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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 16, 2012 19:48:07 GMT -5
"Josh!" The Fire graduate glanced instinctively toward the source of the sound, which was the kitchen, even though the only sight that greeted him was the dark wood-panelled wall of the living room. His sister poked her head in through the wide archway a moment later. "Where'd the rest of the cupcakes go?" He did not bother to look guilty as he met her blue gaze, lounging on the couch with his laptop on his stomach. "Ate 'em." He smirked, knowing that his sister would be glaring at him despite the fact that he'd already looked away. He was running the seventh of many virus scans he'd combed his computer with after the unfortunate incident at school, not wanting the mature videos that had been downloaded to his computer to render it useless. They seemed to be helping, for its speed had picked back up and at least he hadn't lost anything. He was also working on a research paper while the scan ran in the background. "Ugh, Josh, I asked you to leave me some." He continued to smirk. Never trust me with sweet things, Annabel, you should know that by now. And besides, "They were mine anyway. First come, first serve." The frustrated noise in her throat made him chuckle and he closed the computer, setting it aside and swinging his legs over the couch so that he was in a sitting position. "Relax, Belle, I'll get some more." He usually purchased his cupcakes from a small but amazing sweetshop in the nicer parts of town.
It was still fairly warm being early October but there was a chilly breeze that caused some people to go out with a light jacket for protection. Not Joshua. The only thing heavy-duty about his apparel were the hiking boots that he so loved, sitting on the bottom of the curving foyer stairs to lace them up. Boots and the sunglasses he also wore were signature for Joshua. "Have you seen Nell?" He'd only been home about ten minutes when Annabel's cupcake craving had interrupted him and so he did not know where she'd gone off to. They had busy schedules, the both of them, so there were days when they didn't interact much until they were both home for the day from their respective commitments. Annabel shook her head. "She's your fiancee." He barely batted an eyelash as he shot back smoothly, "She's your sister." He was teasing, of course, pointing out the fact that Annabel already called Nell her sister despite the fact that the couple weren't married yet. Sister, sister-in-law, he didn't think it mattered to Belle. She'd told him that she'd always wanted a sister. Growing up with two brothers was alright, she said, but she liked having another girl around. He'd just laughed.
He parked the white Lamborghini across the street from the small shop and groaned when he saw that the line actually led outside the doors. The place wasn't that big and so it couldn't accommodate large lines but a line of more than three people felt like a big one to Joshua. When it finally inched forward enough that he was standing inside the building with a full view of their menu, he shoved his hands into his pockets and frowned in thought. Definitely want some of the decadent dark fudge stuff. They were his favourites, dark chocolate fudge cupcakes that were almost too sweet even for a toddler's taste. He had an amazing sweet-tooth, though, and so he did not back down from any cupcake related challenges. Annabel will want those vanilla orange ones... should I get some for Nell, too? She was like a trash compactor with how much she ate but her thing was actual food. He held down the sweets arsenal. Eh, may's well. Annabel and I will eat them if she doesn't. There was usually a ton of candy at the Dale/Shepherd mansion on any one occasion, as well as a shitton of food. Having two people obsessed with eating, albeit eating different things, under one roof was bound to make it so. Hmm... what else, though? The line moved up slightly as he continued to ponder the selections.
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Apr 16, 2012 22:49:15 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] A typical day in Matthew's new hectic life usually started out with your generic morning activities: he woke up fairly early mostly out of habit, even though his classes didn't start until noon on most days, but waking up at seven, eight in the morning for years on end drilled the habit into his subconscious. So he would wake up, not even attempt to make his bed because he didn't see the point, then showered, brushed his teeth, did his hair, woke Sandra up if she wasn't awake already (and she usually wasn't), made breakfast for the both of them, get all his stuff for classes ready, drop Sandra off at the Academy or remind her to take the bus if he did have morning class, and then he spent much of the rest of the day on his university's campus, going to class and feeling a little disconnected with the rest of his grade -- chances were likely that none of them were elementals as he'd probably know them by now, and being faced with having to fit into a new social society wasn't really at the top of the list of things that Matthew enjoyed. Coupled with the fact that he had practically turned into soccer mom extraordinaire practically overnight and Matt, even though he enjoyed school, was feeling way out of sorts. But it had only been a few weeks since classes started and his life was facing transitional periods on all fronts, so all he could really do was just go with the flow and hope for the best.
Eventually, the day descends into the rhythmic, cyclical motions of going to class, getting a break, going to class, getting a break, going to class, then home. Sometimes this can change, depending on time, number of classes, how much homework he has and if he has to work when classes are done -- even though there's a ton of small, tiny elements to his every day schedule that would make it seem pretty overwhelming, Matt enjoys the challenge, and it amazes him a little at how everything can still feel ritualistic, right down to his weekly visit to the sweetshop in the mall. See, he even had it all planned out -- the line usually gets long during the times when hordes of students are off from classes, or hordes of people are getting off work. Matt times his arrival at the shop to coincide with the gaps where there aren't tons of people around, but still, some days still surprise him -- like today. He glances out the window at the shop as he rolls by in his car, line extending way past its door and he curses his terrible timing. But, he was already here, and he liked cupcakes way too much to pass them up, line notwithstanding, and it was just what he was used to at this point. So he managed to find a parking spot on the street and quickly jogged over, getting in line lest they sold out of the really delicious carrot cake cupcakes. (Seriously, best cream cheese filling ever!)
