-- heard a distant early warning [josh]

Joshua lifted his brows at her. "Get over yourself," he advised, deadpanning. He was joking in his serious way again. He wondered if she really could make it more than a couple of days. Probably not given the odds but that wasn't suggesting that his friend was stupid. Maybe she could. He did not know how much common knowledge she actually had. He knew a lot of random things about a varied amount of subjects but how much was common knowledge escaped him. "I'd laugh if you quit your job and didn't even make the first day." No, he wouldn't really. He might laugh jokingly but he really would feel bad. He was not the Tin Man or anything like that, the man had a heart. Especially around his friends, whom seriously meant the world to him even if he didn't take the time to say it very often. He wasn't good at expressing his feelings and preferred to let his actions do the talking.

"Good year for you, you mean," he said with a scoff. He was happy for her though, really. He did think it was a little strange that she was taking on a teaching job when she didn't want to teach for the rest of her life but he wasn't judging her negatively for it, he was merely so different in his own goals that it was hard for him to understand. "I wonder if some of the kids like you better." It was a serious thing to ponder. Some people got attached to teachers and were sad when they left and others didn't have any sad feelings at all. Other teachers were absolutely abhorred. He'd had a few of the latter and when one of the ex-English teachers had went into retirement he remembered joking with a couple of her other ex-classmates about wanting to throw a party.

He'd actually been to a building dubbed as a 'crack house' before. Back when he'd hung around the gang he was guilty of doing a lot of things and going a lot of places that his parents probably wouldn't approve of. They'd reacted with shock, horror and anger when they'd found out he was even associated with gang activity, he was glad he'd never had to go into detail about the things he'd done. "Do I need to report you for being a bad influence on your kids? Cause I will." Course he wouldn't. Haha, her kids. It made it sound like Chris was a mother at the young age of twenty-two. Not that young any more. There were people popping out babies in their teenage years a lot more than they'd used to. It was almost accepted in some twisted way in society. Frowned upon, yes, but accepted.

It was interesting to hear Christina's opinions on things. He'd never really seen things like that but he was definitely prepared for life in his own eyes. He was a little extra prepared, actually, since he'd pretty much planned out his own future. He knew everything that he wanted. He even knew that he wanted to be a father, for goodness sakes. "I guess that makes sense," he shrugged. "I like the security. Don't think I could deal with not knowing." The unknown and unpredictable had always sort of... scared him. He wouldn't admit it even to a friend like Christina but he did not like to feel as if he was not in complete control of his life. He knew there would always be things that were outside his influence but he still wanted as much of a hold on himself as possible. "And hey, being a doctor makes damn good money. It's worth it, I'll be rolling in the six figures at thirty-five." He grinned. Though he joked like this, the money wasn't why he wanted to do it at all. "As if I need financial security," he said, shaking his head.

"Hard ass. I like that." He smirked. Joshua bet that a lot of her students would have something to say about it. "I can kind of discern it. At least some of the answers." Most, really, if he studied it long enough. In knowing the right answers he could sort of guess if it resembled the words or numbers he was looking for. At least numbers weren't hard. "Such a good influence, you are." He rolled his eyes but he was smiling as his hand danced across the page and his eyes scanned it. "Do you like teaching at least?" He didn't really know if she actually enjoyed what she was doing or whether it was simply a job to her.

Christina's cocky confidence amused rather than repelled Joshua. He was much the same, perhaps without bragging about it like she did, though. He really did think highly of himself and he thought that he'd be every bit as successful as he wanted to be. With that in mind, he could hardly look down on any of his friends who had a similar mind-set to his own. He did try not to be too much of a hypocrite, knowing how much it was frowned upon. "No need at all," he agreed without emotion, though his lip did twitch a bit. She seemed shameless when it came to admitting that she was proud of her own gain and that was another thing that did not bug the Fire.

