Owner	Pose
Thea Queen	The sounds of the city aren't as obvious when one gets off the main thoroughfares and onto side streets of this little neighborhood. It's the less known cousin to the Village, to the Uppers, but it has a charm of its own. And, as night begins to fall, and the streetlights start coming on, there's a pale glow coming from a second story walk-up. It's not too much different than others on the street, except that it houses a certain Thea Queen. The effeciency is quaint; pre-furnished in 'whatever could be cobbled together but still vaguely styish', with a small kitchen tucked into the back, and a daybed that serves as, well, a couch by day and a bed by night. In a corner of the room, her backpack is tucked away, still somewhat filled with what few personals she'd taken with her. That faint glow from the window is partially a television, partially a lamp set on the inside wall.. and the young woman sits and stares at the television, not really looking as if she's registering what's on. It's a way to pass time, waste time.. watch time go by.
Slade Wilson	There's a knock at the door. And on the other side? Slade Wilson, bearing a plastic bag that from the aroma is likely laden with takeout food. Chinese? Thai? Indian? Hard to immediately say beyond "delicious-smelling." How did he find her? Suffice to say he's a man of many resources. And appears to have taken an interest in the continued welfare of one Thea Queen. Or maybe he's just trying to clean up his own mess.
Thea Queen	A knock on the door? Thea's head turns slowly, and she stares at it for a few long seconds as if trying to register the new sound. The remote is lifted, the sound of the television is muted; the first hint there's someone within and stirring. There's a soft *thump* as feet hit wood floor, and the creaks of the older building can be heard as she makes her way to the door. It's an older one, and while she's not short (not really THAT short), the peep hole is little higher than comfort. Instead? Deadbolts are turned, and the door is opened partially, the top chain keeping it from opening completely at the moment. Blue eyes light upon a familiar figure, and in contrast with her railing at the man back at what was/is to be the Verdant, she exhales in a sigh and lifts a hand to unbolt the chain. And the food? It does smell amazing. "Why are you here?" How's that for a greeting, even as the door is opened to him.
Slade Wilson	Slade lifts the bag, and an eyebrow, "I brought you food, but if you'd rather I keep all the drunken noodles for myself, I suppose that's a burden I'll just have to bear." There isn't a LOT of humor in Slade's tone...but perhaps a touch. Though it fades in moments as he answers more honestly, his expression growing more serious. "I felt the need to check in after your brother gave me the impression you had gone missing. Forgive me if I feel at least a touch of responsibility for your current state of affairs."
Thea Queen	Thea opens the door wider and steps aside for Slade's entrance to the small apartment. It's enough for a roof over her head, given she comes from a rich family. It's far better than the vast majority of 'walk ups', and rent is probably not on the cheap side. The smell of the food, the mention of Thai makes her stomach rumble a little, and with a hand placed over it to curb its enthusiasm a little, will close the door once he's inside. She nods once and offers up a ghost of a smile, more a grimace really, and exhales again. "I've been thinking. A lot." Never a good sign? She gives a shrug that is far from dismissive, and crossing the room to turn off the TV at the set itself, bypassing the remote, the barefooted Queen turns to look at him. "You're the only one who's ever told me the truth. Even if it hurts." And it did. A lot.
Slade Wilson	"Maybe that was selfish of me." Slade replies, moving to place the bag on a countertop in the kitchen, and starting to extract the various cartons. Drunken noodles, Chicken Pad Thai, Green Curried Chicken, plenty of rice. It's from a fairly upscale place, to boot, so the quality is good. "I'm not a man with an overabundance of conscience. But I felt like you deserved the truth, so I made a choice." Chopsticks and napkins are arrayed, and Slade steps aside to let Thea take her pick. "Oliver likely had his reasons. Probably thinking you weren't going to be able to handle it."
Thea Queen	Thea watches as Slade passes to set the food on the counter, her blue eyes a little clearer than they have been, but there's that tinge of medicated calmness. "No," and she shakes her head. "That's not fair. Everyone thinking that .. whatever is in my best interest. That-that-that I be kept from knowing the truth. If I knew then what I know now?" She crosses the short distance to the small table and sets her back against a wall, her expression intent upon her visitor. "I'd have a better relationship, maybe, with my father. I'd understand my brother.." and here, she barks a soft laugh with a shrug that is pure sibling, "maybe. And maybe I wouldn't be so.. angry all the time." There's a glimmer of the young woman in there, and there's that ghost of a smile that comes with another shrug. "Now?" She looks at the apartment and exhales in a sigh. "I'm mad at everyone, and I can't do anything about it. I yelled and screamed, and I did that at the wrong person."
Slade Wilson	"There are a good number of people in my life that would likely tell you I'm always an acceptable target." For yelling, for fighting, for killing, same difference really, right? "You're wrong, though. There's plenty you can do. None of it's easy, though..." He glances around the room, "Except maybe this." He gestures, seeming to indicate the whole of Thea's current situation in one motion. "Personally, I think you're stronger than that."
