Overslept [Private with Ax and Jericho] {Mature}

[Jericho Galley]

The push and pull of ocean waves. The sound of water crashing against the hull. Wood steadily creaking. Seagulls flapping and crying overhead. The morning sun falling on him. The salt in the wind. A shanty on the air.

The dream had no real direction or narrative, just the memories of sleeping on the ship. After a lifetime of treating it like home, Jericho hardly slept in the burlap hammocks down below. Well, he did, but when the weather was nice he slept just about anywhere he could on the ship, including on the deck or up high in the ropes and sails. It was peaceful and it was the best sleep he'd get.

Jericho Galley in reality was asleep the tiled rooftop of the Drom building. He had his uniform on, sans the jacket and no blanket. It was a warm enough night and he had slept through much colder. His hands were unconsciously behind his head, giving his head a bit of cushion. His head was tilted to the side as he slept. His twin swords, The Drunken Sailors, lay next to him.

It was past the normal wake-up time for Beacon's students, but he had missed his alarm clock. He had come up here seeking a semblance of the sleep he got on The Corsair. And he was getting it. And loving it. A small smile would be on his lips as he slept silently.

[Ax L Rose]

"...the early bird gets the worm," Ax said to her reflection as she raised her metal hand to stifle a yawn. She'd had a rough time getting up that morning, so to save time she skipped styling her long pink-white hair and opted to tie it back in a ponytail. It saved her enough time where she couldn't go straight to class yet, so she decided to dedicate a little time to an old vice that she was really struggling with as of late - cigarettes.

Some mornings just were gonna naturally be tougher than others, so it seemed. When she left her room she noticed a small pack of students crowding by the dormitory elevator near where her room was located. Not wanting to give herself a semblance-induced headache so early in the day, she begrudgingly took the stairs. It was a long march up to the roof, but it seemed initially devoid of any other students. She glanced aside at the 'No Smoking' sign by the roof access entrance with clear disdain, pulling out her pack of smokes and placing one between her lips. The cigarette butts on the ground and marks on the wall were a clear sign that Ax wasn't the only one that didn't much care for what the sign said.

She lazily made her way near the edge of the roof, peering out at the academy ground beyond. She watched the modest foot-traffic out on the paths with passing interest, raising her metal hand and pressing her thumb to the tip of her cigarette. Her arm had built up a bit of energy from her natural bioelectric current over the course of the night, and that bit of excess energy would need to be vented later. What she'd already built up was more than enough to ignite the end of her cigarette with the softly glowing tip of her metal thumb.

She took a long drag and meandered elsewhere on the roof. By her third drag from her cigarette, she realized she wasn't actually alone. There was a familiar-looking face peacefully snoozing away not too far away, and it actually surprised Ax how long it took her to notice. Damn, she must've been tired. After a good double-take and a soft 'what the fuck' from her lips, she squinted at the man and took a few steps closer to get a better look, only to hesitate when she saw the blades close by.

Well... he must've been having a nice dream, because in his sleeping state he was radiating a much nicer general vibe than when she'd met him before. The guy's name was Johnny, right? He'd been a total ball of anxiety before. His nervous disposition before made her feel a little guarded now. Would he attack her if she woke him up?

Nah... she was probably being overly cautious. Besides, she trained for this. Even if he did attack her, it was doubtful he'd go so hard he did any permanent damage before he became lucid. Right? She slowly approached, briefly considering putting some distance between him and his swords. After deciding better of it, she tried clearing her throat and waking him... gently. She kept a few feet of distance between herself and the sleeping boy, just to be safe.

"...uh. Hey. Dude. Johnny?"

He gave no response. Maybe that was too gentle? She took another breath of smoke and lowered the cigarette from her lips before she tried again, raising her voice a bit more.

"Johnny m'boy, you're a mess. Sleepin' on rooftops... you alright dude?"

[Jericho Galley]

It wasn't the first time Johnny was in his dream, though usually it was the sight of his friend dead. This time it was as he was alive. Someone was trying to get his attention? Someone called him a mess. That cause Jericho to smile more. "Yeah, he kinda was, huh?" He mumbled to himself in reponse. Then that same voice mentioned sleeping on rooftops.

In both a fast and snail-crawling speed, Jericho woke up. His hand reached for one of his swords as he blinked his eyes. It was really bright where he was and he used his left arm, leather glove stiff and holding shape but obviously empty, to shield his face from the sun. He scooted a little and sat up, his right hand tightening on his sword but not drawing it until he made out the girl's form. It was... Ax.

Kraken's breath, she was a sight to wake up to. But what was she doing up here? He let go of his sword. "Yeah, I'm alright." He said, slightly annoyed. "Kraken's breath, what are you doing...?" He was asking her, still squinting his eyes to get more used to the light. Then the smell hit his nose and he noticed what she was holding. Right. That explained it. "Ah, got it." He said before slowly standing up and stretching his whole body, his leather glove still flopping to indicate that nothing was inside. He couldn't believe his crap luck at getting found out here by a girl that, although apologetically, told him to screw off. Well, Nym had done that. "What do you want?" He asked, his eyes finally getting used to the light.

[Ax L Rose]

The rocker squinted slightly at the sleeping man's mumbling, but she couldn't really make sense of it. When he started to awaken he'd be greeted by the sight of Ax in an identical uniform as when they first met, still worn in a similarly rebellious manner with fishnet thigh highs and her jacket tied around her waist. She definitely looked different with her hair back, and the sun behind her brought out an almost pearlescent sheen to her long longs of two-toned hair as well as the feathers on the tips of her ears.

