A Fish on the Hook ((Cinder))

If Thea was having a midlife crisis at the age of eighteen, did that mean she would die at thirty four thirty six? (High school drop-out. Duh.) For a moment, Thea's mind was occupied by this question until she got back to the actual midlife-hysterics. Of course you want to know why she was standing in front of her prized, full-length mirror grabbing at her face and making frowny expressions. The thing was... embarrassing and wrong as it was, Thea had been referred to as m'am.

It had been your average walk to the shop where Thea spent her days toiling away under the guardianship of a particularly kind, if not perverted, shop-owner. She had been in a horrendous, monday-mrning induced mood but besides that Thea was just as youthful and full of bubbling personality as she ever was. The street was crowded with people, Thea had no way of knowing a small, freckled boy with pointed ears and crooked teeth was going to nearly knock the equally small woman on her arse.

The fall wasn't too bad, Thea had been in worse scraps during her few years of Career training, it was the boys response to running into Thea that got to her. He barely glanced at her, not even bothering to take in her slamming body and equally fine face before muttering some sort of apology Thea didn't care about. He tossed the word m'am on at the end as he scurried off to go find his fellow nerdy play-mates and do whatever shy weaklings did with their spare time. HE was unperturbed by even the bleeding scrape on his twiggish leg.

Thea had walked the rest of the way to her workplace in a state of shock. Had that kid actually mistaken her for a short, homely mother-figure? She was Miss Quincy or Ms Quincy on her official resume. Somehow Miss Thea Quincy managed to put thoughts of her midlife-crisis out of her mind for the remainder of the work day, only stumbling into furniture and snarling every twenty minutes or so. Nobody really cared much, for Thea was a violently moody creature who came in most Monday mornings in such a state anyways.

She practically ran home as fresh memories of that freckle-faced geek awakened ancient, primal anger within her. Really people, Thea had few material possessions, no actual friends and a wicked personality. Only her looks her truly Thea's, and she hated to think of her body old, hunched and wrinkled. So to prove to herself she was still young and fit, Thea jogged home. She opened her door with a mighty swing, almost forgetting to lock it after herself which was a stupid move in a neighborhood like Thea's. The young woman made a beeline for her bedroom and threw the cover off her prized full-length mirror with fiery vengeance in her heart... and proceeded to stand statue-still in front of it for close to twenty minutes.

Same eyes, no crows feet. No laugh lines, no frown lines. Nothing. Thea watched herself, pinching places and tensing muscles. She was--she was young. With a long, heavy breath Miss Quincy turned away from her mirror and began to laugh. Breathless, beautiful Thea Quincy. Nothing incredible but certainly a young thang to catch a boys eye. Only the deeper sound of a male laughing alerted Thea do the presence of a someone outside her bedroom, down a fire-escape. She swung her head out the window, scanning the streets around her building. There were running figures in the distant, and below her was a panting boy with trouble written across his rigid body.

"You're going to get caught, k--" Thea gritted her teeth. Kid. She had been about to call the boy who could only be a few years younger than her, a "kid." Well. No wonder freckle-face had called her m'am!

ooc- so sorry this sucks... Grand Finale sucked my muse for like the week.

"Oh, shut up! Really?" Thea asked Nick happily. Kid was sucking up to her, doing a poor job of it, but the chance to mess with him and 'teach' him a thing or two was too good to pass up. Thea hadn't gone to enough school to really hate it. She found teachers highly entertaining when they got angry at you, here was her chance to find out what if felt like to have a rebellious, manipulative student in her own hands.

Her hands clapped together as 'Zane' sprung off the sofa, one quick movement that resembled a clown popping out of a box. It was just as scary, just as hilarious and a completely new experience for Thea. Thoughts of toying around with children and playing demented games floated around Thea's brain. She fought to keep her true colors and intention off of her face. Yeah, yeah, big deal, Thea was going to teach this kid. First lesson was hers to learn though. Why did he want her to help him out? The kid didn't seem like the type who enjoyed stirring up trouble. He was one of those sweet, in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time types, Thea told herself although she hated to think in person-labeling terms.

High-school had been full of labels. Cliques for popular people, cute boys, bad seeds, nerds and loners. There was even a clique of people who did not consider themselves to be in any cliques! The whole institution was useless. Nobody ever learned anything useful. You learned how to fish, you work at a shop or you beg. Knowing history, math, science and other junk was useless as being ugly and owning a full-length mirror. The things Thea had learned came from her own life experiences, rarely had she found anything about high school to be captivating and stimulating. Now nineteen, Thea still thought herself to be right even though she regretted not sticking around for those few and far between life lessons that high school provided the masses with.

She had only a few years of high school under her belt, and fewer passing grades. Thea knew she was not the cleverest of girls. She could fend for herself, but figuring out logical puzzles made her pretty, little head hurt. Nicky was a puzzle. Every time he spoke, Thea noticed she had pieced him together in the wrong way. First impressions had gone out the window, followed by the careful assumptions she had made. Things were never as they seemed. Hey, Thea could treat this like she had treated her classes. She would sit back, relax herself and teach the kid a trick or two. Things would play out how they may, but no matter what, Thea Quincy would come out on top, just as she always did.

Turning her face to her pupil, Thea found herself smiling a rare, real smile. No creepy-factor, no beautiful, predatory glint. It was just a grin, made her face seem plainer but at the same time so beautiful, the type of thing that inspired you to watch her forever and ever. "It would totally be my honor!" this is going to be fun...

ooc-Ahhhh! I'm so sorry I did not notice your post. In the future, if I don't reply in about two-three days give me a nice shove in the CBox or PM me please.

