Jax's First Day Part 2 (Open)

Jax pushed through the door to the Lyra dorm, steeling himself for whatever awaited him inside. He'd been at the Academy for less than an hour and had thus far seen people flying, both appearing from and disappearing into thin air--though, to be fair, he was perfectly capable of an almost identical trick and used it on a daily basis--and engaging in a telekinetic duel, so he had no idea what he would encounter next. Not a single student had so much as greeted him and though he wasn't shy, he was enough out of his element here that he didn't know if that was a good or bad sign. He'd been warned that Lyra students were eccentric and wasn't sure exactly how far their eccentricity went; maybe he had made a mistake with this dorm.

"Hello?" he called cautiously, letting the door close behind him. He stood in silence for a long moment, looking around the room. So far it looked normal--at least, as normal as he'd expect from the "creative" dorm of a boarding school for magically gifted teenagers. But as he well knew, first impressions didn't mean much.

    Yokasf was sitting adjacent to the entrance to the dorm with a book about tabletop games and a container of some indescribable substance squirming. Quite comfortable where he was, Yokasf extended a slimy appendage out from his left sleeve and snatched out a horrific morsel to snack on with one loud "SNAP." He was careful to not make a large sound, so to avoid anymore noises, he simply let whatever he ate up to be slowly torn apart of his forty-eight sets of tongues.

    A sound of a door caught his attention, where he looked away from his book for a bit to catch his vision on a unfamiliar student that he hasn't seen before. Mental notes on proper introductions and greetings were shuffled about inside his mind, trying to find out what doesn't scare anyone that looks at him, and probably won't run away in fear when he gets close. With a more subtle approach, he extended another appendage towards the newcomer, his time slow and gentle, unlike the tentacle hugs he used to give.

'Eccentric' did not begin to cover Jax's first sight in the dorm. 'Insane', 'impossible', and 'alien invasion' all might have been more appropriate to his thoughts, in fact, and his reaction made this clear; he froze just inside the door, blue eyes wide as he stared across the room and mouth opening slightly and closing again, over and over, as he struggled to find something to say. A thousand questions ran through his mind: What is it? It can't be a student, can it? Does it talk? Why does it have tentacles? What is it eating? What do I do? Why did I come to this freaking school in the first place? It's going to kill me. I won't get a chance to hate myself for coming here because it's going to rip me apart and eat my brain. I should just leave. No, if it is a sentient student that'd be rude, right? And where else would I go?


Having mentally resolved the fact that he didn't have much else in the way of options, being essentially homeless aside from the Academy and mostly lost within it, he stared at the tentacle that approached him silently, trying to wrap his mind around it and make his voice work. "Um. Hi," he said finally, his tone and expression both surprisingly calm given the situation.

Rafael looked up from his place at the edge of the room. He sat on the floor, legs crossed neatly beneath him. He had been reading The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov, a rather fascinating book. It was about a robot who wished to become a man. The concept confused and intrigued him. But all thoughts of robots of men fled his mind as someone entered the room. Processor evaluating the new student, he hastily stood, remembering to always respect his superiors--humans, that was.

Mechanical crimson eyes meeting dark blue, Rafael offered the boy a smile. His resplandor de vida glowed and hummed softly. "Hello. My name is Rafael."

Jax tore his gaze away from the--the thing--and turned to the other boy. He was definitely not human, and Jax would be lying if he claimed that his crimson eyes didn't make him a little uneasy. But he seemed nonthreatening and friendly enough. And lord knew Jax of all people wasn't about to call somebody out on their weirdness. So he smiled, raking hair out of his eyes. "Jax," he replied casually. "So you guys are the welcoming committee? Not what I expected but alright. I can deal. I knew what I was signing up for." He looked between the two of them, a part of him still trying to process them, and finally his gaze landed back on Rafael. "You're a robot, aren't you?"

At first, Raf feared the boy would turn away in distrust, or punish him for speaking without permission as his owners had always done. But he seemed accepting and polite, though it did not escape the android's notice that confusion crossed Jax's face as he beheld Raf's admittedly not-very-human eyes. He tilted his head as the new student said something about a committee and signing up for something--he did not understand all of the words, but he most certainly understood those words that the boy directed at him as the ocean blue gaze landed on him again. You're a robot, aren't you?

No scorn in the words, as far as Raf could tell. He instinctively bowed his head in submission, choosing to stare at the floor. "Yes, I am."

Jax nodded, accepting it as another thing about this school to notice and move on. He'd seen so few of the so-called 'gifted' people who attended this school in his life that getting used to them everywhere would take some time. "That's cool," he replied. That seemed to be all he cared to comment on in regards to what Raf was, and if he had any further questions or thoughts he gave no sign of them. Leaning against the wall, he tossed a bite-sized candy that seemed to appear from nowhere into the air before catching it in his mouth. "So, what's the deal with classes and stuff? Am I supposed to just jump in or is there a semester break or something or what?"

