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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 5, 2011 18:27:33 GMT -5
Nell did her usual quizzical eyebrow lift at Josh’s demeanor and sardonic behavior. She listened intently all the same. He gave off bad vibes, but hey, a lot of people she’d known in her life gave her even worse vibes. After coming into contact with her family, it felt like it took more to intimidate her. Besides, she thought Josh was an interesting person, at least, even though he didn’t give her much to work off of in terms of conversation. That only made her more intrigued, if not somewhat nervous. ”Not a lot of people bother with college after they’re done high school right? It’s pretty much optional.” She wasn’t too oblivious to the goings-on in the Academy at least. And it appeared that once students were done with high school, they pretty much fled. But Josh hadn’t it seemed. She knew she’d be staying in the Academy for the while, at least. It was her sanctuary, there was nowhere else for her. And she’d make sure to know as much about her powers as possible. Plus, it sounded interesting by what Josh said, that one can learn their own style for their powers.
What could she eventually do, she wondered. She had a feeling her abilities were quite watered down what with the fact she was the only Earth elemental in her family, plus it skipped a generation on her mother’s side. But the fact she was able to do what she did to her mother spoke of some power, which unfortunately seemed quite uncontrollable… She almost shivered. The things she was supposed to leave behind in America had followed her all the way north, and it seemed no matter how much she tried to shake them they would always be around.
He repeated her statement and she met his grey eyes imploringly. This guy was willing enough to help her, it didn’t matter much that he was a bit of a jerk. But she tried not to think of things black and white like that, there was too much in-between. And since Josh was clearly a smart dude, that meant that he wasn’t all that terrible. She supposed, at least. Nell was somewhat surprised he retracted his statement with a slight incline of his head, and she shrugged lightly with a small smile to mean that she saw no harm in what he asked. ”Yeah, it has,” she replied simply. He clearly didn’t mean to poke into her business, and even if he had it’s not like he knew the truth and therefore couldn’t understand how it’d affect her. So she didn’t mind at all. It took a lot for her to be offended—she didn’t know if she could actually be offended.
Nell nodded at his last suggestion about ‘overgrowth’. ”Root overgrowth tends to be a problem.” But she really didn’t want to talk about that. Her own reluctance to admit certain things was going to be her downfall, she knew. Ironic, considering it was how she protected herself. ”It doesn’t sound too bad, but when it’s connected to my emotions and…” Her half-smile was rather secretive, but she couldn’t pull off Josh’s wry expressions. ”You can guess at how it can go wrong.” From what she heard, the Fire students tended to be wrathful, and their flames embodied that. So on some level, powers possessed some empathic connection, right? She had only meant for protection or something when she touched that tree; she didn’t expect it to uproot and wrap itself around Mia’s neck. But she’d been so afraid there was nothing else she could do… Nell lightly shook her head as she thought about this, and rested an elbow on the table so she could cradle her head. Eyes steady on Josh’s across from her, she said, ”Though I’m sure with my track record, an earthquake wouldn’t be too farfetched.” She meant it to be light, but it was at least half-true.
Somewhat surprised by how much Joshua said, Nell kept her gaze focus as it always was when taking in new information. When she was seriously concentrated, it was hard to distract her. "That makes a lot of sense." Internally, she supposed she was already aware of this which is why she headed to parks to hone these abilities she never truly understood. In her house, she supposed she could have defended herself from her mother. Where she grew up, there weren't a lot of places to practice this power that she didn't even fully understand. There was the flowerbed outside her window and the dangerous city parks. The Bronx was no place for a little girl, let alone an Earth elemental. ”I wouldn’t suppose you know some good places for an Earth student to practice?” But hey, he seemed to know a lot of stuff. She wouldn’t put it above him, even though he was of Fire affiliation. Then, another question came to mind. "Is it even possible to create earth out of nothing like you do with fire?" With fire, it seemed like with enough oxygen and heat you could pull it off rather easily. What were the means by which one needed to create earth?