He raised an eyebrow. Did he sense bitter feelings there? A smirk found its way to his lips. "Oh? Did Mr. Brown do something deserving of your contempt?" Joshua himself had never been taught by the man. He'd heard stories both good and bad but then, that was with all teachers. Every teacher had their favourite students and every student had their favourite teachers. The stories varied depending on who you were talking to. Gossip was such a strange thing and he wondered sometimes if it could ever truly be relied upon. One tended to be biased depending on whose side of the story they heard first. "And you would, too," he guessed, something amused. Chris really could be a difficult person to handle. He'd always found her rather easy to deal with but maybe that was because he was such a similar personality. They said that opposites attracted and maybe that was true with him and Nell, Devin too, but he had a lot of friends who were alike in many aspects of their personalities.

She pointed out his wording and he only laughed. "I'll always be a year younger. Bet you die before I do." Joshua had every plan to live a long and healthy life, but then, there weren't many people that looked to their future and thought about dying young. Alcoholics and drug addicts often accepted their young fates once they got too far into their addictions to care about anything else but he didn't think it made sense for other people to sell themselves short. Unless they ate take-out every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner or had a really dangerous job or something. "You and kids, though. That's a scary thought." Naw, he was kidding. He didn't actually know if his friend wanted to be a mother some day but all the power to her if she did. He would never be so cruel as to insult someone seriously about their future parenting skills. At least not someone he cared about.

Tied down. He'd never looked at it like that before and he frowned. He couldn't look at it that way now. He felt liberated, free. He did not feel like he was being forced into another eight years of schooling because it was what he wanted. He didn't feel like in knowing he was committing himself to something he might not want. I've always known. "We are nothing alike," he said breezily. Actually they were a lot alike but in terms of their futures they were on completely different planets. That was fine. He laughed at her comment. "Don't forget to dodge the broken vases and grand pianos." There were a lot of 'catch the falling object' games that involved dropping random objects alongside the coins and that was what he was thinking about when he spoke. Joshua was not big on games by any means but he was not so ignorant of the world that he was unaware of their existence or anything like that. "I really like my piano and it'd be a waste to get blood all over it." He did have a piano, actually. And several guitars. They were the only instruments that he knew how to play.

Being a teacher would be difficult, he thought, having to deal with the bratty ones a lot of the time. And you couldn't even swear at them! Joshua was decent enough at keeping his foul mouth clean in the workplace but he didn't have to deal with anything too difficult there. He did not envy Christina her job. Not at all. "Aren't they, though? Especially compared to me." He smirked. He was used to jokes about his height and they didn't really bother him like they had when he was on the smaller end of the scale. When he'd been young and runty he'd been made fun of for being shorter than most of the girls and now he was taller than a lot of the guys. It was a good feeling. "I guess you're right, yeah." He knew all about how it felt to hate your job and he wouldn't wish it on his friend. Ever.

He made a face at the idea of a boring teacher, his agreement with Chris silent but evident. He'd only had a few of the really boring ones in his time, and with the amount of classes he'd taken he saw this as an achievement, but they were memorable enough to be a bad thing. "Sitting through those classes are the worst." On one hand you had to try and focus and understand what it was that you were being taught so that you didn't fail the class but on the other hand, all you wanted to do was fall asleep or leave. He was a dedicated student and he did not like to lag behind in classes so he usually ended up powering through it and taking notes as best as he could but it was still boring as hell. "At least Math is pretty straightforward if you're good at it." It wasn't all memorizing names and dates and opinions, it was usually learning and applying formulas and working things out in a logical way. He had always done well with that kind of thing. He figured Christina was in the same boat considering she'd actually went on to teach it. He didn't think he'd like to teach Math. Maybe History or Biology, though.

He laughed. Perhaps the thought of being in a hospital surrounded by the sick and dying all the time should have scared him but he did not feel all that intimidated. He wouldn't go into the field if he felt daunted. All right, so there was still a chance he would. Josh was a pretty stubborn guy and fears did not often put him down. Except deep water. That shit could get the fuck out. "I'll also know how to cure those diseases," he shot back with a smirk. "And how to take good care of myself." He did try his best to remain healthy, even with his diet and physical fitness. He worked out, he was a vegetarian with strictly controlled supplements and meals, he had a pretty boss immune system. He was confident in his health.

