Jen was sitting on a blanket next to Pat, who was talking to Adv, about 10 or so feet away from Anne and Markus as they were skinning a few rabbits. She was mostly watching them as they did this as she was also looking to become more useful. At least more useful outside of a town, social information gathering was much easier when there were people after all.

"Hey, Jen!" Markus called out to her.

"What's up?"

"Go wake up Johan, he'll be cooking dinner tonight since he didn't hunt or help skin the rabbits."

"Oh... Uh, alright. I'll be back in a bit." Jen got up.

She walked over to the small area that was under the overhang of the cliff where Johan was sleeping. He was quite peaceful looking as he was laying there. For the last few days he was sleeping very little, so it relieved Jen's heart a bit to see him rest properly.

With a slight sigh, she prodded him awake. It took several tries before he actually woke up.

"Wha...? What time is it?" Johan said groggily, his words slurring together a bit.

"It's been a couple of hours since you fell asleep. Anne is currently helping Markus skin a few rabbits. I was told to wake you up."

"Oh. Thanks." Johan stretched a bit, while Jen just watched him, she could see a bit of his flesh under his shirt as he stretched. "You... Good?"

Jen blinked a few times at his words and looked up to face him. "Oh, uh, yeah, sorry. I was just kinda staring off. Anyways, I'll go away now." She turned to leave after giving a quick excuse, having realized that he caught her staring at him.

She felt him grab at her arm, not too terribly tight however. "Sorry, if I made feel uncomfortable. I don't mean to try and push you away. You're friends with Anne after all. I'm just a bit unused to... well, a lot of this." Johan explained. "Ah, sorry, I rambled a bit. The short of it is, you aren't a bother. I don't want you to think that you bother me."

"Oh... Um..." Jen felt her face growing warm, as she grew a bit flustered. "Thanks...? Sorry I'm not used to being touched. And... uh, men specifically are difficult for me." Jen pulled her arm away from Johan, giving an excuse once again before running away.

She could feel her heart beating at record pace, and also began to regret her actions, after all, she knew she wasn't really afraid of those things, though she had been in the past, she had gotten past that several years ago while living in Basin.

She ran up to pat and grabbed her arm. "Come with me, I need to talk to someone." Jen tried to tug on Pat a bit.

"Alright, alright, let me grab Adv!" Pat said.

"I don't want Adv to know what we are talking about, just come on!" Jen urged Pat.

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"Ugh. Fine. Let's go." Pat got up and followed Jen into the woods about a hundred feet, far enough that they wouldn't be overheard and close enough to get help if needed.

"What's up?" Pat asked once they got far enough.

"I need to talk about how I'm supposed to approach Johan." Jen said.

"Pft. Sorry, I just find it funny that the girl who is great at social networking is having trouble with her crush. What brought this on today anyways?"

"Well... I went to wake him up and just kinda stared at his body for a while, and then felt really awkward... I don't think he really knows yet. Though that's probably because he was groggy..." Jen sighed. "I'm just... I want to tell him, but it'll be weird if he says he isn't interested and we're on such a long journey."

"Well... Huh... I guess it's either you wait or take the arrow and tell him. I'm not romantically interested in him so, I don't really get it. I will say that you'll probably be shot down though. Not because he doesn't like you or anything, but well, he is in a interesting spot at the current moment. He is busy learning magic as well as trying to protect Anne as his last family member. I imagine he's pretty stressed with just that." Pat said.

"How are you able to tell all of that?" Jen asked, shocked that Pat of all people knew so much about Johan.

"Oh, me and Johan talk sometimes about Magic and stuff, and he's told me a few things about how he is doing mentally, also he and Markus talk a lot while we're walking and I tend to be behind them in the formation." Pat laughed a bit. "I wish I was able to tell that much by watching a person. Honestly with how much you've been watching him you should have known these things. Why do you think he's been so tired. He and Anne talk when we stop for the day, then he works on magic for a while as well."

"Wow.... I just didn't know that. I wonder if it's because I'm to busy looking at him to pay attention to how he's doing..." Jen muttered softly.

"Hey! You two dinner is going to be done soon. We should head back." Jen jumped a bit as Anne walked into the small area the two were talking in and spoke.

"Whoa! You scared me there Anne." Pat said, looking at Anne.

"Sorry, I kinda wanted to mess with you. Anyways, what were you guys talking about?" Anne asked curiously.

"Nothing."

"Your brother."

Jen and Pat spoke at the same time. Anne took a second them gave a small mischievous smile.

"Jen really pulled you out here to talk about her crush huh? That's cute."

"Hey! I need to talk to someone about it, and between you guys Adv and Markus, Pat just feels the most comfortable. Adv talks too much, you wouldn't want to hear about how I like your brother, and Markus... That just feels uncomfortable. Not that Markus is bad, but he's just not someone I want to talk about crushes with." Jen explained.

"I mean, that's fair. I actually feel a bit bad for Johan recently. He's been exhausted lately." Anne said sighing at the end.

"Well, he's talking to you and also working on magic every night, I doubt he is sleeping well, especially with keeping watch on top of that." Pat responded to Anne.

"Oh... I didn't even think about that. Have we really been talking that much with each other? I didn't think it was affecting him that much."

"Well, yeah, Johan wouldn't ever tell you if he is having issues. He doesn't want you to feel like a burden."

"Man... Now I feel a bit guilty." Anne groaned a bit.

"You can talk to me if you still feel like you need to talk to someone before you sleep." Pat volunteered to take Johans place.

"Yeah... Yeah, that'll work I think."

"Anyways. Jen, you should decide whether or not to confess to Johan or not. Perhaps when you two are alone? I'm sure that would go much better. I'm rooting for you." Pat put her hand on Jen's shoulder in support.

"I'll do it if me and Johan ever manage to be alone together. Honestly I doubt he really even cares about me, we haven't talked much after all." Jen said with a bitter smile.

"Well, you have told him you are somewhat scared of men. He kinda tries to avoid you so you don't get uncomfortable." Anne said. "Anyways, let's go. I'm hungry."

"Of course you are." Jen rolled her eyes, but still followed behind. She was also hungry after all their walking.