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 5, 2011 19:12:55 GMT -5
-NOW THE PARTY WAS JUMPIN' AND THE GIRLS WERE FINE with their lipstick summer glaze - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joshua shook his head. "Nah. Most people just want out." He shrugged, saying no more on the subject. He really didn't share in their reluctance to continue schooling--hell, he was taking a bunch of pre-med staples online right now and planned to attend the more hands-on classes sooner rather than later. He figured he could juggle it with his work at the Academy. Right now he was just holding off on doing so because he had to work so hard at his job. He didn't even want to know how bad things were going to get once Angel had the kid and whatnot. The idea of paying child support absolutely terrified him--it was far too much on top of his rent and living expenses. But Joshua wouldn't go to his (incredibly rich) parents for help. No, he was too proud to run crying back home like a little kid. He would handle this... somehow. For now he'd just focus on continuing his daily schedule as he had been for the past couple months since she'd told him and flipped his life upside down. To think I thought I would be able to manage when I got the job to pay my rent... It had left enough money in the bank at the end of every month that he didn't have to worry about eating and gas money and the like, but lately he was really struggling. Schoolwork was the only thing keeping him sane, crazy as that sounded. A comforting familiarity. He was pretty sure a lot of his classmates didn't have to deal with this.
Apparently Nell had problems with her powers in terms of root overgrowth. She suggested that it might not have sounded that bad, and he actually laughed--it was a dry chuckle and void of most humour, but it was still there. "Suggesting that it's a pleasant idea to have a bunch of roots running--erm, growing--rampant around you? I'd say that's pretty bad." Of course, he wouldn't be afraid of it. With Joshua it was simply a matter of calling upon his own power and incinerating the attacking growth. But he supposed if she lost control of her own powers and a bunch of roots started to pop up everywhere and do horrible things that it was pretty fucking bad on a scale of one to ten. He arched an eyebrow, envisioning what it must have looked like and what it could possibly do in terms of damage. "I can most definitely imagine." Joshua arched an eyebrow at her light tone when she spoke of earthquakes, wondering whether she seriously thought it in her realm of power. Volatile, hmm? Probably not even close to as dangerous as he was when he lost control, though. She seemed too nice. It was a damn good thing Josh didn't lose (elemental) control very often.
She asked him where it might be ideal to practice and he leaned back in his chair slightly, frowning as he thought about it. "I might, hang on..." He racked his brains for all of the information he'd gathered over the years. "If this was spring or summer it would be a lot different, but..." It was very simple for an Earth elemental to find an ideal spot in the warmer months--they had but to go outside and there was tons of sunlight, plantlife and greenery. Though spring was the most promising--the frequent rain meant that there was a lot of moisture around as well as sun and plant growth. "I think your best bet would be to practice inside, where it's warm--at least during the winter months," he mused. "Possibly near a window for the sunlight. If you can eliminate the cold and provide the warmth and light, it may be a little easier. I'd suggest a forest considering that the trees are dormant rather than dead, but the frigid temperatures and the snow everywhere pretty much deadens that prospect as easily as it deadens the ease to create fire." And they were different in the sense that he'd learned to create his element out of nothing, whereas she was still on the road to that goal. "It would also obviously help if you had something like... a potted plant, or seeds, something from which the element could stem considering how difficult creation from nothing can be--especially if you're not accustomed to control." He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and flicked it slightly, then moulded the tiny flame into a temporary and impressive burst of fire that came much easier than simply creating it from nothing. "I carried around a lighter for most of my high school years just in case." He didn't smoke--the lighter was solely for the creation and manipulation of his power when a situation was tight.
His brow furrowed as if he thought the answer to the next question should have been obvious, but he forced his expression to clear and answered, "Well of course. It would be a rather shit deal if we could do it and you couldn't." He wasn't trying to make her feel like an idiot or anything--he understood that she hadn't been here since grade nine and that all of these were questions that a lot of the freshmen did ask. It just took a little adjustment seeing as he'd always went to his parents with a lot of these questions and so wasn't used to hearing them. "Different conditions for different powers of course, but we can all do it with some training." He smirked and the fire materialised from thin air once more. He wasn't really trying to be a show off or anything, just enjoyed the warmth that it sent through the library. "Even when the conditions are as awful as they are now."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I ' M SORRY BUT I HAVE TO SAY i'm too drunk to fuck!
