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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 17, 2012 13:51:54 GMT -5
Having only been to Vancouver once or twice before, the summer festival had caught his attention. A bunch of really good bands had been listed and while it was quite a long way from Maple Hollow, he didn't have to worry about the price of gas or a hotel room. He'd needed someone to accompany him, though, not a big fan of going alone to things better enjoyed with friends. Lark had seemed the perfect choice since she was so passionate about music and besides, her birthday had fallen in the perfect month. So that was how they'd ended up where they were now. Laughing at something he could only vaguely remember, Josh braced his hand against the pole of a street light to stop from falling over. "God, I just... I can't, Lark, I can't." Couldn't what? He let the significance of the words slip from his grasp like an ice cube. His sides hurt from laughing, his face was flushed red, and the light that shone overhead was irritating him with how obnoxiously bright it was. At first having a couple drinks of alcohol to get a buzz while listening to music had sounded like a great idea. Now he couldn't exactly remember how many he'd actually had and he also realised that they'd walked to the festival from the hotel room. It wasn't far and it had made sense if they were going to be drinking.
Sitting on the concrete base that the light rose up from, he leaned his head back against the cool metal and stared up at his friend. "Should probably get back home." Home being their hotel, but whatever. He paused and glanced around as if looking for someone or something, like he could locate the hotel with sheer force of will. It might have been close but it was not within a direct line of sight and he gave up after several seconds with a sigh. Damn it. He tried to stand and nearly fell over in the process, catching himself on the light again. "Thank you," he told it cordially, then resumed paying attention to Lark. "I think... I think I can find it, Alouette." A moment later he said, "I totally know where I'm going." Despite that he'd sounded a lot more uncertain a few seconds ago, he started off in a random direction without another word. Directions be damned, he was going to find this hotel! He found himself blinking more than normal, annoyed by all the bright lights of the city. Home wasn't near anything so irritating. Home was next to the mountains and it was quiet and secluded and nothing like this. Ugh. Travelling. I'll just take an alternate route. Forgetting that the hotel would obviously be in the midst of all these bright lights and loud noises, he opted for a path that led away from all the chaos. This is better, he thought, a hummed noise of satisfaction in his throat.
He saw the sign—nearly walked into it, actually—and stopped, frowning and squinting at it. "Why do they make their signs so fucking blurry? I can't read that shit." He shook his head as he complained to Lark. The bold 'NO TRESPASSING' looked to him like a shapeless blob and thus he decided it must not be very important. The beach didn't look like a hotel room, no, but the soft sand looked comfortable and he pulled off his shoes before laying back in it for a moment and exhaling. The stars dotted the sky and he decided that their light was a lot more acceptable than the headlights of all the cars had been. "Dude, we should build a fire or something." He flicked his wrist and tried to will one into existence but thanks to his current state of intoxication, nothing happened except a brief wave of heat that washed over them. Joshua scowled. "I said we should build a fire or something." Another flick of his wrist, more insistent this time. "Laaark, it's not working. What the fuck." He sat up, looking like a petulant child as he leered at the empty sand where he'd been trying to build a fire. "Y'know what? I think we could build our own fuckin' fire. Screw powers." His loose tongue didn't concern him because they were the only people on the beach and it wasn't like the government could warp down out of the sky and kidnap them. He glanced up at said sky as if daring it to try something. "Y'think?"
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Sept 19, 2012 14:59:01 GMT -5
The lights were so incredibly bright; brighter than she last remembered. Maybe they turned them up as it got later? Hell if she knew. Either way Lark squinted against the double halos lingering overhead in attempts to try and keep hold of her bearings. Well, whatever was left of her bearings. The night had been pretty awesome so far at least; Josh had taken Lark to a music festival in Vancouver for her birthday. Being the music junkie that she was, the girl was more than excited to make the trip and enjoy the weekend. Too bad the remainder of the evening would probably be forgotten as she sluggishly tagged along with her best friend down the street, dying of laughter. Where they were going, she hadn't a damn clue. All she knew was that her sides hurt and her eyes were watering over something she could hardly remember talking about and finding so incredibly hilarious. "Oh my god," Lark breathed, her face hurting from smiling. "I know right? It hurts Ioku, it hurts! Why do you have to be so goddamn funny, brah. You'll...you'll be the death of me one day." It would probably be more the fact that they were wandering around in a city they hardly knew while intoxicated. Yeah, that was the epitome of intelligence right there.
She nodded lazily, looking down at Josh. "Uh huh. Hoooome, hooome on the raaange...where the dicks and the--no wait. That's not right..." Ah, who cares? All that mattered was that they were going back to their hotel now and would probably crash and burn soon after hitting the beds. She shrugged it off and and burst into a fit of giggles as Josh caught himself on the light post and thanked it promptly after. "Good light post." She patted it affectionately before glancing up and down the street. This was going to be a pain in the ass, and even drunk Lark knew that.
She normally would have argued with him, said that he was crazy for thinking he was the directional god of Vancouver, but in her right state she merely agreed with him and was willing to follow. "You totally know. I trust your instincts. Just..uh..don't stick your nose to the ground or some shit because you might snort a bug and die." Like that made any sense but the train of thought was logical to her. She said this with all seriousness, a small flash of concern crossing her features. What if he did inhale a bug? He would choke, and then Lark would be so incredibly sad. And the story she would have to tell everyone else would probably be unbelievable to those not present. Soon they were off and walking again, Lark's shoes scuffing on the pavement in a lazy attempt to keep up with her friend. Eventually the lights dimmed away and the darkness encompassed them. It was nice not having to squint constantly. She stopped just as abruptly as Josh did when he came face to face with the sign; sobriety would have been rather wonderful at this point but too late for that now.
