Ah, My Old Nemesis: We Meet Again

[Charity Croft]

Charity sighed and rolled her eyes to look at the clock. Why did she sign up for this? True, they gave her a little more money, which definitely helped. She was kind of at a point in her life where more money meant less problems instead of the other way around. But what on earth had made her think she'd have the time to volunteer for an individual detention session?

It was something new they were trying: put a student who got detention in a one on one with a student. That way they could get the attention they needed and someone could watch to make sure that they didn't burn down a section of the school or anything. Plus, this particular session happened to be in the library, which meant that all Charity really had to do was just stare someone down.

Easy, right?

"No," Charity said, pulling her head off her arm as she saw who approached, "no, no, not you again!" she held out a finger and stood up. "Back, back into the---what are you doing here? Didn't they give you a name?" Why didn't they give her a name? Charity started fumbling through her files, hoping that somehow something would just outright say that she wasn't actually scheduled to meet with Lucy James , her arch-nemesis (for reasons that Charity only barely understood).

[Lucy James]

Detention. Wonderful. Exactly what Lucy needed today. No, really, detention had become one of those things that felt normal. While everything else had been turned upside down, detention was one of those few things that were the same. Well... Not quite, as they had changed that system as well, with having a student join a teacher on some kind of one on one fun time. But really, the general idea was the same, and that was more than enough for Lucy.

However, what the brunette hadn't expected as she walked into the library, was the googly eyed teacher to be there. Pausing at her outburst, Lucy remained perfectly still. Quirking her brow, Lucy's head shook slowly. Great, just what she needed. Out of all the teachers she could have been paired with, she had to be paired with the crazy, sunshine-y one? Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful.

Rolling her eyes, Lucy moved over to one of the empty seats and sat down. Leaning back against the chair, Lucy's hands came to cross over her chest as she let her blue gaze wander over the room. "Melodramatic, aren't we?" she asked with a sigh. "I suppose I should take it as a compliment that you remember me," she added with a coy smile. "Then again, considering who it's coming from..." She shrugged. Well, as much as Lucy wanted to, she figured she just had to endure the crazy. Maybe she'd be lucky enough that the woman would sit down and keep that annoying mouth of her shut...

...but from the look of her reaction, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

[Charity Croft]

Charity let out a slightly nervous laugh, at least thankful that there weren't that many other people around. At least they wouldn't start thinking her name was Chastity or Lucy couldn't somehow embarrass her like she was back in the sixth grade or in one of those strangely weird teen movies. She ended up rolling her eyes.

"oh yeah, because we all can't be all smooth and cool and post blunt or whatever," she said, even though she knew that you most definitely did not talk to students like that. Charity still wasn't entirely certain that Lucy really counted as a student, seeing as she saw the girl more as some sort of strange force of nature. Though she supposed that might be giving her more power or something. Charity definitely needed to try talking to someone else about her, maybe another staff...

but later. For now: "Right," she said, nodding, tapping the books, "you're supposed to just sit down and work quietly on your assignments. You've definitely got enough to work on, what with it being finals time and all, so you shouldn't be goofing off. If you need to use the restroom or require any help, just let me know." There, that was mature, right? okay, so there had been the devil mention and the not so subtle drug thing, but Charity totally rebounded. She could handle a short detention with the nightmare child.

[Lucy James]

"Mature," she noted, her eyebrow still quirked. It was obvious that Lucy found this whole thing amusing. How someone could be so incredibly childish at that age almost baffled her. The teacher, trainer or whatever the fuck she was supposed to be acted like a spoiled five year old who didn't get their way. Sure, Lucy was a piece to handle, but this was just ridiculous. "I wonder what your boss would think about you talking to students that way," she said, smacking her lips together.

Of course, Lucy didn't care enough to actually report her, but it was an amusing thought to be sure.

"I'll pass on the working on stuff part, but I don't mind spending my time here not talking." She rolled her shoulders at that as she offered the older woman an innocent smile. If she honestly thought Lucy would sit down and do school work, she clearly didn't know the younger girl at all. Ah well, she supposed it didn't matter. Averting her gaze, Lucy looked over the library for a moment as she pursed her lips. Well, this was going to end up being quite the dreadful experience.

Hopefully, Chastity would leave her be. It would make it a whole lot easier for the both of them if she didn't interfere, or tell her to actually do something. It wasn't like Lucy would listen either way, so she'd only be wasting her time.

[Charity Croft]

"There's not a head of trainers right now," Charity replied in kind, her eyes narrowing, "plus, it would come down to your word versus mine," and that wouldn't go well for Lucy, even if Charity was the one she was going against. The other girl did have something of a record, a fact that could be confirmed by people who were not named Legrange.

Anyway, Charity proceeded to go through the requirements, and it seemed like Lucy was more or less on board or something. She at least acted like it, though she looked away for a moment in a way that had Charity wondering. The trainer's eyes narrowed with suspicion, but Lucy wasn't doing anything too suspicious, and she certainly wasn't saying anything. That really only left Charity with one choice.

