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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 3, 2012 19:27:23 GMT -5
A gust of cold autumn air and the sound of shoes clicked against the cold floor as Rachael crept down the open-windowed corridor. Leaves fluttered as wind brushed some black strands of hair over her forehead. Despite the current cool temperature, beads of sweat ran down the student's hands as she held a travel mug close to her chest. The ability to heat up her hands around her coffee was just one of the perks of her power. Maybe going through with the college courses had been a smart move for her. She rushed past a corner, ducking her head to avoid being seen by a wandering fire or thunder student roaming through the halls before scurrying off again. Her heart beat faster as she approached her destination: an empty out classroom free for the taking. Putting her palm on the wall and turning the door knob, the wooden door pushed inward and creaked along its hinges creating a narrow walking space big enough for the girl to squeeze herself through before the door carefully but loudly shut itself back into place.
Rachael wanted no unexpected visitors to know where she was.
The room was open; a medium sized classroom with tables and chairs strewn about showing where previous years of work and study had taken place, only to be occupied by this lone girl now. Rachael hoisted her bag onto a workbench and scattered the contents onto it. Some notebooks, miss matched makeup and various pens, gum and other knickknacks were carefully laid out as she examined each and then placed the nonessentials back into the bag. She hoped no one had followed the senior here and got suspicious enough to follow her. She had purposely picked this room over the library to avoid the public eye. It was normal for her to not want anyone around, but this mandatory group assignment had forced her out of her comfort zone. Pairing, a sacred word the caused Rachael’s blood to boil almost instantly.
Rachael could have been sitting at the dining room table in her apartment, hunched over her laptop, doing something more valuable with her time. Instead she was waiting in the designated room she had picked for her partner to come along. Nell Shepherd. Or should she say Nell Dale. There was gossip all over campus that she had finally gotten married to that fire traitor Josh. Out of all the people at school, he chose someone like Nell to break the alliance. There was always something strange about the fellow fire graduate in Rachael’s mind. Something clearly mental to go and marry someone who looked and acted like a little girl. Nell was two years junior to Rachael, but they had a wonderful year together as co-workers. A full three hundred and sixty-five days of employment with the annoying Earth graduate. Rachael could only schedule so many days to not be working the same shift as Nell. Miracles must be real, since Nell moved on to go work at the Casino. Just in the knick of time for Rachael’s sanity as well. A whole year of acting like she had no animosity for the girl at work was wearing thin on Rachael.
Not to mention the old rumor about Nell. Rachael had been in the Academy long enough to still remember what some of the older students and graduates said about Nell. Rachael almost didn’t believe it, someone as doofy looking as Nell capable of doing such a thing to the old Thunder leader. Now Rachael was a fire student, through and through, but she held some regard for her alliance with the Thunder community. At least more respect than what Nell’s husband clearly had. If it was true or not, Rachael knew she could handle herself against Nell. The sudden burst of noise from behind nearly made Rachael jump right out of her shoes and she turned to see whoever could've made the noise. Now doubt it was the one person who knew she would be here. ”Damn it Nell! Can’t you be quiet?” Rachael glanced around the room as if someone might have secretly seen her, or was peering through the window at them.
NOTES: Let it begin! TAG (YOU'RE IT!): Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 3, 2012 20:50:31 GMT -5
Even though Nell wasn't looking forward to going to the classroom, she had more manners than to consider being late out of spite. Admittedly, the thought did occur to her that she could just sit outside in the courtyard, finishing up some of her psych homework. Homework, at this point, seemed better than walking into the lion's den. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, jotting down a few more notes on the edge of her paper to remember for the next day before packing up. She looked toward the building and sighed. The only reason she'd be late now was if she got lost, and that was very possible. Still, she'd rather avoid it. The Earth elemental had a feeling that Rachael wouldn't be too pleased with tardiness, if simply because it was her being late.
As she walked up the steps and back into the building, she realized how much she was actually dreading this. The woman made Nell uncomfortable. She didn't get intimidated by a lot of people, but Rachael certainly did it for her. She was older, stronger, and very cold for a Fire student. And now she had been paired in a history project with her. The subject was one of her favorites -- therefore one of her bests -- and she would not let the fact that she shared it with the Ice Queen herself to ruin that for her. They had never gotten into a fight, neither of them were too fond of that, but there was always electricity between them. Especially if they had had shifts together. Rachael was one reason that Nell did not miss working at Blackjack. She had quite a few jobs before, and barring the concert hall, that had been one of her worst. Also because she had been fired when they found out she was an illegal immigrant and underage.
That was behind her, however. She just wished that the issues between her and Rachael could be over, as well, but she couldn't help how she felt about her. Rachael was one of the only people who managed to get under her skin, though not on the same level as her half-brother and brother-in-law. Nell almost grimaced as she walked through the hallways, keeping her peacoat on because of the draft in the castle. She didn't like to think of either of them as her family. The best family she had was her friends. She was glad that she didn't have to deal with Rafael as much anymore. Angela had slowly began trying to distance herself, still telling Nell that she didn't want him to go to jail. The dealing could do that for him, she thought bitterly, looking around for the door. She didn't have a lot of meanness or anger in her soul, she was a very placid person. But Rafael had done far too much to her loved ones to be forgiven.