The line trudged at a decent pace, Matthew tapping out messages on his phone to stave off the boredom -- a text message to his mom, emails to classmates about a project assigned already, inquiries about plans for the night and the weekend, the same usual stuff. The line gradually got shorter and soon, Matthew was in a position where he could actually see inside the small shop, and his eyes immediately darted to the display where the carrot cake cupcakes tended to be. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any, though the coffee crumb ones were available. Maybe. That's what it looked like, at least, and Matthew's view was mostly blocked by other people not keeping to a straight line at all. "Ballsy," he muttered, mostly to himself, making sure to keep his voice quiet lest some of elderly ladies around him heard him. Luckily, the line moved forward again, and for the first time since standing in line, a mop of black hair caught his eye. He peered a little closer, hoping that he wasn't mistaken -- if he wasn't, that meant that Josh was currently standing inside the shop and could get a clear view of what they had. Perfect.
"Josh! Hey, Joshua!" he called, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, though it was hard to do when he was, you know, calling out. "Can you just tell me if they have the carrot cake ones or are they out?" The request was simple enough, though Matthew never stopped for a moment to consider the fact that he and Josh were only acquaintances, even though they got along rather well. That was all thanks to Nell, though. Still, he never would have pegged the fire wielder to be fond of sweets. Huh. |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 17, 2012 8:28:20 GMT -5
Thoughts of the creamy and delicious cupcakes were quite distracting as he stared at the glass display cases behind which they sat, the icing delicately crafted into patterns on some of them and otherwise spiralling into a little curved tip. There were some with sprinkles and gummy worms that he knew Annabel would appreciate and there was a strawberry vanilla one that almost made his mouth water just looking at it. The cupcakes at this place were quite large, too, not the teensy little bite-sized ones that some places tried to get away with. Preoccupied as he was by his fantasies of sinking his teeth into one of them, he was not deaf, and so the sound of his name made him blink and snapped him out of it. He glanced around out of habit despite not finding the voice very familiar. The line was large, his name wasn't too rare, it was very possible that he would find they were talking to some other Josh. But no—while he did not recognise the voice, upon following the sound of it the face was quite familiar. His ever-reliable brain supplied him with a name in the next second (Matthew, isn't it?) and he lifted his chin in acknowledgement to show that he'd heard the call of his name and was ready to listen to whatever the other guy had to say.
Trying not to cause too much of a disturbance in the store, as a few people had already looked round when Matthew had called out to him, Joshua looked to the glass display cases and found the little sign labelled 'carrot cake'. Beside an empty plate. There was a folded green card in the middle of that plate, though, and he leaned forward and squinted at it until he was able to read what it said. 'New batch soon', the sign read, and he really thought that they should put it in bigger, blockier writing. It would have been easy for him to read up close, he had 20-20 vision after all, but it was not so considerate for those who were still a ways back from the counter. He turned back to Matthew and shook his head, then paused as he realised there was no way that he could tell him that there would be new ones soon without, you know, yelling it out. He lifted a finger to signal him to wait, considered the amount of patrons between them in the line, then thought fuck it and ditched his own spot to go and wait with Matthew further back. Inviting him forward might have irked some other people in the line but in this case it was doing some of them a favour. Once he was close enough, he said, "They're fresh out but the sign suggests they're making some more. Are you gonna stick around to find out?" If he'd came just for the carrot cake ones, Matthew might have been planning to leave if they were out.
It would suck, really, thought Joshua, to come all this way and wait in a long line for nothing. The Fire graduate had his favourites (oh, that heavenly dark double fudge) but he liked cupcakes and sweet things so much that he could buy out the entire shop and probably not find a flavour of which he was not fond. He didn't have any allergies and he wasn't too picky with his tastebuds beyond swearing off meant. Not everyone was the same way, of course, and he understood this. "They're usually pretty quick on the restock front," he offered after a pause, not sure how often Matthew dropped by here. Josh would probably be perfectly content to live above the shop with the amount of times he came in. Except not really, because a three story mansion with a lake out back was a lot nicer than a cramped above-store loft. "Maybe even before we reach the front of the line." Though Joshua had met Matthew through Nell, he had been determined as always to form his own opinions of the boy. Nell really didn't affect much when it came to his relationships with people, only that he might not be so quick to throttle them if a friendship didn't work out. All the same, Matt was alright. They'd known one another for a while though not with any deep connection and so he'd decided he wasn't a bad guy to be around. It was for this reason that he decided to start conversation. "I'm guessing the carrot cake ones are your favourites, eh?" It only made sense if he was so curious about them.
