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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Mar 25, 2012 20:15:29 GMT -5
With a frown on her face, Skye shut off her laptop, but left it on her desk where she'd been using it, even as she got up. Leave it to Lex to get into another fight -- another fight with Josh, no less, all while picking on some Earth kid who, Skye was sure, hadn't done much wrong. Sometimes she wondered why she was even friends with the guy anymore, but she was pretty sure that it was out of habit at this point. If he were like anyone else, really, she would probably have stopped bothering with the idiot by now, but for some reason, maybe for the simple fact that they'd literally been friends for years, since he'd started at the Academy -- a year behind her, but really her own age and on the same side of the alliance. An immature and obnoxious kid back then -- an immature and obnoxious twenty-one year-old now. He was a thorn in her side because he did the stupidest things, and a pretty gross memory from her crush on him in eleventh grade when she'd been... slightly different. All through this, though, somehow, he was still a friend, and she could tell from his words that he had just been hurt pretty badly by Joshua, in this fight they'd apparently had very recently. Today, even? She wasn't sure. Through all the "you are so thick-headed and stupid and needlessly violent what is wrong with you", she was, truth be told, just a little bit concerned that he was actually pretty hurt. Obviously, he was well enough to be talking big as ever, but it was clear from his wording that he'd lost this round, and because she knew Josh, she knew that it wasn't pretty. If Lex had won or even come close, he wouldn't have hesitated to say so and brag about it -- the fact that he said it was a draw was like the loudest warning siren she'd ever heard.
She had left her dorm within a few minutes, carrying in her bag a pretty enormous ice pack, Tylenol, and burn cream. They seemed like pretty strange things to keep around for no reason, except maybe the Tylenol, but truthfully, being at the Academy, she'd sort of learned that there was literally no way to be too prepared for injuries around here. The likeliness of Skye getting into a fight was pretty low -- she tended to keep out of those, especially in the past two or three years (she may have been slightly more active during high school, but certainly not to the point of certain people whose names might be Lex). All of that aside, her chances of witnessing a fight, or just happening to be in the wrong place when one of the elementals got out of hand, were high indeed. Her parents, too, were a Water and an Earth, something she rarely disclosed to friends at school, particularly those loyalists, and so she'd been taught all about being prepared and making sure she'd be okay in such situations. Now, though, she was sure Lex needed all of these things more than she did, and so she was heading for the dungeons, where she knew the rough location of the Fire dorms. She knew that sneaking into other elements' dorms wasn't impossible, just slightly difficult. It would be pretty damn hard if she decided to attempt it by herself, though, so she was hoping to run into some help on the way. With any luck she would be able to get in there and bombard Lex before he had the chance to insist that he was a manly man who didn't need other people's help.
Fortunately for Skye, she ran into someone who looked like he could be helpful -- quite a young kid, maybe ninth or tenth grade, looking like he was headed right in the directions of the Fire dorms anyway. "Hey!" she called after him. "Fire, right? How'd you like to help me get into the Fire dorms?" He looked doubtful, but five minutes later, they were on their way, after she'd assured him that yes she was a Thunder (a process that required static shocking him to make him beliee her), no she wasn't a traitor to the alliance coming in to play a prank, and okay fine she would give him the remaining ten dollars of the restaurant gift card she had (good for a number of fast food places!). Finally, she was in, mumbling a, "Thanks, kid," before heading to the boys' dorms. She asked another Fire on the way where Alexander Mercer's dorm was, and he pointed her in the right direction with a confused look, saying something about girls not being allowed, but she didn't pay his expression much mind as she headed down the hall. She'd already broken one rule by even coming into the Common Room at all, after all -- why not another? This looked like the one. She knocked on the door abruptly, waited for him to open the door. He was taking his time, too -- but when he finally opened it, she didn't let him say anything, just took in the fact that he looked pretty beaten-up, and was shirtless so that she could see a great number of the bruises (and a few burns, she noted) on his body. She pressed the ice pack to a particularly nasty bruise on his shoulder and shoved him back inside gently -- taking care to avoid any of his injuries -- still not letting him speak but finally saying, "You look awful."
