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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 18, 2012 23:10:55 GMT -5
Sandra did enjoy her naps -- very much so. She enjoyed them so much, in fact, she'd gone ahead and fallen asleep in her Math class, and not just the regular kind of falling asleep where she'd doze off for a few minutes and re-open her eyes shortly thereafter. No, this was the kind of falling asleep where she was pretty sure that, before anyone had woken her up, she'd been almost drooling on the desk. Luckily, she'd discover when she awoke, the desk was dry. Unluckily, the person who'd awoken her was her teacher, and he didn't seem very happy. Well, damn it. She'd had to go see him at the end of class -- the walk to the teacher's desk was never fun -- and in pretty hushed tones because there were still a few stragglers behind, he'd said pretty plainly, "Go to the detention hall right after school today. Don't be late -- and don't bring that bear with you." So, kind of defensively, Sandra had stalked off with Roosevelt tucked under one arm.
Come the end of her last period, she'd handed him off to some of her friends, asking them to please kindly take very good care of him if they could and she would see them later to collect him again, and then shuffled her way off to the Detention Hall. She handed over the slip she'd gotten and silently taken a seat as far back as she could while still keeping away from some of the angrier-looking Fires and Thunders at the back. She'd never want to cross those guys... Instead she laid her head down on the desk in the hopes of possibly getting another nap out of this, only to be glared at immediately by the teacher supervising. Ugh. Well, this was pretty much useless. What was she supposed to do instead? She raised her head and instead just sat there, kicking at the legs of the empty chair in front of her. It didn't seem like anyone she knew was here, at least not yet... Maybe if she got lucky, the teacher would leave soon and one of her friends would enter. Maybe. It didn't seem that things were likely to go Sandra's way today, but she could hope.
The door opened on the other side of the classroom -- she perked up almost immediately as a somewhat familiar brunette entered. She didn't know Lark Harper very well, not really... what she did know was that the girl was a Fire and a traitor to their cause, even. That had been pretty recently, too. Fire or not, it seemed she was with the Waters and Earths now, and that was good enough for Sandra. They'd only spoken on a number of occasions, of course, but maybe Lark would take a seat nearby (not that she had much of a choice -- much of the rest of the chairs were filled, much to the supervisor's chagrin she was sure). Well, either way, strangers were just friends waiting to be made.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Apr 19, 2012 13:01:12 GMT -5
"What exactly was Robert Frost trying to portray in this poem, 'Fire and Ice'?" The professors' voice rang out over the classroom, most of the students looking extremely bored and disinterested. Lark sat at her desk, picking away at the plastic pen cap as she drifted around in thought. There were no lyrics to write at this time, and unfortunately nothing had come to her yet. She was still working on the song she had written for Ashton (or well, was inspired by Ashton) and her mind was continuously wrapped around that. Once it was finished Lark would probably be able to move on, but her inspiration seemed to have a one-track mind. "Harper! What about you?" The voice called her attention upwards to meet the professors' gaze, his eyes hard. He was a Fire elemental, and he knew about Lark's treachery. Lark stared back, quirking an eyebrow. "What about what?" She asked sweetly, a smile as thick as honey. His eyes narrowed slightly, not exactly willing to reiterate the question but did so anyway for the sake of the rest of the students. Teachers sure did have it rough. "What do you think Frost was attempting to portray in the poem, 'Fire and Ice'?" He repeated. Lark scoffed and leaned back in her chair. "That he would prefer fire over ice unless for some reason it managed to die out more than once, which is possible." Was it a bit of a subtle challenge? Probably. He took it that way too.
Lark was simply feeling cocky and was in no mood to deal with the professor's bullshit. Obviously he felt the same. "Oh, and how is this possible?" He asked, clearly eager for some sort of heated back and forth. She rolled her eyes and leaned forward on the desk, folding her arms neatly. "Because fire is not all powerful. It might have an initial upper hand but in the end it has its weaknesses just like everything else." He did not look pleased in the least, but as he parted his lips to come up with some sort of retort the bell rang and all of the students shot up out of their desks to leave for the afternoon. "Harper," He called out as Lark stood up and grabbed her bag. She glanced at him and approached the front of the room with a very lazy step. Uninterested. Uncaring. She stopped in front of him. "Detention. Go. Now." He wrote up the slip and shoved it at the girl, which she crumpled in her fist before walking out of the room. She knew it was because of his element, and his dislike for her decision. Lark was not getting off easily for the choice made, but it was worth it all.
