KILL THE ROCK;; josh

There was always something satisfying about doing work out on the grounds. It was like the light wind helped to inspire him for how to write his essay with a little less difficulty than usual. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was in a good mood because of the weather. He was almost finished, putting the last finishing touches on it and revising anything he felt needed to be fixed. A critical frown rested on his features as he erased something and reworded it, seemingly satisfied the second time around given that he moved on. Not even the presence of a few nearby Water students seemed to irk him, seeing as they were keeping out his way and playing their own sort of game. They were a bit further from their lake than usual, but he couldn't hold any of that against them. "Watch it," he warned when some of the water splashed close to where he sat, nearly catching him in the line of fire. But he didn't attack, and so they didn't antagonise him further. Thank goodness. Despite his truce with the Earth elementals, he couldn't really see himself warming up to the Water students... ever.

When he was satisfied with the essay, Joshua realised that his stomach was growling and that he had denied it food for a couple of hours in favour of his work. This wasn't a one-time occurrence--he'd neglected his sleeping and eating schedules before for the sake of his double major. School put a lot of stress on him and it was no wonder that he wasn't gaining any weight, though he still did squeeze in frequent visits to the gym. Josh packed all of his supplies into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He would go to the mess hall and see what they had. Normally he would just brave the walk to Tim Hortons--alright, normally he would be driving--but he didn't think he had enough time between classes for that. Let's just hope they're serving something good today, he remarked to himself, yawning and messing up the back of his dark hair. Jesus. He needed to correct his sleeping or he was going to start dozing off in class.

Normally he wouldn't have interfered with the fighting on the grounds, even though it was between somebody else and that total bitch, Altair. Joshua wasn't the type that involved himself in the business of others that were not his friends. Unfortunately, alarm flashed in his gray eyes as he realised that this was not only a friend of his that was being assaulted, it was Nell. "Oh, hell no," he muttered under his breath as he changed direction and started toward the area purposefully. This was a betrayal of the alliance (again) to attack one of his own, but he didn't give a fuck right now. Nell was apparently in danger and that was certainly not alright with him. He was just close enough to hear the last words spoken by the pair, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "If anyone's hair is getting burnt, it'll be yours," he said threateningly.

Joshua had fewer morales than most men when it came to hitting girls. If they had it coming to them, he would deliver, as he'd proved the last time that he had fought Altair. But he didn't want Nell to think that he was some brutal savage or anything, so he pulled Altair away from Nell roughly and then immediately let go, stepping back. "Might want to get out of the way," he suggested to Nell, though his gaze was trained on his opponent and his lips were pressed into a hard line. "I don't want you to get hurt." As soon as he was satisfied that Nell wasn't within the range he was going for, Joshua focused his powers and called upon his element. A violent wave of heat swept through the immediate area, aiming to cause exhaustion in the opponent over time. It would have a little less effect on Altair thanks to her element, but he hoped that it would at least do something for him. The fire appeared from thin air as he willed it to, and Joshua gathered a large blast before he moved his hand in a sweeping motion and watched the fire cascade outward like a wave. "You want a fight, Bennett, then you've got one." No need to pick on poor Nell, who Josh knew probably hadn't done anything at all to start it.

Joshua was actually genuinely surprised that the girl was so cocky and over-confident. He hadn't expected her to be so brave going up against him considering what a disaster their last fight had turned out to be. Josh had ended up walking away simply because he knew that he could utterly wipe the floor with her, not because he was a coward and he had chickened out. Of course, he wasn't aware that this was what Altair thought of him as. A coward. If he had been aware of that he might have went into this full-force and showed him who the one to have fear should have been. He was older than her, stronger than her. "Clearly it's you that hasn't had your fill," he said darkly. "Was your pride so wounded that you had to attack some poor, unsuspecting students out on the grounds?" His tone was dripping with anger and venom, so much hatred rolling from his words that his tone almost shook.

See, now it had turned personal. Altair had brought Nell into it, and now that someone that he loved was getting hurt he wasn't about to be quite so underhanded with his insults and his rage. The incident in the hallway had practically been child's play--she'd thought she had it in the bag and he had mostly just blocked her attacks to prove her wrong. But burning Nell? No, that was not alright under any circumstances. Even if Nell had been the one to instigate the fight, Joshua likely would have sided with her. That was what friends--and boyfriends, he supposed--did for the people they cared about. He didn't think that she was weak or that she needed protecting all of the time, but he did think that Nell was a pacifist. He'd seen how she had behaved during the war, doing nothing to lift a finger against those that had attacked her. She probably wouldn't have used her powers in her own defence.

