the monster before them, he looked like a very simple, harmless priest.

"Hello!" He greeted cheerily, "I suppose you're stuck on this island, too, then, hmn?"

[Yuu Kanda]

"Oh my. I guess I overdid it."

The giggle was enough like a woman's laugh that Kanda almost cast Ichigen in the direction from which it came. He did not want to deal with a harpie, siren, or any other sort of seductive or "playful" woman that may appear before him. The voice, however, provided evidence for the opposite. This opposite was confirmed when the magician stepped forward. It was decidedly a male who had aided him... The bright grin caused the young exorcist to cringe somewhat. Great. He was dealing with another idiot rabbit. It was all he could do to hope that the personalities weren't absolutely identical. That would be terrible beyond reasoning.

"Tch," was his only response to the first comment. This...person had overstayed his welcome since before he'd engulfed the mutant bear in flames. The help had not been requested, nor would it have been requested. If he'd died, he would have died with some amount of honor. Now he was going to have to work like none other to regain the place at which he had been...What if the idiot rabbit found out? Or the bean sprout? An involuntary shiver ran up his spine. That would be awful. He'd never end up living this down...ever. Quickly, he glanced around the surrounding area with his black hues, just to be certain that there was no sign of either Bookman Jr. or Walker, before focusing on the man before him...or more specifically, the staff the man was holding.

Kanda raised an eyebrow, sheathing Mugen. He'd never seen an Innocence that was able to cast elemental magic. He was almost tempted to ask, but resisted in the end. Any interest he showed would likely set this one off on a friendship spew. That was about the last thing he wanted right now. In any case, he had no patience for it. Of course, when did he ever have patience for something like that? Perhaps only around Lenalee, but she wasn't near as annoying as practically the rest of the world.

"Hello! I suppose you're stuck on this island, too, then, hmn?"

"Hn," Kanda half-growled before turning his back on the stranger. He walked back over to where he had been standing previously to see if there was anything left of his hair tie. He was getting very hot and very sweaty with his hair down as it was. "Fantastic," he muttered as he picked up the destroyed material, as well as several locks of his hair. He cast the black away, but put the tie in one of his pockets. Perhaps he could find some way to repair it later. It was the only tie he had at this point in time. If it could be repaired, great. If not...well, he would get to choose between being constantly miserable with long hair or constantly miserable, living up to Lavi's nickname "Chopped Hair Yuu". Somehow, he was certain he'd go with the former.

He turned back to the mage and folded his arms over his chest. If at all possible, he was going to push past this one and leave, before he was pulled into any sort of annoying conversation...

[Xellos]

Once more, that laugh, and he applauded his amusement. This man certainly was a lovely little ball of negativity. Xellos instantly felt the effects of being near him, of leeching off of that angst and anger... Ah, his type was always the best.

Second only to teenage girls, who were chock full of unpredictability.

"A man of few words, hmnnn?" He pressed, cracking a small grin. He couldn't help but needle the poor young man. He was a conquest waiting to happen, and looked like far too much fun to pass up.

"I like that!" He practically sang it.

[Yuu Kanda]

The laugh... Oh how it hurt. Nails on a chalkboard was nowhere near horrible enough to describe the effects that the sound had on the young exorcist. It was all he could do to keep from visibly cringing. He didn't mind people laughing, but when it was that giddy and that...well...that ecstatic, it hurt. Literally. Perhaps he hadn't been around people enough to grow used to that noise... No, he'd been around people plenty and he'd never grown used to such a laugh. It was almost as bad as the bean sprout's and the idiot rabbit's and that fool Komiui's voices put together. He would say that it was worse, but, well, it wasn't. The above three made him want to tear apart everything in sight, and then some.

"A man of few words, hmnnn? I like that!"

"Tch. I don't need to waste my breath talking with some too-happy-for-his-own-good fool," he stated as he began walking towards the enigmatic man, his waist-length hair moving almost cape-like behind him. He wanted off. He wanted off now more than he did to begin with. He wanted to know who was responsible, and he wanted to know now. If he had to deal with this...this clown, he would likely go insane. He dealt with clowns of this man's sort enough back home. Ironically, home was where he wanted to be the most, at this point in time. At least he had his room he could go to. Perhaps he could even spend a few hours in meditation... Wouldn't that be nice?

But first, he had to figure out where he was, for starters. That was something that was going to take patience - patience he didn't have to spare. In general, his patience reserve was very low. Extremely low, to make things more accurate. But it was usually there. He had to have a certain amount of self-restraint to keep himself from tearing everyone in the Black Order limb from limb. That reserve had been completely depleted as soon as he'd woken up. Well, not quite. It had been completely depleted when the mutant bear had attempted cleaving his head off of his shoulders, and he was now left more hot and sweaty than he ought to have been.