Ax rose her cybernetic hand defensively as Johnny started to go for one of his swords, taking a wary step back. Her eyes locked onto the empty glove curiously, but she didn't spare more than a brief thought for it at first. She lowered her hand a moment later, confident that the boy was lucid enough to not see her as a threat.

She liked him better when he was sleeping, she quickly decided. It seemed he was a cranky sort in the mornings. Her lips quirked into a frown as he looked at the cigarette between her fingers. She cocked her hips to the side and gave the boy a dubious look in response to his blunt, borderline rude-sounding question.

"I don't want anything. The way I see it, I just did you a favor," Ax grit her teeth, stilling her tongue before she said something meaner. It'd have been this guy's own dumbass fault for missing classes or other obligations for the day if he'd overslept, right? Unless he had an alarm set, or late classes or something for the day... maybe his morning classes were canceled? It didn't happen often, but it had happened before...

She exhaled a short breath through her nose and rose the cigarette to take another deep breath of smoke.

"Assuming you still have morning classes, you might not sleep through 'em now. Also you could, you know, maybe sleep in your room now before a pigeon shits on you or something. You're welcome."

[Jericho Galley]

A favor? What was she talking about? She just woke him up from one of the best dreams he'd had in days. His mind was still a little foggy from the sleep, but he was used to rude awakenings on the ship. Then she mentioned morning classes and he froze. His head looked to where the sun was in the sky and he just collapsed back down onto the tile.

"Craaaap." He moaned, his left arm covered his eyes. "I overslept..." He turned to face her. "Uh, thank you for waking me. And sorry for being a little grouchy. I was just..." He let out a breath. "Having a good dream. Didn't really want to wake up." He said melancholy, mumbling the end for yawning. He almost fell back asleep, but he stopped himself and rolled back onto his feet. The Captain would have him thrown off the ship if he kept delaying... He stooped down and grabbed his swords and tucked them into his belt.

He yawned again and rubbed his eye with his right hand, letting his left arm dangle. "What time is it anyway?"

[Ax L Rose]

She exhaled a little sigh to the side that left her lips as a cloud of smoke as he slumped where he rested, but her posture and her expression seemed a little less defensive when he spoke up again. His expression of gratitude and the explanation that followed seemed to mollify her. As someone who had woken up in a pretty cranky mood earlier that morning, she could relate.

"...I feel that," Ax said with an understanding nod. She then reached for the scroll in her pocket and took a quick peek at the time before putting it away again.

"It's 7:16," she answered. "You've still got time to make it to breakfast."

She paused for a moment, raising her cigarette and taking another drag. Her mind drifted. She remembered when she'd met Johnny before. It'd been a bit of a rough meeting... she really wouldn't have blamed him for being unhappy to see her. Her mind then drifted to everything that'd happened after that, and a sort of awkward, uneasy feeling started to build in her stomach. She aimed to immediately push the thoughts from her mind. There was no better time to smooth things over than the present, right? She felt rotten about some of what she'd said, especially involving him shooting his shot with Nym.

"...so uh. You smoke?" she asked. She reached for her other pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She flicked it open with her thumb and offered the open end of the pack to him. It was still about half-full.

[Jericho Galley]

7:16... Wasn't his first class at 8? Or, was it at 8:30? Or 7:30? Whatever. Ax seemed ok to be up here smoking, he wasn't worried. If she was skipping, then maybe him being always on time to class would be more suspicious. Or maybe nobody was really watching in his direction and he could just stop worrying already. Yeah, that would be nice. If he could.

She offered him a cigarrette and he debated for a second. He had never smoked before. Nasty habit to get into because too many sparks on a wooden boat next to tarred ropes. It would be a disaster if anyone smoked on the ship. But it was an offering. Maybe she felt bad about the other day. He shrugged and took one of them and would wait for her to light it before sucking in a breath.

He immediatly began coughing out smoke and pulled the cigarrette away from him as he continued. The smoke burned his lungs and his body was fully rejecting it. He kept coughing so much he put his stump on his knee, the glove flattening with nothing inside, to hold him up as he doubled over, a bit of spittle coming out as he straightened back up. "How do you breath this stuff?" He coughed once more.

[Ax L Rose]

Ax's had a smooth poker face on as Johnny silently deliberated over whether or not he was going to accept her offer, and she rose the pack a little more as if to encourage him and ensure that *yes*, this was a genuine offer and not some kind of elaborate trick. Heavens knew she didn't have the energy to go pulling any weird stunts on this guy this early in the morning. She seemed pleased when he finally decided to accept, at first. She closed the pack, put it away, and stepped closer to light the cigarette as he placed it between his lips. A spark of electricity coalesced into being like a little concentrated layer of energy on the tip of her thumb. She barely needed to touch the tip of the cigarette before the heat took and caused it to glow a soft orange.

She stepped back and blinked in surprise when he coughed. She had expected him to accept because he was a smoker already! She felt kind of guilty for encouraging the guy to try it when he didn't already partake! She wasn't proud of her habit, and she'd been trying to quit on-and-off for years. Her lips curved into a sort of uncertain smile as he bent forward, and she rose her left hand to gently back the guy on the back.

"Well uh... it's an acquired taste. I didn't..." she hesitated, giving him a second to cough it out.

"I hope I didn't make you feel pressured. It's a bad habit, so I mean..." she extended a palm. "I can take it back if you don't want it. Shit's addictive, and it'll affect your endurance if you do it too long. I've been trying to quit for a long time."

[Jericho Galley]

He kept coughing a bit as she patted his back and he held the cigarrette back out for her to take. Once he calmed down he wiped the spittle off on his left sleeve. That's when he realized he hadn't activated Helping Hand to fill out his glove. He did so silently, his left glove suddenly filling out and flexing it's fingers. He gave two more coughs.