Josh watched her wince as his heat swept through the area, the faintest hint of a smirk playing on his lips. "You're outmatched, Bennett," he said in a quiet but threatening tone. He was a college student, and he'd since learned that these girls were indeed older than the usual sophomores thanks to a couple of questions to people that knew more about them. But that didn't matter, because she was still only at the level of a tenth grader. He could kick her ass and he was going into the fight with this knowledge, so he didn't understand why she was so sure of herself, so cocky. "I've beat you once and I can do it again. Back out now and agree not to touch Nell again and I won't make it my personal mission to wipe the floor with your ass." He figured that she might realise with his display of the heat and the flames that she had underestimated who she was going up against. Anyone rational would have backed out by now. He expected her to back out, but he didn't get what he was expecting.

Wham. The clock to his jaw was actually painful, causing him to step back in surprise. He hadn't expected the little spitfire to go after him like she did, especially not since that was precisely what he'd done to her in the hallway--he'd punched her in the face. Rather than making him worry about the fight he had in store for him, this just enraged Joshua. Fuck morality, then. If this bitch wanted a fight then he wasn't going to hold back any longer. "I'd have thought you'd learned by now, but I guess I gave you too much credit." Drawing back his fist, he decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. He feinted an uppercut and then changed direction to clock her across the side of the jaw, just as she'd done to him. "Don't try that again," he practically snarled at her. Taking a few steps back to put distance in between them, he readied a tongue of fire and played around with it a little, manipulating it with ease to show her just how outmatched she was. "So try and hit me with your powers," he challenged. "I'll just stop them in their tracks. Try and punch me again and I'll make sure you walk away with more injuries than the both of us--" he gestured vaguely in the direction of Nell, "--combined. Bring it on, Bennett."

Joshua was a little confused and taken aback by Altair's words--was she bluffing? His pride wasn't wounded in the least and he really didn't know where was was getting that idea. "What do you mean, 'I'm one to talk'?" he scoffed, shaking his head incredulously at her. It seemed they were both baffling one another. Two very different people who had different views on the outcome of their last fight and who were about to get into a very dirty fight. He wasn't going to play nice when she got Nell involved in her bitching and trolling, no way. "My pride isn't wounded at all." So maybe he sounded a little arrogant as he smirked at her with cold gray eyes, but he was only telling the truth. He felt nothing toward Altair in terms of jealousy or upset, the only thing he had was anger and contempt. Again he was back with the theory that she was so self-absorbed that she couldn't realise that other people were not always afraid of her or intimidated by her mere presence. Joshua didn't see her as some formidable opponent, he saw her as an arrogant bitch that was messing with his girlfriend for no apparent reason other than boredom. "What gave you the idea, Bennett? Are you really so full of yourself that you thought you could put a dent in my pride? Then I'm so sorry to disappoint you." Honestly, why was this girl such a brat? Who had given her such an inflation of her own ego?

Altair further proved herself to be a little bitch by going on about how this was something that she'd done because she'd 'felt like it'. "I feel like incinerating you," he said without filter, blunt as ever. "I hope you don't mind or anything." He was sneering as he spoke, infuriating her on purpose. He knew that it wasn't always a wise idea to rile up your opponent right before you were about to throw down and get physical with them, but he didn't care. He knew that making her angry would also make her attack out of blind rage rather than strategy, and that was what he was aiming for. She'd had very little in terms of planning the last time they had "fought", and Joshua hadn't even been taking it seriously back then. "Tell me, are your sisters this bitchy or is it just you?" Joshua had a little sister. He knew how enraged he could get when people brought his family into a fight so he was going to drag her family into this and see how much that made her go on the attack. If I can just get her to wear herself down whilst I dodge, I've got this in the bag. He could also just wave a hand and assault her with a steady stream of fire, but that would tire him out just as much. He had to keep in mind that the usage of his power cost him energy and that if she knew how to play her cards, she might have had the smallest of chances. That was why he was riling her up. She would have no chance by the time he was done.