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Post by alexander on Mar 26, 2012 0:33:08 GMT -5
Every piece of him hurt a bit. There was a throbbing in each limb that had faced a pounding. If it wasn't fist or foot, then it was being slammed into the ground or a body. Small parts of him were wrinkled with minor burns. He knew he would heal from those sorts of wounds more easily than the bruises, however. He was just naturally gifted with fire, and it could not harm him as easily as it would harm anyone else. That didn't mean it couldn't hurt like hell if he caught a blast of it full on. And that fight with Joshua... it had been brutal. It had been painful in more ways than one. Ways that he could never, ever voice aloud, because he was sure that people would judge him as weak. Lex wanted to be seen as a pillar of strength, that could not be challenged, or excused as something to be pitied. He was not... he could not be weak. He was strong, resilient. He'd bounce back from this in no time flat, and then he would train.
That was how it was when Lex lost. He didn't rethink his life, he didn't wonder if maybe it he could live through another beating when he lost badly in a fight. He simply thought about where he'd made a mistake, at one point he'd failed. Had he hesitated here, had this motion not been natural? Fighting was a mixture of both trained instinct and of quick strategy adjustment. It was one of the few things he could claim to be better at than most. He generally wasn't a very talented person, but sometimes he thought, with a laugh, that he probably could enter boxing and make some money. The only problem was, Lex never played fair. He fought dirty when he had to, and didn't see anything wrong with using every advantage he had. Honor of combat his ass, it was do anything and everything to come out on top. History only judged the losers, and Lex was determined to turn his luck and become a winner once more.
But for now, he had to go home and lick his wounds. Lex had veritably limped back into the dormitory commons. Other students had piled out of the way when they saw a very ragged looking Lex come in. While he might be in a bit of a weakened state, they knew it was very wise not to invoke his rage at this moment. He was not in a good mood. One could almost see a storm cloud following him about, his scowl was so fierce. He could have gone to the nurse's office, but he didn't think he'd need it. Even if he'd been battered, he hadn't broken anything. And if anything scarred over, he would be perfectly all right with that. He wore his battle scars proudly. And he knew some girls were quite attracted to a man who got into fights, even if he only got scars by making mistakes. They were something to hold onto, anyways, something nostalgic to think about when he was a battered old man polishing a gun on a porch and yelling at "those damn kids".
The first thing he did when he got home was shower. He very gingerly removed his clothes and winced as the water pounded his wounds, but as the water was on cold, it soothed the small burns, even if it did nothing for the bone-deep aches that were plaguing his muscles. That done, he toweled off and put on some plaid boxers and a pair of jeans, neglecting a belt. His pants thus sagged a bit as he walked around his dorm, gingerly poking at all the points where he was hurting. He was glad there didn't seem like a large amount of permanent damage on his tattoos. It would be a great disappointment if he had to get someone to reink him, especially since it would be over scar tissue. Was that even possible? He wasn't sure. Maybe someone talented could have the ability to work around it. Or maybe he'd just have to stop whining like a bitch and accept that a scar was a scar and there was nothing he could do about it.
With that basic work done, he'd taken to reclining into the chair in front of his desk, and opening his computer. He'd gotten onto the school messenger, and proceeded to message the first person he saw online and whine about his problems. That lucky girl ended up being Skye. She was his age, though in a higher grade, and she seemed to take his shit well enough. Thunders were definitely a bit calmer, he supposed. Their tempers seemed to build, and he found they were able to handle his attitude a lot more easily than the equally volatile fires of his own group. Nonetheless, he had an equal amount of compatriots from both. That is, so long as they were loyalists. He thought of Skye as a particularly good friend, from back in the day when things hadn't gotten complicated by those among the ranks jumping sides. She seemed to be a bit exasperated with his attitude when she signed off, so he resumed sulking on his own, just browsing the computer.
