Azure glanced down at her tattoo. “No, it doesn’t mean anything. I just got it ‘cause I thought it was pretty.” That technically wasn’t entirely true. She had gotten it because she wasn’t thinking straight; because she didn’t know how to control her impulses. Because she had been manic. She had gone into the shop and picked out the biggest tattoo she could find, not really realizing or caring about how expensive it would turn out to be. That was always her biggest problem when manic, spending money. And also the fact that she now had a permanent tattoo that, while she didn’t hate, she still would have preferred something different had she been thinking straight.
She laughed a little. She considered herself more than a little insane at times, but she didn’t voice this. Instead, she simply shrugged and said, “yeah, everyone’s pretty crazy.” She was well aware of the social support Atlas offered, not that it had done much help when she’d been bouncing from foster home to foster home, but it had put her back on the right track after she had derailed. She knew some people weren’t as lucky to get the help they needed as she had been; she took a moment to be grateful for the orange pill bottle sitting on her dresser.
“Nah, I need to rely on Dust when I fight ‘cause I don’t have my own back,” Azure joked. A strip of sun fell across her eyes, she squinted in the light. “But yeah, I need to practice fighting with just my axe. Except for that without Dust, Renegade literally won’t work. Well, I suppose I could use it as a club, it’s heavy enough and sturdy enough.” She cracked a smile at her own joke. “I don’t use Renegade too much during shows, but when I do she is pretty useful. She helps me use my semblance more, which can be necessary at times.” Sometimes, if she was just feeling too exhausted or upset to perform, and knew her performance would be lacking her regular enthusiasm, she would use her semblance to both keep herself more energized, and keep the audience happy. “And it works well with dancing... up until you forget to switch which bracelet is activated, and end up accidentally smacking your drummer in the face with a guitar...” She brushed off the memory of the incident with a roll of her eyes. That had definitely not been her proudest moment.
Azure mulled over Saffron’s reasoning for staying in Atlas. Both of them were political statements in their own way, so it was perfectly understandable that Saffron should stay in the utilitarian kingdom, considering her political statement was based in the Atlesian military. For Azure, she just needed to be as successful as possible, to prove that people like her could be successful, and she couldn’t do that in Atlas. “Yeah, I can imagine it would be hard to be an faunus Atlas specialist if you aren’t actually in Atlas.” She shrugged. “I can’t do what I need to do in that kingdom, though, I think I’ll be better off here.” She didn’t explain further, leaving her words up for interpretation.
At the new girl’s accusatory words, Azure laughed. She wasn’t embarrassed the way Saffron seemed to be, she was used to things like this-- assumptions, rumors, especially regarding the current topic. She had been subject to enough to just laugh them off. “No, hon,” she said, “we’re not doing anything like that-- not that I’d object if we were--” she smirked, “but no, you seem to have misunderstood the situation. I was just... reacting to the effects of travel. But I mean, if that’s what you were looking for...” She added a wink with her last line. What could she say? She was already in a good mood, and she was talking to two cute girls-- the newer of which she was pretty sure had an actual halo, but then again that might have just been the angle on the sun on her perfectly kept blonde hair. How could she not flirt a bit? It would practically go against her nature to not flirt.
“I’m a student here, just like you, but you probably haven’t seen me ‘round before, I just got here last night,” she told Aurelia. “You’re a third year, you said? That’s good, it’ll be useful to know some upperclassmen.” She hadn’t particularly planned on having any type of mentors here at Beacon, she’d been assuming she would just make it through the best she could by herself, so she wasn’t sure how to react when given the opportunity to learn from an older student. She ended up agreeing with the offer. “And yeah, sure, I wouldn’t mind some extra help.” She smirked, “more is always merrier, except in certain cases, like when fighting Grimm.” Several other examples of when “more” might not necessarily mean “merrier” flashed through her mind, but she managed to refrain from voicing them. To do so would give an impression stranger than the one she had already given, and she didn’t want to come off as too weird just yet; she might run the risk of losing her first potential friends.
Well... “friends” might not be the right word for Aurelia, Azure determined, eyeing the blonde girl. Aurelia seemed too uptight, too different from Azure; friendship probably wouldn’t be the easiest. Azure wasn’t even sure she wanted a friendship from Aurelia. Sure, she’d be a useful acquaintance, but Azure didn’t know if she’d be able to put up with so much formality without snapping from time to time.
“Hey, how hard are the classes here?” Azure asked suddenly, looking up at Aurelia. She squinted as she did so, the sunlight making it hard to see. She was hoping she could prepare herself before diving into the course load. While she wasn’t one to plan during combat, she did like prepping for academics. Azure was well aware of her struggle with classroom style teaching, and knew extra effort would be needed if she wanted to learn and pass her classes. “‘Cause I don’t do to well learning from people just talking at me. It just...” she shrugged, “doesn’t stick in my head very well. It’s somewhat better if I can take notes, but if I can’t then it’s just a nightmare.” She had resumed picking grass as she spoke, and was now braiding a new grass bracelet.