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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 8, 2011 23:51:05 GMT -5
Insomnia was a bitch.
A soft groan was swallowed by his pillow as Joshua flipped over onto his stomach and pressed his face into the fabric. He'd been lying here for the past two and a half hours in the complete silence in the warmth and comfort of the dormitory... yet still, nothing. He was used to the affects of the sleep disorder--he had been dealing with it on and off since childhood. He had never had it diagnosed, but the common sleep disorder certainly seemed to fit the bill for what he was suffering. It was a rather transient form of insomnia--he had skipped an entire year without suffering the symptoms before, and when it did plague him it was usually only for a couple days in a row at a time. And he'd learned to work around it using a hazardous combination of tea and energy drinks to keep up with his studying and his grades, but that didn't mean it was any less of a pain when it did happen.
He also refused to get prescribed medication to treat it. It wasn't all that bad, and seeing as it came and went Joshua figured it would be pointless to go to a doctor--he might get the pills and then not have the symptoms again for months. Plus, he generally hated pills. Sometimes if he had a test in the morning he'd take a couple of pills for cold medicine to knock himself out for a couple hours, but that was where his limit lay. For the most part the boy just dealt with the symptoms when they showed up and hoped that they would fade soon.
Like now.
Sighing, he stood up from bed and shook himself free of the light blankets. Most would be bundled in tons of comforters in the middle of the winter, but the Fire dormitories sweltered with heat--he would have been immune to the frigid temperatures anyway thanks to his natural heat. Light caught the contours of his bare chest as he switched on the bedside lamp, yawning slightly and messing up the back of his black hair. "Yeah, fuck you too," he told the digital clock with a glare when he read the numbers: 5:19AM. Sometimes he stayed up late for studying but he had things to do tomorrow and so the clock was seriously betraying him here.
He didn't bother pulling on a shirt, just switched the lamp back off and left the dormitory. The Fire commons were completely silent and dark, not even a blaze lit in the many fireplaces that dotted the rooms. He didn't plan on staying in here anyway, so he bypassed the unlit places and went through the dungeon tunnel, yawning again as he neared the entrance. Fuck this. He was tired, he just couldn't sleep. He hated this stupid condition. The dungeons were equally as dark, his eyes unadjusted to the gloom. Joshua kept his hand along the wall and followed it until he saw the faint outline of a torch bracket, calling upon his powers and watching as a fire burst into its centre. The flame cast a dim light on this small section of the corridor near the tunnel entrance, and Joshua sat down against the wall beneath it, book in hand from where he'd snatched it out the dormitories.
Guess I'll just hang around out here until the mess hall's open or I can go to class... He shrugged internally and opened the book to the marked page.
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Post by xavier on Jun 9, 2011 11:00:26 GMT -5
Taking another drink from his beer, he nearly spilt all of its contents when one of his buddies was making some weird facial expression. Another one was continuing this story that happened yesterday. “…And get this, the freshie actually tried to greet us. He’s a water user. The poor idiot didn’t know that water and fire didn’t get along. So, I greeted him back by pulling him into the water.” That was when Xav really did spit out his contents. He was laughing so hard that his abs started to feel the burn. Deep down, he kind of felt bad for the freshman. He was only trying to be friendly, but it cost him. Yet, he couldn’t tell his feeling to these guys: He had a reputation to keep up. “Now, that’s hilarious. What did you do next?” His blonde friend replied with an eye twitch “Now, that’s when Mike over here left him a little touch up on his face.” Mike lit the whole place up with the fireball in his hand. Hmm, interesting story Jeff, but that doesn’t explain how you got that shiner in your eye.” Jeff then started to stuttered and blubbered out his excuse. “Well, the freshman had enough balls to attempt to hit me, so I easily dodged it, slipped on a wet rock, then fell, hitting my head on another.” Bull. But Xav nodded anyway and took another swig of his drink. Too bad for him, it was empty. Looking at his watch, he cursed. “Damn guys, we’ve been here for 5 hours. It’s 5:30 now.” A collection of curses echoed around the dungeon. The 3 of them got up and stretched. “Man, I need to get to bed,” Mike said. “I’ve got a test tomorrow, in history.” Xavier gave him a surprised expression. “Fuck, man, how you gonna pass that?” Mike smirked. “No worries. There’s a nerd in there that’s been unknowingly helping me with my tests these past weeks. Don’t sweat it.” Xavier shrugged and picked up the empty beer cans and stuffed them in his book-bag. He hid the rest of the beers under a deeply dug rock. That was the official hiding spot for them. Through a yawn, he said to his two buddies “Well, I need to get some sleep. We have a substitute for my first class tomorrow, so I plan to not go and sleep in. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” They all said their goodbyes and his two friends took one way, while he took another way to get out. Looking back at them, he shook his head and thought, Damn man…they’re somethin’ else.
