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Post by nala on May 17, 2012 14:08:29 GMT -5
With the coming of December, the weather took a turn for the frigid and windy. Being a Wind elemental, Nala didn't mind that aspect, but she couldn't quite get used to the freezing temperatures. Being from Canada, she would have expected it to get easier to handle as she got older, but experience seemed to be telling her that it only got harder to stomach. But, being a teacher had its perks -- she had a sizable break every semester, same as the students did, and so she had booked a vacation to warmer climates for a week. She'd have to stay in Maple Hollow for a few days until then, having to chaperone prom and tie up a few loose ends that came with the end of the semester. Her students hadn't given her much trouble this semester and it was another year under her belt -- altogether a good year, Nala thought. There wasn't much she could ask for.
The day started off rather slowly. Since the end of semester, her sleep schedule had begun to adjust to her natural body clock -- meaning, going to bed super late due to her need to game until the wee morning, and then waking up at around noon. She couldn't even have breakfast anymore without calling it 'lunch', which was a bad habit, but one she just couldn't kick no matter what. But, the day had quickened considerably once she took a shower and got dressed -- she was meeting Josh in a little bit at the rec center to do some archery practice. Maple Hollow didn't have an actual archery range, but she had a target herself, and after convincing the rec center to let her use their open field to set up shop, she had begun to make it habit, and brought Josh along. It had been a while since the last time they went together -- it had been a while since she had the time to go, period -- but she hoped she didn't get too rusty. She hadn't seen Josh in a while, either -- it was a little strange to be so comfortable with a student, but Nala had never had Josh as a student, so as far as she was concerned, all rules of ethics were off.
Bundled up, she got out of her car after she parked in the rec center's parking lot, then went out and popped the trunk open. She slung her bow over her shoulder and grabbed hold of her quiver before gripping the target and hoisted it out of her car and, putting it on the ground, she shut the trunk with a little more strength than she needed. Oops. The target wasn't heavy, just kind of cumbersome, and she wobbled a little bit walking through the center's doors. She waved at the lady behind the desk -- they knew her and what she was there for at this point, and they just waved her on and she smiled back in thanks. As she set up the target, she caught a bit of movement out the corner of her eye and looked up, waving when she was it was Josh. "Over here!"
[/color] she called, like it wasn't obvious. There weren't many other people there to do target practice, after all. [ uh...i hope this is enough to go off of. :D? ugh i such at starting i'm sorry OTL ][/justify][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on May 17, 2012 21:36:41 GMT -5
Joshua had been awake since early morning, a bad habit of his even during the holidays. He was a morning person and he was so used to his schedule at the Academy, which consisted of staying up really late to study and getting up really early for his morning routine before school. Those that knew him well enough to get accustomed to his routine often wondered aloud how he wasn't dead on his feet with his erratic sleep patterns. 'I'm used to it,' was usually the best he could offer in reply, along with a shrug of course. Right now he was passing the time until his meet-up with Nala by Christmas shopping, his all-time favourite thing to do over the holidays. Joshua was a gift-giver. If he liked you, he tended to show that love through presents on the holidays, this including your birthday if you happened to let him know the date. His gifts were usually well thought-out because he tended to get close to his friends and learn what they liked. He'd already picked up something from Skye and now he was looking to cross Devin off the list, hanging out in the video game store, waiting in line and not understanding the excitement of the people in front of him. They were talking about some new game or another and when Joshua thought of the fact that his best buddy would probably be right there with them, his lips twitched. At last he reached the counter. "Yeah, I ordered something from your online catalogue," he said, then gave his name. After picking up the desired order, he hung around for a bit and purchased a new headset as well, having remembered an off-hand comment his friend had made once about wanting a new one. He was observant, Joshua was.
