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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Nov 4, 2011 17:01:32 GMT -5
Lark yawned. With this colder weather settling in, her body was craving to dive into a deep hibernation mode and sleep until Spring. That being said, the sluggish movements of her feet made for an irritating squeak sound against the floor--a sound that tuned out Lark had hardly noticed after the first few times. It had been rough around school lately, what with the war and all. She was probably the only foolish fire elemental to wander the halls alone during this time, but hey she was stubborn and did not want to ask for help. It was a sign of weakness, and only when hell froze over would she expose her weaknesses to the world. Of course it was freezing cold outside so who knew how close to that Lark actually was. As she adjusted her hoodie, the brunette meandered down the hallway. There were a few stragglers, but nothing out of the ordinary after classes let out for the day.
She had another fall out with her family the day before. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but no matter how many times you argue with your parents the burden afterwards never dissipates. Her mom was somewhat of an alcoholic (if "somewhat" even applied to the term alcoholic) at this point, and there was never a sober moment. It pissed Lark off, to say the least, but at least she lived at school and rarely had to put up with that poor excuse of a woman. Her dad was a decent man for the most part, so the visits or phone calls were only half bad. Everyone had their faults, but some were worse than others. She wondered what everyone was doing--Sam was probably off with his girlfriend, and Josh was probably off with his...whoa. Wait...did she really only have two friends? What the hell is wrong with this picture? Pathetic. She thought bitterly.
Lost in thought, she forgot to pay attention to her surroundings. That was not entirely new, but this time her lack of focus landed her straight into the shoulder of another person. "Ah, whoops." She stated dully in a highly unapologetic tone, looking up to meet the eyes of a fellow fire. He looked agitated to say the least. Lark blinked, unfazed by his presence. As she shrugged and attempted to step past him, the boy took the time to step in front of her to block the way. Lark scowled. "Do you mind asshole? I actually have places to be than to stare at your ugly face all day." The guy smirked darkly at her. "You're Lark, right?" He questioned, pointing a finger in her face. The guy was lucky she was not a cannibal--he might have lost a finger. "Yeah I am, do you have to stick your grubby finger up my nose to ask that?" She retorted hotly, temper rising.
As Lark tried to step around him again, he moved with her. She sighed with aggravation as took a step back and attempted to move to her right, then to her left, his body always appearing front of hers. Looks like I can't avoid this one, can I? Her eyes narrowed into dangerous, dark slits full of venom, prepared to eat him alive for even daring to step her in path so boldly. This kid may be a fire elemental, but he was a fool for assuming she would not attack her own ally. "Move it, jerk off. I have no time to waste on a worm like you." He laughed a little as he pocketed his hands, staring at her. "A worm like me? I don't think you have any room to talk, traitor."
Lark drew her head back and cocked an eyebrow, clearly confused by his statement. Traitor? What the hell did that mean? There was a silence that hung between them for a hesitant moment--it was thick and suffocating. He continued to glare at her, probably an interrogation technique. It wasn't going to work this time. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Lark snapped sharply, trying to look around him. He scoffed. "You know damn well what I'm talking about. I saw you with him. Joshua Dale. I am curious, did you choose to hang out with him, or was he trying to brainwash you into abandoning your allies?" Was this kid taunting her? Trying to get a rise out of her? Well, unfortunately for him, it was definitely working.
Lark locked her jaw and clenched her fists until knuckles turned white. "I was hanging out with him. He's my friend, and a damn good one. I would watch your mouth, before you find yourself six feet under." If anyone knew Lark--which many didn't--the threat was not an empty one. He was one of those who assumed it to be a joke, so he hauled back and aimed right at her face. She counteracted his punch with a forearm block and aimed right for his chest, knocking him back with a stunned expression on his face. "Come at me, you worthless piece of shit." Scrunching his face he launched at her again. Ah, another day in the war.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Nov 4, 2011 21:31:56 GMT -5
The exam room was almost silent, the sound of pencils scratching against people and occasional bored sighs the only thing that disrupted the atmosphere of the room. The intensity with which Joshua was reading and rereading his answer to one of the questions was almost comical, a scowl of concentration fixed upon his features. Did I word that right? he thought, wondering whether he would get a better mark if he tried to use different phrasing. He glanced at the clock, trying to decide whether or not he would have enough time to reword it. Chewing the inside of his lip for a moment as he thought, the graduate quickly got to work erasing and began once again in his neat, cramped writing. He often offered more than was asked and so over the years he had adapted to writing small and neat so that he could fit more words onto an answer sheet.
"Time is up," said the professor in monotone.
