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Ajaccio Skey

ajax ; wanderlust; travel photographer
 
Messages
1,179
OOC First Name
Emzies
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Seeing Somebody
Wand
Knotted 10 1/2" Sturdy Black Walnut Wand with Billywig Stinger Core
Age
3/2038 (23)
Ajaccio was not often in New Zealand, in fact apart from about three weeks total in a year he was not in New Zealand. But, it was his mother’s birthday, so he and his dad had come back for that exact event. Ajax liked New Zealand enough, it was still a fair oddity, not really the country he’d been born in and did have a fixed abode in, it didn’t feel like home in the slightest. But, then, nowhere felt like home in a traditional sense, though it was not something he particularly longed for. Ajaccio really liked the near nomadic lifestyle he had with his father. He couldn’t imagine how boring living in the same place all of the time was. Ajax ruffled his messy, unruly curls as he rode through Brightstone on his skateboard, adjusting his hair as he put his cap back on. It was a nice, warm spring day, it was a little colder than he was used to, he’d just spent the last month or so in India, so it wasn’t what he was most used to, but still t-shirt weather. Ajax had fairly tanned skin, though with how the weather had been in the last few places he’d been it was a little darker than normal. He moved with ease on the skateboard, eventually coming to the park that he’d been told about. There were other kids at it, playing around in the park, but it was fairly tame. However the boy headed inside anyway, getting off the skateboard and walking inside. He had his trusty rucksack with little badges and patches from many of the places he’d been to, it was old, sun bleached and worn but he was careful to take it off his back and place his skateboard on top. He survey the park and looked at the swings. No one was on them, but he wasn’t interested in swing, instead Ajaccio, took a running start and climbed his way up the pole and to sit on top. Marvelling as he sat at everything around it. He knew there was a chance he might end up at school in New Zealand but he sort of hoped he wouldn’t, but Ajax could admit that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to spend a whole load of time in New Zealand.
 
Now that she was 11, Nicole had been able to convince her parents more and more that she was allowed to go out exploring on her own, especially on trips to Brightstone. As long as she promised to stay in the park. And not talk to strangers. But she was still free, particularly free of pesky little brothers.
Unfortunately, Nicole always felt a bit weird playing on the playground by herself, worried that someone might think she was some sad kid without any friends. But wandering around not playing was about as equally weird and sad looking too, so she'd been a bit stuck for what to do until she'd spotted the kid climbing the swing set.
Wandering over, she peered up at him, half concerned he'd fall, half impressed he'd been able to get up there in the first place. "That'll hurt an awful lot if you fall, you know."
 
Ajaccio liked his position up high, he let his legs swing lightly, and moved his hands occasionally so he wasn’t always holding on. It wasn’t that high, if he fell he’d be just fine. He was additionally sure that being in the magical world would probably help him heal up faster, so even less risk for him. The boy adjusted his cap, brushing stray strands of messy curly hair from his eyes when someone below him spoke. He moved a little so that he could see better. It was a girl, around his age and she seemed a little concerned for his safety. Ajax just let himself grin at her, ”Maybe, but it would be worth it,” he replied as if it was obvious, his accent hinting towards Kiwi but largely an amalgamation of others since he never really stayed in any one location long enough to adopt a distinct one, perhaps a little more americanised. He didn’t really mind getting hurt, he’d fallen from his skateboard numerous times, fallen from other places, this would be no different. He rubbed his tan arms lightly as he just let himself take in the view from up there, ”Would you like to join me?” the boy looked back at her with an excited smile. He doubted she would but he could move to make room for her if she wanted to. ”I’m Ajaccio by the way, but you can just call me Ajax,” Ajaccio added grinning. He was a friendly enough person, since he’d moved about so much making friends easily had always been necessary.
 
Nicole scrunched her face up incredulously when the boy said falling would be worth it. Was the view up there really so good he'd be okay falling? Nicole didn't think she could be that daring. She looked at the swing set pole, the boy, and the ground in succession, raising a doubtful eyebrow at the offer to join him up there. "I.. Don't think I can even get up there," She said, fidgeting with her hair. She didn't want him to think she was lame, but it still seemed awfully dangerous and Nicole had never been a great climber really. "I could probably get up on top of the monkey bars though!" She said, taking a step over towards them instead. That seemed a lot safer, and way easier to get up on, the were made for climbing after all. "Ajax, okay. That's a unique name," She said politely. It was a bit of a weird name, but at least she'd remember it. "I'm Nicole." Her own name was on the plain side, and she sometimes wished it was a bit more exciting.
 
