CAN YOU FEEL THE HEAT? (tagged: nell!)

He heard her coming before he actually saw her, so Joshua was ready and waiting with a mild expression of nonchalance when Nell found her way into the clearing. He gave a quiet laugh under his breath when he heard her confusion voiced aloud, then dipped his head when she noticed him and inquired about the state of the clearing. "I did," he confirmed, smirking a little. He hated the snow and the cold and so this environment suited his mood a lot better right now. Since he was a graduated Fire elemental and in his second year of college, clearing the snow and warming the place had barely even taken an edge off of his energy. He knew that if he'd been younger and perhaps still in high school that something like this would have been much more difficult and draining, but it was not.

There was still a barrier between them, Joshua always had such a thing in place when he was dealing with someone he didn't completely trust. He didn't outright smile and he was guarded as he gave her a nod of greeting. "I wondered for a moment if you might have gotten lost." He hadn't neglected to give her directions on purpose, but knowing his callous attitude and his reputation he wondered if she'd assumed as such. Nevertheless, she'd gotten here without too much difficulty and that was what mattered in the end. He certainly wasn't going to apologise even though it had been his mistake. Josh did not apologise.

His gray eyes observed the tree as his acquaintance put her hand up against it, watching with mild interest as buds began to push themselves into being and opened into the leaves of springtime. It was quite a fantastic site, but he showed little for it except to broaden the smirk on his face by a small amount. "Nice." At least the warmth in the air and the lack of snow allowed her powers to flow through the dormant tree. That had been part of his motive for creating the scene--the other half of course being that he just hated the snow and wanted it gone. She made no move to further brighten the landscape with greenery, but that was okay with him. He really didn't want her to try too hard and pass out or something, because that would suck and then he'd have to carry her all the way back to school or something. Not that he'd have any problem with doing that physically--he was tough, she looked light, and he could probably lift her with ease. There was just something awkward about the mere idea of the situation. Sleeping people were vulnerable people. Or, erm, unconscious people at least.

She indicated snacks, however, and his gaze brightened by a small amount. Candy...? He tried not to look too pleased about this, but the smirk seemed a little less chilling as he replied, "Candy, awesome." Honestly, if there were bigger sweet-tooths than Joshua up at the Academy, he would be surprised. He'd always been obsessed with candy and junk food--good for his health or not. He figured that it was okay as long as he applied good dental hygiene and kept with with his strict diet--which he did. He had accidentally allowed his sister to become part of his candy addiction as well. He normally did not share in his candy stash, but Annabel was one exception. He'd been babysitting her once and they'd been hanging out in his large room back at the mansion. He'd taken a notion for some candy and he'd offered her some of it to be fair. His parents no doubt blamed him for the fact that she, too, now opted to indulge in sugar whenever necessary. It made a little more sense considering she was a child, however...

Even still, despite implementing self control he was very tempted to dip into the stash of whatever she'd brought. "May I...?" he asked as he arched an eyebrow, nodding at it. It was a surprisingly polite request, but hey--candy.

They had came here for a purpose, however, so Joshua did not allow himself to forget this just because there was some of the sweet stuff within his reach. He'd take candy over alcohol any day if only it could just provide the numbness that a couple of shots could. It wasn't fair that something so good couldn't replace something so evil. "So, how's it been going?" he queried--he was asking about school, but it could really go both ways.

She mentioned being good with forests, and even though he just nodded slightly in reply, this made Joshua think. Was she the type that truly enjoyed the outdoors, or did it have something to do with having been around a lot of forests? Suspicion and intrigue prickled at the back of his mind like always. She's an Earth student, they're all a bunch of fucking flower children, he reminded himself with a bit of an internal scoff. You're probably thinking too much into this. That was Joshua for you--over-analyser extraordinaire. He'd map out every possible road to a solution and then debate over which one to take; actually getting anywhere was an accomplishment. When it came to decision making, however, Joshua was quite firm. He might hesitate in making it at first as he weighed his options, but once he placed his money on something he saw it through. It was one of his good qualities amongst many a bad.

