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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Nov 12, 2011 19:22:48 GMT -5
 Joshua surveyed his reflection in the mirror with a frown, running a hand over his chin and making sure he hadn't missed anything when shaving. He had never really fancied the idea of facial hair but he was in a rush thanks to his father and thus couldn't be as careful as he usually was. All good, he decided, grabbing his keys off the counter and depositing them into his pocket. His father was going to be giving him a ride to the hospital and so it was more out of habit than anything that Josh had picked them up. Some of them weren't keys at all--his Aventador was keyless, taking only the press of a button to turn on the car and open the scissor doors. They passed by the white car in the garage today and instead wandered over to a Ferrari 458 Italia. "Don't people at work ever ask you about this thing?" The classic red paint job and obvious shape made the identification of the sports car quite easy. Donovan merely shrugged with a, "So what if they do? We're privileged, Joshua, might as well enjoy it."
He nodded. That's not what I meant, he thought to himself, though he didn't want to start some sort of argument. As the years had passed, he and his father had slowly declined in terms of their closer relationship in youth. It was harder to hold a normal discussion with him now. There would be rare days where he did alright but for the most part he tried to make as little conversation as possible. The drive there was a little awkward and so he stuck in the buds for his iPod headphones and switched to The Strokes. The music of his favourite band sufficiently distracted him, making the drive even shorter. Though Maple Hollow had grown enough from it's 'town' days to become a city, it was still a small city. It didn't take hours to get from one end to another and the traffic wasn't too terrible seeing as people were not going from one place to another. Barely anyone that lived in the city worked outside of it--the drive was too long. Some worked from home for international departments but most had jobs in the place itself. It was a nice place to grow up, a homely place. There was a feeling of familiarity when you could recognise every street that you passed.
As they pulled into the parking lot Joshua pulled his headphones out and stuffed the iPod into his sweater, which he left in the car. A closer father and son duo might have exchanged pleasantries or a hug or something when they parted ways, but Joshua just muttered a quick, "See you later," as he turned down a separate hall. Sometimes it bothered him that they didn't have that ideal closeness but he tried not to dwell on it. Pessimism meant that dwelling on things made your life feel like an absolute shit hole. He allowed his thoughts to wander to Nell and that made him smile a little. He'd made plans to hang out with her after they had both gotten off work and that, at least, was something to look forward to. It was another reason he'd brought his own car keys with him--once he got home, he would change and hop into his car to head over to her apartment. The interior of the Ferrari was familiar and yet alien to him; he preferred the comfort of his Lamborghini. Perhaps it was just the fact that he owned it and could do what he liked with it that appealed to Josh. Borrowing or driving in someone else's car always felt like foreign territory to him.
After several long hours of work, Joshua was finally ready to head back home. He'd need to wait for his father, first, however. That was the downside of not driving yourself to work but it would save the gas money (not that they needed to, but Patricia insisted with her frugal ways) rather than them both going separately. Despite it having been a long day at the hospital, the dark-haired teenager felt good about it. He liked working on things--whether it be school work, a project, a job, or just a simple logic puzzle at home. Joshua liked to be kept busy and occupied. He felt rather bored at the moment and so he headed down toward the hospitals waiting room area to see what they had in the vending machines. He frowned when he realised he had nothing smaller than a twenty and then struck a deal with one of the patients to swap it for a ten, a five, and some loose change. "Thanks," he said absently, already heading back over to the machine to get a soda and a package of M&M's. It was always a bad idea to leave Joshua alone in any place that had candy.
TAGGED Artemis Jayn Marcotte
NOTES This thread is set in the past, before Josh got kicked out.
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Post by arte on Nov 16, 2011 12:26:30 GMT -5
![]() PRETTY BANNER [/IMG]  [/center] paranoia, to many people, can be a burden. a constant reminder that things are out there to get you, to crush you and to hopefully break you. yet to a selected few, paranoia is a wake up call, a reminder that death hides in the shadows and with the right actions, can be avoided. however, the latter is generally a rare occurrence, and thus, people fear paranoia, which is kind of ironic. to fear something that evokes fear? sounds silly almost, which raises the question, how can people possibly fear, well, fear? after all, is it not a normal feeling? something that, without that emotion, would mess up our other emotions? honestly, would you prefer being sad means you are happy and that being mad means you are upset? in this context, arte would take a little paranoia to keep her on her toes rather than fall victim to the other, less pleasant, emotions.
