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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Oct 9, 2011 21:28:08 GMT -5
Nell actually thought the whole crop circle thing to be interesting, considering that people took time out of their days to do it. Strange, actually. To each their own…? She merely smiled at Josh’s words though, realizing that he was probably already aware of that and that he wasn’t actually planning to do something like crushing innocent farmers’ crops. On the topic of belief in anything odd out there, she laughed before she said, ”I hope not.” It’d take a special kind of person to deny the existence of something when proof was put right in front of their faces. The stubborn mule types, probably. But she liked to keep her mind open, and she liked to think there was a lot about the world that people didn’t know and that there could still be mystery out there. It would be rather disappointing if science explained away everything. That’s why she hoped they never really found out the mysteries of deep sea and lost civilizations—so that you could always wonder. ”I will,” she said. She always hoped that she could find something odd going on around the Academy since it was such an old castle. It wasn’t like things really went bump in the night at her apartment, save for her neighbors next door.
She gave a flourish as she pretended to bow at Josh’s compliment. ”I know I’m fabulous,” she said with a rather condescending tone, as if he wasn’t worth her time. Of course, there was always the disjunction between what she joked about and how she felt. She didn’t think herself at all ‘fabulous’, even though she was quite proud of how good her powers were getting. Nell smiled as he whittled the stick, and rolled her eyes playfully when he talked about candy. ”Of course any candy pleases you.” Holding her stick with one hand, she looked in her bag and felt very triumphat when she found gram crackers in there, some of them broken thanks to rough handling. ”S’more time,” she said, putting the marshmallow all the way into the fire and blowing it off. ”One marshmallow, medium-burnt,” she said as she carefully slid it off onto the piece of chocolate and squeezing everything between a gram cracker. S’mores were just one of the foods she would have never known existed had she not escaped her mother’s clutches.
Nell tilted her head when she finished off the s’more and put two more marshmallows on the stick. ”What’s Bloody Mary? You mean like the drink?” She wasn’t aware of the urban legend thanks to the fact that she didn’t have any friends when she was younger daring her to do it. But she was willing to hear about any other urban legends that Josh apparently knew about from around Maple Hollow. ”Do you think…the yeti got them?” she whispered the last part conspiratorily as if the best might overhear them and stomp on over. ”So do they call in the police or go to Mulder and Scully for those cases?” It was eerie to think about the possibility of just disappearing in the wilderness and having no one find you. But she was an optimist, and she didn’t believe that something like that would happen to them. They were elementals, so the biggest problem in the wilderness being animals, well they could easily take care of that. ”I guess people really need to be careful out here,” she said more seriously, pulling the marshmallows out and squeezing them between her fingers.
He asked her about ghost stories and she bit her lip as she thought. Remembering one, she smiled and said, ”Really wish I had a flashlight for this, but I can do a creepy voice for effect.” She tried to remember the exact details of the story, but since her memory was foggy in that aspect she decided she could just fill some details in. ”When I was little my father had a portrait hanging up in the hallway that always creeped me out and I didn’t really know why. I asked him about it and he said that it was a picture of my great great grandfather…after he died. In the olden days, people apparently thought it cool to take family photos with dead relatives before burying them. So Tilly told me that whenever I went to bed at night and she stayed up, she saw his ghost sitting in the chair in our room. Guess who didn’t get sleep that week?” She rolled her eyes, because she now knew it was her sister messing with her.
