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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 14, 2011 21:48:50 GMT -5
Staying in the dormitories was not his normal option. In fact, Josh spent less and less time in the Fire dormitories lately then he'd likely done in his entire time at the school. It had been tolerable to sometimes hang back at school when he needed to work at the library early in the morning or he wanted to get other things done and to go home would inconvenience him, but ever since the war when Fire had basically banded together and named him an outcast, Josh had been avoiding overnight stays as much as possible. His dormitory carried the look of a hotel room--it was impeccably neat and barely anything personal lined the walls. In fact, the only indication that someone might reside in the room was the fact that the bookcase along the wall opposite the door was full. It carried a selection of books on elemental things--stuff that he could not pack into his library for fear of a non-elemental finding it when they perused his collection. They would likely be transferred to somewhere special in the large mansion after Josh graduated, but seeing as that was still a few years down the line, it wasn't anything that they had to worry about quite yet.
He frowned at the bare room as he used his power to light the torch brackets on the wall. As the Fire dormitories resembled underground caverns with lines of molten rock criss-crossing the walls in places, running an electrical line through the place would hardly be a good idea. He knew that there was a supply of matches and lighters in the main area of the dormitories for those that could not yet light the torches of their own accord. He did not need such things. The dormitory was sweltering hot as usual, unbearable to most but a comforting thing for a Fire elemental. He went over to the bookshelf and slid a few thick volumes into their places, having purchased the recommended books for the year as well as several others that he thought would be beneficial to him. The boy's reputation as a bookworm was a well-known one, but he was not a know-it-all. He didn't raise his hand constantly and he certainly didn't walk around acting like a dictionary. Josh kept to himself. And he fully intended to continue doing so as he left the dormitory and entered the common room, but he found it to be unfortunately no longer deserted as it had been when he'd passed through the first time.
He didn't know any of the occupants personally, but he knew most of their names and could tell by the glares that he was getting that they didn't really fancy his presence here. Josh thought about leaving the dormitory and going where he would get more peace, but then a streak of defiance struck him. None of these elementals were in college from what he could gather. He had the edge over them and they all had the same power, he could probably hold his own. Not that it would turn into a fight. Thankfully the leaders were currently trying their best to avoid any sort of a physical fight between their own--keep it together, keep the group calm, that seemed to be their mission. That did not rule out a battle of words. One of them shot an insult at him as he sat down and Josh tried with determination to avoid it. Instead, he pulled something out of his back--an assignment, it seemed--and settled down on the couch to work on it. He was going to mind his own business as best as he could, wasn't his fault if this got ugly.
[You can have them get on as badly/well as you like; I'm not sure how Oli would react to Josh or vice versa, so we'll see ]
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Post by mirandapanda on Sept 17, 2011 15:17:46 GMT -5
Oliver grabbed a match from his night stand and lit the torches in his room. He’d be glad when he could finally light them with his powers. Since he was late enrolling in the school his powers weren’t where they should be. They were more like that of a tenth grader than a twelfth grader. This meant that he was going to have to work his ass off to get caught up. He ran a hand through his hair and looked around his dorm. It looked rather depressing to be quite honest. None of his personal belongings had been unpacked yet, well nothing other than two framed pictures. A picture of him and his baby sister his mom took the day Laurie was born and a picture from his tenth birthday party of him and his parents and two best friends. Those people were his life and they meant everything to him. It was killing him that he had to be here, in Canada, way way way away from Arkansas. Tired of the bare room, Oli walked over to his suitcase and started unpacking.
When he finished, he shoved the empty suitcase under his bed and looked around once more. It looked better, lived in. The closet was now full of his nicer clothes and the drawers of everything else. There was another framed picture next to the others now. This one was of Oliver holding a baseball trophy from his freshman year. He smiled when he looked at it. It was his first highschool baseball championship. He pitched every inning and was tired as all get out by the last. The score was tied, bases loaded, and all the other team needed was one more run to win. The pressure on the freshman pitcher was intense. He had already thrown two strikes and a ball. Next pitch…ball. He sighed as his coach, also known as Dad, and the rest of his team cheered him on. They had complete faith in him. He took a deep breath and wound up for the pitch. He knew the moment it left his hand that it was too high. It was going to be a ball. Of course even if it was he’d get another chance. Just when he was about to get ready for the catcher to throw the ball back to him he heard the “whoosh.” The batter swung, and missed. He didn’t realize exactly what had happened until he was sitting on the shoulders of his team-mates holding the championship trophy.