"Seriously Josh?" She asked, eyes widening a little bit as she pressed an index finger to the cold metal. "It clearly says 'Only Awesomness Beyond This Point', so they are obviously talk..talking to us. Ahh yup." The Lark had spoken. She promptly wandered out onto the beach, ignoring the sign as well and falling back with a huff. The sky sure was nice, as was the sound of the waves. Nothing beat Hawaii, though. She sat up and nodded, watching and waiting for a fire to appear. A frown creased her lips when nothing happened. "You're broken," Lark pointed out bluntly, poking him in the arm. Oh god, what if he was broken forever? That just wouldn't do! Before allowing herself to get into some state of panic, Josh suggested making a fire and she quickly forgot what it was she was worrying over. Ah, alcohol. With a wobbly view of the world the girl attempted to stand up. "Yeah, let's do it! And we should do a fire dance or some shit. Because...because that would be awesome. We can summon your Fire powers back!" Now excited about this, Lark tried to skip towards a pile of driftwood and managed to trip over a small hill of sand, faceplanting. Sand was so sandy! Gross. She spit it out and coughed. "Fuck sand! Why did it do that to me? So mean..."
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 19, 2012 15:33:38 GMT -5
The term side-splitting laughter sounded like bullshit until you were laughing so hard that there were tears in your eyes and your ribs ached. He really wished he could remember what he'd said that had been so fucking funny because he'd have liked to save it for a rainy day or something. Alas, it was lost to the affects of alcohol as he half-walked and half-stumbled down the Vancouver city streets. It was a big city and there were others about to cast disapproving looks in the direction of the two intoxicated friends. Joshua barely took notice of them, too concerned with the fact that he should be winning awards for that funny bone of his. Comedy gold that he couldn't even recall. "I know right? I'm amazing. Fucking A." He was a confident person but he didn't usually brag unless he was joking or drunk. Now it was a combination of both. "And hey, you're not allowed to go around dying without my permission. That's not cool." His best friend was under his protection or some shit. She wasn't dying on his watch. Was he even wearing a watch? A quick glance at his wrist confirmed it and he felt a wave of relief. What the fuck would he have done without the golden watch god to help him out?
He furrowed his brow when Lark started singing, deciding that it definitely didn't sound right to him on any level. He couldn't figure out what she was getting wrong, though. Maybe it was the home on the range part? The other part could have been perfectly accurate for all he cared right now. "You suck at singing," he said, sing-songing as if to mock his best friend. She didn't actually suck at singing but he tended to make fun of his friends for silly things like that. Maybe she wouldn't take him seriously. "Isn't it? It's my best friend. Apart from you, of course." And Devin, Skye, Nell, all of the other people who could count themselves among his inner circle. He didn't have a lot of best friends but he didn't need a whole lot.
He might have been as drunk as she was or worse but he did not understand where she'd gotten the idea that he'd go around sniffing the ground like a dog. His expression reflected his confusion and he shook his head, looking exasperated. "Don't be stupid," he scolded bluntly. "I don't need the ground to know where I'm going. I have a built in compass or some shit." He didn't even know where north was at the current point in time and it wasn't like he had the coordinates of the hotel anyway but they were drunk so it made perfect sense to him. His confidence did not waver as they strayed further and further away from where the hotel was actually located, eventually finding themselves on the beach and facing a very unreadable sign. He narrowed his eyes to near-slits. "I don't see that," he disagreed stubbornly. "Not fair. Why can you read it and I can't? Hmph." He stalked away from her in irritation, angry that her vision was better than his, but he had forgotten his anger as soon as they were both lying in the sand and enjoying the sights and sounds.
That is, until he failed to light a fire and she decided to voice her blunt opinion on the matter. "Fuck you," he told her without emotion, frustrated with both his best friend and himself. Stupid powers. Fine, he'd do it his own way. See if he needed his stupid elemental power! "I don't dance." He lifted his chin as if daring her to challenge him. He did, actually, or at least he could, but only for formal occasions that happened to be very rare. He'd known what he was doing at prom and he was pretty sure he was all set for the wedding but casually? No way. "I'd knock you over too if you stomped all over me like that," he told his friend, sympathizing with the beach rather than with her. The waves were crashing against the sand nearby and he turned a hot gray glare on them, pursing his lips briefly. "You're too loud, shut the fuck up." This didn't work, of course, and he glared for a moment longer before giving up and struggling to his feet to reach a piece of driftwood. He dragged it back to where he'd been sitting before. "How are we gonna light it?" He didn't smoke so he didn't carry a lighter. Shit.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Sept 22, 2012 18:00:26 GMT -5
It was so incredibly hard to breathe, but she did manage to spurt out the words, "So awesome, man. So awesome." It sounded like half-mumbled garble but she understood it and that was all that mattered at the moment. That, and the fact that she was hungry, and the lights above their heads were awfully bright. If only she had some sort of magical power to make them go away. Lark nearly staggered backwards as she tried to look at her best friend, a rather indignant scowl on her face. "Wait wait wait," This was hard to process! "So I have to ask you if it's okay to die? But...but what if I die suddenly. Like a heart attack or a bear mauls me to death. I can't let you know then!" Oh god, and then that would mean dying without his permission and he would be so angry at her and she did not want to make Josh angry. "You...you won't be mad at me if I die suddenly, right? I don't like it when you're mad at me." She pouted and shuffled her feet, looking like a child.
Lark blinked at Josh, taking in his insult without really understanding much of it. She thought she was a damn good singer--at least drunk. He's just tone deaf. She gave the man an excuse that he didn't actually need, but it helped justify the reason behind his comment. "And you suck at singing too." Lark shot back with an indignant huff. Not that he had sung anything, really, but it would do for now. She replaced the frown with a smile and nodded, giving the lamp an appreciative glance before looking at her best friend again. "Aww, that's so sweet! Like...like a lampbromance. Or something. Fuck if I know." Words were hard. Even the word 'lampbromance' made her fumble a little bit and she could have sworn it made her spit more than normal. Either way she was incredibly amused by this and could not help but laugh out loud, drawing the attention of a few sober passerby's who could only shake their heads in silent shame. A look of relief washed over her face as he reassured her he did not need the ground; there was no way in hell she was going to give someone CPR with a bug lodged in their throat. Ew, ew, ew. Even so, it took her an extra moment before she realized something. "Hey!" She looked legitimately angry. "How the fuck did you come with a built in compass? I want one too! Why are you all special and shit." That was not even fair! And where could you even get one of those? She had to know. Oh, Josh would be getting a boat load of questions on this matter later...if she could find the means to remember this conversation an hour from now.