Ajaccio smiled at her, not entirely surprised when she said that she wouldn’t be able to join him up at the top, but could manage the monkey bars. The tanned boy smiled at girl and nodded lightly, ”Okay monkey bars it is!” he knew that the monkey bars would be a little easier and they were a little safer. He moved from where he was sat upon the top of the swings and just the metal of the swings, to get himself back to the ground, landing with a soft jump. Just in time to hear her say that his name was unique. He laughed lightly, ”That’s one way of putting it. I like it, but it's a weird name,” Ajaccio had a friendly and excitable tone, ”Nicole, nice to meet you! Do you live in New Zealand?” the boy practically bounced his way over to the monkey bars. He stood where they started, jumped up and grabbed the bar, pulling himself up with some ease and getting to his feet when he was on top of the bars. And then looked back towards her, ”Do you want a hand?” Ajax offered bending down so he was crouched while on the bars he didn’t mean to be showing off, but it was just happening.
 
Nicole smiled when Ajax agreed to come down and join her on the monkey bars, now she had someone to talk to and it was a relief he didn't see put out back her hesitation to scale the swing set. Ajax seemed unperturbed by the drop to the ground, or by the climb to the top of the monkey bars, navigating with an enviable ease. Nicole didn't consider herself uncoordinated, but compared to Ajax she certainly felt it.
"Do you not live here?" She asked, confused, when Ajax asked if she lived in New Zealand. That might certainly explain why Ajax seemed so exciting and cool, if he was a some sort of foreign traveller or something.
She watched impressed, as Ajax effortlessly scaled the monkeys bars too. Well, that explains how he got onto the swing set too, she supposed."Oh, uh, okay, thanks." Nicole said when Ajax offered her a hand, pulling herself up and shimmying on the bar a bit to grab Ajax's hand. She definitely didn't feel brave enough to stand up like he did, and she was half worried they'd both fall if she let him take all her weight. Once she was up, Nicole sat, a little wobbly, on the top of the bars, kicking her legs and gripping the bars tight.
 
Ajaccio shrugged a little at the question, ”Sorta,” he said, ”Technically yes, but I’ve never lived here for longer than a month,” the boy explained though he wasn’t really going into much details. He knew the way he’d been brought up wasn’t particularly normal, that his accent was an indescribable mixture of everything else and why he would even ask if someone lived in New Zealand. ”My dad travels for work so we move about,” the boy added with a warm and friendly tone. He wasn’t going into it much still but offering little extra bits of information that the girl might like, certainly they were all still things that he was happy talking about. ”I’m guessing you do live here?” the boy asked, sure that she did but not necessarily wanting to assume anything about her. He’d met enough people from all sorts of places to know that he probably shouldn’t. The boy helped her up and returned to be standing. The girl seemed a little less at ease, so he sat down in front of her, not really holding on but letting his legs swing beneath him. ”Are you scared?” he asked, it was a genuinely curious question, no malice in his tone, just a friendly and soft tone, If she was scared he’d happily do something else. He loved climbing things, loved being up high, loved spending time doing numerous other supposedly dangerous things but Ajax knew it wasn’t for everyone.
 
Nicole leant forward a little as Ajax spoke about travelling, her nerves about falling momentarily forgotten while she tried to imagine all the cool far off places he might have lived. "That's so cool, I've always wanted to travel one day. Where have you lived? Have you ever been to France? Or America? I was hoping I could convince my parents to let me go to Beauxbatons, but they won't, so I have to go to boring Hogwarts," She frowned, Ajax looked to be her age and had already been to probably way more places than she ever would. "But yeah, I live here. Never lived anywhere else," Nicole finished, a bit dejectedly.
It was a bit of a relief when Ajax finally sat down next to her, Nicole no longer having to worrying about her balance while she turned to look at him as much. "I'm not-" She started at his question, pausing mid sentence before deciding to be honest. She'd already gushed about how little she'd travelled, it wasn't like Ajax probably expected her to be as brave or daring as he seemed to be. "A little bit, I'm not very good at heights," She gave a small laugh, trying to brush off the confession. "I can do this though, hang on!" Gripping the bar beneath her tightly, Nicole took a fortifying breath before letting her self swing backwards, unable to contain a quick yelp as she swung upside-down, her knees hooked over the bar to hold her there. "Tada!" She said, a touch awkwardly. She didn't know a lot of tricks to do, but she could do this one. But as she hung there for a moment, she remembered a small problem with this one. "Oh.. I uh.. I can't get myself up. Or down."
 