It seemed that whilst they were very different Joshua and Nell shared one definitive thing in common: they loved candy. He could almost catch himself smiling when she said that she couldn't go a day without junk food, but he caught the gesture and withheld the urge before it could ever make its way to his lips. No, he mustn't get too comfortable around anyone. Never again. He was never going to put his trust in someone so easily again. You know what happened last time, he scolded himself. Memories returned of being dragged into the dark alleyway, of their kicks and punches and the bruising, the pain. Several ribs had been broken and his lip had been busted so that all he could taste was blood and the dirt from the stale ground as he lay there, probably dying. Bless the old woman who'd been tottering through the alley and who'd nearly tripped over him on her way to the convenience store.

She'd had candy, he remembered in a strange flashback of events. The old woman had kindly insisted on staying with the battered fifteen year old on the drive to the hospital, telling him stories about her cats and slowly savouring a dark chocolate bar. Daisy and Muffins and Cinderella were apparently a litter of kittens she'd rescued from a fire, and Cinderella was named as such for the fact that her white fur had never quite come clean of the ash. The lady had probably been a mad old bat, but he had been grateful for the company as he'd drifted in and out of consciousness. I wonder where she is now... The entire thought process only lasted a moment, and he was once again fully aware of the current situation when Nell granted him permission to dip into her candy stash. It was as if he'd never left at all, naught to tell for it save for the fact that he'd been silent--and as he usually was, it wasn't really much of a warning sign.

His moves were delicate and careful as he selected a cookie from the bag and bit into it, resisting the urge to close his eyes or give any other sign that it tasted as good as it did. It may have seemed odd to withhold such human and normal gestures, but in Joshua's eyes it portrayed him as someone who was just as easy to defeat and take advantage of as anyone around him. He didn't like people to view him in such a light, even if they were like Nell and probably would never hold it against him.

She pulled out a bag of seeds and shook them slightly, revealing that she had at least taken something out of their conversation the previous time they'd met. Joshua was actually mildly surprised she'd taken his advice at all, but also oddly pleased with himself for being able to help. It was almost like being smug, but there was something a little more genuine behind it as well. "Good." It sounded more like nonchalant dismissal than anything else--like he was just speaking for the sake of making sounds, but he really did care (surprisingly). He wouldn't have led her astray and given her some totally shit piece of advice that did absolutely nothing for her. That was not Joshua's style. If he didn't like you he was usually rather up front about it rather than making subtle gestures. Not that he liked this Nell girl, he just... well, maybe he didn't hate her.

He watched with intense gray eyes as the blue-clustered hydrangeas broke through their earthen barrier, bringing with them a pleasant scent of flowers that reminded him of spring. Spring, surprisingly, was Joshua's favourite season out of the four. One would think it would be summer as this was the favourite of most Fire elementals, but he preferred the milder weather and the bright greenery that had an absence of bees and mosquitoes. Joshua loathed mosquitoes with the burning passion of a thousand suns. "It definitely seems to help."

She asked after his own well-being, shocking him as always with the fact that she really cared at all. He was not going out of his way to make his presence warm and welcoming and yet Nell still pressed onward like she could just befriend anybody with enough patience. He didn't know whether to be amused or wholly exasperated by this fact. In the end he proved her predictions right with a simple, "Fine." Then, to get the subject away from himself and his own well-being considering he didn't want to risk saying too much about himself, he asked, "Professors giving you loads of trouble about your work, yet? I could help you with any of it if need be."

He nodded slightly as Nell spoke, though his gaze was a little distant and deep in thought as he stared at the previously dormant tree that had budded under her influence. "This time next year you'll be able to create it in any weather, with or without soil." His long fingers tapped steadily on his thigh, a small gesture that usually indicated that he was distracted by the thoughts in his own head. He certainly wasn't looking at Nell as he continued to speak. "The Academy tries to bring everyone up to the same level by first graduation, seeing as not a lot of us go for college." Not that he could really blame any of them. He understood that not everyone enjoyed school as much as he did, after all--Joshua didn't believe that everyone should have to suffer through even all four years of high school, let alone college. Some people were different. "Of course, some fall short. But if you try hard enough... I suppose you'd do well enough." His tone was mild and nonchalant. He wasn't the type that would cheerily preach, 'You can do anything if you put your mind to it!' because no, you couldn't. All you could do was try. If he wanted to go to fucking Pluto, he could wish until his brains bled out his ears, it still wasn't possible.