That was when there was a knock on his dormitory door. He was quite prepared to open it and scream at whoever it was to go away, when to his utter surprise it was Skye. "How in the hell did you - " he started in surprise, when she just walked in and started pushing him back. He suddenly found himself on the tiny loveseat in the room, with her pressing an icepack into his left shoulder. He was staring at her in utter bemusement. No one had ever come to check up on Lex after he'd gotten himself particularly thrashed. It was simply unheard of. Only his mother, he remembered, had ever kissed his bruises or put bandaids on his cuts, and fussed over him when he was in pain, either physical or emotional. The fact that he had a friend who actually cared about his well being was... was simply incomprehensible to Lex. He was quite a pessimistic believer in the cruelty of the world, that no one helped anyone unless it benefited themselves.
"I feel like shit," Lex confirmed when she finally spoke, rubbing his neck and wishing he weren't so lazy that he couldn't bring himself to grab a cigarette from one of their numerous hiding places. "Anyways, how the hell did you get in here? Not that I give a fuck about the fifty rules you're probably breaking." He glanced at her after leaning back, wincing slightly as a burn brushed against the rough thread of the cushion behind him.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Mar 26, 2012 17:04:42 GMT -5
Skye knew that the fight was Lex's fault. He'd said so himself, that he'd been picking on some Earth when Josh intervened -- only Josh could have done this to him, she figured, because of the way he'd worded it but also because Earths were generally not aggressive people. In fact they basically avoided fighting at all costs, from what Skye knew of them (which was little on a personal level, because of the alliances)... She knew Josh, too, though. He and Lex may have gotten into fights pretty frequently, but there had to have been a good enough reason this time around considering the severity of it all, and whatever Lex had done, he must have messed up big time. A part of Skye told her that hell no, she shouldn't be checking up on Lex of all people, she should really be making sure that Josh was okay (and the anonymous Earth kid, whoever he was, who'd managed to incur Lex's wrath). Her reasons for being here, though, were kind of difficult to explain, and she couldn't really figure it out for herself in the first place. There was the fact that she'd heard about this from Lex himself, and so it really was a jerk reaction. There was also the fact that she didn't actually know the Earth kid, while she and Lex were friends -- and actually still in the same alliance and therefore allowed to even speak, so it wouldn't have been extremely difficult to come and see him, as opposed to the measures she'd need to take to see Josh. Perhaps the most important reason, though... she was just sure that Lex wouldn't be able to take care of himself, and wouldn't have anyone to do it for him, and would be too proud to ask. Josh had friends to seek help from and was smart enough to more or less fix himself up on his own, assuming his injuries weren't too critical. In the end, Lex probably needed this more -- even if he was completely to blame for all of this. It didn't mean he was completely off the hook, though.
She didn't answer his half of a question, instead dropped her bag as she walked in and made him sit. "I feel like shit." She resisted the urge to snort. "I'll bet you do," she answered blandly instead.She'd be more surprised if he could honestly say that he didn't -- his body was covered with ugly bruises at worst, and first degree burns at worst. She was pretty sure they were only first degree, anyway -- pretty severe for anything first degree, but the frightening part was that she was sure his being a Fire elemental had given him some relief from the worst that could have happened. She wondered if a normal person would have died. It was entirely possible. She gestured for him to hold his own ice pack in place, figuring he wasn't too beaten up for that, inspecting a particularly nasty burn on his other arm as she did so. Skye was no nurse -- if she knew any first-aid, it was from basic stuff she'd learnt back in Ottawa, her mother signing her up for such programs as a kid because she was a teacher and she knew that kids got up to things and she could never be too prepared, and so on and so forth. It would suffice to say that, at age twenty, several years after practically living yearround at the Academy, she remembered very little of what she'd learnt from such programs. Considering the type of person Lex was, though, she had a feeling she'd already done more by showing up than he would have done himself. She did recall being told that these types of burns had to have cold water or something applied first. "Have you done anything for these?"
