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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 8, 2011 13:57:44 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Joshua slammed the laptop shut with lightning speed, which would immediately cut the power and sign him out of the instant messaging client which he used. In a bit of a panic with his heart suddenly hammering against his chest, the boy managed to shove his computer under the bed and collapse atop the covers, trying to look inconspicuous as the butler entered the room. The man flicked on the lights and gave Joshua a bit of a look before he started wandering about the room, straightening things and looking over the general appearance of the bedroom. "Don't move my stuff," Joshua said with a bit of a snippy tone, narrowing his eyes at the man who had been about to lift something from the armoire. "If I want something moved, I'll move it myself." He may have been coming off as a bit of a spoiled rich brat, but it was honestly one of his pet peeves. Excluding a few times when he had blown up at the maid for (no surprises here) moving his things around, Joshua was rather polite and cordial to their staff. His parents had tried to teach him not to take advantage of the wealth in which he grew up, and though he had little value for material things due to their endless funds, he still did learn some of the intended lesson. "My apologies," the man said, though his tone was a bit stiff. He was irritated, Josh could tell. It was nevertheless a relief in the end, for it made the man back out and leave Joshua alone.
Almost immediately after he'd left, Josh was on his feet and moving toward his expansive closet. His heart was thrumming again, feeling as if it had leapt into his throat with the combination of anxiety and rebellion-driven excitement. He had gotten grounded numerous times when he was younger, and this often led to elaborate schemes to try and bust himself out from the confines of the mansion. He was much older now and a little less devious, but he had told Nell to meet him and he didn't really plan on being late. He quickly changed into a new shirt and pulled on a jacket just in case, slipping on a pair of his darkest shades and sliding his wallet into the pocket of his jeans. He donned his favourite pair of combat boots--he had several pairs of shoes and the like as well, but they were the nearest things and he was in quite a hurry. He remembered to flick the lights off and pull the hangings of his bed shut--maybe if someone looked in by chance, they'd assume he was sleeping. That was the hope, anyway. Thank goodness for the door that led onto the balcony--he simply had to unlock it and hop over the railing, landing none-too-gently on the floor below. This might hurt, he thought, then hopped the second floor railing as well. He managed not to break an ankle on the landing, though he did smudge the bottom of his jeans. "Shit," he cursed, but ignored it and started quickly in the direction of the forested backyard. He could sneak through there and come out on the main road, where he'd hail a cab or take the bus or something. Unfortunately for Joshua, he didn't notice the small girl staring out of a second floor window, a worried expression on her face.
He ended up taking the bus, and the fact that he'd first had to locate a stop and then wait for it to arrive meant that he was considerably late by the time he finally pushed his way into the cafe doors. He felt guilty, therefore, when he realised that Nell was already there and waiting for him. "Got away as quick as I could," he said, "but clearly not quick enough. I'm sorry. Did you have to wait long?" There was genuine concern in his voice, apology in his tone. He was the one who could potentially get busted for sneaking out, and yet Joshua was the one apologising to Nell. Then again, it wasn't like he'd given her any chance to disagree to their meeting or dissuade him from coming here. "They probably won't miss me. The butler was the only one that came in for the last couple of hours." His parents and sister usually gave him his privacy, leaving him to his own hobbies when he was up in his room. Annabel would sometimes pop in to hang out, but she was so upset with him at the moment that he didn't think it was likely. She'd left the room crying when he'd tried to chicken out and deny what he'd done. "You're lying," she'd choked in an accusatory tone. He supposed he understood full well why she was upset. Her entire image of her perfect, responsible elder brother was shattered. In its place was the picture of a delinquent and a liar. It hurt to think about it, so he tried not to. "Do you have money on you?" he wondered. "I've got enough to cover us both, if you don't." He held up his wallet in explanation.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 8, 2011 14:42:00 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell closed her laptop, sighing lightly. How ironic it was that Josh had gotten off worse than her, the American fugitive. She’d never been necessarily thankful that she didn’t have parents—she wished she could have had someone to reprimand her in a way that didn’t involve violence when she did something wrong—but she was glad for the freedom she now had. Basically, she lived like an adult, even though she was still only seventeen. No curfew, no punishments, just her living on her own. And sure, it was hard having just been thrust out into the real world after a childhood of captivity, but she liked how she was living now a lot better than those times. Even though she was still living in fear. Her father didn’t really make things much better, because she’d rather not have to deal with him thinking he could be a…father. Where did he get off, anyway? Like hell I’d move in with him. Even if he did have a nice, big mansion where she could ride a bike down the halls. She might just move in if only to cause havoc and make his life marginably worse. I’m a very bad person.
She stood up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen, pushing through her overgrown plants and managing to get stabbed in the eye by her ficus. Covering her eye with a hand as she walked toward the fridge, she didn’t see the kitten before he leaped from a capinet and onto her head. ”¡Caca santa, Pablo!” she exclaimed as she pulled the cat from her head. He managed to keep quite the hold onto strands over her hair before she finally managed to pull him away. She gave him a half-smile, never able to actually be mad at him, before looking down at his bowl. ”I see. You attack me when you don’t have food.” After feeding the kamikaze plane of a cat, she grabbed a snack for the road. She’d once been asked if there was ever a time she didn’t have food on her—and she could only think of the shower.
It didn’t take long to get to Tim Horton’s, but Josh wasn’t even there yet. Never once did she think it may not be a good idea for him to sneak out. She didn’t at all object to such a thing, even though he’d be disobeying his parents. This grounding deal was something that she didn’t find herself liking, since it was so similar to what she’d been put through in childhood. Though it hadn’t just been a simple grounding where she couldn’t go out. It was a lifetime of imprisonment and abuse. And so, she’d managed to sneak out a lot, using the fire escape behind the brick building to clamber down from the second story window. Her entire past was built off disobeying her mother’s ‘rules’ and trying to find some form of escape. Nell never wanted to have to be put through that again, which is why she hated the idea of Josh being grounded. Grounding equaled false imprisonment in her mind, which she now knew was a crime. I could have ended my torture so long ago. But like any victim, she was far too scared and far too ignorant to have considered reaching out to anyone.
