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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 14, 2011 22:22:20 GMT -5
For once he was actually glad for the mess hall as he entered it early, trying to be ahead of the usual crowd. Normally Josh would have frowned at the idea of eating here and instead went home where the family's chef would cook dinner and he could dine on something delicious and specially prepared, but now that he had no home to go to and very little money for food, the mess hall was like a godsend. It was free for all students attending the Academy and there wasn't a limit to how much you could eat. Alright, so maybe their vegetarian options were a little cliché with salads, fruits, and potatoes but at least it was something. If he didn't have enough money for food, Josh cringed at what would happen when it came time to pay tuition for another year at the Academy--especially since he had a double major. He was homeless, jobless, almost broke, and if he didn't pay up come January he might just be out of his temporary shelter, as well. Pride would not allow him to tell anyone what was going on in his life. Pride wouldn't even let him ask Nell for a tiny bit of help or at least a place to stay while he looked for a job. It wouldn't even let him explore financial aid at the Academy. He had never relied on someone else to get what he needed and he wasn't about to start now. His stubborn independence would surely one day be his downfall.
His phone buzzed angrily in his pocket. Thankfully he had the ringer turned off from the fact that he'd been sitting through classes earlier and so the normal blast of whatever ringtone would not attract any attention to him. Frowning, he took his food and moved aside, heading to a less packed part of the large hall to check who had called, intending to answer and tell them to call back later. The number that flashed up on the screen and the name that accompanied said number immediately changed his mind. Patricia Lillian Dale. Also known as? Joshua's mother. She'd no doubt heard every word about how he'd 'disgraced the family' from Donovan and wanted to talk to him or try and persuade him to come home and work things out with his father. Josh pocketed the phone immediately. This wasn't something that could be worked out, it wasn't something that they could just go ahead and ignore simply because she didn't believe the things her husband was saying. Or maybe it was worse that that. Maybe Donovan had told her all about Nell and about the fact that her son was dating a fugitive and she was calling to say that Donovan had been right about him all these years and that she wholeheartedly disowned him.
Needless to say, the thoughts that plagued him were not the nicest. Normally Josh would have taken his normal seat alone or sought out Nell, but he had no desire to do either of those things right now. He was avoiding Nell--what would he say to her?--and sitting alone meant wallowing in his thoughts, none of which were pleasant. He paused, plate full of food still in hand, and scoped out the room. He didn't expect there to be anyone around that he got along with seeing as his friends were so few, but he almost let out a breath of relief when he spotted someone. Going over to her, he greeted, "Hey, Ivy." There was a sort of an awkward pause as he tried to figure out how to word what he was going to ask, then he simply requested, "Do you mind if I sit with you?" It might have come as a surprise. Josh was known to sit only on his own or with his girlfriend and sometimes a few of her friends if she decided to hail them over. He was a solitary guy. He and Ivayne had been friends for a while, but the lunchroom was never a place he'd thought to talk to her before. "Wait--you're not expecting anyone, are you?" He knew a lot of people met up with friends in the mess hall and sat with them. He didn't want to be an inconvenience. "It's alright if you refuse, I'm just bored." Hopefully she wouldn't ask. He might have liked her, but he didn't trust her enough to tell her. He wasn't even talking to his girlfriend about it.
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Post by icooper on Sept 18, 2011 16:50:03 GMT -5
The mess hall was admittedly a place Ivayne tried to avoid for the most part. For obvious reasons, the main one being too many of her fellow students around in such a concentrated and confined space. Then there were people chewing with their mouths open - seriously gross - and the lovely little cliques forming at the lunch tables... it was just not on her list of top ten places to be. Usually she just ended up shoving an apple into her bag, calling it good, and booking it out of there as fast as possible That day, though, was different. She decided to brave the lines and grab some food, heading to a table as as far away from the others as was psychically capable and setting down her plate. Groaning at the sound of some high-pitched laughter coming from a group a distance away, she turned her chair away from them and began picking at the meal in the front of her. The mess hall food had never been incredibly great, but at least it was something.
Restlessly stabbing some vegetables with her fork just to end up twirling them around on the ceramic plate. Ivy's appetite had died down and she wasn't nearly as hungry as she had originally thought. Angrily crunching on a green bean, she was about to up and leave when she spotted someone actually worth sticking around for. Unlike the vast majority of students at the Academy of Elements, Joshua Dale was actually someone who deserved her time and was one of her few actual friends. It was a little surprising to see him not head for his own table or go off to find Nell, but move to walk towards her. Not that Ivy was complaining, talking with him was something she enjoyed, which was hard to come by when it came to people.