After trudging down the hall, she turned herself into the room where detention was held. Lark dropped the slip on the front desk before turning around to find herself a seat. There were quite a few students in there today, which did not leave her much room to go and sit by herself. Dark eyes scanned the back of the room and caught sight of someone familiar. Sandra. They had conversed a couple of times in the past, and at least she knew of the switch. Flashing her a faint half-smirk, she walked to the back of the room and flung herself into the desk next to the Water girl, heaving a sigh. "This is incredibly fucked up," Lark pointed out, rolling her head back in the chair. "I answer a question in class with my own opinion and I wind up in here." After staring at the ceiling for a long moment or two, Lark finally tilted her head to the side to look at the Water student. She was a decent girl to be sure, but she did not know her extremely well. Just enough to know that Lark did not feel threatened by her presence or feel any urge to ignore her. At least having a conversation was a good way to pass the time until they could escape this hell hole of a classroom. "What about you?"
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 21, 2012 18:11:59 GMT -5
Sandra gave a tiny wave, trying not to attract too much attention from the teacher, but he didn't seem particularly interested in what the apparent rulebreakers for the day were doing. That was good. She never liked the types of teachers who liked to nag... Luckily this one kind of seemed to have quickly become too engrossed in the crossword from the local newspaper to really care. She turned her attention to Lark without real worry about getting in further trouble. If anything, she should normally be more scared of getting into trouble with other students for talking to a Fire, but after all, Lark had switched sides. Things were very different now. She didn't imagine that it was very easy, but at least (she felt, anyway) the Waters and Earths were more accepting of "newcomers" than the Fires or Thunders probably would be. She, at least, had no qualms about the other side's traitors.
The cursing didn't really bother her or raise any warning bells (because after all Sandra was a teenager) but Lark did seem kind of annoyed with what had happened. Sandra could sympathize with that feeling even if she didn't know the specifics. Detention sucked. "I know," she said with an almost sad sigh, but it came out more tired than anything else (which was, actually, pretty accurate). "What exactly did you say?" she asked out of curiosity, a little confused. It was unsurprising for students to get detention or, occasionally, get into worse trouble for things that they'd done. It also wasn't unusual for students to think that the punishments they received were stupid and uncalled for -- but somehow, Lark's description of the situation didn't seem to really make sense, unless she'd actually somehow personally offended the teacher or perhaps made an incredibly bigoted statement in class. Neither of these things seemed like Lark from what Sandra knew of her. "Nothing exciting, got caught sleeping," she answered, shrugging a little bit and putting her head down onto her arms on the desk, now that the teacher was too preoccupied to pay attention to her anyway. What would he do? More detention?
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Apr 23, 2012 21:28:00 GMT -5
Once seated, Lark looked at the teacher. He was absorbed in something at his desk, so she could not be bothered to worry about him lashing out at her for chatting with her fellow detentioner. She was a bit rebellious anyway and probably wouldn't have cared even if he was watching them intently. It was just detention; what was seriously going to happen if she made conversation with someone? Another detention? Oh, I'm shaking in my Converse, Lark thought with a mental roll of the eyes, not the least bit concerned by this. She used the time to write songs, catch up on homework, and avoid going home to Frank. She was able to make use it of quite well, she thought. "Ah, we were discussing the poem 'Fire and Ice', and he asked me what I thought the poem meant. I guess he didn't like me suggesting that fire was not all powerful." Lark shrugged, not quite phased. It was not stated disrespectfully, though her actions might have made the comments more offensive. "He was a Fire too, which was probably why he got pissed."
