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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 8, 2012 8:27:07 GMT -5
"Of course it's closed." Joshua rolled his eyes and scowled at the sign in the window of the flashy Blackjack bar, exchanging an exasperated glance with his drinking partner for the night. They didn't know one another too well but that hardly mattered when you were out to drink. He didn't plan to get truly wasted. Buzzed would work, maybe drunk, but not blackout-and-remember-nothing pissed. All he knew was that he wanted a drink but he didn't want Annabel to see him drinking. She was home right now and she wasn't stupid, she knew the liquor cabinet was stocked and he was sure she'd smelled it on him several nights when he'd returned home from a bar and she'd wrapped her arms around his middle. Still, he was stubborn in his determination to be a half-good influence. He'd done a lot of things he wasn't proud of when it came to his sister and he was trying to change that now. "Should we go somewhere else?" There were a lot of bars in Maple Hollow but the ones with the reputations were Blackjack and Corrosion. "I guess the Club's better than nothing." He shrugged and they walked down the few blocks it took to reach the seedier, cheaper bar. The music was loud and the air stale, dancefloor already filled with writhing bodies. They ignored this for now, pushing past the crowds and going up to the bar itself.
"Just a beer, thanks." He didn't want to chance it with their whiskey tonight. Corrosion wasn't as high-quality as Blackjack and so sometimes it was better safe than sorry. Looks like I'm not getting drunk, after all. He found himself mildly irritated by this fact. Closed for remodelling. Why did they have to remodel? What were they even changing? They were fine the way they were. Clearly their management weren't of his same opinion and so instead of treating his friend at a high-quality establishment they were kicking it back in a sweaty, deafening club. Their music always was too loud for his tastes. Thinking of Devin he glanced toward the DJ out of curiosity but did not spot his friend. Shrugging to himself (it wasn't that important), he turned back to the bar when the beer was slid across to him. He could get drunk off it if he really tried but he reckoned he'd need to drink non-stop all night to do so. No thanks. Maybe he'd change the whiskey later, rum, vodka, gin. Something stronger than what he had right now. He knew what they said (beer before liquor, never sicker) but he didn't claim to be the best at making decisions anyway. Being booksmart did not mean that he was intelligent when it came to life and all its ups and downs. He tried, sure, but those attempts were not always the most successful.
His pal ended up chatting with a busty brunette and without so much as a word to Josh, the pair went off toward the dancefloor. She was drunk, judging by how close she pressed against him and how awkward her movements were, and they'd probably end up going home together. He was not bothered. Looks like I'm drinking alone. It was funny, he'd done it a lot when he was having issues at home and he'd never really had a problem with it. Now it felt weird, unnatural. Like he was that loser who goes to a bar and tries to pick up girls but fails throughout the night. Not wanting anyone to think of him as such, he deftly pulled the silver band from his pocket and slipped it onto his ring finger. It was a rather effective single-woman-repellent. Some of them didn't care, those were the bad types, but most girls understood the pain of being cheated on too much to try and force a man to betray his 'wife'. Not that he was actually married. Will be soon enough, it still counts. He'd worn the ring before they'd even gotten engaged whenever he was out at bars. It was not an engagement ring, he didn't wear one of those, just a ploy to keep interested girls pursuing different guys. It was much easier to resist temptations when there were none to begin with. If only he had some company that wasn't of that kind.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 8, 2012 15:05:08 GMT -5
Skye wasn't a big drinker, but this didn't mean she wasn't a drinker at all. It was a Friday night, and she'd heard that there was a party going on that some of the Fire kids were throwing -- kids as in high schoolers -- but Skye wasn't desperate enough to go and steal drinks from a bunch of obnoxiously drunk kids. No... no, if she wanted a drink, she wouldn't be going to some kid's house while his parents weren't home, but heading into town towards one of the clubs, probably. Earlier that day, she'd written what was quite possibly one of the single worst tests she'd ever written in her life, and she had an essay due for the very same class the following Monday, and overall, things were not going very well for Skye. Disgruntled, she'd foregone having dinner at the Academy earlier because she wouldn't have been able to deal with most people's sheer stupidity, and so she'd ended up instead in the library, sitting in one of the comfier seats and just staring at a random page in her textbook rather than actually doing anything.
When the librarian had to ask her twice on the way past her to turn down the music through her headphones because he could hear it, she decided that she would just leave. She was actually nearly always easily irritated, but on a day that just didn't seem to be going well, she was basically awful. She remained civil enough with the library staff regardless of this, giving a nod and a "thank you" as she left. It was probably lucky for a good number of people that Skye was pretty well-composed. She'd decided on going out to dinner by the time she got back to her dorm, because she knew that it probably wasn't such a good idea to skip meals, especially when she had so much anger burning energy in her body. She grabbed her purse and ditched her bag in her dorm, and by the time she'd gotten off the bus in Maple Hollow, she was feeling a good deal better than before, although now very hungry (and still rather on edge, if she'd be honest).