"No no, You didn't pressure me." His voice was a little raspy and he clerared his throat. Twice. "I just thought rejecting your offer would be in bad taste." He gave his chest two good hits with his gloved left hand. "Didn't think that taking it would literally have a bad taste." He smacked his tongue a couple of times for emphasis. "How do you get acquainted with that? The first time it tries to kill you not enough?"

[Ax L Rose]

She gingerly reached out to accept the cigarette back, staring at it quizzically for a second before she figured out what to do with it. She smushed out the glowing tip and pulled her pack back out, stashing it for later. No reason to waste it, she guessed. The cigarette left a little black mark on her thumb that came away as soon as she wiped it off on the thigh of her black jeans. If she noticed anything odd about his glove, she didn't comment on it; she seemed more visibly concerned with his coughing. She seemed to relax a bit after he reassured her, taking a step back so that she wasn't hovering over the poor guy.

"I see... well, thank you for reassuring me," she said softly as the guy hit his chest a few times with his left hand. She'd learned in therapy that it was always a good idea to reinforce desirable behavior, and it was a relief to be reassured about her offer. Maybe whatever hick town he was from in Mistral didn't have much for tobacco users? She could really only speculate. When it seemed like he'd gotten over the worst of his coughing, she gave a conversational reply.

"Well... I started doing it for a few reasons. Mostly, I think I wanted to look cool in front of my friends..." she trailed off, her eyes drifting upward as she recalled the old days that had first motivated her to pick up the ugly habit.

"That, and I wanted to piss off my dad, which didn't really work. He ended up not giving much of a fuck. Also, I thought it was kinda hot. There was this sexy chick that used to bartend at this club back in Mantle that I'd hang out with. She'd go on breaks and chain-smoke in the back. I always thought she was hotter than hell, buuuut... she had a boyfriend. Too bad!"

She shrugged and smiled faintly. She knew that, in hindsight, these were all pretty terrible reasons to start. She could be open about that much.

"And hey, I coughed like a bitch the first time I tried it too. S' pretty natural I think. But you'd be surprised how fast our lungs adjust to breathing in smoke. Same way we get used to everything else that slowly kills us. Like junk food, pollution... childhood trauma," Ax mused in a relatively chipper tone.

[Jericho Galley]

He listened to her speak, only coughing once or twice more as he did so. Look cool? Piss off her dad? Mantle? And she liked girls? Her dad was surely rich if she lived up north. He'd never been there, Blackhand had stayed away from the Atlisian military and it's waters. Not that they couldn't take a fight with the soldiers, but that there wasn't a point in fixing up all the holes in the ship they'd get each time. Better to stay down south where it was warmer. But also, she liked girls. Not that he had been hoping for anything with this rockin' lass, but now he knew that it was off the table.

He held up a finger in protest. "Hey, I was not coughing like a b-" He let out two more final coughs. "...like a bitch." He composed himself and dusted off his pants. "So you're into oysters and clams, ey? Cool, cool." He let a pause go by before adding, "You know, if I talked like that about women I thought were hot, I'd get called a pig and thrown ov- in the water." He commented with a witty smile. He had recovered from that slip quite well, he thought.

[Ax L Rose]

If she didn't know any better, she'd have assumed he was surprised by something she said. The faint smile on her lips grew into a broad grin as soon as he offered lighthearted protest to her word choice. She nodded gently and reassuringly.

"Oh yeah, my bad, definitely not like a bitch."

Then her eyes widened a bit at the 'oysters and clams' part of what he'd had to say. She let out an outlandish sound that might've been a snort or the start of a pretty obnoxious laugh, only to sharply clap her hand over her own mouth in an effort to stifle her laughter. Her shoulders nevertheless rose a few times as she quietly laughed it off. Shit, she shouldn't have been encouraging this guy... but it was kind of a funny thing to say.

"Psssh..." she exhaled a breath and tried to reign in the giggles, rolling her eyes in a token effort to try and not seem too approving. "Yeah dude, I'm hella gay. Did I only just now give it away? I kinda thought me talking about how hot Nym was might've done it. That or, you know. How possessive and confrontational I was about her," Ax raised a hand and rubbed the side of her neck, the smile on her lips turning sheepish once more.

"Sorry, again, 'bout that by the way. We kind of got off on the wrong foot. I'm down to start over, pretend it never happened. Y' know, assuming you're cool with that?"

[Jericho Galley]

Well, he was able to make Ax laugh as well? That was something that perked up his ego. And then he felt quite chagrined. He hadn't thought she was too obvious about it before. "Well, don't girls call eachother cute or sexy sometimes?" He asked. "Like when trying to compliment an outfit? Thought someone would do the same if they thought someone was into their friend." He looked like he was wincing in pain. If that was her reason for being defensive of her, were they a thing? "And you being defensive for her, you gave me a reason. Friends for a long time and... what did you say? Fuck boys?" He put emphasis on the consonants, making them seperate words.

He nodded at her offer of starting over again. He had had more than his fair share of starting over with people he got on the wrong foot with back on the seas. Well, no, that wasn't true. He had only a few experiences with it. All the other times it was their crew hitting another or getting hit by a rival, and Blackhand burning them all. Not a lot of second chances out on the seas. He was glad he was getting one here.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that." Jericho stuck out his right hand. "Call me Johnny."

[Ax L Rose]

Ax shrugged her shoulders gently at the question. She hadn't meant anything with what she'd said, and it wasn't like she could blame the guy for not assuming she was gay. The possibility that he was actually feeling at all embarrassed didn't occur to her at first because as soon as he said "Fuck boys," she felt embarrassed all on her own for not immediately understanding what he was referring to. She eased up pretty quickly the moment Johnny made it clear he was willing to start over again with her, lending a much more genuine quality to the easy grin on her lips.