There was a feeling of success when she actually found the designated classroom that they had decided on. Pushing the door open without fear and saying, "Hey," she saw the woman turn and look at her with anger clear in her eyes. So much for not pissing her off. The Earth elemental almost rolled her eyes, but refrained, not as agitated as she could be. "We're doing a project, Rachael, not planning to kidnap the prime minister." She kept her voice light. An angry Rachael would not be a good Rachael to do a project with. "I doubt any of the faculty come down here looking for rule breakers." She had said this in defense of the chastisement, without knowing if it was true. Nell realized the Fire graduate may have been right, but she didn't want to admit it.
She placed her bag on one of the desks and sat down, pulling out her notebook and pen, along with her laptop, leaving the charger in one of the pouches of the bag. It looked like Rachael had already set up, ready to plan this out. The assignment given was to do a presentation on a society's culture in the 16th century, including who they traded with, their allies, imports, exports, and whatever else would turn into a well-rounded paper and powerpoint presentation. In a way, Nell was glad she had a partner. "I suppose we should start off with gathering information on the Ottoman Empire. Do you know any basics?" Luckily it wasn't too much of an effort to be civil with the woman, but she still felt tense as she hit the keys on the laptop.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 4, 2012 0:09:32 GMT -5
Rachael offered Nell no formal greeting, instead opting to sit down and stop stalking the room like a paranoid mental patient. Was she being rude and standoffish to the poor Earth graduate? Yes, but it was nothing Nell shouldn’t be use to by now. ’I wish you were kidnapped,’ she thought. Rachael pried the sunglasses off of her face and fixed her bangs. Anything to keep from talking to Nell as long as she could. ”I’m certainly not afraid of any faculty,” she said with an air of confidence. It was true, she could give a shit what they thought. Rachael had her own agenda that didn’t always coincide with the rules set out by the administration. In the past she made sure that her indifference towards other people’s standards and expectations were of little use to her. The school was probably thankfully she had clamed down with age. Her real fear came from any peers that might wander in. She would not give them the impression that she was the slightest bit chummy with the younger girl in front of her.
The fire senior softly tapped her pen on her open notebook as she waiting for Nell to settle in. She took the time to look over Nell. She looked like a mouse almost, though far too energetic and social to ever be as meek as one. Her sense of style was…absent in Rachael’s mind. Almost like she shut her eyes and blindly assembled what she was going to wear for the day. Much different than hoe Rachael would ever go about presenting herself. Honestly the professor couldn’t have pick two more polar people to partner up for this project. From Rachael’s standpoint, she hadn’t changed much in her eyes. Or she was too stubborn to admit it even if Nell did look different. Wasn’t marriage supposed to change her for the better or some bull shit like that? Ugh, the ‘M’ word. How could someone so young just throw her life away?
Nothing said fun like Nell and school work. ”The Ottoman Empire, also historically known as the Turkish Empire. First dated mentioning in the year 1300, lasting all the way to dissolution of 1922, ” She listed off the facts with very little interest as she kept her gaze down at her notebook. The past bored her, but in order to be a ‘well rounded’ sociologist, history was a must. ’How else could one probably exam current society without being able to see the patterns of repeat in history?’ her advisor always told her. Maybe there was a way to convince Nell that they should just spilt the work and mix all their work in later? Rachael was only vaguely interested in culture and demographics of the assignment, as opposed to the dry materials like economics, government, and science. There was no way Miss bright ray of sunshine would every go for it though. ”According to official Turkish records, the dynasty lasted for six hundred and twenty threes years. Just about as long as this project will probably feel like,” she mumbled.
NOTES: TAG (YOU'RE IT!): Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 5, 2012 0:23:25 GMT -5
In her array of emotions, the most rarely felt -- aside from anger and hate -- was exasperation. Nothing bothered her. If you invaded her personal space? It could be said that she didn't have personal space to invade. If you want to argue? She would bow out gracefully. There was truly nothing that could vex her other than herself and her own actions. She became more annoyed with herself than she did with other people. That all being said, she felt the beginning of vexation when Rachael confidently stated that she wasn't afraid of faculty walking in. "Then what are you afraid of?" she asked, though the frustration wasn't apparent. She spoke it like any other question that one would ponder, like why it wasn't snowing yet. Her eyes flickered to the windows for a moment as she thought that, waiting any day now for the freeze that was sure to come. This being Canada, she had no doubt that it would be arriving soon. She had yet to experience a winter where it didn't snow there, much like her hometown of New York. It almost matched the intensity of the northern snows, but she couldn't be sure. She had had a space heater and had rarely went outside in the winter. Though when she could, she realized that she didn't have very good winter clothes.
Thoughts of winter were a lot better than having her mind stay in the present where she could feel Rachael so close to her. It made her nervous, and not being a nervous person, this made the Earth elemental worried. She had been in the presence of much more dangerous people -- she had been cross-examined by her grandfather the DA, she had put up a brave front when kidnapped by thugs, she always had some snark for her mafiosa aunt. And yet she felt a prickling on the back of her neck from being in the same place as the dark-haired graduate. Was she sending some bad vibes her way or what? Instead of contemplating this too much, she simply opened a Word document to type down some notes from what Rachael was saying. "Wow, you know a lot from the top of your head," she said with true awe, forgetting for a moment that they weren't at all on good terms and this probably wouldn't mean very much to the other woman. It didn't matter, she felt the need to say it, because she always enjoyed complimenting other people. Even those that she didn't like. Give credit where credit's due.