Skye had a quiet dinner by herself at a pretty small restaurant, and by the time she'd left she was feeling much more calm. Little indepedently-owned places seemed to have that effect -- it had all been very cute, she decided. She would return, maybe. Despite this she made a beeline for Corrosion when she left -- it was nearby, and really, even though she was a great deal calmer at this point, there was nothing like a little bit of alcohol to relax any worries. Hopefully, she wouldn't drink so much that she wound up the next day with a hangover, because she really did have to keep working on that essay, and she was positively bitchy when hungover -- more reasons for her not to drink, but it didn't stop her from flashing her ID at the door and heading straight for the bar once inside. Once there, she was a little surprised to see a familiar face, though he didn't seem to have yet noticed her. Joshua was sitting by himself, however, so she decided that it would probably be alright to go at least say hello -- if he was with someone else then she could leave, no problems. "Fancy seeing you here, stranger," she greeted, sliding comfortably into the seat next to him. It wasn't just a joke either -- it really was a bit of a surprise. Skye would have thought that he'd frequent Blackjack and other such upscale places, rather than the club.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 9, 2012 1:41:05 GMT -5
Joshua glanced over when a shifting of movement alerted him to a new presence, someone sliding into the seat beside him at the bar. There was a mild wariness for a second or two where he worried it might be an interested female party but he relaxed and his lips twitched when he saw that, instead, it was a close friend of his. "Stranger? I find myself offended." He wasn't really, however, and the smile that he offered her afterwards suggested this. It was brief and it faded quickly but the fact that it was there signified their friendship. Joshua was a quiet person, stoic, he'd never been overly expressive. His friends brought out the best in him. She might have been considered an enemy as far as everyone else at school was concerned but they kept their friendship hidden well. As this thought crossed his mind, Joshua glanced around the bar with mild paranoia, wondering if they'd be caught out tonight. Oh, who cares? We could always play ignorant. He wasn't in the mood to be incredibly cautious tonight. He was in the mood to drink, to socialize. He would have stayed at the bar even if he'd been left the rest of the evening without company but he was glad that this wasn't going to be the case. "I guess it's good luck we ran into one another, eh? You don't look like you've brought company." He shrugged, wondering if she'd correct him. For all Joshua knew, her friend could have gone to the bathroom or skipped drinking to rub up against strangers on the dance floor.
He took a sip of the beer, making a brief face but not complaining as he set it back down. It didn't taste like two parts piss and one part water like some cheap brands but when one got used to the fine beers of Blackjack and their exceptional selection of liquors, it was easy to be disappointed. "So, what's up? Been a while." He wasn't offended. It was hard for Joshua to hold it against a friend like Skye when they'd been unable to keep in close contact, mostly because the alliances made it difficult. They saw each other at school, as they were both in college and so perused the same areas, but it was always in a state of mutual ignorance. He remembered Lark saying it was hard for her to pretend she hated him but sadly, the same did not ring true for Josh. He'd spent five years pretending to dislike his own best friend, Devin, and so when the sides switched and that friendship was allowed to go public, it wasn't hard for him to turn the tables. That was how things worked. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his friends. "I didn't come alone but, well, I think Jeff is occupied." He arched an eyebrow with a smirk and gestured toward his friend who was still very much occupied by the brunette from before. He remembered getting jealous and longing for such attention before he and Nell had grown closer but those feelings were not as strong now. He had what he wanted.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 9, 2012 14:33:55 GMT -5
She smiled for the briefest of moments, understanding the joke behind the supposed offense he took, but much like Josh himself, she was quick to return to a serious composure. She wasn't as somber-looking as Josh, she didn't think at least, but she was a good deal of the time, and perhaps it was amplified when she was around him. She wasn't really sure -- it wasn't something Skye thought about often, just the way that she was on a daily basis. "Hm, no need to be offended," she said, an air of flippancy present in her voice, but it was mostly in jest. It was easy to joke with Josh, surprisingly, considering the way most people would have thought they were perpetually serious. Most people, of course, didn't really see much of Skye aside from the cool demeanour that she kept most of the time, and so it was no real shock if they had quite a different idea of what she was like than some of her friends would. "No, just me," she confirmed with a nod. She didn't want to delve into the details of what had led her to want a drink enough to come to Corrosion, of all places, but just said, "Sort of felt like being by myself when I left earlier, but I suppose you're tolerable enough." Again only a joke, but she kept her tone light this time to signify that.