"Ax. And hey, I don't think you're a fuckboy, for what it's worth. Or, well... jury's at least still out," Ax gently teased, her expression clearly shifting towards one of amusement as she held out her synthetic right hand to offer the guy a proper handshake. She gave him a good look in the eye while she did it, too, as she was keen to make a good, strong impression with the tall boy in front of her.

When she spoke again, though, her eyes suddenly shifted away, her other hand rising to fiddle with one of the feathers on the tip of her ear. It was as if she was suddenly distracted by something. Her smile shrank, and she seemed suddenly a little more awkward. This was probably because she'd finally peaced together something resembling a conclusion about why he'd reacted the way he did to what she said. The guy had pretty much implied that he found both her and Nym attractive at the time when they'd met, now that she was thinking about it...

"And uh, Nym and I, we're partners and we're really close friends but we aren't like... together-together," Ax explained. It felt a little weird to address this subject and it provoked some complicated and mixed emotions that didn't altogether translate well via her semblance. The only thing she knew about this particular blend of ambivalent feelings was that she wasn't sure she liked it. Things with her best friend had seemingly always been so complicated... particularly as of the last time she'd actually met Johnny, it turned out. She seemed to pale just a little at the realization. He was maybe one of the only people in the whole school who might've had a good reason to actually notice her and Nym leaving the dining hall that day. What a fun coincidence! Her life was like a bad movie sometimes!

"Every uh, pretty much every time some... conventionally attractive guy shows up and wants to talk to us when we're out in town or eating or chilling out, it's seemingly 'cause they wanna crudely hit on her. As for me, I don't usually get cold approaches from guys with ill intent very often. Still happens sometimes, though," she eagerly chattered, not wanting to give herself any extra time to overanalyze the situation or her thoughts. If she just focused on making a good second impression and stayed locked into the present moment, maybe her stupid semblance wouldn't turn this into a really uncomfortable experience!

[Jericho Galley]

Well, not being labeled as one of those was good. Right? He had no clue what they were, it wasn't a term he had heard on the seas. But Ax was jokingly still considering him. If it what he thought it was, he wasn't sure how he felt about it, especially since she had just said that she was gay... They shook hands.

He blinked at her words. They weren't together? He got the feeling that there were a lot of complications between the two. And he was sort of in a collision course with them. Heck, he had planned with Nym to hang out and throw daggers later. He would be seeing more than his fair share of drama here. One of the girls on The Corsair had come from a school and she had remarked how much drama had gone on. It was much easier on the seas when you could just slap the person who offended you and settle the matter. In school though, you couldn't do that. Drama.

"You think I'm conventionally attractive?" He asked. "I thought you were hella gay." He smirked. "Also, just to clear the air, what do you mean by a 'Fuck Boy'? Is it a guy you just have easy, uh, easy sex with? Or does it mean something entirelly different?" He asked, somewhat awkwardly.

[Ax L Rose]

A stray little bit of static lit up the air between their hands as they met. Ax's grip was strangely warm, despite her hand being a part of some kind of machine-limb apparently. She didn't seem to notice or feel it.

Johnny very slowly, blankly blinked at her. For a brief little blink of an instant Ax's lips involuntarily twitched into something resembling a frown. Was there something unclear about what she'd said? No, he just knew she was having a weird, thoughtful moment about a close personal friend! And she had told him about her empathic semblance before! He knew what she was feeling. And she knew he knew! And if he was smart, he probably knew she knew he knew!

She exhaled a little breath to try and play it cool. This proceeded to not work. Despite her effort to stay straight-faced, her cheeks reddened. She stared off at an angle, pretending like she was looking into a camera in a popular sitcom in an effort to make her brain think about literally anything other than the warmth in her cheeks. She felt mortified, but she was determined to try and not show it, or at the very least not acknowledge it. Ax was blushing.

"Okay, first of all, there's a difference between recognizing that someone is attractive, versus actually being attracted to someone. Everyone knows certain people are attractive. S' why straight girls can call eachother sexy without it necessarily being gay, and it's why I can say you're conventionally attractive without necessarily wanting to fuck you."

Ax paused, suddenly appearing very distracted by something, her eyes trailing upward toward the beautiful morning sky.

"Seems to work differently for guys a lot of the time, though. On both accounts," she added thoughtfully, before looking back over to Johnny. She was starting to almost look normal again, but there was still a rosy tint to her face. She held her hand up and gestured with two extended fingers, as if to buy herself a second-and-a-half or so of silence before she spoke again.

"Second thing... a fuckboy," she began. She then put her fingers down to dig her scroll out of her pocket, deciding rather abruptly to look it up rather than try to explain it. This would be significantly less work. Her thumb worked the screen pretty quickly and she had a definition up almost comically fast, like she happened to already have the definition bookmarked or saved on her scroll or something.

"Vulgar slang, derogatory... this definition sucks. Uh... one sec. Oh, this one is better. Ahem," Ax cleared her throat, before continuing on with an assertively delivered reading of user-submitted definition.

"He, the fuckboy, is fundamentally confused and is unsure of what he wants. He, the fuckboy, will do anything for a shot at getting laid. He, the fuckboy, sometimes favors the fedora. He, the fuckboy," Ax's eyes narrowed at the screen, "does not actually care about the details of your day, your life," Ax paused briefly to let out a little dramatic huff. When she continued reading, she did so much more quickly.