"That's because I have super reading powers. You have your dinky built in compass, and I can read. Simple as that." Lark boasted, crossing her arms and wearing a cocky smile on her face. It dissipated a second later as she realized oh, beach. Easily distracted, much?
She inclined her head at him and shook her head with a very serious expression on her face. "Oh yeah? Well fuck you too, brah. Fuck. You. Too." What were they even talking about? Uhh. Hell if she knew. All she knew was that she was flustered about his comment, even though that did not last for long. Her emotions were like a crazy rollercoaster; one minute she was happy, the next freaked out, the next frustrated, and then it reverted to happy again. She crossed her arms. "Yes you do, don't lie," The girl accused, pointing a finger at him. "You can't keep shit like that from me, Josh. I know everything, like a fucking ninja or something." With a black outfit and a katana and everything. Now her mind was focused on how awesome it would be to have the skills of a ninja. This did not help when she tripped in the sand. "Just you wait, it'll get you too! The sand will exact its revenge on anyone who steps on it. And trust me, it tastes awful." It crunched between her teeth and made weird noises. Her eyes drifted towards the water when he told it to shut up, amused but not saying anything.
Instantly her gaze was drawn to Josh as he got up to grab a piece of driftwood; Lark stayed where she was. There was no way the sand was going to trip her up this time! She would beat the system. "I dunno," She mumbled, pressing a finger to her lips in thought. "Maybe...maybe we can use a magic wand. Oh oh oh! Or we can bash two rocks together. That usually works." Like on those survival shows, only they knew what they were doing and were probably sober. Damn. "Ughhh I want a fire! Why can't it just make itself." That would be convenient.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 22, 2012 18:36:45 GMT -5
Joshua blinked at Lark with an exasperated expression as he stopped to listen to what she had to say. 'What is it now?' his expression seemed to demand as he pursed his lips and watched her critically. "I'm waiting, I'm waiting, fuck!" He threw up his hands in frustration. Why did she have to be so goddamn pushy all of the time? He might have went on to doubt their friendship if his train of thought would stay consistent enough to get that far but instead he settled for trying to process her words. He felt slow and sluggish and a look of visible concentration overtook him as he pieced together the words pouring out of her mouth. "There aren't any bears around here, Lark." His tone was disapproving. He swung his head around as if trying to sight Mr. Grizzly before the bastard snuck up on him. "See? Nothing." Heart attacks were very real threats though and he didn't have a smart ass answer for that one. She expressed concern over his anger, which was indeed concerning giving how much it was rearing its ugly head this night (and for ridiculous reasons, too!) and he looked overly focused again for a moment as he stared at her. "No," he said, his words as slow as his thoughts. He seemed to draw out the word as if he was unsure of its meaning. "No, no, no, you're my friend, I'm not gonna do that, I just... don't die, okay? S'not that hard." How was she going to make her way through life if she couldn't understand the simple concept of survival? It was sad.
The Fire graduate drew back his head as if her insult had been spat in his face. "Fuck you, too, bitch." He said the words without any of the real venom he might have used if he was sober and serious but he appeared bothered by what she'd said. "You don't know me." The words were muttered, for Joshua was directing them more toward himself than to Lark. Who was she to accuse him of being a terrible singer? Jesus. Not that it mattered, he wasn't too concerned with a singing voice anyway since it wasn't of much use to him as an aspiring doctor, but he didn't appreciate people being dicks. Speaking of being a dick, she also had a problem with his built in compass, too. Why are we even friends? He'd remember that one when he woke up with a killer hangover and a lot of regrets. "Why can't you just accept who I am, fuck. Just because I'm better than you doesn't mean you have to yell about it." He lifted one hand to hold the side of his head as if her yelling were giving him a migraine. His head did feel funny and he was going to blame it on her because she was getting upset for no reason and that was stupid. "If you've got such a problem with my directing then you can find your own fuckin' hotel." Directing, directions, same thing. It actually did still work in the sentence to some degree, something sober!Josh would have been proud of if he remembered it in the morning. Accidental intellect or something. While drunk, even better.
Speaking of his intelligence, he was quite insulted when she suggested he didn't know how to read. How dare she? He was a fucking doctor-to-be, damn right he was a smart motherfucker. And a very drunk one, so he didn't know how to express his upset in any way other than, "Bitch." Not that he hadn't called her that already but he was going to keep saying it until she got it through her obviously thick skull that she was mean and a whore and that she was on the fast track to hurting his feelings. "Do not, and you can't make me so don't even try." Like the incredibly mature adult guy that he was, Joshua folded his arms and glared at her in challenge. See if she could force him! "No, you're not omnise... no, omni... you just don't know everything, okay?" Omniscient was beyond his capabilities right now, he couldn't help that words were hard. He watched the sand with suspicion. "No, I've got my eye on it, can't get me when I'm watching." He then gasped sharply and glanced behind him, convinced that the sand was going to rear up like an earthen wave and swallow him whole. His heart was hammering as he realised nothing was there and he put his hand over it, swallowing. Great, now he was freaked out. He stumbled over himself a few times on the way back with the driftwood simply because he was trying to avoid letting the sand brutally murder him. At least he didn't faceplant completely or anything like that. Take that, beach. "Well I'm sorry but I'm not Harry freaking Potter over here..." He didn't have a wand. Not a magic one at any rate. If only his, erm, wand, could summon food and curse people and shit like that. It'd be awesome. "I don't know, maybe because it sucks?" The response was clipped and irate, though this time he was mad at the fire and not her. It was ruining his night, here. "Why don't you try lighting it, huh?" He was all broken according to Lark, what was her excuse for herself?
