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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on May 31, 2011 14:53:54 GMT -5
  so sacrifice yourself ,( & LET ME HAVE WHAT'S LEFT )I_ K N O W_ T H A T_ I_ C A N_ F I N D_ A_ F I R E_ I N_ Y O U R_ E Y E SStudying. It was the bane of many a student's existence when it came to the Academy. Of course, elemental college had a lower workload and focused solely on the manipulation of your power, rather than tying in a bunch of regular subjects to keep you up to date. Students of the Academy's college sometimes enrolled in online classes to a regular school on top of what they were already doing, balancing a future career with a better understanding of the element they controlled. Josh was one such student, lying on his stomach in the dormitory and typing rapidly on the laptop as he wrote a research paper due later in the week. Unlike most of his peers, Joshua was quite fond of the challenge that learning presented him with. He'd enrolled himself in more than one online class, a couple of which included English and Psychology. Joshua adored the latter, figuring out more about the quirks and oddities of people around him. He was a quiet person, a loner both by nature and by the fact that his classmates were mainly afraid of him.
The paper he was writing (or rather document) was for one such Psychology course, and he was very close to being done. His fingers danced rapidly over the keys, gray eyes scanning the screen of the computer for any errors in his work as the text flashed up in a large wall. It paused every now and then whilst Joshua gathered his train of thought or switched tabs to cite something, but it was otherwise flowing quite smoothly. Years of doing nothing but focusing on his education had taught him to be good at what he did. He had lost control of his life for the most part, but his education was one thing that he could not let slip. Even through depression and the occasional hangover, Joshua Dale would not allow his grades to drop. It would be like committing a crime by his own standards.
The steady tap-tap-tapping of the keyboard stopped indefinitely as he took his hands away from it and moved the left over to the mouse pad, flicking his finger up a few times to scroll back to the top of the document. He read it over several times and corrected things at his discretion, then gave himself a committal nod and saved it, opening his email and sending it off to the proffered address. Done, finally. But what would he do now? Joshua's bed was the only one in this room--he'd requested a solitary room for studying purposes. Given that his grades were some of the highest in the school, the Academy had little doubt that he needed the peace and quiet for studying like he'd said, and the request had gone through quite quickly in the previous year. The room was slightly personalised--he had his own bedsheets and some posters on the wall, as well as his guitar and a couple of other items. A dresser larger than the small chest of drawers provided took up one corner of the room where an extra bed might have been if he'd had a roommate.
Seeing as the boy was not wearing a shirt (it was cold outside, but the air in the Fire dormitories was sweltering at impossible levels all year round) he went over to this dresser and pulled a freshly laundered one over his head, shutting off his laptop before heading out into the common room. A yawn parted his lips as he looked around--some guy was sleeping in one of the armchairs with his study material in his lap, but other than his presence the dorm was empty. With a bit of an amused snort, Joshua grabbed the stack of papers and whacked its owner in the back of the head with it, startling him and actually causing him to fall out of the chair in surprise--though he scrambled back to his feet almost immediately, red-faced.
"Have fun studying, freshman," Joshua said with a bit of a cold chuckle, handing him back his papers. The boy was obviously a ninth grader, and he seemed to think twice about challenging the six-foot-three college student who quite frankly towered over him. He seemed displeased with being woken up, but in the end just rushed off in the direction of the boys dormitories and left Joshua alone. Solitude, that was the way he liked it. Josh flopped down on one of the three-seater couches and stretched out across its length, staring up at the stone ceiling and humming for a moment under his breath. There wasn't much to do, so in the end he just retrieved one of his books (not studying ones, but an actual horror novel) and set to reading.
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Post by amelia on May 31, 2011 21:54:17 GMT -5
Amelia finished painting her nails a deep shade of navy - her color of the week - and put away all of her polish. Everything was put back into the small caddy on her desk as she tidied up her side of the room, making sure she didn't chip anything as she did so. Amelia liked to change the color of her nails almost weekly, as painting them relaxed her the same way writing relaxed her. Last week, they were a pale purple, and the week before that, a nice gold shade.