"...or the beautiful complexity of your existence... etc. Um, he is superficially intimate... acting from a scr- okay, actually? This was fun at first but this ended up actually kind of long-winded. Not fun anymore." She shook her head, slipped her scroll back into her pocket, and looked back over at Johnny.

"You'll know one when you see one, probably."

[Jericho Galley]

Blushing. Looking away. Ax was... embarrassed? Was it because he pointed out that she said he was attractive? Had it to do with the term in question? What the heck was she blushing about?! The only time he'd had a girl blush at him was a particular girl in Mystral. She had been staring at him and so he flashed her a grin and she blushed and turned away. That was literally the only time, and that was a least two years ago now.

Jericho wasn't so much panicking as he was bewildered, but she started to speak. Recognizing someone is attractive and being attracted... At first he was going to argue that point, but then he recalled a guy from his crew that had golden blonde hair and a good smile. Jericho had known that he was attractive but it was just a logical point, not an attraction. Alright, so that checked out. It was just different hearing a girl like Ax say he was attractive. Whatever. Next topic.

She seemed to be doing better, the blushing fading. So she wasn't blushing about the term then, or else her cheeks would have gotten even redder. She pulled up a definition of the word so fast that he was amazed that the scrolls could even do that. He pulled out his own scroll with a muttered. "These things can look up words?" under his breath. He wasn't sure how, but soon enough she was reading the definition. He put his scroll away to not look like an idiot with one in his hands for the first time.

Confused and unsure of what he wanted? Nope, he wanted to keep his head down and survive. Anything to get laid? Nah. Some girls in Mystral and even here in Vale just charged some Lien for that, it wasn't too hard to get your rocks off. Favors the fedora...? That was a jacket, right? Or a shoe brand? He wasn't into that sort of stuff, next. Doesn't care about the details of your day, life, or the beautiful- what? He didn't not care, it's just that he didn't have many people to care about these days. Though he supposed he would care about Ax or Nym's day if they wanted to talk about it. Superficially Intimate? Was that like lying? Superficial meant 'fake', right? Intimate was about being close? He sorta was doing that, lying about who he was and all. He wasn't sure if that counted, but maybe he was a fuckboy all along.

"Yeah, sounds like it." He said to her last comment. Maybe he'd know one when he saw one. Maybe in the mirror.

But none of that answered why she had been blushing. Girls, he'd never understand them. Maybe she wasn't as gay as she said she was? Either way, even if he wanted a relationship he wouldn't want to go for the lass that was that conflicted in the area. He was so baffeled that his mouth moved before his brain told it to. "Why were you blushing?"

[Ax L Rose]

Some part of Ax was absently aware of Johnny's surprise at her expression, but she tried not to directly acknowledge it while she was monologuing. She was doing a decent enough job at getting her composure back just by keeping her mind busy with the wholly unnecessary task of reading off that little definition for him. Despite this, she nearly let out a laugh at how impressed he seemed by what a scroll could do, her lips curving into a hint of a smirk. She was so used to the little devices that she more or less tended to take them for granted. It was easy to forget that people from other parts of the world didn't always have much familiarity with them.

Her brow furrowed a little and she slightly, almost imperceptibly shook her head a little as he spoke up again. She seemed a little indignant at the direct question. This guy wasn't entitled to an explanation about her emotions or her expressions, as far as she was concerned. Her semblance had probably spelled out her embarrassed emotions, and that was as much of a hint as he was going to get. She'd have rather he mistakenly assumed she was into him than actually bother elaborating on the embarrassing little emotional journey her memories had taken her on. There was no way she was explaining why the day she met Johnny had been... unusual for her.

"Dude... c'mon. You don't just ask a girl why she's blushing. Not unless you're ready for a potentially harsh answer. People's faces turn red for all kinds of reasons," Ax stalled, clearly less than enthused about explaining herself. Things were tough enough with how people could pick up on her feelings simply through proximity! If she went around acting like people were owed an explanation for every signal she gave, she'd certainly run out of breath and die.

"You're not very good at talking to girls, are you?" Ax asked a second later. She rose a brow inquisitively at him, her bright blue eyes clearly seeking a response even though she hadn't actually answered his question. A moment later she seemed to realize she was being... maybe too blunt with him again. Maybe a little unfair. She rolled her eyes and tried again, speaking in a slightly less pointed manner.

"...okay, you don't have to answer that. That was unnecessary of me," she admitted apologetically, waving her hand as if to dismiss her own question. Her expression softened somewhat.

"...it's my semblance. I'm basically an open book 24/7. Every other stray feeling I experience gets projected by my semblance, and I get in my head about it sometimes. I don't always like people being able to tell what I'm feeling," she explained.

[Jericho Galley]

She made a very good point. Man, if one of the lasses on board had blushed and anyone had asked them, they'd get a gut punch and deserve it. He had learned that the hard way before. Jericho shook his head as if trying to jog his brain around. With a new environment, it was like he was testing everything all over again to see what worked simply because of his paranoia with trying to not stand out.

How did her and he always get into these situations? It was because of his dumb mouth. She said he didn't need to answer but he did. "Look, I guess I'm still trying to figure out girls outside of Mystral. Maybe that's why I can talk to Nym ok but everyone else is rocky. I'm sorry."

He chuckled lightly. "Ok, goal, lets have one conversation that doesn't result in apologies and offended parties." He turned to the rising sun. He was so used to seeing that against the reflective surface of the ocean, not the building tiles of houses and businesses and trees. "What do you think of sunrises?"

[Ax L Rose]

Ax shook her head firmly.

"You're fine," she said quickly, though her tone might've made it a little unclear whether or not she was being genuine or if she was being dismissive. Some part of her had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. Of course this guy could talk just fine to Nym. Weren't they both from Mistral or something? Had those two already had some cute bonding session that she wasn't yet aware of?