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Sept 23, 2012 17:22:15 GMT -5
Even drunk, Lark knew that her best friend was intelligent but she could not help but feel that a bear was still a great possibility. Sobriety probably would have been a wonderful help tonight but that was not even an option anymore. She would wake up in the morning with hardly any recollection of the night before. So long as they did not do anything really stupid they should be fine. "You don't know that, they could be anywhere." Her voice grew quiet as she shifted her gaze around them, just watching and waiting for a bear to come out of the shadows and attack. Never mind the fact that they were in the middle of the city; bears were still a great possibility in her mind! Lark observed him for a long moment, still looking hesitant about him getting mad at her for an accidental death. Despite her temper, she still hated having those she cared about getting upset over things she said or did. "Fiiiiine. Fine fine. I'm not...not going to die. I'm gonna fucking live forever, like Superman or some shit." Because he was awesome, and had a bad ass suit.
She growled, eyes narrowing. His last comment was not completely lost on her. "And you don't know me either," Lark countered calmly. "You suck at singing, and I don't. Simple as that!" She threw her hands up into the air and waved them around dramatically, the anger she felt dissipating after a few moments. Amusing how, without liquor, there probably wouldn't even be confrontation. Silly drunk people.
"I'll yell about whatever I want to," She replied defiantly, lifting her chin and stalking off ahead of him with a childish stomp to her step. "You're just jealous. Bitches are always jealous of my awesomness. You'll come to terms with it eventually." Everyone did, why couldn't Josh do that sooner? It was annoying as fuck and it made her frustrated that she had to try and convince him that she was just as good if not better than he was. In her subconscious she always admired her best friend and looked up to him; he really was someone Lark found to be quite epic. Right now, though, she didn't care and wanted to argue because reasons. Lark flared her nostrils and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll find my own damn hotel. And if I can't find it and I wind up sleeping on the street, it's all your fault Ioku. All your fault." To wake up in a street gutter did not exactly sound ideal and Lark wanted to avoid that if at all possible. She trusted Josh to get her back to the hotel safe and sound, even though her words said otherwise.
There was no disputing the fact that Josh could read, and even Lark knew that he was capable of it, but right now that did not matter. She was the epic reader tonight! There was a scowl on her face as she glanced at her friend, not feeling the least bit intimidated. She had known him for a long time, which helped. "Dick." Was all Lark said on that matter. Her words were so eloquent this evening, as were her arguing skills. They always seemed so friendly to one another when intoxicated. She stared him down with an intent (but glazed over) expression, jaw locked. Why were they even arguing about this? At this point, Lark did not even care. "I'm not gonna make you do shit. I know you always do what you want." And she did too, but that was beside the point. The dude was over six feet tall and could be a formidable opponent, so trying to make the man do anything could potentially end in disaster. Anyone with intelligence knew that. "I know everythinggggg," Lark teased, rolling her head back with a laugh. When she was done having her moment, she eyed her friend, then glanced down at the sand with a thoughtful frown. "You're just gonna stare at the sand the whole time?" She asked, tilting her head. "What about when we leave? There won't be any sand and then what?" She had to know!
There was a fairly disappointed expression on Lark's face. "So that's his middle name. Freaking. Harry Freaking Potter. That's actually a pretty sweet name, huh? I wanna change my middle name now." Marie was so boring and plain and...ugh. Maybe something new? That would require a bit of thought and thinking hurt and she just wanted to get this fire going sometime soon. She nodded slowly, absorbing Josh's words before managing to make some sort of reply. The words were in her head, it was merely putting them out in the open that was the hard part. "It sucks ass. Stupid fire. Burst into flames!" Lark demanded, glaring at the drift wood for a long time before slumping into the sand with a sigh. "I hate it, Josh. It's not nice." The wood wasn't nice, the fire wasn't nice, and the sand wasn't nice. So many mean things. Lark flicked her wrist and attempted to get the fire going, now determined to make this work. There was a tiny flame, but it was too small to have done anything. One moment it was there, the next it was gone. Damn. "Ughhh I'm broken too! What the fuck. What is my life."
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 23, 2012 23:33:25 GMT -5
He rolled his eyes and shrugged. Lark could believe what she liked, he thought that the danger of bears was very low for the time being and so he refused to be as concerned about it as she was. Instead he was focused on getting his internal GPS to kick in so that he could find this hotel. He could do with some food and sleep and other good things. He also wanted to be home because he swore that Maple Hollow had nicer street lights than this. "Vancouver is so obnoxious," he grumbled under his breath as he walked. It was probably loud enough for Lark to hear and respond if she saw fit but he was talking mostly to himself at this point. "I don't like it." He'd loved it during the day when he was drunk and listening to great music but now he was a very unhappy camper. He'd probably have a lot of stories about how amazing Vancouver was when he returned to his hometown but in his current drunk and frustrated state it might as well be the worst place in the world. He didn't know much about superheroes and so he furrowed his brow and looked pained. "He's immortal?" Superheroes were weird but then again, Josh supposed that mortals probably thought the same about the mere idea of an elemental. They'd probably laugh it off and insist that it was silly to think of someone that could summon a tornado or start a forest fire by sheer force of will.
Words were not being kind to him that day, so instead of responding verbally to his best friend's words, he settled for flipping her off. His fingers slipped the first time but he readjusted his hand and gave her a proper middle finger with a tight-lipped scowl. She was a bitch. They really were not getting along as best friends should that night and she was lucky that they were in a strange city or he might have ditched her and gone home. "I have nothing to be jealous of." It was true, but not in the sort of cruel way he said it now. He was not an envious person and so he did not begrudge others for their talents so he didn't really hate her for her musical prowess or skill in sports. The only time he tended to get jealous about anything was when someone hit on his girlfriend fiancée. "Fine," he shrugged. "Blame me if you want, I'm not going to give a shit if you insist on being stupid." Ah, drunk Josh tended to be a little overly blunt. This was another reason a lot of people couldn't handle him. He meant it, yes, but the biting tone that he used could certainly be taken the wrong way. Hopefully the fact that she was as drunk and him and that they'd been friends for years would save him.