She smiled as she admired her handiwork, grabbing the composition notebook off of her desk and a very chewed up ballpoint pen. It immediately went into her mouth as she exited her small room, opening the notebook and reading what she had written last. Lableled "Interrogation and a Wrench", the black and white composition notebook was for Amelia's eyes only, with pages filled to the point of almost needing a new copy to continue whatever she was writing. She stopped reading only for a second, to open the heavy wooden door which opened into the common area.
A quick set of footsteps went towards the door to the boy dorms, and a soft thud landed on one of the couches. The couch was occupied by a face buried in a book, slightly recognizable from seeing him on campus. "What was his name? James, Jared..." Amelia tried to figure out, but couldn't remember. She shrugged and took the couch opposite him, chewing on the pen still.
"I've read that book multiple times. Isn't it great?" Amelia said, nodding her head towards the boy - no, man - reading a copy of Stephen King's The Shining. She smiled polietly before chewing on her pencap and starting to scribble words into her notebook as she curled up on the couch.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on May 31, 2011 22:16:31 GMT -5
so sacrifice yourself ,( & LET ME HAVE WHAT'S LEFT )I_ K N O W_ T H A T_ I_ C A N_ F I N D_ A_ F I R E_ I N_ Y O U R_ E Y E S He paid little attention to the soft sound of footfalls on the stone floor of the commons as he continued to scan his medium gray gaze over the text. Joshua was a bit of an outcast even amongst the Fire students, so the vast majority of them opted to leave him alone even if they were sharing the space. He didn't even bother to look up and see who it was when they positioned themselves on the couch across from him, his chest rising and falling with steady breaths as he fell into the rhythm of concentration. He looked so relaxed that he could almost have been asleep if his eyes were not open and flicking back and forth as he scanned the pages. He was about halfway through the book by this time, having already read it before but with a limited amount of reading material otherwise available to him. The library was closed due to the fact it was late and his personal library... he'd lost access to it as soon as his father had chucked him out of the house.
When the girl spoke to him, Joshua wouldn't even have assumed she was addressing him if he weren't the only other person in the room. Gray eyes removed themselves from the book as he turned his head (still resting on the arm of the couch as if it were a pillow) in her direction for a moment. "Yeah," was all he said initially before switching his gaze back to the current object of his interest. It was usually considered rude to ignore someone... but it was also rude to interrupt them when they were clearly trying to read. Josh hadn't sounded all that irritated when he'd confirmed their sharing of an opinion, but he hadn't came across as all that friendly, either. Because he wasn't friendly. Joshua Dale was arrogant and independent and if you couldn't learn to deal with that (or at very least work around it) then you'd have a very rough time around him.
"Most of King's stuff is good," he said unexpectedly, the result of a train of thought he was having. He wasn't necessarily trying to carry on the conversation or anything, he just figured he'd voice his opinion aloud and get it over with. "But I don't like it all. Some of it is hard to follow and overrated." Joshua was a bookworm, and when a bookworm found it difficult to get through a novel you knew that was trouble. He meant no disrespect to the author with his words, however--Josh was just picky when it came to reading. He'd read so many books that he'd found a certain style which he liked. "That's with all writers, though." If he'd been standing or even sitting up he would have finished his opinion with a non-committal shrug, but seeing as he was lying down he just fell silent and continued to read.
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Post by amelia on May 31, 2011 22:43:08 GMT -5
Amelia nodded. She could tell that he was reading - whoever he was, as he was obviously older - but she had to tell somebody about a good book when she saw it. "No worries. Everybody has their choices of what books are to read and what aren't," Amy nodded, never lifting her eyes from the page. She quickly flipped a page before chomping down on her pen's cap, hitting a wall of writer's block. This rarely happens to Amelia, but as of late, she's been busy with her schoolwork and trying to figure out where she'll be going after the summer.