Thea Queen	The bowls were set, the chopsticks out, and finally she takes some of the proffered food. All the stuff that she really loves, too.. a good Pad Thai, drunken noodles.. and she starts to serve herself. Finally, it's properly piled, and with an initial awkward start on her sticks, she's able to maneuver it reasonably. It's obvious she's out of practice, though.. Thea takes the opportunity for a couple of mouthfuls, and maybe, just maybe she actually tastes the food on the third bite, before swallowing. The bowl is lowered, cradled in two hands, the chopsticks set aside for a moment. Her attention is set once again, and she looks.. she looks like she wants out. "How?" She exhales softly and puts her bowl aside, "How? I'm always one step behind because I don't //know// anything." She purses her lips and looks around the little apartment. "How can I do anything, how can I make a decision without having the right information? I mean," she chuckles self-deprecatingly, "I didn't know a friend of Ollie's was actually my half-brother. You know how embarrassing it is to find out that a guy you were sort of crushing on as a kid was actually your //brother//?"
Slade Wilson	"Huh. I wasn't certain Malcolm was your birth father, but I strongly suspected." Slade considers a few moments. "Sometimes you have to shoot blind. Or work with what you DO know. Your brother may be an idiot about some things, but he loves you. You can choose to forgive him..." He quirks a faint smile, "Though nobody says it has to be quick or easy for him...or you can not." He moves to start dishing up a bowl for himself, wielding the chopsticks with precision and obviously-practiced skill. "Malcolm Merlyn is your father. I won't pretend to know his mind, but I know he loved his boy. Stands to reason he cares about you too. None of that means you have to accept him. But you can. Doesn't have to be quick and easy and you can make him earn your trust. Just be careful, he's as cunning as anyone I know who isn't me or the Batman, and I mean that as a compliment." "And as for me..." Slade shrugs, "We can part ways tonight, and I will never trouble you again. Robert Queen might not have been your birth father but he was the man that raised you. You'd have every right." He takes a couple bites, then looks Thea in the eyes, "Or I can train you. Like I did your brother. You've got the same potential he did. Different, maybe, but it's there. Figure it'd be fair trade for what I took from you."
Thea Queen	"Work with what I do know?" Thea shakes her head, now more an attempt to dislodge spiderwebs than to dismiss anything said out of hand. Still, she looks dubious as she takes another bite, fighting with the chopsticks but not abandoning their use quite yet. She'd watched Slade use his with tactical ease, and so.. dammit. With a modicum of victory, this taste is a little more slow and deliberate, once she gets under the noodles. She's actually tasting her food. "I have to figure out what that is." She stands in silence for a few heartbeats before she nods, "I found out a few years ago about it, and Mother still didn't really want to tell. It just seemed like everyone else knew but me." She didn't take that too well, either. "I had a brother I didn't know about." And she's close to her Ollie, so it is another relationship that's gone. It's the warning, though, about Malcolm that has her looking up, her head tilting, blue eyes looking at Slade's face, trying to read his expression. That's never easy, she's finding. "He's been good to me. He didn't have to be." 'Cunning', though, sets Thea on edge just a little. She can be very trusting, very.. open, and here, this whole experience is beginning to teach her a new lesson, and it's one she doesn't necessarily like. She spears a piece of chicken in her Pad Thai and pops the morsel into her mouth, and her attention doesn't really fall from her visitor, the one with the cold, hard truths. Thea shakes her head now, adding gesture to her words, "No, I don't want you to leave." In a strange way, too, the man before her is a link to her family; a part of Queen history for all his part in it all. "I.. I need help." Setting the bowl down, she looks out to the rest of the apartment with a glance before it's back to Slade, "Would you?" Train her, that is.
Slade Wilson	"If you like." Slade replies easily enough, though he pauses in his eating to study Thea intently, "This can't be a passing fancy. All-in, or nothing. So you don't have to answer this second. Get your head clear, think about what you want, and then answer. It will be hard. It will be painful. You may want me dead by the time we finish. Wouldn't be the first person I've trained that ended up with that opinion." There's a flicker of bitter amusement on Slade's face for a moment there, but he continues. "Since people are going to notice if you drop off the grid entirely, it'll have to be packed in around the edges of your civilian life, which is only going to make it that much more difficult...but it won't change the outcome." Slade takes a few more bites now. "So yes. Consider carefully...and clear-headed...before you decide for sure. For now I'll consider it a "tentative yes."