She seemed unwilling to further press him for help--even Joshua picked up on this without much effort. Was it because she didn't really enjoy his presence? Can't say I blame her, he thought to himself with dry amusement, nor can I pretend the feeling isn't mutual. Being around other people was never comfortable for Joshua because he always had to keep his guard up all of the time. He had to put on a façade so that nobody could figure him out, and it was tiring. Still, he'd committed himself to helping her as much as he could, and even if Nell didn't realise it right now it was equally for his own benefit as it was for hers.

"I don't mind doing this," he pointed out, deciding to be straight with her so that there were no awkward misunderstanding. Hell, everything was already tense enough without adding more stuff to the mixture. "We college students have less of an academic workload--" Joshua was also enrolled in online classes outside the Academy, but he hadn't told Nell that and didn't plan to, "--so I've got the time. It gives me something to do." He said it casually and ended with a shrug as if it didn't matter either way. But really, it would be helping him more than Nell might realise. Even with his schoolwork and his job keeping him busy, Joshua still found himself with free time that most would allocate toward relationships with family and friends. Joshua didn't have such things to keep himself occupied, and so these free spaces in his schedule were dangerous things. When he wasn't busy, he became bored. When he was bored, he worried. When he worried, he drank, and when he drank... well, that never went anywhere good. He missed the nights of being able to have a single beer to take the edge off without drinking until he blacked out and couldn't remember fuck all in the morning. So yes, having a little extra stuff to do would help him. He would never admit this to Nell, however, and so he somewhat selfishly hoped that she became stressed enough by the workload that she'd let him assist her in some way.

Joshua nodded. "Go for it," he said, selecting another cookie from the bag as he watched the younger girl stand up and head toward a nearby tree. When she placed her palm on the trunk, the Fire graduate was expecting it to bud and become lush with leaves as the last one had... but it did not. His brow furrowed in mild confusion and he glanced questioningly at her, wondering whether her power had failed. Nell cleared up this misunderstanding a moment later by asking him about the warm clearing, however, and he chuckled under his breath. The laugh was not upbeat and happy as laughs should have been, but rather as dark and mysterious as the boy that it came from. There was no humour behind it, even though the question had amused him slightly. "I could tell you," he mused, then popped the last bite of cookie past his lips. He made sure to swallow so that he was not talking with his mouth full, then continued, "but I'll do better than that. I'll show you." The Fire elemental gestured to an area past the clearing that was still thick with snow. "Come over here for a minute."

He stood up and brushed a couple of cookie crumbs from the cheap fabric of his jeans, still missing the creature comforts of an embellished wardrobe and a wealthy lifestyle. Once upon a time he had ran with the scum of the earth, but he had taken comfort in the fact that he would return home and once again life amongst the upper-class folk of society. No matter who he made friends with, Joshua would never be as low as them because he had money (or rather, his parents did). People would never look at him as low-class scum. But now he was part of lower-class society, and this bothered him a lot--possibly more than it should. Pushing the thought away, he made his way over to the spot he'd indicated, taking care not to get snow in his hiking boots or letting it soak through the bottom of his jeans.

He gave pause to allow Nell to join him, then spoke. "I used heat, rather than fire," the elemental explained. "It's a bit difficult to manipulate certain aspects of an element as opposed to the actual thing, but definitely possible with a lot of practice." Water students could manipulate moisture, Thunder students learned how to influence static and the like. "Be warned, this might be a tad warm," Joshua cautioned with an almost mischievous smirk. He then focused his energy and drew it in close to his hands until the scorching heat of the tiny ball would have been unbearable to any but a Fire elemental. He held it there for a moment, then expelled it outward in a circle that literally melted the snow and soaked the clearing (and the two of them as moisture fell from the trees) in a broad circle. This time he felt the drain ever so slightly simply because he hadn't been as precise and careful as he had with the clearing (in which he'd melted the snow off things individually) but it was still only a very small edge off his energy. He chuckled and flicked his wrist again, instantly drying the two of them of the nice little soak the overhead trees had produced. "Something like that."