The memory made him homesick. Back home his life consisted of three things: his family, his friends, and baseball. Now he had none of those. He laid down on his bed and stared at the rocky ceiling. Oli had to admit it was pretty cool to be living in a renovated dungeon. A little while later he realized that being anti-social was not helping his homesickness. If anything it was making it ten times worse. He pulled himself off his bed and changed out of his basketball shorts into some holey jeans and pulled on a white t-shirt. Before walking out of his dorm, he grabbed his I-pod and shoved it in his pocket. When he came to the common room he looked around to see if he knew anyone. Of course he didn’t. The only two people he even remotely knew at the whole school were Noly and Nell. The water and earth girls he saved from Mr. Creep at the club. They seemed to be pretty cool but he knew he wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with them. But he saw someone else who did anyway and walked over to him. “Hey you’re Josh, Nell’s guy, right?” he said hoping he wasn’t bugging the guy too much.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 17, 2011 19:36:25 GMT -5
Joshua wasn't altogether surprised that he wouldn't be allowed to finish his assignment in peace. It wasn't that he was annoyed by people talking to him, it was the things that they said which tended to grate heavily on his nerves. The graduate glanced up suspiciously, noting the words that the other boy had used. He'd called her by her name, first of all, which was the first surprising thing. The question hadn't sounded vulgar, more like this kid was curious or he just wanted to confirm something that he'd heard. Still, the older elemental was wary of this. Some people played nice in order to make you relax and then turned around to bite you in the ass later. He didn't trust his element easily any more. At the same time, he wasn't about to ask. "Yeah," came the response regardless. He wasn't ashamed of their relationship no matter how much trouble it got him into with the rest of his element. There were a few others in the common room but he doubted that they could overhear the words in the conversation as long as he wasn't yelling. "Who's asking?" It was a challenge of sorts, but it was not one that was altogether threatening. Accompanied by the arch of an eyebrow, it was more of a question than anything else. He'd heard from Nell about the creeper in the bar but he didn't yet make the connection that it was this guy that had helped her out of a tough spot.
Even if he had, would he have been treating this guy nicer? That wasn't exactly something that Joshua always did. He certainly didn't get along with Ace despite the Water elemental being one of Nell's closest friends. The guy was too overbearing and irritating for Josh's liking and he certainly hadn't appreciated the threat. They were under a strained pact, twisted allies because of the girl they both sought to protect, but at least on Joshua's part this alliance did not stretch far. He didn't like Ace and it was only the fact that Nell did which kept him from starting some sort of a fight with the guy. Oliver was different, sure, but it approached the same principle. Joshua didn't befriend people simply because of his girlfriend--there had to be something else there as well before he'd accept some sort of tolerance. However, the fact that Oliver was one of the only few Fire elementals that did not slander his girlfriend upon first talking about her or criticize their relationship within a breath of his greeting was a definite plus. Maybe he's just building up for later, thought Josh with a trace of bitterness. That wouldn't really surprise him. People could be underhanded at this school. It was usually found more in the Thunder elementals, but he knew some Fire students that possessed the qualities.
Deciding to bring the issue to the table, he asked, "What do you want?" He did not say it aggressively and it didn't even have the challenge that his last question had. Instead, it was just a neutral request to state whatever it was that he wanted from Josh rather than being subtle about it. If this guy was going to start taunting him then Josh didn't want to sit through five minutes of pointless conversation to get to the point. However, if the guy was a little more genuine than that it was also inviting him to talk. He wasn't really bothered by the interruption quite yet--it would bug him in a moment if it turned out to be for a fairly negative reason. "I hope you're not here to insult my girl, because I'm afraid I don't have time for that." The challenge was back, just as subtle as it had been when he'd asked for Oliver's name. He was protective over Nell. He didn't like when people went around saying things about her or spreading rumours. He remembered Brett's vulgarity and knew a pulse of satisfaction as he further recalled how he had kicked Brett's ass in response. Nell was just someone that you didn't insult around him. Of course, it's not cool if he insults me, either, though Josh mildly, but didn't say anything of the sort.