When Josh finally did arrive, she smiled at his questions. ”Don’t worry about it, I haven’t been here for that long.” She really hadn’t, and she didn’t mind waiting, anyway. She understood that he’d have to sneak out, and that might not have been an easy process for him. Mansions have security and everything, right? Nell knew her own father’s did, and figured that it would have been an inter-mansion sort of thing. ”That’s good. You sure no one saw you?” That would definitely not be good, but his house was big, needless to say, so she wasn’t sure of the likelihood that anyone would have seen him. She laughed a bit at the mention of his butler. ”Yeah, my own butler is currently grooming Pablo.” Anything to inject humor into the situation. He’d managed to escape his imprisonment—she shivered at how wrong that sounded, why did parents have this whole deal with grounding?—and so they might as well enjoy the time he had away from…grounding. Nell tried not to think about what it really was. Nell smirked, taking out her own wallet from her back pocket. ”Don’t worry, I’m good in that department. I don’t like people paying for things, anyway, especially when it comes to me and food.” Ironic, considering the fact that it was someone else’s money she was using to pay for this food. But Josh didn’t need to know that—because if he did, he would realize just how bad of a person she could be.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 8, 2011 15:11:36 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Joshua was relieved when she said that she hadn't been waiting for very long, but then he hesitated slightly. Is she telling the truth? He didn't really want to doubt his friend--he was a lot less likely to be wary of those he trusted--but he knew that Nell was the type that liked to reassure others. He was a little concerned that she might be telling a little white lie for his benefit, but he couldn't focus on that for very long, because their conversation was already progressing. "I figure they would have stopped me if they did," Joshua pointed out. "Grounded, remember? No leaving?" He truly didn't realise how much his parents' ideal form of punishment for him was a trigger for her past, thus not realising how much this might disturb her. He further displayed his oblivious insensitivity by saying, "They didn't lock anything, though, and it made it easier than usual. I just had to walk onto the balcony and hop down a few floors. No big deal." |
[/colour] He said it like he truly believed it, like it really didn't bother him that the escape had been too easy. It was actually a relief that he hadn't been forced to ghost through the halls avoiding his family and the staff. It would have been much more complicated had he been forced to sneak through three floors of a very large house. That had always made him very nervous and flighty. When younger, Joshua used to excuse these little excursions for bathroom breaks before realising that, shit, he had a bathroom in his room. That was another bad thing about living in a mansion--or could he consider it a good thing? The fact that he had a bathroom in his room meant that his parents could fearlessly lock the door from the outside without really being accused of child abuse. He could have food brought up to his room by the butler and thus could be confined to it for days. Thinking of this, he said, "I remember I used to come up with the stupidest excuses, so it's probably a good thing I wasn't caught. They'd probably lock me in there for real if I was. Mansions are too convenient for devious parents." The slightest hint of a smile flickered across his expression. He was trying to lighten the mood, not realising that he was probably only going to make it worse. "The bathroom really works in their favour. I was in my room for a straight week once over the summer--didn't even have the excuse of school for a break." He rolled his eyes, shrugging. "To each their own, I guess. Brought it upon myself by getting up to a bunch of shit."[/colour] And getting arrested, in this case. Joshua's parents had the uncanny ability to make him feel like it was entirely his fault every single time he stepped out of line. Which it usually was of course, but they poured salt into the wound and then vinegar afterward. It was incredibly hard to go through the initial reprimand for your experiences (time in a cell, in this case) and then have to hear your parents chew you out about it for days and weeks later. "I doubt I'll ever live this one down." Donovan certainly wouldn't forget that time his son "shamed the family name", not to mention what Annabel surely thought of him. He did manage a bit of a strained laugh when Nell joked. "How is Pablo?" In the whole 'excitement' of being arrested and the like, Joshua had actually forgotten to ask after his friends pet. Picasso was mostly enjoying the massive mansion in comparison to the tiny little cage he'd been forced into at the shelter, but Josh appreciated that some of his pets took the time to comfort him in his slight depression. Quartz had whimpered outside of his door for several minutes before Josh had let him in, and then he'd just flopped at his master's feet and looked up at him with wide and sympathetic eyes. Picasso had been much more stoic, curling up at the end of the bed and sleeping there. It was rare that he slept anywhere but the couch in the room, but in being closer to Joshua it was like his own sign of companionship. "Yes, I do remember that," Josh recalled with a bit of a chuckle when the subject of money was brought into play. "It really would have been no trouble, but I suppose I do understand." He smiled again, then gestured to the counter of the cafe with a light and half-teasing, "Ladies first?" He usually just ordered the same thing anyway, so he figured he would allow Nell the honour.[/div][/center] GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . [/td][/tr][/table][/center]
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 8, 2011 16:35:57 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell watched him, shifting a bit uncomfortanbly from one foot to the other. No leaving. Right, that’s what grounding entails. It was a popular thing among parents and it just didn’t sit right. Of course, what she was imagining wasn’t how parents usually went about it, but still. Being forced to stay in the house was just wrong, all the time, in her mind. ”Do they lock the doors other times?” she asked with some hesitation. That’s what he made it sound like, and it unsettled her stomach. Now she was pretty damn worried, more so than when he said he had gotten grounded. And she was seriously trying not to dredge up thoughts of her past, a life spent grounded. A liftetime spent sneaking out like Josh. It honestly unnerved her that that was what his parents were doing now. Even though it wasn’t what she had to go through, she still didn’t like the whole idea of it. Where did this whole grounding thing come from, anyway? What sicko thought it was okay to lock their child up for god knows how long just because they got into trouble? Weren’t there better ways of handling these things? There had to be, she couldn’t accept that punishment like that could be the only way to discipline a child.
Josh really wasn’t making this better. Actually, the description of his punishments made her stomach twist in knots. ”That’s…” she started. Honestly, Nell didn’t realize how normal grounding was, and how much less severe she was thinking it to be. ”That’s not right. Your parents really shouldn’t do that.” No, she was not smiling. At all. It was one of the rare times that a frown found her lips, and her eyes moved to the floor, but brought them to his face at his next words. ”Locked in your room…for a straight week…?” Words like ‘locked’ for long periods of time were very, very bad if he was trying to convince her that everything was all right with him. She snapped her head up at his finishing statement, eyes wide. How could he think that? ”No, no, no, you did not bring it on yourself!” She stopped before she went on and made herself seem more like more of a freak. No matter what someone did, any form of imprisonment was wrong. And she didn’t want Josh to think that anything he did made him deserve such treatment, because that’s exactly what her mother had told her. That every single thing that the woman did to her daughter was her own fault. And Nell had to carry that sort of guilt and shame all her life. She didn’t want that for Josh, not realizing how many preconceived ideas of punishments she had. ”Your parents will forgive you, right? They’ll let you out of the house?” Of course they will, Nell, you’re just being ridiculous because of your goddamn mother. But Josh really, really wasn’t helping her. At all. Especially since over the IM he said that his parents hadn’t said when they would let him out.
”He’s great. Practicing aerial acrobatics. Learning the Spanish language.” The latter was actually pretty true, even barring that day’s fiasco and the slip of her tongue. She’d sit with him and show him flashcards that he’d paw at or tell him words for him to repeat back. Sometimes she wondered if his meows were actually those words to him…or if he was just asking to be fed. Either way, she was confident in the fact that he was becoming billingual and will eventually know both Catanese and Spanish. The kitten did wonders for her, actually. Especially when she was having a bad day. She loved that when she came home, she had someone waiting for her. And she loved having something to care for, other than her plants, and something that depended on her. Some may have loved cats because they were cute and fluffy—Nell loved them because she could take care of them. She laughed bit as Josh spoke. ”I honestly couldn’t ask anyone to pay for the amount of food I eat in one sitting.” She shrugged, and then said, ”I guess pride plays into it, too. I’m sure you understand.” The last time she’d been there with Josh was actually with his little sister. Before the war and back when she didn’t even know what to make of him. With a half-smile, she said, ”Thank you, kind sir.” She ordered what she usually did—two boxes of donuts and something to wash it all down with—and found that same satisfaction in draining more of her father’s money. She took her junk food and waited for Josh to order, already starting on a donut.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 9, 2011 5:52:48 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Nell sounded strangely worried, and this puzzled Joshua. His brow furrowed slightly as he doubted what he'd heard, assuming that he might be imagining things--why would that seem out of the ordinary, after all? As he'd grown up with grounding as the main form of punishment he wasn't too concerned about it and saw it as completely normal and humane, unaware that Nell had grown up in a much different environment. Deciding that he'd probably imagined it, Josh replied, "Sure they do--why wouldn't they?" The question was completely innocent and genuine. "Usually only when they caught me trying to sneak around the house or get outside, though." He didn't have nightmares about being locked into his room or hunted down by his parents. He wasn't claustrophobic because of his childhood, either. To Joshua, it was just something that had happened to him as a child and that he'd had to deal with. "It's actually why I have the bookshelf in my room," he said, by way of further explanation. "I used to get really bored with nothing to do except pace around and sleep, so I made a habit of putting my favourite books there so that I could read. They didn't really object to that. I guess they never assumed that reading was more entertaining to me than television or electronics will ever be." Josh shrugged in conclusion. It had taken a while for his father to realise how much books really did do for him. Now they didn't really care if he was content, they just wanted him in the house so he didn't fuck something else up.
Now Joshua could tell something more was up--it was impossible not to. His expression displayed his light confusion toward her reaction. "Relax, Nell, it's not like they locked me in the cellar and made me live off rats or anything!" It was impossible for the two of drastically different backgrounds to grasp why the other was viewing things the way that he or she did. Josh didn't get why Nell was freaking out, and Nell didn't understand why Joshua accepted his parents' form of punishment so easily. Miscommunication was a fickle fiend. The more Joshua spoke, the more confused Nell became, and this started to freak him out a bit as she overreacted. She was insisting that he hadn't brought it upon himself, but to a boy who'd spent his childhood being reminded that he was some delinquent, the idea of his own innocence wasn't one he entertained. "Of course I did. You don't think they'd lock me in my room for not doing my homework, do you?" It was a rhetorical question of course. She seemed very freaked out about ideas of forgiveness, and this just confused Joshua all the more. Why wouldn't his parents forgive him? "Sure they will. I've done worse than this and they still let me out eventually." He thought about it for a moment before concluding, "Mum'll probably let up first. It's usually my father who's the last to let things go." Donovan always drew out the snide comments and angry remarks much longer than his wife. Which was bad, considering his opinion mattered the most to his son.