She still seemed as if she was having trouble with the idea, and for some reason this amused Joshua ever so slightly. She seemed very independent and determined to shoulder everything on her own. Kind of like me, he mused, but immediately shoved the thought far back in his mind. What am I even thinking? She's nothing like me! They were polar opposites: dark and light, earth and fire, sweet and sadistic. He refused to start comparing their like qualities to one another, because that was the traits of a friendship: things in common. "It's not like I'd do it for you," he pointed out with a raise of an eyebrow. "That would be cheating; I'm offering my assistance in studying and the like, nothing more, nothing less." Joshua would never and had never cheated on a test in his life. He would much rather forget the answer and make a failing grade than to stoop so low as to give himself the easy way out. He wondered if Nell was the same way, but he didn't ask. Joshua withheld a lot of his own prying questions in favour of the fact that he hated being pestered and figured that most others felt the same way. And even if they didn't, Josh didn't overstep boundaries like that. Unless perhaps he was drunk. Alcohol eliminated boundaries.

Joshua raised an eyebrow incredulously as she compared him to a space heater--of all things! It was actually funny, and he might have laughed if he had been the type. As it were, the briefest flicker of a smile touched his face, as if he was about to grin but decided against it. "... Sort of like that, I suppose." Space heater. Ha. Well, he supposed that it did have some credibility. It wasn't like his skin was hot to the touch, but he was never frigid like some people. If you were to hug him--not like he let many people do that--you would feel the warmth, but it was never uncomfortable. If I hear one more fangirl compare it to those damned overlarge puppies in Twilight-- It was different with Fire students. They were not hot. They could certainly make themselves as such if they wanted to, but he found it ridiculous. It was more like cuddling with someone that had warmed themselves by a fire previously, because that was sort of the point.

He watched as the girl kicked out with her foot slightly and a hill of dirt rose up, raising an eyebrow at the creation. It grew larger and produced white flowers, and though they died quickly it was still impressive for someone without much training in the middle of winter. "It does seem to have an affect," he agreed. The air was quite warm still in the after-effects of his small heat wave and Joshua leaning casually against one of the trees, listening to Nell as she continued to speak. "You can set your goals a little higher than that," he suggested, and he almost managed a genuine smile. "You seem pretty determined, and by graduation you'll be much better." He was confident in that at least--the beginning of twelfth grade to the end of it was one of the most important times in an elementals life, it was when they learned much more than they had in the previous three years. From freshman to junior year they focused mainly on control and stamina to stop you from blowing your cover in a public place. In the final year, things got serious. "They might have had a headstart on you, but they won't have for long." Especially not if he could help it. He had trained his own powers an insane amount during his first four years because it was an excellent cure for boredom, and he'd help her with anything she needed, if only she'd ask. They may have had opposite powers, but he'd do his best all the same.

She asked him more about his powers and another smirk played across his lips, masking the genuine side of him that had begun to slowly peek through the cracks once more. "A lot of things, really," he said. "You acquire your own unique style once you graduate..." He trailed off thoughtfully, glancing around him at the trees. "There's something I've been practising a lot lately, though. Hang on, I'll try and get it to work so that I can show you."

He paced away from her for a moment and slightly deeper into the warm area which he had cleared, trying to gauge how easy or difficult this was going to be. It could be catastrophic if he did it wrong, that was the thing. He was confident in his abilities but even he understood that he was not invincible. Nevertheless, he'd said that he was going to show her and he would. This was definitely going to drain his energy more than the simple blasts of heat had, so he mentally prepared himself for that so he didn't shock himself and lose control. "Stand back," he cautioned, "just in case. I've done this before, but..." No more words needed to be said. "We are in a forest, and this is fire."

With his precautionary warnings out of the way, Joshua focused his energy yet again and then put out his left hand, palm outward as it faced a tree. Determination set his lips into a hard line and then without warning a steady stream of fire somewhat akin to a gunless flamethrower erupted from the air in front of it, said air shimmering with the heat that blasted outward. But that wasn't the focus of the move. Instead, it was the fact that the fire was hitting the tree. It was hitting the tree... and nothing was happening to said tree. The effort began to show on his face after he held it for a moment--Joshua stepped back and closed his palm, the fire dissipating in a smokeless cloud. He was breathing a little harder from the effort, but he shot another smirk at Nell regardless. "It's hard to control what it burns," he said, "because fire is a free-spirited thing and it doesn't always like to listen. But I've taught myself how to master it, at least that aspect." He exhaled slowly. Damn, that had a drain.

