-- LEARNING THE ROPES && [gale]

[ANNABEL LYNNE DALE]

The Academy was huge. Annabel had heard a lot of stories from her parents and brother about how absolutely massive the school was but it was not until she'd actually walked inside the doors for the first time that she realised how large the castle actually was. She had gotten lost about four times already and had only avoided a panic attack by finding someone else in the mess of hallways and asking them if they could point her in the direction of the mess hall. As this was the first day and she was a freshman, the Thunder had not realised she was Water and a confrontation had been avoided. She'd found the mess hall and her bearings and now stood eating a bagel and contemplating her next move. What to do? "Hey, Annabel, right?" A fellow Water approached her and struck up conversation, making that decision for her. She grinned brightly at the other girl. "Yeah. I never caught your name though?" The girl introduced herself as Jennifer and they became fast friends, sitting down at the table and talking for a while. Both were open and chatty so it wasn't hard in the least. Until... "Ugh, I hate Fires," Jennifer muttered, glaring toward the double doors of the mess hall as a group of older ones strode through. "My parents told me stories. They're all really bad people." Annabel shifted uncomfortably, at first opting to say nothing.

Didn't work for too long. Annabel was stubborn, a bit opinionated, and she didn't do well with letting things go. "My brother's a Fire," she blurted out, and maybe her tone was a little hard-edged because her new friend looked shocked. "My whole family." She still hadn't gotten over this fact. The black sheep, the outcast, the odd one out. She fit the personality of a Water elemental and so she'd been shunted aside. Annabel was stubborn and confident like Fires, loyal like Fires, but her anger issues were typical of most people and not in a category extreme enough for her family's element. "Oh." Annabel didn't like the way that Jennifer didn't have anything else to say than that. Then the other girl said, "Well you're the better one then, right?" It was the wrong thing to say. The girl sounded like she was trying to patch things up, avoid confrontation, but Annabel didn't like the implication that Josh or her parents were 'below' her because she was in a 'better' element. "I wanted to be a Fire," she said, frowning. A frown didn't suit Annabel's normally smiling face but she kept it in place with ease. "My family aren't bad people." Jennifer seemed put off by the whole conversation but didn't say anything else.

Deciding that she wanted the final word, Annabel stood up quickly with the intent of going to mope angrily in the Water dormitories. Until she realised she'd kind of forgotten where those were. "You don't know where our dorms are, do you?" She hated asking Jennifer for help after she'd just argued with her but the other girl didn't point this out, didn't mock her. Instead she just gave quiet directions and continued to sit where she had been. Annabel realised while walking to the dormitories that Jenn had probably had good intentions but she wasn't going to admit that to the girl. That would mean losing. She didn't like losing. Upon entering the Water dormitories, Annabel was surprised to spot a familiar face. "Gale! Hey!" She grinned brightly at him, mood picking up almost immediately. Really, her inability to really hold onto her anger for long periods of time had probably damned her against her desired element. She could hold grudges but not sparks. Never sparks. "You're Water leader, aren't you? I think Josh said. Or, wait... can you lose your position? Did you?" She obviously wasn't well-versed in the Academy but hell, it was the first day. Cut the poor girl a break. She sighed. "I got the odd end of the gene pool or whatever. Oh well. What's up?" She was going to try to stop being disappointed about her power but... it still hadn't lost its bitterness yet. It would take time, a lot of it.

[robbie]

The new school year was a busy time. At least for him, it was. It was his senior year, but also that meant new freshmen coming in. Fresh meat meant that he was going to be spending his first couple weeks showing them around, convincing them they where not going to get get swallowed alive or something crazy like that. He was a nice person, so he didn't get frustrated with the new kids that often. He had met a few of them already that where going to be coming in, some in his element, some not. He was rather looking forward to the new school year. One more year and then he would finally be off to collage. It was something he had been looking forward to since, well, since he started high school. His past two years had been awesome, but he was getting sick of high school. And some of the people that came along with it.