Lark was apparently concerned about his plans for avoiding the murderous menace that was the sand and Joshua was confused by the question she asked him. "It can't get me if it's not there." It made perfect sense to him, what wasn't there to get? His logic was clearly flawless and he shouldn't be questioned. "There better be a laundry mat or dry cleaner though because ugh, it'll get all over my clothes." He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and shook it slightly as if hoping to dispel any tiny grains that might have stuck there. He wasn't afraid of the small bits of sand, he just didn't like having sand in his clothes, in his shoes, in his hair. It was one of the other reasons apart from being unable to swim that he'd never liked trips to the beach as a kid. He'd liked the ice cream parlour and that was it. "I like my middle name," he said simply, sounding content. What he did not like was the fact that this fire was stubbornly refusing to light for either of them. Lark apparently couldn't make herself work any more than he could. "See? You're just as bad as me. Takes one to know one."
[/b] Man, he hadn't heard that one since grade school. Memories. He slammed his fist down in frustration with a very audible, "Fuck!" He then found himself scrambling away from the pile of driftwood in alarm, forgetting that he would be immune to the burns as it flared up. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! Jesus." He was breathing hard in alarm and he waited a few seconds to calm down. "Fuck. Okay. Fire." Pleased with his accomplishments for the time being, he pulled a knife from his pocket and started to toss it up and down in boredom.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/size]
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Sept 24, 2012 11:24:11 GMT -5
There was a snide part of her that wanted to come up with some epic response to his disgruntlement towards Vancouver, but by the time she thought of anything remotely useful it flitted in and out of her subconscious as quick as the breeze that brushed by. 'Your face is obnoxious' seemed like a wonderful come back; however it was probably for the best that it was just a fleeting thought. She merely shrugged and looked upwards towards the sky, unable to really see much of anything past the halos that were the street lamps lining the road. That was definitely obnoxious, she agreed, and made some sort of hum in her throat as a delayed confirmation to his words. "Then why did you come?" Lark asked innocently, voice light and airy as she stepped. They did not have to travel outside of the Hollow to have their fun; she was perfectly content to get wasted back home too. The music festival had been a hell of a lot of fun, though. "Well, duh," Lark replied, rolling her eyes. "Of course superman is immortal. And he's invincible, except to Kryptonite which everyone already knows." Her inner comic book loving self was coming out, but she didn't care. It was Josh. She trusted him with all of her quirks even if she did not say anything aloud.
"You have everything to be jealous of. You just don't wanna admit it." Her index finger waggled limply in his directly before falling back at her side, the conversation completely lost on her. What were they talking about again? All she knew was that Josh should be jealous, though jealous about what she did not know. She furrowed her eyebrows together and looked indignant, but did not say anything on the matter. I'm not being stupid! The thought existed in her head, it lingered long enough for her to say something, but her brain could not process it into words at a quick enough pace either way. Arguments were not even valid during times of intoxication, so at least in the long run it did not even matter.
She still looked genuinely concerned about the sand coming after Josh, even though his logic made more sense than hers. Fuck logic. Lark was not even sure which way was up at this point. "Uhhh..." Processing words was hard. "Well, maybe it'll come to life and suck you in. And then you won't even stand a fucking chance, brah. It's like the Bermuda Triangle, only in sand form." Instead of disappearing at sea you would just get sucked under the sand and never be heard from again. That would make for a really interesting horror movie. Cheap and probably not scary to a better portion of the population but hey, most horror movies seemed to end up like that. For a moment Lark allowed herself to come up with an epic plot to said movie, the name not even an issue at this point. She lost her train of thought soon after when Josh spoke again. She pouted. "Ugh, I almost had something there and you made me lose it," Now it sounded almost as though Lark were whining, but at the same time came across as more angry than anything. "It was going to be aweeesome. And don't trust the laundromat," She glanced at him with a rather fearful expression on her face. "They'll put itch powder in your clothes if you aren't nice to them." That happened to Frank once and it caused the girl to burst out into a fit of giggles at the thought. Looking back it was a bit horrific but that was years ago. Now she could have cared less and felt that the man deserved every ounce of bad luck that sauntered his way.
There was no real explanation as to why she was aggravated that Josh was content with his middle name, but there was really no questioning it. Instead she huffed a big sigh and a grunt before saying, "Well, I'm glad someone does. Marie sounds so blaaand. Doesn't it? It's as boring as the name Norman." Normal Norman. That sounded so gross and icky and ugh. Now Lark was determined to fuck with her middle name just so she could avoid being a Norman. She crossed her arms. "Oh yeah? Well...well..." Her words trailed away slowly, nothing epic coming to mind. Fuck arguments. Fuck being angry. Fuck everything. She played with the sand for a moment before feeling the heat of the fire and the light momentarily blinding her, causing her to fall back on the sand and stare at it fearfully. "Holy fuck! That..was so cool! How did you do it!? You fixed the broken!" This was so amazing, she could not even comprehend it fully. After watching it for a minute, she crawled over to it and simply stared into the flames. "Hey, hey Josh." She said it softly, thoughtfully. "I just wanted to say that you're the most awesomely awesome person. Made of awesome. It's been one of the best birthdays of all ti--" She stopped as an unfamiliar sound reached her ears, and a new set of lights appeared from the road. Blue and red. At first it didn't register, then she looked to her best friend. "Look! Maybe they came to take us back to our hotel!"