as the familiar feeling of her heart pounding out of her chest became more aware to arte, she took a deep breath as the needle penetrated her skin, and once inside, let it out. no matter how many times the needle pushed itself through her soft skin, there was always the fear that something would go wrong or that the pain she had become comfortable with, would be drastically worse. however, oddly enough, arte was not afraid of needles and compared to most people, accepted them more then resented them. contradictions, i know.
with the nurse leaving the room, thus, leaving arte to her thoughts, the questions of paranoia raised in her head again and she sighed. she always played these games with herself, always asked the same questions and yet, had yet to receive an answer to the majority of them. when the same nurse poked her head in the door, arte jumped a little, causing a laugh from the nurse. "the doctor will be with you soon." she stated, her voice still clearly amused and arte smiled, glad she had, at the expense of her pride, made someone happy. as the minutes ticked by, arte imaged how both conversations could go. either the illness would be there, or it will still be hiding, not willing to attack yet. either way, the wait was what killed arte, not the fact of what it would bring when it came.
as the door opened, arte was greeted with the same doctor would had dealt with her father, and despite him dying, arte felt most comfortable with him. "how are we today artemis?" he casually asked, a form of small talk while he glanced at her charts. "i'm doing alright... but i'll be doing better if you can tell me the results." she replied, a innocent smile accompanying her face. with a light laugh, the doctor smiled and nodded. if it had been anyone else, they might interpret arte's comment as being rude and in a hurry, but the relationship she had with the doctor had abolished those thoughts. "alright artemis, although your white blood cell count is a little below average, i don't see it as anything to be largely concerned about." he started, talking as he viewed the charts. "besides that, your red blood cell counts are good and everything seems to be running smoothly." he finished, his eyes sincere and warm. arte sighed and nodded. "glad to hear. so i'll see you next month than?" she asked and received a nod of confirmation.
with the technical goodbyes exchanged and the appointment made, artemis made her way to the waiting room, which would lead her past the tempting candy machine and to the hallway leaving the hospital. with the feelings of paranoia disappearing, arte hummed as her eyes got view of the candy machine and instantly the humming stopped and so did she. nerves racing, she glanced in shock, seeing none other than josh in the distance. arte was unsure why she was shocked, after all, josh had intended to become a doctor, yet perhaps arte had not planned to actually run into him.
knowing there was no other way to get out and no way to avoid the encounter, she began to walk, stopping beside josh with a smile. "hi josh. attacking the candy machine again?" she asked with a laugh. it was a failed attempt at small talk, but it somehow eased the nervous feeling that had crept into artemis' stomach.
TAG: mister josh.
WORDS:
[/color] seven three seven. CLOTHING:[/color] ready for the docNOTES:[/color] extremely excited for this thread! CREDIT:[/color] TILLY of caution 2.0.[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Nov 16, 2011 16:51:30 GMT -5
In all his time working in the hospital, Joshua hadn't ran into too many people that he knew here. Oh, he'd seen them around and perhaps privately wondered what they were in for but it was very rare that he actually made an approach or that other people caught sight of him and decided to stop for conversation. He was therefore a little surprised to hear someone speak his name, turning toward them and expecting a fellow volunteer or one of the long-term staff at the hospital that knew his name. Even a couple of the patients knew him thanks to how often he was here, so he had not been anticipating the face of a friend as he turned. "Artemis," he said in mild surprise, his eyebrows arching. His immediate thought went to what she was doing in this place and allowed a small spot of worry--she was a friend, after all, and his loyalty ran pretty deep once you got to know him. However, she had said something about the candy machine and he focused his attention on responding to that, first. "Long day. Needed some sugar." He figured that was explanation enough. She'd known him for years, his sweet tooth was not an alien concept.
An optimist might have been bright and cheerful about their thoughts, assuming that a friend was likely in the hospital to visit someone else and that they were perfectly fine. Josh was not an optimist. His thoughts didn't immediately go to 'patient', either, but when he considered the idea of any family of Arte's being sick that wasn't any better. He knew what it was like to fret over the well-being of a loved one. His grandmother on Patrick's side had been a good woman and when she'd fallen down the stairs everyone had been at her bedside. She'd never woken up after that and even though they hadn't been close it had left a sort of hollowness. She'd died when he was younger, actually. A lot of things had happened to him in his younger years that had both toughened him up and changed him as a person. There would have been a drastically different guy greeting Artemis that day if he'd not been through all that he had. He might even have smiled at her, greeted her with a hug rather than the acknowledging nod. But things weren't different, so there was no use dwelling on what could have been.