She ignored the look on his face, which was mostly a bit perplexed but also kind of nonchalant, as if this type of thing happened every day -- the injury that was, not the whole her showing up in his dorm thing; that was definitely very new. His seeming lack of gratitude didn't really bother her either, considering she was used to it and she would probably be pretty out of it too if she'd just had the shit beaten out of her to this extent. Skye decided that she'd better answer his question, though. "Bribed a kid. Asked another guy the way. They probably won't say anything, but if anyone asks, I was never here," she informed him, though she doubted that Lex of all people was likely to go running off to someone shouting the news all over the place. If not to keep out of trouble, then he just wouldn't do it because it would mean admitting that he'd gotten thrashed and someone had actually come to his aid. She liked to believe that she knew him that well, anyway.
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Post by alexander on Mar 30, 2012 1:34:06 GMT -5
A grunt escaped his lips as she pressed the ice packs further into one of his burns. However, despite the fact a little frown appeared on his face, he did not protest nor even offer a single word of complaint. Lex was tough, and could handle pain. He could take a beating without a word, and simply nurse his hatred until it consumed him or his enemy. And right now, Joshua was number one on Lex's hate list. He couldn't stand it, couldn't stand that bastard getting the one up on him. It would not stand for long, that was for sure. And there was something oddly comforting about knowing that Skye wasn't going to abandon him just for Josh, like so many others had already. There were plenty of ship jumpers, or even those who freely associated with the betrayers. It seemed, to a darkly brooding Lex, that few were as adamant in their loyalties as he was. Even if Skye was going around playing nice with the enemy, he allowed his value structure to flex slightly in favor of those few he called friends. Sometimes, personal alliances were more important than the broader ones, as long as they did not interfere with the overall clause. Skye had not totally turned traitor; she was acceptable, for the moment. But Josh had been his friend before Skye had, and had turned his coat. He wasn't sure he could trust Skye not to do the same.
Still, she was extending him a kindness that few would have even thought of. Lex was the last person people were ever concerned about, and he carefully cultivated that image. It seemed that some people could still slip under the radar on that account. "Don't need any fucking help," he grumbled, thought he did not shake her off, and all the same held the ice pack in place where she indicated. It seemed that even though Lex didn't need help, didn't ask for help, he wasn't going to rebuff Skye just this once. There was a small part of him that cried foul, that said it was weak to do this. But just at this moment, he was feeling weak. He had faced down an old adversary, and had been defeated. His pride was miffed, and his body and heart ached simultaneously. The pain and the sorrow fueled the rage that seemed to bleed from Lex as surely as his wounds did. For the moment, he was lending his trust, because for the moment, he needed someone to acknowledge his human worth. For whatever it was to anyone, for whomever might actually think about Lex being a person, underneath all of his terrible flaws.
He did nod at her explanation for how she got in, once hearing it. It hadn't occurred to Lex that she had just asked to get in somehow. For Lex, persuasion usually involved intimidation, and fire students were the types to prefer a fight over getting pushed around. Lex was one of the worst of them, and managed to stay at the top of the ranks. He probably wouldn't have let some stranger in, and laughed right in their face. Albeit, he wasn't going to rat Skye out. Not only because he had his own problems to hide at the moment, because it just wasn't Lex's style. He didn't go to authority for anything, at any time. Only goody two-shoes bitches did that, and Lex was anything but good. He sighed mournfully at the state of affairs he was in, nonetheless. It seemed like nothing would ever go well anymore. Every time he walked outside there was some new trouble popping up that he had to deal with. Duty always calling and all that.