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 27, 2012 4:21:14 GMT -5
He stared at her for a long moment as if she had just asked him what life was like on Mars. A couple of seconds slipped by without any words to fill the silence and then, abruptly, he said, "Next time something like this happens back home, let me know." Despite the strange delay in answering the question, his tone was fairly normal and matter-of-fact. Maple Hollow was remote and not any place of note, certainly not enough that any kind of large festival would take place there. Sometimes the seclusion of his hometown was pleasant, welcome, but other times he realised that it would be nice to have some of the privileges of a known city. He was still bitter about the underfunding of the program he would have otherwise signed up for in terms of post-graduate education. He scowled when Lark rolled her eyes. "Don't fucking treat me like I'm stupid," he warned. He hated not knowing things and it bothered him to think that she knew something he didn't. Sober he might have rationalised and realised that getting upset over comic books, which he did not read, was stupid, but in his current state he couldn't have cared less. "Just because I don't know something..." The cooler night air seemed to get a little warmer, though it was not a threatening increase in temperature so much as a knee-jerk reaction brought on by the fact that elemental powers often malfunctioned under the effects of alcohol.
He chose to simply ignore her comment, shaking his head with a rather condescending look tacked onto his features. I'm not jealous of anyone. The stubborn thought was a comfort and he focused on it instead of his friend. Later, on the beach, he was more attentive to Lark but still feeling stubborn in his own beliefs. "S'just sand," he said, his voice soft in contemplation as he reached down and flicked it experimentally. Despite his comment, he still watched it with an unwavering stare. Would it be able to do anything to him? It bothered him that his thoughts were so muggy and he couldn't concentrate. "Sides, the Triangle's a load of bull." Well, not completely, but he did not like anything that talked of paranormal experiences. He did not like to think of religion, of aliens or ghosts, of an afterlife. Joshua liked to make sure that everything he put stock into had roots in reality and science. If it could be proven, he felt safe. He wasn't nearly as logical and analytical as usual but he still knew his core views and beliefs. Lark looked freaked out at the prospect of laundromats and he blinked, frowning. "They've done that to you?" It was both a guess and a question. "That's fucking... not okay. That's stupid. Why would they do that shit?" He believed her, he was more irritated with the laundromat attendants he didn't know. "I'll punch their face in if they try that on me." He gave a decisive and seemingly satisfied nod. His answer to a lot of things was to bring out his fists.
Her anger didn't bother him and he merely looked smug. "That's my grandmother's name," he told her in a conversational tone. It came to his mind when she mentioned it and with the alcohol convincing him that it was important to talk about, he brought it up. Then he furrowed his brow. "Marie. Not Norman. She's not... wasn't... a guy." Not like Lark couldn't figure that one out on her own. He didn't think Lark had ever met Marie. Not many people in his life had met the woman before her death. Josh remembered her as a quiet and disturbed old woman who did things that his child mind had been unable to understand. Now, lacking sobriety, those things disturbed and concerned him as they were recalled. He looked uncomfortable and glanced around a few times before he shook his head and turned an unfocused gaze back on Lark. Thankfully the fire served as a good distraction from the disturbing thought process. "I just... punched the sand," he said, the words slow as he tried to get them past his lips. They still slurred, of course, but at least he wasn't rambling. "Like this." He punched the sand again for good measure. He cocked his head to listen to her and then grinned. "I'm fucking amazing!" He was mostly joking, though, and he was leaning over to give her an awkward sitting hug when the sirens and the flashing lights caught his attention as well. "Wha—?" He stared at the cops as they approached from a distance. He registered who they were but not why they were there. "What do they want?" His gray eyes were focused on the cop's holster, gun not drawn but the thought still putting Josh on edge. I don't like guns. There was a reason, too, a reason Lark was unaware of. Thank goodness he didn't show his unease.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Sept 28, 2012 21:13:37 GMT -5
At Josh's request, Lark promptly stood stock still and passed him a proper salute before throwing her arm back down at her side; it was her way of letting him know that she understood his 'orders'. Did stuff like this actually go on in the Hollow though? The city was fairly decent in size but due to the location they did not get festivals like this one on a frequent basis. Or did they? I should look that up later. Not that she would remember, and if she did it would be a miracle. At his comment, the girl looked at him with a scowl of her own. "I didn't fucking treat anyone like they were stupid," She shot back with a grumble, shoulders tense. What was a simple conversation about super heroes turned a bit sour, both of them now angry for one reason or another. Tempers were so lovely. Lark felt the slight difference in temperature but did not even make note of it aloud. She just continued to glare at her best friend and hoped he could feel her gaze burning into the side of his head.
She diverted her eyes to the sand beneath her and observed it as though seeing it in a new light. So far it had yet to suck her under and into some other dimension. That was good at least. To test this theory, Lark reached out and pressed her hand into the tiny grains and winced. Nothing. Hm. She pulled her hand away and merely looked contemplative. "It is not!" Lark looked affronted. "I know you had to have heard about those ships disappearing. That can't be a coincidence. It just can't be." Normally she would have agreed with her best friend, said that the Bermuda Triangle did not exist and if it did then there was probably some sort of logical explanation behind it. Not tonight. The alcohol was coursing freely in her veins now. Josh asked the question about the laundromats and the girl soon forgot her worries about the Triangle. Her memory was about the span of a goldfish. "Not...not to me directly no. But it happened to my dad one time. He was mad that they stained one of his uhhh...one of those suit things. And they got mad back and put itch powder in it." At this point Frank did not really cause Lark to change her expression or attitude, considering the memory was rather simple and her attention was in ten different directions. Her face lit up a little. "Can I watch you punch them? It would be funny shit. Not the..the itch powder part but the whole 'you breaking their nose' thing." She would die laughing. No regrets.
She tilted her head to the side and blinked. "It is? Holy fuck am I related to her?" That would be creepy. Not necessarily in a bad way, but more like one of those instances where you feel the world is slowly shrinking and you're related to more people than you first realized. "Norman. That would be a weird name for a girl. That would be like naming you Cindy or something." And suddenly the image of Josh in a dress flashed in her mind and the girl burst out laughing, though she never said what it was that made her laugh in the first place. Instead she wiped her face and took a deep breath. "You're definitely not a girl." She stated firmly, nodding.