A part of him wanted to give it a last once-over but he convinced himself to hand it in with no other worries. Joshua was confident in himself and in his work but he always liked to strive for the best marks possible. School was the one thing he was really good at, that he excelled in. He'd always been told that he was bright and Josh took great pride in that. He'd sometimes wished he was born with athletic prowess so that his father would have been proud of him but in the end he knew that sports were not his thing. He liked tennis and volleyball was... well, it was okay, but he could never play those sorts of things on a competitive level. It took the enjoyment out of it if he had to strive to be better than everyone else. It was why he liked his intelligence--learning came naturally to him. Sure, he had to study to increase his knowledge but he still enjoyed it.
Hefting the heavy bag containing his books and laptop over his shoulder, Joshua was caught in the middle of the crowd leaving the room. Compared to the previous quiet of the exam room, the shoving and cursing and threats that rose into the air were rather disconcerting. War always put people on the edge. Not wanting to get into the midst of a fight, Joshua ducked under a wave of water and headed down a different hall. This damn place. It was easier to breathe and relax once he was away from the stifling mess of people and so he was walking at an easy stride by the time he happened across an altercation in the making. Recognising Lark arguing with some guy from their element, he would have just walked on by. He figured his friend could take care of herself judging by the way she was handling the guy and besides, they were not supposed to be friends.
That is, those were his plans until the boy spoke up. "Well if it isn't the traitor himself! Dale!" Joshua turned, having already passed them, to give the Fire elemental a cold look. "I'm sorry," he said, clearly not sorry at all. If he apologised to you and you weren't his friend, chances were it was sarcasm. He didn't try to hide this. "Did I say that I cared?" Unlike Lark, Joshua was a traitor. He'd all but announced it in the hall by remaining with his girlfriend and had backed that decision up by fighting alongside his new allies in Water and Earth. He didn't give a shit about this bastard. "Not going to stop and help a friend, Dale?" the Fire mocked. "Looks like you really are a--" Deciding that he didn't care, the next words were cut off as Joshua sent a strong blast of flame toward the boy. "Guess I am helping a friend," he said in an almost blasé tone.
He sent Lark a meaningful sort of look and gave her a nod. It was silent indication that he knew she would not deny their friendship and so he wasn't going to bother with it, either. Now it looked like it was two on one, a much less fair fight than it had been when the boy was facing Lark on her own. She'd been doing fine and thus Joshua did this not to save her ass but because he'd literally been dragged into it by the idiot Fire. When would they learn that you just didn't provoke people with bad temperament? If Josh had been a Thunder he might have been able to keep going. He could have ignored it and just asked Lark how the fight had gone down when he saw her later. He was not, however, and so insulting him and suggesting he wasn't a good friend had been a bad idea. Friendship was one of his highest values, you didn't fuck with that. "What'd he do to you?" he wondered casually, inquiring about how they'd ended up fighting.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Nov 5, 2011 11:43:08 GMT -5
Lark was a loner, and did well on her own when it came to fights. The brunette definitely came out with a few scrapes and bruises of her own, but the opponent always looked worse--at least, in her prideful opinion. If she did not have to stay more than a few minutes in the medical wing, that was good enough for her. The focus on Lark's opponent was top notch--that was, until the uppity fire student called out to someone in passing. Turning her head briefly, Lark could not help but narrow her eyes. Great. Just great. Lark thought bitterly as Josh approached the fighting pair, a burst of fire blowing past her face and straight into the assailant. The student stumbled back from the blast, his clothes singed with black and dying embers. Lark could not help but smirk triumphantly, though her eyes screamed sheer irritation towards the torched male. Why did this fool have to instigate a fight with Josh? I could have dealt with all of this on my own.
When Lark stole a glance at Josh, she noticed the nod and passed her friend one in return. He should have kept on walking and ignored the boy's empty words; Lark was capable of dealing with this bastard on her own. Josh definitely knew this fact, and Lark understood that he did not come to help her, but to prove to this kid that he was not be fucked with, and his loyalties questioned. Josh may have chosen to side with Earth and Water--something these guys did not appreciate in the least--but he was a loyal friend to her through all of that and it was quite obvious he did not appreciate being talked down by some petty, foolish kid. "You should go," Lark suggested simply. There was a grateful tone to her voice, and with Josh that was all she needed without having to break down her pride. "I can handle this one--"
If there was one thing fires were known for, it was not only their temper, but their reputation for attacking in groups. Where there was one, there was surely another, and Lark should have known there would be another fire student lurking around waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The student who attacked her still staggered in attempts to regain his composure, but in that instance another student wrapped his arm around Lark's neck, his voice a deadly whisper. "I would walk away from this too, Harper, before you find yourself in the medical wing." Lark's eyes darkened and an inferno of anger flared up in her core. Did this guy really think he had an advantage over her simply because his arm was around her throat? What an ignorant child. Lark passed Josh a warning glare; a glare that said to walk away now and let her handle the situation before things got way too out of hand. Nell would not be thrilled if she saw this.