Apparently she was so conceited and full of herself that she hadn't even counted their confrontation in the hallway as a loss. "I didn't walk away because I thought you could best me," he replied, laughing as he finally realised why Altair had been so confused about the matter of pride. "I walked away because I knew you couldn't. Fighting just isn't fun when you're positive of the outcome." He was outright sneering at her now, and he didn't even care that she had managed to land a punch to his face. That didn't count, because he still knew that he'd emerge the victor in this fight. Call it cocky, but he was pretty sure that Altair was going to lose. "I don't think I will," he said in a falsely cheery tone when Altair commanded him to shut up. "I happen to quite enjoy your frustration." He smiled at her, the gesture dripping with all of the rage and anger that he was feeling. It came out as more of a malicious smirk than a smile when you coupled it with the coldness in his eyes and the ferocity in his expression. Altair didn't know who she was getting into it with. She seemed to have learned his name since the last time they'd met--his last name, anyway--but what else did she know? Nothing, clearly, or she wouldn't have been as over-confident as she was now.

He couldn't really have dodged the fist to the gut without literally jumping back out of the way and possibly tripping himself up, so instead Joshua just steeled himself against it and winced a little with the pain before shaking it off. Because he'd expected it and tensed his muscles against the blow, the recoil and wince was only momentary. It stung like a bitch, but he straightened up and stepped back out of the way. "Nice try," he spat from between clenched teeth. Smirking, he gave a hollow laugh and replied, "You cuss an awful lot for the dainty little thing you are." He expected her to go for him again, to fly at him with flailing fists and bursts of fire, but she did not. Instead, the bitch aimed her fire at Nell, and now shit was getting real. A quick movement of his hand and the fire dissipated before it could do any real damage, Joshua starting to tremble with suppressed rage as he realised how dirty Altair was willing to get. This time he did not come at her with threats or sneering words. This time he simply took the fire and sent it toward her with a lash like a whip, but much thicker and burning hot. It was aimed toward her side, though he really didn't give a damn what it collided with. "Face me, you cowardly bitch."

Joshua just sneered at Altair when she started in at him about his sarcasm, her words not really having as much of an affect on him. He didn't care about the way that she was moving her mouth and trying to insult him. He wasn't offended by her, he was angry with her. Joshua had a hell of a lot of triggers for his anger issues, but that was temporary and blind rage. This... this was rage of another kind. She had went and done the one thing that was almost guaranteed to land a person on his hit list--she had hurt someone that he was close to. Josh didn't have a lot of friends. He was an angry person by default and he had trouble getting close to people. Sometimes, like with Harley, the friendships he did have just didn't end up working out in the end. So when you were so ready and willing to make a commitment to him, to stick by a friendship through the many ups and downs of it, you earned his loyalty. That loyalty was a dangerous and a deadly thing. He didn't take a lot of things personally, not really. He was able to shirk most insults and laugh at most jabs, mainly because people didn't know much about the real ways to rile him up and to make him tremble. But Altair? She'd done it without even trying. Hurt someone that he was close to, that was all you had to do if you wanted Joshua to go for your throat. He was going through the motions of making jabs toward her and trying to get her angry, but it didn't matter to him in the end whether he pride was wounded or not. She would be the wounded one when they were done with this confrontation.

Yet at the same time, something made him hesitate. Normally he would have had her on the ground by now, hands around her neck and trying to throttle her. But a part of him didn't want Nell to witness that kind of violence, not from him anyway. She had already been subjected to his threats of cutting her with the knife when they had first met. He was still scared to drink around Nell in case he freaked her out and scared her off, but wouldn't trying to strangle someone--even if it was for her benefit--make that all the worse? He cast a brief glance at her before turning his glare back onto the Fire bitch, deciding that he would do his best to make the damage notable but minimal. He would try and make it enough to teach her a lesson but not quite enough that Nell thought badly of him. "Then don't bring her into this," he snapped back when she seemed infuriated by the mention of her sisters. He was clearly speaking of Nell, he didn't even have to gesture toward her for that to be obvious. "You've got something coming to you if you think you can mess with the people I care about." Would he make a cheap shot and go after her sisters? No, of course not. Joshua had a sister, he knew what it was like to be protective and to care so deeply for someone that their pain was reflected onto you. No matter how much he hated Altair right now, his problem was with her. Not the Bennett's in Thunder and Water.