As he headed to his dorm through the dark dungeon, he noticed how much he hated being alone. When he is, his thoughts usually wandered to his past, which he tried to avoid at all cost. He didn’t regret what he said to his father, but he did wish he could tell his mother and brother how he felt about them. He was so heated and angry at the time that he couldn’t think straight. That’s how he always is when he’s angry: words fly, and sometimes fists are exchanged too. Yet, he can honestly say that he has changed. He doesn’t get to that level of anger anymore. And he doesn’t hurt others as often as he did either. This school must be workin’ on me or something… Well, if it’s for the better, then he didn’t care. He just wanted to learn what he can and go back home to his parent.
So lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see the large male sitting down near the tunnel’s entrance. He nearly tripped over him, but he caught himself. “The fuck...?” He looked down and saw that Joshua guy reading a book. He wondered how he didn’t see a guy almost as tall as himself sitting down. “My bad man…didn’t see you there.” He looked at him quizzically, then looked at the book. “Why are you down here so early?” Hopefully he didn’t know what he himself was doing here, but he heard of this Josh guy: stupid is what he is not.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 9, 2011 18:39:15 GMT -5
He heard the footsteps echoing through the dark of the dungeon, but Joshua didn't bother to look up and see who else was having trouble sleeping or else just staying up all night. There were a lot of people that didn't care enough about class to try and stay rested for it and instead just crashed at six in the morning and slept right through the first bell. The leaders sometimes did morning rounds and none-too-kindly banged on all the doors for a wake up call, but Josh was usually up before even they were. He had a morning routine that took time and precision and included fixing his hair and clothes as well as making sure he didn't have work, he had everything to hand in, his girlfriend hadn't called, all of that stuff.
In fact he didn't look up at all until they got close enough to almost trip over him. Joshua would have snapped at the guy and burnt him something terrible if he had tripped over him--it was a pretty good thing on Xavier's part that he stopped himself in time. Gray eyes glanced up at the other boy from where he was sitting against the wall, meeting the gaze of the other boy who looked a little confused, like he hadn't expected to see anyone. "Are you blind, Belton?" Joshua asked quite calmly. "Distracted, perhaps? There is only a single torch on in this entire dungeon and you managed to nearly walk straight into me regardless of the fact I'm sitting right under it?" He did not speak the words cruelly--he sounded more exasperated than anything else.
Josh noticed Xavier's eyes find the book before he asked the question, so he rolled his own in response. "Planning world domination--I'm reading, Belton, what does it look like I'm doing?" He shook his head and stood up, careful not to whack the back of his skull against the torch bracket as he ducked out from under it and straightened up. "Couldn't sleep--the Fire dormitories are just down there," he said, gesturing to the shadowy tunnel from which he'd emerged. There was heat around the entrance that suggested as much. It didn't have much of an affect on the Fire students but anyone else would feel like they were standing in the blazing heat of the summer. And like all the dormitories there were precautions to make sure only Fire students could enter. The door handle would burn your hand terribly if you touched it. He knew that the Earth dormitories had a bunch of thick vines wrapped around the door that had to be removed if you wanted inside--you could burn them away but they grew back real quick so if you wanted to break in you had to have a group of people and it was really inconvenient.
"Now for the important question--what the hell are you doing down here?" Josh challenged.
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Post by xavier on Jun 13, 2011 22:51:01 GMT -5
He casually shrugged as if it were nothing. “I was…distracted, you can say. A lot was on my mind.” He didn’t sense any threat from him, which was good. He was way too tired to start crap with anyone, especially this guy. He’s heard rumors about him One of which was that he stuffed a freshman in the toilet for looking at him funny. Given, those were just rumors, but the guy still interested him nonetheless.
Hmm, a sarcastic one. Xav thought this as he heard Josh’s mocking reply. “Well, it is weird seeing anyone read down here, seeing that reading is the last thing anyone would do down here. What, you’re dorm’s too loud for you to read there?” He pondered a bit. “Yet…if you are planning on world denomination, I want in on that.” He gave him a smirk as he leaned against the rocky wall.