Of course, Nell caught the end of Rachael's statement. And she just couldn't keep her optimism to herself. Nope. She had to try and brighten the stalwart Fire graduate. "Come on now, I'm sure it will only feel like a decade or so," she said dryly. Nothing like humor to make the woman hate her even more. Nell was sure she would have her project partner in stitches soon. Okay, so that wasn't really her goal. She just wanted to make this less awkward than it was, and it seemed almost impossible at this point. "If we divide it equally we can cover a lot of ground. One of us should write the paper, and one of us can do the powerpoint." That sounded like the best way to do this project, and hopefully Rachael would see it the same way. Of course, Nell was open to suggestions and compromise. She tended to be a good partner in that way, she did whatever work she was given. If no one stepped up, she readily took the helm as the leader. She always tried her best to be fair in that case.
Typing in some knowledge she had about the expansion of the Ottoman empire in one of the bullets, she quickly regained her train of thought and looked over at Rachael. "Which one do you want? I can take the other." It didn't matter either way, and sometimes this easygoing thing could work against her. Especially if the other person just shrugged and said they didn't know what they wanted. The most difficult type of partner, they were. Rachael seemed like a woman was pretty firm in what she wanted and what she needed. Despite the long time of knowing her, Nell still couldn't say she had a completely firm grasp on her personality. She was really just this scary graduate who made Nell's gut twist in a mixture of emotions when she was around. Hopefully she would be able to last this project. Patience was all she needed she supposed.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 5, 2012 18:37:51 GMT -5
As if Rachael was going to let Nell in on what was going on in her head. She let out a small sigh and kept her head down. She certainly wasn’t going to validate Nell with an answer. Being in Nell’s existence was Rachael’s problem. She and her husband were somewhat blacklisted in some circles, and Rachael was one of those judgers. Rachael hated Nell more because she reminded her of the fact that she no longer could be around Joshua. They two fire seniors had been somewhat close in their high school years, but after sophomore year she cut him out. A mixture of pride, betrayal, and a long-time stubborn streak was part of the problem. A six-year friendship was now completely ruined due to their relationship. Heaven forbid one of her friends misinterpreted this little study group as a social gathering. She barely let people in and she wasn’t going to lose them over the Ottoman Empire.
Rachael’s eyes darted up from her notebook and square onto Nell. ’Gee golly mister, isn’t today just a wonderful day? The sun is shining and everyone is just so chipper,’ Rachael mocked Nell’s statement in her head, rolling her eyes at the sentiment. Teachers’ biggest misconceptions of Rachael were that she was stupid and didn’t pay attention in class. The girl was listening, taking notes when she felt like it, but putting in more effort than what she thought was obligatory. School was a bother and simply a means to an end. The greatest benefit Rachel got from the Academy was controlling her rage and finally getting a grip on how to handle her powers. Left to her own devices and she could have snowballed into a complete monster, uncontrolled and as explosive as her mother. If her mother had a gift, Rachael probably would have been dead before she could even walk. College was another marker to prove to Rachael that she was not her mother.
There Nell went again with her chummy attitude. She sent her a silencing glare, but bit her tongue. ”Don’t bait her, don’t bait her, don’t bait her,” she repeated like a mantra. To Nell’s credit she was offering to spilt the workload. Maybe her chilly attitude finally drove the meaning home to the Earth student. ”I’ll take the paper,” not giving Nell any leeway to argue. The paper meant she could lock herself away and get the hell away from Nell. Plus if she did powerpoint it would end up looking so boring. That program on the computer was a source of frustration. With a paper, all she needed to do was just sit at her laptop and type away. There was a strict format and that was it. No stupid bullet customizations and crappy slide transitions.
The more she tried to stay calm, the harder it was to not twitch in her seat. Her pen tapped against her notes before she finally voiced what was on her mind. ”You know what? How about we just draw our lines in the sand now, go our separate ways and then I don’t have to see you until the project is due.” She took a long sip of her coffee as she resituated herself in her chair. ”I’m sure we can both agree that we prefer different company than our present.” If Rachael hated Nell, than her frigid demeanor had to put a damper on her ‘Leave it to Beaver’ attitude.
NOTES: Ehh, not my best. TAG (YOU'RE IT!): Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 6, 2012 19:58:11 GMT -5
Unfortunately, Nell was the type of person who expressed kindness to everyone, even people who hated her. Not that she would try to make friends with them all, but she would express the same kind of genuinity she would any of her friends, or a complete stranger. Her default setting was 'nice', and not even Rachael can turn the dial to anything else. It would have been convenient for Nell, though, and with certain people she found herself wishing she could be capable of outright hate. The one person she believed herself capable of despising with every fiber over her being was her aunt. Everything she ever did -- abandoning her mother over and over, dangling false hope, lying about everything that happened the night Nell killed her mother, attacking her then boyfriend, locking Lark in a closet, planting drugs on her person and putting a man in her trunk -- and it didn't matter anymore that Jane had her issues or that she had a similar past to Nell. None of that mattered. And the same went for Rafael and Bryce. Bryce was possibly the only person who ever saw her true wrath.
Rachael...she hadn't harmed anyone Nell loved and that was what kept the Earth graduate from being mean or snarky or any of that. Even when Rachael gave her a look that reminded her of the cold eyes of a shark, she didn't immediately feel reproachful. Simply intimidated. She didn't fear much. The belief that she had experienced too much in terms of fear is what soothed her during scary movies or events and she was a calm person, anyway. And she did her best not to be intimidated, even though she always felt small and insignificant. Five-foot-two and bringing nothing to the table except an ability to forgive anyone and everyone. She was harder on herself than anyone else was. But Rachael was older and she was prettier and she was sure the woman did so many things better than her, and add to that she could feel the disdain rolling from her like an aura...it made Nell feel even smaller.