Since the switch, any of her professors that were of her old allies treated her like she was the problem child. Even if a word was not said, they found some way to try and make her rue her decision. There was no ruing. Lark was happy where she was, so fuck them. She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Sounds like something I would do," Lark pointed out, with an amused smile. "I commend you on your sleeping habits. It really is an art." Sandra was one of the few Water students she got along with, so conversation was a lot easier than if it were, say, Elliot. That kid always managed to get under her skin without even really trying, though she had to admit that if Elliot was in any sort of trouble she would be there. Damn her protective instincts. It was a blessing and a curse. Lark reached down and pulled out a notebook, flipping to the most recent page and looking over what she had written. It was a line of notes for the song she had been working on, mostly done but needed tweaking. It was difficult to do without the actual guitar though, and Lark frowned. If only she brought her guitar, and the professor was lenient enough to let her use it. Sighing, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her head back a little. "Aside from chillin' in detention, have any other plans?" Lark was really trying to get better at conversation. She hoped it was improving. Thank you, Ashton.
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 24, 2012 16:48:08 GMT -5
From Lark's description, Sandra was pretty sure she had a good idea of who this teacher, but she didn't mention any names, not wanting to incur the wrath of this teacher currently presiding over their detention. "I think I know who this is..." she said instead, thinking back to her first semester this year when she'd happened to have a Fire elemental as a teacher. Man, had he been a real jerk about it to the other students too, something that Sandra never liked. Teachers were supposed to be good people or something! Kids should have been able to look up to all their teachers regardless of who they are or what element, and hey, plenty of people would argue that Sandra (and everyone else) was no longer a kid and should face reality, but she was pretty sure the principle still applied. Some teachers, at least, were pretty fantastic and not too horrible about their biases. "Kind of really didn't like him." Sandra usually even had a pretty decent level of respect for teachers and parents, too, so really, it was actually saying something. "What class was it, English? That's kind of stupid if he doesn't take your opinion then."
Sandra wasn't too bothered (not in the slightest, actually) by Lark's roll of the eyes. It was something she got pretty often, actually, considering how much time she actually did spend sleeping. Napping was a hobby, and a pretty damn good one. It was a better pastime than, say, drugs or something at least. People should really just be grateful that the most harmful thing she did was sleep. (Well, and she didn't do her homework, and she had difficulty taking many things seriously, and... okay, there were many things, actually.) "Why thanks!" She giggled quietly. "I'll teach you sometime. Sleeping is an acquired skill." It wasn't really... but most people were apparently appalled at how much time Sandra could spend doing it, at least, so she had to be doing something differently than other people. She was pretty sure it had more to do with her messed up internal clock than that. "Other plans? Nah, just heading home after I think," she said, grinning a bit -- it was weird still to say heading home when at school, rather than back to the dorms or something. It was nice to have Matt's apartment to return to every day, though, even though there were perks to living on campus too. "What about you?"
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Apr 24, 2012 20:43:07 GMT -5
Lark was not the least bit surprised that Sandra had heard of the teacher she spoke of with such disdain; they were both in the same grade, after all, and the teachers were not elected to teach only their element. They had to teach all of them, no matter if they were opposing sides or not. It was a bit of a nuisance really, because it was always obvious who was favoring who and gave special attention to. Fires were certainly more likely to give their own element and ally the benefits, leaving Earths and Waters to flail in the back. She would not be surprised if they failed a student simply because they were the ‘enemy’. Teachers were not supposed to be biased, but this was the Academy, not an average public school. “Yeah, I’m not much of a fan myself,” Lark agreed, wrinkling her nose a bit in disgust. The man truly was a dick in her opinion, especially when he was so adamant to start a problem that he questioned her analysis of a poem written by a man who was dead. Lark never understood poem analysis to begin with, being as everyone took what they wanted from their writings, but it was unavoidable. It sucked that one of the few classes that required an opinion also had one of the most obnoxious professors. “Yeah, it was English. He really is an asshole. I thought the whole point of poetry analysis was to formulate your own opinions, not practically douse them in lighter fluid and set them on fire.”