"Well hey there stranger," Ivy greeted in return, a smirk forming across her face. She was glad to be able to call him a friend and it felted like they hadn't talked in a while. "I don't know Josh... I might just have to turn you away. Because you can see it's definitely full of all my closest friends and we're having a great time," she said sarcastically, gesturing around to the obviously empty table and its lack of occupants. "Go for it, kid." Never mind the fact that she was younger than him. Psh, details, she addressed everyone like that and was genuinely hoping that Josh would join her. Listening to the fire boy's question, Ivy found it almost funny. "And who exactly would I be waiting for? Because I'm definitely so popular," she teased. About the complete opposite, really. She couldn't stand most people and they didn't exactly feel all warm and fuzzy inside about her.
"I know what you mean about being bored, though," Ivy replied with a sigh, poking at a piece of her food but deciding against eating it. "I really do need to get out more." She let out a small laugh - wasn't that the truth. The wind girl found herself holed up her dormitory half the time. It didn't help that lessons lately were about the most dull thing she had ever encountered. Eleventh grade was when things were supposed to get more exciting, wasn't it?
[/size][/justify] [sorry for the late-ness /: ] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 19, 2011 2:30:14 GMT -5
He wasn't really sure what his reception was going to be when he requested to sit with her, so when she gave a humorous response he couldn't help but to smirk a little in return. It was rather fleeting and didn't quite become a smile, but it was still more than a lot of people at the Academy got. When you were a friend of Joshua Dale's you certainly had to become accustomed to the fact that he didn't make a habit of smiling and laughing very often. Indeed, he still sometimes remembered how Nell had been rather surprised when he'd started to change his tune around her. Don't think about Nell, he advised carefully when he felt a pang of longing in his stomach. It was difficult, avoiding her. After all, he was not doing it because he was upset with her or because he had another girl, he was doing it to avoid awkward questions. "Oh dear. Shunned by your infamous invisible posse." Joshua knew that Ivy, like himself, did not have a wide circle of friends but seeing as Josh always sat with Nell in the mess hall he had been wondering if she had 'that one friend' who sat with her, as well.
Apparently not, judging by what she said in the next moment. He sat down and arched an eyebrow as she once again reminded him of how few friends she actually had. Some people might have pitied her for the lack of a social life but Josh understood exactly how that was. Maybe that was why they got along so well. Neither expressed pity for the other, it was just a comfortable tolerance and understanding that they'd built up over time. "They must all be mad to deny your charming company," he teased right back. He didn't smile or chuckle or give any indication that he was joking, so someone that was not well-acquainted with him might have assumed that he was being a jerk. He trusted that Ivayne knew him well enough that she'd think nothing of it, so he didn't tack on the classic 'no offence' at the end of it. Instead, he just left the comment as is. Joshua knew that Ivayne wasn't exactly the most cheerful or friendly person--certainly a change from the company of Nell--but that was alright with him. It was comfortable to be around someone that had the same attitude toward society as he did.
Josh noticed that Ivy wasn't really touching her food and he glanced at her with a casual, "Not hungry?" He himself was taking bites of his food, as meat-free as it always was, during pauses in the conversation. Even though this was the mess hall and most of the students crammed food in their mouths and talked without swallowing it, not really caring how people perceived them, Josh's table manners were much different. The same father who had disowned him and chucked him out because he was dating a fugitive had also taught him table manners--or rather, forced him to learn. They had a lot of guests that came for dinner, friends and colleagues (or potential business opportunities) of his parents that they were all meant to impress. Donovan had constantly imposed upon his children the importance of acting like a gentleman and a well-raised child. It had stuck, and even though he currently loathed his father and wanted nothing to do with him he still ate carefully and always made sure his mouth was not full when he opened it. He had never told Ivy about his parents or about the standing they had in the community. He didn't like to sound as if he was spoiled, even though he (quite frankly) was.
He considered her comment about getting out more for a moment, his mind jumping to the money that he had in his pocket. Well, he'd really meant for that to be used in emergency situations but at the moment all he could think of was how badly he wanted something to take his mind off his problems. 'Getting out' sounded like a fine idea to him. "Here's an idea," he mused. "Why don't we ditch this place and do something in the Hollow?" He had a car--a very flashy car--and all, just not a place to stay. His Aventador was the only thing he'd been able to take with him when Daddy dearest had kicked him out. Most of the money he had in his wallet was being put toward keeping gas in the tank. Lamborghini's were both expensive to buy and expensive to keep, unfortunately. He was thinking of getting a job soon to make sure he could handle the costs. Thank goodness it had been a birthday gift and thus paid in full. There was no way he could have afforded car payments on the thing. "I'm bored as hell and I could use some excitement."