The words were flying out of her mouth before Thea could give them a second thought. Rapid-fire, hard-arse criticism was one of Thea's many natural talents. "Listen kid, you talk like a prissy Capitoler..." Thea started, but found herself wondering what to say next. Complaining was easy, correcting behavior was hard. She gave him a contemplated look, staring at him like he was a blank canvas she intended to splash paint all over or a clean fish waiting to be gutted. How shall I start with this one... A brilliant idea struck her like a bolt of lightning, leaving Thea frazzled. Electric sparks danced behind her golden eyes, only adding to the stormy, chaotic appearance. This was the true face of excitement, in the flesh.

"You have to learn to say things that come naturally, y'know? Can't let your thoughts get ahold of all of you. Instincts play big part in trouble-making. You've got the right talents to go far, with help. Mouth me off a bit," she told him, using her signature swagger and slang-ridden voice to get the point across. Hello Nicky, goodbye Nicodemus Olivier. In with the bad and out with the good. The new nickname could only help him, a bit like Thea's own alias. Zane was a helluva lot tougher and bolder than Thea Quincy the abused, teenage girl could ever have become.

Sometimes it takes a conscious choice, like renaming yourself, to start all those little changes in a person. Thea remembered something about school just then. She had studied basic psychology of a Tributes mind for about a year. Somebody had pointed out one of the most famous Tributes to ever not-win the Games. Some average kid from an average District with you guessed it! an average life, had started to call his/herself by a different name. The original name, and even gender of the Tribute had been lost, with only the most dedicated Careers getting their hands on very early-on Hunger Games videos.

This person had become Claws. Claws had ripped through the Tributes, taking down more children in a day than any other person before. The Games were coming to a close within five days, when finally there was one Career left to battle Claws. Natural skills and instinct had not been enough then, Thea recalled. To be a good killer you have to have street-smarts and absolutely no soul. The average kid within Claws had reemerged when the brilliant Career battling 'em screamed Claws true name. With that one word, Claws fell back from, knocked down by the power of an identity 'e had once owned. Claws died by a split skull, only moments after remembering that old, average life.

Nicky. Names were weapons, they were words with sharp teeth and claws that would rip through you. Scream a name with the right amount of fear and panic, somebody will turn around to face you. Whisper it in a voice filled with love and longing, and you could get pretty much anybody to bend to your will (just ask Thea herself) As long as you distanced your two names from each other, as long as you kept your true self and your nicknamed parts away, you could exist. Names were double-edged swords. 'Zane' couldn't help but think that if Thea failed at teaching Nicodemus the ways of the rebellious warrior, she could always use his true name against him. Oh hello? My name is Thea Quincy, there was a boy in my house--a Nicodemus Olivier. You should ask your Peacekeepers about why he was in my house, you'll find yourself interested in what he was doing earlier today...

Do you give kids candy when they do well at something? Thea knew a few people who liked to give candy to children, taking comfort in the knowledge that when the little rug-rat got home to mommy and/or daddy dearest, the parents would be frantic. You tookwhat from a stranger? Thea wasn't thinking of giving Nicky candy to mess with him, she was trying to remember whether or not this was a suitable reward when a kid mutters something as mutiny-ridden as "Screw it, I don't know jack."

Thea decided to abandon her candy-coated thoughts considering she absolutely no food, let alone sugary sweets, in her house. Second reason was that Nicky had offered up that god-awful rant on how stupid she was a few moments beforehand. It sort of neutralized the epic win-ness of the jack comment, y'know? She settled on doing an impromptu leaping dance move and squealing like a teenage girl meeting that yummy, awfully good-looking Hunger Games winner from a few years back.

Oh my god, Nicky! Raw talent 'telling you... you and me are going to go far if we stick with it!" the excited teenage girl exclaimed before she began to laugh in such an enthusiastic way, any thoughts of commenting on her grammar probably left Nicky's mind. Hey, if he did dare to make a snide remark, it would only brighten Thea's mood. She had turned a perfectly average hooligan into a troublesome, brooding thing of the dark side! The pleasures that accompanied being a manipulative, compulsive creature were too much for Miss Quincy to bear at some points in her life.

Besides that, Thea felt like she had finally accomplished something. All those frown lines and depressed scowls she had been displaying the past few weeks seemed to be clearing right up. If you looked at her in the right light, Thea appeared to be even younger than she was. No freckle-faced wannabes would be calling her ma'am anytime soon. Being cast in the part of a teacher was remarkable. Thea had never felt so refreshed in her whole entire life. Screw her mommy/daddy-issues, money problems were forgotten and the voices of abusive boyfriends of her past had all quietly left her mind. Thea was young, hip and a total bad-arse.

There was nothing like the thrill of discovering you had done a job well. "Now, now--lets try that from the top?" She told Nicky whilst raising two already-arched eyebrows in what was an expression of smug contentment mingling with a fiery, dark edge. More importantly for Nicodemus Olivier, Thea was completely and utterly distracted by the task at hand. Along with the leaving parade of ex-boyfriends and other issues, a lone idea had quietly retreated. This clever idea, you're intrigued by it, yes? Well I'll tell you. Thea Quincy was decided: This boy was hers. Finders, keepers. No goddamned Peacekeepers were going to take away her new toy, not so long as Thea 'Zane' was having so much fun with him.

But what if Nicky isn't such great company after all? What if he's a wimp or something? Her brain asked mildly. Thea let the thought roll around in her subconscient for a moment before addressing it in that same casual mental-tone. If Nicky disappointed her like so many other friends and family members had... well Thea would just have to dispose of him, wouldn't she?

ooc- this post... this thread... I think Thea is going to suggest they roam the apartment a lil later ^^ She hates being indoors for so long. Or she might bring up family issues. Nothing better than getting a self-centered brat and a reluctant trouble-maker to start talking about touchy-feely stuff ^^