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 5, 2011 19:59:01 GMT -5
She didn’t think he’d be too threatened by such a thing, roots popping out of the ground and all. It must have been an easy task for Fire elementals to just burn away any plant growth. But it’s what an Earth elemental could do with them that was the problem. What she had done with them. “From what I see, most don’t consider Earth students to be a threat,” she said to explain the fact that random overgrowth didn’t seem too bad. “And it’s true, since we’re not at all confrontational and don’t pick fights. Especially with Fire students, because you guys have the upper hand anyway.” Nell certainly didn’t go around picking fights. As a matter of fact, she took care to avoid them. But she did have her defense mechanisms when triggered, and if she was threatened by a Fire student she would back off when she knew she was in trouble. Well…she had already been threatened by Josh, but that was a different case. It was before she knew that he was even a student. Nell still backed down because she knew when she was in over her head.
Nell patiently waited for this wunderkind to come up with some kind of explanation as he leaned back in his chair. When he brought up it being winter, she wrinkled her nose, though she wasn’t too put-off. It was rather disappointing how little she could do in such climate, but she was not so easily discourage. And now he apparently had some ideas to help her out with that. ”Winter lasts long in Canada, doesn’t it?” she noted when he spoke of the forests being dormant. The bare trees were very cold, inside and out. ”Don’t Fire Elementals have trouble during these months, too?” She was curious as to how these things work, as she is with everything. And she took some time to consider what he said, finally nodding. He had been around longer than her, so she took a lot of merit into his words. ”I’m sure there’s a lot of places around school to practice. Since the snow is hampering pretty much anything I try to do.” Nell listened raptly to what he said, still quite aware of his ‘accent’—though it really wasn’t, it just seemed so to her. She usually used flowers to practice, carried them around and such but during this winter she had to actually buy potted plants and help them grow. And she wasn’t doing too good on the money front. It’ll be pretty damn good when she actually can manifest earth out of nothing.
Nell was quite amazed when he took out the lighter and procured a flame. “Pretty innovative, Josh,” she said with a broad smile. The compliment was sincere, as were all her compliments. “So you use it as a catalyst then?” It was very interesting to learn about such things, seeing him manipulate his magic. This was a new world, after all, with new things to experience and see. It didn’t matter that he was her natural enemy and that he could use that fire to incinerate any defenses she put up—it was pretty damn awesome. All these powers were, these things she was seeing every day. “Don’t think I’ll be carrying around a potted plant at all times, though,” she said with a light snort. It would be rather odd, walking through the halls carrying a plant. Though, as she thought about it, that sounded like something she would do.
Nell realized then that it was a stupid question when he told her that it would be crap if she couldn’t do the same, and she flustered a bit, cheeks heating up. “True,” she acknowledged with a soft laugh. “It just seems very…abstract to consider creating earth out of thin air. I’ve never tried it before, and I’m not going to any time soon.” It was what college kids like him did, right? And since she had problems controlling her magic anyway, it wasn’t too smart an idea to get in over her head with such a thing. His fire manifested once more and she observed it with shrewd eyes, nodding. ”I don’t think I’ll be one of the students who leaves after high school, then. There’ll always be a lot to learn, and this is the best place to do it. It’ll be incredible to be able to do what you do sometime in the future.” Nell nodded as with finality, the decision strong in her mind. However, she couldn’t really see that far into the future. Who’s to say she wouldn’t be languishing in federal prison next year? The thought was quickly dismissed, as most thoughts like that. Keep it all buried beneath the earth. She was one determined sucker, it took a lot more than future ‘what if’s to deter her.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 5, 2011 20:59:14 GMT -5
-NOW THE PARTY WAS JUMPIN' AND THE GIRLS WERE FINE with their lipstick summer glaze - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It was true--Earth students were seen as the calm and non-threatening student group. "I can't argue with that." He'd never felt threatened by an Earth student before. Part of it was because of his powers and the fact that he felt he could easily defeat them if they tried to stand up to him, but another bit of it had to do with the fact that they just weren't violent people. Even if they defeated you it was more likely through rendering you unable to retaliate via vine ropes or something similar. He'd never been hospitalised or even seriously injured by one of her kind before. Oh, he'd pissed off a group of girls who had managed to overpower him and pin him down, but the slap across the face had hurt more than the actual earth manipulation had--not much at all. "We most definitely do." He smirked at the thought, gray eyes glittering with a dark sort of amusement. It was good to have the upper-hand on someone. He was also pretty smug that they had the upper hand over their own allies. As did Earth in the case of Water.