[It's fine <3]
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Post by icooper on Sept 25, 2011 17:31:18 GMT -5
Keeping to herself came second nature to Ivayne. She was not the kind of person who enjoyed others company very much, not that most people enjoyed hers. There were few that the girl could honestly say she liked being around, which was why she spent the majority of her time alone. It was for the best really. Prolonged exposure to idiots did make her go a little crazy. But Joshua was in the minority category of people that she actually did not want to strangle on a regular basis, so his company was welcomed. You could only be solitary so long before getting completely lonely, you know... Not to say that she was incredibly social, but who didn't like having a friend around? Ivy could actually call him a friend, one of the few to her name.
"You better believe it," she replied with a laugh. "How could one pass up the joy of being around me?" Her sarcasm plentiful, the wind girl wasn't naive enough to think that she was perfect. She knew she was a bitch, but unlike most of the fake girls, she embraced and would rather tell people to their face rather than stab them in the back while they weren't looking. Neither strategy was all that great, but the blonde liked to think that hers was better. She looked up from stabbing the vegetables on her plate when he questioned her. "Seemed to have lost my appetite. Doesn't help that some people have absolutely no class," Ivy said. Between the lovely open mouth chewing and the occasional awkward couple that was all over each other at the lunch table, that was enough to make her lose her appetite. Seriously, get a room or something and don't get all cuddly while people were eating. Thankfully Josh and Nell weren't like that, from what she knew at least.
Ivy perked up when he proposed that they ditch the place for a while. That definitely sounded appealing. If she stayed here much longer her plate of food would be completely pulverized and chopped into obscenely small pieces from boredom. "I knew I kept you around for something," the girl said with a smirk. Josh had a car, not just any car though. One that was rather er... nice. And not exactly one she was used to. Her family wasn't all that well off, to be honest, and she wasn't aware of Josh's. "Well then, let's blow this popsicle stand, shall we?"
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 25, 2011 20:21:28 GMT -5
Joshua chuckled slightly at the mention of the others in the hall. It was true that many of them seemed like they'd been raised by a bunch of primitive cavemen rather than actual parents by the way they shoved food into their mouths and talked with them full. It was rather disgusting and would make almost anyone queasy if they looked for long enough. Josh had been raised with the belief that such people were uncivilised and should not be taken seriously. As for the couples, however, he did his best to ignore them. It was true that he and Nell weren't big on public displays of affection--he'd kiss her for a moment and he might sit close to her, but Josh wasn't an idiot. He knew that the other lunch-goers didn't want to watch anyone playing tonsil-hockey when they were trying to eat, no matter how 'adorable' that couple were together. He was a tad more sensitive to the feelings of others on this front because he had once been the single guy who had to deal with a friend making out with their current love interest in front of him. He was normally quite rude when ignored like this--he'd leave without explanation and be completely unoffended when they confronted him about it later. 'Seeing as you were too busy to notice...'
"Let's," he agreed, standing up with a slight yawn. He wasn't bored, just a little tired. It was still hard to get used to sleeping in the dormitories. Though he had his own room and it was mostly quiet except when people passed the door and talked in loud, obnoxious voices to their roommates, Joshua was finding it difficult to sleep in such a small and confined space. The single bed didn't have as much room as his large four-poster antique back home and the mattress wasn't as comfortable, either. He hated to be some prissy little diva about it but he really did miss all of the creature comforts which he was accustomed to. At least I still have my car. He led the way out onto the grounds and into the parking lot where the gleaming white sports car was parked. "Looks like you're stuck with shotgun," he said with mild amusement. There only was two seats in the car of course, and he certainly didn't trust anyone else to drive his baby. Nell was the only person who'd ever gotten behind the wheel of the white Aventador and even that had been under his careful supervision. He knew there was no way he could replace this car. None.
There was a good ten minute drive from the Academy to the Hollow, so that left plenty of time to decide where they were going to go. However, Joshua didn't really have a place in mind and so he decided to allow Ivayne a little bit of free reign with their schedule. If it didn't sound like a ludicrous idea or a dangerous place, he'd be all for it. "Where to, Cooper?" he questioned. His use of her last name was slightly teasing but good-natured all the same. A lot of the school knew him informally as Dale because not a lot of them were personally acquainted. They usually used it scathingly and coupled with an intense dislike. That was fine, he didn't care about their opinion. "I'd suggest coffee but you don't have much of an appetite, and you're not old enough to drink yet, are you?" He smirked a bit at the thought, smug on the fact that he had his ID now and could get through the doors of any club, even Blackjack. No more chance cards with Corrosion, no sir. "There's always the beach, but I've never been fond of it." Sure enough, when he spoke there was an air of distaste. He'd never told her that he couldn't swim. He didn't tell people that. When they asked, he just said it wasn't to his liking.
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