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Apr 19, 2012 9:21:38 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] If other people in line looked at him funny, then he was convinced that was their problem, because Matt couldn't imagine that standing in this line was anybody's definition of a fun time, or something they explicitly penciled in, despite busy schedules. Maple Hollow was a quiet town, full of quiet people, but still, there had to be something else craving their attention. Like a nice park bench calling out to them, goading them to sit awhile and read. Or the movie theatre, where prices haven't been jacked up quite so bad (though it certainly would be getting there soon) and weren't there quite a few good indie flicks out? Really, the dirty looks were all a byproduct of the jealousy that Matthew knew someone else in line that could tell him what he needed to know, unless he wanted to waste another half an hour of his time. Though now that he was thinking about it, he wouldn't leave anyway -- Sandra would never forgive him for not coming back with something, and as far as he could tell, they had the lemon cupcakes she liked. Plus, he remembers the coffee crumb ones to be quite good, and it wouldn't hurt to try out something else. Perhaps this would be the day he would try some of the dodgier looking cupcakes the shop had to offer, like the one with mango frosting, or one of the savory ones, like the maple bacon one he's always wanted to try, but usually chickened out at the last minute. At least it'd be one way to see if bacon truly made everything better.
He didn't notice Josh nodding back at him until he had lifted his hand to tell him to wait, which was good, since Matt was going to call out in response. He was a little surprised to see Josh step out of his place in line, though, and walk back to where he was -- Matt hadn't been expecting that. Or rather, he couldn't really be sure that he would have voluntarily done the same when in the same predicament. He knew Josh had to be a decent guy -- after all, Nell wouldn't let a jerk hang around for so long otherwise, and despite being of an opposing element, he and Josh never had any less than pleasant exchanges, even if they were more of the superficial variety than anything deep and meaningful. And now that Matt was out of the Academy for good, he had even less of a chance to talk to Josh, which kind of sucked since that meant Matt had an even rarer opportunity to see if he was as great a guy Nell made him sound. He didn't have any doubts, but he just wanted to make sure. Not that it was a burning mission of his. (He reserved that for his sister.)
Still, Josh stepping out of line to come wait with him was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. He also confirmed Matt's suspicions, that the carrot cake cupcakes were out, which disheartened him a little, he wasn't going to lie to himself. "Ah, I figured that was the case. The display looked empty, even from back here," Matt mumbled, sighing a little bit. He peeked at the line in front of them, watching as another few customers left, making room for the line to move forward, a move not out of impatience, but of curiosity as to if the line would go slow enough to give them a chance to restock. The last thing he wanted to do was to get to the store and hold the rest of the line up because he wanted to wait for the next batch. "It's just weird, you know? I didn't know people liked carrot cake. Besides me. And I didn't know this many people lived in Maple Hollow, for that matter," |
[/color] Matthew said, gesturing around them, especially as the line continued to grow behind them. Seriously, where did all these people come from? He resigned himself to waiting some more, though he was glad for the company. "Yeah, definitely...though I haven't tried all of them so maybe it's a little pre-emptive,"[/color] Matt thought out loud. "What's yours?"[ sorry it's a little shorter! i think my muse is suffering from allergies with me. ][/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 19, 2012 17:27:22 GMT -5
Had Joshua known that Matthew was planning to gauge what sort of a person he was due to Nell, he would have been a lot less friendly and pleasant toward his fellow elemental. He did not like being questioned, hated how a lot of people seemed to think they were better at deciding who was good for Nell than the girl herself. He'd done plenty for her, really, and what did it matter that most people did not have knowledge of the things they'd went through together? If they'd known that he would have sacrificed his own relationship with his family to be around Nell (and almost had) would it have changed anything? Frankly, Joshua didn't care. All he cared about was the fact that he knew he was good to her and she was good to him, too. They worked well together. Everyone else could fuck off in his opinion. Fortunately for Matthew, Joshua was clueless to his mild intentions. "Always sucks when you've got to wait in line for ages and they're out of the favourites." Not so much for Joshua, of course, because he came in for one flavour and walked out carrying it as well as six or seven others. It cost a lot of money but what was money to a man that lived in a mansion and drove a Lamborghini? His family was old money, he didn't have to work for success and for cash.
He was amused by the comment on Maple Hollow, though it was not immediately evident. He wasn't a big smiler and it wasn't easy for strangers to read his emotions via expression. He was a pretty serious, stoic guy after all. "Hey, now, it's not that small." His lips twitched now, betraying that he wasn't quite as serious as he might have seemed. Joshua had been born in Maple Hollow, had grown up here. He knew that cities like Toronto dwarfed Maple Hollow by a landslide but at least it was a city and not a minuscule dot of a town on a map. He didn't think he could live in a place that didn't have everything the Hollow had. "And besides, cupcakes. I mean why not, eh?" Joshua adored sweet things. It should have been illegal that he liked them more than children seemed to but he could not help his taste for sugary sweets. Fuck diabetes, he'd take the risk. Savoury bacon-flavoured cupcakes were out of the question thanks to his vegetarian diet but everything else was fair game. "All things considered, carrot cake is pretty good." Joshua would eat almost anything when it came to cupcakes. Almost. "I might get some if they've got them by the time we get up there. They're always the best when they're fresh." That was with everything, of course. The smooth texture not yet marred by being chilled in the fridge was brilliant.