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Ajaccio nodded at the two locations that she gave, ”Yeah, I’ve been to both, several times. I lived in Paris for like a month, several other places too. I really like Dijon in France,” the boy said, with a wide smile, ”America’s really cool too, I’ve been to a lot of places in America but I love like the Maine area, and Yosemite area, like all of the huge expansive forests and lakes, the winter wasteland in Alaska. Hawaii’s pretty cool too,” the boy shrugged, ”We move about a lot!” he smiled lightly and gave a small chuckle, his tone was light, friendly and talkative, though probably accidentally boasting just because he’d been to so many places. ”That’s cool! I’ll be living in New Zealand for school, which I’m nervous about, but if everyone else can do it, so can I!” he laughed lightly. The young boy nodded lightly, and then when he’d be about to say something just watched as the girl swung herself backwards. He grinned easily, getting back to his feet and looking at her. ”That’s so cool Nicole!” He would’ve done the same but she then seemed to struggle to get herself back. He leaned down a little and lay across several bars before he reaching down to where she could grab his hand and he could pulled her back up, ”I can help, just grab my hand and I’ll pull you back,” he hoped that she would want to do that, and was more than sure that he would manage it. If she didn’t want that they’d need to figure something else out.
 
Nicole gave a dreamy sigh when Ajax talked more about where he'd travelled. She'd have to do some reading later, especially about France so they could talk more about it later. It was bad enough she'd never gone any where, let alone not knowing about half the locations Ajax had already mentioned. "Why do you move so much?" She asked. It certainly sounded glamourous, but Nicole figured she might eventually get homesick if she had to travel all the time.
Hanging upsidedown was daunting, but Nicole flushed happily when it sounded like Ajax might be impressed. Still it wasn't long till Nicole felt all the blood rushing to her head, what had she been thinking, trying to show off and now she was stuck. Definitely not cool. Nervously, she reached for Ajax's hand, using her other hand to hold down her shirt while she hung. "Okay, but if we fall, I'm blaming you," She said, half joking, half actually concerned they would both end up in the dirt.
 
Ajaccio gave a warm smile, ”My dad is a travel writer slash blogger,” Ajax told her, ”He works for a company that send him to places to experience all of the things they have on offer, and then write about it, they put it in travel guides and other stuff. He also does a lot of work on his blog doing the same sort of thing but more personally. I just tag along,” Ajaccio said with some clearly practiced ease, his tone was a little bored, but it was largely because it was just the sort of thing he repeated without really understanding, it was what his father did, but even Ajaccio didn’t understand it all of the time. He liked that sort of lifestyle, enjoyed moving around and experiencing different sights and places, he liked learning cultures and languages. It was a fun and enjoyable experience for him. But it was going to make the transition harder he though. The boy was keen to help her, and he smiled a little as took his head and joked a little about falling, ”It’s not that far, we’d be okay! Just don’t land on your neck,” Ajax said with a little grin both joking with her and being quite serious. He grasped her hand and slowly began pulling it towards him, adjusting himself on the bars to continue to pull her up. He was slower than he might’ve been with someone he knew was more confident, more deliberate. ”Almost got you,” he said to her as he pulled up the last little bit that he needed to.
 
At Ajax's teasing, Nicole grabbed Ajax with her other hand, splitting her focus between frowning and keeping her balance as he pulled. "Well I hadn't been worried about that till you said it!" She griped, holding onto his hand a bit tighter until she was back upright. Doing her best to catch her breath, Nicole tried to subtly regain her composure and right the messy state her hair was probably in. "Phew, thanks," She said, finishing tucking her hair behind her ears and making herself a bit more comfortable on the bars. She wasn't going to be trying anything like that again anytime soon. "I guess I'm not some crazy climber like you are," She smiled, looking down and her feet hanging over the bars. "Is that all you do while you're off on the world then? Climb stuff?" She knew he'd mentioned just tagging along with his dad, but to Nicole, travel writer still sounded pretty exciting.
 
