[color=598527]"Swimmingly, as I've heard it put. Better than 'drowningly', I dare say."[/color] Walker shrugged, already intent on putting that little team huddle behind him, given that he wasn't keen on someone running around with the knowledge that V had. Then again, he'd agreed to it, so he would have to make that particular little divergence in plan work for him. As much of a plan as he had which was, right now, survive long enough to get a proper read on what was going on, and the more he learned, the less he could accurately pin down properly. All vagueness and oddities, even when straight answers were given, he knew some folk who would thrive on this whole song and dance. Emphasis on the past tense most likely, though a certain Kite reviving suddenly did bring everyone's attention back around. So with the mana being thoroughly burnt out, he was now wondering what had moved into its place? He was no magician or conjurer, but he had trouble naturally believing that someone would come back from beyond the brink like that.

	[color=598527]"Not to my knowledge, V would know more and, given her comment already, well, that's the sound of someone suffocating, slowly. That mask isn't doing any favors anymore."[/color] Walker watched Kite closely, the sounds of, and the eventual movements, of struggle to ride themselves of the mask would produce with morbid attention. The draining color was...strange as well, and frankly reminded Walker of some of the Relics that ended up in the trade around Istvargrad, though this one would have been significantly more dangerous by virtue of it having apparently attempted to...adhere to Kite's face. The color situation was also a reminder he was most certainly nowhere even close to familiar territory, though eventually the mask was wrenched clear and seemed to be seeking a face before coming to rest naturally. Right, give that a wide berth, duly noted. Of course things couldn't just stay simple nor easy, given that Kaath decided to look at him, speaking in a tongue he didn't recognize, and began advancing with her sword readied. And of course V took offense to this, attempting to intercede. Great.

	[color=598527]"V, if Kite burnt out completely we can't know how the recovery will look. More importantly, we don't know what they're saying. Kaath, looking to put that sword to use on Kite, or the mask they managed to ditch?"[/color] Walker knew a fight with Kaath, even in their current, slightly improved state, but they could possibly figure things out better. Survival wasn't always about doing the right thing, but the right thing to see another day. Still, his muscles tensed and prepared to move as quickly as he could muster if he had to drag Kite out of the way of an attack. He couldn't stop Kaath from making a move, not with a weapon that size, but he could make the target of said attack much harder to strike. He didn't know enough about Kaath's capabilities to guess, and probably wouldn't for some time, but he did feel obliged to at least make an effort on Kite's behalf before leaving them dangling in the wind, as the saying often went. If the mask was the target, or hell, the residue it left, that was another thing entirely.