Not that the professor needed any of that to set something on fire, but the point had been made effectively enough she thought. If Lark ever found herself a teacher at the Academy—which, she actually had considered—there would not be such extreme bias. No, there was not a fondness for the Fires and Thunders, but her passion was music, not tormenting students who probably wanted to learn what she had to offer. The teacher’s spirit was dominant over any qualms she had with the enemy. Lark laughed a little bit, nodding her ‘you’re welcome’ instead of saying it aloud. With the professor watching, it was probably best to keep the conversation a bit quieter. Even if there was not much of a punishment past detention for merely talking, Lark was not in the mood to deal with it. “Apparently. I’m sure there are people out there looking for a sleep-aid teacher.” She smirked, merely teasing, though Lark would have given anything to have help sleeping a few months ago. The insomnia was almost too much to bear, making it difficult to focus in class or…on anything, really. Music was probably her saving grace, and still was when she went home to deal with Frank. The sleeping pattern had definitely improved since her decision to switch sides, though it was not fully recovered. Once I’m away from Frank, things will look up. She was not an optimist. It was a fact. Being away from Frank would be for the best. Lark shrugged. “Ah, I’ll probably head home myself. Though I might take up relaxing on the grounds for a while before that.” Anything to avoid Frank.
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 24, 2012 21:21:01 GMT -5
It was all good and fine, as far as Sandra was concerned, for the students to have their own fights. That was just a fact of life, but maybe magnified by the elements and the alliances. That was okay! It happened. When teachers did it, though, a part of Sandra kind of wanted to get up and walk out of the class and never return, which would be a pretty dangerous move if the teacher was a Fire or Thunder. She'd probably be expelled or something -- she never actually did it, of course, but teachers were supposed to be role models, or something ridiculous like that. Thus far, a number of them were doing pretty lousy jobs. Unstrangely, she was pretty okay with the Earth, Water, and most of the Wind teachers. This was a pretty natural thing too... but even the teachers with her own element tended to get a bit annoyed when Sandra failed (again) to complete her homework. Er, oops. "Don't blame ya," she said with a nod of agreement. The man had never checked homework and yet had written on basically every report card that she was a student with awful work ethic -- something that didn't make any sense to her, because Sandra at least always completed assignments that had to be handed in. Then again, her marks on essays and the like had never been too high in that class either, something that made her suspicious and pretty annoyed. She had grades to keep up, here! It wasn't like she could rely on hard work to get her through this -- those essays had been solid work, her procrastination issues aside.
The idea of lighting opinions on fire was a pretty hilarious thought to Sandra, and she giggled briefly, putting a hand over her mouth in the hopes that the teacher wouldn't hear her. Luckily, he didn't even look up from the crossword. He was probably trying to figure out the Canadian Prime Minister who had a name with nine letters (five dollars it was Mackenzie, because nobody ever remembered the second one of anything). She looked back at Lark rather than their supervisor, though. "Yeah, it doesn't make sense... that sucks of him," she said sympathetically. She didn't miss the man's class at all. "Sleep-aid teacher? I'm your girl!" She beamed, giving Lark two thumbs up in approval of this idea. "Wouldn't even discriminate based on element, either, for ten dollars an hour!" She was obviously kidding, evident by the giggle that pushed its way out through her words anyway, but in reality Sandra was pretty sure there was no real way for her to help others sleep. To do that she'd have to have trouble sleeping herself, and then she could share the secrets of how she managed to get to sleep anyway. Unfortunately for her money-making plan, sleep came very easily to her, and as such, there were no secrets to share. "Yeah... yeah, the weather's pretty nice out right now!" It was getting a bit chilly, but sunny nonetheless, and with a sweater it would be fine she was sure. "You live in the Hollow?" Considering that Lark had switched sides only very recently, there was still quite a bit that Sandra didn't know about the girl.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Apr 26, 2012 23:26:05 GMT -5
Lark did not do well with authority to begin with, at least not when people tried to lay a heavy hand of control over her actions. So, to have a professor challenge her opinions and turn them to ash was angering. They had been at odds even before her switch because of her attitude at times, but now it was smacking rock bottom. So she was not offended by the falling out, more that she was pissed the man could not retain his professionalism as a teacher and treat her with some sort of decent respect. If she fucked up a multiple choice question that was one thing, but an opinion was entirely different. "Yeah just a little," Lark squeezed her fingers together, glancing at Sandra for a moment before sighing. With her luck, and at the rate this was going, she might fail the class simply because he did not like her. So long as Frank doesn't find my report card or...read it when he's drunk, I should be fine. Who was she kidding? If he found the report card, drunk or sober, there was going to be an argument. It was bound to happen.