She shoved the thought of leaving to the back of her mind, and sucked on the pen, glancing over at the other couch. "I guess you could say that. I've got a bit of an ego when it comes to writing.." Amelia muttered, grinning as an idea came back to her and started to write down what it was before she lost it.
He looks like I'm being annoying. Can't help talking sometimes. Oh well.
[/color] she thought, pulling her knees up onto the couch and using them as support for her notebook. Not that friendly...OH! I know who he is now. Well, I know who he is, but his name I know not. Amelia shook her head, a slight giggle errupting. Why do I talk to myself so much? Oh, that's right, I use strange phrases and I'm a wannabe writer. I need the attention. She looked down at her left wrist to look at her tattoo, which was still red from healing, and smiled. She enjoyed being the 'oddball' who loved Doctor Who and all things British. Not that many people on campus at the Academy really cared, but Amelia thought it was cool, and that's all that really matters. More pages flipped as her pen went flying across the page - now she was on a roll. Amy giggled here and there, trying to keep quiet so she could let the guy across from her continue his reading in peace. She had already annoyed him a few times, so she figured it'd be best to just keep calm and quietly write.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 1, 2011 10:51:29 GMT -5
so sacrifice yourself ,( & LET ME HAVE WHAT'S LEFT )I_ K N O W_ T H A T_ I_ C A N_ F I N D_ A_ F I R E_ I N_ Y O U R_ E Y E S He didn't respond to her at first, considering she'd basically just repeated what he'd said in her own form of agreement. His mind floated to thoughts of the film and how different--how disappointing--it had been in comparison. A lot of people liked both films and the literature that they were based off of (or vice versa) but Joshua was not one of these people. A good book was always better than a film. Films make mistakes and often neglected to focus on the key plot points and elements as much as they should. Books could hardly be considered a mistake. The author writing the universe and the characters obviously knew what to include and what to pass up on, so it was much less error-filled and problematic. Honestly, it was never a good idea to get Josh started on how much he liked novels better than films. He could go on for ages with his opinion until he bored you to tears. Joshua was very opinionated.
An ego when it came to writing? His brow furrowed, though he did not take his eyes away from the text. "You're a writer?" He sounded mildly surprised, considering he hadn't been aware that there were any others in the vicinity of the Fire dormitories. Writers tended to be in the calmer elements for some reason. English was one of Joshua's favourite subjects (nothing topped History, ever) and so he had written several short stories himself. Most were psychological horror--more to do with irrational fears that played upon the mind as opposed to blood and gore. He didn't mind gory pieces of writing, but a lot of the times it took away from the plot line of the story. He liked to write about a steadily creeping evil that preyed upon the conscience. He'd had a few of his works published in papers and the like when he needed a couple extra bucks.
Flipping the page, he allowed his curiosity a little leeway as he asked, "What do you write?" He wasn't the friendliest of folks but when it came to his craving for knowledge of any sort he could occasionally be prompted into saying more than a few words. He wasn't exactly being nice, he was just being civil. His fellow Fire students were rewarded with a tad more patience than any of the other elementals considering that he was so used to being around them after five years of being here--going on his sixth.
Even though the Fire graduate was concentrating mainly on the page which his eyes were flicking over lazily, he was also listening for her response. It might have been more courteous to put the damned book down when he was technically holding a conversation with someone, but that wasn't his style. He could hear her chewing and sucking on the end of her pen--the noise irked him, but he exacted a bit of his self-control and withheld the urge to say anything about it. This was the common room after all, he didn't own the place (as easy as it was to scare off some of the unsuspecting kids who feared him when he wanted a little alone time).
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Post by amelia on Jun 1, 2011 12:52:13 GMT -5
Amelia stopped writing and nodded, tapping the pen on the page. She looked slightly cross, biting her lower lip before she spoke. "What does it look like I'm doing?" she said shortly, going back to biting her lip. "Obviously not doing anything school related." Amelia waved the notebook's current page, trying to see if he'd look over. She shook her head before flipping pages back to check something, and then went back to the page she was on.