"I won't be going to no damn medical wing," Lark growled as her hand gripped the arm of her assailant, pulled it away from her neck so she could breathe, and flipped him over her back. He landed with a thud, the air clearly knocked out of him from impact. The brunette smirked triumphantly as she rubbed her neck, watching the other boy with a wary eye. "He said he saw us walking together in the Hollow." Was all she said to Josh, Larks' focus off balance. Did it really matter what this kid did? The end result was a fight and that's all that mattered at the moment. For that one, brief second, her attention was torn away from the fire student who proceeded to meet her jaw with his fist. Lark fell to the ground, glaring up at him as she rubbed her jaw which was quickly swelling. "That will teach you to make your alliances with a traitor, bitch. Maybe you should take up with the earthies and waters then?"
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Nov 5, 2011 14:54:09 GMT -5
Joshua understood the fact that Lark could stand on her own and so he really had just been proving a point to the arrogant bastard. He gave an absent nod when Lark suggested that he be on his way and he actually would have walked away from the fight, too. He was not someone who was always stubborn and though he was protective he was not overbearing. He hadn't done this to help her because he knew the help might not be appreciated by one so proud. He stepped away from the duo just as he caught sight of the other Fire elemental coming up from behind her. A warning flashed through his gray eyes as they narrowed. "That would have been the plan," said Josh grimly, "if there were only one of them." He hesitated where he stood, not sure whether she could handle a two on one fight. He had faith in Lark and her fighting abilities but Fire elementals seemed to attract one another like moths to a flame. He was one, albeit a traitorous one, and he still understood how they worked. Nevertheless, he did not attack the one holding Lark. He wouldn't bail her out of a situation unless it was absolutely clear she could not handle it on her own. It was the pride thing again--they both understood matters of pride, after all.
"Tch," spat Joshua in obvious distaste. "That's off school grounds, asshole, you know the rules." The rules were not written down or any record of them kept. Instead, they were a number of things left unspoken from years of war in the Academy, passed down to the freshmen each year by their older and stronger allies. Things such as the Medical Wing being safe ground, the alliances being almost automatic in defending one another, the school grounds being the only place for attack... if you had been at the Academy long enough, you knew. Unfortunately, some people chose to disregard this. He understood that their friendship was dangerous no matter how they maintained it because it would cause suspicion and doubt toward Lark but he didn't like the fact they'd physically attacked her because of it. He still had not lifted another hand against them, merely flicking his colourless steel gaze between the three others and occasionally sweeping the hall.
He stiffened when the boy punched Lark, automatically gaining the desire to strangle him. Much as Joshua understood matters of pride that did not mean he appreciated seeing his friends hurt. Clenching his jaw as tight as he could to avoid clocking the Fire elemental on the side of the face, he instead turned to the winded one that Lark had flipped. As the Fire attempted to get up, a hot blast of his own element hit him hard, causing him to fall back again. He hadn't attacked anyone and so it got in the way of no one's pride that he was keeping him down for the count. He didn't want to have to deal with an entire group of them. His eyes flashed again when the one who'd punched Lark chose to speak. "Traitor?" he repeated. "Look who's talking -- she's not your enemy. I'm your enemy." He had no trouble admitting that he was not on their side because he had almost no loyalty to them any more. Fire had lost his support when they'd chosen to attack Nell. She meant a lot more to him than some alliance, even if he had stuck by it all the years before. "What would your leaders think?" he scoffed. "Encouraging treachery? Your element are already a bunch of spineless cowards, why weaken yourself more?"