"You'd probably be fucking rich," Lark replied, chuckling as she ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sure the college students would appreciate it even more, what with those big term papers and shit." Although Lark was not a college student, Josh, Nell, and Skye were all there and heard tidbits about their homework loads on occasion. Soon, Ashton would be there too and she would have to listen to him gripe and complain about his assignments. It made her smile none the less. "It is pretty nice out, definitely! You like the colder weather?" She was not really looking forward to winter, but supposed that there was no escaping the inevitable. Becoming a giant icicle was not really on her list of things to do. At least Josh was capable of manipulating heat, so whenever they decided to go places they could utilize that at times. Assuming that there were no humans about to notice. Lark nodded a bit at the question, smiling. She normally spent a moment or two to consider what other people asked her, but this question was nothing to hesitate over. "Yeah I do. I used to live in the dorms, then moved home last year. Kinda wish I could do the dorm thing again but...yeah." She did not think it needed to be said; being a traitor, the Fires certainly wouldn't let her into the dorms, and the Earths were not required to house her.
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 29, 2012 0:01:00 GMT -5
If Sandra had had a difficult time in that jerk's class, she was pretty sure Lark was basically going through absolute hell. Waters and Earths the teacher had to be used to -- there had always been enormous populations of them, and even biases aside, he must have gotten used to them like the rest of the teachers at this school had. Of course, it was painfully obvious that this teacher in particular still held a grudge... Still, traitors were on a completely different level. They weren't common at all, and though they associated with the Earths and Waters, they weren't. She didn't know how it felt to be betrayed, hadn't yet known anyone even remotely close to her who'd after that switched over to the other side. She was, however, pretty glad that Lark at least had seen the light, so to speak, come over to the other side. This side, at least, was friendlier. Sandra could never imagine doing what Lark had done, the other way. "A little... or a lot," she said, shrugging a little bit, but she was smiling at Lark in what she hoped was a reassuring, optimistic way and not the kind that would annoy her. She liked Lark enough, but it was always hard to tell what would set the Fires off sometimes. Sandra did genuinely like the girl, though -- it'd be pretty awesome to bond while they were stuck here anyway, if nothing else.
"Heck yeah, rolling in money!" she said kind of gleefully, even though this idea of hers hadn't exactly come into fruition as of yet. She was pretty sure it never would, either, not unless there were some extremely stressed kids somewhere who desperately needed to learn the art of sleeping on command. Sandra, at least, thought it was a pretty handy skill (not that she ever fell asleep on anyone's command but her own). "Seriously, if you know anyone who could use it, direct 'em my way." It was mostly a joke, and she said it with another giggle, but she probably wouldn't have minded if she could actually get paid for something like that. Sleeping was practically second nature to her... or maybe even first nature, if that made sense at all. "Nah... I like warmer," she said, shaking her head, "but I guess I can deal with the cold!" The Hollow was definitely colder than Vancouver was, back where she was from, she knew. It made sense geographically, too; Vancouver had the ocean, and the Hollow was surrounded on all sides, really, by mountains. "What about you?" She wondered how well Fires generally dealt with winter, had never really gotten to ask one before for obvious reasons. Hoping Lark wouldn't mind, she laid her head down on her arms, though her eyes stayed open as she observed the other girl. "That's true," she said, understanding the implications of the betrayal there and why she couldn't go back to the dorms. "Hey, y'know, I'd sneak you into the Water dorms or something, but I don't think that'd fly too well." Technically, she didn't live in the dorms either anymore, but that never stopped her from visiting. She was still, after all, allowed in their Common Room and what-not.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Apr 30, 2012 23:57:38 GMT -5
If Lark could make money out of teaching someone how to sleep, life would be infinitely simpler. Although with how wonky her nightly schedule was most of the time, she would fare better teaching others how to stay awake for hours on end as opposed to the latter. If only money could come to her so easily, then things might be easier to cope with. She could afford her own car, take care of her own food, and if that happened Frank would more than likely leave her alone about a lot of things (assuming he was sober enough to do so). Knowing the conversation was merely a joke to keep them occupied while the clock ticked away on the wall, Lark smiled and nodded. "Oh, definitely. I'll be like...your spokesperson or something. Whenever someone starts complaining about losing sleep and stuff, I'll direct them straight towards you." With a smirk, Lark added, "And I'll just require five percent of your earnings." That was how those sorts of things usually worked right? You offer your services for a small fee, to ensure that you aren't simply wasting your time wandering around for absolutely nothing while another person makes piles of money. Not that this was actually happening, but still.