"It does," Joshua agreed. "It's long and cold and generally awful." He had absolutely no love for the cold months of the year. He chuckled when she spoke of his own element and their difficulties with the snow and frost. "We do," he said in confirmation. He normally wouldn't admit any sort of weakness but in the Academy the elemental alignments and the effects the weather had on them were pretty much common knowledge--she'd have found out eventually, so there was no real point in withholding such information from her. He was not aware that his accent was so apparent, forgetting that his tone of voice would be foreign to her. He most definitely took note of her own accent but as the majority of the people he hung around daily were Canadian and spoke as such, it was a bit of an adjustment to think of anyone finding it strange. "The snow is a pain. Helps to ask some of the professors, sometimes they'll let you use an empty room. Go for one of your own element, if possible. They implement favouritism." He supposed it was only natural to feel more kinship toward students that shared your alignment, but the staff could be real dicks if they were opposed to you by nature. He'd been landed in a lot more detentions and sticky situations by Earth and Water professors than any of the other three combined.
The Fire elemental shrugged. "More or less. Gives me an edge over anyone not expecting it." There was the smirk again, cold and suggestive in all its glory. He enjoyed having an edge over his opponent when it came to combat because he was an aggressive personality once you got on his bad side. Josh didn't like losing and he threw himself into a fight full-force, no holds barred. He was incredible volatile and dangerous. Perhaps it was a good thing most people had learned to just stay out of his way over the years. His temper was a many-headed and terrible beast. "Carry around seeds or something, then," he suggested with a shrug. "They're much smaller. It's usually ideal to have soil and water and all that as well, but I'm sure you could manage with just the seeds if you tried hard enough." Elementals made do with what they had, right? That was how he'd always experienced things in his many years at the Academy at least.
He nodded, understanding her desire to keep things to a minimum for now. "That's probably your best bet," he told her. "If you try to create something from nothing before you even know what that something can do, it won't turn out very well." You had to learn the ins and outs of the element before you were ready to summon it. Nell explained her desire to continue through college, and Joshua couldn't blame her for wanting to do so. "Always good to learn as much as you can," he said mildly. That was why he was still here. He could have committed himself to his desired career path full-time, but he wanted to try and juggle college with pre-med for now. He wanted to master his Fire abilities completely before he moved on from this Academy which had over the years become an odd sort of second home.
Josh suppressed the urge to yawn, realising only now that his minimal amount of sleep last night was beginning to tax his strength. He pushed it aside, however, and focused his attention back to Nell. "Anything else you want to know?" he queried. He was being oddly non-confrontational at the moment, but it was solely because they were discussing school and knowledge and all of the things that Joshua felt comfortable discussing. "By the way," he added, "if you want more help than just my talking at you... I could help you out academically as well. I'm pretty good at studying-" he gestured mildly to the stack of books, "and as I've already been through all the grades I'm pretty familiar with a lot of the coursework." It was a surprising offer, and one mainly made because he knew the teachers wouldn't be as careful and as meticulous. They had to teach hundreds of people daily. He didn't have anyone but himself to watch out for. He figured he could help her out.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I ' M SORRY BUT I HAVE TO SAY i'm too drunk to fuck!
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 5, 2011 22:32:05 GMT -5
Nell regarded him with her usual quizzical expression she used on him when he said such things. If she were the type of person to, she could have considered his words as a challenge. But Nell just brushed it off. It was apparent he had pride in his Element, which was all fine and dandy. Especially since she didn’t plan to pose a threat to him any time soon. It’s not like she’d go out of her way to incense his anger, sober or not. It just wasn’t in her personality. So she merely smiled her usual smile, and tilted her head a bit.