Banter about the cat helped to lighten the mood, and there was a momentary reprieve from the confusion and worry as they both went to order their food. Joshua was growing used to Nell's overlarge appetite, so he made no comment on what she ordered for herself. He got a single box of donuts with a variety of kinds, a large tea and an egg salad wrap after a moment of debate. After both had finished ordering and recieved their desired food, he sat down at their table and cast her a hesitant smile. Something was worrying him, but he usually didn't ask about this sort of thing. "You seemed really worried about the way in which my parents chose to ground me," he said, slowly and carefully. Joshua also kept his voice down out of respect, not wanting to embarrass Nell by having others overhear. "Are you alright?" He wouldn't ask why. That felt like too much of stretch for him even though they knew a bit about each other now. He was just making sure that his friend was okay, because her reaction to his imprisonment hadn't been what he was expecting. "Or maybe I'm just being silly," he said with a soft chuckle. "Ignore me if you wish." He took a bite out of the wrap, taking the time to swallow before he asked, "No one at school's giving you too much trouble after the war, are they?"
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 9, 2011 9:36:26 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell scratched the back of her head at his question, letting her eyes fall to the floor. She felt sick, which wasn’t too good considering that she was about to eat. Why wouldn’t they? Because that’s not right. Ever. Not in Nell’s mind at least. She had thought she liked his parents, but she was seriously having second thoughts, only somewhat aware of how ridiculous she was being. Not every parent is like her. Just because her relationship with her parents was so fucked up didn’t mean that every other parent out there was twisted and horrible. But still, it was the simple concept of grounding that had her worked up. He went on to say how he had at least books to entertain him, and dared to look him in the eyes. ”At least…you had your books…” She swallowed and looked back down again. ”But they feed you right and everything…?” It was a little too late to take back that question, only now realizing how odd that was. This conversation was not doing good for her at all. Everyone needed their freedom, it wasn’t right to keep someone locked inside all the time. And all the while thinking this, she reminded herself that it hadn’t just been imprisonment. It had been imprisonment for years, and abuse to accompany that. His parents weren’t abusive. You don’t know that. Her emotions were conflicting so much, she didn’t even know what to do with them.
She flinched a bit at his words, not wanting to think about that. Inwardly chastising herself for acting like this, she said, ”I…I didn’t think that.” You didn’t have to be locked in a cellar or eating vermin for imprisonment to be horrible. It was bad in and of itself. Again, Nell was taking this to the extreme when she should have realized that what Josh was going through now was not at all like her past experiences. He mentioned homework, and she shook her head. Her mother’s reasoning for locking her up would be considered absurd to anyone but her—being a paranoid schizophrenic, Mia could only believe that the world was a horrible place and that her dasterdly sister would snatch up her baby girls if they ever dared to set foot outside. And when Tilly died…well, her reasoning changed to accommodate. Nell was bad. Always had been bad—she was the reason that her mother’s life was so bad and why her father left and why her sister died. Why would Mia let her go anywhere when she needed to be punished? Even though she didn’t want to admit it to herself and let her mother be right, Nell blamed herself for those things. Therefore, she didn’t want Josh to think he deserved something like that. Even if it wasn’t like that. Not at all. His parents had good reasons for grounding him, they were reasonable people. Too bad psychological issues ran deep for Nell. Of course, there was hope in that his parents would release him. ”Soon, do you think?” Her voice sounded so optimistic it was almost sickening.
Nell would much rather think about kittens and Spanish than things that were now trying to force their way into her brain. She didn’t want to think about all the things that Josh’s current situation forced her to think of. She smiled at him as if nothing was at all wrong right now, just as she had pretended their hadn’t been anything wrong when his parents drove them away from the police station. Her smile faltered when he mentioned how anxious she had seemed about the punishment thing, and she bit her lip. ”Uh, yeah,” she said. Nell was all right, just worried for his sake. Breathing deep, she decided to laugh even though it was an effort. ”You’re not the one being silly, here.” No, she was the one freaking out over something that every parent all over the world did, on a less severe level than what she had been put through. But Nell didn’t exactly realize this. With her limited interaction with the world, how was she supposed to understand these things? ”I’ve just had bad personal experience…with grounding.” Or rather false imprisonment, which was considered a crime and not what parents usually did. Just her mother, she had to keep reminding herself. Not every parent lets their child out.” She was super glad for the change of subject, Josh didn’t even know. Her smile came much more easier when she said, ”Nah, no one’s been bothering me, really. Just the usual stuff Earth students have to put up with.” She rolled her eyes. Not like she never got bullied, but that kind of stuff she could handle. That was easy. Finishing another donut in a matter of seconds, she asked, ”Are the Fire students still being complete jerks or have they at least…cooled off?” She waggled her eyebrows as she told one of her usual horrible, punny jokes, and the laugh that followed didn’t sound as strained as before.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 9, 2011 10:11:11 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Nell asked him if his parents had fed him when he was imprisoned in his room, and she might as well have asked him if he came from Mars with the confusion this caused. "Of course!" he exclaimed softly, as if it was ridiculous to think any other way. Like most people, Josh only considered his own experiences immediately and didn't think up the possibility that Nell might be imagining some sort of neglect or abuse. "Even my father doesn't get angry enough to starve me!" He chuckled a little to make light of the situation, though his mind was still whirring with confusion. He pushed it away from the moment, trying not to concentrate too hard on how strange it was that Nell had thought any differently. "Honestly, it's not so bad. Really, really boring when I'm not in the mood to read, but it's not like they tortured me." He'd went without dinner a few times when he got into trouble, but it was only ever one missed meal to give him some form of admonishment. They wouldn't lock him up like a dog and only give him scraps. He loved his parents even past this, knowing that he really had deserved whatever punishments they usually gave him--except maybe when Donovan took it upon himself to give him hell for something. Patricia tended to be the voice of reason when it came to parenting, and Donny was a little extreme. But he wasn't going to tell Nell about the times his father had hit him because, well, that wasn't an easy thing to talk about. Plus, he didn't want to give her the wrong idea about his parents.
He caught the hopeful tone in her voice, and as Joshua was ever one to try and stop his friends from worrying, he replied, "I would certainly think so." He wasn't really sure when his parents were going to get over this latest excursion of his, but he also didn't want to give Nell some wretched mental image of parents that would keep him under house arrest until the end of the year or something. "It was on the news and all, so they're very unhappy with me, but the fact that I'm not confined to my room is a good sign." He was injecting honesty into the situation in an attempt to be more reassuring. Of course, the fact that he was sneaking out was a very bad idea, but he couldn't help it. He'd wanted to see his friend and he'd been rather desperate to find something to do. It was a bit extreme that he'd snuck out so soon after the sentence had begun, but no one had said he was the most rational person when it came to things like these. "Plus, there's always school. I can hang out during breaks and stuff." He sometimes spent time with Nell when both of them had a reprieve between their classes, which was a rather erratic schedule considering the two were in different grades. "Don't worry too much about me, though." Nell had met his parents--surely she didn't think them capable of anything too extreme? He worried over that for a moment, but decided against going any further.
That is, until she answered his question about her well-being. His eyes widened slightly at her words. "Not every parent lets their child out." It was grim, it was chilling, and it didn't sound like a pointless sentence with which to further their conversation. He swallowed nervously, taking a sip of his drink in order to keep his throat from drying like it tended to do when he got worried over something. "I apologise for bringing it up," he said earnestly. "It wasn't my intentions to trigger anything." He wondered why her parents had kept her locked up and the exact circumstances, but he refused to allow himself to ask. That was rude and invasive, and it just wasn't in his nature to pry into something so personal and severe. Instead, he said, "My parents always let me out eventually. I'm a pain in the ass sometimes, I don't deny it, but they'll forgive me with time." The severity of his punishments depended on the severity of his crimes, and he was usually admonished further if he broke the terms of his grounding as he was right now. "The summer incident was after the third time I'd tried to get around the rules." He'd whined and complained quite a bit about how bored he was, and then Patricia had eloquently reminded him that he shouldn't have tried to sneak out of the house if he didn't want to be stuck in his room. That hadn't exactly made things any better, but she had been right.