“What I’m doing here? Just hanging with some friends is all. Having fun, you know.” He didn’t need to tell this guy anything else Xav didn’t know this dude from Adam. Sure, he heard rumors about him, but they were just as true as those magazines that talk about bat-kids from the grocery store: you know they weren’t true, but you couldn’t help but hear about them, just to pass the time. Plus, if this guy did find out what he was really down here for, that didn’t matter either. The chances of Josh selling him out were slim, very slim.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 14, 2011 15:38:30 GMT -5
The sophomore rolled his eyes a little. "Yeah, well you may want to watch where you're going next time, distracted or not." There was a tad more irritation colouring his tone this time around. "You'd have been in one sorry state if you had tripped over me." It wasn't so much of a threat as it was a fact of life; Joshua was impulsive and quick to react if you angered him, and he likely would have attacking fiercely if someone had bumped into him before even checking to see who it was. He was two years Xavier's senior and a Fire elemental to boot--as Xav was weak against his element, the results would not have been pretty.
Gray eyes sparked slightly as he cast a bit of a glare. "Oh? So suddenly I'm not allowed to read in the dungeons because 'no one else does it'?" There was a challenge to his voice despite the fact that Xavier might not have meant anything by it at all. Joshua hated it when people told him he couldn't or shouldn't be doing something in a particular place. He could do what he wanted! They weren't going to go bossing him around! "Perhaps I just didn't feel like reading in the dormitories, Belton," Joshua said with a roll of his colourless optics. "Is that so hard to believe? There doesn't have to be a reason for everything."
Having fun at this time in the morning? Joshua believed him and all but he couldn't help but chuckle darkly under his breath. "You'll all be exhausted come classes in the morning, unless of course you plan to skip." Of course, one could turn that around to Joshua, but he was used to it, sadly enough. There were many nights where he couldn't sleep and so he spent them reading or studying or doing something similar. At least he was productive whilst wasting the time that could have spent sleeping--so he thought, anyway.
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Post by xavier on Jun 15, 2011 21:16:08 GMT -5
“Mmm,” was his only reply. He was tired and sooo not willing to get into it with anyone right now, not even Josh. Sure, I’d be fun to, but he needed energy at least. He was curious as to see how good of a fighter this guy claims himself to be. Well, he didn’t claim anything, he portrayed it mostly. He knew Josh would kick his ass: it’s genetics as well as age, but that doesn’t mean wouldn’t go down without a fight. What he lacked in age, he made up for skill, for his element, his strength. So, in a battle, yes he’d lose, but he’d make sure the other opponent walks away with a chipped tooth or a black eye at least.
“Whoa whoa whoa there horsey. I know you fire elementals get all hasty and fired up, but hold up. I didn’t mean anything by it dude.” Even though it was a little weird being down here, he was ultimately just trying to make a conversation with this bipolar guy. Looking back at the guy, he said calmly which is so unlike him by the way but he felt that someone needed to be logical. “Fine. Whatever Josh. Do…whatever. No matter how bizarre they may appear.” Like the pot calling the kettle black. What was he doing down her around 6ish in the morning? Like that wasn’t bizarre? He laughed softly at himself for his craziness and hypocritical statement.
He raised an eyebrow at the fire student and smiled. “Hell yeah I plan skip. We have a substitute for English tomorrow, so I don’t need to worry. And it’s just review for the test the following day. I plan to use that day to ‘study.’” Yeah, study his eyelids. That thunder student was planning on nothing but sleeping in. Maybe even sleeping in for the class after English. Who knows? He rolled his neck, trying to get the sore muscles to relax. Even his poor body was screaming at him to sleep. Those 5 hour energy drinks only helps but so much. Looking at the tall student, he said “What about you? Got anything important tomorrow? You plannin’ on skipping?”
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 16, 2011 5:05:34 GMT -5
Although it might have seemed that way, Joshua was not intending to start a fight with the Thunder senior. Not only because he knew that he would win anyway but because Josh was not a petty guy. He was, however, volatile. It was the best and easiest way to sum up his personality in a single word. He was unpredictable, vicious, temperamental, a dozen other words, but volatile was a perfect description. You could never tell when the right mixture of angry and dangerous were going to combine and explode. He said these things not to enrage Xavier but to remind him that he was dealing with someone very hazardous.