Of course, these words did not exactly sit well with either of them. The injured one got up and sent out a fiery blast of his own. Seeing it coming, Joshua raised his forearm in a defensive position but also countered the attack with his mind, using his superior skill over the boy to disperse some of the flame before it could do any damage. If they had been farther apart and he'd caught it in time he might have been able to completely block but as it were, the distance gave the younger student advantage. He felt the pain and searing heat on his skin but did his best to push it to the back of his mind, punching the boy hard in the chin and snapping his head back and then shoving him against the wall to knock the breath out of him. He might not have been in this to bail Lark out but you did not attack Joshua. You just didn't. His past dealing with gangs and gang violence had imbued a natural sort of reflex in him--it was almost compulsion to retaliate if someone caused him physical harm, especially if it was not an accident.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Nov 6, 2011 16:08:01 GMT -5
Lark could feel her face throbbing with excruciating pain, but in her eyes the only emotion was fury. How dare this kid think for one measly second that it was okay to take a hit at her, or a hit at any one of her friends? Slowly she pulled herself up to a standing position, lip bleeding from the impact. Why did Josh have to show up? I'm pretty damn sure this would have been a quick and somewhat painless fight otherwise... No, she was not mad at Josh--it was not his fault that he took this hall en route to wherever it was he was going, nor was it his fault that Lark was attacked by these ass holes--she was mad at the situation. Their assault on her was not necessary in the least. A friendship should not bring on so much trouble, but for whatever reason it did. But Lark would remain loyal to Josh, because he was the closest thing she had to family.
Once Lark regained her bearings, another wave of sweltering heat brushed past her. Josh attacked the student on the ground and prolonged the students' attack on the two friends. Lark's shoulders were tense, and her hands were shaking relentlessly as she stood there staring, waiting for the one who landed the blow to her jaw to come at her. When Joshua spoke to them, his words laced with subtle venom. The boy standing hissed, "Oh, is that so? In my opinion, if you ally yourself with a traitor, you are a traitor. And off school grounds--who the hell do you think you are?" With that the one sprawled out on the ground seemed to have a little bit of energy left in him, and attacked Joshua with whatever force he had left. The proximity of the attack would surely make things difficult to defend ones self, and once the flames dissipated she saw the damage. It was one thing to harm Lark--she was a decent fighter and handled pain fairly well--but to harm a friend was unforgivable. With a deep growl, she watched as Josh pinned his assailant to the wall, and took it upon herself to lunge at the first fire student who halted her in the hallway. Lark straddled his sides and looked down at him, an intense fire in her eyes.
"I will associate myself with whoever I want to associate with, and I will not be questioned by the likes of you. Josh is right: you bring shame to the entire fire element. I can't believe I took your side." With that, Lark allowed her fists to fly, laying blow after blow to his face. Once the kid looked near unrecognizable, Lark pulled herself up and stared into his swelling eyes with sheer pleasure. "You might want to run and get patched up at the medical wing, coward, before I roast you." The injured fire student stood up with shaking knees, glaring at Lark. In that moment, she felt like she did not even know who these people were. These were supposed to be her allies! They just attacked one of their own! What the hell was happening to this world? He wiped his face--did not make much of a difference given the damage--and allowed himself to release one final blast of fire. Lark closed her eyes, turned her head and tried to avoid the flames, but the heat singed her hair and neck. Lark had no time to react or move. By the time she looked up the kid was gone.
For a brief instant, Lark remembered the day she got in a fight with her mom, the sting of her mother's hand now a faint memory. The pain of the disagreement with her mother was more or less an emotional blow, but today...today it was truly painful. There was no sting anymore; just an incessant throbbing that would take days to heal. Once Lark was certain that her fellow fire was completely gone, she turned her attention on the other attacker that was now pinned to the wall. The brunette wanted to tell Josh to let him go, to let the kid run away crying for his mommy and daddy like the spineless worm he was, but that was not her call. Instead, Lark took to standing there with an icy glare, arms crossed indignantly. What am I going to do now? We need to disperse, and soon, before someone else comes along and adds to the problem. Her gaze swept from the kid to Josh, then back again. "Josh, go. I've got this. You need to go, now." In her own way, it was a thanks for his assistance (even if she didn't need it) and a way to prevent the fire student from possibly dying. Lark knew what Joshua was capable of--it could be frightening.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Nov 6, 2011 16:52:10 GMT -5
In his own mind Joshua knew that the fight would not have worked out in Lark's favour. The second Fire elemental would have come along to back up his friend no matter what had happened and then she'd have been outnumbered two to one. At the same time, Josh was also not doing this because he thought she needed his help. It was a matter of personal pride and Lark was not going to tell him what to do. Much as he valued their friendship there was a part of him that reacted negatively when people told him that he should do something, a rebellious streak that likely came from living under the thumb of his father most of his life. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly when she suggested he leave, taking it not as thanks but as a sort of suggestion that he'd done this because of her.
He ignored her for a moment to turn his attention to the Fire whom he'd trapped against the wall, using his free hand to grab the guys wrist. As the elemental struggled against his grip Joshua let searing heat flood down his arm and into his palm, making the other boy cry out in pain as he was burned badly. "Get out of here," Josh hissed, letting go and stepping back. Of course, this was not some sweet and scaredy Earth that Joshua was dealing with. This was a Fire elemental, proud as they were arrogant, and he was not entirely certain that the guy would heed his advice. As further threat Joshua started to increase the heat in the hallway until the boy got his point and stormed off in the same direction of his friend, perhaps to make sure he was okay. They might have been assholes but the Fire element were a loyal bunch. It was perhaps one of the only things he missed about them. Their sense of camaraderie had been familiar for six years and now that he was without it, he felt sort of strange.