They shared distaste for winter, it seemed. Good news, she thought at his words with a mental sigh. She never had to deal with such weather back in New York, but then again she never really had to deal with weather in general. She was a prisoner, it’s not like she went outside a lot save for when she snuck out. However, Nell had a feeling she’d enjoy the weather more if her apartment had central heating and her powers weren’t based around plants that died in such a climate. She was going to ask Josh how his powers were negatively affected by the weather, but she still felt self-conscious about asking too many questions. Too bad she had already bombarded him with quite a lot. So when he suggested she ask a professor, she nodded. ”A bit too many politics for my tastes,” she said with a sigh. Not only did she have a ‘let’s all be friends’ mentality, but she also couldn’t understand why the Academy needed such things. But that was how the world works. ”But you’re right. I don’t think a Fire professor would be so kind. Though you never know…” She still tried not to judge based on elements.
His snide demeanor was quite charming, and she still kept on her cool expression. "I'm sure it does," Nell said in an airy tone. She didn't want to carry around something as a weapon, even though that meant self-defense. She tried to keep such a thing to a minimum now, since it had ended quite badly before. "That I can do," Nell said when he mentioned seeds. She was determined as anything, so she'd try her damnedest without the essentials. Not like she could keep a greenhouse on her person at all times.
She nodded. Since she had enough problems when provided the essentials, she could only imagine what might go wrong should she try without them. Start out small, and then work up to the big stuff. "Eventually it'll come easier," she said with a determined sort of tone. She was going to get stronger so nothing would go wrong again, she'd make sure of that. Unable to resist, she asked, "Did you ever have problems in controlling your own powers?" Fire was a life all it's own, something living and breathing. In its natural state, it was practically uncontrollable. But Fire students could do just that--the fire bended under their touch. Of course, plant life and the such was equally as alive, practically breathing itself. But vegetation wasn't nearly as destructive in its natural state, only ivy and flytraps could even come close.
Nell had a feeling that perhaps she was being too imploring, so when he asked if there was anything else she wanted to know, the Earth girl shook her head and smiled. "No, you've helped a lot already." And this wasn't just being polite, she'd actually learned more sitting here and speaking with him than she had in most classes. She blinked at his next statement. That was very…generous. Surprising, really. Nell smiled brightly and said, ”Thanks. I really do appreciate it.” Even though she still had a feeling that he wasn't going out of his way to help her. Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, ”Is there any way I can get in contact with you?”
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jun 5, 2011 23:30:35 GMT -5
-NOW THE PARTY WAS JUMPIN' AND THE GIRLS WERE FINE with their lipstick summer glaze - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - She asked him if he had trouble controlled his powers and Joshua actually snorted. "Would you even believe me if I said no?" he challenged seriously. "That's why the Academy exists. Everyone has trouble." They all started off like infants--not knowing anything about this new world, or at least knowing very little based on what they'd been told from their parents if they had grown up with knowledge of the Academy. The school slowly walked you through every aspect of the elemental world, teaching you how to control your gift and adapt to your new environment. It was like a sudden crash-course in life from a whole new perspective.
He could remember growing up and watching his parents manipulate the fire as if there was nothing to it, lighting fireplaces with a flick of the wrist and snuffing candles from across the room. Sometimes when he was small he used to sit with his father and ask Donovan to make shapes with the flame, fascinated by its warmth and flickering glory. He'd often asked his parents whether he would ever know for sure if they'd passed the genetics onto him. It had been a constant worry of his childhood. "Only time will tell," Patricia used to tell her son patiently, ruffling his dark hair and offering him a smile. Donovan would just respond with a gruff, "You'll see when you're old enough, stop worrying about it already." When he was thirteen and sitting in the living room watching television, it had happened. He was with his parents and he'd noticed the room was cold, so he'd instinctively glanced over at the fireplace and had felt slightly irritated by the fact that it was not on. All of a sudden, bam--fire.