So when Xav seemed to be taken aback by Joshua's sniping, the Fire graduate only blinked almost calmly at him. Typical. Why was it that other people had not learned, he wondered? You'd think that by now his reputation would not only precede but would also describe him. It was like his name carried with it a warning sign: watch out, tread carefully. "You consider it strange that I am hanging around outside my dormitories and reading, despite what everyone knows about me?" His studious bookworm nature was certainly not one of his many secrets. "Your dorms, on the other hand, are several floors up and on the other side of the castle. I can rightfully question you, but not the other way around."
Study. Right. Joshua didn't believe that for a moment. When Xav asked him about skipping, however, he might as well have admitted he was an alien of some sort. "Really, Belton?" he replied. "Me, skip? You're kidding." He shook his head. "No. I don't plan to sleep, but I don't plan to skip, either. I don't skip." That wasn't to say he was some rule-following nancy boy. No. He had good grades and an amazing attendance record, but he also had a nice list of offences documented in the schools filing cabinets and a number of memories involving Detention Hall. He just wasn't that kind of bad boy.
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Post by xavier on Jun 17, 2011 15:53:15 GMT -5
He thought about his question, which is probably rhetorical, for a brief moment. Then he nodded. “Yes. I do think it’s odd. What everyone thinks about you? Rumors are rumors. I don’t always listen to what people say about you.” He laughed a bit about what the latest rumor about him was. “I mean, I seriously doubt you eat children.” Oh wow did he really think that? “Josh, really? This is everyone’s dungeon. Yeah it might be near your dorms, but it’s open for everyone.” He’s not really the type to think logically, but as far knew, the dungeons were for everyone, even though Fire and Thunder mostly reigned here.
“Look, Josh. You're acting like I actually know you. Yeah, I see you walk down the halls sometimes or in the mess hall. But to know of how you do your school work, I have no idea, that was why I asked.” This guy was really starting to piss him off, which pissed him off even more. The idea of him getting angry gets him angry. Was this guy so sure of himself that he thought everyone knew about him? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was quite sad; the littlest, tiny thing would set him off. Luckily for Xav he was too tired to go full throttle with anger. This guy wasn’t worth it either; he figured Josh was so much of a loner that he didn’t know that he was just trying to make a conversation. It’s whatever though: Let the little teacher’s pet do whatever he wanted to.
~~~~~~~~~~ Sorry it’s short. I’m losing my muse for today =( and…..I’m running out things to talk about… |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 18, 2011 3:58:19 GMT -5
Joshua cocked an eyebrow. There was a rumour going around that he ate children? "Anyone who doesn't doubt it is an idiot," he remarked, shaking his head a little. How stupid was that? "Perhaps you should listen a tad more carefully--I said what people know, not what they think. You hang out with some of the most loudmouth Fire elementals at this school; I figured you'd have heard something from them if nothing else. Not to mention I was their leader once, it's not like my existence is mute." Far from it, actually. A lot of people knew who he was simply because his negative reputation was rather widespread. He didn't brag about this fact, however. He didn't think it was 'cool' that everyone was afraid of him.
He scoffed. "I never said it wasn't public," he replied. "You're doing an awful lot of word-twisting, Belton. I once again suggest you listen." He didn't like it when people made the wrong assumptions about what he was trying to say countless times. "I said that it makes more sense for me to be down here than you, I said nothing about your being forbidden from these dark corridors." Although even though it was public, this place was unofficially considered Fire elemental 'territory'--probably because it was so hot down here and there were usually Fire elementals down here and the like. Similarly, most elementals claimed the halls closest to their dormitories as 'theirs', even though it was never literal enough to prohibit access to others.
Xavier seemed to start growing angry with him and Joshua's gray optics narrowed a little. Was he going to start something? He'd better not. The fire in the torch flickered warningly as the other boy started to grate on his nerves. "You hang around the unofficial rumour mill of the Academy," he said testily. "I knew that about you and I'm not even a part of the damned thing. I'm surprised you haven't overheard the things they say about me." The fact that he was a 'nerd' was, as mentioned earlier, common knowledge. Just like Xav was known as a popular kid. People at the Academy were cliquey, it just so happened that Josh was an outcast. "Must I remind you that you approached me? If anyone should be getting irritated..." He trailed off with meaning.
