Our World || Celia & Phoenix

celia-pearce:

“No need to get all riled up, Missy. I was just being polite.”

She couldn’t believe it; He was actually laughing at her. And calling her Missy? What right did he have to talk to her like that? You call a child missy, not a grown women who murdered other kids to win a silly game. Who stabbed her own district partner in the back, metaphorically and literally. Who used her bare hands to rip someones throat out. Celia was remembering everything and her anger was boiling up inside of her. She was about to take it out on Phoenix, but her thoughts were interrupted by something else he said.

“Aren’t you mentors supposed to be happier?”

Happy? Celia’s mind blanked as she tried to think of the last time she was really happy, or even in a decent mood. She was always consumed by her work or grieving over her lost tributes. When was the last time she even smiled and actually had feeling behind it? “What’s the point of faking something like that? Let’s get real.” Not that anything in this place was real. Everyone in the Capitol walked around with fake hair, fake skin, fake attitudes. It was all just a game. And that’s the way President Snow liked it. He controlled everything in Panem. If there was ever a hair out of placed it was fixed before you could say, well, anything. Your tongue was removed and you were sent to work as an Avox so you could never disobey the Capitol again.

If there was one thing she hated about the Capitol it was how “perfect” it was. There was no real freedom here. What you did and who you talked to was so controlled. Your whole life was just a piece of their games. But today, Celia was going to take control. She forgot about all of her anger and her migraine and decided to just let loose. It was time to have fun. She took a cigarette out of the box and the lighter out of his hand. It clicked a few times before it lit and she sucked in a puff of smoke. She had never smoked before, so she didn’t realize how much she was taking in. Obviously it was too much and she started coughing it all back out. It was a little embarrassing and she turned her face away, but then she felt relaxed and wanted more.

He bumped into her and she stumbled on her heels from lack of focus and just pure clumsiness. Celia started laughing at herself and realized she was actually laughing. Not those fake laughs she did while around other mentors, but real, happy laughter. It was amazing. Whoever this guy was, she was glad he had found her. Phoenix made her feel like she was a real person again. She took in another puff of smoke before she answered his next question. “We’re headed back to my place. Care to join me for dinner?”

“What’s the point of faking something like that? Let’s get real.”

Phoenix just laughed at her, she was unfailingly pessimistic. Even he had some hope for the world, though that was probably thanks to the Resistance and for a second he considered telling her because it was obvious she would be on his side but he knew his place better than that. “Well you sure are Ms. Optimistic. It is Ms., right? There’s no mister in your life?” He asked, teasing her. As if he had boundaries. He’d been with married woman before, though married woman tended to whine more. Then again he never had to stick around when the woman had a husband. He considered asking her what was making her so moody, but he knew better than that. You should never ask a woman how she was feeling. No matter. You should never ask.

He found himself laughing at her again as she took a cigarette and lighter. There was no way she was a smoker. He knew smokers, there was a like a secret guild of them and he could tell a true one right away. Which was why he laughed again when she coughed. He took a drag of his own cigarette, “You should never give into peer pressure, sweetheart. Smoking is bad for you.” His sarcasm was evident, but in this short amount of time it was plain to him that Celia was stubborn enough to respond. Probably. Woman were so predictable, he’d never understand how people had problems with reading them.

He didn’t laugh this smile, but held his head up arrogantly when she laughed. She had said just minutes prior there was no happiness or something like that and he had gotten her to laugh. Sometimes he felt like he ought to just marry himself because he was so good. “Can you cook?” It didn’t matter; he would join her either way. She was probably a million and one times better than him. He could barely make himself a bowl of cereal without screwing it up. “What are we having then?” He said as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

003. Phoenix prefers his partners to be older.