Unlike Chris he did have plans so he just grinned in amusement when she replied. He did look a little offended when she mentioned him in the same light, though. "Are you saying I'd make a bad father or something?" Sensitive subject maybe. There was almost a challenge in his words, a snarl that lurked in the darkness waiting to pounce. Oh, Fires and their anger issues. You had to love them. "I happen to want kids." He didn't often talk about that stuff with his friends. He didn't talk about himself a whole lot, really, so it was possible to go for years without learning anything remotely personal about him. This was something he was adamant about, though. "No, we're not old," he agreed, shrugging. "Doesn't mean we can't think ahead." He'd been kidding when he'd said that her as a mother had been a scary thought. He sure as hell hoped people weren't serious about thinking he'd make a bad father. That was an insult that would even get to Joshua, king of stoicism and being unaffected by shit like that.

Height cracks never had bothered him, though, so he merely looked entertained when she suggested that he was a giant. That was definitely true in comparison to his fiancée. She was an entire foot and a bit shorter than he was. He laughed. "Tell that to fourteen year old me. Anyone tried to impress anything on me and they got their face beat in." He'd been your typical Fire freshman with his starting fights and getting into trouble. So much anger and youth. It had escalated and then levelled off around twelfth grade when responsibility had been forced into his hands in the form of a leadership position. He'd had to control the other fireballs and so he'd pushed his own temper aside sometimes. Now he was much more mature. A good thing, since he was almost out of college and into the real real world. "You'll get there, I'm sure. I can't see you settling for something you hate." He smirked almost fondly.

He supposed that most people were biased about the subjects they taught. Who would teach a subject that they did not have a passion for? He did not have any aspirations to become a teacher but he knew that if it ever crossed his mind he'd want to teach history, biology, or mathematics. Something that he enjoyed. The bad days would be worse if there was no enjoyment. "I don't really get why it's so widely disliked," frowned Josh. "It makes so much sense, nothing like poetry or any of that." He had never liked analysing things like poetry and songs. He was intelligent but he was not psychic. Sometimes only the author themselves would ever truly understand what they'd meant by something. He did not like that there was such a strong possibility of being wrong about things. There was none of that in mathematics.

He rolled his eyes. "Not stupid, thanks." He knew that not everything had a cure. His way of going about insisting this was blunt and bordering on rude but that was his personality for you. He was aware that there were not cures for everything in the world. "Research wouldn't exist if there was a cure for everything." He was going into medical research for that very reason. I want to find cures. He wanted to be important. Joshua wanted to be one of those people whose name was listed as a notable name in a medical journal talking about new studies. "Then again, they spend money researching some pretty pointless shit." Why couldn't all research funds go into important studies rather than ones that were started out of simple curiosity? He understood the desire to know and understand but he also knew that there were a lot of sick and dying people in the world who would appreciate more money going toward saving their lives.

His temper was quick to flare up and he was usually hard to calm down, though sometimes all it took was someone removing the source of the anger. She corrected him and he looked miffed but did not snap or argue. Instead he took a breath. She was his friend. He really had to stop assuming that everything was an insult against him. He did not apologise. "I never said I wanted kids now," he said. "In the future, though." He had always wanted children. All right, maybe he hadn't always wanted them. It wasn't like he had popped out of his own mother's womb with a desire to procreate. Nah, but it had been something he'd known he wanted for a while. Maybe since fifteen or so. "You don't have to be involved with someone to want kids," he shrugged. Just meant that it might not happen for a while. He hadn't been in a relationship until he was nineteen years old. He'd lost his 'innocence' long before then but he wasn't the type to have a kid with a stranger. Not his game.

His lip twitched and he did let a laugh escape his lips. "Maybe sometimes." He definitely wasn't as bad as he'd once been but he had his moments. His anger was perhaps more terrifying now than it had been when he was a much scrawnier fourteen year old kid. Now he was at his full height and muscled from a combination of tennis and hitting the gym. If he threatened to beat your face in, it was scary. "You're not going to turn up on the fifth estate, are you?" Crime shows and documentaries were some of the few programs that he would watch on television outside of the news. Real life was much more entertaining than fiction in his mind. Much more informative. "Is that what they call a black widow?" It had something to do with females and killing folk, though there were things in the world that he was not sure of. No man knew everything for certain.