After he left, he checked the gold Rolex that adorned his wrist and determined that he should probably head down to the sports centre now. No one wears watches any more. Why? He knew that phones had the time and that said time was often digital, eliminating the need for a watch, but he still wore his because it was flashy and expensive and why the hell not? Like Joshua needed a reason to have something fancy. Like the white Lamborghini that waited for him in the parking lot of the mall or the mansion that he would go home to in the evenings, they were unnecessarily extravagant but that suited him just fine. Even the clothes off his back had cost a hefty sum. Hell, money came in handy sometimes. Archery was not a hobby he had picked up on a great many years ago, it had only been once he started to befriend Nala that he had taken an interest in it, but there had been no saving up involved at all when it came to getting himself a decent bow. The lack of an archery range was a bit of a bummer but he didn't have a problem with doing it their way and so he also greeted the lady at the desk, though his greeting was verbal. "Hey." Chuckling when she saw the equipment, the woman directed him to where Nala had went. "Really? I thought you were over there! My bad, I'm so sorry." He said this in a perfectly serious voice with an equally straight face but he was kidding. "Nala, hey. Almost ready?" He was excited for the practice because he had finally found another sport besides tennis that he could enjoy (albeit an unconventional one. "Ah, don't let me be rude," he laughed when he realised he hadn't went through any formalities. "How are you? Enjoying the holiday?"
[You posts are great <3]
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Post by nala on Jun 16, 2012 9:24:24 GMT -5
At Josh's sarcastic quip, Nala mockingly drew her bow, though without an arrow -- it wouldn't do at all to accidentally kill one of her favorite people in the world, and she didn't quite fancy the idea of going to jail, either. She was far too pretty for that. Not that she thought she would have actually let go of said arrow -- her fingers were steady, too used to the taut pull of the string to falter much, especially not when she hadn't even practiced yet. Later on in the afternoon...well, that would be a different story. "I'll have you know, next time I'll just change the meeting spot and I will be, indeed, over there, and you won't be able to find me."
[/color] It was the emptiest of all threats, simply because while she loved archery and didn't mind doing it on her own, it always felt like it was way more fun with someone else, and considering how no one else residing in Maple Hollow had ever even attempted archery, she assumed, it was just a blessing to find someone with this thing in common. Nala didn't know many people interested in archery, at all. She released the string on the bow, putting it down as Josh came closer, moving to continue setting up -- all that was left was just getting the quiver out and putting her arrows in it. "Almost! You came just in time, or else I would have started without you,"[/color] she replied, counting out the number she had and if it was possible to split them evenly, which, luckily enough, she could. She probably would have let Josh have the extra one, anyway, but she just liked to keep things fair and even. She was a symmetrical type of person. "Well, besides it being absolutely freezing? It's a holiday, what wasn't to love about it?"[/color] she said, dropping half of the arrows into another quiver and handing it over to Josh. She meant what she said -- some people may have found a break to be detrimental to student learning and kept teachers out of the teaching regiment or something, but Nala never felt that way. Teachers needed time to themselves and rest up, after all -- it wasn't all just, 'I have power and let me lord it over you!'. "I'm actually going to California to visit a friend for a week in a few days, so I'm pretty excited for that. It'll be nice to go to somewhere sunny."[/color] She had never been to San Francisco before, but since her old friend from college moved there for work, she had been itching to go visit, and the chance finally presented itself when her friend finally got her requested time off. She was looking forward to it -- she loved Maple Hollow, but nothing could really beat days long of sunlight and pretty beaches in her opinion.[/justify][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 18, 2012 0:48:39 GMT -5
Joshua raised his eyebrows when she pulled her bow back, though of course he didn't actually feel threatened by the gesture. If she'd drawn an arrow alongside it he might have had the sense to dive the hell out of the way, except maybe not. He trusted Nala not to shoot him and all. He did like her. It had only been a little weird getting over the whole student/teacher thing but it wasn't like it was a relationship, they were friends, she wasn't five billion years older than he was or anything ridiculous like that. His lips twitched, the only thing to betray how amused he was by her comment. "Then I won't show up and you'll be all by your lonesome." He didn't know her preference about hanging around people versus being alone or anything like that but this was all in jest anyway so it wasn't like it mattered. Josh liked being alone but he also liked being around people. He had his happy medium. "Impatient, eh? I probably wouldn't have minded." He said this to assure her in any future kind of meet-up that if he was running late he didn't expect anyone else to wait around for him. He was a pretty patient guy, at least with some things, but he didn't expect others to feel the same way. If you promised to meet a person at a certain time it was in his belief that you should show up and show up on time. Punctuality was required for jobs and things like school anyway. Meeting with friends could be viewed like... practice, or something. Yeah, practice. He refrained from speaking while she was counting her arrows, not wanting to interrupt her vibe or anything like that. He knew how annoying it could be to lose count of something thanks to a distraction and have to start over. It had happened to him more than once.
