Well. This fellow is certainly taciturn. Good thing Axel has a lot of experience dealing with grumpy linefaces.

"Seems so," he agrees when the stranger speaks again, and he puts his hands on his hips. After a beat of [somewhat awkward] silence, he clears his throat and looks at the stranger with a bit of a smile that could also maybe possibly be a bit of a grimace. "Ah... anyway, I'm Axel, nice to meet'cha," he says, tentatively offering a hand. "Maybe two heads really are better than one and if we put 'em together we can find our way out of here, whaddaya think?"