He also didn't plan to ask a personal question. He was not going to ask if she was ailing and he would not ask what a loved one was in for, if at all. Instead, the Fire graduate merely inquired, "Are you visiting someone?" As a secretive person by nature he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of a question you didn't want to answer and so if he was to ask something he tried to make it as open to vague responses as possible. Friends of Josh would probably understand after a little while that he never really expected an answer at all, not if they were unwilling to give it. The whole 'golden rule' thing didn't always apply to him but it did in the questioning sense. He hardly ever asked questions that he would not be willing to answer himself. Not unless there was an unbelievably strong level of trust between himself and the other person. At present Nell and sometimes his childhood friend, Devin, were the ones that held that luxury. Nell was the only person who had his unconditional trust and that was for reasons of which he would not speak.
As he didn't talk about his choice in future career paths very much and they'd never actually ran into one another at the hospital, he wasn't sure whether or not she knew he worked here. He had probably mentioned once or twice that he wanted to become a doctor but he was pretty sure he'd never mentioned the hospital being his place of volunteer choices. It was where he'd earned his collective hours of community service, as well. On top of his good grades the community hours shined pretty well on his high school reports but it hadn't been for school, at least not the Academy. It had been for his future medical school application. Deciding to explain vaguely so he didn't get a similar question in return, he said, "I just got off work, actually." He figured that she would be able to imply the rest seeing as he was not dressed in the usual jeans and a shirt combination. (Dress shirt, mind, because he liked to look presentable).
TAGGED Artemis Jayn Marcotte
NOTES This thread is set in the past, before Josh got kicked out.
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Post by arte on Dec 21, 2011 15:53:10 GMT -5
![]() PRETTY BANNER [/IMG] [/center] "are you visiting someone?" to anyone, the question might come off as casual, a safe thing to ask especially when in a hospital. sadly, artemis was not just anyone. in fact, that single question was the only one she was not entirely prepared to answer, though she knew it was waiting around the corner. a nervous expression crossed her pale features and she smiled simply. "no, not this time." she stated, also realizing she probably never told josh, in detail, about the ordeal with her father's death. in fact, rarely anyone knew that two years ago, during winter break, artemis would face the most horrible incident of her life. some had assumed something drastic had happened in her life, though the amount that knew it was her father passing were slim to none. pushing away from the topic and the questions the previous statement could bring, she added. "actually, i am here for myself." she stated, raising her hand to scratch at the back of her head, an action often accompanied by her nervous state.
oddly enough, artemis was more prepared to discuss her reasoning for being at the hospital than she was to reveal her father's death. perhaps it was because artemis had not actually talked personally about the incident to anyone besides her mother. deep down, she knew if she were to talk to josh about losing the one figure in her life that was beyond important, she would cry. it was the last thing she wanted and she sure as hell did not want to awake those pity feelings that death often brought. "i'm here for regular testing." she added in absent-mindedly and cursed herself for not shutting up already. despite her need to babble during awkward conversations, artemis was glad to know josh was not the questioning type, even at the worst of times. the chances of him pushing more information out of her was slim, just like her willingness to talk about her father.
with the announcement that he had just finished work, arte nearly pounced on the chance to change the topic of the conversation. "ooh, exciting." she stated, pictures of grey's anatomy flashing through her head. though she doubted josh's day was nearly as exciting as the show, the idea of working in a hospital was still intriguing. "don't suppose you've got any cool hospital stories to spill?" she questioned, though assumed the answer would be no. despite the whole doctor-patient secrecy rule, the only remotely exciting thing she could image was changing a bed pan, which, when thinking about it, was not actually exciting at all. she moment of disgust on her face at the mental image, she made her way to the candy machine josh had just been raiding. putting in two dollars, she crabbed a crunchie, one of her favourites. turning to josh in the process of opening the bar, she smiled, taking a bite. "so, what is your favourite candy anyway?" though she vaguely remembered josh telling her one day, she chances of her remembering the time now were faint.
instead, her mind starting to realize the faint throbbing pain of getting your blood taken. her stomach turned as she took another bite of the chocolate bar and she hid the feeling of sudden sickness on her face well. she wanted to get out of the hospital, not give josh more reasons to question her current state of health.
TAG: mister josh.