Ugh... Ax really, really didn't want to be unfair about this, but it was so easy to be. She needed to listen to her head and not her heart on this one - signs so far had seemingly indicated that Johnny was useless at lying and he tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve... when he wasn't absentmindedly blurting out awkward questions the moment they popped into his head. She couldn't blame anyone for wanting to spend time with Nym, especially when they already had stuff in common with her. There was no real need for Ax to be bitter or jealous. She let out a sigh. She could try to meet this guy halfway, right?

So far most of their incompatibility seemed to be just misunderstandings and minor little glitches in how they communicated. They'd also had some really bad timing so far. Now that Ax was thinking about it, Johnny really couldn't have shown up at a worse time the first time they'd met, and the timing for this little meetup happening now wasn't much better. She'd never been a morning person. Maybe she'd have gotten along just fine with him if they'd met at a bar or something, or at a bench out in the gardens? Maybe at a cafe or a concert?

"Easier said than done," Ax managed a small, wry little grin. "Honestly, it's too bad you're not a cute chick. This whole sunrise question would probably be a real hit with me if you had a nice rack," Ax mused, placing a hand on her hip.

"You haven't seemed particularly easy to offend so far, but I know I've been... a little quick to judge. So I'll give you this one; Sunrises are nice. Well, they're nicer here most of the time than they were in Atlas, at least. You know, I could like... give you some tips sometime," Ax's expression suddenly turned ponderous, and she rose a hand to tap a finger to her cheek thoughtfully.

"About talking to girls I mean," Ax said, looking back to Johnny. Her wheels were turning. She was starting to have an interesting idea that Johnny could maybe help her with.

[Jericho Galley]

"Pshh." Jericho pushed air between his teeth and rolled his eyes to land on her. "You're more perverted than some sailors I know." He commented with a smile." He didn't respond to anything else she said, though he could have. Easy to offend... If he was offended easily, he would be dead on the ocean floor. You can't grow up with pirates and be soft enough to get mad at simple conversation. Wasn't any point in the anger, it was a waste of breath, and you normally got shot if you were too annoying.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Like I said. I try to turn the conversation to a meaningless one about sunrises, and you move it right back to girls." He turned fully to her. "What do you have in mind?" He asked. She seemed to be getting ideas, and he wasn't sure if he was going to enjoy fulfilling them or not.

[Ax L Rose]

Well, that was a little reassuring. If Johnny thought Ax was perverted, then Nym must not have put the moves on him yet. Nym's mouth was so filthy sometimes that it easily made even Ax blush. She exhaled an amused breath through her nose.

"Aw, I'm not that bad. Honest. I can be smooth when I wanna be," Ax assured him, meeting his smile with a grin of her own.

"Here's my first piece of free advice; don't bother with meaningless conversations. Ain't nobody got time for that, 'specially if you're into any girl that comes to this academy," Ax explained. She was tempted to elaborate further, but first she needed to satisfy her curiosity. That, and she knew her insight was valuable. It'd have been a shame to just give it away for free.

"To help make up for rough first impressions, I can give you some other pointers. And I can help you with more than girls. I can help you connect with people better, have more genuine conversations... might help you make some solid impressions and make some more friends. First though, you gotta answer a question..."

Ax's head tilted a little to the side, as if for a brief moment she was considering backpedaling. Being so direct wasn't always easy, but she supposed it was better to just ask outright instead of playing mind games.

"What do you think of Nym? Are you into her?" Ax asked.

[Jericho Galley]

"Right, because you've been so smooth so far." He joked, but listened to her advice. Meaningless conversations were out? Sure, this was geared towards him talking to girls, but meaningless topics were all he had for talking to these Huntsmen types. What was he supposed to ask or talk about? Their weapons and Semblances? That just seemed like prying or spying. But talking about how dumb class is or about... pencils? Or the freaking sunset! Man, without those lying was about to become a lot harder.

Then she asked about Nym. Jericho opened his mouth to speak, but then she asked if he was into her. That made him pause and shut his mouth, considering. He would sit there for a while, thinking back to the recent day he had spent with her out in the woods, throwing knives and everything he had learned about the girl. Should he really tell Ax? Well... he didn't exactly have a reason to. He could say that it was none of her business, but they were best friends. It literally was her business.

"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, I'm not looking to get into any sort of relationships right now. Personal reasons." Which was true, technically. fear of being rejected and/or killed because of his past qualified as a 'Personal Reason', right? "But I've spent some time with Nym recently, and... she's smart, cool-headed, strong, I mean, the size of her chainsword thing is huge and she just tosses that around like nothing! I even pulled a prank on her and she totally saw through it all, not caring at all about the whole thing." He laughed, shaking his head while looking towards the ground.

"I... suppose I am, in a way? The first lass in a while that has impressed me that much." Then he looked back up to Ax. "But you aren't so much asking for me, are you? You like girls and are pretty close with Nym. We're alike enough, I think, that there is no way you don't like her in some way."

[Ax L Rose]

Ax knew he might not see it her way... but if she wanted him to, he would've. Ax felt like she could've probably had this guy wrapped around her finger if she really tried, even despite the fact that she hadn't really tried hitting on a guy in a long time. Guys were still people. People weren't that different.

She gave him a moment. She knew her question was a little sudden, and that it probably seemed reasonable to assume that the wrong answer here might offend her. She briefly considered reassuring him - she just wanted to know, not judge him - but this ended up being unnecessary. She started to gently nod her head as he started to elaborate on his personal situation.