"I guess you want a goddamn thank you, or something?" he questioned, eying her suspiciously. Lex pondered if, perhaps, she was doing this because she wanted something out of him. It wouldn't be all too surprising if that was the case. Even so, as a friend, he'd probably do what she wanted, so long as it didn't involve anything like "don't fight" or "play nice". Or "do some homework for me". Those were words that just could not fit into a sentence naturally in regards to Lex. But if she needed someone to get a good solid kick in the ass, then he was always game for those sort of tasks. In face, he took a great pleasure in such activities, and would probably do them without anything in return, so long as he halfway liked a person. As was the very fortunate case for Skye.
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 5, 2012 19:17:29 GMT -5
She heard his grunt of pain but did nothing to acknowledge it, though her mind was telling her that if he could get into fights and tough those out (to an extent, at least) then he could handle the mild pain of an ice pack, of all things. Fights between two Fires who were at any college level were no joke, either. His injuries should have been surprising to neither of them, really, but it seemed that he'd anticipated victory and she'd been caught off guard. Neither of these things was surprising, which was just sad at this point considering how long she'd known Lex. She almost entirely ignored what he said, deciding that if he wanted to be stubborn then she could play flippant too, but in the end she instead decided to give him a particularly wilting look. "Is that why you look like you were flayed within an inch of your life?" she asked with arched eyebrows, wondering whether she was starting to push it at this point. No, she probably wasn't. This was normal, actually. She could be pretty pleasant and civil -- nice, even, with friends -- but there were certain cases when Skye wasn't. Lex was a particularly special case, it being that he was so aggressive all of the time, and if she would be honest, Skye was sure that as a friend he just happened to inspire the worst in her. It probably wasn't the greatest quality in a friend, and yet here they were.
The part of her that didn't think he was an absolute idiot for doing this really did feel bad for him, though, and if he had been that kind of friend, she would have probably wanted to... She wasn't even sure, actually. Take care of him? Help him? Forbid him to ever do something so incredibly stupid again? None of this would work on Lex, though... Lex, who would hate being babied or patronized, who was probably already annoyed at things she'd done and said just today, who wouldn't listen to her even if she did tell him not to. He almost did look worth coddling, though, a little pathetic as he sat there vulnerable for once ever -- the type of friend, indeed, that she'd fuss over and put to bed and sidle up to for hugs (because Skye really was sort of touchy-feely around the right person). His eyes ruined the image though, reminding her that this was Lex of all people, and he was exactly the opposite of that type of person. She had little of a nurturing spirit in most cases at all, but this might have been an exception if it weren't for how perpetually angry he looked. Skye was still there, though, which had to mean something at least -- maybe just that, if nothing else, she hadn't given up hope on him yet.
She left him alone, briefly, wandering into the bathroom, which was kind of a mess, but it looked like there was a clean, relatively small towel, so she soaked it and headed back to where Lex was. As he hadn't actually answered her question, she would assume that no, he hadn't done anything for even the worst of his injuries, so the first step was indeed applying cold water. This was lucky, because it was the only step she really knew for sure, and it would be pretty damn bad if she were the one to go messing him up even more now. That probably wouldn't happen, though -- this couldn't be more than common sense, she assured herself as she took his free arm gently but commandingly, running over the worst of the burns with the towel as lightly as she could. Those had to hurt like a bitch as it was without her screwing him over too.
"Please," she said with a roll of the eyes, giving him her most wilting look as if it were the most ludicrous suggestion she'd ever heard (which, in fact, it sort of was). "You don't think I know better than to expect a thank you from you?" She wouldn't have come all the way here on that basis, or probably even of asking the kind of favour he would have been willing to grant. Of course, she would have liked nothing more from him than for him to stop picking fights and being a jerk to the world, but she wasn't stupid enough to ask for him to stop doing something like that. At best she would tell him to stop being an idiot, and she did so quite frequently in fact, but aside from that she doubted that she would ever be foolish enough to ask something like that of him. "I guess it hasn't occurred to you that some people just do things to be nice." Well, that wasn't the only reason, of course -- if she'd wanted to be nice she could have probably started in other ways, but in the end that was as much as he would be hearing about it from her, because if he wanted to be that tough then she was allowed to be that aloof.
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