She ordered a beer as well, deciding that it would be a bad idea to have anything particularly strong. Nobody wanted to be the drunk idiot on the bus at three in the morning -- or Skye, at least, didn't want to be That Girl, and it wasn't like she had brought a friend to drag her home in case anything did happen. She thanked the bartender and took a gulp without complaint; she wasn't as much of a connoisseur as Josh when it came to alcohol, and she didn't have much money on top of that, so this was fine as far as she was concerned. "Not much. Classes are awful," she replied automatically, always willing to complain about classes but rarely one to open up about anything personal, even when there was probably some. The way Lark had quietly and then not-so-quietly left the side of the Thunders and Fires, or the way... well, that Lex had been completely wrecked, by Josh himself. It was probably a bad idea to ask about it, she thought, pushing it from her mind, but considering the pretty heavy injuries Lex had had at the time -- it had been a while now -- it must have been quite a fight. She tried not to think about this, though, as her eyes followed the direction he gestured in, to a guy she expected was this Jeff. She smirked in turn as well at the two, indiscernible from the rest of the packed crowd except for the fact that they had been pointed out to her. "Yeah, looks like he could be busy for a while there," she commented, still smirking as she turned back around toward her friend. "Sweaty strangers isn't really my deal, though."
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 10, 2012 6:52:07 GMT -5
He was not pushy and so he did not ask her why she'd wanted to be alone, though he did wonder if she wanted his company after all. He knew she'd said it as a joke but maybe she really did want solitude on this night of drinking. She approached me, he reminded himself, and that settled it. She could have ignored him and he might not have acknowledged her presence at all. "Better mine than half the other guys in here." Though he made no gestures, Joshua was meaning to indicate the already drunk men who were slurring their words and laughing at their own jokes, things that weren't half-funny to begin with, trying to find company for the night. Vaguely he remembered a time when he'd been one of those guys desperate for an easy girl but those times were over now. The thought barely crossed his mind. "So exactly how shit-faced are you planning on getting?" The question was casual and said without the faintest trace of a smile, typical Josh behaviour. He couldn't get too drunk. Stumbling home to his shabby downtown apartment from Corrosion had been enough of a distance but the mansion was quite far from downtown. The smug upperclass neighbourhood was about as far away from shifty downtown establishments as one could get without leaving the city entirely. He was used to downtown, though, and didn't stick his nose up at it quite as much as a lot of his neighbours.
There was a knowing glint of amusement in his eyes when she mentioned classes. "The usual, I see. Same here." He figured she could infer that he meant he was the same as usual, rather than the same as her. Josh hardly ever complained about his classes. There were good days and bad days both but he was not one to open his mouth about the worse experiences. They always got better. He made them better. "Probably won't even bother to say goodbye. Not that I care." He shrugged, seeming genuine with this statement, for he was. Jeff wasn't much to him. A drinking buddy and not even a friend by most circumstances. Josh did not use the other man, he never used people, but he didn't particularly care for him either. "Nor mine. As far as everyone here is concerned, I'm a married man." He held up his left hand in explanation, silver band gleaming around his finger. It wasn't much and he found himself thinking that he'd definitely want something nicer for his real wedding band. Something that looked more... polished. Respected. "How was California?" He remembered their last conversation, wondered how her trip had went. Joshua did not realise that she was thinking of Lex and the fight that they'd gotten into. He hated his fellow Fire graduate, a former friendship gone hopelessly sour.
[Shorter posts are so nice to write o.o]
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 10, 2012 18:34:44 GMT -5
Considering that half of the other guys in the room were either falling over drunk at the bar, or grinding with girls whose names they'd probably already forgotten, she had to say that she agreed with his statement wholeheartedly. "That goes without saying," she said, going the safe route rather than potentially offending hm. She smirked when he asked his next question, even though he didn't -- she was too used to that almost solemn seriousness by now. "Not much, unfortunately. I still have a ton to do tomorrow, I can't be spending all day in bed trying to make people bring me Tylenol." She always kept some around so it wouldn't be necessary even if she did manage to get hungover after a wild night, but she doubted anyone would bring it to her, anyway. Thunders, after all. They were never the most accomodating of elementals, or of any people in general really.