Gale remembered his first year well. Too bad for him, he didn't have somebody to really show him around. Or rather, he had been too shy to approach anybody about it. He was shy when he was younger, but it didn't take him long to become the guy he was now. The one who talked to absolutly everybody and would not ever shut up. He was rather bored that day, chilling in the dorms. There really wasn't a whole lot to do, so he was making the best of his time. He could be hanging out with somebody, or doing something productive, but what was the point in that when you could be doing exactly what he was doing. He had a glass of water on the table, and was sitting on the couch with the glass in front of him, his hands out like he was summoning something. He raised the water out of the glass in what seemed like a stream, and made it swirl around, before placing it back in the glass. Oh the little things that entertained him.

That was until he heard a familiar voice that made him jump, as the water dropped back into the glass, a bit of it splashing out onto the glass table. "Belle! Hey!" He said, smiling, as he wiped his hands on his jeans, to get off the bit of condensation that had accumulated. "Yes Ma'am you are correct. Water leader, at your service." He said, standing up and saluting her, puffing out his chest as he did so. He only held that serious stance for a moment, before laughing and dropping his hands. Annabel was Joshs's sister, and he had met her a few times. She was a nice younger girl, but he hadn't known she was going to be in his element. "Hey there's nothing wrong with being the odd one out. Welcome to the team!" He said, smiling brightly. "And oh you know. Leader stuff. Plotting world domination and all that good stuff." He said, shrugging like he was serious. "How are you getting along here? Anything I can assist you with?" After all, it was his job as leader to help the new kids. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at her.

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[ANNABEL LYNNE DALE]

Annabel had been too focused on her surprise at seeing a familiar face to check and make sure that they weren't busy before saying anything. She saw the water fall back into the glass and winced sympathetically, though she was smiling and so seemed apologetic but not nervous about it. She was fearless, really. "Whoops, sorry! Was I interrupting?" She had to admit that it was pretty cool to manipulate something as fluid as water. She'd always imagined herself as a Fire with badass powers to go along with it, igniting things at will and driving away the cold in winter. Not this. There was a quiet and curious admiration for a moment before she directed her attention back to Gale. It was nice to know that he remembered her name and all and that she wasn't simply 'Josh's little sister'. She did try not to annoy her big brother's friends or anything because he was someone she held in high regards. Apart from that, most of his friends were like, really old compared to her. Taller than her, too. She giggled when Gale saluted. "Are you always this silly?" It entertained her, though, because the class clown types always made the best kinds of friends. That was what Annabel was like in personality and she was attracted to making friends with people who were most like her.

She disagreed silently with him when he said that there was nothing wrong with being the outcast of sorts. She saw it as being the outcast, anyway. Annabel still felt as though her family members all had something that she didn't. Something she wanted to have. Still, she wasn't in the spirit of whining and moping endlessly to everyone she met and so the Water elemental smiled and tucked a strand of stray hair behind her ear. "Thanks for the warm welcome. Do I get cookies? I think you should always offer cookies, you know. Get with the program. The dark side's been doing it for years." Like most of her new elemental kin, Annabel was very adept at cracking jokes. Very, very adept. She liked to poke fun and to make people laugh. It was fun. Gale was as friendly as she was with all of his smiling and kidding around. This made her feel better, put her in a comfort zone. Annabel functioned best when she was around like-minded people. "You, plotting world domination? Should I drown myself now or later? Not sure I want to be around when you accidentally break the universe." She was giggling and grinning so her joking was fairly evident. Her brother found it hard to joke without a straight face. Annabel didn't even try to make a straight face. Though she could if she did make an attempt.