Kanda supposed it was possible he could take off his jacket, in order to decrease the amount of heat he was being exposed to, but at the same time, he figured he shouldn't be in this situation at all. It wasn't his fault he was here. It wasn't his fault that the host of an Innocence was likely about to be torn apart by a level four back home. It wasn't his fault that any of this was happening! So why then did it have to happen? He supposed fate and luck hated him. That seemed to be somewhat consistent. At least it had been since the incident inside the Ark. Tch. To think...he actually owed his life to the bean sprout! That was not something he was happy about.

[Xellos]

The smile vanished for a moment, and Xellos quirked an eyebrow.

"Too-happy-for-his-own-good?" He quoted carefully, as if a little slow. There was a moment in which one could practically hear the wheels spinning inside that violet-crowned head. With a laugh and a grin, he dismissed the comment.

"Oh, no! I'm afraid you've got me all wrong!" He waved a hand dismissively, "And I assure you, I don't mean to waste your time. Besides.... you don't know where you are, do you? How can your time be wasted if you have nothing to be doing other than figuring out your surroundings?" That nasal lilt gained a slightly more irritating edge, almost mocking. Almost, but not quite.

[Yuu Kanda]

"Too-happy-for-his-own-good?"

Kanda paused momentarily, waiting to see what the reaction of this man would end up being. Would he respond in a negative manner? That would be a welcome change from the annoying smile that he'd been wearing... The exorcist glanced over at the mage's face, and smirked slightly. Yes, the smile had disappeared. Good! It was a welcome change from that accursed, annoying grin. What would he do next? Use his magic? That too would be a welcome change. Yuu was itching for something of a fight. He wanted off. He wanted answers...

The nails on a chalkboard sound hit Kanda's ears as soon as the purple haired male reverted back to his previous demeanor. Truly, would he not cease with that laugh? Somehow, the dark-haired exorcist doubted that would happen - ever. It looked like it took a lot to get on the bad side of this man. Or at least it took a lot to make him very angry.

"Oh, no! I'm afraid you've got me all wrong! And I assure you, I don't mean to waste your time. Besides.... you don't know where you are, do you? How can your time be wasted if you have nothing to be doing other than figuring out your surroundings?"

"I'm trying to find out who the hell is responsible for this," he snapped. "If you have nothing better to do than keep me around for idle banter, get out of my way. My time is wasted just spent talking to you." This one was another one of Allen's demeanor. Talkative. Too happy. Too focused on things aside from the mission at hand...well, his mission in any case. Yuu walked forward somewhat. "The only information I want is from someone who knows what's going on, beyond the fact that I've been dragged from an important mission I was on. Whoever did this is going to pay dearly, considering people may end up dead by the time I return home."

[Xellos]

Xellos' laugh quieted to a small chuckle. It was somehow darker than what he had been doing before. Icier, not quite as bubbly.

"Well," He purred, one eye opening marginally, "Did you ever stop to think that I might know something?"Yes, this boy was itching for a fight, and if he attacked, Xellos would be more than willing to engage. He was a bit tense as well, and knocking this guy down a notch or two might make him feel better. He was not usually violent, in fact, he was more of a pacifist.... usually. He couldn't help a few violent tendencies that accompanied his race. He would not be the one to start a fight, of course not, but he wasn't above needling this young Exorcist into attacking him... if he needed to.

[Yuu Kanda]

"Well, did you ever stop to think that I might know something?"

Kanda stopped and turned around. "I'm in no mood for your antics." He drew Mugen once more and turned, pointing it at the other man. "If you know anything your best option is to spit it out right now... Unless you'd prefer I cut it out of you instead."

A gleam entered the exorcist's coal eyes. This man was annoying. If he knew anything, it was looking like he was going to have to slice it out of him. That was not something he had any qualms about. Those too perky for their own good needed to be shoved off of their high posts more often than not, in any case. This was looking like the perfect opportunity to do as such. Now...should he attack or should he allow the mage to attack?

Yuu smiled - a toothy grin that made him look more like a serial killer than a human being. Why wait? He took his stance... And was soon no more than a blur. In an instant, he was above the mage, Mugen held high above his head, poised and ready to cut the magician in half.

[Xellos]

Xellos didn't even flinch. He giggled again.

"Of course I know.... but...." He waved his finger at Kanda, as if scolding a child. It was, perhaps, the most infuriating gesture he had yet put forward.

"That is... a secret." He grinned, his grasp on his staff tightening ever-so-slightly. He shifted one boot to behind him, and both eyes were open now, a paralyzing lavender-violet, slit like a cat's, and colder than ice. Those eyes were most decidedly inhuman.