"Always," she answered with a nod. This was the way their conversations usually seemed to start lately, it seemed, but Skye would put it down to the fact that both were reserved. Classes were easy to talk about with anyone, at least any student, a common ground of sorts to start on that didn't involve feelings or complicated situations. No, not at all. "It happens," she said, not bothering to cast another glance over her shoulder at this Jeff. She was sure very little had changed about what he was doing anyway, but she did note Josh's tone of voice when he spoke about his... friend. "Friend" was more fitting, maybe, considering what he'd said. "Not such great company," she said, but her tone was casual, and in this case it wouldn't have been hard to tell that it was in all sincerity a harmless statement. She frowned in confusion but looked over at the displayed hand, and the frown turned into a brief smirk. "'Married', eh? Guess my wedding indivtation got lost in the mail." It was her turn to fake offense, but she didn't bother doing so very convincingly, just quirked a brow momentarily before going for her drink again. "California was fine! Hot. I think you'd have liked it," she told him. That was probably natural, considering that he was a Fire. "How was Spain?"
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 11, 2012 7:09:56 GMT -5
He nodded in understanding when she said that she had other things to do. People had lives, commitments, a number of things that did not simply stop because they felt like getting drunk for the night. He had lived through that. Stumbling into class with an earsplitting headache and promising himself that he would never drink again, going out the next night and reliving the experience. He was lucky he was good at studying, really, or those habits would have hurt his marks in early high school. "I didn't drive here so I'm stuck walking back. I'd best hope I'm sober, it's a long walk." Skye had been to the mansion once before, they'd hung out and she'd met his parents. He didn't know if she remembered where it was but figured she'd take his word for it either way. It wouldn't be a good thing. "I won't even get buzzed off this." He gestured lazily to the beer, holding in a sigh. He could get a buzz if he tried hard enough but it did not taste good enough for him to chug glasses down like nobody's business. Oh well. At least he had the company of a friend, right? It was arguably better than drinking but company and good alcohol would have been preferable. "Blackjack was closed, something to do with a remodel." He wouldn't be here otherwise and she probably knew that. Corrosion was a good example of places he didn't like. Sweaty, crowded, close-packed rooms were not his style. The open space of Blackjack was much better.
He returned the smirk smoothly. "No, you just weren't invited. Sorry." He'd already told Skye that she was definitely allowed to come to their wedding, provided Nell agreed, so this was obviously in jest. He didn't know when the wedding would happen, knew nothing about it except that it was a part of his future. "Probably. Though it was pretty hot where I went, too." Spain had been wonderful and he'd had a lot of fun perusing museums with Nell, attending festivals, getting drunk, watching the bullfight on their first day in the country. Everything seemed more fun with his fiancée at his side. He'd have had fun regardless, he was sure, it wasn't like his entire life revolved around her, but Nell definitely spiced up the experience. "Spain was amazing, there was so much to do. Nell and I had a great time." He smiled briefly, bright and genuine, and then it faded back into his typical neutrality. He finished the beer and flagged the bartender with a lazy hand for another. "It was a pretty short summer for me, at any rate. I kept busy, though of course I don't regret it." Two jobs, a house, a sister, a fiancée. Twenty years old and he was already living a live that felt responsible, that felt like his own. He was glad of it, too. Josh always looked forward to the future but the present now matched up with some of his ideals. He wondered if Skye ever felt that way.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 14, 2012 0:36:20 GMT -5
Skye, fortunately, had not had the rather exciting teenage life that Josh had had, the wild nights and getting to class the next morning after getting completely wasted. He hadn't stopped drinking since then, clearly, but things were drastically different from what they had been like just a few years ago. They had been friends throughout, but their relationship had drastically improved since then, she thought. It was difficult to tell whether or not that was a coincidence, though. "Yeah, try not to get horribly drunk or lost," she advised, but it wasn't serious at all, something he probably picked up on considering that she nodded at his next comment. "Not unless you want to drink a whole keg, no." She'd chosen it for its strength (or lack thereof), though, so there wasn't much she could say as a complaint. She definitely had to stay more or less sober, though. She didn't like hangovers, but even besides that, she also didn't like finding out that she was That Girl on the bus last night. She quirked an eyebrow at his explanation -- she hadn't asked -- but accepted it anyway. He'd probably seen it coming... She had been wondering, after all. "Remodel? That's annoying." She'd never even been in Blackjack, actually, but from what she knew it had to be a pretty nice place for people to be dropping so much money in there. Whatever the place was like in reality, she was sure that most anything was a step up from Corrosion.