It was nice that she was able to talk about this with Josh, little innocuous details about her past and anecdotes between she and her sister. She also had other tales not related to personal experience, but that one was pretty interesting to her. Something of her past that she actually liked to remember, since it was with her sister. It wasn’t too difficult with him, but she wouldn’t have told the tale to anyone else. He knew enough about her, knew that she had a twin and a father, which is more than a lot others. ”Kind of creeped out thinking about that picture now.” It was one of the only 'expensive' things in their house, hung in the narrow hallway between the sisters’ and their parents’ rooms. She wondered if her father remembered it, but asking would mean talking about the past with him and she didn’t want that. ”There’s also apparently alligators in New York’s sewer system, but that’s not a ghost story. Just weird.” She didn’t grow up in the wilderness here, so she didn’t have many stories with that. "Sorry I don't have more to do with the forests, but I haven't been around long enough to really hear any." And she was sure he'd be familiar with the Blair Witch Project hoax.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Oct 9, 2011 23:49:32 GMT -5
Josh blinked, caught off guard by the fact that Nell had no idea about the Bloody Mary myth. Then his expression cleared--Nell was full of surprises, and he had to remind himself sometimes that her naivete wasn't only concerning certain things. He didn't mind that she was ignorant of a lot of stuff that most people would consider common knowledge and so he didn't allow the situation to become awkward in the question's stead. Instead, Josh decided to explain. "Nah, it's an old myth," he said. "Something people use as a test of bravery as a kid, you know? They say if you chant her name three times into a mirror she'll appear and murder the summoner." He shrugged. There were different variations of the tale but he had just desired to sum it up in as easy to understand a way as possible. He remembered when Annabel and a couple of her friends had accidentally broke a full-length mirror in her room because one of them had panicked during the recital of the words and thrown something at it. Patricia had been infuriated and Annabel had slept in Josh's room that night and asked him to turn the mirror facing the wall because she was scared that Mary's ghost was going to kill her. It was all fun and games, sure, but when it terrified his sister to such a point he had a slight irritation toward the legend. He knew that it wasn't true and had actually done it himself just to convince her that it was safe to sleep in her own room. (She had clutched his arm, crying and begging him not to, afraid that she was going to lose her big brother. Oh, the life of an eight year old was hard.)
He listened with interest to her tale, his lips twitching when she mentioned the ritual of taking pictures with your dead. "At least it's not as bad as some old cultures that fancied keeping them above ground and bringing them out for a drink on the holidays," he pointed out. He could only imagine how grizzly it would be to have a dead body sitting at your table during Christmas dinner. The smell must have been awful as well. Some people were weird--he could think of no other explanation for this. Listening to the rest of what she'd said, he found that he liked hearing Nell talk about her sister. "Siblings can be a pain, sometimes." His tone was affectionate however. Nell knew better than anyone that Joshua would do anything for his baby sister. He wondered what it was like having a twin and concluded that the bond must be just as strong, except that you'd also have a friend in them that was your own age. Although, he reflected, not all twins worked out that way. Asha and Ace had experienced a rivalry so harsh that they had been infamous for it while at school. But it sounded like Nell and Till had been incredibly close. "And it didn't freak her out to think about things like that?" Even if the girl had made up the story to tease Nell, it was surprisingly brave for a little girl to be able to talk of things like that. He doubted that Annabel could come up with stories without convincing herself that they might just be real in the process.
When Nell apologised for not having any good stories about the forest Joshua only smiled and waved his hand dismissively. He didn't mind that she hadn't grown up in the same sort of area that he had. "No worries," he insisted. He stayed up talking to her until the darkness had strengthened and the forests had gone quiet save for the occasional sound of a nocturnal forest creature. His lips parted with a yawn and he arched an eyebrow. "I think I'm going to get some sleep," he said, sending out another blast of warmth to make the area comfortable. The ground wasn't the softest of places and they hadn't brought any sleeping bags but as Josh had suggested this and Nell had seemed all too eager he wasn't going to complain. Instead, he chose a spot near the fire so that it would ward off the worst of the mosquitoes and bugs and tried to get to sleep.