His mouth was practically watering just thinking about all of the things he was going to sink his teeth into when he got home later. Thank god I have a car. He usually got several big boxes of cupcakes to hold him and the family over for the week. His 'family' only consisted of himself and his sister as well as his fiancée but they were still family, it still counted. "You should get a few and try them." Joshua was, of course, not factoring the cost of cupcakes into this equation. He could happily buy everything in the store and have money leftover but didn't always take into account that other people were not that fortunate. When Matthew questioned his favourite, Joshua gestured toward the half-full plate in the display case. The cupcakes were so dark that they almost looked black and that was a sign of good dark chocolate in his opinion. The icing was fudge, too. Couldn't go wrong there. "I think it's got some fancy name to do with decadence but... basically they're dark chocolate fudge. I always buy whatever they've got." He had no shame in buying out their last dark chocolate fudge cupcakes. They were his favourites, that was what favourite entailed. "I'm getting some of whatever I can carry, though. Might tell her to surprise me." He liked the adventure.
[No worries, it's fine! I have allergies, too. Fuck pollen.]
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Apr 22, 2012 19:38:33 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] "I don't know, Maple Hollow is pretty small..." |
[/color] But then again, and Matthew had a pretty bad habit of remembering this, not everyone is from Vancouver, like he and Sandra were. Sometimes, he wonders if staying in such a tiny part of Canada was the way to go post-high school, but after spending plenty of time in Maple Hollow, the quiet and subtle life seemed to suit him just fine. He missed Vancouver, but probably for things that were less tangible -- his family was there and he knew that he would always call that house he and Sandra grew up in home, but it was pretty fascinating to see how this small town soon turned into, as cliche as it sounds, a home away from home. He never would have thought he would come to love it so much back when he was a freshman in high school, but even the knowledge that he's sort of growing left his mind a little baffled. Either way, still, Josh had a point -- cupcakes were practically the way to Matthew's soul, paved with gold and sprinkles. "But true, wherever the cupcakes are, I will be."[/color] And Josh, for that matter, if the way Josh had been speaking about the cupcakes was anything to go by. Carrot cake notwithstanding, Matthew began to ponder the selection that was currently offered, as he wasn't sure if the plate would be refilled by the time he and Josh got inside. Besides the raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes that he had to get, as those were Sandra's favorite, he really had no idea what else was good. The uber chocolate-y one was very tempting, but he wasn't sure if he could actually stomach something that looked so incredibly dense -- he would either go into diabetic shock or food coma into next week. "All things considered..."[/color] he muttered to himself, deciding to take a page out of Josh's book and get a few of the chocolate decadent whatchamacallits. "I trust your judgment. Save me two or three and the rest are all yours."[/color] Matthew had only planned on buying a baker's dozen, though, so he could either go with three of the chocolate ones and three of something else to keep it all uniform -- the coffee crumb was practically calling out his name, damn -- and maybe he'd just ask for some random one for the thirteenth. Or he could go with just two of the chocolate decadents and two each of three other kinds to fill the box up, and get a random one to go. ...so really, the only permanent part of his plan was the random cupcake to round out the thirteen. "Well, if you want help carrying stuff to your car, I can help. I'm just getting one box," Matthew offered, though this was completely different than how he used to be. He used to be somewhat embarrassed at how his family weren't the richest ever, but gradually, he just stopped caring. People were more than what they were worth, anyway, and that was really all that was important. "You say 'surprise me', but I have a feeling you're not going to be disappointed with anything you get."[/color] Matthew stepped forward, toddling after the rest of the line as it moved up a bit. [ omg i'm so sorry this is way shorter but matthew's gone missing or something. ;_; ][/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 23, 2012 10:35:54 GMT -5
It didn't bother Joshua when someone said that his home city was small, he merely hadn't lived in a big city himself and so couldn't understand the way that someone from Vancouver or Toronto would view another place. He was fine with it, though, and his lips twitched. "Well, at least it's not some tiny backwater town." He did not speak it defensively but rather with a hint of amusement, gray eyes twinkling with the humour. I don't think I could live anywhere else. Matthew certainly sounded like he could, though. "Guessing you're not from here, then?" He phrased the question in a way so that it could be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no' depending on Matthew's desire to keep secrets. Not everyone was such a closed-off person as Josh but he tried to make everyone comfortable when it came to questions about someone else's life. It was habit by this time. Matt seemed pretty friendly, the sort of person that didn't keep absolutely everything under lock and key like Josh once had, but you could never be too careful. "Words to live by." Though he didn't think he could move out of Maple Hollow, he was pretty sure he'd be crushed if there was nowhere to get cupcakes as good as these. Baking them just wasn't the same. Well, Nell was pretty good at it when she was intoxicated but he wasn't willing to get his fiancée drunk every time he had a craving for cupcakes. Hilarious as that may be, it was manipulative and he wasn't like that.