Thea Queen	Thea doesn't retake her food; she's done for the moment, as suits the lithe, waifish Queen. It was a big step for her to admit that she really does need help. All she can see is her life spiraling, and that's not what she wants. It'd happened before, and it seems to be a common theme with her. Things look good, then something hits her and she simply can't cope without decided self-destructive tendencies. "I need off this rollercoaster." The words are almost whispered. "I can't do it. Ollie's tried to help." She chuckles, though it's not from amusement; it's from a self-critical place. "I'm surprised he hasn't given up on me." Still, she stands there for heartbeats after, her expression flickering; an almost open book to her thoughts before a decision is made. Blue eyes turn back to the place where she finds herself now, and pushing herself off the wall, she pads in barefeet over to the backpack that is propped up against a wall. She crouches down, rifles through an inside pocket before she finds a small amber container. There's a slight rattling sound that seems to come from there before she palms the small jar. The trip back to the kitchen is slower, however, as if maybe she's considering that maybe she can't.. shouldn't do it? A decision is made, though, and she comes to a stop a few feet in front of Slade and looks into his eye, blues to his own. She doesn't say a word, though. Instead, she lifts her hand and open-palms. There, the pharmaceutical bottle that holds a little under a dozen unmarked pills is there. "I hated you before. You're here right now, and I don't hate you."
Slade Wilson	Slade watches Thea, his expression strictly neutral as she rummages through the pack and then makes her way back over. He meets her gaze evenly, and when the offering is made, he nods, once, and reaches to take the bottle, "So a less tentative yes." He studies the bottle a moment, and while his knowledge is considerable, he's not a pharmacist. "How long until it's out of your system?"
Thea Queen	"A less tentative yes," Thea echoes. The question, however, about detoxing? Withdrawal? She takes a step back, and with her now empty hand, runs fingers through short, bobbed hair. "It'll start soon," and it's apparent she's not looking forward to it by her manner. "Within a day, I'll start to withdraw." Been there, done that before. "Then, it can be a few days up to a week. Or more." She's not quite sure, and she looks it. "It all depends." Turning away now, fingers gripping her hair and her arm is still upraised, Thea looks to the apartment. "I'll be here." Finally, her hand drops and she looks back at Slade, "I don't want anyone here, though. I don't want anyone to see me like that." Confused. Hallucinating, maybe.. and the sweats. "No 911. No.. hospital. Nothing." If she goes to a hospital, there is the distinct and irrational fear she won't come out.
Slade Wilson	"No one? Withdrawal is dangerous to go through alone. It might not be your cleanest or proudest moment but it's a step forward taking control, no matter how painful or embarrassing it might be." He tucks the bottle away and notes, "But if you want alone, you get alone. Give me your phone, unlocked."
Thea Queen	Thea's more afraid of //not// being alone than of actually doing it on her own. She can't trust that someone won't call for help, won't call 911, and then an entirely new circus begins of which she has no control. No one telling her what is going on, what will happen to her. Not what she wants. "My way on my terms," and her still slightly glass eyes stay keenly on his. "For once." Slade's assurances, though, causes a sigh to move through her body; the held tenseness there releases a little, and it's easy to see that she's taken that chance to 'stand down' to a potential argument. It's what comes next that she blinks, turns her head slightly to sideeye and opens her mouth in a gesture that she may give argument. Still, even though acquiescence is slow, the wheels are turning.. and she pulls one phone out of a back pocket. It's a classic 'burner phone'. A cheap thing that is 'fire and forget', as it were. One... and turning around to her backpack again, she rifles through a pocket to pull out her real phone. It's back to being charged, but turned off. Her steps are slow as she turns it back on and quickly thumbs the code. In this phone? It's her life. This one.. this one is a little harder to hand over. There's a decided resistance there, but she takes a deep breath before she holds it out, her gaze watching the bit of electronics before it changes hands.
Slade Wilson	Slade hands back the "Real" phone after just a moment, murmuring "Burner is fine." He manipulates it a few moments, then hands it back, "There's a number in there now. It will reach me, through a go-between. If you change your mind, I assure you of my discretion. No hospitals, no 911. Any necessary medical care will be equally discreet. There are people that specialize in that sort of thing, if you know where to look." He pauses, then notes, "Or if you've come out the other side, call and let me know, along with your answer, and we'll either begin, or not."
Thea Queen	Thea turns off her real phone again when it's handed back, but cranes her neck as he types the number into her burner phone. It's a number that she wants to commit to memory, such as it is. When that, too, is handed back, she puts it back into her back pocket. That's the one she carries with her for the time being. "Okay." It's a simple word; an acknowledgement, but it carries more than that in her moment. It's an understanding. "I'm not going to change my mind. I remember our first conversation. That I need to do something, to be something, but I didn't know what. Or how. I thought I gave all that up when.." she pauses, and takes a deep breath before continuing, "that night." In the restaurant. "I think now it's the only thing that will help me."
Slade Wilson	"Guess we'll find out." Slade replies simply enough, giving Thea a nod. "Make sure you eat. And drink...water...while you can keep it down." He moves away, towards the door, adding over his shoulder before he heads out, "Good night, Thea. I'll see you in a week or so." And then he's out the door, leaving Thea alone to anticipate the several difficult days before her.