The girl decided to take the paper and she was happy doing the powerpoint, whatever was needed. But then the woman suggested they split apart, and Nell gave her a curious expression. "I realize we aren't best friends or anything, but this is still a partner project," she said, her fingers resting lightly on her laptop. "And I'd like to run things by you so I know that we're on the same page with everything." She liked being partnered with someone, being able to run things by someone else to make sure that she was on the right page. Usually if she didn't have partners for projects, she went to Josh for help. Doing things alone really didn't appeal to her. "Besides, don't you want to prove your resilience by sticking around me, since you're obviously so fond?" It was the closest thing she came to snark, and only stated because she wanted to make sure that she could get in touch with Rachael when she needed it. She didn't mind that the woman made her uncomfortable, at least over a phone call or something she wouldn't be able to feel the glare of daggers poking at her flesh.
She turned her eyes back to the laptop and pulled up Chrome. "I know neither of us wanted to be paired together, but it happened, so let's just run with it. The worst that can happen is we get in an argument or two." It happened to partners sometimes, anyway. No matter how well suited two people are for each other when it comes to projects, there will be disagreements. Nell doubted that they'd even get a bad grade on this, since they were both pretty smart. The only problem would come from working together, and she was pretty sure that Rachael was still adamant about not cooperating wit her.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 7, 2012 17:17:34 GMT -5
’Where is all this positive bull shit coming from? First some light jabs and now this? Where has your malicious spirit gone, Rachael, because clearly whatever I’m doing now isn’t working?’ It was now nauseating to hear her talk. Rachael didn't even spare her a look as she kept her eyes dialed straight ahead at her notebook, that nasty frigid look on her face. ’Maybe silent treatment would work? If she kept quiet then maybe Nell would get the hint. Seriously, giving me the liberty of not hearing her trap yapping away? That new reign would be very welcome.’ Through all internal shit-talking, she still had not moved an inch. Still, Nell was desperate to play peacekeeper. Rachael’s fists balled up in anger, but it was never in her to hit another in a blind act of benevolence. Well, it would be an act of kindness that would benefit Rachael of course.
Weren’t best friends? That was the understatement of the year by freaking Bambi over there. So she hadn’t taken Rachael’s offer to cut their loses now. She thought that it would have worked. Rachael lazily trailed a finger around the top of her coffee, tracing the circle without much thought. Then out of nowhere a tiny burst of flame went up on the top, burning the plastic. A small puff of smoke curled in the air as Rachael stared down Nell. The fire senior couldn’t remember the last time she lost control so suddenly. ”Resilience?” she said through gritted teeth. Resilience was Rachael not jumping up from her chair and burning the damn room down. Resilience was waking up each morning and dealing with cheerful Sunshine Sally’s and not smacking their shit eating grins right of their faces. Nell just unleashed a beast she would have more than enough trouble dealing with. Rachael would show Nell just how resilient she could be, while making Nell’s time with her a living hell.
Rachael’s jaw was set firmly and she readjusted herself in her seat. ’Looks like it’s going to be awhile before I leave this room.” she thought. ”Alright partner.” Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the edge of the table. The table was the only thing separated the two girls and Rachael hung onto it as if it was the only thing keeping her grounded. ”Let’s make sure we are on the same page. I’ll go along with this whole partner façade so that when this is all over we can go on avoiding and hating each other.” Rachael picked up her pen and began jotting random thoughts down into her notebook. ”The subject matter has far too much information to cover in either just the paper or the presentation. It makes no sense to spilt it by time frame, so I think the easiest way to deal with it is to spilt it by topics. Unless you have any better ideas.” A small flame engulfed the tip of Rachael’s fingers, this time summoned by free will. She went back to the coffee lid and traced patterns with the flames. Oddly enough the destruction was putting Rachael at ease. What she wouldn't give for a cigarette right now. They were stashed safely at the bottom of her bag, incase she ever needed a bit of extra help to relieve her stress. She wasn't one to smoke out of habit, mostly just at parties, or in certain times of intense stress. Now certainly qualified as one of those times.
NOTES: TAGGED: Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 8, 2012 4:00:10 GMT -5
The Earth graduate almost began wriggling in her seat. The temperature in the room had seemed to escalate and it was all she could do not to push the desk as far away from Rachael as she could and yell that she gave up. She couldn't take it when people hated her. She wasn't the type of person that believed every single person had to be head over heels for her, but she didn't deal well with outright hate. All she knew how to give was love, so it was hard to figure out how to react to someone who didn't want her kindness. Or in Rachael's case, wanted to absolutely throttle her. She gave her a stern look, one that wasn't mean but unyielding. Nell didn't want to be afraid of her, and so she put up her own strong front. You've dealt with worse. She'd dealt with her mother, the American legal system, the Thunder/Fire alliance, and she believed that these reasons above all else made her strong even in the face of someone she simply did not want to be around.