"My turn to be offended," she chimed in, knowing that he was probably joking. He'd said something about her being invited to the wedding at one point, she recalled, and that was the first and last she'd heard of it. Other than that, it was hard to tell -- Josh was usually good for his word, but she knew that things came up all the time, especially considering alliance betrayal and the like. She wouldn't be too offended -- probably -- if she really weren't allowed after all. She would be disappointed and, probably, a little surprised too... but things happened sometimes in life. "I'd imagine, yeah." Spain was definitely pretty damn hot, too. Skye just didn't like heat in general. This room was actually kind of awful for her, but at least she had a cold beer in her hands. Friends helped too, she supposed. She smiled back at him -- Joshua's smiles were sort of rare and never really quite predictable, but for the most part they came up when Nell was mentioned. "I'm glad," she said with a small smile on her lips still, watching as the bartender came over to replace Josh's now empty drink. "Did you guys see anything nice in particular?" Summer was always too short, she felt like saying, but she kept quiet, not knowing Josh's reasoning behind what he said. It occurred to her not for the first time that, with all the time she actually got to spend with Josh anyway, something either very awful or very good could have happened and she would have no idea. Fucking everything.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 14, 2012 15:38:14 GMT -5
Joshua made a brief face at the thought. "A whole keg of this stuff? No thanks." A lot of alcohol tasted bad at first and the only way to make it taste better was to get drunk off it. Joshua certainly wasn't down for chugging bottles of it down in rapid succession just so it tasted like the stuff they served at Blackjack. Speaking of the upscale bar, he nodded at Skye's words. The remodel had been annoying and he did not approve of the fact that he was stuck drinking in a crowded club with a bunch of sweaty people gyrating nearby. Nothing could be done, though. "Ever been in Blackjack?" Though they were best friends, the majority of their friendship had been when they were under age and thus not allowed to hang out in either bar legally. Some people saved up for a trip to the fancy bar much like saving up for a dinner at Northern Lights. He was just the lucky one of the bunch that had the money on hand. "I think this place is more suited for Jeff, anyway. Blackjack doesn't have a dance floor." It was more of a straight-up bar. It had a stage and they had performances on occasion but there were no flashing strobe lights or DJ's and it was fairly easy to navigate without having to push through crowds of strangers. He liked it that way. Jeff seemed to enjoy the closeness of other people. He and his company moved further onto the floor and then suddenly, Josh couldn't see them any more. He didn't care. Skye was better, more reliable company than the guy any day.
They'd seen so many nice things in Spain that it took Joshua a moment to think the question through. Joshua was fascinated by travelling, heading to other countries and the like. He'd seen quite a few with his parents but a family with young kids experienced a country a lot differently than a young couple on their first trip together. You couldn't get smashed at a festival in Spain when you were with parents as a child. "Most things about Spain are nice, even the people." He chuckled slightly. He wasn't trying to be a smart ass but was instead making a genuine remark. He liked Juanvi, Nell's great grandfather, and that was saying something considering he hated all other members of her family thus far. "Specifics, though... well, we went to see Alhambra. It was really nice, the gardens, too." Then there had been museums, which he'd really loved, but he refrained from going on about them because he knew that a lot of people didn't like that sort of thing. He could spend hours in a history or art museum just looking at things and yet there were others who were there two minutes and got bored with it. Everyone was different. Besides, he wasn't the type to drone on. "What about you, what'd you do in California?" Skye had gone with family and so she'd probably spent time with them but he wondered what sorts of specific things she might have done.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 17, 2012 15:51:50 GMT -5
The bartender seemed to have noticed Josh's comment, because out of the corner of her eye she didn't miss a very subtle glance in their direction, but he didn't say anything about it. Skye figured that he knew the stuff was cheap, too -- she was sure that most people wouldn't choose to work in Corrosion, of all places, as any kind of permanent or full-time occupation. "Could be worse," she said, though she couldn't help but giggle quietly at his comment. Sitting here, listening to Josh's cheap alcohol woes, had definitely lightened her mood a considerable amount. "I'm sure you've had way nastier stuff." She had, too -- stuff that probably shouldn't be legal to sell, and definitely not for the amount of alcohol in it. Even by Skye's standards, this stuff was weak. She shook her head in response to his next question, a very small smile on her lips. Joshua's money was no secret (although it did seem that a great number of things about his life were, certainly to the general public and occasionally to Skye, even) so it wouldn't surprise her if he were a Blackjack regular. On the other hand, she didn't have nearly as much money to burn and certainly not enough of a desire to save up just for a night out drinking. The cheap stuff was fine by her. "Nah, but from what I know it's pretty nice in there." Pretty nice, or really nice rather. "Hey, to each their own." She raised her drink just a tiny bit in a sort of mock toast to this Jeff she didn't even really know and then downed the bit that was left, thinking over how much money she'd brought before calling the bartender over for another.