WORDS:
[/color] five seven zero. CLOTHING:[/color] ready for the docNOTES:[/color] had this all pre-written up! CREDIT:[/color] TILLY of caution 2.0.[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Dec 21, 2011 19:39:22 GMT -5
He nodded a little when she replied, mostly to show he'd heard and also to affirm that the vague answer would have been satisfying enough for him. Joshua rarely asked for more than the most simple of things, understanding the need for privacy and security more than most. He had never really been a very open person but the moment his dealings with the gang had gone sour years previously, that had amplified tenfold. Now you were lucky to get the simplest information out of him. Artemis was someone he considered a friend and so he would reply to the little things but he had never really told her much about himself. It was not personal. There wasn't anyone besides Nell that could claim they really knew him. Devin came close, but not quite. He was a bit surprised when she elaborated but it did not show in his expression as he took in the information. "Ah," he replied. "Nothing too serious, I hope?" He wasn't asking her what it was, just hoping to clarify whether or not she was in any imminent danger. Stoic though he may be, his friends were people that Joshua cared deeply for. He did not like to see them in any sort of ill health and so he would be relieved if it was just a routine thing.
Which apparently it was, when she mentioned she was here for regular tests. He knew that some people with certain conditions monitored certain things by scheduled testing but did not want to jump to conclusions. She'd never seemed very ill when he'd hung around her and she didn't even look too under the weather at the moment. He allowed himself to assume it was nothing critical and replied, "Oh, alright." He was not monitoring her tone or expressions in suspicion and so he didn't really pick up on how absent-minded Artemis had seemed. After all, he was trying not to get too intrigued lest he allow his accursed curiosity to start acting up. He loved to learn about things and inquiries could too easily slip from simple into invasive. Making his friend uncomfortable with medical questions was not his desire and so Josh was just doing his best to keep a respectable distance. "I'm surprised I haven't seen you here before, then," was what he said instead. "We must just miss one another." Again, he was being genuine with his words. He really take her word for it—why wouldn't he?
His lips twitched in amusement. Though he had worked at the hospital for several years and had indeed had a couple of amusing experience, there was nothing that immediately came to mind. "My supervisor is secretly a demon in disguise," he said conspiratorially. He was obviously joking, even though his tone would suggest that he was serious. He was good at keeping a straight face and a level tone when he was joking around because he didn't laugh or grin very often. When something was funny to him he was rather adept at holding it in. Gray eyes light with the humour, he said, "Seriously, though, she's been running me into the ground today." Despite his words, Josh was actually fond of Stacy by this point. She'd worked at the hospital for ages and even though she could be harsh on the volunteers and all of the others that she watched over, she got the job done right. She had eased up on Joshua very slightly over the years when she'd accepted that he knew what he was doing but she never hesitated to make him work pretty damn hard. He often joked with her about quitting for greener pastures but she was one of a select few that knew he wanted to be a doctor, so she understood he wouldn't really. "Other than that, it's pretty mundane."
The question surprised him a little, merely because he wasn't used to people asking him things like that. It wasn't too personal, however, and so he didn't hesitate to respond. "I can't really say, I like pretty much everything. Dark chocolate is probably my favourite in general, though." He liked the sort of bitter sweetness to it. There was also an upside in that Annabel couldn't stand it. He didn't mind sharing candy with his sister but it could be a pain when she took too much. She stayed away from his dark chocolates. She did like mint, though, and that was an issue. "Is that yours?" He spoke not of dark chocolate but of the Crunchie, gesturing to it. "Or do they not have your favourite?" That could be a problem with vending machines, sometimes. Either that or they were always running out.
TAGGED Artemis Jayn Marcotte
NOTES <3
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Post by arte on Dec 26, 2011 21:26:50 GMT -5
![]() PRETTY BANNER [/IMG] [/center] the word serious rung in the depths of artemis' ears. she wanted to be truthful to josh, wanted someone to be in on her little family secret, but it was so hard to face that sort of truth herself. sometimes she thought to herself, imagined it was just a dream and that she would return home, the familiar voice of her father sounding like candy to her ears. she could sometimes feel the warmth her full family gave, how the old days felt with both parents by her side. yet, no matter how many times she tried to wake herself from this horrible dream, reality never failed to fall in, reminding her that the illness was real, her father being dead was real, that everything was real. she faintly smiled to josh. "no, nothing too serious."