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Post by mirandapanda on Sept 17, 2011 20:38:59 GMT -5
Oliver noticed that Joshua didn’t seem too happy about being disturbed. He had heard about all of the other fire students being asses to him over being in a relationship with Nell, so he figured that was part of the look he was getting from Josh. “Oliver Logan McKaye, or according to Noly it’s Oli-Pop,” though he was pretty sure Josh wouldn’t call him Oli-Pop, “I helped Nell and Noly out at the club the other night when some guy was hittin’ on Noly.” He used a calm tone, trying to show Josh that he wasn’t here to fight. He was actually trying to be friendly. Which wasn’t usually a normal thing for Oliver, but if he wanted to make friends around here he figured it would help. There was also the simple fact that he was pretty sure Josh could…and would…kick his ass if he thought he was being rude. He could look at Josh and tell he didn’t trust him, not that he blamed him. When your whole element and alliance turn against you, it probably makes things tough. The sad thing was that Oliver knew that he was probably going to end up in the same boat if he stayed on the path he was on. Other fire students in the common room were looking at them, probably waiting on them to start fighting or yelling. He didn’t care though, he was here just to talk. It probably didn’t look good on his half since he didn’t really want trouble with the rest of the alliance. He was new and even though he knew he could be an ass to people, he didn’t really understand why it was such a bad thing to be friends with other elements. Of course he didn’t plan to make a habit out of it. Nell and Noly were about all he figured he’d be able to handle. And he planned on trying to keep that under wraps. He was going to try his best to stay out of trouble. He knew if someone smarted off to him about it, his anger would get the better of him. That wouldn’t be good. He’d start a fight, and since he was behind in training, probably get his ass handed to him on a silver platter.
Oliver could hear the annoyance beginning to form in Josh’s voice.“I’m just here to…talk or hang out or something, I know about the problems you’ve got with the other fire students but it ain’t my place to judge,” his slight southern accent was working its way into the conversation. He held his hand out to Josh as a sign of peace. “Man, you don’t have to worry about problems from me,” he said laughing a bit when Josh said something about insulting Nell. After seeing the way Nell acted to help her friend, Oliver had a lot of respect for the girl. “I think Nell is pretty cool, and Noly is, well she seems like a great girl.” He kept his tone even as he spoke about Noly. The truth was, he thought the girl was cute, and wanted to really get to know her. Even though he knew he shouldn’t. The whole alliance thing was making Oliver’s new life in Canada crazy already. “I honestly don’t get this whole alliance thing. My parents never really explained it to me.” That was true. And since his twelfth grade year was his first year at AotE, they hadn’t had a chance to drill it into his brain.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 17, 2011 21:11:10 GMT -5
Josh had to admit that he hadn't really been expecting a full introduction when he asked who the hell was bothering him. He blinked his gray eyes at the other boy and regarded him critically for a moment, trying to pick up on whether he was being genuine or not. This guy knew Noly? He'd better not be one of the guys causing her problems. Joshua was not friends with the Water elemental but Nell was, so it wouldn't fly well with him if this guy was shoving her around. Still, why would she give him a nickname if he antagonised her all of the time? Then Oliver mentioned that he had helped them out of a tough spot and a sort of understanding dawned on his features. He didn't have to consider whether or not Oliver was telling the truth--Joshua recalled Nell telling him about the guy that had gotten them out of a tight spot and the name definitely seemed familiar. "I've heard of you," he said. He still wasn't being overly friendly but he did relax ever so slightly. If Oliver didn't have it out for his girlfriend or Joshua himself then he was willing to give him a chance at least. People usually blew their chances with Josh pretty quick, or the other way around, but this was different. He had an actual reason to respect this guy and her name was Nell Shepherd. He made a point to ask the Earth elemental more about this Oliver kid if he got the chance. An outside opinion was always a good idea.