Joshua finished off his wrap as Nell answered his questions, seeming mildly amused when she rolled her eyes. He shook his head and sighed as she questioned his own allies. "Sadly, no," he replied after he swallowed. "They're still as arrogant and irritating as ever. But it's nothing I can't handle." The Fire elementals frequently antagonised him and poked fun at the fact that he hung out with a 'flower child', but he really didn't care what they thought of him. If he'd cared, he never would have taken action in the war to begin with. There were repercussions in the sense that he now had to be a lot more careful in a place that had once been a comfort, but if things got too bad he could always just stick to staying at him. That was what he was forced to do now, anyway, seeing as he was grounded. Another condition of his parents': no staying overnight at school during a punishment. It was too easy to break rules when they couldn't keep watch over him. He was expected to be home in an hour or less after school ended. "There is some welcome news, though; Blackthorn stepped down. I couldn't stand that guy... even if he did agree with you in the end." He scowled for a moment, but tried not to let the mood dip too low. "How are the kids in your element doing, anyway?" He found himself with a new affection for the Earth elementals. He'd never seen them as more than irritations before, but now that he'd stayed with them his opinion was much more fond.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 9, 2011 13:47:28 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER By the expression on Josh’s face, she could guess that he was pretty disbelieving. Her cheeks heated up, realizing just how stupid a question that must have been. But you never knew. No one knew about her mother, after all, and that had been her fault, something else she could blame herself for. How was she supposed to know that Josh’s family didn’t ever hurt him? She could feel a bit of defensiveness push through, a need to stick up for herself even though she was way off base with the whole grounding deal. She nodded. They didn’t torture him, of course they didn’t. Not every parent out there is abusive. She scolded herself for even thinking so terribly of the people who had been so nice to her on their son’s birthday, who welcomed her into their home and were just so obviously good people. They even gave her a lift after she and Josh got arrested. They aren’t like her. Not at all. Even though no one could really tell that anything was wrong by just looking at Mia; faces deceive all the time, and you couldn’t tell what someone was like from outward appearance. But she always put faith into other people, tried her best to believe in them. Which is why she felt so bad for thinking that Donovan and Patricia could do anything so horrible like her mother had.
She chose to believe that his parents would let him out soon, whether it was so she didn’t have to think badly of them or because she wanted to believe Josh, she didn’t know. Ignorance is bliss, she guessed. ”I just feel bad that you got punished so badly and I got off easy.” It was very ironic considering she was the one already in trouble with the law, but since it had been his fault even though she didn’t want to blame him, that only made since. Still, if she was a normal teenager there would have been more repurcussions for her. She’d probably have been grounded, too. Except she was not a normal teenager and she could just walk away from her father whenever he started to act like a parent. ”I guess so,” Nell said, thoguh she still didn’t like all this grounding business. But she kept telling herself that just because she had bad experiences didn’t mean that other people were scarred for life whenever their parents took away their video games. She gave a small smile, since telling her not to worry was like telling her not to breathe. ”I’ll try not to,” she said, by way of relenting. Nell would still be concerned about him and his well-being, but she’d try not to freak out about the fact that he would be confined to his house for an undetermined period of of time. Nell took a moment of silence, knowing that she’d let something about her past slip. Well, actually, it could have been considered a general comment, but Josh had clearly caught on. Her ignorance of everything could really hinder her in times like these. ”Don’t even worry about it, you didn’t know,” she said softly. She didn’t want him to feel guilty about something that was definitely not his fault. ”I really shouldn’t be comparing other people’s experiences with mine, anyway.” Everyone was different, she just had to keep reminding herself of that. Josh’s history with grounding was not like hers with imprisonment. All she needed to do was stop fretting so much and enjoy the time she could spend with him while he was sneaking out. Nell nodded at his words, finally calming down from her minor anxiety attack over him. ”That’s what parents should do,” she said with a sigh. Good parents forgave their children. Normal parents forgave their children and didn’t make them feel like everything bad that had happened was their fault. ”They should forgive their children even if they try to get around the rules.” She shrugged her shoulders. Her life had been one long, continuous punishment but that didn’t mean that’s what Josh was like. His parents were nice, sane people.
Nell tilted her head and smiled. ”Well, you can always carry around a squirt bottle,” she said as another attempt at a joke. She mimed squeezing the bottle trigger, as if Fire students could be deterred by a bottle of water. Since Nell hadn’t been turning against her element and the Fires had laid off after she spoke to Alex, she didn’t really have to deal with them. Perhaps they were too busy messing with Josh. She still had some bitter Thunder students to deal with, but luckily they weren’t too ballsy against an Earth student, no matter how passive she was. Thankful that the Academy had returned to the Halcyon state she’d entered it during, she didn’t even care if anyone still had hard feelings about the war. She just wanted to move past it and forget that it ever happened. ”Do you think that him stepping down had anything to do with the war?” Nell asked, curious as to why the Fire leader had abdicated his post. Nell grinned at the question. ”Much better now that the war is over. That was the worse part, my Earth buddies getting attacked because they sided with me.” Definitely the worst part, and she thought of it grimly. But she quickly recovered to say, ”I’m just glad to see the Academy at least somewhat normal again.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 9, 2011 14:30:54 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Joshua gave Nell a long look when she expressed regret for the fact that he got into trouble. "Nell, I was the one driving," he pointed out. "I was the one that dragged you along when I ran for it, I was the one with the weapon. You should not feel guilty." He shook his head adamantly as if to back this up. He hated it when his actions negatively affected his friends, especially someone like Nell who was so sweet and nice and innocent and the complete opposite of Joshua in every way. "If anything, I'm the one who should feel the guilt. And I do, but you already knew that." He forced himself not to detail how bad he felt, seeing as they had already been over this a few times already. Joshua just couldn't get over the fact that she felt any sort of responsibility for their arrest. It wasn't Nell's fault that the sight of a gun had turned Josh into a totally nervous wreck. He'd told her why, though, and of course she'd accepted this and hadn't blamed him at all. I still don't understand her. Maybe he never would. She was a very confusing person, but Josh found that he liked that. It gave him a sort of a challenge when it came to hanging out with her. There was always things he didn't expect. But there was a lot of negativity, too, considering Joshua always felt he was taking advantage of her kindness. His own soft side paled terribly next to hers, and yet she still treated him like he could do no wrong. She knew that he had flaws but she hung around him anyway. You do the same for her, he reminded himself. But it was different. Always different.
"You should be glad that you didn't get into any trouble," he went on, trying to inject positivity into their conversation. There was no need for everything to be completely drab and dismal. Then he remembered what she'd said in their chat on the computer, something about her father and how he had reprimanded her. She did not live with the man, this he knew, but he wondered how much power he actually had over her. "You mentioned your father," he said. "I understand he has no power over you, but was he very upset?" Remembering the wrath of his own parents, he didn't envy Nell the experience. A selfish part of him wished for a moment that they could swap places, but then he mentally admonished himself. No, it was unfair to wish that Nell was suffering in his place. Especially when this is, as usual, my own fault. He left it at that. "I recall something about threats--something to do with moving in with him?" Joshua's brow furrowed. He couldn't remember the exact words that Nell had used, but it had been something along those lines. "Surely he can't force such a thing... or can he?" There was a tinge of worry colouring Joshua's tone now. Nell had her freedom, but could her father have it in his power to take all of that away? He remembered that Nell was only seventeen, but he didn't know when she'd be eighteen and thus completely and totally under her own free will. He decided he would ask, and worded it carefully, "Whatever rights he has, he'll lose them once you're an adult, won't he? Is that very soon?"
Noticing that he was bombarding her with questions, Joshua's lips twitched very slightly. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I don't mean to drown you or anything." The word 'drown' made him tense for a moment, but then he mentally kicked himself. Don't be so stupid. He managed a small laugh when Nell still seemed to be objected to the idea of punishments. "I can't truly blame my parents," he admitted. "If they were to let me away with everything, I doubt I'd be sitting here now." Though he was kidding, there was some truth to his words. There was every possibility that he'd be sitting in a jail cell or at least in a much worse place than he was without the guidance of his parents. "There was much worse they could have done, so I suppose I should be grateful." He'd been threatened with things like military school or juvenile hall in his earlier teenage years, something to 'straighten him out'. Of course, his parents had never carried through with these threats because Joshua's rebellious nature had never broke through enough to be deserving of such a harsh sentence. His mother was opposed to such ideas, anyway, so it was probably with her influence that it had never happened.