Hm. How was she getting along? Annabel thought about that for a moment. "Well it's only the first day," she pointed out. It was hard for her to accurately gauge how good or bad she was doing in a situation until she'd been at it for a while. She usually gave the school year a month or so before she decided between love and hate. It was usually the latter simply because school was boring to her. Why should she enjoy something like history when she had video games waiting for her back home? It didn't make sense. Then the blonde remembered how she'd needed to ask Jennifer for directions to the mess hall and how many other times she'd gotten late during the day. "Well I guess I'm a bit lost," she admitted. "I mean we got maps and stuff but I still haven't gotten used to the legend and all." The castle was huge and the multicoloured map made Annabel feel a little overwhelmed. She liked to learn things from experience rather than reading them off a little piece of paper and being expected to understand. No bueno. "Think you could give me a hand? I'll shower you in like... friendship, or some shit. I dunno. I'd be really grateful and all." Annabel gave him a goofy grin, ignoring the fact that she'd said shit. Nell or Josh might have given her a look but hey they weren't here right now.

[robbie]

Gale was the type of person who didn't get mad about well, anything. He forgave way too easily, even if somebody had hurt him really bad. He was a lover, not a fighter. In some ways that could be a good thing, right? "Nope, your fine. Actually, your rescuing me from my boredom." Which was true. Gale liked to be in the company of anybody, even if it was a freshmen. He knew her, anyways. At least knew who she was. And he remembered his first year at the academy. It could be intimidating when you didn't know anybody, or your way around the academy. At least she knew a few people, probably. Or at least knew him and Josh and Nell. That was somebody still, right? Or a few somebodies. "Of course I am. What better way to live?"

Gale was proud to be a water. His father had been one, and his mother an earth. He wanted to be like his father. The man was his hero. Although he was gone now, Gale still looked up to him. He never talked about him, because the very thought of his father made unwanted emotions well up inside his chest. He had tried to save a life. And ended up burning to death in a fire. There was no moisture in the air, because the building was engulfed by flame and smoke. They never found the cause of the fire, but Gale silently hated fire. He had two good friends whom where fire's, so his hatred for the element as a whole had gone down. "Cookies? Well aren't you just the needly little one." He said, smiling and shaking his head. "No I don't have some with me. Come back tomorrow and I promise I will have your cookies. Can't let the dark side outshine me." He was quite the little joker, but if she really wanted cookies he would gladly bring her some. "I think you should wait. Maybe you can be my right hand woman and help me? I could use a beautiful young lady like yourself to help draw attention." He mentally slapped himself after making that comment. She was like what fourteen? Even when his flirting wasn't serious, he didn't want to hear about it from Josh later.

"Well still. I remember my first day." He said, rolling his eyes. His first day was terrible. He was still small, or well, smaller than he is now. Not to mention scared of just about everything. He was kind of whimpy, and immediatly some of the thunders had taken to picking on him. Thunders always seemed to want to pick on him. Without really thinking he touched his cheek for a moment, glad the huge purple bruise was gone. "Ah, getting lost is practically a given for all the first years. I mean, why else would they tell us leaders that we gotta show you youngin's around?" He smiled at her. Yeah it made him sound old saying that, but she was much younger than him. He hardly realized the fact that she had cussed. All teenagers cussed, it wasn't something that could be avoided. "Of course, ma amie. I will show you around." He said, getting up and motioning around the room. "This of course, is our common room, as you know. And I am sure you know where your dorms are, yeah?" He said, motioning for a moment towards the door in case she didn't. "I don't have anything else going on, so let's go take the grand tour of the castle." He said, walking towards the door leading out of the common room, and holding it open for her. Finally, giving him something to do for the day.

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[ANNABEL LYNNE DALE]

Boredom was not fun at all, though Annabel was the complete opposite of her brother in that she'd much rather be bored than be working. And if she was bored and anywhere near a television with a game console hooked up to it she wouldn't be bored for very long. "Well, in that case, you are welcome!" she chirped, stressing the last word with a broad grin spreading over her lips. "I am your saviour, then, huh? Like a super hero or some shit." Maybe a bit of a stretch but hey, all in good fun. Annabel was a joker like most Waters and she clicked well with her kind. Gale was a bit older than her and it might have been weird to someone else that he was friends with her older brother but Belle had never had any qualms with befriending people a few years apart from her. She had younger friends and she had older friends. Really, Annabel tended to love everyone as long as they loved her in return. She wasn't one of the pushover Earths that would let someone walk all over her simply to maintain a friendship. Friendships were not meant to work that way. "There is no better way! Can't have fun if you can't laugh at yourself sometimes!" Being silly was fun, especially when it was with friends. She liked the way that Gale thought.