Everybody has seen Amelia writing at one time or another- at the dinner table, during class when she's supposed to be taking notes, or half asleep on the couch in the common area. How had he not seen her writing at one point or another, especially if he's older than her and has been here for years?
Amelia stopped, biting on the cap of her pen for a second before tapping her pen. "But yes, I'm a writer. Have been for a while. My mum's a publisher," she smiled, scribbling out a word or two on the page. "I write my own short stories..."
She paused before finishing the sentence. "And something I guess you could call fanfiction." she turned back pages and buried herself into her notebook, her face turning a shade of pink.
Amelia hated the term, but loved writing fanfiction. Notebooks and hard drives were filled with those, all labelled by the series they are from, and sometimes into sub-folders of certain characters or character pairings. But Amelia always got a little embarassed when she had to explain what it was to younger students and even her friends. Hopefully, seeing as he was a bit older, he'd know what it is and not need explaining.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 1, 2011 13:22:03 GMT -5
so sacrifice yourself ,( & LET ME HAVE WHAT'S LEFT )I_ K N O W_ T H A T_ I_ C A N_ F I N D_ A_ F I R E_ I N_ Y O U R_ E Y E S At the girl's sassy retort, Joshua turned a critical gray glare on her. "But of course I noticed," he replied, voice dripping with heavy sarcasm. "Did you not notice I've got eyes on the side of my head?" Really, what did she expect? She'd disturbed him whilst he was in the middle of a good book--which was never a wise idea to begin with--and he had clearly continued to read that book even though she'd been talking at him. (It wasn't really correct to saying talking to him... holding a conversation with a book-immersed Joshua was not the easiest thing). His gaze was slightly withering as he went on, "I for one am not amongst the procrastinators in this school--how was I supposed to know that you weren't working on anything school-related?" His voice was slightly haughty and a tad irritated. It wasn't like he was obligated to notice everything about her, after all.
As for the fact that they'd attended school together for years, well... Joshua was very observant when he wanted to be, but the Fire graduate kept mostly to himself. He had literally no friends, not even amongst his element. It wasn't that he was a 'loser', just that most people were afraid to come near him (and with good reason). He carried around a knife in his pocket, he was quite a fair bit good with controlling his element, and he had a temper to rival the gods. He was still looking--or rather glaring--over at her when she brandished the page, but the boy scoffed and turned his attention back to his book. "I don't spend my time staring at everyone," he said, and would have lifted his chin if (yet again) he'd been sitting up.
Then she started tapping the damn pen, a noise that quite literally might have driven him insane if she kept up with it. It didn't look like he was going to get the peace to concentrate after all. She said that her mother was a publisher and that she wrote her own short stories, as if she hadn't just made a stab at him a couple moments ago. "So do I," he said in response to the thing about short stories. He didn't mention what his mother did for a living--if she found out the name 'Dale' it would probably become apparent. Politicians were always all over the news. His father was less well-known by the press and public, but he was respected as one of the most skilled doctors in the area. Still, it had been his Mum's job that had gotten Donovan his promotion--she had connections, see.
His brows arched upward when she mentioned that she was a fanfiction writer. The world of fanfiction admittedly freaked him out quite a bit in the way people would 'ship' the most unlikely things, including 'smutty' fanfiction with two guys. He did not read it unless he knew it was going to be free of such things that might give him the creeps. He was not homophobic, but reading about those sorts of things made him shiver because he was entirely straight. Maybe it was different for girls. "Interesting," he said, and it was clear by his shifty tone that he knew exactly what she was talking about.
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Post by amelia on Jun 1, 2011 13:48:29 GMT -5
"Just like how I've got another set of hands that are invisible and writing another story." Amelia sassed back, a harsh tone of sarcasm apparent in her voice. She rolled her eyes and smirked. "If I was to be doing schoolwork, I'd have my invisible hands holding the textbook while I type a paper. But no textbook here!" she spat, waving the notebook again. "Who are you, the male incarnation of Hermione?"
