Gentle Not-so-giant (Axelle)

[Koty Hura]

Be it for better or worse, and despite just having gone on for too long about 'your power means its okay for you to eat and I can leave if you are uncomfortable doing that'.. It didn't occur to Koty that there was any chance or any way for Axe to break the table.. Or anything else. For how much she was always and constantly scrutinizing everything she did, the girl seemed so casual and normal. If it had occurred to Koty just how much Axe had to think about every single thing she did, he would likely have complimented her on the spot. But then again.. here he was with a completely different ability that he happened to be used to.. Maybe she felt the same way about him.

"Avocado chicken?" ..That.. actually did sound fairly good.. So did the fish filet sandwich.. and for that matter, really everything sounded fairly good. Koty was hungry. Sprinting after someone and using up that much mental energy panicking could really drain one's energy reserves... Why had he done that, anyway? Sure.. there was the potential in any given person for.. more than meets the eye. For something special.. but why had he chosen to panic toward Axe rather than away? Maybe it was the look on her face.. Maybe it was how she'd sounded. Maybe it was just how she'd worried so much for doing something nice. Maybe she needed a friend and he knew it on a subconscious level. Maybe there was potential there? Koty wasn't sure.. but he knew what was in the bag he'd brought from the stationary store.. and he knew that he was carrying it into a burger joint to eat with Axelle. And he knew that those two things both made him feel happy.. and it was silly to overanalyze what made him happy.

When they were in and settled, Koty would glance up to the menu and then back to Axelle. "I like the sound of that chicken avocado burger, but I am also very curious about their veggie burger. Which would you recommend to go with fries and a vanilla milkshake?" Because you default to the experience sitting across from you with brilliant red hair when it's sitting right there and knows what it's talking about. Duh.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle, already having decided on what she wanted to eat, didn't bother reaching for a menu and instead watched Koty as he studied it for himself. "Oh uuummmm," Axelle thought for a moment. She'd had the veggie burger but hadn't really liked it. Despite enjoying a healthier diet than most young people her age, she was still rather a sucker for meat. "The chicken avocado sandwich would be best I think, the way they blacken the chicken here makes it go really well with the shakes," she added. Thinking about it made her mouth water, despite having eaten several minutes ago, her stomach totally agreed with her inner glutton that she definitely needed that sandwich, and fries and totally a shake. “So you want the chicken sandwich?” she asked. At receiving his yes she called the waitress over and placed their orders. The woman wrote it down and walked away, only to come back a few minutes later with two glasses of water.

When they were finally alone again Axelle looked at Koty and studied him. “So…what classes do you like to take at school?” she asked, blushing. That was a really terrible way to start a conversation wasn’t it? But she didn’t know what else to say or do, now that she thought about it, she was the closest thing to a….date…that she’d ever had. That is to say that she was alone with a boy that wasn’t a friend (yet) and she was getting to know him…that’s how most dates started right? Getting to know the other person?

[Koty Hura]

Koty was looking quite forward to his avocado chicken burger especially with Axelle's endorsement of the way they cooked the chicken. He politely sipped his water as Axe asked her question and tilted his head lightly in thought. "Well.. I am an elite member of Meian-sensei's self defense class.. I score highly in English, science, and economics. I also enjoy very much running track and practicing martial arts.. Given my ability, I believe it would be prudent to consider a college path involving human studies.. Psychology, mental illness, behavioral modification and therapy or the like. But I also quiet enjoy cooking, crafting, meditation. Perhaps there is room for a major and a minor. As of yet I am unsure. In addition I very much enjoy the thought of performance driving.. Though I am unsure if there are any real opportunities in the field locally."

Over share? Probably. But then Axe was notably easy to talk to. Or at least she was very easy to talk around. Hopefully Koty was easy to express ideas took as well.. "What about yourself, Axelle? What are your preferred classes, extracurriculars, and your hopeful future career path?"

After all, it was only proper to return a person's interest. Especially because Axe was pretty interesting.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle had expected something more along the lines of "I like history." or "I hate science." It took her a moment to take in all the information because she simply hadn't been prepared for Koty to simply share THAT MUCH about himself after what she was nervous was a stupidly boring question to ask. "Wow, that's a lot," she finally responded a few seconds later after she finished processing what had been said. Then she had to think about the question he had asked her, which…not surprisingly really was well structured and multi-tiered. It took her a moment of thinking before she answered.