Joshua did not know Alexandre Blackthorn personally, he didn't care to, so perhaps he shouldn't have been speaking for him or passing any form of judgement. But the Fire graduate had strong opinions of the younger boy, opinions which had only been strengthened and solidified after the war. "I wouldn't doubt it for a moment," he said darkly, nodding. "I still think he only backed down because he didn't have the balls to carry out what he was ordering everyone else to do, the hypocrite." Nell probably didn't share his views--she was much more polite and accepting than he, as usual. But Josh didn't care, for he wasn't going to pretend that everything with Blackthorn involved sunshine and butterflies. "Not sure when they're going to replace him, but I think it'll be soon. Hopefully we'll get someone decent." Then, with a frown, he added, "No matter how decent, though, they've got another thing coming if they think they can order me around." He was headstrong and didn't like being bossed about by some younger kid. He'd listen to the professors and might consider the opinion of the older graduates, but he wouldn't take orders from some jerkass kid. "That's good," he said earnestly when they spoke of the Earth kids. "They're a decent bunch, your allies. Except the Water kids. Still don't like them." He managed a smile, polishing off another donut as he awaited her reply.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 9, 2011 15:48:36 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell realized that it was Josh’s fault that they had been arrested. But she still couldn’t blame him because he’d been afraid—if he’d just rocketed out of there for no reason, then yeah, she might have had been mad at him, but still would have been able to forgive. But those were not the circumstances. ”I told you not to blame yourself!” she said firmly, with a nod of her head to emphasize this point. She wouldn’t allow him to have any feelings of guilt about this whatsoever. ”Especially since I did get off so easily. There’s nothing to feel guilty about.” Except, you know, her minor panic attack in the jail cell. But nope, she wouldn’t blame Josh for that. Amazing how easily she could forgive him now when he’d once threatened to cut her. She could have laughed at that thought, but she was staying serious to assure Josh that she couldn’t find any reason to pin the fault of this whole thing on him. Especially not when he was suffering and she was free to skip through a field of flowers like the hippie she was. He was just being incredibly masochistic, making himself feeling worse when he already had to deal with the fact his parents had grounded him and taken his shiny new car. ”And if you keep blaming yourself…I may have to take drastic measures.” She didn’t say what these drastic measures were, because she didn’t know. She just didn’t want him to keep blaming himself for something he did in a moment of panic.
”Oh, I am,” she said quickly. Because if she’d gotten in trouble, it would have been pretty damn bad. As in deportation bad. As in trial without having any assistance bad. And—in the end—it would have meant a very long jail sentence bad. She snorted as he brought up her father. ”He never actually gets mad, he was just very irritating and sarcastic and annoying.” Nell wasn’t one to complain, and she really wasn’t—her father, even the mention of him, just brought out the worst in her. Nell nodded, now tapping her foot a bit in irritation as she thought about her father. She hoped that Josh didn’t think she was getting mad at him or anything, since this wasn’t very Nell-like behavior. ”That, and he said he wouldn’t help me if I did get arrested again.” She rolled her eyes. She didn’t plan on doing that so her father didn’t have anything to worry about. Could her father force her to move in with him? ”Luckily, he has no legal rights over me,” she explained, and now her fingernails were tapping on the table with her ever-growing irritation. ”I would never let that man have any power over me. And he damn well better not try to make me do anything or I swear by all that is holy I will do whatever I can to make his life hell, porque él me debe y no controla mi vida…” She cut herself off before she started into any more Spanish rambling, her cheeks flushed with both anger and embarrassment. ”Sorry…got carried away there.” She sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes, now very heated up. It was awesome, how her father got to her like this. Just awesome. ”I’ll be eighteen in…August? Yeah, August. So even if he does try anything, it’ll all be null and void then.” She smirked as she remembered something. ”Oh yeah, I don’t think he likes you much.”
Nell smiled. She was actually glad that he felt comfortable enough to ask her questions. There were certain things you had to tread carefully with when talking to her—just as it was with Josh—but once she’d really come to trust you, that trust went a long way. It didn’t necessarily mean her owning up to everything she’d ever done in life, but it meant a peak inside an otherwise secretive private life. ”It’s okay.” She thought for a moment, then added, ”You know, you don’t have to be so careful when asking questions about my private life. I’m okay with most things. It’s just…I don’t like talking about my past, as I’m sure most people don’t.” It was close to anyone as she’d ever gotten. No one else really had this privelege, where they could ask her something about her life and only get an ‘It’s complicated’. Had Josh been anyone else and asked about the man, that would have been her answer. But he knew about the whole murder deal, so what else in her life right now did she have to hide from him? Of course, Nell wasn’t one to talk about herself all the time or complain about things so she had to say, ”Uhm…sorry for using you as the sound board for my problems. That wasn’t nice of me.” Nell sighed when he mentioned his parents. Of course, he was right. ”Discipline is needed, I guess.” Too bad her mother was too far gone to even realize what the hell she was doing. And too bad Nell was afraid of what discipline could mean. ”Yep, you always got to look on the bright side,” Nell said with great enthusiasm, her earlier anger now completely vanished. He could have been abused, and she was pretty sure he hadn’t been. But she also knew he wouldn’t tell her if he was. Don’t go down that path again brain, thanks.
Nell could guess at how fond Josh was of Alexandre at the meeting they had. Those two just added to the tenseness of the entire situation. ”Well, I can’t speak very highly of someone who supported an attack against me…” She wore a half-smile though. ”I’m just glad it didn’t much for him to back down. If only we could have done it earlier and have avoided all this…” But there was no point in ‘what if’s, as Nell always believed. She certainly did not share Josh’s animosity toward the guy, but that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for them. ”Do they have anyone in mind, you think?” It was the enemy affiliation, and so she shouldn’t have been asking about this, but she was a naturally curious person. It wouldn’t matter much to her who came to power next, unless they decided to launch a war against her for some reason or another. Nell laughed lightly when he said that he wouldn’t let the new leader command him. ”Well, you certainly made that clear during the war. But…don’t college students have more free reign than us lowly high schoolers?” She was pretty sure that since they were adults, they weren’t kept on such short leashes. In any case, she liked her own leader, since she considered Ashton to be a good friend. And she wouldn’t mind being ordered around by him, even though he definitely wasn’t the type to go drill sargeant on his element. And speaking of the Earth element, she was rather surprised by his sincerity about how the element was doing. ”I’m glad that my element has fallen into your good graces. I’m guessing it was the hospitality?” No matter how strange it was that he was a Fire elemental. ”As for the Water kids…well, I know they can be rambuncuous. So that’s okay.” She really liked them, of course, but she had a feeling Josh wouldn’t be too fond. Actually, she couldn’t say that since he was pretty unpredictable.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 10, 2011 5:32:41 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Joshua folded his arms and glared stubbornly, but there was a brief flickering of humour that suggested he might just be putting on a show. "And I told you not to feel bad," he shot back smoothly, cocking a brow at her and looking a bit smug. His soft laugh broke the momentary facade and he shook his head a little. "We keep going back and forth," he said. "We'll give each other coronaries if we keep this up." He wondered briefly if Nell would even know what the hell that meant, but decided against explaining and instead went on, "Compromise? We'll both shut up about it. That way neither of us needs to gripe." He offered Nell a light smile, further assurance that he was only gently teasing--he wasn't really irked with her, of course not. It was very hard for Joshua to get irritated at Nell. Perhaps he'd be set off by something she was doing that concerned him, but the girl herself seemed to have a personality that clicked well with his. It was strange to think that the two of them, so different in personality, could get along so well. But then again, he liked that. He enjoyed the fact that she was so kind and accepting, it just made him feel guilty that he couldn't be a better person to make up for it. "Drastic measures, eh?" He voiced his next words as a light challenge, "Like what?" He wondered what she had in mind, which was precisely why he'd asked her.