Ajaccio was pleased when she was sitting on the bars again and smiled with ease at her as she adjusted herself to be sitting how she wanted to upon the bars. He moved away from her, and sat upon one of the other bars. He adjusted his position as she joked with him. ”It’s a playground, everything’s made to be climbed!” he returned with an easy lightness to his tone. Ajax let himself do as the girl had done, swing backwards and then letting his hands go from the bar to hang loose above his head. He’d forgotten he was wearing his hat which fell to the ground below him, unleashing his mop of unruly curls, ”I do lots of things, I go to school and stuff too,” the boy letting himself just hang easily. The boy leaned back up and grabbed the bar, swing his legs down and letting go to land on the ground below them with his knees bent. ”What do you do when you’re here in New Zealand, not climbing over everything?” the boy was looking up at her, grabbing the hat and tossing it to where the rest of his things were. ”Do you go to school or do you get homeschooled?” the boy added before he began getting himself back up to sit on the bars with her.
 
Nicole shifted awkwardly, laying herself along the top of the bars to have a better view of Ajax while he hung, while still keeping a good grip herself. "I guess I'm more of the sitting type, then," She said, trying to ignore her lingering embarrassment at getting stuck earlier. She smiled at the site of Ajax's crazy hair, it looked extra fluffy upside down. "I bet school is way more interesting when you're travelling the world though. I'm homeschooled right now with my brother, so I can't wait for Hogwarts, even if it won't be as cool as Beauxbatons I guess," She applauded quietly when Ajax swung down onto the ground, still impressed with how at ease the boy seemed as he clambered around. Nicole was content to stay spread across the bars and chat, it was much more her speed. "I like reading I guess, and uh, I collect crystals too." She fidgeted with her hair, her life sounded so boring when she talked about it sometimes.
 
Ajaccio smiled at her, ”Nothing wrong with just sitting!” he told her, he didn’t think anyone should feel bad for just wanting to sit, he certainly wouldn’t if that was what he did. He knew that he just liked climbing, tended to be always moving about. ”School is school no matter where you go,” the boy replied with a little shrug, his education had varied between actually schools and homeschooling. He smiled a little, ”Is your brother younger than you?” he asked as he settled himself back upon the the bars with a wide smile in her direction, ”What’s the obsession with France? Are you french or something?” the boy couldn’t help but think that given she’d always lived in New Zealand that her talking about Beauxbatons being cooler was a bit odd but perhaps she had just heard it was more of a palace that a castle and would rather that. ”I heard Beauxbatons is like a palace, apparently it’s really cool,” the boy said repeating back what he’d heard others say about the aforementioned school. ”What do you read? And are these like crystal crystals or like amethyst rocks and stuff?” the boy was curious about her, and had a friendly tone as he asked the question. He was swinging his legs underneath him unable to really keep still but keen to just sit and listen to her.
 
Nicole shot Ajax a grateful smile, happy that her lack of daring didn't seem to be bothering him. She didn't quite believe that school in a foreign country could be as dull as it was here, but she supposed he would know better than she did. "Yeah, he'll be starting school next year, but at least I'll have one whole year without him," She sighed. With the school year starting where it did, she missed out on having two Ryan-free years by mere weeks, something she had made sure parents knew she was upset about.
"I'm not obsessed with France," She said, going to cross her arms, but thinking better of it in order to keep her balance. "France is just really cool is all. I always thought it sounded way more glamorous than Hogwarts," She said, scrunching her face up to emphasize her point. "Did you ever get to see Beauxbatons?"
She readjusted her spot on the bars as Ajax turned the conversation to her interests, suddenly uncomfortable talking about herself so much. "Oh you, know, fiction books I guess. My brother reads so much he goes through like a book a day, I swear. And yeah, pretty crystals, rose quartz is my favourite," She said, thinking of her little collection by her bed. "Do you collect anything? You should, you'd be able to get loads of cool things from all over the world." She tried to imagine some cool things to collect. Maybe shells from all the foreign beaches Ajax had been to?
 