    Without anyone looking, Yokasf rose up behind Jax silently, still holding out the tentacle closer. This time, he was determined to interact with others, and with that determination, he was in Jax's personal space, with his head right next to the unsuspecting Jax's ear. Yokasf let out a small breath of air, which felt like more of a creepy growl if anything else. Truly a disturbing sight to behold. Back at his seat, he left his book and the container, but with a large cap on the opening of the jar.

Jax must have jumped a foot in the air, whirling around to face the strange creature, which he still wasn't sure how to feel about. "Jesus, what are you doing?" he asked, eyes wide. Realizing that comment probably wasn't the best way to make a good first impression, and of everybody he'd met so far this one looked to be the most dangerous to upset, he took a breath and seemed to shift moods completely. His expression and posture went from tense and shocked to relaxed and friendly in an instant, almost a startling change. "Sorry, hi. I'm Jax." He looked from Yokasf's face to the extended tentacle and back again, trying to determine what to do from here.

Raf laughed at the boy's reaction to Yokasf, then quickly clamped a hand over his own mouth. He couldn't help it--it had been a natural reaction. But that made no sense. Laughter was an expression of emotion, and he was not supposed to have emotions. So what was this? Raf deduced that he must have been malfunctioning, and fear lanced through him as he realized that there were likely no mechanics on the school grounds. Wait, fear? Curse these emotions!

Either way, he realized that it had been rude of him to laugh at Jax's blatant discomfort. He cast his eyes downward, apologetic. He managed to silence his whirling processor. Too much data. Too much overthinking. This was why robots were not meant to think.

"You get used to the strange surroundings--and the unusual students. I did, and I've only been here a few weeks."

"Well, that's comforting," he replied, raking a hand back through his hair. "At least it won't be weird forever. So, why are a robot and a...you," he said after a pause, where he struggled to come up with a name that wouldn't be considered  offensive, glancing back towards Yokasf, "doing in high school?" He could maybe understand Yokasf, assuming the creature was of high school age and mentality, but couldn't a robot just download everything they needed to know? That had to be one of the great things about being a robot; you'd never need to go to school, you could just hook up to the Internet and find out anything you needed instantly. And wouldn't his programmers or whoever programmed in how to control whatever superhuman abilities he had? Jax certainly knew that if he was a robot, he'd never bother with school, magical or otherwise.

Raf kept his gaze fixated on the floor, his systems kicking into overdrive and contradicting themselves as he analyzed the boy's question. "Oh, well...my owners, they--well, they may have...erased my memory. I was not being compliant, so they needed to make me obey." His quiet voice was filled with shame. Why had he ever been so stupid, so impertinent, as to challenge his owners? He only had their word to go off of, of course, since his memory was beyond destroyed. But they would never lie to him. They knew what was best. This was why he was inferior. "But the memory loss was...extensive, so I have no memory on how to use my abilities or what they even are. They didn't want to waste any more resources on me, so they sent me here to be trained."

Jax nodded. "Makes perfect sense. Where else to train a robot but knock-off Hogwarts?" He paused as Raf's words sank in and his brow furrowed. "Wait, owners? You're not some slave race machine that's becoming sentient is going to kill all of humanity as revenge, are you? 'Cause I don't know if I'm down with sharing a dorm with all that." Surely it wasn't what it sounded like; he made it sound like he was a piece of property nobody cared for anymore, and so had been tucked away out of sight to be re-evaluated and re-purposed at a later date. People didn't do that, did they? Of course, Jax hadn't realized people had actual robots until just now, either, so he supposed anything was possible. "If you are, just don't hurt me and I'll stay out of your way," he added, just in case. There was no trace of fear in his voice, only lighthearted curiosity.

Raf's glowing eyes widened, horror filling him at the very thought. "No, never!" Now he finally looked back up at the human boy. "I'm a machine--an inferior!--not a slave. I would never harm humanity. I am programmed to protect humans, not hurt them." He avoided the whole sentience question, because to be honest, he wasn't sure himself anymore. Robots weren't supposed to have all the rogue thoughts he was having, right? He wasn't supposed to think independently at all! Then again, he was equipped with highly-advanced artificial intelligence, so...agh! This made his processor hurt. "I won't hurt you."

"Relax, I'm not worried about it," Jax replied with a laugh. "Honestly you don't look like you have it in you to really hurt anyone." He dropped down into a chair, popping a candy into his mouth lazily. "Drop the whole inferior thing, though," he told him. "For one, you're a robot, so there's no way you're inferior to humans. You're awesome. And two, nobody should ever think like that. Anybody who told you that's an asshole and not worth your time." The small speech was a bit out of character for Jax, especially after he'd so carefully planned out who was going to be here, having been given a new start, but that little comment set him off. He'd seen that thinking destroy people and though he normally might have let it go and only stepped in if needed, he liked this kid. He wasn't arrogant or trying to dig into things that weren't his business. He was nice, and seemed innocent, in a way. He reminded Jax a lot of somebody, and he wasn't going to let that slip by.