He had managed to block most of the hot burst she'd sent toward him when he had dragged her siblings into the conversation, though he did get a bit of a burn on his arm when he had thrown it up to protect that which he could not take control over. Joshua clenched his teeth and cussed softly with the pain, but this wasn't nearly the end of his stamina. He was not moving around a lot, not exerting himself. He was enraged by the things that Altair was saying and even more by what she was doing, but that didn't mean that he was going to fly at her as she flew at him. His plan was working, but at the same time it had worked a bit too well. Now they were both infuriated. Keep calm. Think of Nell, you don't want to make her afraid of you. It was the only thing that he had in terms of an advantage right now, apart from his stature and his skill with his powers of course. "You'll be the one fucked up by the end of this," he shot back smoothly. The burn on his arm was smarting, but Joshua couldn't do anything about it. At the same time, he knew that it would be feeling a lot worse later on. Rage and adrenaline was working to block a lot of the pain sensors from reaching his mind, almost like he was numb to pain when he was drunk. He still had the small scar on his finger from when he had sliced it. He wondered if Nell ever noticed that scar, and if she remembered the night as well as he did not.

Angry as he was, Altair was worse. He noticed how badly she seemed to be shaking and it elicited a sneer from the older Fire elemental. He was not expecting the sudden counter attack, so again he only managed to partially block it. But it wasn't doing as much damage to him as his would to her. He was older, stronger, he had more stamina and he was determined as fucking hell to emerge the victor. What would Altair do to Nell if he didn't, after all? Probably go right back to hurting her, and that was not alright in his book. "You seem pretty fucking fragile to me," he sneered. It had nothing to do with gender at this point, he was just poking fun at the fact that she was tiring out. "Feeling a little drained, are we?" This was good. Infuriate her more. Make her attack him. Joshua stepped back several paces to put distance between them, then pulled his fire from thin air and started to gather it into a ball. But this, however, was only a feint. He released control of the fiery ball and then caused a blast of it to appear beside his opponent and then careen toward her. Hopefully it would be unexpected enough to catch the little bitch off guard. "How many times do I have to say you're outmatched before you'll realise that it's true?"

Joshua gave a hollow laugh when Altair said that she didn't give a damn about who he cared about. "Ah, but that's what makes us different," he sneered at her, gray eyes glittering with a cold contempt. "I wouldn't hurt your sisters for mere satisfaction. My problem is with you, not them." Whether or not she chose to believe him was a different story, but Joshua didn't really care either way. He had only dragged family into this in order to rile her up and tire her quickly, so now that it had worked he could sneer and laugh about it. Perhaps it made him a jerk to bait Altair like that, but she was asking for it in his opinion. Nell may not have been his sister but he felt the same fierce protection over her that he did for Annabel. It was for a slightly different reason though it hardly mattered in the end. He loved Annabel as his sister and as a member of his family whilst he was coming to terms with the fact that he just might love Nell literally. He had been a little uncertain when he'd went into this whole relationship deal, like he might be jumping the gun a little or something, but he was now confident that whatever he was feeling was real. Because seeing her hurt made him want to stride across these grounds and murder this girl that stood feet from him, glaring and sneering and acting as if she was on top of the world. He was a better person than her and he was going to prove it. Joshua was sure of this. There was no use flapping his jaws about it too much seeing as everything he said held no value to the bitchy Fire elemental, but it was nice to have as a sort of a personal knowledge.

She was actually starting to exasperate him now with just how cocky she was being, going on about how much better she was than him and how she was going to kick his ass and end this quickly. Does she really believe the bullshit she's spewing from her mouth? he wondered to himself. It certainly seemed as if she did, and Joshua was frankly getting quite tired of it. It had been amusing at first to poke fun at her pride and make her snarl and snap at him. Now it was just starting to bore him and make him wish that they could get this over with. "You're not going to win," he said simply, shaking his head a little. She clearly wasn't going to give up, either, so he wondered how much he was going to have to hurt her before she gave up. He didn't want her hospitalised or dead--well, alright, he did, though that would get him into trouble--but he certainly wasn't going to walk away again. She had made this personal and she had suggested that she thought him a coward for supposedly 'backing down' before. He hadn't backed down. I'm no coward, and I'm going to fucking prove it. The thought was vehement and filled with a burning determination. He would win this fight, whether it was by sheer luck or skill or the girl just slumping forward of exhaustion. The method didn't really matter to Josh, he just wanted it over with so he could go over and see if Nell was alright. The bitch had burned her, he'd seen. Normally he could have tried to heal the burns himself but he wasn't going to drain himself further. He had much more stamina left in him compared to Altair, but Josh didn't take his chances. Besides, he had his own burns that needed treatment in the Wing.