She gave him some time to think, actually pretty patient when it came to these things, closing her hands around the new drink when it arrived and thanking the bartender while she waited. "Yeah? It definitely seems like a nice place," she said, a very small smile on her lips. She didn't have much recollection of Spain, not when it had been surrounded by so many other memories of traveling during that very short time period. Things tended to get muddled up over time. "Alhambra, huh?" That was one place she hadn't gone, at least not that she could recall -- she was pretty sure she would remember something like that even after a few years. It hadn't been that long after all. Skye wasn't quite so old yet. "The gardens must've been nice for Nell." Hopefully it wasn't too forward or presumptious -- Skye was mostly taking a guess due to the fact that Nell was, after all, an Earth elemental, and they always did seem to like the gardens and what-not at school. It was a nice relationship they had with nature. She was just assuming that Nell was no different, but then again, Skye knew next to nothing about the girl other than small things she picked up through Josh or what she knew of that conversation so long ago. "Oh, California was fun," she said, smiling a bit. "Lots of beaches, mostly for my mom, she loves them. Me... not so much." She shrugged, though. "It was fun, though... You know, stuff with the parents. We went up to the mountains for a bit too." That had been slightly better, cooler. Skye was sort of just glad for the opportunity with her parents, though -- it had been a long time since they'd done so, mostly due to everyone being busy.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 18, 2012 14:01:58 GMT -5
Joshua also caught the gaze of the bartender but unfortunately for the older man, he was not the type to be ashamed of his comments. He locked eyes with him, expression calm but penetrating. Are you going to kick me out? He wouldn't really have minded. Normally when Blackjack was closed he shrugged it off and drank at home, expensive whiskeys and whatever else he happened to find in his liquor cabinet. The only reason he'd came to Corrosion was that he had company and unfortunately for Jeff, Joshua did not consider him a good friend. Only good friends got to grace the doorstep of his mansion. When the bartender seemed to shrug it off and turn away, Josh returned his attention to Skye and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I've had way worse." There was no way he could argue against that with a straight face. "There's two reasons I always bring my own stuff to parties—the stuff they've got is either spiked or it tastes like shit." He stressed the last word with a shake of his head for emphasis, then paused and added in afterthought, "Or both." He'd been down the spiked-beer road a few times and none of them had been very pleasant for the simple fact that he didn't remember the majority of what he'd done when under the influence of whatever the fuck had been in the can. His teenage days had consisted of getting wasted, really wasted, and then forgetting the night come morning as he prayed to the porcelain god and suffered through a splitting headache. Thank goodness he was over all of that now and had came out of it without any addictions. "Oh, Blackjack is awesome," he said. "You should come in with me some time, maybe on a holiday or something." On a holiday because he'd offer to pay and figured that most of his friends wouldn't allow him to waste money on them otherwise, even though he would.
He chuckled at mention of Nell, not bothered by Skye's inclusion of her in the conversation. She'd been with him on the trip, after all, and she was an Earth elemental. "I'll bet. They were nice for me too, though." The things Nell could do with plants still amazed him even though they'd been together for quite a while now and lived together in their mansion with a garden out back. Fire was more destructive than artistic and at the same time he wouldn't trade his power for the world. "Yeah, I feel you. I don't really like the beach." It might have seemed strange given that he was a Fire elemental and beaches were usually hot and sunny but his fear of deep water and drowning just took the fun out of everything. Skye didn't know of that fear and so he merely let it seem like he simply didn't like them as much as other people did. No harm done. It was the truth, albeit only partial truth. "Mountains are awesome, at least. I don't think I could ever live somewhere without them." He'd grown up in a town that was nestled within a mountain range and if he ever moved, he didn't think he could live on flat land. "Not that I'm moving any time soon." He lived in a mansion, those generally weren't all that easy to get a hold of, especially not one so large for the price his parents had got it at. It had been rundown and nearly ready for demolishing and so they'd gotten it at discount price and fixed it up themselves. Now it was his. "So what's been up at school? Apart from classes, of course, we all know how you feel about those." He flashed her a brief, teasing smile. "I've been studying a lot for the exams and all that." A senior at last next year, provided he passed. He was confident that he would.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 18, 2012 20:52:02 GMT -5
Skye grinned good-naturedly, the drink and a friend's company loosening her up even if the beer pretty much had no effect itself. At least it tasted okay, or at least Skye thought it was. Drinkable. She did make a face at the thought of spiked alcohol, though -- as if drinking wasn't a bad enough choice when there were things to do the next day. The last thing she would have needed was there to be anything suspicious in there too. "Definitely." She smirked at his afterthought, but didn't say anything in response for a while. "But it's been a while since I've been to a party..." She'd been out, she went out pretty often. Skye was starting to feel pretty old and very out of her element when it came to those things, though; they seemed to be mostly dominated by obnoxious, drunk or high teenagers with illegal alcohol, if she remembered correctly. She nodded at what he said about Blackjack, willing to take him up on the offer, though the intentional mention of a holiday wasn't missed. Well, if it's a holiday... "Has to be a better place than this, but that isn't saying much," she said under her breath, not that the club's kind of awful reputation was much of a secret. "It does sound like a good time, though," she added, smiling just a bit to indicate that the offer, whether or not it ever panned out into anything, was appreciated.