He studied Oliver for a moment longer as he stated his business of coming over here and then insisted that he wasn't going to judge Josh because of what other people had said. Well, that was something, wasn't it? Joshua didn't realise that Oliver wasn't yet as inducted into the alliance as most. It was practically drilled into the ninth graders that the Earth students were pussies and the Water students were brats, that Thunder and Fire were the ones with whom your loyalty should lie. Josh had been little exception to this, and he'd believed it for some time. Until Nell had came along. That had changed everything. He glanced at the offered hand and then shook it, arching an eyebrow. "I'll hold you to that." He wanted to believe that there was at least one Fire student that didn't hate his guts around here but Josh needed some proof before he took his word for it. It was nothing personal, Josh just wasn't a trusting guy by default. At least he wasn't glaring or threatening Oliver yet. Some of the others in the dormitory were staring and this bothered the graduate a little, but not enough that he would call attention to or say anything about it.
He snorted a little when Oliver went on to compliment the two girls. "Hannoly and I are merely acquaintances," he said with a wave of his hand. They were actually more like thorns in one another's sides, but because of Nell the two kept their peace for the most part. Water elementals would always be difficult for Josh to get along with. All the same, he wasn't going to badmouth her in front of someone else. Josh wasn't the type that went around spreading rumours and lies about other people and nor did he let his own rivalries bleed into conversations. For the most part, at least. It was increasingly difficult not to rage about Ace in Nell's presence, but thus far he had managed. "Parents? Didn't you get it talked into you by the rest of these idiots?" He gestured around the common room with a roll of his colourless eyes. He still hadn't realised that Oliver was a new student. Joshua had been at the Academy going on six full years now and so it was impossible not to know what the Fires thought about absolutely everyone. "The alliances are a bunch of bullshit," he said. "I never thought so until they went after Nell, but now I couldn't care less about them." Attacking Nell and expecting him to do the same had been the last straw for Joshua. He'd turned his back on his former allies and he'd never really lived to regret it--he couldn't regret something he'd done for the sake of his girlfriend, after all. Even though she hadn't been in a relationship with him at the time.
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Post by mirandapanda on Sept 18, 2011 21:11:23 GMT -5
It was going to take Oliver a lot to get on his good side. Not that he blamed him. He didn’t think that Josh was all that bad of a guy like everyone said. Shit he didn’t have anything to do with the rest of his own element for someone he loves. That was something Oliver could respect. He too could be a jerk and an asshole but he always believed in love. That was the one thing his parents drilled into him. It was what made him beat the hell out of a guy that caused his best friend to try to kill herself. He was actually a lot like what Nell and Noly had called him, a knight in shining armor. “Yeah, I can’t stand seein’ guys mess with girls like that. I don’t believe in that kind of stuff.” Images of the way that creep had looked at Noly flashed through his mind and made his blood run hot. Why was he so willing to protect a girl he barely knew? Maybe it was just the way he was raised. He believed in treating women with respect. He couldn’t stand sitting back and watching someone push a girl around. It always made him wonder why girls put up with guys like that. He hoped Laurie never ended up with someone like that. If she did then Oliver would probably end up on death row because God help the guy that hurt his baby sister. There may have been a big age gap between the two but he loved that kid with all his heart, and missed her just as much. That was one of the things he hated most about being in Canada.
A grin spread across his face when the older student accepted his hand shake. He was glad to see Joshua relax. Oliver sat down in a chair across from the couch Josh was on and leaned forward on his knees. Maybe there was a chance that the two could end up being friends, or at least not enemies. He liked Noly and Nell was her best friend and was cool as shit so he figured it would be a good thing to try to get along with Josh. It seemed like he was one of the only ones around here that didn’t completely hate somebody because of the alliance they were in. It was a whole new level of prejudice and just because he grew up in the south didn’t mean he believed in that stuff. You treat others with the same respect you want. Wasn’t that the golden rule? For seventeen years that was what he was taught, now here he was with people trying to tell him the complete opposite.
