a city on *FIRE (open to all firebugs!)

[thaly]

"London's just a burnin' fire...London's just a burnin' fire that takes your oxygen," Sachiele sang softly to herself as she sprawled out, on her stomach, on one of the couches near the edges of the common room. It wasn't often that she brought her studying out of the safety of her room, but for something as minor as reading some novel for English? The overachiever had the feeling that she'd manage just fine with actually putting herself somewhere that could be considered as attempting to be social. Even though the war between the different Elements was only now beginning to reach the point where she could be bothered to care, she knew from experience that the best way to at least keep up appearances of solidarity was to make herself available to be an ear, perhaps a source of advice for any of the other Fires that had ran afoul of some mudpuppies or sorry, sorry little amoebas. If she knew of a less complex lifeform that largely lived in the water, then she'd call the Waters that instead... but since that didn't exist, then amoebas would have to do. A bit of a scoff escaped the brunette as she turned the page, continuing to read about the socio-economic analogy that George Orwell was trying to create. Riveting stuff, it was... enough so that she found herself stifling a yawn.

Oh, my kingdom for a Baconator. Chuckling to herself at the thought, Sachi shoved an errant strand of hair behind one of her ears. The bulk of those brown tresses has been hauled up into a messy bun atop her head, leaving her neck free to feel whatever errant breezes came through. The same logic was present in her choice of attire, a simple black sports bra paired with matching gym shorts. It wasn't all that sexy of attire, truth be told, but for her? It didn't really need to be. Hell, if it wasn't for how she'd promised to only take it off when she showered, she would've left the Rolex upon her left wrist back in her room rather than wearing it while in the midst of such obvious downtime. At least she was accustomed to how warm it got when she was in the Fire dorms, ne?

Another turn of the page and she sighed to herself, reaching down beside herself to the open bottle of water she'd placed there. Taking a swig-- and by swig, she meant half the bottle-- she set it back down with a satisfied sigh, a slight smile tugging at her lips despite how she wished she was done with reading this blasted assignment. Ah well... it could be worse.

She could've turned out to be a Water elemental, after all.

wearing this | words: 460 | tag: anyone!
template & header by me | lyrics by alkaline trio
don't steal!

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

Stupid. Fucking. War. Everything about it burned Lark up inside, and the only way to properly place her anger was by offering the earths and waters a high five. In the face. With a chair. Maybe a chair on fire. Even her own allies were being complete assholes, and the entire academy was on edge. Lark, being one to try and avoid the physical confrontation if possible, had three fights on her hands just walking back into the dorm room: one, she nudged an Earthie as she passed by and the girl tried to clean her clock with a swift punch to the jaw. Lark retaliated by ducking and letting the girl stumble down a flight of stairs. Two and three were both accusations of being affiliated with 'That Dale Kid', referring to her friend Josh. Narrowly escaped those, but her hand was suffering from a fairly bad burn. It aggravated her that this friendship was becoming so incredibly harmful to her physical being. No matter though; Lark was a loyal friend and would not only refuse backing down from a fight but would refuse backing down from a friendship. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

Grunting with an exasperated sigh, Lark finally entered the dungeons; it was hotter than hot, and instantly the girl shed her hoodie. It was better with her dark green tank top and khaki cargo shorts, that was for damn sure. When she entered the dorm room common room Lark felt as though she could finally relax. Her shoulders were beginning to hurt from all of the tension and stress, but the last thing Lark wanted to do was reveal a physical weakness to anyone...even her own element. As she went to shut the door, a fellow fire wandered by and squeezed through, not even acknowledging her presence. Feh. Asshole. Lark thought bitterly. She liked her solitude to be sure, but this lack of friends thing was beginning to eat away at her. It only encouraged the dark haired female to feel the urge to leave the academy and the Hollow for good. A fresh start would be beneficial to Lark. Besides, going home to Hawaii would certainly be nice. There was little for her here to begin with, even with Josh, Sam and sometimes Altair (who was more of a silent company than anything). Sam at least gave her the time of day and put her in a good mood, which she could appreciate quietly to herself.

Once the door slammed shut, Lark turned her attention to the room. It was quiet--thankfully--and save for a few stragglers it was not too busy either. Perfect. Pushing her hair back away from her ear, the light caught her industrial perfectly, its silver qualities shimmering on the nearby wall. Her feet carried her to a nearby couch and she slumped down into the seat; Lark was not very ladylike and thus could care less in how her feet sprawled out before her. Whatever was comfortable was good for Lark. After closing her eyes for a few minutes, she noticed that there was a girl on the couch opposite her reading a book. Hmm...she looks familiar but honestly I can't put a name with the face. Lark had a bad memory with faces, especially if she did not take the time to care. If this girl had made an impression Lark would have remembered, but the girl drew a blank. Instead of taking it as a sign to toss the thought aside, she decided that it would be best to at least make an acquaintance. However that was interrupted at the throbbing of her hand.

Quickly Lark brought her hand up to her face, examining the damage. Third degree burns, certainly not, but they were enough to make the girl cringe at the sight of it. Medical wing? Hell no. Risk causing even more problems for herself, and possibly Josh? Not to mention the loss of pride if she stepped foot into that facility. It was not even worth thinking about anymore, so with a slight huff Lark tossed the thoughts away. Observing the back of the book, she noticed it looked familiar. Same class, perhaps? Either way, the girl looked preoccupied and decided to leave it be for the moment, focusing on the pain shooting through her burnt hand. Ugh. This day sucks.

