WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? , (tagged: open!)

It was a damn good thing that Joshua Dale had a good enough handle on his powers by now. He could recall all too well his freshman year onward--his anger was closely linked to the fiery energy within him, and he'd literally possessed a death glare for a while. If someone pushed him over the edge, fire sometimes burst from nothing and consumed the object of his hatred. He really didn't want to set fire to his beloved sanctuary, however. It hadn't happened in the past because he usually avoided the library when he was in a bad mood for that reason. The librarian was often iffy about the Fire students and it had taken her a long time to accept his regular presence amongst the books of which she was named guardian. Josh could still remember the frequent mistrustful glares of the old woman as he'd sat and studied, as if she expected him to torch the place just because. He had never done so, however, and now she was even what you could call fond of him. She certainly remembered his name and said hello whenever he came through the door.

He stiffened when the presence of another elemental came close, however, fully ready to turn around and bite someone's head off for invading his personal space. His gray glare was deadly as he cast it in the direction of the newcomer--if he were an animal, he would have been bristling and snarling in warning, but as it were his simple stiff posture should have been enough. Josh was scary even when he was in a perfectly neutral mood. But this person did not seem intimidated by his presence, and as he hesitated long enough to identify her before he blasted her back with his powers, Joshua realised why. It was Cynthia Bainbridge, resident bitch and Thunder leader, an elemental of whom he was much fonder than most of the school. The room had started to swelter with heat as she drew close and flames danced over the palm of his left hand, but he shook it slightly to put them out as the room returned to only slightly-uncomfortable temperatures. Josh, as he was in a foul mood, was unable to calm down completely. It was at least enough to reduce how threatening he was. He didn't want her to think he'd attack.

She smiled and he only nodded in a stiff greeting that was nevertheless more friendly reception than anyone else would have gotten in her position. "Cyn," came the simple response to her greeting, equally as tense as his nod had been. He was not angry with her but with people in general, in a quite dangerous and volatile mood at the moment. He wanted to punch something, break something, hurt something... or someone, namely the stupid fucking reporters that dared use his past to attack his family.

His eyes narrowed. "Business?" He wondered for a moment what she was talking about, then weighed the situation and got an idea in his head that seemed to him to be a bit... far-fetched? He didn't even know if Cyn was the type of girl that would-- "What kind of business?" he found himself asking regardless, and there was something in his tone that suggested he might have had a faint idea. The beginnings of what might have been a smirk tugged at the edge of his lips, but he didn't allow the gesture to come into being just yet. He would see where this was going, first.

She placed her hand on his arm and Joshua was almost positive that his earlier suspicions were confirmed, gray eyes sharp with a guarded intelligence as they met hers. She definitely wanted from him what he'd previously assumed, but why? Most girls weren't the type to go for things like this (Joshua would know!). He'd been slapped countless times by girls that had thought he was in it for much more than a quick night after a case full of beer. Josh wasn't really that great with commitment. He'd never really fallen in love with a girl before. He sometimes tried to convince himself that the feelings were there, but past the lust and the heat of the moment... there was nothing. And whilst he was a bit of a jerk, he wasn't about to lead someone on for months just so that he could get sex out of them. He had some standards, albeit not very many. And he was careful... which was why Angel's supposed pregnancy had taken him by such surprise. He could have sworn he always--but no, clearly not.

Well, he'd be careful this time if Cynthia felt like following through. He was sober now (too sober) and so it would be complete idiocy of him to make that sort of careless mistake. "I wouldn't be opposed to a little... business proposition," he said, allowing the smirk to touch his lips now. Cynthia was grinning and he'd honestly never seen this side of her before. Then again, they didn't know one another too well--they had met on several occasions, they'd just never really, well, done anything like this. Joshua was generally very perceptive when it came to flirting and sexual advances, and this... yeah, it definitely wasn't anything she had done before.

He didn't mind.

She explained her qualms being with an Earth student. Joshua might have asked who this Earth student was, but he really didn't care at the moment. He wasn't entirely shallow or anything but he also wasn't the type of person to pry into other peoples businesses. He usually didn't give favours of this sort--he'd help people with their homework and he might warm a room if you asked nicely, but he'd never been approached and asked for sex outside a bar. He had a couple of friends that had extra benefits, but that was usually developed over time and this had been a sudden onset. Again, not an unwelcome one. "Oh, how upsetting," he sympathised with a bit of a smirk, which turned into a grin when she 'got to the point'. "Careful, now, we're in a library..." He laughed, and rather than being dark it was more mischievous than anything else.