The way Josh spoke of Noly made him guess that the two of them weren’t as close as he’d originally thought they were. That was understandable though. Water and fire don’t mix, that wasn’t just an elemental thing, it was a law of nature. Though, it was beginning to be a law of nature that Oliver wanted to prove wrong. Or partially wanted to prove wrong. Hell he didn’t know what he wanted to do anymore. His life turned upside down the moment his parents dropped him off at the academy. “No, this is my first year here. I’m workin’ my butt off just to get my powers where they should be. They haven’t had a chance to brainwash me yet.” It was true, ever since he arrived here he’d been working on getting caught up with the rest of the twelfth graders. He was so focused on his powers that he hadn't paid much attention to the political part of everything. “I don’t want to cause trouble with the rest of them, but man I’m startin’ to believe that,” he kept his voice to where only Josh could hear him. “Honestly, I don’t blame you. Just having a bunch of people as allies ain’t worth givin’ up something you love.” He would turn his back on anyone that tried to mess with someone close to him, so he could understand why Josh had. He paused for a second as another thought formed. “And if those allies are willing to turn their back on you that easily then they weren’t really your allies to begin with the way I see it.”
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 19, 2011 3:26:15 GMT -5
This was the point where Joshua started to spot the differences between himself and Oliver. Oli seemed to have strong views and morales on what should and shouldn't happen to women. He seemed to have a pretty firm opinion against guys that would creep around and hit on chicks and, judging by the way he'd helped Noly, he would stop them if he could. Josh was a lot different than that. He merely shrugged in response. "Nor do I." That was the truth at least. He didn't like to see it happening and he certainly wouldn't be found doing it himself, but that didn't mean he would do what Oliver did and valiantly step in to help. Joshua didn't normally concern himself with such situations. He didn't play the hero, it didn't work that way for him. Now, if it had been Nell... well, alright, that guy would be getting his head knocked in. You didn't mess with a guy's girlfriend if you had any sort of intelligence about you. Especially not when that guy was Joshua Dale, who was so reckless in his anger that he'd take you on whether he thought he could win against you or not. He supposed that he also might have interfered if it was someone that he knew well enough. He'd certainly stepped in to help Freya at one point. There was a bit more guilt associated in watching it happen to someone you knew. It was a lot harder to ignore that way. When faced with a stranger it was easier to say that you didn't know the circumstances and didn't want to risk getting involved when you'd just taken it the wrong way. When you knew the person well enough to understand they hadn't brought it upon themselves, well... that was different.
A certain sort of understanding flashed behind his gaze as he realised that Oliver, much like Nell, was a late arrival to the Academy. It thus made much more sense for him to be focusing more heavily on power rather than politics. Joshua had came to the school with an understanding of how things worked because his parents had always made a point to be open with him about their powers. They had explained that he might not be gifted despite their strong bloodline and not to get his hopes up, but that if he did have something in him then he would be sent to the special school to learn how to control it. He'd asked questions and they'd told him stories about their days at school and how the alliances had worked back then. Donovan had been the relaxed one, branching out and making friends among the other elements occasionally. Patricia had been more rigid, and that was probably why she'd been elected as female leader in her junior year. For two years she'd led them and she'd been oh so proud of her son when he'd followed in her footsteps in senior year. This coming to mind, he gave a little snort and said, "Don't worry too much about it. I led the bastards and I still don't understand most of them." It was part of the reason they were so offended by his treachery. A former leader was expected to always stay true to their alignment. They tried to shake it off now and say that he'd been a bad leader and they should have seen it coming, but Josh knew it was sheer desperation. He'd done the Fire element as good as he could, he'd carried out his duties, he'd kept them strong. They just wanted more than that.
His lips twitched into a sort of dry smirk which vanished almost instantly. Oliver didn't want to cause trouble with the other Fire elementals? He was certainly going about that in an interesting way. He'd made friends with two girls in the enemy alliance and he was having a hearty chat with their resident traitor. It was an ironic way of trying to fit in. "Are you sure you want to be seen talking to me?" he asked smoothly. He was not going to kid himself and pretend that they didn't care if he made friends with some of them. The Fire elementals were usually convinced that he would turn the others soft if he hung around too much. They blamed Nell for taking away his fiery attributes and turning him into a pansy just like how they viewed her element. He knew this wasn't true--he still had his temper, his aggression, his stubborn and proud attitude. Just because he hated them didn't mean that he didn't act like them. "I got along with them once," he shrugged. "Not any more." 'Gotten along' was something that could be debated. He had never had a circle of friends or as close a companionship with most of them as a lot of the elementals did. He had instead just tolerated them and stuck up for them where necessary. They'd returned the favour. It was practically just Fire student behaviour--attack one, you attack them all. He didn't live by that now. At the same time, he didn't want to have Oliver cast out simply because the guy wanted to talk to him, so he was giving fair warning about the fact that it might not be a good idea.
