Mira glided silently down the street, jet-black hair rippling in the night breeze. She scanned the walkways for any signs of other people, but she was alone.

Her ears picked up a slight rustling in a nearby alleyway, and she quickly whipped around to face the sound. After all, slow reflexes could get her killed.

She slowly stalked towards the sound, one hand on her gun.

"Who's there?" she called, her voice low and raspy from disuse, "Show yourself immediately."

Another rustling sound, then her entire line of sight was blocked as something -or someone- knocked her to the ground, temporarily rendering her speechless and breathless.

She quickly recovered, but stayed on the ground, carefully adjusting herself so that she could spring up at any given time. Her every instinct screamed to stand up and fight, but she reasoned that there was no point in wasting her energy. After all, the attacker could just be waiting for her to get up before striking again.

Her eyes narrowed as she spotted what looked like a human on the other side of the alleyway, collapsed on the ground. She watched as the figure slowly got to its feet, staggered around for a bit, then started walking towards her. She quickly averted her gaze and shielded her face with her long hair, so her assailant couldn't read her expression. Though- as her face was usually emotionless, she needn't have bothered.

The footsteps got faster, and before Mira could comprehend what was happening, she was grabbed and pulled to her feet. She quickly brought her hand down on the other person's arm, hitting a specific pressure point. The shadowy figure elicited a shriek of pain, loosening its grip. Mira shook her arm free and pulled out her gun.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes with her free hand and aimed her gun at the person, one finger on the trigger. She faltered for a moment. If this was a thought-out attack, whoever was in charge had certainly chosen a strange person to do the job.

He couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen, and looked even younger with his childlike expression of fear. He cradled one of his arms with the other, and his face was frozen in an expression of terror. Mira didn't let her guard down, though. Since she'd been young, the statement that anyone could be out to get her had been engraved in her mind, and she knew to never let your guard down until you were controlling the situation, and even then to be cautious.

"What do you want?" she asked, taking a step closer.

The boy put his hands up as if he was being arrested,

"N-No need to shoot me," he stammered, eyeing the barrel of the gun warily and backing away, "I didn't mean to crash into you- I swear was just running, and accidentally ran into you-"

Mira studied his expression, tone of voice, and body language for a few moments longer before flipping her gun once, then slipping it back into its holster, apparently satisfied with the explanation.

"You're not lying."

The boy nodded, relieved, "Glad you realized that," He offered a slight smile, "My name's Avery, by the way."

Mira hesitated for a moment. For a split second the notion of giving her actual name crossed her mind, but she quickly shook the thought. To think of giving her name to another person- let alone someone she had met only a few moments ago! She must have been getting soft to even consider the idea.

"You can call me... Moon," she eventually decided.

Avery offered his hand to shake. "Moon it is, then. Pleased to meet you!"

Mira took his hand and shook it, then folded her arms in front of her.

Avery fidgeted, uncomfortable in the sudden silence. "So-'' he said, slowly walking back the way he'd come. "I- uh, should probably get back to what I was doing..." he trailed off and glanced at Mira.

"Very well," Mira nodded once in his direction, "Until we meet again."