"Bite me, alien boy," she muttered under her breath, quoting a line from Doctor Who as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. What an ass. It's like he wants to be alone. I mean, I don't blame hime for not procrastinating, it's terrible, but he doesn't have to be so bitchy about it.
Amelia smirked as he went back into his book. I bet you only spend time staring at yourself in the mirror, prettyboy. She stopped her snarky commentary in her head for a moment, curious. "Oh, cool. Horror writer, I'm guessing? You seem like you would write something horror themed." she said softly before biting her lip in thought, ideas racing to develop for her current fanfiction.
She tapped her pen on the notebook again, trying to continue her thought process. His tone of voice when he said "interesting" put her in an off mood, as if he was insulting her for writing fanfiction. Amelia snapped her head towards him and glared. "What, scared of a little smut?" She snapped, able to read that he was skeptical about smut or any sort of slash fanfiction. She smirked, closing the notebook and facing the other couch.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 1, 2011 14:46:34 GMT -5
so sacrifice yourself ,( & LET ME HAVE WHAT'S LEFT )I_ K N O W_ T H A T_ I_ C A N_ F I N D_ A_ F I R E_ I N_ Y O U R_ E Y E S Joshua merely scoffed and rolled his gray eyes. "If you'd actually taken the time to dissect what I was implying," he said with venom, "then you may have realised that I have not been looking at you." He stressed the words and spoke them slowly as if expecting her to misinterpret them yet again. "I didn't see that you weren't in possession of a text book," he said, "and even if I had, it wouldn't mean much. Not all of the workload requires reading." Until you hit college and they figured you could make your own choice about whether you wanted to take things like Math, English, and Science (basically all the standard classes at a mortal school) you had to juggle that along with elemental control. "Being compared to a fictional character does not phase me," he said, shaking his head slightly. "If I'm to play along, however--being compared to Hermione is hardly a terrible thing. If this is a matter of my intelligence and schoolwork, both are what I'd call exceptional. Perhaps because I actually pay attention."
Joshua had never watched Doctor Who before, thus the reference escaped him and he just gave an indignant snort. What the hell was her problem, anyway? He was the one who had the right be getting irritated here, considering she'd disturbed him. And true, he could just head back to his dormitory and continue his reading there, but his dormitory didn't have a fireplace. Providing your own fire as opposed to the slow-burning crackle behind the several grates in the rooms. They burned almost constantly all year long, even in the summer. Besides, she could go to her own dormitory if she wanted to shirk his company as well. Wasn't like he was going to stop her.
"Horror is a broad genre," he said mildly. "I prefer the term 'psychological thriller', which is much more concentrated." His hand flicked up to turn a page before dropping down to his chest once more. The movement caused his shirt to shift, revealing that his stomach was incredibly pale before he noticed and tugged it back down mildly. The sun didn't burn Fire students quite so quickly as it did everyone else, so he never really tanned (not even in the hot summer). But a lot of Fire students did acquire tans by spending time outside and on the beach. He was a bit of a shut-in, preferring to study rather than swim (he hated swimming, he couldn't swim). "That's not all I write," he added a little indignantly. "I'm working on a full-length novel that has more to do with fantasy than horror, and I've dabbled in other genres as well."
"I am not scared of smut," he said, "though before you ask I am well aware of its meaning. I am more frightened by the mind of the person who spends their time writing it." And this was said with sarcasm--he wasn't actually afraid of fanfiction writers. He found it a little disturbing, but fear was a different thing entirely. "Besides," he added with a devious smirk, "why would I read it--or even write it, for that matter--if I can just experience it?" The devilish smile was coupled by a wink as he glanced over at her, unable to resist the mildly sexual humour.
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Post by amelia on Jun 2, 2011 13:51:04 GMT -5
Amelia rolled her eyes. "Do you think I care about what you're implying? And what are you, a biologist? Dissecting things?" She tried to keep her nasty tone at a quick pace, ignoring his explanation that he never looked at her. She didn't care, she was being as sassy as he was being sarcastic.