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Post by mirandapanda on Sept 20, 2011 19:00:42 GMT -5
So there was a small piece of common ground between Joshua and Oliver. Oliver may have been more the type to stop a guy that would creep on girls, but at least Josh felt that it shouldn’t happen. That was close enough. Most guys didn’t have quite the stand point on the idea that Oli did, but he had a reason as to why he acted that way. Her name was Chainey and she was his best friend. They grew up together and right before he came to the academy she tried to kill herself. Over a creep. The guy was completely abusive to her and made a bad time in her life ten times worse. She tried to hide it from Oli and her twin brother however, they knew better. The way she started acting was just strange for her. She didn’t like to be touched she wore long sleeve shirts and pants during the summer. Things just weren’t right. And you could look at him and the smug look that he always seemed to wear and know he had a rotten side. Finally she just wanted a way out and tried to find it at the bottom of a bottle of pills. She lived, but after that Oliver swore that he wouldn’t let stuff like that happen to other girls.
Oliver ran a hand threw his hair and wondered why his parents never told him about the elemental politics. It would have been nice to know what he was getting into before he got into it. A kind of shocked expression crossed Oliver’s face when Josh mentioned that he had been a leader for the fire students. “You were a leader?” It made sense though. He seemed like one of those people who would be a good leader. And it also explained why the other fire elementals had such hard feelings towards him. If he had been here for the whole deal and had been sucked into the politics from the beginning he probably would have been pissed too. He was starting to understand why his parents always wished the powers would skip his generation. They didn’t want him to have to go through all of this. It also made Oliver hope that when he had kids it would skip their generation. If you weren’t raised into this stuff it just didn’t make a whole heck of a lot of sense.
“Honestly, the more I think about it the more I wonder if I really do care,” it was partially true. He didn’t want to have a bunch of fake friends watching his back just because he was a fire student. Then again if he pissed them off, he was in big trouble. He wasn’t near as strong as the rest of them and he knew it. Anyone of them could probably take him on and take him out. If it was a fair fight, just hand to hand, Oli might have a chance. If it concerned his powers? Hah, he’d be lucky to last a few minutes. All in all he just really didn’t know where he stood in the whole situation. He was starting to wish he had been born a wind elemental so that he wouldn’t have this problem. “I don’t really know any of them to know if I get along with them,” another thought occurred to him, “And I really don’t understand how they expect fire students to get along. If were all short-fused, angry, irritable people how the heck are we supposed to get along with other short-fused, angry, irritable people? That just seems as stupid as pullin’ a bull’s tail to me.” And Oliver knew from watching his buddies back home that that wasn’t a smart idea. Pull a bull’s tail and that sunovabitch was going to be after you in a heartbeat.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 21, 2011 4:28:27 GMT -5
Joshua laughed, but it was not any sort of laugh that marked amusement or entertainment. It was bitter and sounded chilled. "Yeah," he affirmed. Did he regret accepting the position when the Academy had pitched it to him? Only somewhat. He hadn't foreseen that he would fall for an Earth elemental and have the entire alliance turn on him in the future, for Josh wasn't psychic. He'd never been as close to the Fire element as they usually were to one another but there'd never been a whole lot of hatred there, either. Josh was simply a loner. In fact, the Fire kids had been better to him than most of the other elements. They hadn't been his friends but they'd at least refrained from spreading the rumours about him. There had been a sense of camaraderie. Even still, he knew that 'friendship' wasn't the reason they'd elected him. "I made people nervous, they wanted the intimidation factor." Joshua was such a volatile person that his temper was completely unpredictable, so a lot of people worried that he would go off and get violent if they so much as said hello to him. They'd been afraid of him (not without reason, for sometimes he did let his anger get the best of him) and the Fire elementals had loved that. They'd used it to their advantage and chose Josh as leader so that no one thought to mess with them. It had half-worked--the enemy alliance also hadn't messed with them because he hadn't given them a reason to. He hadn't provoked them. It only had a small bit to do with fear.
