WHOSE CULTURE IS THIS & DOES ANYBODY KNOW? ;; tim

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

[Excuse the random title, The Strokes are Josh's muse band >.>]

The fact that school was out did not stop the Fire graduate from studying, oh, no. Even over the respective summer and winter breaks Joshua could never convince himself to put down his books and focus on freedom for longer than a few weeks and since the trial had taken up a good quarter of his winter holidays already he was glad to be in the comforts of a pile of books again. Unfortunately, he could not access the Academy's library and his own at home was currently off-limits as well. He hadn't really been ready to speak to his mother about the trial yet despite the fact that it had gone well and so he'd pretty much just returned 'home' and crashed. Nell wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten much sleep during that stressful week. Having been in here at least often enough to recognise a few of the librarians that worked in the place he smiled at the woman behind the counter and returned the books he'd taken out a few nights ago before wordlessly moving on to his most well-perused section of the place--the History section.

There was a reason Joshua had taken a double major, and that was because he was a workaholic. He liked to be kept busy because that stopped his pessimistic thoughts from wandering and working on some sort of essay, project, or even just studying for future essays and projects kept his mind occupied and his overall self content. However, there was also a reason that he hadn't chosen a complimentary major to Biology. He could have went with another major that would work together with Biology and give him even more credibility on his future medical school resume but he had not. Why? Because since he'd been a young child, History had always been his best and most favourite subject. Medicine was his pull and his passion, it was what he wanted to do with his life, but Biology was just a stepping stone. He found it interesting but nothing could ever top the intrigue he felt as he read through countless books on how life had been long ago, how things had changed, how wars and people and places had all affected the Earth and shaped it into what it was today. It fascinated him--everything from the alleged time of the dinosaurs to history as early as twenty years ago, just before he was born.

Though his thoughts were whirling about with a thousand different things when he sat down with the pile of books, he soon found himself lost in their weathered pages. To any passer-by he might not have looked as cheerful and at ease with that look of serious concentration etched into his features but he was definitely relaxed even if he didn't show it. After a few hours or so of reading he decided to take a little bit of a break to rest his eyes, pushing the chair back from the table a little and yawning, blinking in the sunlight that was streaming through the window. It looked to be around afternoon now and he'd gotten here around the time when it had opened. Geez, has it really been that long? It was no wonder he sometimes forgot to eat when he was studying. Unless someone was around to snap him out of it or there were significant distractions he could get into a book and not put it down until he was finished. Thus, the silent and comfortable atmosphere of libraries were often dangerous for a guy like him.

[timothyhaandel]

It had just been one of those day, up until now at least. As it was the end of the year all of the left over work was just starting to come in and it was evident that there were many people that hadn't handed in their work up until this point. After having to go up to the school to collect it he was then informed that he would be teaching a couple more classes in the new year, unforgettably. This meant that he would be doing the same thing this time in the next year but with a pile more work! You could defiantly say that he wasn't a happy chappy. Then on top of all of that he got a call from his lovely wife, just as he was about to turn into their street, saying that she wanted something else to eat, again. Well, she couldn't help the fact that she was pregnant and that always wanted something different to eat.

As soon as Tim had gotten with his pound of strawberries for this beyond happy, at this point at least, he decided that he might do something on his own. After just sitting on the lounge in his living room and thinking. Not doing anything and just thinking about what he should do. The best thing that he could come up with was the library because it was quiet and it also helped that he had a couple books that were overdue at this present moment. Picking them he placed them in the closest bag that he could find and grabbed his car keys and just drove to the library, singing the songs on the radio. As soon as got there Tim placed the books down the shoot and decided to look around. After a couple minutes he found someone that look just a little familiar. He walked over and said "Hello, Josh, how have your holidays been?"

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Joshua glanced up as he heard someone speak, tearing his gray eyes away from the text a little reluctantly to look for the source of the disturbance. His gaze settled on a man older than himself but one whom he recognised and gave a small smile of greeting. "Tim, hey," he said. "I didn't expect to see you here." Perhaps the professor lived in the Hollow? Joshua had never been taught by the man but their shared interest in history had brought them together as acquaintances. Speaking of history, he set the book he was reading down in order to avoid being rude. Josh's parents had taught him manners, he just chose to ignore them a good deal of the time. Not now, however. Around people whose company he enjoyed the graduate was generally a lot more polite and amiable. Not cheerful, exactly, but at least a lot easier to get along with than he was on a daily basis. He was sometimes a little irritable upon having his studies interrupted but as this was personal reading and not required for any sort of class or exam he didn't much care for the fact that his attention had been diverted from it.

"They've been great," he lied with ease. They had gone better than he'd expected they would with the outcome of the trial but they were not exactly the best he could have asked for. His ideal holidays would involve a happy Nell. Still, he wasn't about to tell Timothy that his winter break had kind of sucked and that his girlfriend was a murderer or anything like that. He was secretive and liked to pretend that everything was alright, no matter how things were in reality. "What about yours?" He understood that the general pleasantries of conversation included returning whatever question was asked of you. It was pointless sometimes but it was an easy way out for someone like Josh, who wasn't all that great at carrying a conversation to begin with. There were too many personal questions that could come up during a chat with friends or acquaintances--questions that he could not answer and that would end up turning things awkward and icy. Thank goodness most people had the sense to keep quiet about them after he shot down the first attempt at opening him up. He was not like the book in front of him, free to be picked up and perused at one's leisure. "What brings you to the library?" he inquired curiously.

[Glad to have you back ]