The anger--was this anger? did she get angry?--that Nell displayed when they switched to the subject of her father was surprising. He'd only seen Nell upset on a few occasions, and yet it was still mind-blowing to see the way her expression slipped from its normal cheery demeanour. Josh would even go so far as to say it was off-putting. "Wouldn't help you? That bastard." He spat the word with venom. "Well, if you ever do need someone to bail you out of a tough spot and it's not me who's in it with you, give me a call. I'll help, even if that sorry excuse for a--erm, even if your father doesn't." He rubbed at the back of his neck, a little flustered by the surge of anger that had overtaken him. He pulled a napkin from the dispenser and wiped some jelly filling from his hand. He'd actually tightened his grip around one of the donuts and ruptured the side. He inspected the donut to ensure it was alright before taking a bit out of it, giving Nell a brief window of time to talk without his irritated interruptions. Swallowing, he replied, "I have no idea what you said, but I bet it was bad." He still didn't understand Spanish worth shit, and he was pretty sure French would confuse Nell if he went on a tangent, as well. However, when she mentioned the fact that her father didn't like him, Joshua's gray eyes hardened into a glare. "The feeling is most indefinitely mutual," he said coldly. He didn't like the idea of this man, let alone the individual himself. No parent should hold something like that over their child's head. Yeah, like my father is any better. But Donovan did help, even if he was an ass about it.
His steely gaze softened when she next spoke, however, advising him against being so paranoid when it came to questions. It was rather surprising to hear her say this, and it felt like one hell of a sign of trust that she would invite him to ask questions without as much hesitance in the future. "Alright," he replied, lips twitching into a smile that could even be considered genuine for once as he nodded. "I suppose I'm just so wary because of my own past," he admitted with a laugh. "But you know more about it than even my parents, so... the same thing goes. If there's anything you want to know, well..." He dipped his head slightly as he trailed off. Just as with Nell, he wasn't going to spill his absolute life story on a dime. But he'd share things, too. He felt comfortable with this girl, and that was an alien experience. Even with his other friends, he'd never felt this sort of comfort before. He'd never felt like he could open up to... well, anyone, really. Nell apologised for dumping everything on him, Joshua only shaking his head in reply. "I was the one who asked," he pointed out fairly. "And I don't mind. It's good to vent every now and again." Because if you didn't, you lost control over those pent-up emotions. Now that was something he was accustomed to. She seemed to have gotten over her anger fairly easily, and he almost envied her for a moment. His pulse was still pounding and he could still feel anger prickling at his stomach. It would be a while before he was feeling completely back to normal. But his anger was not toward Nell, so it might not affect their conversation. Just as long as she didn't offend him.
Talking about Alexandre didn't help this anger at all, nurturing it in his chest and increasing it ever so slowly. It was like a volcanic eruption waiting to happen. Still, he didn't want to blow up at Nell. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling slowly, he just nodded and returned the half-smile with a bit of a painful grimace. "It's over now. All that matters." He was lying through his teeth--it was not all that mattered to him--and it was probably obvious, but it was for Nell's sakes. The fact that they moved on was a good thing. "No idea," he said. "They tend to be erratic with who they picked. I was chosen because everyone was afraid of me, no other reason. I guess they expected me to be some tyrant that terrorised the other elements." He smirked as he remembered how untrue that had been. "Alex was just popular. A lot of his friends contributed to the vote." Who knew why they'd elect this new guy? They had to replace the female leader as well. He didn't care who they were as long as they stayed away from Nell and left him alone while they were at it. "Yeah," he confirmed when she asked about free reign. "They figure we're adults and can make our own decisions. Doesn't stop the brats from trying." He shrugged as if to say that it didn't matter. "Your kind are decent. They're genuine. Which is a hell of a lot better than I got from even my own people, so... in combination with the hospitality, I'd say that's why. God help me, you're turning me soft." His tone was teasing as he nudged her arm, clearly kidding around.
[omg wow. that jelly thing was, once again, unintentional. I was like "what kind of donuts have filling? ah! hey... hey wait >.>" xD]
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 10, 2011 17:46:21 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell looked at him from the corner of her eye until she caught on that he was joking. Right, still not completely used to that.’ She put on her usual half-smile and raised an eyebrow. Crossing her arms in a mock gesture of her own, she couldn’t help but laugh at his mention of coronaries and how true that was. ”What, you’re not enjoying the verbal tennis game?” she said, her smile growing wider. That was certainly a good way to describe how they carried blame. He was right, though. Nell held up her hands in a surrendering gesture and said, ”Compromise. I shall speak no more.” It was nice, that they could do that. Make a compromise and move on. Especially since she’d thought Josh to be such a difficult person to deal with before—she’d never disliked him, but she’d always felt nervous around him, like one word may get her burned to death. But even from the beginning, he’d been helpful to her in his own dark, dickish way. Now, it was more effortless to hold a conversation, when before it had felt like a marathon. And if Nell was good at anything, it was moving on from the past. She faltered when he actually asked what she had in mind, these ‘drastic measures’. ”Well…erm…you’ll find out!” Crossing her arms again, she added on, ”And it won’t be pretty, nosiree.” It was then she finally burst out in laughter, surprised that she had so much restraint before.
She winced a bit as he said the word, but she wasn’t about to stick up for the man. It was kind sad when you could rely on your closest friend more than your own father. But this father was the one who thought he could skip merrily back into her life and be an overbearing prick after about eleven years. And Josh had never abandoned her before, quite the opposite. Therefore, he was the better man by far. She could have laughed at the fact that he squeezed the jelly out of his donut, but she was far too peeved for that. ”Thank you, really,” she said. ”But that wouldn’t help much since not only will he leave me in the dust, but he will also ensure that I get deported.” Realizing how angry he was getting, she said quickly, ”He’s just banging on his chest, really. More hollow threats than anything. And I will say no more on him, in case I start turning green and grow ten more feet.” Besides, she could never go in too deep about her father and everything that was wrong with their relationship. Which was a lot of things, but she was sure Josh also had problems with his parents. Not that they’d ever abandoned him and left him defenseless against a near-psychotic woman, and she tried not to think of the whole grounding deal, but no relationship was perfect. Or at least she didn’t think so. She frowned and banged her forehead against the table a few times, muttering under her breath, ”That man will be the death of me.” After all, he sure didn’t help in the whole Spanish deal since apparently he refused to speak the English language just like the parents he claimed not to like. Sitting straight again, she said, ”I am so sorry. I could tutor you or something so I’m not a total jerk when I keep doing this to you.” She really always felt terrible about that now. Her father had taught it to her for a future skill to use in the world—probably one of the only skills she had that she could bring into her life—but it was causing more problems when her brain operated in both languages like a dual processor. The feeling is mutual? Again, she couldn’t stick up for her father. She knew what he probably thought about Josh—that he was a total delinquint and that she shouldn’t be around him and blah blah blah. The only reason that he didn’t say those things because even he realized that that wasn’t how their father/daughter dynamic worked.
She felt…honored to have Josh’s trust, which was a strange way to think of it. He had been a suspicious person from the start, and pretty much every conversation had been filled with awkward silences simply because they were afraid of asking each other too many questions. So honored would be a good word for it. ”Well, I think it’s only normal…for people to want to keep their private lives, well…private.” Nell hoped she was right about that, but it only seemed normal. No one liked to air their dirty laundry. But she trusted him, because he had kept her dirty laundry a secret. Despite all of Josh’s faults, his temper and the fact that she didn’t even get him, she still trusted him. And since he apparently returned such feelings, she had an idea. ”All right then, how about a game of twenty questions?” She leaned back and crossed her arms, eyes rolling up to the ceiling in thought. What was something she wanted to know about Josh? Except for everything, because she didn’t think she understood one bit about him. ”What’s your favorite food?” She actually really wanted to know, especially because of his vegetarianism. She could only imagine that kind of diet, and she knew her life wouldn’t be complete without meat. Even though he assured that everyone needed to vent, Nell felt sincerely regretful about getting so mad around Josh, especially since it was letting on that there was something wrong with her life. There could be nothing wrong with Nell, or rather that was her front. It’s kind of hard to tell that to someone who knows how much of a mess you are. ”I won’t argue with that,” she said, because that would mean they’d need another compromise.