His lips twitched into what might have flourished into a smile or a smirk--it was hard to tell considering Joshua held it back as he dipped his head in agreement about the studies. But he would say no more. He had no problem talking about how much control he had over his fire--that was something he was proud of, after all. But once it came to more personal things like the fact that he'd been passionate about education since he was very young and that he'd been raised through the prestigious system of private schools... yeah, that was when things got a little rocky in terms of sharing. Josh only said what he was comfortable with saying, nothing more. Still, he wasn't going to deny that he was studious and very serious about school--everyone knew that about him, he studied more than he ate or slept it seemed. "And I would give it," came the simple response, his expression smooth and revealing nothing. He would. Even if she called him up in the middle of the night for help with something, Joshua would most likely comply. Unlike most people, he didn't go to sleep at normal hours. He slept only after he felt like he had everything done and accomplished for the day, or after he was just too tired to go on any more and passed out cold. His occasional insomnia was not the result of an illness, it was something he brought upon himself with his fucked up sleep habits and heavy stress-load. It came and went like the tides of an ocean.

Nell still seemed quite intent on her insistence that they resembled furnaces, and Joshua arched an eyebrow. How would she feel if I compared her lot to a bunch of walking greenhouses? he wondered. He actually had the idea for the joke on his lips, but the words never left his mouth. Joshua had a sense of humour but it was very rare that he put it into action, sharing private amusements with himself and not really disclosing his thoughts to anyone else. Unless he was at a party and drinking to have fun--then it was free for all with his witty remarks and sarcastic joking. But he hardly ever gave his name at parties and he didn't usually party with the kids of the Academy. He still had some very loose connections from back when he'd been younger, connections that weren't attached to the gang. They sometimes invited him to their little events and he would show up as long as they supplied some grade A whiskey. His poison of choice, really. In a few months when he turned nineteen he could buy alcohol without a fake ID... but he still didn't have the cash, so it sucked either way. "Whatever you say," he shrugged in response to Nell.

Her self-confidence didn't seem to be very high, and Joshua was both surprised and slightly exasperated by this fact. He had assumed that Nell was of the optimistic sort, the kind of person that breezed through their troubles with a big grin and a load of positive mantras in their arsenal. But that was the thing; even Joshua read people wrong a lot of the time. He was pretty good at guessing things based on how a person acted on the surface, but that was only because he was so used to watching people interact from afar as opposed to actually reacting with them. If people put up a front, things changed. He couldn't always glimpse their soft interior past the thick shell of falsehood. And he supposed it was the same on the flipside: Joshua's mask was hardly ever taken down, not for anyone. Except maybe Annabel, but that was different. They were siblings, bonded by their blood, he could trust Belle. "I've heard earthquakes are difficult but manageable," he said by way of suggestion. "If you want to try for something hard in the long run, work on splitting apart the earth you create. Even some of the college students still struggle with that, so if you get a head start on them..." He trailed off and shrugged.

Joshua watched the tree flourish under Nell's earthen touch after it had survived the fire successfully without sustaining damage. He supposed the heat had seeped into the trunk and brought warmth to the suffering tree so that Nell's influence could be brought about more easily. Without so much as a word he gripped one of the branches in his hands and hauled himself up into the limbs of the thing, balancing on one of the thicker ones that could hold his weight. It bent downward ever so slightly as he shifted but was nevertheless quite sturdy. "Give me a moment," he requested of Nell. The eighteen year old was doing this for a purpose--he wanted to see how high up the leaves went and if they were as top-quality at the, well, top. He climbed up as much as he could until the branches started to thin. It seemed that there were indeed leaves on the whole tree--she was doing pretty damned good, actually. Satisfied, Joshua climbed back down and jumped, landing on his feet. "Looks like spring up there," he reported.

He nodded at her question, however. "Took me ages to master it," he replied. "Still is pretty difficult." He didn't mention how heavy the energy drain was, however--Nell was right about his pride, it didn't let him give that sort of information away. He was still feeling a little dizzy from the effects of it, but that didn't show in the way he stood, carefully maintaining his balance. He was nowhere near passing out, however. He had tested and retested his limits quite extensively over the years--Joshua knew when it was time to stop. He didn't always listen to his nagging conscience, especially when he was in a fight. He didn't know the meaning of giving up--victory or unconsciousness was generally how Joshua played the game. Pride. And it was this same pride that made him nod when she asked after his well being. "Of course."