Joshua dipped his head in agreement when Matthew asked him to save a couple of the dark chocolate cupcakes for him, not the type that would hoard them selfishly if someone he didn't hate was wanting to try. He had the capacity for selfishness but it was not a constant thing in his life. "Geez, the lines in this place are so long." It was less of a complaint and more of an exasperated observation when he glanced back and saw that several people had now gotten into line behind them. It didn't really bug Joshua, who was quite patient. He wouldn't have nipped back to join his acquaintance if he had not been willing to wait any longer than he had to. "Eh, sure, why not." He figured that he'd be fine taking the cupcakes out to his car himself but maybe it would allow them a little more time for conversation and he wasn't opposed to that. "I mean I'm not feeding an army but I'll probably get a good two or three." Boxes, not single cupcakes, as if that needed clarifying when it was cupcakes in question. They were like Lays potato chips and, no, he couldn't bring himself to eat just one. He laughed. "Fair enough. No, I can't say I will. As long as she stays away from those meaty ones over there." He gestured to them in explanation. He would warn her away from them so that she knew and so it wasn't like the woman would likely throw them in there to spite him. Nell and Annabel might like them, but, I'm not taking my chances. "How's your sister?" He'd talked with Sandra a few times, she was... nice. A little odd, but nice.
[Don't worry about it, your posts are fine <3]
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Apr 24, 2012 12:30:23 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] "Naw, Sandra and I are from Vancouver," |
[/color] Matthew replied easily, memories of his hometown (homecity?) bringing a smile to his face. Awww, dang. Maybe he missed Vancouver more than he thought he did. Matthew didn't ever entertain the thought of his homecity when he was away, simply because he was too busy to take time out of his day to do so. He did consider living in Maple Hollow a good thing, since there's no way one could possibly know what sort of environment they liked to live in best without actually living in a place that was different than what they were used to. He wondered if Josh would ever get the itch to move away from Maple Hollow -- as far as he knew, Josh had lived here his whole life. Matt would have probably lived in Vancouver his entire life if he wasn't an elemental, now that he thought about it. All things considered, he was glad he had the chance to move away and experience something else, even if it was absolutely terrifying at first. That sort of thing is frightening for a fourteen year old. ...or perhaps it was just him. As they were chit-chatting, the line had continued to grow behind them, and Matthew still had no sense of how much time had passed. Maybe the shop could look into one of those queue marker things, like the ones really popular rides at amusement parks had. '50 minutes from this point on!' and with a fake smile because there was nothing happy about waiting 50 minutes for a ride. Or cupcakes. Except the cupcakes were probably more worth it in the long run. Waiting wasn't the end of the world, though, and so Matthew settled in for another session of waiting. "My timing has been way off these past few times I've come here,"[/color] Matt laments, wondering if he should maybe get a new strategy for cupcakes. His current one obviously wasn't working very well. "Honestly, I would stock up just to avoid waiting in this line again. And don't worry, I'll take one for the team and get the maple bacon. Your sweet tooth has nothing to fear."[/color] Matthew stood on his tip-toes, trying to get a good look at the rest of the line and see if any of the maple bacon ones were even available -- not surprisingly, there was a good half dozen left. People didn't seem to like the whole 'meat' aspect of cupcakes, it seemed. Maybe he could splurge and get a few more than he had planned; Sandra would probably like them, and if she didn't, he did, so it was win-win either way. Matthew was snapped out of his mind when Josh mentioned Sandra, in a strange 'speak of the devil' kind of moment, except that Sandra wasn't actually there. "Sandra? She's just...you know. Sandra."[/color] He shrugged, not really knowing how else to describe his sister. "She's doing good, though. Just, Sandra-like."[/color][/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 24, 2012 21:22:55 GMT -5
Recognition flashed in Joshua's gray eyes at mention of the much larger British Columbian city. That makes sense, then. He knew it to be a very large place compared to Maple Hollow and it was next to the water, something that the Hollow could not brag. Still, he wouldn't trade his home for the world. He supposed that it was like that for a lot of people. Home was home. Home was where your heart was. "Oh, yeah, I've been down to Vancouver a few times. Neat place." He wasn't saying it simply for the sake of conversation, he actually thought it to be so. Joshua wasn't the type of person that had a problem with letting people down. If he'd hated the place then he'd certainly be opening his mouth about it. "I grew up here, though, so I guess I am kind of biased." The Fire graduate lifted and dropped his shoulders in a shrug. He wouldn't trade home for the world. The seas of forests that stretched up and around the mountains, the mountains themselves with their towering glory as they overshadowed the stunted city. Then there was the school, the centre of it all, the place where their powers came to life. Indeed, Joshua was happy in his current place of peace. "Are you in town for school, then?" he asked, not realizing that Matthew had since moved. "I haven't seen you up at the Academy." He was also unaware of the fact that Matthew had chosen a different school in which to pursue his dreams.