He shrugged when Oliver spoke. "They can be decent if they like you," he said. He wasn't being fair to them or anything, he was only being truthful. He knew that they were a lot less cold toward you as long as you were on their side. They treated him with such disrespect because he was a traitor. He supposed that he could sort of understand, if he really looked at it from their point of view. At the same time, Josh would never allow himself to forgive them. If the war had been for any other reason maybe Joshua wouldn't have been so bitter, but they'd been trying to kill Nell. She wasn't his girlfriend at the time (he hadn't even really known he was in love with her then, either) but the same principles applied to his friends. You didn't go after the people he loved. He remembered that his parents had been a little disapproving at first when they'd found out that he'd ditched his loyalty to the Fire element. He had been raised with talk of alliances and as a proud Fire clan dating back centuries, the Dales were not ones that often approved of such things. However, he was also their son, so when he explained his reasoning they had accepted it. This was yet another point that he and Oli would disagree on. When--no, if Joshua had children he most definitely wanted their generation to have the genetics. He didn't think he could bear the shame if he killed his lineage or anything. Not only that, but he was proud to be an elemental.
Oliver brought up a good point, and one that many people made, but Joshua already had an answer for him before the guy had even opened his mouth. "It's more of a mutual tolerance," he said. "They see you as an ally so they don't take their anger out on you." It was perhaps one of the only admirable qualities of the Fire element, their sense of loyalty. They all knew that most of them had anger issues and they themselves had problems with rage, so a lot of them understood how to go about not invoking the wrath of their fellows. In fact, looking back on it, not a lot of his kind had ever set him off before they'd became distanced. Over stupid things there had been a few confrontations, but never anything random like when some of his friends in other elements hung around him and said the wrong thing. Yes, there was definitely a sort of understanding there. "And wait--who do you know that's pulled a bulls tail?" Oliver's accent had certainly not slipped Joshua's attention, especially not since he was rather fascinated by accents and dialect and so picked up on such things. Still, he was curious as to who in Oliver's list of friends and acquaintances had been dumb enough to go up to something as large and intimidating as a bull and yank its tail. Unless it was just a figure of speech, which was also understandable.
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Post by mirandapanda on Sept 22, 2011 19:53:58 GMT -5
“Okay, that makes sense.” Of course they would want someone who could give you just one look and make you run in the other direction with you tail between your legs for a leader. Joshua seemed to fit that description perfectly. Hell even Oli was a little intimidated by the guy. Had it not been for Noly and Nell he probably would have never thought to talk to the guy. So far he didn’t seem to be that bad of a person, even if he didn’t say much. He had heard stories about Josh’s anger though. Oliver wondered what it would have been like to see him as a leader. To see how the other fire students acted with Josh as their leader. It also made him wonder if he had started when he was supposed to, if he could’ve ended up as a leader. Or if he would have even wanted to be one. Maybe if he had been here from the beginning he wouldn’t be so confused about how he should really act and if he really should be loyal to the people who tried to kill someone else. He didn’t know the full story but he still didn’t think it was right. He thought about asking Josh what had actually happened, but his better judgment decided not to ask.
“I have a feeling they ain’t gonna like me too much,” he looked over his shoulder at the other students in the room. If looks could kill, well you know the story. Yeah, he knew he was bringing on himself, but really where was the harm in just having a conversation. None of them had made much of a move to welcome him to the school. None of them bothered to offer helping him get caught up. He was a weak link and with his late arrival he was pretty much an outsider. Oliver really didn’t know how he felt about everything at this school. Was having a few friends worth pissing off a bunch of already generally pissy people? He was pretty sure that things at the academy weren’t just going to come easily for him at all.