“I want to be a mechanic like my dad and my grandfather. We have a shop in town that’s been in my family for a long time. I’m not really interested in much else. I like math and science, my best grades are in shop but I get yelled at a lot in English. I mean there doesn’t have to be subtext in EVERYTHING; sometimes something is blue because the author just wanted it to be blue. Reading all sorts of details into a story and pulling it apart takes away from the magic that makes it enjoyable, I kinda hate reading for school,” she admitted. “I play soccer too on the school team. Pretty crappy at it though because of the whole being a gigantic klutz thing. OH! But my dad taught me about music and stuff so I like playing my guitar and singing…but mostly just as a hobby."

[Koty Hura]

At being told that what he'd said was 'a lot', Koty simply grinned and gave a small shrug. He tended to not speak much, then use up that saved not-speaking and get it all out when something was worth talking about. It wasn't that Koty didn't like talking.. he just didn't like completely wasting words. When something was worth talking about or speaking on, he would use enough words to accurately and precisely describe or answer things. Which, in a lot of cases.. ended up being 'a lot'. He hadn't had it phrased quite that way before, but he'd been told similar things often enough. On top of his normal speech patterns, though, Axe was still easy to talk to. Or around. Or both. Whichever.

He listened as Axelle gave him a rundown of her future, her shop, her strong and weak subjects, and grinned again when she mentioned that she played guitar and sang. "First off, Axelle, I would very much enjoy witnessing your practice both your guitar and your singing. I plan no instruments myself and.. have never believed that I have a worthwhile singing voice of my own. My mother, though, had a beautiful voice. On the rare occasion she made breakfast or dinner she would sing while doing so.. It is one of the things I miss most often about her." --Wait, shit.. Axe didn't know about Koty's mom, did she? Er.. that might be a slightly awkward conversation.

"As for your goals and your family's shop, I wish you the very best of luck and hope that your future holds success and happiness. As for your grades.. I would be happy to .. tutor you in English if you would like? I am an A-minus-or-better student in general, but I agree wholeheartedly about over-analyzing books and stories. I am a telepath.. I tend to analyze everthing and everyone I touch constantly. A thousand different perspectives and points of view. Personally I find it both relaxing and enjoyable to have the limited knowledge from a set perspective that is provided in a book. I am unsure if I could assist you in soccer, as I do not play, but we could run in the mornings if part of your training involved cardiovascular exercise.. In addition, if you believe that meditation or martial arts forms may help your.. 'klutz thing'.. I would be happy to attempt to teach you in those fields as well."

...Ack. Had he just over-analyzed everything she'd said there? Was he speaking too.. like himself? Had he made sure not to sound too unnecessarily smart? Gah. Axe was easy to talk to, but it was hard to change how he spoke as he'd promised to attempt to do. It was just that easy to talk to her. Topic change?

"You mentioned that your family owns a shop in town? Have you been fortunate enough to live in Pilot Ridge for your entire life, then? I was neither born nor raised in America.. My father lives in Georgia, but my birthplace was Japan."

[Axelle Flint]

The moment that Koty stopped when he was talking about his mother made Axelle smile a little, but in an understanding, pained way. "It's okay...my mother passed away too...when I was six," she added as the smile dropped and she studied her glass of water and reached over to select a bendi-straw from a holder on the table. She carefully unwrapped it and extended it, putting it into her cup with ease. Once it had settled Koty was already wishing her luck in the future. It wasn't often that she got unwavering support for that idea. After all, who wanted to be stuck working in a garage for the rest of their life? Wasn't that why you went to college? To make something of yourself?