Josh obviously had a talent for creating fire from sand. When his fist hit the ground a second time to show Lark what it was that had caused the initial flame, she looked as eager as a child. "Holy shit holy shit that's so awesome," She clapped her hands. "You're so talented. I wish I could do that." It really did not take much to excite her, especially when it came to something that looked so magical. She giggled and leaned in to meet him halfway in their awkward hug, about to say something when those obnoxious lights distracted her. Why now? They were having their fun on the beach. She blinked several times, slowly, before trying to stand up. "Like I said, maybe they wanna take us back to our hotel! Maybe we sent off some sort of radar or some shit that let them know we were lostttt." Lark fell back a little bit, staggering before waving at the police. "Hi! Hey! We're over heeeere!" She was unaware of the potential trouble they were in. When they approached she could only smile at them in a goofy, drunk fashion before looking at her best friend. One of them had their handcuffs ready, the other looked rather upset. "Do you realize that you're trespassing?" He asked calmly, lifting his chin. Lark ticked her head to the side and thought about it for a moment. "Uhhh...no? I didn't see anywhere that said we couldn't be here. Right Josh?" Well, the night seemed to be going pretty well.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 29, 2012 4:26:49 GMT -5
Two stubborn people in an argument had the potential to go very badly. Two stubborn people who'd also drank boatloads of alcohol prior to getting into said argument? It was sure to go down brilliantly. He looked frustrated with her for arguing with him and if he'd been any more petulant he might have crossed his arms. Instead he settled for, "Yes it can." He'd heard of the triangle and the myths surrounding it, of course, and he would have been a lot more concerned for someone who hadn't heard of it. That didn't mean he believed it. He might be drunk enough to believe that the sand was at fault for Lark's trip and fall but there was no way this Triangle thing had any stock in reality. "I bet they explained everything. Scientists have a lot of answers for all of that... myth shit." He wished he was sober so that he could be a little more eloquent and explain himself better. Oh, Joshua knew that he was drunk. It was nearly impossible not to recognise when the world started pitching and the lights started to assault his eyes and his words suddenly felt blocked. It was like the alcohol tried to shut down his intelligence along with everything else. "S'mostly just hype. People make shit up and then believe what they want to believe." A lot of ships went missing without a trace at first. Of course, science often explained some of these disappearances and the public continued to spread the false information in some twisted effort to bury the truth. That was annoying. He didn't like being lied to, he wanted the truth.
The mention of Lark's father still sparked a bitter anger in Joshua, an anger that flared up in his chest right then and caused him to almost lose track of what she was saying. He calmed himself down enough to listen and was admittedly amused by the idea of Frank being the victim of itching powder. Maybe he should have tried to keep in mind that the man was Lark's family but family weren't supposed to turn into alcoholics and attack their kids. It wasn't right. Then again, the more he thought on the actual situation the more offended he became. "Wait, wait," he said, louder than was necessary for the situation. "So they like... fucked his shit up, and he got mad, and then they fucked it up again?" Words, words, words. He continued to be bothered by how difficult they were. "That's not right." He might not have liked Frank but if the laundromat had stained something of his he'd have been furious. Damn right he'd have gotten mad. "I've broken a nose before," he said with almost disturbing cheer. Like he was talking about how he'd helped an old lady across the street or thrown his trash in the garbage instead of on the ground. Good Samaritan stuff that suddenly included shattering noses. "Guy was a dick," he assured her, as if this made it all better. It did, in his opinion. "Okay, okay, so laundromats are out." He didn't want no itch powder in his clothes! "But then... what the fuck are we gonna do with our clothes?" He scowled and shook some sand from a fold in his jeans. There was sand everywhere on a beach. Fuck beaches.
He blinked. "That would make you related to me, too." God, that would be weird. Not in a bad way, though, he realised. He wouldn't mind having Lark as part of his family. He saw her like a sister anyway. "No, I'm not..." He agreed with her about his lack of a vagina while looking very confused at the reason for her sudden outburst of laughter. The creation of fire didn't seem quite so awesome when the cops turned up and he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Lark. "No, no, what are you doing?" he hissed when she started trying to get their attention. It was too late to silence her now and he cursed his frustration. Not that it would have done him any good to cover her mouth or anything, especially since the cops had already spotted them before Lark had spoke out. "There was a sign..." he remembered slowly, looking strained as he tried to remember any sort of trespassing notice. "Couldn't read it, though. You people should really fix that shit." He shook his head, relatively disappointed in the world and their lack of readable signs. The cop didn't look too impressed and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Fucking drunks." Uh, we're not fucking, but okay. He backed up when one of the officers came toward him, then oh-so-gracefully tripped over his own foot and fell back in the sand. Looks like it had came back to get him after all. It had shunned tripped the nonbeliever. "Uh," he said, then laughed nervously. "Can we just, like, leave, and you can pretend we were never here... or something?" He was hopeful because, y'know, jail wasn't one of his favourite places.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Sept 30, 2012 10:57:07 GMT -5
Lark did not quite look convinced by her friend's words; how did he know that scientists had the answer to everything? Logic was a bit skewed right now due to the alcohol so in her mind her thought processes made sense and thus it was possible for ships to magically disappear in the ocean and leave no trace. Thus, his comments were frustrating. "Whaaatever," She blew him off and waved a limp hand in his direction to dismiss the conversation. Just like he believed that there was no way for them to disappear, other people believed that it was possible. Like he said, people believed what they wanted to believe.