Speaking of burns, Altair seemed determined to be as showy and as dangerous with her fire as possible. Throwing up his arm reflexively, he blocked the blanket of flame with his mind and coiled it into a sort of fiery rope, which then twisted into a ball of flame and disappeared. The second attack was countered with something a little more impressive--he took a blast of his own fire and caused it to collide with Altair's midair, stopping them both in their tracks. He was not done, however. He had stopped himself from sustaining further injury but now he had to go for the counter-attack. Clenching his jaw with determined fury, Joshua sent one, two, three bursts of fire toward the girl in cutting waves that radiated heat. It wasn't too complex of a move, certainly not, but at least it was sudden and difficult to block all three waves. Joshua wiped his forehead and steadied his stance, feeling a bit of a drain now but still far from giving up. It was such a good thing that he was a college student. If he had still been in high school, all of this exertion would have had him on the ground by now. All the same, Joshua was feeling the fight now. Now that he was starting to calm down and focus on his goal to take this bitch out of the fight, the pain of the burns and the future bruise on his jaw were staring to become apparent. I can only imagine what she'll be feeling once the adrenaline wears off. This thought alone was enough to make him smug and renew his confidence. One of them was going down, and it wasn't going to be him. "Having fun?" he mocked.

She was wearing down. Joshua noticed the fact that she was perspiring a lot more than he was, and he doubted that it was the effects from his heat. Fire students didn't usually sweat from the effects of the sun or any sort of weather thanks to the fact that they were so accustomed to warmth. They could still sweat if they exerted themselves, however, which was exactly what she seemed to be doing. She was too angry for her own good and Joshua was actually starting to calm down as he realised that this fight was nearing its end. Soon enough, he'd both have had his revenge and managed to keep Nell out of harms way. That was all he wanted, really. He didn't give a damn about this bitch and her pride, he didn't feel the need to prove himself to her worth shit. Nell was the reason that he was doing this, after all. He didn't consider the idea that Altair would go after Nell to try and get back at him, didn't think that she would be stupid enough to invoke his wrath after such a sound defeat. And defeated she was. After his latest attack, the girl started to say something but cut herself off with a curse and then abruptly passed out. Joshua blinked, not having expected her to exert herself so much that she actually knocked herself unconscious. Joshua waited a few extra seconds just in case she was feinting and planning to jump up and attack, but after a moment he strode closer with a frown. "Wow," he said thoughtfully. "I think that's a first for me." Most people backed down from a losing fight.

Turning to Nell, he gave her an almost sheepish smile. "Sorry you had to see that." He had been doing this to defend her from the bitch, but he knew that his girlfriend was not fond of violence in any way. He hadn't done it to show off or anything and he probably would have stopped as soon as Altair had forfeited in their fight. "We can go up to the Medical Wing for the burns," he said, stepping closer to her and frowning at the marks that Altair had made. He hated to see her hurt, it twisted his gut and actually made him almost glad that the Bennett bitch was lying behind them unconscious in the grass. Glancing over his shoulder, he said, "... I guess we can also tell them to send someone out here to make sure she's alright." His tone was grudging--he would have been just as happy to leave her there--but he was trying to 'do the right thing', or whatever the fuck they called it when you were uncharacteristically nice.

Joshua winced, finally lifting his burned arm to inspect the shiny red mark on his skin. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, screwing up his expression as he lightly ran his fingers over it. It wasn't as bad as it would have been if he wasn't a Fire elemental, but it was still a pretty decent mark and he definitely planned on having it looked at. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked Nell. "I'd try and do something for you myself, but I'm a little drained and I don't want to push my luck." If he wasn't careful he'd just make a bad injury even worse, and it wasn't within his goals to harm Nell at all. The Fire elemental rubbed at his jaw. "What was her problem with you, anyway?" Altair didn't look like she'd had much of a reason to be burning Nell, but maybe there was something that he didn't know about. I doubt it, Joshua thought darkly to himself. He wouldn't think badly of her, as usual. They saw one another in the best light possible despite their flaws and weaknesses.