Joshua laughed. "Can't say I really make a schedule. We run out, I come get more." He figured it was fairly obvious that he meant running out of cupcakes and so the Fire elemental did not elaborate. The idea of stockpiling cupcakes amused him as well. "Load them all into a bunker, apocalypse style, yeah?" The fact that he could joke around Matthew was a sign that he was comfortable with him, though the Water grad probably didn't realise this himself. Befriending Joshua was a very slow and gradual process. Most others didn't notice how long it really took for him to tolerate their presence without being paranoid about how much they knew about him. "Nah, it's not my sweet tooth I'm worried about. I'm vegetarian." There had been a time when admitting such a fact (to Nell, of all people) had made him uncomfortable. He didn't think about that now. He was amused by the way Sandra's brother described her, nodding. "Yeah, I getcha. Least she's good, though." It was better than his sister being ill or unhappy. Josh wasn't empathetic toward strangers unless in a situation with a patient at the hospital (it was hard not to feel bad for them) but Sandra was becoming less and less of one. He still took a while to warm up to people but she was "alright", and "alright" was better than "I don't know how to feel about her". He took it in stages. "Hey, look," he said, gesturing. "They brought out a fresh batch of the carrot-cake ones. You're in luck." He gave a thumbs up jokingly, grinned.
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Apr 29, 2012 17:41:15 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] "If you ever go back out there and I'm in the area, let me know, man! I can take you around and show you the sights...or just take you on an eating tour." |
[/color] Matt grinned. Though some part of Matthew would always and forever call Vancouver home -- after all, nothing could ever erase the streets he lovingly traversed in his days pre-Luke, his car, and the transit system, and the house that did up their decorations for Christmas like a Christmas amusement park -- they were all important and would remind him of home, he had to admit that Maple Hollow had, somehow, given him that same feeling Vancouver gave him. For sure, it would be hard to stay in Maple Hollow, knowing that vacations back to Vancouver would be hard to achieve now that he opted for a different school, but there were definitely worse places to be stuck in. Maple Hollow was the exact opposite of Vancouver in terms of size and population, but it was a little bit like home, and that...well, that was pretty cool. "Yeah, I actually opted to go to this university a few towns over rather than stick it out at the Academy, but Maple Hollow's a really nice place to stay. Finding my own place is also way better than having to move in and out of dorms again."[/color] He nodded, mostly to himself. He never regretted his decision to go to a different university but stay in Maple Hollow -- he might complain sometimes about the lack of sleep and exorbitant gas prices, but through it all, he was having fun, and doing something he loved, so that outweighed everything. The mention of there being a cupcake bunker in case of impending apocalypse made Matthew laugh, his mind suddenly filled with images of Josh ordering cupcake rations and the like. "Hey man, the apocalypse is scary stuff. What are you going to do if it's a zombie apocalypse, though? What if they were cupcake eating zombies?"[/color] Matt considered, putting himself in Josh's shoes. Could he possibly give up the cupcakes for his life, even if chances were that he would probably get eaten by regular zombies along the way? These were serious questions. "I think she's still getting used to living with me, but there hasn't been any issues so for that, I'm glad..."[/color] He would have continued his train of thought, if it weren't for some movement out of the corner of his eye, and Josh's blatant hand gesturing. He peeked at the storefront -- they were so close!!! - and watched as one of the shop's employees replaced the empty carrot-cake plate with a new one, filled with cupcakes to the back. "Oh, thank goodness. Between you and me, I would have bought others, but I would have been pretty depressed while doing so."[/color] He heaved a sigh of relief, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders. One never realizes just how badly one wanted something until it was taken away and, mercifully, given back again, he supposed.[/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 30, 2012 0:17:32 GMT -5
He didn't have any immediate plans to head out to Vancouver but the idea of having someone who knew the area around was certainly appealing. Josh did like to travel but it was always best when you knew where you were going. Less chances of getting lost or having bad experiences that way, he thought. "Yeah, I will. If eating is involved, though, I'm totally dragging Nell along." He chuckled, wondering if, as one of her friends, Matthew had picked up on Nell's infamous eating habits. It wasn't that hard to pick up on in Joshua's opinion. It was one of the first things he'd learned about her when they ate together in the mess hall after a study session turned lunch. "What are you studying?" He found it strange that someone would go to school a few towns over, since there was a massive gap between Maple Hollow and the next decent settlement. He didn't say anything, though, because really it was Matt's choice where he went to school. Joshua knew he'd give up a lot of things in a heartbeat all in the name of going to medical school but he was worried about his acceptance into Maple Hollow's own. If not, he'd need to move, and eight years away from his fiancée made his head hurt thinking about it. Oh, the horrors of a career education. "I stuck it out at the Academy. Wanted to be close to home, y'know? I can't go to medical school there, though, so fingers crossed." He chuckled as he held up a hand and literally crossed his middle and index fingers together to back up his words. He didn't believe in superstitions but that wasn't any reason not to toss them into conversation.
Bunker life was probably terrible but he imagined a few boxes of cupcakes would cheer everyone up. In all honesty, in the event of an apocalypse he wasn't sure he wanted to survive. Not if he was the only survivor, or if he lost all his family and friends. If not, well, he could live with zombies if he still had Nell around. So long as she wasn't one of them, mind. "No one touches my cupcakes, bro. I'd declare war." A bit ironic considering he didn't like guns. He could hear his little sister now, taunting him affectionately. "What're you gonna do, Joshy, medicate them to death?" Oh, to be an older brother. "Yeah I live with my sister, too, I get that feel. Glad it's going well, though." That was genuine enough. He didn't have to be best buddies with a person to give two shits about their well-being. "Ah, the cupcake walk of shame." He laughed at the thought and at last they were free to approach. He ordered three large boxes of cupcakes and did indeed say, "Surprise me," when the lady asked him what he wanted. "And then all but a few of the decadent dark chocolate." Taking one for the team, man, he would go down with that ship. A ship full of diabetes, apparently, because that sure was a whole lot of cupcakes. He avoided the urge to lean against the display case when he stepped aside and waited for Matt to finish ordering, knowing it was considered 'rude'.