But looking at Rachael meant recognizing the fact that she had managed to piss her off, even without trying. That had been the opposite of Nell's intentions. And now she didn't know what to do with the situation. Improvise. She had a lot of experience with anger, she had married Joshua Dale. What she learned from him was that her best decision would be to stay quiet and not egg Rachael on when she spoke the one word. She simply lifted her eyebrows, not elaborating on anything. The saddest thing was that she couldn't say that she actually hated Rachael. She couldn't even say she really disliked her, because she didn't know her. What were the Fire graduate's hobbies and who did she hang out with what was her favorite movies? She didn't have the information on Rachael to develop a good enough opinion of her. And as someone who couldn't hate blindly, she didn't have it in her to throw back as good as she got when it came to her. All she could do was maintain her dignity.
Nell's eyes flickered down to the desk before going back up to Rachael's face to meet her gaze, unwavering. Partner. She knew that was not used in a friendly way. Everything about this situation was unfriendly. "Facade? This isn't a facade, Rachael, it's what's happening. We're partners. I'm sorry, but that's that." She wasn't just keeping up an image of working together, she wanted that to actually happen. It would make everything a lot easier for both of them. She felt exasperation wrench in her stomach, but she fought it away. "Let's go by topics then. See? I'm not completely unreasonable." Her words were tight, and she was trying not to let anything leak through her voice. If there was anything her father taught her that she wanted to hold onto in this moment, it was not to show weakness. And right now she wanted to raise her voice, but Nell kept it at the soft level it usually was. Her brown eyes found the piece of paper. "What's that for?" she questioned Rachael, and unlike usual, it wasn't asked out of friendly curiosity. It was asked so she could have something to say to the woman.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 8, 2012 18:11:52 GMT -5
She hated when other people were right, and to put it bluntly, Nell was exactly that. There was no way around this unholy partnership, and instead of acting like a baby, she needed to get her shit together and push through. Nell was a tiny blimp on her radar as far as she should be concerned. With much self-hate, Rachael let out a sigh, the tiny flame she had been distracting herself with went out. The senior had dealt with far worse things in her life than a history project. ”Fine,” she conceded. The more she thought about it, the more she was acting like her mother. The thought put a terrible taste in her mouth so she reached for her coffee and tried to drown it. Anger was a shared trait for the Callahan women, which was why Rachael constantly struggled to keep in check. There was a nasty cycle in which Rachael got even more livid with herself when her anger went out of line because it meant she was giving to the same feelings that drove her mother. It was taxing to say the least.
”I’ll keep my attitude and ill feelings towards you under wraps to the best of my abilities but you need to can it with your Leave it to Beaver feelings. Deal?” It killed her whole much more she wanted to say, but she held back. Perhaps if she treated this as though she was at her job, forcing herself to be courteous to a group of people she held disdain for. With Nell, even courteous seemed a bit of a stretch for Rachael’s acting abilities. She’d have to settle for civil in this circumstance. ”I’d feel most comfortable taking topics dealing with the social and behaviorally trends,” It was in her wheelhouse so it made all the sense in the world to start there. If she was going to make this work though she’d have to take on more responsibilities. Rachael messaged one of her temples as she considered the other options. ”I hate economics but there are connections I can make that might impress the Professor, unless there are any objections.”
Rachael pulled her notebook closer to her to avoid anymore wondering eyes. She had notes jotted down, and some of them were questions Nell’s attitude had prompted Rachael curiosity. It was in her nature to understand herself and others around them. Their actions were usually driven by certain ticks developed from their upbringing. After four years of schooling and a whole lot of life experiences for her age, she was a strict believer in Nurture vs Nature. How could she turn this conversation around so Nell wouldn’t poke further. ”Notes for the most part. I don’t have much tolerance for technology.” E-mail, writing papers, and some online shopping was all she could benefit from a computer. ”Social media is sucking our generation dry and stealing any valuable culture to be remembered by.” There were so many beautiful civilizations that created such lasting effects on future generations. Ours were spent in front of a screen bashing people without the idea of consequences. ”I hate the idea that we are going to be remembered by the thousand of irrelevant tweets and crappy call in reality shows.” The senior made sure to keep her anger at bay, but she was far from being friendly as she went on about her opinions.
NOTES: TAGGED: Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 9, 2012 8:56:20 GMT -5
While she wasn't one to desire others keep their emotions under wraps, it would be best for this project. It wouldn't do well for them to get into an argument, and she wondered if they would ever get to that point. Could Rachael pull her into an argument, even when she was such a passive person? She easily stalled arguments by concession or apologizing, just avoiding it entirely. Even when the person wanted the argument, she knew it better to just let it slide, not to encourage someone else in their ill feelings. It was difficult when she knew she should give attitude back to Rachael. She never stood up for herself, and she didn't think it was ever problem. Now she was beginning to wonder. Like Rachael, a lot of her issues could be traced back to her mother. Her self-neglect -- as it could rightly be called -- and fear of standing up for herself were some of them. I'm not weak. And isn't that what letting people say anything they wanted without any repercussion painted her as? A coward who couldn't defend herself? It was startling, the moments of clarity she had with herself. She didn't think about her personality often enough to have breakthroughs that mattered.