It was not immediately apparently that the muffled snuffling and scratching noises were not a part of his sleep. However, as an incredibly light sleeper who rarely dreamed it took only a very short amount of time for Josh to realise that something was amiss and to slowly sit up. A few hours must had passed judging by the fact that the fire was starting to die down without his constant influence, but he didn't dare do anything yet. The sounds were closer now, sounding as if they came from right near the edge of the small campsite. He didn't notice it was a bear until the gleam of an eye became visible--alarmed, he shifted closer to Nell and shook her arm slightly. "Nell," he said very cautiously and quietly, "there is something very large and furry sharing our campsite with us." He gestured lightly in the direction of the lumbering beast. It was not in his interest to hurt the bear in any way but he was going to use his powers in self-defence if he had to. He'd never had to deal with a bear before. "Should we try and chase it off?" he asked, wondering what her opinion on the matter would be.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Oct 10, 2011 16:52:07 GMT -5
When Josh mentioned the fact that it was a rite of passage for kids, she tilted her head a bit so she could hide the slight change in expression. She wanted that, but it was no use mourning over experiences lost. Instead, she quickly fixed a smile on her face. ”Well, there’s me checking mirrors out of my peripheral from now on, thanks,” she said. Of course, that would be after she tried it. Something like that was too tempting to ignore. ”Who even comes up with this stuff?” It must travel by word of mouth. It was interesting for her, especially since she didn’t have much knowledge of oral tradition. Speaking of odd traditions, she shook her head when Josh talk about keeping bodies above ground. ”C’mon, it’s still morbid,” she said with a laugh. ”Could you imagine? ‘C’mon kids, grandpa’s dead, let’s get a picture!’” She held up her hand in resignation upon realizing something. ”Okay, I can understand since pictures were so expensive that they only took them on special occasions.” And didn’t smile when those pictures were being taken, of course. Poor dental hygene and slow shutter speed—two things that prevented anything like that. ”Good thing times have changed.” She wondered how many things would be considered strange to future generations that are considered of the norm now. At least thoughts of a very distant future were safe.
She was very tempted to ask about Annabel, but wondered if that would be okay now that Josh was no longer living with his sister. That made the constant knife-in-the-gut feeling whenever she thought about his situation all the worse, so she couldn’t bring herself to do anything. Tilly making herself afraid? Nell snorted. ”Nah,” she said. Nell was about to say something else, but she closed her mouth, instead giving him a small smile. Copping out, she said, "She just had night terrors like a lot of kids. I don't know if Annabel ever had them...?" The complete truth would have been saying, "She had worse things to be afraid of." Like the mortality she was faced with every day. Nell didn’t know which of them had been the bigger scaredy cat. Nell had seen in her mother what her sister didn’t, and feared the woman for it. But Tilly and her mother had loved each other, because the parents had certainly played favorites—Mia loved Tilly as much as she hated Nell, and León loved Nell as much as he ignored Tilly. No, the ‘older’ twin was not a scaredy cat in her opinion even though she was perturbed by her sister’s tall tales, because she’d never left her sister even when she figured out her mother would never care for her like she did Tilly. And even though there was the little jealousy even as Nell knew there was something very wrong with Mia, she held Tilly through the night terrors, the coughing fits, the crying—she had to be the strong one. Tilly had more to be afraid of than ghosts she’d created from her own imaginition. Even she knew that she was slipping away, though neither of the girls acknowledged it aloud because they really didn’t understand. Children didn’t know how to deal with death, it was something that happened to grandparents and pets, not sisters. So Nell never said, “You’re going to die. Are you okay with that?”
Instead of going on about her family, she shut up. No more talk about pasts. It was better sticking to harmless things, until Josh said that he was going to hit it. She didn’t really mind sleeping out in the elements. Loved it, actually. The wide open space around her was all she needed, that she didn’t care that there were rocks jutting out of the ground—not like she could do much about those, since her powers didn’t extend to that. When she felt it was time for her to hit it, he grew up the grass for cushioning before she fell back down on it, letting out a whispered “ouch” when she hit her head. She needed to keep in mind that grass was never as soft as she thought it was. It didn’t feel like long before she was nudged awake. They were very confusing words to wake up to, actually, and it took her a few seconds to process what Josh had said. Propping herself up with her elbows, she looked to where he motioned to. Well that wasn’t cause to freak out at all.