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on May 3, 2012 9:53:50 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] At Josh's mention of Nell's eating habits, Matthew laughed, genuinely amused. Really, it wasn't hard to pick up on Nell's eating habits, which seemed to just consist of all the foold, all the time. "Oh man...you know, I used to keep the fridge at home stocked for two even when I lived alone since Nell's over often, but now I have to keep it stocked for three." |
[/color] That isn't to say that Matt couldn't put away a decent amount of food himself -- he most certainly could, even if one couldn't tell since he played soccer to keep his weight in check. But eating was awesome. This could potentially hurt him in the future, but he wouldn't worry about it for now. "Ah, my major's illustration. Not as exciting as medicine, for sure,"[/color] Matt joked. And true, it wasn't. He still gets weird looks now when people find out he's an illustration major, especially now that the entire world was so digitized and everything could be done on the computer and via graphic design, but there really was nothing like sketching out a scene he committed to memory, or the feeling of wet paint being smeared across a canvas, the tangible weight of a brush in his hands. Computers were great, but to him, nothing beat the feeling of a work of art's texture underneath his grasp. It was really awesome that Josh wanted to be a doctor, though the decision to put that on hold and stick it out at the Academy must have been a weighty decision. "I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. Any med school would be happy to have you."[/color] And Matt genuinely meant that; from what he could tell, Josh was a good guy. Great, even. Matt knew he could never be a doctor -- too much pressure, too much responsibility -- but he had the feeling that Josh would make a really good one. Matthew laughed at the idea of a cupcake walk of shame, then watched as Josh ordered three boxes of cupcakes without much preamble. The girl behind the counter bustled around with his order and another girl beckoned him forward, ready to take down his own order. "Hello! I'll just have one box, please. Uh...six of the carrot cake, two of the maple bacon, two coffee crumb, and the rest of the..."[/color] Matthew leaned over towards the display of dark chocolate cupcakes Josh had been raving about, reading the label. "Decadent dark chocolate."[/color] Just saying the name was making his stomach rumble in want. "I think my stomach approves of your choices, man,"[/color] Matt said, stepping to the side next to Josh to make room for the next person in line behind them. He gave the cashier the amount owed when his cupcakes were nicely wrapped up and presented to him, and soon had the hefty box in his hands. He figured it would take a little longer to get Josh's order together, so he opted to keep to the side and resolved to be out of the way as much as he could, waiting for Josh to get his boxes so he could give him a hand. In the meantime, though, he eyed the suggestions box and for once, had a suggestion -- maybe consider expanding.[/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on May 3, 2012 12:44:16 GMT -5
The idea of keeping a well-stocked fridge simply for the purpose of catering to Nell's food habits amused Joshua greatly and the Fire graduate couldn't help but grin at the thought, shaking his head and chuckling softly. Some guys might have been suspicious about their girlfriends hanging out at some other dude's apartment but though Josh did have some jealousy issues, they generally only acted up when he noticed something to be worried about, like a guy looking at Nell with interest or otherwise hitting on her. He had not seen Matthew do anything of the sort and so he was not worried about him for the time being. "Tell me about it, I live with her," he said, the grin fading to a regular smile but still staying on his lips. He was clearly only kidding. Joshua did live with Nell but being wealthy as he was the fridge was always stocked to the brim regardless. Living with Nell just meant restocking it faster and that was fine by him. They had three mouths to feed, too, considering Annabel had to be taken into account. His gray eyes still held amusement when the topic shifted, his expression light and giving him a friendlier appearance over the usual stoicism. "I'm sure it's exciting if you enjoy it. Medical school would bore some people, I think, at least the research part." There was supposedly a lot of practical application, too, which he looked forward to, but writing papers could be a bore if you weren't interested in the subject. "What are you working toward?" Joshua wanted to become a doctor, a physician-scientist to be exact, but he wondered what someone with an illustration major was aiming for.
Though the smile had since faded (he wasn't big on smiling unless he was in a really good mood, or with Nell), Joshua's lips twitched again when Matthew spoke words of encouragement. "Well, thanks. I hope so too." He wasn't pessimistic about acceptance. Joshua was confident in himself, at least, and he felt that he'd get into a medical school if not for the one he wanted. He was intelligent and he had brilliant credentials, how could they all refuse? He chuckled when Matthew spoke longingly of the cupcakes, nodding. "My stomach approves, too. Can't wait to get these suckers home." God, he loved cupcakes. Loved them so much that he'd wait in lines like this one daily if he had to. Of all things sweet and sugary, cupcakes were probably his favourite. Then real cake. Then maybe fudge, or toffee, or... no, he couldn't decide. Chocolate was good, too. Once his three boxes were delivered, Josh remembered Matt's offer to help him carry them and glanced between them. "You take this one, I'll grab these two?" It was a suggestion, a request, because Josh didn't make demands of other people unless he had every right to. Splitting the load evenly between them seemed fair enough. He pressed the button to open the car doors automatically as they approached, save himself the effort (he would never get over those scissor doors, he didn't think) and dropped the two boxes into the passenger seat. Sports cars didn't have a whole lot of storage, after all. The Lamborghini Aventador had less than most. That was okay, he loved his car regardless. "Thanks, man," he said to Matt. "Are you heading back now, or?"