Since clearly talk of the ex-Fire leader was not good, she dropped it. No need to make Josh even angrier, because an angry Josh was not a good Josh to have. And she didn’t want any more jelly donuts to suffer. So she was more than glad to move on to possible prospects for the Fire leader, being reminded that he’d once held the position. ”I’m guessing you weren’t?” she asked about the tyrant comment, since she hadn’t been around for that. She wasn’t too surprised, since Josh had once said he didn’t like politics much before. Which meant it was kind of odd that they chose him as leader, but as he said, they were apparently looking for a big bully. ”So, are these…elections, I guess, like popularity contests?” Nell once again displayed her ignorance of the inner workings of the Academy, but she didn’t feel so self-conscious with Josh when asking these sort of questions. ”You can always use superiority of age and order them around,” she said with a giggle, showing she wasn’t at all serious. She’d be an adult very soon, but her next birthday really didn’t matter too much—she’d pretty much been an adult all her life, one more birthday wouldn’t make a big difference. But soon, she’d be going to college because she was determined to hone her powers even more since it always felt like she’d missed out on so much. Plus, the Academy had quickly become her home and it was really the only place she had to feel at least remotely safe. Especially now with the war over. ”Well you know the Earth element, best hosts in the world. We turn down your bed and put mints on the pillows and everything.” She laughed at this, and grinend at Josh when he nudged her. ”I doubt you can be soft,” she teased. ”But I’m really glad that we left a good impression and all. They Earth element is pretty much my family.” A better family than she’d ever had.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 11, 2011 7:45:57 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Josh was unaware that his apparent change in attitude over the last little while was still overwhelming her. The reveal of his witty side was not a conscious thing for Josh, never had it been a conscious thing. When he cracked jokes and displayed that he actually did have a personality beyond 'total dickwad' as well as a genuine sense of humour, it was mainly because the companionship of a friend melted away all that hostility. He couldn't joke around people that he didn't get along well with, and if he did it was usually in the most snide and sarcastic ways possible. "My serve's been a little shot as of late," he replied, continuing the tennis analogy without realising that she'd even been confused at all. "Oh, I'll find out, will I?" Now that they'd agreed to compromise and move on in the situation, his joking and good mood came even easier than usual. Why was this so simple with Nell? Wasn't it supposed to be awkward and confusing? "What if I decide I want to take the blame? What'll you do?" This was entirely metaphorical, made obvious by a light tone filled with teasing challenge. It was hard to believe that he'd once shared an awkward car ride with this girl and his little sister, trying not to slip up and say a word about himself whilst simultaneously avoiding small talk. When had things changed? Had it been gradual or had it been immediate? Looking back, Josh couldn't fully picture or remember what his life had been like without his friend in it. And he was okay with that. She's here now, that's all that matters. It might have been hard to believe, but it wasn't hard to appreciate in the least. Her laughter made his lips twitch into a hint of a smile, the infamous gesture of Joshua Dale. It was infectious, and after a moment he joined in, a softer chuckle to compliment how much she was laughing.
However, his rage toward her father could not easily be explained in a few choice words. He was actually trembling softly with the effort of not saying anything when she said that her father would get her deported. "That's--that's not right," he protested, the exact words that she'd spoken when she had been adverse to the idea of his own parents grounding him. Sure, they had been seriously angry with him, but he doubted his father would send him into the jaws of the justice system for a simple mistake. Donovan was a bit of an extremist when it came to the severity of his rage, but even he wasn't that bad. It was hard for Joshua to put his hatred into words, so he just worked his jaw and then took a frustrated drink of tea. Calm down, he scolded himself, though he knew that it would not be that easy. It was never that easy. Joshua was not a calm person by nature and everything to do with Nell's father made his blood boil. "Sending you back... back there... is not a hollow threat," he protested, shaking his head. "That's just pure cruelty. I swear if I could--" He cut himself off and shook his head sharply. Deep breaths. Damn it, this was impossible. Joshua was protective of his friends, and when he heard of one that was getting into a shitton of trouble with a father like hers, it provoked his anger like nothing else. He tried to force it away, even managing a strangled sort of laugh when she offered to tutor him in Spanish to help with her confusing phrases. "You don't need to apologise," he insisted. "But I would like that," he mused thoughtfully, nodding. His heart was still pounding and his free hand--the other was holding the donut--was clenched on the table, but he was trying to stop himself from getting too out of hand. Self control. Mind over matter. Mind over... mind? I don't know. "It intrigues me more than angers me." He liked the chance to learn new things, after all, and if it would help him to better understand his friend... why not?
Nell proposed a game of twenty questions, and for some reason the idea delighted Joshua. It seemed almost silly to want to play something along these lines, but he saw it as a friendly and interesting way to get to know her as a person and as a friend. Not everything they did needed to be shrouded in danger and awkwardness--they were allowed to have fun just like everyone else, right? "Sure," he agreed, waving his hand. "Go for it." It shouldn't have surprised him that the first question would involve food, and he shot her a bit of a grin. 'I'm onto you,' the gesture seemed to suggest, but it was in the most amused and light-hearted way possible. Despite the silliness of the situation, he took the question entirely serious. "Well I'd say any sort of confectioneries, but those are sweets and not foods. Give me a moment?" He tapped his fingers on the table softly, his tell-tale sign of being deep in thought. He went over all of the things he'd eaten in his lifetime and tried to deduce which of these dishes would have been his favourite. "Well, any time my mother cooks, I could say everything she makes is a favourite," he chuckled. A lot of people enjoyed their mother's cooking the best--Josh was no exception. "But I really do have a thing for roast potatoes. Especially the garlic ones." Seeing as he'd answered her question, he took a long sip of his tea as he thought up something of his own. "What's your favourite subject?" he asked, and winked at her a little. Hell, she'd asked about food, which was her passion, why shouldn't he ask about his?
Joshua gave her a disbelieving look. "You actually had to ask? I'm quite offended." He was only kidding around, though, and he gave a slight smile after a moment and shook his head. "No tyranny on my part," he promised. "I wasn't too fond of politics or anything like that, so I mostly just made sure to keep things under control." He shrugged a little. He'd kept up the duties and he'd went to meet with the enemy and allied leaders, he'd worked together with the female fire leader, but he'd never really been too brash and violent about his position. They had wrongfully assumed that his anger issues would equal some sort of veritable asshole that could terrorise their foes. "Sort of," he said. "Some vote for their friends, some actually do what they're supposed to do and vote for the person best suited to lead. Others just vote for whoever, and in my case they picked me because most of our enemies were afraid of my... uh, anger issues." He ducked his head slightly and messed up the back of his hair. Yeah. 'Anger issues'. Like the ones he'd had when he'd threatened to stab his now-best friend. "I envy them that," he admitted with a twitch of his lips as she spoke of her extended family in the Earth students. "Most of Fire sticks together, but I wasn't... ah, I didn't like to follow their 'code'." He shrugged.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 11, 2011 15:23:12 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER When Josh replied, she could at least tell now that he really was joking and that he had a sense of humor, something that didn’t ever exist before. But she wasn’t complaining. It was nice that every second didn’t involve an awkward silence when neither of them knew what to say. Normally, Nell would have been much more talkative, but the simplest things with Josh had been off-limits. And he wasn’t too social, either. And she’d been fine with that, which is why she stuck around for so long. ”Yes, you will,” she responded coolly, as if she had an evil idea forming in her brain. Even a confident smirk accompanied that. It was getting easier for her to accept that Josh had the ability to joke, and therefore she could joke right back. ”Curious, hmm? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.” It was actually really nice to forget about all the problems surrounding both of their lives so they can lobby jokes back and forth. She didn’t know the exact kind of burdens he had to shoulder, but after getting arrested and grounded and dealing with whatever he had on his mind, there must have been a lot of stress there. And her life had been taken over by school, work, and the constant fear that impending trials weighed her down with. So just sitting in Timmies and talking to a friend felt very good.