Nala was right, the holidays were freezing. Joshua could do alright with the cold thanks to the fact that he was a Fire elemental but that didn't mean that he liked it. In fact, Josh was quite impartial to the cold. If it was summer all the time he was sure he'd be fine with that. Green Christmas? Bring it on. "True that. The shopping can be a bit difficult but I like this time of year. It's nice." Relaxing, too. Joshua didn't like being busy all year round with school. He still had work and all that but it was nice to have a month where he could breathe a little easier. And then would come senior year and that worried him a bit. He didn't usually get worried but his final year of college was a big deal. "Sounds like fun! I love the heat but I'm biased of course." She knew that he was Fire and he was pretty sure she would, in turn, be able to guess how much of a fondness he had for the heat. Not that all Fires liked it hot. You could get a few weirdos that preferred the winter but they were not as frequent. "I don't have any plans in particular, just going to hang out with the family I think. Vacations sound fun." He would say that he was envious but eh, he'd live. Joshua didn't deal with jealousy a whole lot in his life. Only if someone tried to get cuddly with Nell and that was because the chick was his fiancée. It was justified. "Ah, I told you last time that I'd get a bow of my own, yeah?" It wasn't so much a question as it was a lead-in to holding up his bow and grinning. "It performs pretty decent, at least it did when I tested it out, but I haven't got a chance to use it extensively yet." That was why he was excited for this time. He wanted to test it.
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Post by nala on Jun 20, 2012 8:41:40 GMT -5
Nala frowned at the implication that he could have just stood her up and she'd be by her own. It wasn't as if she constantly needed to be around other people -- in actuality, Nala preferred being by herself most of the time, if only because the chances of having to deal with stupidity and ignorance were drastically reduced, but when it was a friend who just didn't show up, that kind of stung. And she thinks this out of experience. She didn't think Josh would really be the type of person to do that -- not without at least informing her beforehand, anyway, because that she could understand -- people get busy, emergencies happen, and that's all right. Really, when it came down to it, not informing someone of being late or having something else to do was just rude, and a little irresponsible. She'd probably worry that they were gravely injured or something bad had happened to them or something. She didn't say any of this to Josh, though, as it was all pretty irrelevant conjecture as bam, here he was regardless -- she just smiled and shrugged a few moments later. "I wouldn't mind. You wouldn't be around to witness me shoot at things like an Amazon woman," she said casually, though she hastened to reassure him that it was a joke and, while she was a meat-eater, wasn't very keen on the idea of catching and killing something herself without bursting into tears halfway through. It was funny how disassociated one could become just because it came in a different form. "Jay-kay, and all that,"
[/color] she said, really hoping that she hadn't just crossed some sort of line -- she knew Josh was a vegetarian, it had come up once when they went for a quick food break back when she was helping him with his history assignment, and she always respected the choices other people made. Truthfully, Nala knew being a vegetarian was a really healthy way to live, but she couldn't help it -- she just liked hot dogs too much. Ahhh...crap. She knew she was forgettin to do something in the midst of her preparations to go to California, and the general excitement of being done with teaching for a bit of a break. She completely forgot to go holiday shopping, and she knew she had a list made, and a day before she left set aside to go around, meet up with friends, and give them their gifts. It wasn't that she had no idea what to get -- no, Nala planned too much and had too much of her life organized to let something that huge slide -- it was just a matter of remembering to do it, and then finding the time to get it done. "Crap, I totally forgot about shopping this season,"[/color] she said, sighing in defeat. Well, she'd probably just have to cancel some plans and make a day of it tomorrow -- she forgot she had to wrap the gifts, too, and it wuold amaze people just how bad at that she was. She wouldn't let the thought of being in fresh sunshine soon -- so soon! -- deter her, either! "Ah, that's good too! I'm seeing my family for a few days and then off. I think they're a little upset with me for not spending Christmas with them, though, honest."