She was completely unaware of the fact that mentioning Frank aroused a surge of anger in Josh; the alcohol left her a little loose-lipped and her train of thought tended to come out in spurts when she decided to open her mouth. Fortunately the situation was not dark or negative, nor did it involve harming his daughter in any way, so that also prevented Lark from giving it much thought. Josh's outburst did cause her to draw her head away from him and rub her ear dramatically. "Good god," She mumbled under her breath. "No need to yell." Not that she was much better. She always tended to get overexcited and raise her voice a lot when under the influence. She dropped her hand and nodded at him, continuing the conversation like normal. "Yeeep, pretty much. Dad was so angry. You should've seen him yelling and threatening them...said they would wind up buying him a new wardrobe if they kept their shit up." Pissing off a Fire elemental was probably not the wisest idea, and no matter how bitter Lark felt towards her father she had to admit that he was in the right on that one. She shook her head to agree with Josh. It definitely wasn't right. You can't mess up someone's clothing and then get mad when they displayed their upset over it. How professional was that? "You have? That's bad ass," She commented airily, as though discussing what they had for lunch that day. There were no broken noses on her part that she could thoroughly remember but she had had enough fights to make it possible.
"We'll uhh..." Damn, why did he have to ask that question? Now that required coming up with some epic answer and nothing was coming to mind. Alcohol tended to slow down her thought processes down a significant amount. "We can use a washing machine. Yep. And I'll wash all of our clothes." She sprawled her hands out and looked up at the sky for emphasis. Doing laundry normally would not excite her but hey, she was not really all there anyway.
There was a child-like light in her eyes as Lark observed her best friend, a smile creeping across her face. Related? That would be ten times better than claiming relation to Frank and Paula any day. "Really? That would be so awesome. I've always wanted you to be my older brother." Not that she didn't already consider him as such already but an official title would be nice. She was no where near as close with anyone else. Josh was practically family. The only family she had. Nell and Pacey came up close in the list, and of course Ashton but he had a separate category altogether. Her emotions about family were obviously disturbed by the cops and she ignored her friend's attempt to try and stop her from calling them over. They were already on their way to confront them as it was so it would not have done any good. The officer did not look pleased at all, eyes narrowed. "The sign says 'no trespassing'," He pointed out, drawing his finger in the direction of said sign. "If you weren't wasted you might have been able to figure it out." For whatever reason this made Lark angry and she tossed her hands onto her hips, scowling. Josh's making acquaintance with the sand hardly went noticed. "We can be drunk if we wanna be. I don't see a law that says we can't be. So. There." The officer grumbled to himself, kicked sand on the fire to douse it, and snagged Lark by the arm. The other one attempting to haul Josh to his feet. "Come on, let's go." They did not cuff them but seemed intent on putting them in the back of the cop car. Lark whined. "We just wanna go to our hotellll."
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Oct 4, 2012 5:57:39 GMT -5
It was funny, for Joshua was not someone who often yelled or so much as raised his voice under normal circumstances. He didn't like people that were loud and thus he didn't enjoy being loud. Right now he was intoxicated and so he was convinced that he needed to speak up because he wasn't talking loud enough. He narrowed his eyes at Lark. "I'm not yelling," he said stubbornly. Frank's reaction to the people at the laundromat sounded a lot like something Joshua would do if some idiots fucked up his wardrobe and so he smirked, his anger toward the man forgotten. "People are fuckin' stupid. If I pay for something I want it done right." He had a lot of money to throw around but that did not mean he would not become incensed if he did not get his money's worth from a service. If he paid someone to do something for him he expected them to earn the money that they were given. "Uh huh. He was pissing me off so I just..." He drew his fist and swung it through the air in what was meant to be an impression of decking someone in the face. It was not the nicest thing to do to a person but he did not regret it. He didn't regret a whole lot of things, violent or otherwise. The only thing that came to mind as a possible regret was when he'd punched Mr. Seok, the Home Ec teacher, in the face. And he didn't regret that because it was morally objectionable, no, he regretted it because he had come very close to being expelled thanks to that incident.
He nodded when she mentioned a washing machine, deciding that this sounded like a swell idea. It was not until several seconds later that he realised the potential problem with this set-up, such as, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, where the hell are we getting a washing machine?" He knew how to operate a washing machine from living in the apartment but he remembered the disaster of the first time he'd tried. He'd been young and stained something of his mothers when he was being careless so instead of owning up to his mistake and being responsible he'd thought it would be a good idea to wash it himself. And he'd managed, actually, albeit after causing the machine to overflow the first go around. His mother blamed it on the maid and he'd gotten off scot free for that one. "I don't think the hotel has washing machines, do they?" He didn't stay in hotels very often, it wasn't like he was an expert. "There's always the dry cleaners if we can't. Or one of those car wash things, maybe."
[/b] Car washes were for cars but he was drunk and it sounded like a pretty swell idea to him. In fact, why didn't they have car washes for people? That would be really cool and convenient in times like these. He grinned back when she expressed how cool it would be to have him as a brother. He saw all of his friends like family, especially Lark. He'd always seen her as more of a sister than anything else. "Je t'aime, soeur cadette," he said with a playful air. He was rather insulted by the way the cop talked down to him like he was somehow of lesser intelligence. Which, being drunk off his ass, he was, but he didn't want to come to terms with that right now. "Well if I wasn't wasted I wouldn't have been trespassing," he shot back stubbornly. It made sense to him. "If I could read your stupid sign I wouldn't be here." He was now quite ticked off with the officer. Lark made a pretty good point and he found himself nodding in agreement with her. Exactly. There wasn't any law saying that they couldn't drink even if there had been a sign telling them that the beach was off limits. "We're not underage, so—" He broke off as the other officer tried to drag him to his feet. "Hey, hey, HEY, let go, man!" He pulled his arm away once he'd been dragged to his feet and thankfully the officer didn't make to grab him again immediately. "I'm coming, I'm coming, Jesus." He wasn't stupid enough to think that he could make a run for it based on the fact that it was difficult enough to walk right about now. He ducked his head to avoid hitting it on the roof of the car and cursed as he looked over at Lark. "Well this is fun," he muttered sarcastically.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/size]
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