[/color] she lied. "at least not yet."[/color] she thought to herself. it had attacked her father out of no where and could no doubt do the same to her. she just hoped these regular check-ups were good for something other than stealing her blood. with the description of his boss, arte could not help but laugh slightly. "a demon?"[/color] she asked in amusement. "well, it could explain her need to work you to the bone."[/color] she commented, despite the fact she had no real idea of how josh was feeling and how difficult the work really could be. though, she had watched grey's anatomy and despite being a tv show, she could imagine the drama that happened on that show could easily happen him. if so, she no doubt assumed josh left work each day feeling a little drained. "nonetheless, you must enjoy it to some extent, or you wouldn't still be working, right?"[/color] arte question, though more rhetorical rather than actually expecting for him to confirm an answer arte was sure she already knew. with the mention of dark chocolate, arte scrunched her nose up. "no offence, but i find that stuff way to bitter."[/color] she stated, the one time her father had actually convinced her to try it. artemis much preferred milk chocolate, despite it being less healthy than dark chocolate. the more she thought about chocolate though, the more her stomach seemed to turn around and around. she smiled through the pain, nodding. "yes, one of my favourites."[/color] she stated quickly and the observable would notice. taking in a deep breath, the wrapped the remaining chocolate and placed it in her pocket. "would you mind if we stepped outside?"[/color] she asked, though she had not idea if josh was even up for a talking visit with her in the first place. "my stomach is feeling a little off... i think i need some fresh air."[/color] she explained, grabbing her stomach quickly with another turning of her stomach. the throbbing in her arm intensified after this, not adding in the fact that she already wanted to puke. "why is this happening?"[/color] she wondered to herself. this certainly was not her first time having blood taken, so why was she feeling so rotten after this time? [/size][/justify] TAG: mister josh.
WORDS:[/color] five one two. CLOTHING:[/color] ready for the docNOTES:[/color] <3 <3 <3 CREDIT:[/color] TILLY of caution 2.0.[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Dec 26, 2011 23:53:25 GMT -5
Again he accepted the words as the truth as he dipped his head to show he'd heard them, glad to hear that she was not in the hospital for anything too serious. He had no reason to doubt her and so he would not. Though Josh was suspicious and wary of people by nature, he did not always assume that the things they were telling him about themselves were lies. He merely didn't exhibit a whole lot of trust when it came to confiding about himself in others. And if people tried to work their manipulative magic on him and he caught on, well, then he'd start to judge every word that brushed past their lips. Artemis had not shown herself to be like that yet and so he trusted her enough to take words at face value. "Glad to hear it," he said with a fleeting smile. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared but it's short life had been a genuine one. He didn't smile for the sake of smiling. It was too much of an effort—he was in an alright mood, he just wasn't a person that smiled a whole lot.
Joshua snorted. "I definitely wouldn't be doing this if I hated it," he said in agreement. "I don't even get paid—it's volunteer work that I do." He could have explained the fact that his age and lack of a medical degree made the pickings of actual jobs in a hospital slim and that he could have gotten his father to work magic but he didn't want to cheat his way into the establishment. He could have told her that he really didn't care that he wasn't getting paid—why would he, he was rich!—and that he did it for the experience above all else. He could have told her how many years he'd been doing this, even. But he did not. Josh was a man of few words when it came to the subject of his life and the fact that he'd even told her it was a volunteer job was surprising in itself. He usually didn't offer up any information beyond that which was requested, if even. "Nah, I like it here. It keeps me occupied at least." He doubted she knew that he was a bit of a workaholic and he didn't mention this. He liked to be kept busy.
The subject of his favourite chocolate was not the least bit offensive to Joshua and so he arched an eyebrow at his friend. "And why would that offend me?" He thought about that for a moment and allowed a brief chuckle as he thought of the ridiculous notion. Imagine someone starting a fight over chocolate types. He could definitely understand why some people would enjoy the sweetness of white chocolate over the others, or the bitterness of the dark like himself. Then there was the creamy, milk taste of Artemis' own favourite. Not that Josh's 'favourite' was held too high above the others. He'd really eat anything if it were sweet. Thank goodness he hadn't found any allergies quite yet. In fact, he quite enjoyed things like almonds and peanut butter as well. He gave her a strange and searching look when she spoke a little too quickly. "Are you alright?" he asked. He'd been busy thinking of chocolate and had been surprised by what came over her.
Apparently she was not, at least not as 'alright' as he would have hoped. She requested stepping outside and Josh hesitated—he was really supposed to await his father, but he also wanted to make sure his friend was going to be okay. "Sure," he decided. "Just a second." He pulled out his phone and called his fathers phone, knowing that it would be off as he was working and would go straight to voicemail. "Call me when you're ready to go, I just stepped outside for a bit." He pocketed his phone and smiled at his friend. "All set." Once they were outside, Josh turned to her with concern glittering in his colourless eyes. "Was it one of the tests or are you just unwell?" he asked. "We could go back in if it's really worrying—I could pull a few strings to get it checked out." The waiting lists for hospitals could be hellish but there was an upside to being the son of one's owner.
TAGGED Artemis Jayn Marcotte
NOTES <3
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