Little one? Annabel huffed and frowned at him. "Yo, I am not little." She knew he was probably kidding and all but she didn't like to be called young because her pride and ego did not enjoy being placed below anyone else. A lot of people thought that with age came superiority and Annabel hated this. Gale was more likely than not making a harmless joke but that was not how her pride saw things. Still, she recovered quickly. "No, no you can't," she said gravely. "If the Thunders have Oreos... geez, I'm sorry, but I'd have to let you go." This was clearly in jest. Should she feel comfortable joking like this with the Water leader when she was still a little uncertain about what element she'd been? He doesn't know all the details, Belle reminded herself, trying to be reassured by this. Gale had no way of knowing that, had she gotten her way in the first place, she might be making this joke with one of the Fire leaders instead. She grinned at his comment, looking confused but flattered by it. She didn't think much of it, really, because Gale wasn't doing anything else that might freak her out. Deciding he was probably kidding, she laughed. "Not gonna be your trophy wife, buddy, so I'll just go jump in a lake." She bounced back easily from the moment of awkward uncertainty. She was used to getting compliments so after the brief surprise and flattery she tended to get over them. It was nice to be called pretty and all, wasn't like it was a bad thing.

Annabel did not exactly like getting lost. It made her feel inadequate when she couldn't decently make her way around a place without going in circles. It was true that the Academy was in a castle and that she really shouldn't feel so irritated but she was. Still, she knew it was better to ask for Gale's help now than get lost later and flunk all her classes. She had some sense and since she knew him, it was okay. "Thanks! Ma amie... that means friend, right?" It was cool to think that she considered him a friend. She didn't even realise the error in the French because she did not study it as hardcore as her brother did. She didn't study a lot of things hardcore. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock," she snorted when he showed her around the Water dormitories. "I got a little lost in the hallways, doesn't mean I'm directionally retarded. I know where the dorms are." The fact that she was smiling softened what might have sounded like harsh words. She was not really offended, more like sarcastic in her amusement. "As long as you don't get us both lost, I'm game." That would be a funny sight to see, two Waters completely stuck and stranded in the middle of the maze-like halls. Funny but not likely... right? Not that she'd find it funny if she got lost but everyone else would. "Already know where the mess hall is. And the grounds. Everything else is fair." She flashed him a smile of thanks when he held open the door and exited first.

[robbie]

Gale's calling her little hadn't meant to be an insult. But, he didn't even think that she probably hated being called little. Or being referred to as Josh's little sister. He knew when he was younger, he hated being called little. Esspecially because he hadn't really hit his growth spurt until his tenth grade year. He had always been short. He wasn't the tallest guy right now even, but he was taller than he had been back then. However, he assumed anybody would be. They wouldn't be shorter unless their leg's got cut off or something. "Right, my apologies, miss." He said, bowing slightly to her. "You are by far the tallest first year I have ever laid eyes on." He smirked at her, obviously joking. He was just playing around with her. He laughed at her next comment and shrugged his shoulders. "Well damn it! Guess I should start keeping some cookies around here then." He was glad that the first year wasn't uncomfortable around him. He wanted people to feel at ease when talking to him - esspecially if he was their leader. "Ouch. Right in the self esteem." He said, patting his chest and laughing.