She simply chose to focus on the fact that Rachael was calming down, it seemed. It was a good thing Nell knew Leave it to Beaver, not that she would have made any inclination toward the fact she didn't had she never heard of the show. There was a lot she didn't know about the world, and instead of letting that scare her, she used it to her advantage. It meant she was always learning. So, she replied easily, "I'll try to keep it at Andy Griffith levels," she said. Though she didn't know how she could adjust her personality. She would try to please Rachael. Wasn't that what she did best, pleasing people? Rachael told her what she would be most comfortable in writing about, and Nell nodded her ascension. That sounded great to her. And it wasn't like she would argue with the other woman. She restrained what she knew would have been an excited "Leave it to Beaver" line and told her, "All right, then I'll handle the type of government, laws, military, and expansion." Though it was true she had little experience in the real world -- an odd thing to realize considering the fact that she was married and in college -- history was another matter. Nell excelled in it because it was something that she could learn all by herself, just by reading. And she would let Rachael do as she liked, trusted her with the topics. She hoped the trust was exchanged in terms of this project. Nell was a diligent worker. She may not have been perfect, but she put all her drive behind something when she needed it done.
Rachael's answer had not been one Nell was necessarily expecting. The woman started sounding like she was older than she actually had to be. Twenties, Nell was guessing, but she didn't know for sure. Certainly around her own age. She wondered if Rachael was the kind of person that romanticized the past. "I'm sure a lot of people share your views," she observed. The fact that the world was so consumed by what the media fed them. Rachael was one of them, perhaps she was a purist who much preferred typewriters or carving out stone. I was a weird idea to the Earth graduate. "But future generations will probably romanticize this generation like we have prior. I mean, the agora could be considered a glorified mall." She liked to have a positive outlook on the world around them. Not rose-colored delusions, because she understood that there was a lot of things wrong. Still, technology and tweets and everything that made up this generation all meant freedom to Nell. She cherished that she had the opportunity to be a part of this generation. Seventeen years in isolation can do that to a person. "If it makes you feel any better, we're always in flux. We're in a stage of progress, and eventually tweets will be replaced with brain feeds or the next big and better thing. And history books might not even spare a thought for Twitter and reality television." Or something like that. They were constantly moving, this generation was fast-paced, but they had advanced and that was the important part. "Sorry, got a little meta there." She scratched the back of her hair, careful not to mess up her bun much.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 11, 2012 14:24:00 GMT -5
Rachael raised a skeptical eyebrow. How could Earths just roll with everything thing presented before them? Could they honestly treat everything in stride without fighting back at least once? Where were their backbones? ”Fine with me,” Honestly she would get bored looking up information about a bunch of men running around killing each other, passing terrible laws, and pointless drive for global conquest. ’Look where that got you boys,’ she thought. ’Studied by a bunch of students anxious for a decent grade.’ A little more cautious of the validity of the Nell’s complacency for the topics she got, Rachael decided to keep quiet and not give her any room to switch incase she decided she wasn’t happy with her choices. She looked down at her notes and tried to read a line she had jotted down in haste. Rachael stopped when one topic title caught her eye. Eyebrows raised, she read it again. It seemed impossible to read. Usually her handwriting was so neat. How could she find out what she had written? Until she figured out what it was, it would frustrate her to no end. Shaking her head, Rachael tapped the end of her pen against the notebook. Maybe she'd just continue researching later and it would come back to her.
Nell almost sounded surprised to her what Rachael had to say. She may have skipped a class here or there, but it was a rather dry history class. Of course Rachael wasn’t going to put such effort into it. She had a dissertation to finish up in less than a month. If that meant her History class assumed her daft then so be it. ”No doubt an archeological study of our generation will mistake our trash as things of worship and idols.” Things looked bleak from where Rachael was standing. On the whole Rachael shared much the same taste in music most kids her age enjoyed. She was still new to music and movies. Those sort of things weren't permitted at the orphanage and certainly not in her mother’s home. Instead there were steps on how to avoid the cops coming into the apartment, learning not to go through her mother’s things and nights were she was too afraid to even cry incase her mother overheard her.
Since gaining her freedom at eighteen Rachael had been more than happy to catch up on what I'd been missing. Deep down though, she'd fallen in love with Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and old black and white movies. The kind of films that actually told a story and didn't rely on shock value or nudity. ”Take the Ottoman Empire for example. They have icons of Orthodox faith. What if our studies are wrong?” Rachael reached into her bag and pulled out her iPhone, placing it on the table. ”It would be like someone finding a destroyed iPhone two hundred years in the future and believing it to be some sort of religious icon of status as opposed to what it really stands for.” History was merely comprised of subjected findings presented as truths. "There going to think Earths are a bunch of tree hugging pussies and Fires are psychopathic violent mongrels. It's just the truth." One dimensional research was always easier to settle for.
NOTES: TAG: Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 14, 2012 12:41:35 GMT -5
It was astounding that Nell hadn't been jaded. After seeing the worst human kind could offer, she still had a strong belief in the world. She loved everything about it, but wanted to change the things she didn't. She lifted her eyebrows at the Fire graduate's words. "You're treating us like the Stone Age. Everything is meticulously processed now, future generations will see the past technology as exactly what it was used for." Unless there was some big even that wiped out everything, and left only dust. They had technology to record things with, computers and things that people before the Industrial Revolution didn't have. "No one is mistaken about what the cotton gin was used for and it was invented over two-hundred-years ago." Tools were tools. She placed iPhones and cotton gins in the same category because they were both exactly that, tools. The generation she and Rachael lived in was so obsessed with cataloging every thought and moment, that she could see nothing that would slip past on the radar. It wasn't necessarily optimistic as it was thinking of how things would be recorded for the future.