"I can deal with the cold," Lark replied, "But it's definitely not my favorite." She loved her hoodies and jackets and jeans, so it was not a huge ordeal to bundle up for the winter, but she would prefer the warm--okay, hot--weather that summer and early fall provided her. Once she mastered the manipulation of heat, then winter would be much more bearable. "I'm definitely a summer lover myself, but I don't mind the fall. I can cope with every season but...I do prefer the heat." Lark was adaptable enough to deal with the change, something that took a lot of time to develop. She used to abhor change, loathed it, but now understood that it was simply how life was going to be. It was out of her control. While the girl appreciated Sandra's offer, she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders to let her know it was not a big deal. "I do well with some of the Waters, but I'm not sure if I could live with all of them." Sandra was an exception, as were a few others here and there, but to actually live with a multitude of them in the dorms? That was asking for day-in and day-out frustration and torment. Their love of pranks would be the bane of her existence. It would be better than Frank, though.
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on May 2, 2012 16:04:47 GMT -5
Sandra kind of liked the idea of having a spokesperson for her sham sleeping lessons, but this would probably never pan out. First of all, she'd be making so little money even if someone did want to pay her that five percent would be twenty cents or something. She definitely wouldn't even be making student wage for that, that was for sure. Still, Sandra was sure she could conjure up some posters or something and make this into an almost-real interpreneural business... the "almost" part meant that she'd probably spend more on photocopying the posters than she would ever make back, though. "I can get with that!" she said with a laugh. "Tell you what, I'll bump that up to ten if you can get me my first two customers that are willing to pay more than ten dollars." That sounded pretty reasonable, right? She thought it was... Sandra probably wouldn't make a very good employer, though -- she'd probably be too soft on them, and too lazy to do the math required to proper manage anyone's finances. Maybe she could hire someone to do that for her too.
Sandra nodded to show that she understood -- she was pretty much the exact same way with the seasons and silly weather flailing around all over the place. Canadian weather was like that sometimes, but being surrounded by mountains meant that things were generally constant and predictable. Since showing up in Maple Hollow for the first time right at the beginning of January a few years ago for ninth grade, Sandra had kind of gotten used to the cold and what-not (it was definitely colder here than it was in Vancouver). "Yeah, I like summer more too." Summers meant all of her favourite things, really, which she tended to like more than she did any of the actual seasons -- summers were swimming and ice cream and going home for July and sunny days. She didn't understand why people wouldn't like summer. "Maybe not the heat though! But apparently it's weird to want to eat ice cream in the winter, so you know, summers are definitely better for that." She giggled a bit. The fact that people thought she was weird had never before stopped her from doing... anything, actually. "Well, we're friends!" she said, grinning at what Lark had said. She wasn't sure what it really meant or implied, but hey, she wasn't going to hold that against the other girl. "Guess we're a pretty big difference from the Fires, though." This time she did keep her voice down more, trying not to attract unwanted attention from any (non-traitor) Fires in the room.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on May 2, 2012 19:43:44 GMT -5
"It's a done deal," Lark replied with a nod, smirking. That might require a few verbal threats, telling them that they will be very sorry if they don't offer more than ten dollars for a lesson or two. She wasn't against it, especially if that meant making money. She was a bit strapped for cash at the moment, so why not? Lark would do just about anything short of selling her body or doing illegal drug sales. If that's what other people wanted to do to get their dough, then that was fine. She wasn't going to stop them. The girl smiled at Sandra and nodded, glad that some of her newer allies were not opposed to the hottest season of the year. Fires were naturally resistant to the heat (not completely, but enough to withstand it longer than others), so she could enjoy summer without overheating or locking herself away in an air conditioned room until the heat waves passed. Lark chuckled, though quietly as the professor looked up from the desk and scanned the room to see if anyone was misbehaving. Having a conversation was not necessarily being "bad" but in detention they tended to frown about you doing anything other than homework or staring at a walk with a blank stare on your face. "I don't know if I could do ice cream in the winter," Lark finally replied after the professor focused on the crossword puzzle again. "But hey, to each their own."