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Post by xavier on Jun 19, 2011 15:56:28 GMT -5
He nodded in agreement. He couldn’t help but agree with the college student. He shrugged it off as if it didn’t matter. Maybe he didn’t hear his words correctly. Come to think of it, he has heard of a rumor that he was the Fire leader at one point, but he threw it into the rumor filing that’s been piling up. “How about you? Who do you hang out with, if anyone?” He probably would get a sarcastic remark back, but he didn’t care. He faced the unfortunate fact that this guy interest him…not in that way. He always did wonder why loners chose to be alone.
“Ok Josh, ok. I’m wrong for being down here in their area that’s you’re your dorms. Is that what you wanted to hear from me?” Admitting he was wrong is some Xav did not like to do, but if it would get this Fire guy off his back, then he would have to bite the bullet. He noticed he had a lot to say for someone so quiet. Guess he’s making up for lost time. Changing the subject to a lighter one, he focused on the book he was reading. “So, what are you reading there? Is for work or pleasure?”
The fire from the torched flickered brighter and bigger. He looked over at curiously, the over at Josh. He smirked and shrugged at his comment. “I have what you might say selective hearing. I choose what I want to hear, and I chose to give you the benefit of the doubt despite what I hear. And since you know about me, you’ll know that I have anger management problems and the smallest thing gets me…riled up. Just changed the topic to something else and you don’t have to worry about my irritation.” He really didn’t want to get into with this guy so early.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 20, 2011 3:31:51 GMT -5
Who did he hang out with? Joshua was honestly beginning to believe that Xavier was completely deaf and blind to the rumours that floated around the Academy about him. Which amazed the Fire elemental, considering the fact that Xav hung around the very group that usually started and spread these cancerous tales. "I keep to myself," he replied. He could have lied and said that he had plenty of friends but Joshua didn't lie unless it benefited him. And honestly he was so used to everyone seeing him as the outcasted loner that one more person certainly wasn't going to hurt.
He shook his head slowly and rolled his eyes again. "I wasn't looking for any specific answer," he replied. Talking to Xav and keeping a clear head whilst doing so was difficult. This was why Josh hated dealing with people. His temper got in the way, people asked too many questions, made too many assumptions, and things all went to shit. Xavier was surely setting some sort of record with the amount of things he just assumed Joshua was implying. Not very good at reading people, are you, Belton? he thought to himself. "You said it was strange that I was down here and I said that it was marginally more odd that you were hanging around here--for the last time, I said nothing about it being 'wrong' or 'forbidden'." Was he stupid? Conversationally impaired? Or maybe just trying to get on Josh's nerves?
He held up the book slightly. "Textbook," he replied. "Study purposes." It wasn't to say that Joshua never read just for fun, but when he was at school he tended to focus on furthering his education.
A dark laugh burst from his lips. "You're talking to me about anger issues?" he said incredulously. "Maybe you should selectively take in the rumour about mine before you go giving me warnings." After all, he was both older than Xavier Belton and a Fire elemental. Not only that, but his anger issues were just as bad--if not worse--than the other boy's. He was volatile and dangerous and if you planned to threaten him you better plan to run like hell afterward.
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Post by xavier on Jun 21, 2011 13:24:13 GMT -5
He keeps to himself. Bull. He didn’t believe that. Even though he claimed himself as a loner, he had to have someone to hang out with. “Really now? All by yourself, hmm? Okay if you say so.” Everyone has to have at least one person to chill with, including loners. Loners usually hung out with…other loners. Or at least the ones he’s seen.
He grew tired of this Fire student. Who knew that talking to someone drew so much energy out you? He rolled his eyes at the guy, then looked over at him and smirked. He did find some relief seeing his aggravation. He didn’t know why, but that always put a smile on his face: seeing someone annoyed or irritated at him. Maybe it’s because when he did that to his father, he enjoyed it, just because his father pissed him off. Yeah. That was it.
Well, that was a relief. He was starting to think the poor guy was a nancy, like one of the teacher’s pet kids he couldn’t stand. Then a laugh erupted from the man across from him. Laughter, really? So he thought it was a warning? “Oh, no. Not a warning. Just stating facts.” He said this rather calmly despite the anger he was feeling inside. Come one Belton. Calm yourself. You don’t need to end up going to another one of those damned sessions again. Damnit he can’t believe he’s about to take the advice from the doctor who he hated so much He took a deep breath, and through gritted teeth he said “You know what, we got off on the wrong foot. Why don’t we start over.” He looked up while at the rocky ceiling while reciting the exact words his doctor told him to say when he gets heated with someone. He said those words slowly and with a monotone voice, almost as if the words were on ceiling above him.
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