A nod answered her question, but then the graduate decided to elaborate very slightly. "If you handle it right. The trick is to push your limits slowly rather than all the way to breaking point each time you practice. If you keep making yourself work until you pass out, your stamina does fuck all for you." He shrugged. "Some handle it well, others don't. Some drop out because it frustrates them." Joshua would never drop out. Instead he'd just sat for hours with energy drinks and books about powers and theory. He'd read up on tips and tricks, tried to master these tips and tricks, and then he'd set to work on pushing his limits. He was a determined bastard once you gave him a goal to work on.

She still sounded doubtful even as she spoke with a little more positivity, but having said his piece Joshua would elaborate no more. He wasn't in the business of making people feel good about themselves after all. Not unless they were his friends, and he had a serious lack of those. They were from varying elements and they shared a single thing in common--they knew pretty much fuck all about him save for what had been spoken in rumours and the like. Maybe if they'd read the paper or watched the news they might have figured out bits and pieces, but everyone understood that papers would come up with anything to screw over a career and that he 'probably wasn't involved in gang business at all'. Really, if it were brought up in the Academy Josh figured that some people might actually laugh. Josh Dale? The bookworm Dale? Gang member? Nah, not him. A bit of an asshole, they'd say, but certainly not a thug. He's too into school for any of that. They'd be wrong, but he would tell them that they were absolutely correct if they asked. People liked being right so they accepted the idea that they were quite easily. He worked this to his advantage.

The surprised exclamation from Nell shocked him a little, but there was little to show for it save for the fact that he slowly arched an eyebrow at her. Was that Spanish? he wondered. It sounded somewhat like the language but he couldn't speak it himself--he only knew what few words he'd learned from reading books and watching films. He was fully bilingual in that he could speak fluent French and English, but that was it. Aside from the fact that he was taking Latin classes and was fairly good at them, Joshua didn't have much of a broad spectrum. He'd been born and raised in Canada to parents that had also been born and raised in Canada. Not much interesting there. "What does that mean?" he asked. He was not usually one to ask questions, but he couldn't help but wonder what she'd exclaimed. Nell had sounded rather giddy and excited, especially how she'd corrected herself and said, 'Awesome,' but he was curious nonetheless. He considered queries about the language it had been spoken in as well but decided that it would be asking too many questions and so instead stayed silent.

She'd do well with stamina? Yes, I suppose she would. She definitely seems the type that would excel at the more methodical things. Joshua had pushed his limits to the extreme when it came to building stamina, but he wouldn't say he'd particularly enjoyed that part of his training. He was much more intrigued by the vast amount of things that he could do with his fire after he graduated. He had learned through trial and error that he could manipulate the heat from his own flames, but that he could not take the heat out of the summer air as easily as he could snuff out a natural flame not of his own creation. He could put heat in the air and he could retract the heat which he himself created, but he couldn't affect the summer. Not that Joshua minded this much. Summer was heaven for Fire elementals. It was so hot that creating fire to play with was so much easier, especially in contrast to these bitter winter months when everything was harder than usual. He supposed the Water elementals were in absolute heaven--the bastards. They were no doubt gloating about the fact that both the elements which had a type advantage were down for the count in the cold.

Nell seemed to disapprove of the idea of dropping out, this amusing the studious teenager ever so slightly. "It's not for everyone," he said easily with a shrug. "Some prefer to go their own way." And it was true that they could eventually learn all of the things that the college classes taught you, but it would likely take a lot longer than it would for an Academy-trained graduate to pick up on new aspects of their power. Joshua liked that the Academy focused more on building up further stamina and teaching you tricks to dealing with your powers as opposed to teaching you extra moves. Not all Fire elementals knew how to manipulate their Fire in such a way that it did not burn because he had learned it on his own, not in class. And he'd seen other Fire graduates do things that he couldn't quite wrap his mind around.

She mentioned being right-brained and a flicker of a smirk touched his lips. He was pretty sure that he himself was more left-brained than right, given that he was studious and logical and all of those other characteristics. He did enjoy creativity--he could write, he liked music, his sketches weren't half bad... but these were mediocre skills in comparison to his studies. "Whatever works," he said nonchalantly. Some people studied, others preferred trial and error.