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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jul 12, 2011 21:29:19 GMT -5
She apologised for her laughter, and though Joshua met her eyes with a glare for another long moment, he eventually relaxed his clenched jaw and gave a simple nod. 'Okay,' it seemed to say, 'I guess I'll take your word for it'. Trust. Such an alien and confusing being. He usually just assumed the worst in everyone and everything so accepting someone's honesty and kindness at face value was rare. Really, Nell probably didn't realise how much he was trying, here. "... I suppose I took it a bit too personally." He was talking about the entire argument, not the laugh. And though he did not use the words 'I'm sorry'--for it was like chewing concrete--there was something akin to an apology in the way he spoke. He knew he was acting ridiculous for getting so worked up, but as childish and stupid as it seemed, he couldn't help it. His temper problem wasn't something he had any control over. His parents always suggested he get 'help' for it, but that meant seeing a shrink and Joshua's pride would not let him admit to anyone that there was something wrong with him. Shrinks were for the crazy people, that was the simple way in which he viewed things. He was not crazy, he was adamant about this. So the temper problem stayed. Unfortunately (just like now) it had a habit of getting in the way of everything.
Joshua felt a little bad for putting Nell in the spotlight like this, especially since she seemed so self-conscious and embarrassed about it. Apparently she had not been told but had rather assumed that there were tons of elementals and that they outmatched mankind by a fair amount. "I'm guessing there were a lot of elementals around where you lived?" he asked, actually managing a small smile. He didn't hold it against her and he wanted to make this much clear. "It's pretty easy to be persuaded of such, especially with the Academy being so populated." He wasn't just saying this for her benefit or anything, he truly believed that it would be simple to convince yourself that your kind were superior. Especially when they could erupt volcanoes, shift mountains, empty lakes. "Don't worry about it," Josh assured her when she apologised, actually being sincere. He really didn't mind that he'd had to explain it to her, however awkward it had been to bring it up. Better he tell her now than she find out when the government kidnapped her, right? "It's the same reason we're not allowed to demonstrate any form of our power in public," he added as an afterthought, "because if they found out, well..." Governments were always hunting for ways to advance their military prowess, and what better way than to harness the powers of the elements? They'd be treated like dogs, like slaves. He hated the mere idea of someone having such control over him.
He was glad that she respected his silent will for privacy enough that she didn't ask about the gangs and the dark parts of his past. They were things he hated talking about even to his parents--or perhaps especially to his parents, whom he knew were ashamed of their son's defiant behaviour--so he respected that there was no amount of prying involved. She knew more than most people did about that part of him; most weren't even aware he'd interacted with gang members, let alone been one at some point. Apparently the area where she grew up was especially bad for gang violence, too, so he wondered if she thought any differently of him. Did she assume he'd been a gang member once, or did she just think he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and somehow wound up on their bad side? He wondered at what she thought of him, but didn't ask nor correct any false views she might have possessed.
The way she skirted around the question was incredibly suspicious. If she'd just said there weren't any things of the sort around where she lived, he'd have likely taken her word for it. But saying that it was a secret, dancing around the issue, that suggested that there was something more to all of this. He wondered--oh, how his curiosity ached to press for more--but stayed silent. A single nod indicated that it was indeed 'kay', even though his intellectual mind highly disagreed. She apparently didn't know what to do with the thing, and for a rare moment he found himself holding back a genuine laugh. Though the sound did not escape his lips, his gray eyes seemed lighter as he said, "Wow, you really haven't messed around on one before, have you?" It was more of a rhetorical question, he didn't expect an answer. "You're supposed to spin it," he replied helpfully. It was usually for younger kids and their parents would swing it around, but he'd seen teenagers playing on it as well. Those teenagers that watched kids shows and movies and played on playgrounds. He didn't really understand that. Were they trying to recapture their youth, trying to look cool, or just simply so bored that they'd resort to anything. "Like this," Josh added, grasping one of the bars and pulling it so that it spun a little. The laugh he'd been holding back finally escaped in a soft chuckle. "I don't know if it's too safe during the winter, though." He glanced around them furtively, searching for anyone else. Noticing that they were alone in this area of the park, a quick flick of his wrist dried the slippery bits of snow.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jul 12, 2011 22:43:01 GMT -5
It looked for a second like he was going to go all Fire student volcano on her, and she tilted her head a bit warily. But apparently he was satisfied that she was not laughing at him. And that she was just an easygoing person in general, and therefore one found her laughing or smiling in general. Josh even apologized…kind of. Well, he was as sincere as he usual got, and she took it. Anything to get him to cool off. She didn’t like it when people were angry or upset, especially with her. So she’d try her best to see them smiling again. Actually, Josh didn’t really smile so she couldn’t say that.
Nell looked away, not before catching a smile she had previously thought he couldn’t show. ”Yeah, kind of… When I first found out this whole deal and that my entire family was full of elementals…I automatically assumed…” She stopped. Talking about the geography of where she came from was one thing, talking about the family there was something else. They were pretty much the reason she believed that elementals were all around her. Nell sighed in relief that she hadn’t pissed him off with her ignorance or that he looked down on her like some lesser plebe. But maybe he did, she realized with a bit of consternation. Either way, the Fire student gave no inclination of having being bothered by her naiveté. The gratitude showed on her face. ”Human experimentation,” she finished for him, sighing. Nell was fucking lucky that her family was there to cover up the fact that she did some heavy damage to the park when she killed her mother. But that was to save their own skins, and to also turn it against her. You’re thinking about them again, moron.
If Nell was anything, it was good at respecting boundaries and privacy. They may have been different people, but no one liked prying eyes. For her, it caused nervousness especially since she realized now that she wasn’t a very good liar. Ironic, she thought, that people at the Academy believed she was good enough a liar to cover-up Cyn’s murder. But you are covering up a murder. In any case, she forced her mind back to, if anyone asked about her past it was immediate awkwardness for she didn’t know how to respond. There was only one person so far who she felt close enough to give a peek inside, and that was Ari. And as it turned out, they had both dealt with shit that no one should have. It made Nell all the more sure that everyone had something in their past they would rather hide. Josh perhaps especially with this gang business.
God, she was such a terrible liar. She didn’t think she could have said ‘there weren’t any playgrounds around’ when she’d told him she spent a lot of time in parks practicing, and she felt trapped by admitting that part of the truth. For the first time, she found honesty to be a negative trait. But of course he didn’t press, like a good, personal guy. And apparently her not know how to work a merry-go-round was quite amusing for him. She blinked. Well at least she didn’t ask if there was a button or something. When he told her to spin it, she dropped her head. ”Ack, of course!” she said pathetically now realizing it was obvious. Before she could fully wrap her head around this development in knowledge, he moved the thing a little and she held tightly onto the bar so as not to slip. ”Yeah, not very safe at all,” she said with a laugh as she hopped off. He used his powers to dissipate the melting snow, and she placed a firm foot before she pushed off this time. ”I’ve been missing out,” she said humorously as she spun around. She’d missed out on a lot. ”I have a feeling it’d be funner with more people.” Wait, was funner even a word? Oh well, she had used it and that was that.
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