Nell listened to Rachael, and looked down at the phone she set on the desk. With all it could do, it seemed very possible that people could mistake it as something religious. But really, as it has been documented countless times, it's a tool. Like how cavemen used bone. "History is bunk," she acknowledged. Ford had said it, and it really did serve true looking back on previous generations. "Religion tends to travel and spread out and different regions might have had different laws." The Ottoman Empire had been Muslim, but whose to say that there wasn't any other faiths around? Christianity certainly was, as far as she recalled. And every history simply made conjectured ideas off of artifacts. "But we're talking about centuries past. We're in an era of writing down our every thought, and it'll be much better preserved." She liked that, living in a time that can be easily recorded and probably never destroyed. Though one might wonder about Micky D's if they ever became extinct. Then again, all is flux, so everything must fade eventually. But it will be replaced by something bigger and better, if history served as any indication to that.
Nell looked back to her laptop screen, scrunched up her nose as she thought. Rachael did have a point. Of course, she did have a point with everything. The woman certainly didn't speak for her health, and Nell respected that. She could manage respect even when she feared or was intimidated by someone. "That's more or less stereotyping, right? I mean, people have different opinions about everything, so while some may say Earths are...wimps, others may say they were the real dangerous ones. The same with Fires." She supposed that was Rachael's area, the sociology department. How people interacted with one another. She hoped that elementals didn't die out so that it would have to come to historical records. However, she understood how very near that they actually were. And it was troublesome, but what could they do to stop it? "So do you think that time will do enough damage to this generation that everything we did could be misconstrued?" It was possible, thousands of years in the future she supposed. But no one knew how time would progress from there and how technology would advance. It was as much a mystery as parts of the past were. The only unfortunate thing Nell could think of was that she would not be alive long enough to see that.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 15, 2012 19:38:22 GMT -5
She chose to ignore the cotton gin comment even though it was a good point. Instead she focused on Nell’s pervious statement. ”That’s a fault in itself, isn’t it?” she argued. ”Everything that is being written on the internet is being recorded. Technology is our biggest asset and downfall of our generation. It levels out the playing field on what can be called creditable information. It would take years to filter out the tons upon tons of crap people can freely put on there. I could go on there and post evidence supporting why the sky is blue and then some thirteen year old with a computer and no parental block can butcher the English language just to write how much they like some guy’s hair.” Her aversion to posting things online had kept Rachael out of the loop on a lot of things most people her age took part in. She had no facebook, no twitter, and no other form of social media. Rachael e-mailed, and researched on her laptop and that was it. It was her way of keeping her life as private as she could in this day and age.
”Religion is just fanatical and twisted forms of history,” There were two topics one should never mince words over, politics and religion. Rachael cared for neither and gave two shits over who she offended. The senior made no effort to hide how she felt about it if and when she was asked about the touchy subjects. Who’s to say a man walked across water or some man sitting under a tree reached enlightenment? Religion, much like history, could be compared to an elaborated game of telephone. She had lost her faith long ago when spiteful and skeptical thoughts began to fill her tiny little head.
She gave Rachael a weary look. ”Then there is privacy.” Or lack there of. They got the adults by convincing people to go green and file all their bills, tax info, and credit cards numbers. Any skilled hacker could line themselves up with all your information and the fail safe expertise wasn’t as solid a guarantee as people would like it to be. ”May sound like paranoia maybe, but true for the most part,” When she was still a minor in both the United States and Canada, Rachael’s information had been passed around the system more times than she would like. There was a at least one small misdemeanor on her record still from when she got caught sneaking into Corrosion under age and burning some guy’s face for getting a little too close. Then there was the pile –or what she imagined it would be- of her records in foster care. Shuffling around from family to family left quite the paper trail. With the proper means anyone could quickly get a hold of her files and paint themselves a pretty decent picture of what Rachael tried so hard to hide.
”Stereotyping, observing, same thing.” she mocked. Sociology had proved to Rachael that all studies, no matter how noble the pursuit, were subjective even on the tiniest level. The name of the game was who talked the loudest while still having the most facts to back themselves up. ”War, famine, natural disaster.” Rachael counted off on her fingers to drive the point home. ”Three absolute ways to destroy any group of people or cultural way of life. Every great nation has a group of people who’s way of life or even the population itself that have faced an extinction of some sort.” Rachael had never expected walking through this door that she would be talking to Nell so much, but all of this discussion on what she knew and loved best was keeping her from getting upset at Nell. Well, now she was just debating and conversing instead of arguing and fighting. ”The Celts, the Scots, the Frank Empire, the Guals, the Roman Empire, Roanoke, even the vast expansion of the British Empire. All of these either destroyed or swallowed up by something that was ‘bigger and better.’ You don’t think the considered the folks in Pompeii considered their way of life safe until Vesuvius came and burned their asses to the ground?”
NOTES: Commander Snark, dropping lava and shit on those Pompeii puss-crabs! (Don't ask what this means, because I don't even knowww) TAGGED: Nell Doe Dale
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Nov 17, 2012 12:45:14 GMT -5
She arched her eyebrows at the other woman. There was a point, but then again Nell had an answer for everything. She smiled, a little wry thing that wasn't supposed to be patronizing, just her own way of showing she was interested in the conversation. "There's Google to sort that out. Reliable sources using dot org or dot gov. It's only barely different from a library. You get the Highlight books but you also get Encyclopedia." It was just a different highway of information. Nell usually used the Internet for research only, so she didn't spend too much time on social networking sites though she did like to see all her friend's thoughts and what they were doing. Some considered it self-indulgent, but she liked being up-to-date, even though she wasn't so liberal with her own life.