That quote was one of Lark's favorites among several, next to 'don't look too far ahead or you'll miss what's right in front of you' and 'do what you love, love what you do'. There were a few others she used on occasion, but those were the three she used most often. They were quotes to live by. Lark blinked a couple of times, a bit taken back by Sandra's statement. "Well, of course we are," She replied, not realizing her comment about the Waters might have been taken as a more...encompassing thing. Lark had friends among the Waters, they were simply fewer in number than that of the Earths. It was mostly because she could not always handle their pranks and trollish attitudes (never mind that she could be one too). "You guys are a big difference. It's almost culture shock, y'know?" The Fire girl kept her voice down as well, not really taking any time to glance around the room to see if anyone was listening in. "I go from fiery tempers and quiet vengeance to forgiving, open, talkative, and level-headed. Sometimes I don't know how to handle it." It made her feel guilty when she got angry at one of her Earth allies, or even considered laying a hand on them if they said something out of line. Had they been a Fire, Lark would have no reservations. Shit would go down. Thunders too, though they were not as much of an issue. "At least most of you guys are taking me in stride. Like...not glaring at me or assuming I'm going to burn someone to a crisp." And if they were thinking it, they never said anything aloud. That was what mattered anyway, that they kept it to themselves.
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on May 2, 2012 21:35:10 GMT -5
The thing was, Sandra didn't really need money. She didn't have much that she had to actually buy, not really. She kind of liked snacks and stuff, and clothes, and she did go out pretty often with friends and the like, but none of that was exactly what she'd call a necessity, and she had a bit of money from here and there for that -- birthdays, her parents, summer jobs. Then there was also the fact that she should really be splitting half the rent with Matthew, but again her parents were paying for that considering it hadn't really been a decision made by either of the siblings anyway. This basically led to Sandra just not having any particular need of money, to be honest, but this wasn't to say that she didn't ever want spending money. "Deal," she agreed. "I'll have my peole call your people... But actually I guess you're my people now, so uh, call your people please." Sandra kind of had the terrible habit of always thinking she was hilarious. "Hey..." she said testily, acting offended (poorly, though), "Ice cream is good all year round, don't forget it. Yep." She grinned and stuck her tongue out a bit as her own form of approval of what Lark said, though -- Sandra wasn't the type to hold things against people in seriousness, especially not random things like the preferable season for eating ice cream.
Basic observation usually sufficed in showing what each element was all about. It was never something that had really been explained to Sandra, not by teachers or parents or her brother or friends or anything like that. No, Sandra had figured out on her own that the Waters were generally playful people like herself, Earths were the nicest people on... Earth, and Fires were just scary as all hell and to be avoided at any cost. Winds and Thunders were a bit more difficult -- Winds because they were a big mess of all different sorts of people, and Thunders because they were so recluded that it was hard to form a real opinion half the time. Those two elements she'd kind of had to slowly gain an idea of, but generally Sandra was of the impression that Winds were usually okay (with certain exceptions) and Thunders were to be avoided, which was luckily not always difficult. "Of course," she replied with an enthusiastic nod -- friends were always nice -- before continuing, "but yeah... that is pretty different. I couldn't ever switch." She meant it too. She loved the Waters and Earths, and well, not the Fires and Thunders so much. They were kind of frightening -- Lark wasn't included in this generalization of course. "Though you know, if it helps, I think you're doing a sweet job of handling it... and I think we'll be just fine as long as you don't actually burn me to a crisp." She'd only been friends with Lark for a brief amount of time, but hey, that was enough time to learn to trust someone. Sandra had always been a little overly trusting anyway, but she was sure (as she always was) that this time she was right in her judgment.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on May 4, 2012 23:42:01 GMT -5
Switching had its pros and cons, though for Lark the benefits greatly outweighed any doubts nagging at the back of her mind. Josh, Nell, and Ashton were reason enough, and she had a few good acquaintances outside of those top three as well. Acclimating, as it were. She was still fresh to the new alliances, but it still made her feel strange when some of those she did not know very well (or know at all) gave her wary looks. As though she was going to turn on them at any moment. Lark had a temper and she knew that, but she would not have just up and switched sides knowing she was going to set every single one of her allies on fire. That would have been counter-productive. "Well, I had strong reasons for switching," Lark replied, not sure if Sandra had known anyone in the opposing elements besides herself. They had not known one another long enough for the Fire girl to know much of these things. "And it was worth it. I'm a lot happier now and I'm with the people that I want to be with." The decision had taken a lot of thought, placed on the backburner for a time while Lark sorted out her thoughts and made sure that this was what she wanted to do. Brett was one of the reasons for the final decision after he treated her the way he did. All she had left after that was Sam, and though it killed her to say goodbye Lark knew her chances of happiness were greater with the Earths and Waters.