He pretended to think on it, teasing her as he frowned 'thoughtfully'. "Oh, I don't know," he said in a pseudo-doubtful tone. He put some distance between them as he paced away from her and perched on the edge of the table, acting almost disinterested. "I may know someone, see, but he's terribly busy... I just don't know if he could spare the time..." And he glanced at her with a vicious smirk. Usually it was the girls that played hard to get, but what was fun without a little teasing?

As interesting as it may be to conduct a 'business deal' in the library, Joshua knew that such an option was definitely out on his part. It was so quiet that even if they managed to keep from making a sound, the librarian might just get suspicious and come up the stairs. Or another student intent on some innocent studying might walk in on them, and that wouldn't be good. He had a good track record against not being kicked out of this place, but he was sure even though the librarian seemed to favour him that she'd never let him through the doors again if he did something this risky. So he gave a hollow chuckle at her words.

"I've conducted many a business deal in my past," he said, and with these words he told no lie. Joshua certainly must have been doing something right--despite his reputation for darkness and violence, he'd had his fair share of romantic hook-ups. Inside the castle and out, sober and drunk. "There's a passageway not far from here... no one goes down there much... business could be conducted in privacy..." And he was smirking again, a fairly suggestive tone colouring his voice as he arched both brows in her direction. "After all, the library is a public place, and business in the eyes of the public isn't always appreciated..."

When he teased, she played right back, causing Joshua's gray eyes to sparkle with a wicked amusement. Oh, it seemed that two could play at this game. "I suppose you could just forget about it," he said with a mock sigh. "I'd hate to bother him if you're not that committed..."

Joshua laughed again, this time under his breath. "He's been told he's more than adequate at what he does," the Fire student said mischievously. Once again, this was based off of true facts. He'd been told he was rather good in bed and Joshua was confident enough in himself to take their words for it. "But of course if you'd rather give it up for a lost cause..." He trailed off with a devious expression as medium-gray optics fixed themselves on her. "A favour from moi?" he said. "Oh, you'll have to ask nicer than that, sweetheart."

[LOL I HAD TO OKAY I COULDN'T RESIST-- /shot]

Joshua chuckled as Cynthia spoke of kidnapping, rather amused by where she'd taken his suggestion. "Kidnap, you say?" he said in a falsely innocent tone as a smirk blossomed across his lips. Joshua didn't smile often but when it came to talk of flings and foreplay you could coax a bit of a sadistically playful side out of him. It was different from his normal cold nonchalance, but it wasn't quite close to breaking down his walls. Even when he was being 'playful', Josh was still every bit as guarded and careful as he was normally. That didn't go away just because talk of sex was being coaxed into the picture. "Oh, it's not fair to accuse me of such an awful thing! I'm wounded, Cynthia, really..." But he was more amused than anything else.

She seemed to take his joke about commitment quite seriously judging by the way she'd responded, and Joshua only rolled his eyes slightly. "Please, Cyn, I have standards," he told her. "There are never any strings attached with me; surely you jest...?" Joshua did not enjoy commitment, he was afraid of settling down when he knew in his own heart that he was only doing this for pleasure and to blow off a bit of steam. If he actually loved a girl--well, that was the thing, he'd never fallen in love before. He didn't know how it felt and so he didn't know how he'd react to it. "Don't worry, darling. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, as they say..." He smirked again, shooting her a meaningful look through his gray eyes.

No, there would be no strings attached. That was how they both wanted it, that was how it was going to be. They would forget about this after it happened and they wouldn't allow it to affect how they saw one another. Granted, there was always something more around a person once you'd slept with them seeing as you knew what they looked like with their clothes off, but Josh was used to that. He didn't let it get to him. Girls seemed infamous for letting that sort of thing bother them though--they seemed to think that they were the only one that should be allowed that intimacy, that you were theirs forever and that cheating was absolute blasphemy. They seemed to automatically assume you were in a relationship just because you'd slept together once. He was glad this was not like that.

Cynthia turned somewhat sensual as she walked up to him with purpose and pressed her lip to his jawline, making him smirk a little in response. Oh, so now he was dear Joshua? He chuckled under his breath, leaning down to brush his lips against hers for a moment, deepening it very slightly as if he might give in. But then he pulled back and sighed heavily, turning his gaze away from her. Oh how fun it was to tease like this. "I don't know," he said with false dramatics. "I hate to be second best, and you've already said that you'll only settle for me then..." Gray eyes twinkled with almost sadistic amusement. "Accusing me of kidnapping as well... yes, it truly is terrible..."