[/color] Well, it was more like she knew they were a little peeved at her deciding to spend her Christmas away from home, as Christmas was a pretty big deal in their family, but they also understood that Nala had terrible cabin fever sometimes -- staying in one place, day after day, drained on her eventually. When Josh held out his own bow, bright and shiny and new, Nala reached out and touched it, looking it over -- it was a newer model, one she didn't quite recognize, but she was pretty impressed nonetheless -- bows were expensive, knowing this because she had been itching to replace her own for a long while except she just couldn't justify the cost for it just yet, but then she remembered that Josh didn't really have that problem. "It's beautiful, wow,"[/color] Nala gushed. From what she could tell, it was a nice, solid bow. "Then today's your lucky day! You can go first, if you'd like,"[/color] Nala said, gesturing at the target and the quiver of arrows in his hand. Getting a new bow was definitely exciting business, and she knew that if she was in his position, she'd want to go first, too.[/justify][/color][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 21, 2012 5:30:31 GMT -5
He laughed at the idea of Nala being Amazonian, amused by the mental image. The Fire graduate then blinked in surprise when she quickly corrected herself to reassure him, smiling briefly and shaking his head once he realised what was going on. "Hey, it's no big deal," he assured her. "I'm not some crazy activist or anything like that." He didn't like the taste and he was admittedly a little uncomfortable with sport hunting but as long as people did not expect him to participate in hunting trips or the consumption of meat, he was quite laid-back with his diet and opinions. "If I was I'd be the one hunting and you'd be my target." He was joking and wondered if she could tell, knowing how serious he sounded. All the time. He hoped that the fact that he'd previously said how fine he was about things would let Nala know that he had no plans in the near future to stalk her down. Hell, no. That would be creepy and he tried not to be that guy. "Ah, that bites," he sympathized when Nala told him that she'd forgotten all about holiday shopping. "Hopefully you can get it all done before the season's out, yeah?" The main problem with some of the more popular and high-demand gifts was that they all sold out pretty quickly in the Christmas season. Thankfully Joshua didn't tend to go generic with his gifts for people. He got them things that he thought they would appreciate, yes, but it wasn't always the latest gaming system or something else stereotypical. Unless it was Devin, of course, because his best friend was a gamer and thus generic worked out well in his case.
Christmas had always been a really big deal in the Dale household. All holidays that were considered family-oriented had been stressed upon the kids as important ones but Christmas had been most of all. The Dales were not a family of religion but they still appreciated that the holiday was not just about gift-giving and the receiving of expensive items and money from various family members. They spent time together. He had always liked Christmas because of that, a day where they could all put aside their petty squabbles and get along. "Ah, that sucks. Hopefully they'll get over it quick enough, though." He wondered if his sister had forgiven him for the fact that he had missed two Christmases in a row at one point. He was always home for the holidays and so missing them was a big deal. He hadn't been able to tell her why, either, so he'd felt pretty heartless when all things were said and done. "Isn't it? I had to have it." He'd seen the bow and fallen in love with its model and the way it worked. He liked archery quite a bit. One of his more unique hobbies next to generic things like reading and tennis. If you told someone you were an avid reader it was 'whatever', but if you mentioned you were an archer, well, that got attention. He didn't like being the centre of attention but some was still pretty cool. "Don't mind if I do, thanks." He adjusted his stance and narrowed his eyes at the target, lifting the bow and drawing it back. He wasn't used to the strength needed to draw the bow compared to the one he'd previously been using, though, and it flopped. "Well, that was shit," he said lightly to make a joke out of his failure. Soften the blow, almost. "Let me try that again and not suck." The second time he was a lot more prepared for how much power he had to put into the shot and the arrow landed a few inches to the left of the centre. "Better than last time, at least. Looks like it's your go!" He stepped aside to get out of Nala's way and observe her skills.
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