Gale was the kind of person who considered everybody as his friend until given a reason not to. After all, everybody needed to have friends. He was nice to the point of a fault, though. He didn't know when to back off, either. He knew when somebody didn't like him, but would still try his hardest to make it work. The alliances where another story, though. Especially the thunders. He knew some fires that where all right, but the thunders... he couldn't think of one he could actually stand. "Yes, you are correct." He mused. After hearing her repeat it, he realized his mistake. "It's actually mon ami, though. I'm just blonde at heart." He said, ruffling his hair for a moment, before smirking. "No offence, of course." He laughed and shrugged at her next words. "Hey, you never know. I'll bet some first years have thought this was the dungeon before. You never know what crazy things they think..." He made a face as if he was trying to think up something. He was only joking with the girl, however. "Me? Getting lost? Never." He snorted and shook his head. He had a good sense of direction but saying he never got lost was a total lie. He exited behind her, and shoved his hands in his pockets as they started down the hallway. "Where to start.. where to start..." He thought, mumbling to himself. He stopped for a moment as they walked past the bathrooms. "Well, these are the bathrooms, if you haven't found these yet. The ones on the other floor are actually nicer though." He said , smiling at her, and shrugging, before continuing down the hall. What else can I show her... He wanted to make this tour fun, but just how, he hadn't decided yet.

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[ANNABEL LYNNE DALE]

Alright, so it did mean 'my friend'. It was a relief to know that she was not wrong, because Annabel didn't do very well at being wrong or failing. She wasn't as smart as her brother because she didn't care for applying herself but she was just as prideful, if not more so. She hated losing anything. "What's the difference?" she said, wrinkling her nose. Languages were hard. Why couldn't everyone just speak the same damn one and get it over with? "Mon amie, ma amie, they sound similar enough to me." She didn't care too much for proper grammar and all that. Hey, she hated being wrong but she also hated being corrected. Especially if it was grammar in speech and not actual text. Sure, books had to be written well, but who the hell cared how she spoke? Certainly not Annabel. She scoffed when he added a 'no offence' to the end. "Why would I be offended? Everyone knows that natural blondes aren't dumb, it's just the dyed blondes that are slow because the fumes from all the hair dye kills their brain cells." Josh had told her that once to make her feel better when someone was teasing her. She knew it probably wasn't true but it had comforted her at the time and it made a pretty good joke now. She liked to joke around and unfortunately Annabel didn't take into account that some of the things she said could be incredibly offensive to the people that did dye their hair blonde or something similar. "Then again, there's no use pretending you know what it's like to be as fabulous and amazing as me." She flipped her hair dramatically and smirked. Yeah, she had a bit of an ego. No big deal.

She snorted and rolled her eyes, not believing that anyone could think those doors led down into the dungeons. How stupid were people? Then again, she'd seen some pretty impressive new kids in the gaming community who should officially be classified as 'too dumb to live'. She didn't understand how some people functioned in their day to day lives without decent common sense. "Y'know, I think the glass ceiling really gives our dormitory away, Gale," she said, gesturing at it with a raised eyebrow. "You'd have to be pretty fricken' lost to think those were the dungeons." She had a sense of humour and all but really that would be an impressive feat of idiocy. 'Nuff said. She followed him outside and around the school, trying to remember the path they took in case she needed to follow it alone at some point. She eyed the bathrooms critically when he said that the ones on the other floor were better. "What floor? There are like, five." She was pretty sure there would be multiple bathrooms on every floor but she trusted Gale's word in that these ones might be the most reliable. "And what's so bad about this one? Should I avoid it if possible? Then again, you're not a girl, so..." She laughed at the thought. He probably wouldn't know how the bathrooms functioned on a day to day basis. "Unless... is there something you want to tell me?" Ah, gay jokes, ones that could always be fallen back on. She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive but comical, joking manner.