Ajaccio nodded at the statement, ”Do you not get along with your brother?” he asked with a friendly but curious tone, given that she’d just said she’d be away from him for a whole year but didn’t seem to indicate if that was good or bad. He hoped it wasn’t bad, Nicole was cool, she certainly had a cool brother too. Maybe they just didn’t get along? He laughed a little when she insisted she wasn’t obsessed with France but he got the feeling she was. He listened as she talked about it and then said it sounded more glamorous than New Zealand did. He didn’t really know either way, France was different from New Zealand, the climate, the houses, the air was all different, good in some ways and not so good in either. ”I’m named after a French town, well, Corsican but still kinda french,” he told her with a little shrug, but a still warm tone before shaking his head, curls bouncing and moving with the movement, ”No, you can only get in to Beauxbatons if you go to school or work there,” Ajaccio replied with a little frown, adjusting his position on the monkey bar slightly.
”Have you asked your parents if they could take you to France? I’d offer for you to come with me and my dad, but I don’t know if we’ll be spending any time in france in the next few months,” Ajax knew it wasn’t always easy for people to travel like he and his father did, but he thought it never hurt to ask. If she liked it so much, then perhaps talking about it would entice her parents to try to take her or consider trying to send her to the school. He nodded as she answered his questions, moving strands of the curly hair from his eyes as she spoke and the nodding on his end moved strands into his eyes. ”Not really, we travel pretty light, so I don’t have much stuff. I tend to get postcards from places and the occasional hat but nothing else,” Ajaccio smiled at her as he replied. He was sure she had expected him to have something more interesting as a collection but that was all he had.
 
"He's just sorta weird and annoying," Nicole sighed, thinking of her brother. "I always end up having to look after him, it'll be nice to have a year to myself for a bit," She said, propping her elbow on a bar so she could rest her chin on her hand. She brightened when Ajax mentioned his name meaning, even if she wasn't sure what 'Corsican' meant. "Oh that's so cool. I think my name means victory or something, I can't remember. Were you born there or something?"
She watched Ajax, a little mesmerized by his hair as he talked about Beauxbatons a bit more, resisting the temptation to touch it.
The idea of a holiday to France was a lovely one, but Nicole somehow just didn't see it happening. "I dunno if we could afford to stay there very long, and my mum's busy a lot, but that'd be so amazing," She said with a dreamy sigh. "Maybe when we're older, ohh that'd be fun, we could go in the winter holidays so it'd be the summer there!" She said, warming up to the idea. It was pretty farfetched really, but she could dream.
"Oh, those are pretty cool, you should definitely collect more postcards especially," It was a little silly, but the idea of getting letters and mail always really excited Nicole, and postcards often had pretty art or photographs on the back. "Speaking of hats, I can't believe how much hair you were fitting under yours." She giggled, Ajax's acrobatics on the monkey bars seeming to have only made his hair look even crazier.
 
Ajaccio nodded as she spoke of her brother. He could imagine how it might be frustrating to have to look after a brother like that, though he thought it really shouldn’t fall to her to do so, but it wasn’t like Ajaccio could really comment on it. His brother had stayed with their mother, where he’d gone with their father in the divorce. He didn’t know his brother well at all, only seeing him on the occasions where he was in New Zealand. At the question he shook his head, ”Nah, my parents met there. I was born here in New Zealand,” he explained lightly with a smile, ”But I’ve been to the town, it’s nice, very warm in the summer,” Ajax smiled easily at her. It seemed like maybe it just wouldn’t be possible for Nicole to go to France and he could help but feel a little sad for her, travelling and visiting places was amazing, he knew he was very privileged to be able to do it but he felt sad that she couldn’t. However, maybe in the future he could, ”Okay, I promise, in the future, I will take you to France,” he held out his pinky to her with a wide, large smile on his expression. He would take her for sure after all a promise was a promise. He grinned easily too at her comment about his hair. He ruffed it up slightly with a little chuckle, ”You should see it when it gets humid!” he leaned his head down so that she could touch it if she wanted to.
 