Nell tugged on his arm, asking, ”Is it the yeti?” She sounded more gleeful than anything, because in her mind something mythical and legendary like that couldn’t harm her. But she furrowed her eyebrows together. ”…Or not.” She didn’t know exactly what it was, her vision impaired by the darkness and the fact that she was half-awake, but it was not a yeti. Vines flourished to block the path of the…bear? It looked like a bear and she felt anxiety winding through her like the vines she grew with as much concentration as she could muster right then. ”Scare it away with fire?” she whispered. Wait, should I be loud to scare it off? Nell didn’t have too much experience with bears. But she knew fire may help. She didn’t want to hurt the poor creature which was why she stopped at the vines—Nell was always cautious with her powers.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Oct 10, 2011 23:44:45 GMT -5
He chuckled at her reaction to the Bloody Mary legend, shrugging when she wondered aloud about who came up with it. "Who knows, but they must have been pretty bored." It was an old legend and he supposed that making up stories had been popular back then. What else were people going to do if they didn't have televisions and computers to keep them entertained? They lived in an era of technology where little things such as making up urban legends were often overlooked but that didn't mean it wasn't fun to occasionally revert back to basics and have a laugh as your friends ran screaming away from a mirror that reflected nothing back at you but your own amused expression. He laughed even harder when she next spoke. "That was great," he complimented, obviously delighting in the twisted sense of humour. "I'd save it for weddings or anniversaries or something," he snorted. He certainly wouldn't want a photograph with Patrick if the old man kicked the bucket tomorrow. Then again, that could just be his deep-seated loathing for Patrick talking to him. He couldn't stand the old man alive, he'd actually probably be better off dead. He debated on sharing this with Nell for a laugh but then decided against it. His feelings toward Patrick were a little too strong on the negative front and he worried that Nell might realise that and take him seriously. He chose to keep the remark to himself for now.
When Nell asked him about Annabel Joshua thought hard on it for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't think so," he replied. "Just regular bad dreams like most kids." She would come into his room in the middle of the night and he would already be awake from the sounds out in the hall and the noise of the door opening. He was a very light sleeper but he didn't tell this to Annabel, who seemed to think that her brother could just tell that she was going to need him to be there for her. He didn't want to disillusion her by explaining that it was just a boring thing about his sleep patterns that made him wake at such convenient times. He would cheer her up and ask her if she wanted water or anything to drink, and then he'd wait until she fell asleep snuggled against him before shifting her over to the other side of the bed and going back to bed himself. His parents discouraged such things, of course, wanting Annabel to be mature enough to sleep in her own room. So he'd set his alarm for a little earlier than theirs and bring her back to her own room in the morning. It had caused a lot of necessaries trouble just to keep Annabel content, but Belle was his baby sister. He would do anything to make her feel better.
Joshua watched as the vines grew into their path, stopping the bear from getting too close. "Good thinking," he said, not sure whether he should move and try to frighten it off or whether that would just provoke it into attacking. He could have been reckless and just went at it with his elemental powers but just like Nell he was wary of injuring the creature. She suggested to scare it away from beside him and he concluded that it was probably the only thing that would work. He was just as wary as playing around with Fire as she was with Earth, though for different reasons. However, if it meant their safety then he was going to do something about it. "If it comes toward us, run," he said bracingly, then made a sweeping motion with his arm. Like a old friend the fire responded to him, drawing a thin straight line across the ground as if it were following a gasoline trail. The bear snorted and gave a growl of alarm. Josh carefully manipulated the flames to draw closer to the animal, but not close enough to harm it. "Come on, go away," he urged under his breath. After a few steps taken nervously backward, the bear turned tail and ran. Lowering his hand, the fire vanished. There was no trace of burnt ground, suggesting that he'd manipulated it to stop it from destroying the surrounding forest, but as soon as he let go he felt the drain and pressed a hand to his temple. "Ugh," he complained, shaking his head. He felt dizzy from the strain it had. As he had not mastered the art of it yet it still took great chunks out of his energy. Sitting down, he said, "I don't think I'm going back to sleep until I'm sure it's gone. You can if you want, though."
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