[robbie]

Gale was not great at speaking french, but he knew enough to get by. Not that he really needed to know - he hadn't hardly left Canada. Yeah, he had friends that offered to take him places - but he hadn't really done it. He couldn't help but feel responsible to take care of his mother which was one reason he didn't go too far. He lived in the Hollow, so even during the school year it was very easy to go home and check on her and stuff. Since his fathers death he had been like that. He did have dreams of travelling, but figured those would have to wait. That had been numbed since his fathers death. "Yeah yeah I guess they are. You know, except the grammar and all but hey, who needs grammar right?" He couldn't help but laugh a little bit. It was so wrong. People did need grammar. He, himself, was a bit of a grammar nazi. So he didn't let people fuck around with stuff like that. "Oooh right. Forgot about that. Hair dye kills brain cells. One at a time!" He laughed a little before sighing. He was glad he had never dyed his hair. "So should I be bowing down to you? I mean, if your as fabulous as you say you are... maybe you should be the leader." He smirked a little. She couldn't be the leader of course - not just yet, but still.

Gale was used to dealing with people with little to no common sense. He was good at keeping his cool, but also most of the time thought they where joking. However, people thinking the doors lead to the dungeons had actually happened. "Well some people don't know how to look up, my dear." He teased, shaking his head. His hair shaking down into his eyes a bit. It was growing back rather quickly since he had cut it, and he figured he would keep it long this time. He prefered his hair long rather than short any day. Although it really did make him look younger. He looked more mature with short hair. So it was a sacrifice. "The second floor bathrooms are the best. Or at least the cleanest. Nobody seems to use them really, so, thats probably why they are the best." He said, flashing her a smile. While continuing their tour. "Well, theres nothing wrong - I don't think. But I've never been in the girls bathroom. I've just heard stories. Scary stories/" He said, smirking a little. Scaring the first years was always fun. Though he didn't think Annabel was the kind to get easily scared. "Right! I am secretly female. You found me out!" He said, laughing while continuing the walk. He hoped she knew he was kidding. "If you let me see your class scedual I can show you where your classes are."

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[ANNABEL LYNNE DALE]

She shrugged. "I come from the internet. Grammar do not exist." She winked as she spoke to show that she was intentionally fucking up the sentence as an example. Nah, some of her online friends were all right in terms of grammar. Then again, a lot of them were pretty bad. Then there were the grammar freaks who really got their thongs in a wad every single time someone made a simple misspelling. She could understand getting serious about some of the ridiculously illiterate people but if she was in a hurry and mis-typed, she didn't need some ass jumping down her throat about it.

Annabel flipped her hair, something that she would never do if she was actually trying to be serious. "Bitch, I am fabulous. Everyone should bow down to me." She was pretty confident and cocky but Belle didn't know if she could ever take the whole dominating the world thing seriously. It was silly unless you were some comic book hero. She kind of liked comics and would read them if her friends had them but she was not as serious about it as some.

She thought that anyone who did not notice the very obvious ceiling upon walking in the door was an idiot. She said as much with, "Blind as bats, then." Some people were too dumb to live. She really didn't like idiocy. Then again, being so young she really should not have been talking so tough. There were a lot of things that Annabel didn't know that she talked kind of big about. Hypocrisy was fun, no?

Thanks to the fact that she grew up in a mansion and was rather pampered in terms of lifestyle, public bathrooms were not Annabel's thing. She was not some priss that would refuse to use them or lay toilet paper on the seat before sitting down but she'd certainly avoid it if possible. "I'll keep that in mind." If people tended to avoid the second floor bathrooms then they'd probably be the ones she used, unless of course they avoided them because the toilets were often clogged or the stall doors were ripped off. It might have sounded like a derelict state but she'd seen pretty bad public bathrooms. That was probably why she was so averse to them. Belle lifted an eyebrow at Gale. "Scary stories? What, Attack of the Killer Tampons or some shit?" The sarcasm coating her words was obvious. She was definitely Josh's sister, having picked up her sharp tongue from him.

Fishing the offending schedule out of her bag, she handed it over to him. "I know where History is since it's my first class but that's about it. Can't remember the rest." She'd taken forever to find her second class and she could not remember the winding path through the halls that she'd taken from the home room.