"Did you do that, Dad?" he remembered asking his father, staring wide-eyed at the offending logs which were now crackling with warmth. Patricia had been absolutely ecstatic, and Donovan had only given a bit of an approving smile. "Looks like you're going to the Academy, son," was all he'd said. Joshua had tried in vain to make the fire happen again, but it hadn't been until he'd started attending school that he'd really gotten a hold of what to do and how to do it. Like all Fire students, the start of term had been hell for him. He had trouble so much as getting a candle to go out. He'd huffed in irritation and blew it out once--it had felt like an accomplishment until his teacher had looked at him with a glance half-amused and half-exasperated.
It seemed that their small study session was coming to an end, Nell insisting that he'd helped her enough. Something made the Fire student think that she was far from caught up on all of the things she needed to know, and maybe that was part of the reason why he'd offered further help. It wasn't something he would usually do but he certainly didn't plan to retract the offer. She asked if there was some way she could contact him, and Joshua frowned for a moment, thinking. "Hmm..." What was a good way to keep in contact with someone, other than just trolling around the entrance to the Fire dormitories and hoping she ran into him? Then it occured to him: he had a phone, obviously! He hardly ever used it but to order the occasional pizza or for his work to contact him, but it was still a reliable form of contact. "Here, I'll give you my number," he said, pulling it out and checking the number before writing it down on a piece of paper which he tore away from the blank notebook page and folded, sliding it across the table. "Might want to give me yours as well, so I can call you back if I'm in class when you call, or something."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I ' M SORRY BUT I HAVE TO SAY i'm too drunk to fuck!
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 6, 2011 10:45:26 GMT -5
Nell shrugged. "You're very good with it now. I might be able to believe it," she said levelly. "Of course, that must have taken years, hmm? I don't know how it was for others, whether or not they had the same problem. I didn’t even know the Academy existed until about a month ago, but…it makes sense." She said it smoothly, because it didn't bother her. It was hard being the new kid and being seventeen, but she wouldn't let that rule her. Of course, her ignorance of how this world worked was a problem, but she would get over it. There was a lot to learn, but she wanted to learn it, and so the mystery would only do to encourage her more.
The Academy never existed for her, though, so she didn’t really understand how it all worked. When she turned fourteen, her sister had been dead for seven years. She had endured seven years of her mother's abuse. She had given up for seven years. The only reason she even discovered her powers was because she would open her window to sneak out or just breathe in the fresh air. A cool breeze felt very good against smarting welt marks. And when she saw the window box, she could run her fingers through the hard soil and blue wildflowers would sprout, poking up to her amazement. At first, they’d barely move past being sprouts, but as she focused harder she could make the flowers bloom, opening up wide into the smoggy city air.
To her, it was a fairytale. She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew it would save her. So she practiced her skill for years, not knowing there was a school out there for exactly that. She tried going to the libraries she usually visited for research on Till, but they didn't help. No non-fiction tome held the answers she needed to better understand what she was able to do. All she could rely on was practical application. And that meant the scummy city parks, where she'd plait blades of glass without even touching them, tiny things that amazed her young mind. Her powers were her saving grace, they inspired the hope she had lost after Tilly died.
It was after a particularly vicious beating that she decided to run. She was ready. She could make it. But she didn't make it far into the park before her mother found her. Nell once thought she had control over whatever it was inside her. But when the moonlight caught on her mother's knife and she drew in close to slash it across her stomach... There was no control, only fear. Only the feel of the trunk on her back, the stinging pain as the wound bled through her shirt, and the drawing up of roots, the smell of deep soil all around. Had anyone else lost control like that? Is that what the Academy was here for, so that little girls didn’t kill their mothers?
He seemed to have to think about a form of contact, but he eventually came to the conclusion of his phone number. She had recently bought the cellphone—her first ever, as a matter of fact. And though technology confused her a bit, it did come in handy. She was making friends, after all, and now she had Josh's number. She put the paper in her pocket and wrote down her own on the notebook. ”Sounds good,” Nell said. She stood then, picking up her messenger bag and with a lop-sided smiled she said, ”Thanks again. See you around, I guess.” She was pretty darn grateful for him even considering helping her out when he had nothing to gain for it. So she’d make sure not to be too much of a burden. He probably had better things to do with his time. Like getting completely wasted. Nell shook her head. Strange guy. Drunk by night, genius by day. He was some kind of screwed-up superhero.
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