Nicole listened as Ajax explained his name, smiling when he mentioned it was where his parents met. "Oh that's so romantic!" Why couldn't her name be something cool or romantic like that, Nicole sighed again. She was cheered by Ajax's offer though. They both knew it probably would never happen, but Nicole enjoyed the fantasy of it for a bit, hooking her pinky finger with his and shaking solemnly. "I'll hold you to that, just wait," She said, grinning at him. "We can go to Paris and even Ajaccio,"
Nicole laughed as Ajax messed his hair up even more, tentatively reaching out to pull at one of the curls when he offered. "Man, mine gets messy as in the humidity but yours is wild." She giggled.
 
How easily Ajax would be able to keep his promise to Nicole only time would tell, but he was pretty hopeful that they would be able to go, he hoped that he’d be able to keep the promise and take her to these places with him. It would just be a nice thing to do, and Nicole seemed pretty awesome so he wouldn’t mind it at all. The boy grinned easily at her, ”Family trait!” he replied with a laugh along with her, between his wild hair and the thick eyebrows Ajaccio knew he was always easy to spot and the similarities between him and his father were pretty clear. ”Do you want to learn how to skateboard?” Ajaccio asked her, he got the feeling that Nicole didn’t do much adventurous stuff, but he thought it could be pretty fun, they could have a good time, he could teach her something before the time came for him to go home and to travel off to the next location. He hoped that during his time away Nicole wouldn’t forget him too much, having a friend when he started at hogwarts and help him adjust to living in the same place would be good.
 
Nicole grinned at the thought of a whole family with hair like Ajax's. She thought it was neat, but was secretly glad her hair wasn't that crazy. She paused when Ajax asked her about skateboarding, a little wary. "No, I don't know if I have the balance for it," She deflected. She didn't want Ajax to think she was uncool or anything, but the idea of skateboarding was a little scary. "How are you supposed to stand on it when it's moving? That's so scary." She laughed, though she supposed scary wasn't really something that seemed to bother Ajax.
 
Ajax grinned lightly at her when she seemed wary of the skateboard, he had been skateboarding for years, it had been one of the first skills that his father had taught him and one he had certainly taken to, it was an easier way of getting around, so long as it wasn’t up hill. ”Some people don’t have the balance for it, but if you can ride a bike or ski or even maybe fly, I think you can get the hang of it,” the boy thought of the other sports that required some level of balance, not in the same way as skateboarding might, but would still require some of it. He shrugged when she called it scary, but he knew that people had different levels of scary, found different things scary. ”You just balance really, bend a little at the knees and stay upright,” the boy replied with a cheery shrug, realising that perhaps he wouldn’t be the best at describing something that came quite easily to him. ”I don’t find it scary, but I’ve been doing it for agesss. I found it scary the first time I’m sure,” he didn’t quite remember the first time riding a skateboard, but he was sure he’d found it at least a little scary. ”It’s really fun,”
 
"You make it sound so easy," Nicole laughed when Ajax tried to explain skateboarding technique to her. She wasn't surprised that he didn't seem intimated by it. He was probably about as good at it as he was at climbing all over the playground. Even if he did fall he probably wouldn't be phased by it either. Just the idea of falling had Nicole wincing out of imagined pain and embarrassment. "I think I'd be fine if I could just sit on it and scoot around," She said, giggling at the mental image. Very cool, Nicole. "I'm not sure I'd believe you find anything scary. You probably do scary things without even blinking." She said confidently.
 
Ajax grinned at her, ”It’s maybe not easy to do, but it’s like anything you gotta work at it,” he replied with a wide grin, hoping that he wouldn’t deter her too much from it. Even if she didn’t decide to try it now, he wouldn’t want to deter her from ever doing it in the future. He smiled easily at her, an excited expression sitting around on his face as she pretty much, in his mind, agreed to it, so long as she was sitting upon the skateboard. ”I find other things scary, but skateboarding, sports, this, this is just fun,” Ajaccio swung down off the bars easily and then looked back up at her still sitting on the bars, ”Come on then, come sit on the skateboard, I promise you, I won’t let anything happen to you,” the boy grinned an enthusiastic grin, hoping to entice her to come try it. It would be good, he could promise her that it would be fun too.
 

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