"Must have been," she answered with a nod. The gardens really were beautiful, from what she'd seen (although this really wasn't much at all). "How was it navigating?" She didn't really know Nell and had thus kind of forgotten that the girl spoke Spanish -- even if she had remembered such a random fact, she wouldn't have really known to what extent, anyway. "Speaking Spanish" could be in the same way as many Canadians could "speak French". "Yeah, not a big fan. Crowded and hot." It was usually full of obnoxious people, too, or at least a small number of very loud obnoxious people amidst everyone else who was normal... In many ways, it was much like Corrosion was on any given Friday night (for instance, at that very moment). She didn't question any of Josh's reasoning behind this dislike of beaches -- it was a pretty normal thing, actually, and besides which beaches, much like seedy nightclubs, didn't seem like a particular comfort zone for him. "Yeah, I do love the mountains," she said with a nod. The mountains in California were vastly different in a way she couldn't explain, though. "Not that Ottawa isn't totally flat." It was, too -- geography-wise, it was nothing at all like the mountainous areas of the West Coast.
She suppressed a groan at the mention of classes, though she knew that he was just playing for the most part. (It was true she did kind of tend to complain about classes, though.) "Not much besides that... Exams already?" Skye hadn't started studying for finals already, not yet, but she knew that it was only a matter of time. Exams got worse and worse the more time she spent in school. "Yeah, not much else, though. The usual, I guess -- hanging out." She figured that this was really just standard stuff, but of course she and Josh hadn't spoken in quite a while. They had completely different crowds now. Many of Joshua's old friends were now enemies... Again she thought of Lex, among others. "What about you?" she asked rather than bring this up.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 19, 2012 17:25:09 GMT -5
He nodded, trying to think of the last time he'd went to a party, not counting the time with Justin because he'd only went in order to be the guy's designated driver. He could be responsible sometimes, after all, more so than not lately. A lot of it had to do with the fact that he was getting older. He wasn't a fourteen year old trying desperately to be 'cool' by getting wasted the fastest, he was a twenty year old college student with a life that didn't allow for getting drunk every night and waking up with regrets. Granted, a lot of college students got worse rather than better when it came to partying and drinking but he was not one of them. He hadn't gone to college for the partying experience, he'd gone to college to make something of himself. To open the gates to medical school and go on to become a doctor like his father. "Easy enough, really. Nell's fluent in the language and she's taught me quite a bit. I'm good with maps and we could always just ask the locals about things." He'd liked the people of Spain. Canada was great and its people were his fellows but it was nice to mix with those of a different culture while out on holiday. Joshua was not yet fluent in Spanish but he did know fluent French. Rather than simply attending a few French classes and getting a basic hold on the language he'd went to French immersion and learned it well. He wanted to visit France and see the differences between Canadian French and the French that they spoke, mostly out of curiosity.
He laughed when she mentioned Ottawa. Canada was huge and so it was quite alright that the middle of the country was much flatter than the east and the west. Then there was the cold north, a place that Joshua couldn't envision himself ever going any time soon. Not even for vacation. He hated the winter when it came around once a year for a few months, he didn't think he could live in a place where winter was dominant. "I guess the Hollow's a nice change from back home, then?" He said it as a question rather than making assumptions. He wouldn't mind visiting a place without mountains as long as he got to return home afterwards. He didn't know how he'd feel about living in Ottawa. Then again, the boarding students at the Academy spent more time at school than away from it. Maple Hollow technically was home for ten out of the twelve months in a year. "You know me, always have to be over-prepared." He wouldn't feel confident in the exams if he didn't feel he had an absolute hold on the subject he was sitting finals for. "A lot of the same. The war's been making things a little difficult, though." That was one thing they couldn't really share in. Thunder was not taking part in the fighting between Fire and Earth and so as far as he knew, Skye hadn't a part in it. "It'd be a lot easier to avoid detention without people starting fights all the time." He tried to avoid them but he was a fighter by instinct. Sometimes it simply could not be helped.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 23, 2012 18:02:23 GMT -5
(lol oh hey, frenchies! XD; this is really random but i just got the most ridic image in my mind of josh and skye speaking in some crazy fast french to each other so that nobody can understand what they're saying, lolol.)