While not being spiritual herself, one thing that Nell liked to do was keep in open mind. She didn't have a religion because she grew up without it. Her father had been a scientist, but he was raised Roman Catholic. No matter her personal beliefs, there was the fact that everyone believed in different things and that was a part of history. "Maybe, but no matter how skewed it is, it's still important to history. Religion can define entire cultures." It wasn't something that could be cast aside and discarded because you didn't believe in it. It may have been ridiculous to many people to worship cats, but Ancient Egyptians viewed them as gods. It was defining of them.
Nell shrugged her shoulders. Privacy had always been an issue for her, but that was a more personal thing. "Everyone has ways of getting their hands on everything, whether it's electronic or handwritten." Nothing is absolutely secure. But she knew about not having privacy, not having anything of her own. America knew everything about her, knew her the deepest secret that she rarely even acknowledged to herself. Of course, there was still all the lies that Jane and her grandparents had said, always circulating -- but one thing was for sure, she had a stigma to her name. She was a killer who was let off. And then she became an underage bartender and she had gotten herself arrested a few times, but never charged. Nell had her mistakes, plenty of them, and they stuck but that was the price to pay of living in society. "Paranoid is better than sorry, I suppose." It just wasn't her way to live. She didn't want to live in fear like she had once when she was a fugitive. Things were different now, she was living a good life.
Even though Nell had many opinions, she knew when to state them and when to keep quiet. So she kept quiet about the differences she saw in stereotyping and observing. Choosing her battles. But she agreed with the matter of destruction. How civilizations crumbled. Instead of stating her own opinions, she'd much rather hear Rachael's. "So what do you think would wipe out an entire generation?" She continued on after a short pause. "Over half the world is modernized in terms of technologies. Unless one day Earth is blown to bits by an asteroid, something will remain on a larger scale. But individual cultures may have to suffer. That's what studying history is all about though, studying until we get something right." No one ever stopped searching, so that people discovered more and more each time they looked on a specific civilization. Just like the present, the past was also progressing. Nell spared a moment to feel sorry about the people in Pompeii, all statues now, and took a moment to think about their way of life. "Maybe they did. I'm sure people in Hawaii are aware of the volcanoes looming nearby but live their lives normally anyway. And everything is eventually destroyed or swallowed up eventually. We just keep building empires on top of ruins." Where something was destroyed, another thing was built over it.
She came up with a hypothetical situation in that moment to try and prove her point. "Nowadays, say that France is taken over by British. The British may take liberties with said history, but there will always be something out there that remembers the Republic as it was." Maybe until everything else was destroyed, as long as there was bits and pieces to be measured against each other they would be all right.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 24, 2012 21:15:03 GMT -5
Ugh, Google. She rolled her eyes at the very thought and decided to keep her mouth shut. Point blank, Rachael had little trust in over half the things on the Internet. Filters, lack of privacy, the tracking all got on Rachael’s nerves to be quite honest. She would not fall back on it more than she had too. Call her old fashion but it worked for her. ”I’ll type a document on a computer, e-mail, maybe store a few photos and music, but that’s about all I’ll do.” she concluded. As strong as she felt about the advancement she begrudgingly had to be efficient enough to survive the modern work world. She wouldn’t let herself slip to the level of old widows. As much as she hated it Rachael had to give in sometimes, much like this conversation.
”Touché,” Rachael gave Nell a nod, as much of a victory she might ever get. She was right though about religion. Beliefs did shape entire societies, for better or for worse. And while Rachael would never turn to some spiritual light for her own cynical doubts…perhaps the idea of some sparkling fairy was enough to give others hope. Was she getting soft talking to this girl? Game face Rachael, this is the girl that caused so much trouble for your fellow fire elementals not to long ago. Not as stubborn as Thunders but she still had a reputation to keep. Even if Nell was being somewhat agreeable with her.
”In this generation? If I had to place my money on what could wipe out a culture or a generation in our age it’d be hard to boil it down really. It depends on the grasp of the home country. On one hand I doubt there would ever be an overnight famine in Canada, but take a poor village in South Korea and you could have a serious problem.” Overnight was a bit of an exaggeration but it was general enough to get the meaning across. Modernized society was probably safe from the threat of running out of food. If anything there was an over abundance of certain products at times. At least for now. ”I wouldn’t laugh off the cause of explosion just yet. Nuclear blowout is very much real. Just because the Cold War between the US and old Soviet Union was settle doesn’t mean those things still don’t exist.” The threat of war was always heightened when the word nuclear was thrown around. Rachael visibly shuttered at the mental image conquered up. The senior didn’t like to think about it as much as the next person, but if some country reckless started throwing around threats of that nature. Personally she could care less how ‘friendly’ a nation was; she thought technology that devastating shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone. ”So, I guess in a modern society I go with war. Not the kind of foot soldiers that get sacrificed for their country. I’m talking massive, mind blowing shitstorms all control by some high brass men hiding away in a lab bunker.”
Nell’s hypothetical got the fire graduate thinking. Once again she found herself agreeing with her work partner on some degree. ”True, there are cases in which there are two sides to every coin. But you’d have to agree that the spoils go to the victors. A win is a win, and a winner’s point of view sounds much more convincing than a loser to a third party.”
NOTES: Oh Stark! Sincerest apologies for the late turnover on this post. I completely forgot about this thread TAG: Nell Doe Dale
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