"What, you don't want to be compared to somebody as awesome as a fictional character? I've had my fair share of fictional boyfriends, and let me say, they're far better than you." Amelia smirked as she spoke, trying not to think of the fact that the only boys she has dated were all fictional. "But please do play along, seeing as I was giving you a compliment. Hermione is one of my favorite fictional characters. I wish I was more like her, but I can never get my work done perfectly as she does." Like she even did her schoolwork on time. Amelia, although she tried to stop, procrastinated like it was her job. For years she's tried to cut the habit, but nothing ever really worked.
Thankfully, the Doctor Who refrence went sailing above his head, and Amelia giggled quietly. Ten and Donna had banters similar to the one Amelia and the boy were currently having right there in the common room, throwing comments at each other. 'I want a mate.' 'You want to MATE? Alien boy, that's not happening with your skinny..alien-ness.' 'A MATE. I SAID A MATE.'
She nodded curtly at the specification of the genre. "Well sorry, guess you could say I'm more of a fantasy writer than just fiction. Sheesh." Amelia stammered, glaring slightly as she continued to tap her pen as they talked. "What's your novel going to be about?" she added meekly, curiousity starting to get at her brain.
"Oh,well... then maybe you.. uh.." Amelia stumbled over her words, never having any real experience with boys. Once he winked at her though, she could see straight through his tactics.
"Listen playboy. I'm not falling for any of your tricks."
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 2, 2011 14:35:42 GMT -5
so sacrifice yourself ,( & LET ME HAVE WHAT'S LEFT )I_ K N O W_ T H A T_ I_ C A N_ F I N D_ A_ F I R E_ I N_ Y O U R_ E Y E S Joshua merely heaved a sigh of exasperation and waved a hand slightly in a dismissive manner, a sort of, 'think what you'd like,' implication. He had came out here to relax after finishing his taxing paper and to read his novel, not to argue with someone over what he'd meant by a sentence. This was why the temperamental Fire student generally tried to keep from dealing with other people. People were annoying, they were stupid, they were immature, and they pissed him right the fuck off. Not that he didn't crack an immature joke every now and then or have a lapse in his intelligence, but he at least tried to keep to himself.
He finally tore his gray gaze away from the book, but it was only to stare at her incredulously. "Excuse me?" he said, shaking his head slightly and rolling his eyes at her. "Did you just imply that you've had fictional boyfriends? My, my, you are desperate." He returned the smirk rather cheekily and flicked his gaze back up to the novel. Geez, and he'd thought his track record was bad! He might not have been able to hold down a permanent relationship but at least his relationships were, you know, real.
"I really don't know why I'm bothering to say this considering she's fictional, but the reason Hermione got good grades in the series was because she took the time out of her day to study." He glanced at Amelia and nodded at her notebook. "Something which I notice you are not doing. As for myself, I study regularly and finish things on time, so I get good grades." Education relied partially on intelligence of course, but it also relied on your dedication and patience. Joshua didn't really have any friends to tie him down, so he threw himself into schoolwork like nothing else. He'd been the valedictorian in his senior year, and a lot of the professors hinted that he should come back to the Academy even after graduation. He didn't know about that. He liked this place and all, but... he was thinking of becoming a doctor. He was already taking a lot of pre-med courses online and he would find the time to take the more physical ones soon.
"It's an original idea, it would take much too long to explain," he shrugged, flipping another page of the book. He could have tried to give her a vague description, but he really was not in the mood. Plus, Joshua was paranoid. Influence had a lot of power over writing, and reading a book or watching a movie might implant an idea in one's head that was not entirely their own. He didn't feel like enlightening her of his own ideas for that very reason.
Joshua laughed slightly and rolled his eyes at her. "I wasn't implying that I would sleep with you," he insisted, scoffing. "Please. I have standards." Throwing her a smirk, he said, "Shall I enlighten you? I acquired a new rule today--I do not date fictional characters. Nor do I date those that do. Pity, seems you're off the list already."
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