"I get that," Ax said with a little shrug. He didn't owe her a full explanation. Ax also got the impression that everything he had to say after that about Nym's intellect, her composure, her impressive muscles, her terrifying weapon of choice... it was all true. He was coming off pretty genuine. Nym was, of course, amazing. It made perfect sense that a growing boy would get some funny feelings after spending a little time with that particular vixen.

Ax's expression was, for the most part, even and amicable. At least... up until that last bit he had to say, turning things around on her. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and let out a little sigh. Well, there was no point in pussyfooting around it, she supposed. It wasn't like she was going to lie and deny it.

"You're a sharp one, Johnny boy," Ax conceded with a half-hearted smile. She supposed she'd been pretty transparent about this so far, what, with her clear and obvious attempt to ward the guy away when they'd been talking before.

"I don't blame you for recognizing that Nym is in a league of her own, and I don't intend to boss you around or tell you what to do. You're a big boy now, and I also trust Nym to make her own decisions. That said... I appreciate the honest answer."

[Jericho Galley]

As much as she admitted it, Ax gave no further information. Maybe nothing was was needed other than she did have feelings for her friend. Man, that must be a tough situation. He didn't know if Nym liked girls or not, but it seemed, with his very limited information, that she at least leaned towards men. Maybe that was why they weren't together.

Jericho chuffed. "Pft. Now I'm a big boy? I've been a big boy for a while now, thanks." But then he thought more on what she said. "Her own decisions? What do you mean by that? LIke she's about to choose one of us?" He asked, folding his arms. "To be honest, as much as I would place myself in her league in terms of impressiveness, I would rather not get in the middle of you two. It seems like it's pretty... complicated." He was about to say 'messy', but that have been rude. Not to mention that if they got together, he wouldn't have the increased trouble of the whole lying thing.

Nym was more than neat and worth a date and all that, but with his current predicament, he would need more than just the casual pull to someone. Sure, it sucked, but he was dealing with his life and anyone who tried to defend him if Blackhand found him. He was quite honestly convinced that Blackhand could and would kill him along with any friends he made here. He wouldn't want that for his lass.

[Ax L Rose]

Ax's lips briefly curved back into a proper smile, seemingly pleased that Johnny had chosen to focus on the 'big boy' part of what she'd said. Then her brow furrowed a little and her smile began to shrink again before his eyes, lips curving into a frown, her eyes flicking away. Fuck's sake... Ax felt like such a colossal bitch in that moment. Johnny might have thought he knew Nym, but as far as Ax was concerned he might as well not have known a damn thing. This boy was going to get hurt if he got his hopes up for Nym. Or was it Ax that was going to end up hurt? What did she really know?

Stars... untangling years of jealousy and resentment over unspoken issues must've really taken a toll on her. It was easy to forget about all the emotional anguish when she and Nym were together, but at times like this... Ax just couldn't help but question everything. Would it be so bad if she clarified things? Offered Johnny some insight into Nym? Told him more? Ax folded her arms over her chest, her body language suggesting guardedness. She seemed suddenly more uneasy than before as she listened to Johnny wrap up his opinion on the situation.

"I meant that..." Ax hesitated, closing her eyes and shaking her head. She locked her jaw, struggling to find the words, and then tried again. She looked back over at Johnny, fingers idly running over the spot where her metal arm met flesh.

"I just meant that... I'm not the boss of Nym. I don't own her," Ax pursed her lips to the side, tilting her head slightly to the side as she regarded Johnny. Was there any real chance that Nym would choose him over her? After everything they'd been through together? After all she'd said, all they'd done? She and Nym didn't have anything exclusive going on. They'd talked, but... Nym was single. So was Ax. Technically, they both were. That meant Nym was allowed to do whatever - or whoever she wanted. And Ax wasn't at liberty to just go discussing her single partner's love and sex life. These simply weren't her secrets to tell.

So what was Ax afraid of? If she wanted Nym all she needed to do was take her and tell that foxy tomboy who she really belonged to. It would've been that easy. Why leave things to chance? Was there some part of her that... expected things to go wrong? Was there some part of her that didn't trust Nym? Was there some part of her that was just waiting for the day when Nym moved on to some other person and got all tangled up in them?

Ugh, she had to be radiating the worst vibes ever, overthinking like this in front of the guy. The right thing to do was to just own up, right? She kept having this intrusive thought. 'Just ask him to tell you if he makes any progress. That way you can know if she pulls something.' She forced herself to speak, even though she didn't really think this far ahead, but one thing was for sure - she knew not to listen to that jealous, insecure voice in the back of her mind.

"It's not... it's not complicated. And you can talk to Nym, be friends with her, you can like her, whatever. I guess it's just... I dunno. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I just wanted to know. You can pretend I never asked, if you want," Ax managed. She must've sounded unsure, a little evasive. All she knew was that she regretted bringing Nym up in the first place.

Ax's expression brightened up, but the vibes in the air didn't change. Ax was still feeling a little on the glum side, so it seemed, but she was clearly trying to do her best to put a charming smile on and act like everything was fine. She was ready to move on to the next thing.

"Anyway. As I was saying. My services are available. You want pointers, you want practice, you want to make friends, I've got you. Any time you need a hand, you can text me," Ax reached down to her pocket, pulling out her scroll.

"And, heh, since you aren't used to scrolls, I can even show you how to add a contact. And how to text, if you need!"

[Jericho Galley]

Ax seemed to be having a pretty rough time getting to what she wanted to say. He could feel these conflicted, competing emotions of anxiety, unease, frustration. Being told of Ax's semblance, he knew that it was coming from her but damn it was annoying. He caught the stray emotion or feeling or whatever that all he had to do would be to take Nym and tell this birdy that she had missed her chance, but... that wasn't him. In a physical motion of mental work, Jericho clenched his left fist as he tried to resist all these things coming at him out of pure annoyance, to crush them and push them away.