[thaly]

Ah, yes, the war... it had reached a point where even Sachiele had deigned to involve herself, albeit in an only-when-she-needed-to sort of way. There had been one Earth student that had tried to shove his hand down the back of her jeans, likely on account of underestimating her level of being a threat to him thanks to her scholarly pursuits or something of the sort. She'd responded by striking him with a fiery left hand, knocking him on his ass and burning his cheek but good before making her exit. It had served him right, in the brunette's opinion; she would've been perfectly content with letting the little mud puppy keeping in his muck. He had forced her hand, and so he could deal with the consequences, the injury and the shame of being shown up by the class overachiever. Then again, considering the school that they all attended? It would've been far more humiliating for her to have been brought low by such a... such a simpleton. No, that would not have done at all-- and Sachiele was glad that she hadn't needed to worry about that. Instead, she was able to be concerned with farm animals talking and pigs learning to walk upright.

...sigh.

The sound of the door opening wasn't enough to draw her attention from the text in front of her, nor was the sound of someone plopping down on the couch across from her. It wasn't until Lark opened her eyes and began moving that Sachiele saw fit to glance up, briefly, from her book. The other young woman looked familiar (as did everyone else in her element save a couple of the freshmen), but she couldn't put a name to the face. She tried to remember it but, before she could make much headway, she noticed the burn on Lark's hand... and even though she liked to keep herself at something of a distance from most of the people she knew at school, she couldn't help but be moved to help. Closing her book and setting it aside, Sachiele didn't so much as bat an eyelash as she reached down and ripped a strip off of her shorts, giving it a quick once-over before she nodded to herself. It looked large enough to serve the purpose she wanted it to... so she cleared her throat, softly, to get Lark's attention before she spoke, her tone kind.

"Here," Sachiele said as she held out the bottle of water and scrap of cloth from her shorts. "You're gonna want to wet the fabric and lay it over your burn, there. You'll also wanna get some aloe vera lotion on that to help keep the skin flexible as it heals." No passing judgment, no 'Rah rah, let's go team!'... just concern, simple and basic and human, for another person. It was a nice change of pace, Sachiele had to admit, from dealing with the vast majority of her element. She didn't even wanna imagine how Altair would've reacted, if she had been the one that was burned... probably with an Apocalyptic over-reaction that would've hurt their position in the war more than it would have helped.

Honestly, some people needed to learn some form of restraint.

wearing this | words: 541 | tag: polaris or anyone else!
template & header by me | lyrics by alkaline trio
don't steal!

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

Lark stayed focused on her hand for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she stared at the charred flesh that looked cooked enough to eat. It was disgusting. The first thought that crossed the girl's mind was I hope I don't see Josh any time soon with this...; not because she was ashamed of it but because Joshua as already unhappy with their situation with the other fire elementals. She decided that maybe they should discuss their situation at some point in the near future. It pained Lark to think she may have to ignore one of her closest friends for the period of the war, but if that's what saved their asses then so be it. After their last discussion, the brunette was fairly certain that Josh would whole heartedly agree with this solution. If someone accused her of being his friend...well, she could not make any full promises but Lark was determined to try and keep both herself and Josh safe.

Lost in her train of thought, it took Lark a moment or two to realize that the girl sitting across from her had cleared her throat. Whether she intended to get Lark's attention or not did not exactly matter, because either way she looked up to see the other fire looking at her. She spoke softly and to someone like Lark it sounded almost...patronizing? Of course she could care for herself, and did not need the aid of other people or any of their pity. Did this girl think that offering her some help for the burn would make up for what happened in the hallway? Surely not. Just because she was kind did not change anything. They were all the same...right? It was all about the stupid fucking alliances, and nothing else mattered. Screw your friends to uphold something that no one else in the world even cared about. With a grunt, Lark sat up and leaned over her knees, raising an eyebrow at the bottle of water and cloth.

"I think I'll survive," Lark said with nonchalance, her eyes focused on the female's face. It seemed kind enough, and her voice was not rigid or full of resentment or malice. There was nothing. It made Lark feel uncomfortable to see someone showing such kindness; she shifted a little in her seat as she looked from the girl's face to the items she held out before her. Samson and Joshua were the only ones to ever display any sort of concern for her well being--Josh a little less than Sam given the personality differences--and to see a new face express the same thing...well, let's just say Lark was a bit skeptical. Never the less, she huffed a resigned sigh as she leaned over and took the bottle and cloth. "I guess I'll have to get the Aloe later on," Lark replied.

There was a grateful tone in her voice, even if she did not outwardly express her gratitude to the other girl. Lark did not actively practice saying 'thank you' to anyone, especially someone she just met. It was a hard pill to swallow, so to speak. It made her feel dependent on others and that was the last thing in the world she wanted. It was eat or be eaten, there was no time or room to wait for someone to come to your aid every time something bad happened. For that very reason Lark did a lot of things on her own--even wandering the school and the grounds by herself. After a few minutes of soaking the cloth and wrapping it around her injured hand, Lark looked back up at the girl with a satisfied half smile. "You sure know your way around with first aid," She finally said, offering up a complement in placement of verbal gratitude. "I'm Lark Harper by the way. You are...?"