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on May 4, 2012 10:11:44 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] As Josh pressed the box of cupcakes he had into his arms, Matt made his way to the door of the shop, ready to push it open with the side of his body as he was out of hands, but thankfully the line had grown behind them and a young girl held it open for them. He smiled and said thanks in passing, waiting for Josh to make it out of the cramped store to fall in step next to him, as he had no idea where Josh had parked. His mind recalled him to their conversation before being allowed into the shop, about med school and research and other things of the future, and Matt had to admit that he probably would have loved to do the research part in comparison to the straight lecture-and-notes approach. "The research sounds fun, though...expeirments and stuff. Why diseases become the diseases they are and how." |
[/color] Matt pondered, almost taking a wrong turn before catching up with Josh again. "The ideal would be working for Marvel's creative team,"[/color] Matt said cheerfully -- he still had the same dream as he did when he was 10, and it was part of why he thought he probably would never grow up -- "But I'd be happy with illustrating children's books, too."[/color] He stopped when he watched Josh's car doors open. He knew Josh was pretty well-off, but he had no idea that he owned a Lamborghini, of all things. It looked like the friggin' Ironman car. He still wasn't over it completely when he gave his box of cupcakes over to Josh, left with his own in his hands. "Don't mention it, bro. Your ride is sick,"[/color] Matt said, and being the opportunist, took a chance to peek inside. It was just as polished and sleek on the inside as it was out. His own car paled in comparison, though he probably made a different statement with it. He'd been longing for a classic much of his adolescence, and now that he had one, he couldn't imagine trading it for anything, especially since he had put a lot of his own effort and time into fixing it up. Still, the Lamborghini was impressive as all hell, since the only time he had ever seen one was in the pages of a car magazine or in movies, never up close like this. At Josh's next question, Matt sort of sighed a little, mind wandering to all the things he had to do still throughout the rest of the afternoon. He wished on more than one occassion that there were extra hours in the day to fit everything in, and it seemed like he wasn't going to stop hoping for that anytime soon. At least, not while he was in college. "Yeah, I have a ton of homework to do and I gotta get Sandra from campus, too, I'm already late. I didn't expect to do much waiting in line, truthfully."[/color] If he had the time to stay and chill, Matt totally would have, but damn, duty calls. Or responsibility. Or something like that. [/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on May 4, 2012 18:53:47 GMT -5
The research certainly did sound fun, it was fun to Joshua. Well, perhaps not as much fun as it was satisfying. Researching diseases reminded a person that there was a lot of deadly things out there and that people actually suffered from the very thing you were studying. They ruined lives. Then again, that was why Joshua wanted to become a physician-scientist, in other words a medical researcher who also worked hands-on with patients. Some of them even taught academically because of how well-rounded they were but it was the research and patient care that drew him in. It took ages to become a physician-scientist but it would be worth it in the end, he thought. "Tell me about it. It fascinates me, really, but I guess that's because I've always liked medicine." He didn't like medicine as in taking it, because who liked the taste of the stuff? No, Joshua liked the subject of medicine and all that it entailed. He hoped that he'd make a great doctor some day, able to say that he'd achieved his goals and even went beyond them. A boy could dream. "Hopefully I'll be researching how to cure those diseases a decade down the line, eh? 'Till then I'm stuck with reading about the people that do." He winked, smiled, seemed in a generally good mood and not at all bothered by the fact that, oh right, it was going to be over ten years before he got his chance.
Joshua recognised the name, his expression flickering with the signs of it. "Comics, eh?" He wasn't big on comic books himself but everyone knew Marvel and DC, they were household names and all that. "Best of luck, man. I bet you can get there." Joshua believe that anyone could achieve their dream if they tried hard enough, provided their dream wasn't world domination or anything ridiculous like that. Who the heck wanted that anyway? This was real life, not some fantasy novel or anything of the sort. Proud of his precious vehicle, Joshua grinned in response. "Thanks. She was a gift." A gift with a hell of an expensive price tag, mind you, but Donovan was all about the flashy gifts. The man himself drove a Ferarri. Really, money wasn't an issue. He wondered what Matthew drove but decided he'd hold off on asking just in case the other graduate had something he needed to be doing, somewhere he needed to go. As it turned out, he did, and Joshua nodded. "Yeah, I getcha. It was a bit of a wait. I'll see you around, then." He jerked his hand in a lazy wave and got into his car, heading back toward his house where his sister awaited the delivery of the cupcakes she apparently "owed" him.
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