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James could count the total amount of friends he'd had in his lifetime on one hand. He could also count the amount of people who had gone out of their way to help him on one hand with a thumb to spare.  Although he hadn't admitted it to himself, that wasn't something he had expected to change for awhile. Either James was getting lucky or continuously pounding the words 'It will get better' into his brain for months was actually starting to pay off.

So one could say that the teenager wasn't so good at expressing his gratitude.

Amelia looked just as uncomfortable as James did himself, that helped. In a so very strange way. The gratitude in James lifted its head in surprised yet sluggish motion, sadly its wasn't used to being awoken all that often. A grateful smile split James' usually awkward and tomato red face from cheek to cheek.

"Wow. Thanks Amelia. I suppose that means I owe you one."

He stepped forwards and took the 'Han Shot First' shirt and a pair of jeans. "I've got to ask, though, are you sure its okay? I don't want to set you back without giving anything in return." James scuffed his foot forwards and backwards over the floor awkwardly. He wasn't trying to sound ungrateful, but he would rather go another couple of weeks with dying clothes and ask for a loan from someone like Serena. Then get a job, because there was no doubt that he would get a job after this fiasco.

If it wasn't too much of a problem then he was fine with the idea, but when people go out on a limb to help a sorry excuse like himself and suffer for it themselves, James found it just didn't sit right in his mind.

It was pretty soul destroying. Even if James wouldn't admit it to himself, the whole thing had made his originally dying resentment for his mother grow a little. Why did she have to give his clothes away? Just why?

James blinked. That reaction was completely unexpected. James expected her to agree and call him an idiot then walk off. Evidently he had completely misjudged the woman in front of him, the realization made him feel a little bad about it, after all Amelia hadn't done anything to suggest she was at all like that. James had assumed. Admittedly the assumption was probably fueled by his fear of women, not that it was an excuse. Just a reason.

The fuse in James' brain which had blown was swiftly replaced by the moving of the hair, at the end of the day James was still a teenager. What did they say about people who assume? Something about making an ass of yourself...he'd heard it somewhere.

"You make an ass of someone or something like that...right?" He couldn't quite remember, but saying anything was betting than sitting there and staring like a zombie.

Congrats on getting accepted Kim, welcome to MRO!

Although James was relieved that he didn't have to say it out loud, he was also suffering from a serious wave of anxiety, it tended to happen when something on this level of awkward happened.

A horrible feeling, comparable to nausea shot up from James' gut, infecting the rest of his body. His vision seemed to blur a little just as his heartbeat skyrocketed. The teenager wouldn't have been at all  surprised if Amelia could see the arteries on his neck pulsing. In situations like this, James would usually make an excuse and run away, but he couldn't really do that.

For a good ten seconds it was all James could do to stare at a space of in front of his eyes. Then his mind kind of crumbled in on itself, what was there to say? He had made a total prick of himself and wasted the nice girls time.

"No." James replied flatly. He was in a kind of emotional stasis, at a point where he literally couldn't feel any more awkward. Sighing he dumped the clothes on the nearest shelf and pulled out his wallet. After fiddling around a bit he got out the right change for two bus rides. Good, at least he could salvage something from the situation.

Without thinking much he took Amelia's hand and placed the change into it, then looked at her. Even in his current state his face went a deep red. "Here, Its change for two bus rides, one back and the other is for the one you wasted on me. Sorry for wasting your time, I'm an idiot."

Well, the best thing about a lowest point was it could only go up from there.

James got the impression that Orochi wasn't happy with him, or at least wasn't happy with his mistake, the dragons glare was boring holes in his body. It was a little frightening. Orochi seemed to get it though, who Smaug was. Interesting, James wondered how the dragon read books. It was a funny mental image, the huge dragon wearing a pair of undersized specs, peering down at an undersized book.

As for Smaug getting killed by a mortal man, yes that made perfect sense. All things considered. Plus Smaug wasn't a god. And neither are you. James thought in the back of his mind. He would have said it out loud, if he didn't think that the dragon attacking him would have ended up with Masque getting involved. this guys inflated opinion was a tad irritating, nothing annoyed James more than people who thought they were better than others, or more deserving at least.

James had to remind himself that the guy was a dragon, that plus he had probably been led to believe that he was a god, after all, what other possible explanation could there be? Orochi brought his tone back to a more friendly one, that was reassuring.

Okay, that question was a reasonable one, but also quite broad. How do you answer that? "Well, There are a load of differences, I suppose you will get to see them better than most people who ask that question. Considering you will be living here."

James decided to leave the differences thing to Masque, he was older, or at least James assumed so.

Again with the winking! God, you could even think she had some obsession with making him feel uncomfortable! His eyes snapped down to the bedsheets again, watching his finger trace the spiral pattern. James was pleasantly surprised when Serena started having a giggle fit.

Evidently the Valdimir comment hadn't upset her, quite the opposite. Lifting a finger, he watched the girl giggle, it was kind of funny, actually. "I...uhhh..." James tried holding it in, his cheeks puffed out a little, but he gave in.

Falling onto his back again, James also started laughing. That felt strange, he hadn't done much of that recently. If you didn't count the weird laugh where you kind of blew air out of your nose, he'd done some of that.

"Maybe I could have come up with a better one, It was kind of a spur of the moment thing." He chuckled.

Orochi seemed to like the greeting, that was good. To James' surprise the dragon bowed back, although it didn't seem like a bow of mutual respect. Almost as surprising was the detail of the flame which Masque spoke with, that was undeniably an interesting power.

James nodded at the other mutant, "Yes, I've been here a while." It was a shame him and Masque had last met under such dangerous circumstances...it had been pretty horrible and wasn't an experience the steel-skinned teenager wanted to experience a second time. Either way he smiled, not wanting to seem like a prat.

Mentally slapping himself James stopped thinking about it, there was a dragon to consider after all. Orochi started speaking to Masque, complimenting his skin and asking if his presence had left him speechless. Definitely big headed, maybe a little delusional. Again, this was a dragon at the end of the day.

Then Orochi backed up onto his hind legs, wings outstretched. A shadow fell over James, making him feel even smaller than before. He couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a way of showing his physical superiority or simply born out of narcissistic tendency. Either way it was as equally mind blowing as it was frightening.

It made James consider something, could the dragon fly? His wings sure were big, but so was the rest of him. In contrast with the rest of his body, they looked a bit small. He would have asked but Orochi asked them a question before he could.

James nodded. "I am a student here, yes. May I ask, why are you here of all places, Smau-Orochi." Well, he had managed that one. It was just a slip of the tongue. James bit his lip, well. If the dragon tried to eat him...nah, he'd be fine. Steel is too chewy, that plus he doubted the dragon wanted stomach ache.