Skye's knowledge of Spanish was, quite honestly, pretty pathetic. It started with hola and ended somewhere around como te llamas, which meant that any Spanish conversation with Skye would be pretty short-lived and probably pronounced incorrectly to boot. French was definitely more her forté -- her minor in college as well as a language she'd spoken quite a bit when she was younger as a French Immersion kid too. "Yeah, I guess knowing the language can be pretty useful when traveling," she said with a nod, though it was pretty much a common sense. Spain was probably much more easily figured out with an actual, legitimate grasp of the Spanish language. The same was pretty much true of all other countries and their respective dialects. She supposed Canada was a bit special in that French might be a bit useful, especially when traveling to places like Quebec... Even then, many people in the cities spoke English anyway, even if they liked to bother primarily English-speakers by refusing to do so. This was, at least, what her mother had reported to her once; luckily, Skye was unlikely to have this problem. Maybe before venturing near Spain again, though, she should crack open a Spanish-English dictionary or something.
"Definitely," she answered with a very small grin. "It's... different." She wouldn't say that she exactly liked one over the other, it wasn't really like that at all. Both places were home at this point. She'd guess that it all came down to what she would end up doing that would determine where she'd go to stay after finishing up college at the Academy. People like Josh, with visions of where they wanted to go in life and how and when they would get there, were kind of enviable. Skye was just trying to figure out how the hell to finish up college and get a decent job first, but it wasn't exactly like she had free time to invest in this kind of thinking. "I do know," she said with a small twitch of the lips, recalling "study sessions" with Josh back before he'd switched sides. Those had been the days. She'd usually given up pretty early in the game whenever they'd even tried, but she was the type to eventually come back groaning with yet more textbooks. (She was kind of lucky he'd even put up with her, to be honest.) "I guess it would, yeah," she murmured, keeping the frown off of her face. "Are you fighting for the Earths, then?" She wasn't really sure what this kind of thing entitled, actually -- technically, the entire school wasn't at war. Waters and Thunders (and naturally, Winds) weren't involved, after all, but Josh was none of these.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Apr 24, 2012 21:21:06 GMT -5
Joshua supposed that, if he'd really wanted to, he could have opted to stay out of the fighting between the Earths and Fires. He was a traitor to the latter and technically more aligned with the former than he was with the Waters, but he did not answer to the Earth leaders and so he was essentially "free" to avoid the fighting. Not the alliances, but certainly the fight. He did not, though, because the Earths were his friends. They were his new companions. "I am." It made him uncomfortable at times, discussing alliances with Skye. He was not quite sure how to handle their friendship. She was loyal to a side that hated him, that he loathed in return. Yet he still felt the loyalty that drove deep into him and linked him to each and every one of his friends. Skye understood his relationship with Nell. She didn't shun him. Even still, talk of the alliances made him visibly tense. "They are my allies, after all." Water and Thunder were enemies in the same way that Fire and Earth were. They were natural opposites. However, Thunder and Earth shared tensions as well. Skye's element disliked the one that he now fought for. He didn't want to get too deep into it, so he waved a hand and said, "It doesn't matter, though. I'm sure it'll die down soon enough." He was not sure by any means but his clear attempt to avoid the subject would hopefully not be missed by Skye.
Flagging down the bartender for another beer, Joshua really wished that he had a good bottle of whiskey instead. He'd take whiskey over even the finer selection of Blackjack beers any day. He wondered what Skye's favourite type of alcohol was, realised that he didn't know. It wasn't like they'd never drank together but it wasn't a common thing. He was silent for a moment as he sipped the drink and thought about this, then turned his attention back to the conversation. Though he'd been a little wary when his intentions in the war were questioned, it was clear by the way that he'd relaxed that Joshua wasn't planning to let it affect their conversation. He tried to avoid exploding with rage at his friends. Skye hadn't made him mad, just uncomfortable. "Ah, I forgot to tell you," he said, lifting a finger as something occurred to him. "Got a job over the summer. So I'll be a little more busy than usual, but if we ever want to hang out I'm sure I can still make time." It would surprise a lot of people that he worked at a retirement home but what did Josh care? Old people were fine with him. It was the fact that he was able to work as a sort of 'apprentice' medic (not dealing with anything too important, of course) that enthralled him. Doing what he loved. One day he'd be a real doctor. He couldn't wait for that day. "Had any luck on that front yourself, or...?" He gazed at her inquiringly.
[Bahaha I suck at French but I can see Josh doing that for sure.]
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