He was rambling and it was funny, and a little cute. She thought it was a bit strange that he was so eager to help her, but she supposed that he was just being nice. If he was as smart she she figured he was, he probably couldn't quite grasp the concept that not everyone wanted to be, or could be any smarter than they already were. It's not like you needed fantastic grades to be a mechanic. "Ah, it's okay, my grades are good enough to make sure that I can graduate and that's pretty much all I care about," she shrugged. She never thought about reading from a telepathic viewpoint (really, why would she?) but she also enjoyed reading for the same reasons and was quick to agree. "Me too, but I like being able to read my own things into books and stories. I don't like other people dictating to me how I should feel about something," she explained. When he offered to run with her she lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

"Ah...I don't really run..." she admitted. "I tend to wake up really late because I sleep hard and when I get home I have enough time after practice and or training to do my homework, help in the shop, eat dinner and do my chores before I tend to fall asleep. I get like 10-12 hours average a night, less on weekends and holidays because I can work longer...usually. But I'm kinda grumpy in the morning." When he offered martial arts training also as an alternative she immediately thought of Lucas and shook her head, a bit more strongly than intended. “No it’s fine; I don’t really need anything like that. If I focus enough I’m not that clumsy…usually,” she added with a strained smile, trying to push the still too-fresh memories of Lucas and his behavior out of her head.

Thankfully the conversation shifted and she didn’t have to think about that anymore. “Oh yeah, kinda? I moved here when I was two with my dad. But he grew up here too and so did my Grandpa so we’re kinda like…homegrown I guess,” she laughed before she leaned forward to take a drink without having to touch her cup. "What was it like growing up in Japan?" she asked curiously.

[Koty Hura]

Well.. On the good side of things, if Axe thought Koty had been rambling, she hadn't thought it was bad enough to be irritated by it. Everything she had to say in response seemed favorable. Or.. not favorable but nothing was said in that 'ugh shut up' kind of way.. Which was positive in at least some way. It wasn't negative in the way he was worried about it possibly being negative in, so it was all good. More or less.

She seemed to not be worried about grades as she had them under control enough, she didn't run because apparently a growing super strength/durability-having girl needed her beauty rest and was often grumpy in the mornings.. and the idea of training in any sort of martial arts was shot down a little quicker than Koty had been expecting compared to other things, but.. well there were a lot of possible reasons for that and he didn't want to dampen the otherwise decent-enough mood.. Which was still decent despite that fact that they apparently had lack of mother-figures in their lives as a common thing between them.

She'd lived in Pilot Ridge for at least all of her conscious life.. and her father and grandfather had lived here for at least their childhoods.. Not bad. This seemed like a good place to grow up. Koty wondered how different it must have been before Hammel existed and before the huge influx of so many different cultures, people, meta abilities....

"I am most sorry that you were unable to spend more time with your mother. Mine passed more recently, only a few years ago.." Because he had to at least say something about her mother since she'd mentioned it. He was actually rather glad that she's understood that his mother had died.. somehow. Perhaps it was something that was easy enough to pick up on when one had experienced it for themselves?

"Japan was... More dense. In population, buildings, everything. It seemed more.. fast-paced. The cultures here and there are.. very, very different. What is perfectly normal in one place is outrageous in another. Fortunately for me, my mother planned to move us to be with my father for my entire life and so I was familiarized with western culture from a very young age. I attended Eisai when I manifested. I think the things I miss most about my home are the food stands, the public transportation, and the fact that the area I lived in never seemed to completely shut down. There was always something to do at any time of day or night.. Always people, always food, always something to see. It was.. convenient on sleepless nights."

He grinned and shook his head slightly. "The public transportation systems here are abysmal in comparison, though. I have to take a bus and walk for nearly half an hour to get to my preferred store for authentic Japanese foods.. What do you think you would be interested in if not working in your father's shop?"

[Axelle Flint]

"Ah...well, I didn't know her very well, the reason we moved here when I was two was because she left my father," Axelle mentioned quietly. "But your time with your mother sounds infinitely nicer," she smiled instead as she easily went with the change of conversation. "I don't think I could imagine anything like that. It sounds scary," she admitted when she tried to think of crowds of people and the noise of a big city. She got nervous enough whenever she went into Burlington with her father, she couldn't imagine going to a place like New York or Tokyo and just being around that many people. Maybe she was a country girl at heart. "Food stands sound nice though, kind of quaint and a little romantic," she mused out loud, thinking about rainy nights, hot food and walking together with someone while enjoying a meal.

"Ah, I don't really worry about public transport. I ride my bike to school and I've been driving since I was sixteen," she chuckled, thinking it must be really tough to only have your feet to rely on. One of the reasons she was happy that she could live at home and not in the dorms. She sorta really wanted to try good Japanese food. "Um, well....if you ever wanted to go and you told me ahead of time I could...I mean we could go together, if you wanted," she said quickly, wondering if it sounded as if she was inviting him on a date or if he would think that that was what she was doing. But then she was saved.