"Okay then," she said, speaking slowly. She nodded slow after the fact. "If you need any help with anything, don't hesitate to ask. I may be a trainer, but I did get a license as a teacher, and I have graduated." Charity added another nod, then took a fairly comfortable seat across from Lucy. Soon enough she had a book of her own out, half looking at it while also half paying attention to the girl, clearly expecting Lucy to do something to disrupt the whole detention experience.

[Lucy James]

Laughing, the brunette's head nodded. "Not so filled with sunshine after all, are you?" Lucy grinned. It was nice to see that the woman actually did have some mean bones in her body. It would have been much, much worse had the woman been incapable of getting mad. Getting a rise out of her made it much more enjoyable. "So, essentially what you're saying is that you can verbally harass me as much as you want and no one would believe me? Huh, I like your style. Cliche, but cruel." At least that was another thing the two of them could see eye to eye on.

And there she went right back to being nice again, which had Lucy shaking her head ever so faintly. "Uh huh," she replied, nodding absentmindedly. "That's really interesting and all, and I guess that's good for you, but honestly, it doesn't make a difference either way." She tossed the woman a shrug. Really, if Lucy hadn't cared about her grades and school work up until now, this situation right here, surely wasn't going to change a damned thing.

The two of them seemed to fall into silence then. As the woman brought up her book, Lucy's eyes started wandering over the room once again. She placed her hands flat onto the table in front of her before she started drumming the tips of her fingers lightly against the surface of the wooden table. She wondered if there was anything she could do to pass the time without actually moving. Maybe there was someone with an interesting power around?

[Charity Croft]

"I am filled with sunshines and rainbows and kitten farts!" Charity hissed back, her eyes narrowing, her hand raising to point at the young girl. "You just absorb all the niceness in the world and--and I'm not harassing you, I'm trying to get you to actually behave yourself and act like a rationale, normal person for a change."

Not that Charity was setting a great example right now. The trainer found herself wondering if there was some sort of way she could arrange it so that she never ran into this menace again in her entire life. Somehow she didn't think that was going to be possible; someone seemed to enjoy shoving them together. And of course Lucy didn't seem to mind the situation at all.

So Charity just figured she'd do the reading and so forth and pretend like this was normal. Of course, Lucy had to ruin all that. Charity lowered her book, her eyes narrowing. "You should be working on schoolwork," she pointed out. "That's what detention is about. Why are you even rebelling anyway? It's just making things more difficult all around."

Oh yes, back to this again. Charity couldn't help like this was the dozenth conversation she'd had with Lucy about the same topic...

[Lucy James]

"You mean, like you're acting right now?" she asked, her brows bouncing. It was obvious to see that Lucy was amused. From the way her brows kept moving to the slight smile that splayed over her lips. It was actually kind of funny how she'd mention acting rationally, considering what came out of the teacher's mouth from time to time. She wondered if she realized just how much of a hypocrite she really sounded like.

More words came then, and they actually had Lucy's eyes rolling. "Ah yes," she drawled, her eyes returning to look at the woman. "I'm sorry my personality is such an inconvenience to you. Is that what you tell everyone who does something you don't like, or did I strike a special nerve?" Her head tilted slightly. She was sure the woman didn't mean it like that, but of course Lucy hardly cared about that.

"No wonder you're just a power trainer and not a counselor. You'd kill more kids than you'd save." It was obvious that Chastity didn't at all like her, and essentially, Lucy was just fine with that. Now, if only she could get her to leave her alone and not attempt at even talking... Clearly, she had to push harder. Because that was obviously very smart. "Hey, didn't your mom ever teach you not to play with scissors? I mean, those bangs.. Sheesh."

[Charity Croft]

Charity's eyes narrowed as Lucy again called her out on her attitude. She really just wanted to reach over and strangle the girl. It would be doing the world a major favor, of that Charity was almost certain. How did this girl even exist in the world? Why hadn't someone killed her by now?

And ugh, she even turned Charity's comment/suggestion about improving her personality into some kind of personal insult. "What I mean is that your behavior--" charity began, only to pause as Lucy again flung another insult. The trainer let out a breath in a frustrated manner, still giving the other girl a sort of exhausted look. "It must be so terrible being that grumpy all that time," she replied almost tartly, adding a slight smile.

She then tried to look back at her book, ready to study. There was another comment which did have Charity reaching for her bangs for a moment before she realized that the girl was, yet again, messing with her. So instead Charity lowered her hand and pointed at the girl. "just do your homework or something actually productive," she replied, extending the finger in a sort of thrusting motion before determinedly going back to the book.

[Lucy James]

Shrugging, Lucy smiled. "Nah, I'm quite happy with being me, which I have a feeling is a lot more than you can say about yourself." It was easy to mess with this woman. She was easy to rile up, and clearly, hadn't been in this position for a very long time. After all, it wasn't as if the woman reeked authority. She was as childish as Lucy was, that much was obvious. Of course, Lucy was obviously a lot less sunny and didn't have that god awful bright and positive attitude.

When she reached for her bangs, Lucy smirked. "Pass," she replied, casually shrugging. She'd already told the woman she wasn't here to study, and sure, she didn't mind sitting here in silence if that was what Chastity wanted, but she wasn't about to sit down and study. Please.