"Thanks. And, I don't have any intent on doing that to you," Lark nodded to Sandra with a smile, inwardly flinching at the comment that shortly followed after her words of encouragement. Did Sandra actually assume that she was going to harm her? She hoped not. It's just a joke, Harper. She didn't mean anything by it. Lark told herself, pushing the thoughts away. Sandra was not the first person to say this, so it was difficult to swallow at times, though she supposed it was justified. Fire elementals had aggression issues. It was fact. Only time would allow her new allies to see that although she could have a temper, she would never go out of her way to harm them simply because she could. Lark allowed all of that to drift behind her as she stretched a little bit, glancing around the room at the other students. If only she had brought the notes she had been working on for that song, then the time would probably pass by a bit quicker. At least she had Sandra to talk to, a friendly voice. "Besides sleeping, anything else you like to do?" She wanted to keep conversation going, and hoped that her questions were enough to work with. It was hard for someone like her, though the improvement was visible to her.
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on May 6, 2012 17:41:41 GMT -5
Sandra had figured that switching wouldn't be something people did just based off of some flimsy reasons. It definitely wasn't the easy route to take, that much was obvious. She really couldn't imagine what it was like, except that it had to be like making the decision to move to a different country on the opposite side of the world where she didn't speak the language or know anything of the general behaviour or anything. That had to be some pretty intense culture shock, she decided, but then again, it was worse and better in some ways than moving to another country. On the side of "better", at least they all spoke the same language. On the "worse" side, people in another country weren't likely to be that hostile unless her country of origin had been one they'd been fighting for a century or something... This whole thing was kind of confusing her mind, though. "Why did you switch?" she asked without thinking, curiosity getting the better of her. She paused then, though, realizing that it might be something Lark wouldn't necessarily want to actually talk about, and added, "If you don't mind, I mean." Then she smiled as always, not too easily bothered by things that she might have done wrong. She wasn't the type to worry about those things... and besides which, it wasn't like she could just take it back now or something.
She really hadn't meant anything by her comment earlier -- it had really just been a joke, one that she'd thought would be okay because Lark had after all brought it up first. When Lark said nothing about it, then, she didn't think to wonder whether or not it could have been misconstrued as such. "I know, I trust you," she said, smiling brightly as ever. "I'm not worried!" If she were worried about such a thing, she wouldn't really be talking to Lark at the moment, to be honest. She'd probably be inching her chair away from the other girl as subtly as she could... and in fact, this might have been the reaction she'd have had if Lark hadn't switched sides. They'd never really known each other before the switch, though Sandra had known the very basics, that Lark was in her grade but a Fire elemental -- therefore on the other side, and not someone to befriend. That said, without the alliances, she'd probably be willing to give everyone a chance, but it was hard to say. Lark was at least making the effort, though. That was something. She didn't really have to think about the question, considering she never minded talking about herself. "Well, eating. Swimming! Just hanging out, mostly," she answered. "Nothing that special, just normal boring stuff. What about you?"
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