Joshua leaned forward slightly so that he could whisper in her ear, "Consider yourself blamed." He smirked as he pulled back, gray eyes glittering with mischief. He knew how to tease and he knew how to tempt people, they were all the tricks of the trade that he'd picked up over the years of scoring at parties and the like. Some would say that he was quite the asshole for taking advantage of women, but Josh actually had some respectable qualities about his promiscuous ways: he didn't play pretend. He was up front about the fact that there would be no commitment from him in the long run. And if he was drunk... well, it was the girls fault for getting drunk enough that she'd agree to sleep with someone as utterly smashed as he was. He didn't pretend to be committed then, either.

She wanted more, Joshua could tell by the viscous yet pleading look that entered her gaze as he pulled away. This was what Joshua liked; he loved when the ball was in his court. In a way, this compensated for the lack of a social life. He was an outcast, but when it came to situations like these Joshua liked to make the girls suffer for a little, drive them wild with his teasing. When they made it clear they wanted him... that made up for the fact that he had no friends and that his only family had turned on him. He was the one with the popularity and power when it came to romantics, and that was the way Josh wanted things to go.

Cynthia's hand traced along his shoulder and it left an almost tingling sensation behind it. A lot of less controlled men would be shoving their tongue down her throat and in a rush to get her clothes off before she changed her mind, but Josh had practised all of this before, with other girls in the solitude of shady motel rooms or the dangerous back alleys of the streets. He allowed her to kiss him, leaning into it slightly in the hopes to increase temptation. She whispered about her own adequacy and he gave a bit of a chuckle. "Oh, really..."

Joshua traced his fingers gently down her arm, making sure that he barely had contact so that the gesture was feather light. The smirk on his face never left as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against her neck, beneath the jawline and straying close to the collarbone. He kissed it slowly then nipped her collarbone in a teasing manner before he brought her lips back close to her ear again. "Care to convince me a little more, my potential business partner?" he asked. All of this was designed to see just how desperate she was at the moment. His own rage was starting to dissipate already--it was remarkable what a little silly foreplay could do for one's mood. "What was that about kidnapping, Cyn?" he asked deviously. "I don't know if I'm in the mood to go off into a dark place with the big bad wolf, someone might get hurt..." He laughed under his breath.

He'd slept with Thunder students before, and they did have a rather odd habit of shocking you on occasion as if to provide some sort of a turn-on; it could go either way depending on the strength of the shock and the general mood of the evening. But he'd never exactly experienced this strange sensation which Cynthia produced as she ran her hand along his skin. She traced the hand up his jaw and he tilted his head slightly, deciding that he liked the odd sensation despite the unexpectedness of it. He smirked slightly when she broke contact and pulled away slightly, giving him a final sort of chance to take it or leave it. And of course he'd been planning on taking it the entire time since Cyn had made it clear what she'd wanted with him--there was just no fun without the foreplay, in his opinion.

To give her a little taste of a fiery trick, Joshua closed the gap between them once again, getting so close that they were almost touching, but not quite. "Perhaps I could... spare a moment," he said with a chuckle, then leaned forward and kissed her again. This time he deepened it, put some real passion behind it. It wasn't a tease this time but a sort of a preview of what he could do. She was a bit taller than most girls but he still had to lean down a bit to touch their lips together thanks to his own height. That wasn't what he was really planning, however.

Whilst he distracted Cynthia with the kiss, his hands slipped around her waist, one of them ghosting up her spine as he smirked into the gesture. Romance was well known to cause the heat of passion, but when you had a natural warmth you could just play with that to your own will. He allowed his natural body warmth to increase ever so slightly so that she'd be able to feel that heat. It wasn't uncomfortable, it was just teasing as usual. But he'd played hard to get and so had she, it was time to actually get down to 'business', as they'd both so professionally insisted that it was.

Pulling back, he began to snake his hands back around her waist, lingering on her hips for a moment and chuckling. "Much as I would love to discuss our most pressing matters in this sanctuary," he said, removing his hands and gesturing to the bookshelves around them, "I think you and I have business elsewhere, do we not?" Because as much as he was turned on right now, there was still a logical part of his brain that functioned easily enough. There was a librarian down on the floor below and even the most subtle of business deals had room for... mistakes. One wrong move, one misplaced moan, they could both find themselves without a school to attend. He'd heard of students getting expelled before and that path was definitely not one which he wanted to entertain.