Instead, Lucy's blue eyes wandered over the room. She studied the various people and wondered who on earth would come to the library willingly. It seemed as if so many kids wasted their time studying when life was about so much more than reading a book.

[Charity Croft]

"Actually, you'd be wrong about that," Charity replied almost too quickly. She was tempted to clarify that she meant that Lucy wasn't happy being her and that charity was perfectly happy about herself. It wasn't Charity's self that she worried about. Okay, there was definitely some self-doubt regarding the whole "being an adult" thing that she was still sort of kind of working through in some form or fashion and she still couldn't quite figure out why she was thirty and about as clumsy as a twelve year old who'd just hit puberty not to mention the whole dateless wonder thing but Charity was definitely happy being herself.

Pass.

Wait, what?


"It's detention,' Charity replied curtly, looking ahead. "Part of detention involves sitting down and studying. And you do know that this grumpy act isn't impressing anyone, right?" Charity gestured around her. "There's not even anyone here to impress."

Was there even a point in trying though? Each time that Charity tried to reach out to Lucy, to try and figure the girl out or help or do something that might bridge the gap, the girl just nimbly skipped away, avoiding every attempt that Charity could manage. All Charity could do was keep insisting to herself that she should keep trying, though even that voice was getting more and more quiet with each passing moment.

[Lucy James]

"Sure thing," she drawled. She didn't for one second buy it, but then again, she didn't really care either. It wasn't as if it mattered or that she wanted to know. One thing Lucy did know though, was that everyone had some demon to slay, whatever it was. Even she did - even though she hardly admitted that much to herself. But not even the most confident of people was perfectly happy with everything.

"What are you going to do about it? Give me more detention? Oh no, the horror," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. The woman continued though, which had Lucy issuing a low chuckle. "Who said anything about trying to impress anyone? Are you being this giddy in an attempt to impress people? I doubt it. People are the way they are; they don't necessarily do it to get attention." She surely wasn't. She would be quite content with just being left alone to her own devices.

Sadly, few people seemed to understand that.

Shaking her head then, Lucy leaned her chin against her knuckles and started tapping her fingers against the table. She wasn't going to study. That was off the table. She didn't have much else to pass the time, but she supposed it just had to do. If only she'd been high while coming here.

[Charity Croft]

More resistance: what a shock and surprise. Charity again felt like sighing in frustration. The girl practically begged for more detention, and it was quite clear, to Charity at the least, that detention was a wholly insufficient punishment for her. The girl belonged in a prison, or maybe on one of those shows where they shoved misbehaving teenagers in prisons and had inmates yell at him.

Charity actually smiled slightly at the thought.

But she looked back at Lucy, who kept staring, kept seeming to insist that this was who she was and who she wanted to be. It struck Charity as being a rather awful way to behave, but perhaps Lucy had a little group of friends. Charity did seem to recall the young woman with a few people during the camping trip. And clearly threatening wasn't going to work: it was just getting Charity more frustrated.

Then it occurred to her that this wasn't how she normally dealt with children, was it? And this girl certainly was that, even if she'd insist otherwise. Charity had always been smiles and songs... so why change that now?

"Well then," she said, beaming, "why don't you tell me what you'd rather be doing right now? Or," she clapped her hands together and grinned wider, "we could do something together! I've got all sorts of craft projects we could work on together!"

What made that scarier? Charity meant every word.

[Lucy James]

When the teacher's mood changed and she practically lit up like a damn sun, Lucy stared at her, scowling. Shaking her head, she lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "If you would stop talking, that would be a great start." This was even worse than having to deal with the situation in general. The fact that she had to act like some high five year old was one of the last things Lucy felt like dealing with right now.

Not only did she hate cheery people, she also hated it when they directed their attention towards her. Couldn't they just leave her alone? Was it really that difficult for the woman to just ignore her? Wouldn't that work out better for the both of them? It was already obvious that they disliked each other.

Shaking her head, Lucy leaned forward, planting her cheek against the cool surface of the table in front of her. How long did these sessions last anyways? She couldn't really blame the woman though. In a way, she supposed Lucy got exactly what she deserved.

[Charity Croft]

Stop talking. Charity considered Lucy for a few seconds. Part of her insisted that she keep talking, that she try to bond, that she sing a song or do a craft or something. Another part, in a voice that sounded a lot like her father's, told her to just stay silent, to actually give this one to Lucy. Did one detention really matter? Wasn't it enough to have the girl sitting there, alone in a library with Charity, who she clearly hated fully? Charity licked her lips and studied Lucy for a bit more.

her mouth opened. She started to think about making noises. She closed her mouth. She considered Lucy again. "Okay, sure," she finally offered. "if you need help with something, just let me know. I only talk like an idiot."

Charity added another shrug then settled in, looking around the room. She even stood up, figuring that she might as well go get a book or something. they still had another hour to go. Unable to quite stop herself: "Going to be super boring just sitting there for another hour," and she looked to Lucy, semi-expectantly.