Now that they were alone, Josh turned to his friend with a frown. "I didn't do it for you," he said honestly, bluntly. It wasn't an insult but a statement. He had not gotten involved in this because of their friendship. He would have done so for Nell or Devin in an instant but that was because they were not fighters by nature and thus he worried about his less capable friends when ganged up on by some of the opposing element. Lark was a Fire, they were usually aggressive fighters that could stand up for themselves. However, they were also proud. He, Joshua, was proud. He couldn't have just shed the nasty comments and let them fester, he had to teach the idiots a lesson. You didn't insult him, you didn't mess with him. He'd been taught by the gang that it was pretty much everyone for themselves in a fight and that if you couldn't hold your own, you got crushed. There was irony in that the same guys that had taught him to fight had later tried to kill him but they had been right, at least in Josh's mind.
She was hurt, he could see where the attack had hit her. Joshua might have asked if she was alright if it had been anyone else but he adapted to the behaviours and personalities of his friends. She could take care of herself. And I can take care of myself, he thought stubbornly. He was not afraid of his element. Well, alright. Maybe there was a small part of him that feared them. He feared what they could do to him in numbers, what they might do to his friends in his new alliance. Earths and Waters were not as ruthless or violent as Fire and Thunder. Some of them could fight, yes, but even if they won their injuries were usually the worse of the pair. At the same time, he wouldn't allow himself to admit that fear. He'd been ganged up on by a crowd of older Thunders in the last war and it had taken him back to his youth when they used to surround him on the schoolyard, sneering and jeering as they dared him to 'do something about it'. Joshua shook his head, a gesture meant only for himself, to clear the negative memories. Don't think about that now.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Nov 7, 2011 12:00:50 GMT -5
Lark watched with a raised eyebrow as Joshua took to torching the kid’s skin, his cries of pain almost satisfying after the brawl they insisted on starting with her. She understood that they felt betrayed by the college student, but to spend their time lurking around the halls waiting to attack anyone remotely associated with them? Disgusting and shameful. They were off of school grounds, and their visit did not last terribly long anyway. It was just a stroll down the sidewalk with a near failed attempt at starting up conversation and catching up after a couple of months’ silence. By now Lark far from blamed Josh—in fact there was no bitterness what-so-ever. It took the girl a while to come to terms with the fact that she had very few friends, and although she was busy she was not that busy. That being said, Joshua’s words stung a little as he replied to her.
"I didn't do it for you,"
It resounded in Lark’s ears for a moment, her eyes scanning the hall to process it. If anyone understood Josh’s personality, it was her (and of course Nell and Devin) but honestly the female was not exactly expecting that sort of response. In fact, it was so unexpected that it began to make her angrier than she already was. Lark knew and felt that she did not need any help and could have handled the situation on her own; sure, the burns would have been more severe, but it would have been taken care of. Thus, it was not extremely necessary to make that statement out loud. Lark took a few steps back, eyes narrowed as she tried to make her way down the hall. Lark was a girl of few emotions, but in that instant a wave crashed over her and they were becoming difficult to control. If he did not do it for her, then what the hell was she doing fighting for their friendship? How fucking stupid. Lark blew a strand of hair out of her face; well, that was simply a waste of her time and energy then. “That’s fine. Wasn’t asking you to.” Her jaw locked sharply as Lark attempted to hold down her anger. It was the last thing they needed right now. “But I did it for you.”
With a quick turn, Lark made her way down the hall and towards the dormitories. If that was all there was to it, then so be it. Once again this friendship felt extremely one sided—yes, she should have made better effort to talk to him in the first place over the past couple of months, she knew that—but the girl just took a punch to the face and singed skin and hair to protect one of the few relationships she had at the school, and Joshua’s help was only for his benefit. Not that she wouldn’t have responded the same way…if her pride was being questioned and loyalties being insulted, she would be damn sure to make a point to the fuckers who thought it was okay to do so. Lark felt angry for no reason then; it was just the left over adrenaline from the fight kicking in right? Maybe she was not upset with Josh at all and she was dealing with her own left over rage. She sighed as she turned the corner and disappeared down another hall, trying to cool down and sort out her thoughts and emotions to be sure they were properly placed.
[Feel free to post a closing post. You don't have to if you don't want to though. <33]
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