Well, until Josh got angry. She should really learn not to speak, especially since the topic of her father did not sit well with him. Nell looked down and scratched the back of her head. Whereas she could calm down pretty quickly even though she was always bitter toward her father, for Josh it was not so easy. That was probably the biggest difference between them—nature refused to let her get that enraged, but the closest she’d ever come to full-throttle anger was with her father and their family. It just goes to show, it takes years and years of bitterness to make her angry. Nell shrugged. ”Nothing about him is right,” she muttered lowly. Nothing about their relationship was right either, but that was what happened after eleven years of absence. Josh still didn’t know about that, and she didn’t feel the need to tell him. It wasn’t like she could just say ‘oh yeah, daddy left me when I was si and just came back’, even though she would like to explain why she hated him so much so that she didn’t seem so petty. When it came to him, she was always petty. He brought out the worse in her, which is probably why she didn’t want to elaborate too much to Josh. She didn’t want him to see the worse of her. Nell smiled, but it didn’t meet her eyes. Cruelty? Her father iddn’t even compare to his wife. He had actually been afraid of her, which Nell guessed played into him leaving the family. But she didn’t want to think about that. ”Well, I’ll just make sure to stay out of trouble. I’ve been doing okay so far, after all.” Until I met you. But she didn’t mention that, since there was the whole ‘guilt’ issue. Even without Josh, she could still manage to find herself in trouble. She managed to shake off her darker thoughts when she said, ”Finally, I have something that I can teach you!” Since he’d always been the one helping her out, she felt a sense of pride that there was at least one thing he didn’t know that she could help him with.
Nell wore her best wide-eyed, ‘I’m innocent and I don’t know why you would think otherwise’ look. Did he expect anything different? She couldn’t hold the innocent face long before she grinned. How weird that she was doing this with Josh of all people, but finally she’d be learning more about him. Even though it still won’t bring her close to understanding how he worked. Everything about him was just an enigma. ”Candy?” she chirped, using much simplier words than him, of course. It was funny, thinking that big, scary Joshua Dale had a sweet tooth. But it also meant that she could give him candy, which usually she only saved for people she found cute. That’s not creepy, right? Well, she liked giving people any kind of food, but candy and junk was much more convenient than a platter. ”Does your mother cook a lot?” she asked, then she put her hand over her mouth, covering a smile. ”That is not my next question so disregard it.” It was amusing, considering her father had been the cook of the family and his father before him had also cooked. And she was only…somewhat decent when it came to cooking. But she was determined to get better, even if that meant enlisting her father’s help. She nodded, and said solemnly because food was very serious business (as it apparently had been to him), ”Those are a very good sidedish. Tater tots, too.” She chose not to acknowledge the alliteration in that sentence, instead letting her mind wander to food as she downed another donut. Then Josh’s question was about education, and she lifted her eyebrows at him and tilted her head a bit. I could have so called that. ”It’s a toss-up between history and english. They’re my best classes, actually.” She liked the creativity of english, and history was easy for her to understand considering it was about how people and societies interacted with each other. Nell polished off antoher donut before calling out, ”My question again! Lessee…what’s your favorite band?”
Nell held up her hands in a surrendering gesture. ”I’m sorry for ever doubting you.” Now she was catching on easier to when he was joking and was moving past the stage of ‘ohmygod, he actually has a sense of humor’. ”I guess that’s what makes a good leader.” Taking care of your element and not going around causing problems with others seemed like your best bet. But she wouldn’t really know, considering she didn’t believe she had any leadership skills. Or any skills at all, save for origami and blowing microwaves up. ”It still blows my mind how Academy politics are so similar to real world politics. Elections are even the same.” She was finally getting used to how the school worked, especially after the war. Before, she’d been even more of a fish out of water than how she felt when first coming to Canada. Now, she was understanding the alliances more, and now the leadership roles. She wondered how Ashton had gotten elected, and decided it had been for the right reasons. ”Well…you have your family at home to fall back on.” Even if right now his parents must have been pretty angry at him and his sister was apparently upset. But she relied heavily on her element in the Academy. She didn’t want to admit that she needed anybody because she was supposed to be fine on her own, but with the Earth students she felt at home. And her father could just rot in hell.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 11, 2011 17:52:32 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Nell didn't mention that she'd kept her nose clean before he'd stepped in and ruined it. She didn't have to. Joshua winced slightly, but held his tongue as he remembered their compromise, simply giving a nod instead. Sorry for wrecking all that, he thought, wishing to vocalise this regret but knowing that it would all be for naught. He was starting to realise that Nell really didn't blame him for anything. He deserved the blame, but she wouldn't give it. It was both frustrating and flattering at the same time. She distracted him with promises to teach him Spanish, however, and his lips twitched a little. He was not outright smiling, for he did not smile very often, but it was the thought that counted. The cheerfulness was reflected in his gray eyes as he finished a bite of donut and looked at her. "I'd appreciate it," he said earnestly. It wasn't humiliating that she knew something he did not, for Josh understand that no man or woman could possess all knowledge. It was impossible. "What did you say?' he wondered, then immediately after, "Or is it too personal? I'll understand, if it is." Because whilst he was awful at a lot of things, loyalty and understanding was something he excelled in. Joshua knew when to back down and butt out, and he always tried to ensure that someone's past was not forced out of them. If Nell wanted him to know, she would answer the question. But if she did not, he wouldn't pester her any further. That would be completely alright with him. "I could try teaching you a little French," he said with a half-smile. "It could be fun for us both." That is, if Nell considered learning 'fun' like he did. Which she probably didn't. He was an odd guy.
Brief surprised registered on his expression as he realised that she hadn't been aware of his love for any and all sweets and confectioneries. It was such a fundamental part of Joshua's lifestyle that he found it hard to believe, but then he reminded himself that practically none of his friends were aware of his love. He was so solitary and unaccustomed to sharing things about himself that it just hadn't been something he'd really considered before. "Indeed," he confirmed. "I've been told I've got quite the, ah, sweet tooth." He grinned at her, flashing his teeth to play a part in the joke. Thank goodness his father drilled the importance of hygiene and health care into him, else his teeth would surely rot away. Donovan wasn't a dentist, but he did make sure that his family frequently visited one. "I'm quite partial to those myself," he said cheerfully on the subject of tater tots. "Though the cook doesn't often let us settle for simple things, so I usually only get them when I decide to cook for myself." Their chef was pretty bent on the idea of fancier meals with their fancy spices. He was fine with this and all, but sometimes Joshua enjoyed the simplicity of a sandwich or some macaroni and cheese. "Not too often," he replied, "and don't worry, I won't count it. She's usually too busy with her job, but it's worth it when she does."
To say that he got excited when Nell answered his question might have been a little dorky, but Joshua couldn't help it. His expression seemed to light up with a certain sort of glee for a moment. "You've got to be pulling my leg," he said, though he did believe her. He was just using those words as a lead-in to his next ones, "History is my absolute best subject. English is great, as well, though I don't know that I'd ever want to be a published author." It would probably be a book on medicine, if he did write one. He definitely had some talent with writing, a way with words, but he didn't think that the world of authorship was for him. He preferred to read books and find out about things as opposed to coming up with them himself. "What is it about History that you--ah, that was not my question." His cheeks even gained a bit of colour as he ducked his head, sheepish. "Sorry. I get a little excited when it comes to... well, you know." Long story short, he was a dork, and he was even somewhat proud of that. He was not a prodigy or the next Einstein, but he was well-read and he loved to learn new things, so he supposed that qualified him as being very bright. Not a genius, but a smart guy. He could live with that. "It is nice to know that we are in agreement about something, eh?" He grinned a little, then said, "Without our little game, we never would have known this."
He was no music enthusiast, but that was not to say that Joshua lived under a rock and had never heard of music before. He gave honest though to her question, and the rhythmic tapping of his fingers against the desk started up again. "Hmm... I'm inclined to say The Strokes. I listen to a wide variety of music, but they're quite interesting to me." It was not a band many people would expect Joshua Dale to like. They probably associated him with Gothic rock and heavy metal, dark or even satanic music genres. This irked him at times, because the fact that he was standoffish did not mean he was some sort of dark and brooding future serial killer. He got along fine with Nell, after all. "My turn now. Hmm... what sort of movies do you like?' It seemed an innocent enough question, as usual. At least he wasn't asking after books, though it was undoubtedly something that might come up eventually. This was Joshua, after all. "That's why they called them politics, I guess," Josh remarked with dry humour when Nell likened the Academy politics to real-world ones.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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