And just like that, they were gone. Poof. Huh. It seemed resisting the Semblance actually worked as long as you knew about it. Then Ax continued speaking, seemingly now under control. Maybe him resisting helped her clear her own head? Be odd if it was true, but her Semblance was full of the word 'odd' in Jericho's book.

Ax obviously cared for Nym a great deal. She probably just wanted to know if Jericho did anything with her. Wanted to keep tabs on her friend in the case anything happened between the two. It sort of reminded him of when one of his crew mates who had fallen in love with a prostitute. Whenever they went to port, he didn't sleep with her so much as he just kept in touch with her and gave her some money, free of having her do service. He asked about how everything was going and cared for her, but never made the move to actually do anything about it. Eventually a man came by and saved her from that life, and married her. Jericho's crewmate had been depressed every day of his life since, always wondering 'What if?'. It was a terrible way to live, and he had died sad.

The man inside Jericho wanted to tell Ax this story, if not altered a bit to fit his made up past, but that would encourage her to go after Nym. Heck, she might actually be able to finally have Nym. But what of Jericho? He liked Nym. But he had just told Ax that he would rather the two be together, and logically it was still true. But the male part of him still wanted Nym as an option, to see where it would go. It had been leagues since he had been with a woman, and Nym was the closest one, honestly. But he didn't want to get with her because of his past and the danger it presented.

Jericho let out a sigh. How could something so smart sound so dumb to himself? He really needed to get a hold of himself. Ultimately, he didn't answer until Ax moved the subject along. Well, Jericho could go for some practice fighting a Huntsmen in training, the other one he had fought had almost killed him and in turn he almost killed her back. He wasn't quite up to par with these people, but he needed to be. Make friends? The more he made, the more might get killed, honestly. A few wouldn't be bad though. Being alone in the school had been agonizing.

"I know how to add a contact and text!" Jericho lied in retort. "Just didn't know about the whole search thing." He trailed off and pulled out his own scroll, handing it over to her. That way, he didn't need to actually prove himself.

[Ax L Rose]

Things always got weird when she got to talking about Nym with people it seemed. Ax was too jealous and possessive for her own good! It was probably only a matter of time before it caused some problem or another... and this was clearly already weird for him - she kept the half-smile on even after hearing him sigh. She tried to fight the feeling in her gut - this guy was basically loudly announcing he was either bored or distracted. She radiated charm nevertheless; she'd practiced this particular kind of half-smile for this exact purpose. A broad grin would obviously look fake, so the key was subtle and practiced expressions. She chattered on as if she didn't notice the sigh.

She had a perfect chance to focus on her scroll as she finished speaking. She started trying to pay attention to his emotional state as she navigated to the contacts menu with her thumb. Then she realized... she didn't feel anything from him. He might as well not have been there. Either he was completely unphased, or...

...or, he was hiding something. The connection was gone. She couldn't sense him. He resisted her semblance and she had no way of knowing how long they'd been on disconnect. She furrowed her brow as she tried to remember the last impression she got from him, but she was drawing a blank. After a moment she lowered her scroll and looked back at him, raising an inquisitive eyebrow despite her pleasant smile. If this guy was gonna keep secrets... she'd just have to ask Nym about him more.

"Sure, sure Johnny boy," Ax nodded, clearly unconvinced as she reached out with her other hand to take his scroll.

She pulled up his contacts list, her eyes quickly scanning over the contents. She couldn't resist - they were right there! Fortunately, it was a very small list. She then turned her body to the side, gesturing for him to come closer so he could see as she quickly ran him through the essentials.

"You can manually enter in an ID, or you can send local contact requests wirelessly through this menu, which picks up other scrolls that have local connectivity enabled. If you wanna activate local connectivity, tap this button up here. If you want to send a contact request wirelessly, whoever you're trying to add also needs to enable it."

She quickly rose her own scroll and set it to local. Sure enough, an official portrait displayed on his screen along with her name - Ax L. Rose. The picture was the same as the one on her school ID, with her facing toward the camera with a neutral expression.

"See? There's me. Super easy, right?" She handed him his scroll back, willing to at least let him add her himself.

[Jericho Galley]

SHe took his scroll and he could tell she was very, throughly convinced of his lie. Despite this, she still ran him through the way of adding contacts through the scroll. He listened. When she handed it back to him he added her, no reason not to, and nodded. "Gotchya."

His stomach rumbled for longer than it probably should have and he relented that it was in fact past the time he should have gotten up. "I need to get some breakfast before it's over." He said. "I'll leave you to your smoke break." He made as if to leave.

[Ax L Rose]

"Y'welcome," Ax said cheerfully. She glanced down at Johnny's gut when she heard it make an outlandish gurgling sound. She looked back up with him with a smirk, and gestured toward the door leading back inside toward the stairwell.

"Yeah, you better hurry man. If you haul ass, you'll make it," Ax nodded. As he reached the door she called out to him.

"And hey, text me anytime," Ax offered. This had been a bit of an unceremonious farewell, but she wasn't about to take it personally. The clock was ticking, and breakfast would stop being served soon enough. As he left, she rose her scroll and accepted his contact request. Johnny Silverhand's name showed up on her contact list, along with a... weird photo that didn't really look much like the generic one. Whatever.

Welp, nothing left to do except wait and see when he'd contact her looking for help or advice or something. She put her phone away and looked out over the academy grounds one last time before she headed out as well. The day wasn't gonna wait.