Oliver listened as Joshua gave an explanation for his question. “Ahh I see now.” So the fires knew not to mess with each other. Well duh, he chastised himself. He knew about Josh’s temper and his reputation so he was careful not to say something that would make him mad. It was the same principle with the rest of them. They knew the others were like them so they knew pretty much how to act around them. Maybe they weren’t quite as stupid as they seemed. Maybe Oliver was the one pulling the bull’s tail in this situation after all. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. This place was going to be the death of him or at least have him thrown in an asylum. He laughed when Josh asked if he knew anyone that had pulled a bull’s tail. “Some of the guys on my baseball team back home,” a smile spread across his face as he recalled the story, “We have a County Fair every year and there’s always a rodeo. We were hangin’ around the holding pen for the bulls and a few of my buddies climbed in with the bulls. They really aren’t that mean until you do something to piss them off. This guy Rusty wanted to play bull fighter so he pulled the damn thing’s tail. From my side of the fence it was pretty funny. From their side? Not so much. The rodeo clowns had to come over and help them out.” That was one of the funniest memories Oli had from Arkansas.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Sept 23, 2011 20:22:33 GMT -5
Joshua gave a small sort of nod, the only indication that he'd even heard what Oliver said at all--his eyes were on another elemental across the room that was giving him a nasty glare. No, these kids were probably going to hold this simple conversation against Oli. It might be possible for the new guy to redeem himself, however; Josh had seen a couple of people clash with this rough bunch only to be accepted into their ranks at a later date. Then again, it usually took effort from both sides. Would Oliver even want these sort of people as friends? It didn't seem likely that the new student would want to become allies with people that didn't like his first few friends here. Maybe he should have given the guy some advice along the lines of 'be careful who you rub shoulders with', but that wasn't his style. He might have been a leader once that was responsible for running the place and keeping others in line, but that had been a while ago. Josh had and would always be a dominant personality that couldn't really take orders from anyone, but he also let this take a backseat role at times. Speak only as needed. It seemed to be his motto. Joshua was not a talkative person and he wondered if Oliver was in any way bothered by this. Not that he'd have cared--he didn't do anything to please other people, Josh. He just lived his life the way he wanted to and gave a big 'fuck you' to those that tried to make him change.
The mention of sports, something Joshua had never been good at himself, was not lost on him. "You play baseball." It wasn't a question--Oliver had said it was 'his' team and so Josh figured that indicated he was a part of it. It was voiced as more of a mildly surprised remark. It didn't really change much--he felt no more respect or disrespect toward him than he had five minutes ago. They weren't his thing, athletics, but that didn't mean that he would hold it against someone that did enjoy them, though. Hell, as long as they refrained from making fun of him for his lack of athletic talent he was fine. It wasn't to say that Josh was in any way easy-going or laid-back, just that he wasn't much of a judgemental person. "You any good?" It was rare to have Josh ask personal questions about other people but he didn't really see prowess in sports to be something that was too personal. He based most of his will and won't options on his own experiences--if there was something he would not be comfortable being asked, he generally wouldn't bring it up around another person. It was a pretty effective way of avoiding any sort of awkward confrontation but sometimes he misjudged and asked things that bothered other people anyway. No one was an open book, as much as they might appear to be.
He was amused by the story of the bull but it didn't really show as much as it would for some. Rather than collapsing into a laughing fit, his lips twitched and he allowed a very brief chuckle. "Idiots," he said, shaking his head softly. It was not difficult for him to find amusement in the misfortune of others. Some people might have immediately wondered if the guy that had pulled on the animal's tail had gotten out of the situation without injury but Joshua focused more on how stupid you had to be in order to grab the tail of an obviously none-too-cheery animal. He wondered if Oliver himself had ever gotten into something like that but once again he stopped himself from asking. Personal questions like that were a lot more off limits with Joshua than athletics. Instead, he said, "I'm guessing he didn't try that again in a hurry." It wasn't really a question but it was certainly open for further discussion if Oliver had anything to say. Though it was not to say that he particularly enjoyed Oli's company so far, he also couldn't say that he disliked him. That was a good sign. It took ages to befriend someone like Joshua but getting off on the right foot was a good sign. (Then again, he and Nell had been completely wrong footed and look how that had worked out!)
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