"Oh!" she jumped on that question but then stalled as her mouth caught up wiht her brain. "Construction maybe? I like working with my hands a lot, I'm pretty good at putting things together when I'm left to my own devices, architecture could be fun...but I still really like cars and metal, I mean, I was learning about cars and stuff even before I manifested and I fixed my Mustang up all by myself," she bragged. “What about you? Do you want to go back to Japan after graduation or for college?”

[Koty Hura]

Oof. Axe's mom left her father... That.. sucked. Koty felt a bit bad about bringing it up, but Axe had rolled with the conversation change so.. maybe he didn't need to sweat it. Just.. avoid that particular topic. He didn't think Japan was scary.. but it might be compared to a place like this which, despite it's tremendous growth, still seemed fairly quiet and relaxed and small-town-ish. "Populated places take some getting used to but they are very easy to live in once you become accustomed to them. Oh, and the food stands were the best. People whose entire lives were making one dish and were the very best at it.. Always fast, always fresh, always amazing.. From sushi to miso to rice balls or bread.. Teas, tonics, rice, fish, soups, meats, sweets.. Almost anything."

She rode a bike? All the way to Hammel? Shit, Axe didn't need to run. She had all the cardio training she could ever need every morning. Wow. Koty respected her more now than he had before.. and he'd respected her plenty before. She moved on to accompanying him to his asian store some time.. Which he wouldn't be against, but she seemed to be under the impression it was a restaurant and not a place he purchased ingredients. There were places in town one could get decent food, though, if that's what she meant.

Construction? ..That, or demolition. Surely super strength would come in handy there... But he wouldn't say that. Not when he already knew how anxious Axe was in regards to destroying things already. And then Koty's after-graduation plans... This was becoming a real and actual conversation.. This was.. nice. Very nice. And Koty wasn't the least bit concerned about sharing anything, either.

"You are more than welcome to join me on a trip to the market if you would like.. but I would have to prepare the food myself. We could eat hibachi ahead of time, though, if you would like? Very fresh food made right in front of you, usually with a very entertaining show." Because spending time with Axe seemed more than worthwhile.

"Construction sounds like it could be a thing you may excel at.. Especially given your strength. You could maneuver and manipulate things that would otherwise take several people or equipment. It may be a good.. backup plan if that ever became necessary. As for myself, though.. I believe I would rather vacation in Japan than live there again. Though I do not intend to return to Georgia with my father, either. I will likely attend college, but I am unsure how I wish to spend my life just yet. I have many paths I can walk down.. I will have to see where my feet take me."

[Axelle Flint]

"That sounds amazing," Axelle sighed again as she once more thought about delicious foods and romantic-ish dates. Then she realized that Koty was telling her that the place she assumed was a restaurant was actually a market. She blushed at her mistake. "Ah, sorry..." she said with an embarrassed grin, eyes growing wide at the idea of going to hibachi...whatever that was. It must be good though, Koty didn't seem like the kind of person who would eat something nasty just because tradition or culture dictated it. He mentioned fresh food and a show, she did enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables because health food was a large part of her own personal diet and preference. "Okay...sometime, let's go?" she offered shyly, thinking it would be nice to go off with someone new and that the process of making new friends was still pretty easy all things considered.

She beamed when he mentioned that she would be good at construction. She rather liked building things and not necessarily tearing them down. But then Koty was talking about Japan again, and Axelle wistfully wondered if she would ever feel brave enough to go onto an airplane to a faraway country. Small spaces tended to make her nervous (though she wasn't outright frightened of them) and being up in the air so many feet posed a lot of safety concerns that she wasn't sure she was ready to address. "I hope you can find something you enjoy doing. A lot of people...don't really think that my dreams are good because no one really ever wants to just be a car mechanic...but, I've never had a lot growing up and my family is really important to me...I think it would be nice to settled down and get married young..." she trailed off because that wasn't something she went around admitting to people but considering everything she and Koty had been through in just over the hour they'd known each other she felt like it was only natural to share that part of her thought process, since they were talking about their futures.