"Evelyn Brinley, better known as Lady Red, victor of the 72nd Hunger Games. Won her games at 15."
"Why Lady Red?"
"Because she always wears red. Oh, and she won her games by burning the remaining tributes alive."
✮
"𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"YOU NEED TO GO OUT THERE AND SHOW THEM YOU DESERVED TO WIN. GO OUT THERE AND SHOW THEM YOU AREN'T INSANE," Cassandra told Evelyn, the escort's voice as loud and confident as it always was.
"Mhm," Evelyn mumbled. Cassandra had been giving her advice on her interview with Caesar for the past hour, but the victor couldn't bring herself to listen (or care). She didn't want to do the interview, she just wanted to go home. The escort believed that everyone thought Evelyn was insane thanks to the fire she started, and now Cassandra was telling her that she needed to tone it down because "You don't want everyone to think you're ruthless, do you?"
Evelyn didn't understand it. That was what the people in the Capitol wanted, wasn't it? They wanted ruthless victors. They wanted people to kill each other for fun, so what was wrong with Evelyn being seen as ruthless?
"Are you listening to me?" The escort snapped impatiently, crossing her arms when she noticed the girl staring out into space.
Evelyn stared at Cassandra and shook her head, "Honestly, I have no clue what you just said."
"I'm trying to help you. Do you want to go out there and make a complete fool of yourself? You're worse than your brother was- and that was my first year as an escort. I was 18, and I could control him better than I can control you-"
"Leave the girl alone, Cassandra," Sasha interrupted the escort as he walked in, "She just got out of the arena like a day ago."
The victor felt relieved when she saw her mentor. After the arena, Evelyn was immediately taken to a doctor so they could replace her knee, although she still walked with a small limp, and then she was taken to Xanther so he could prepare her for her interview. She hadn't seen Sasha at all during that time. She didn't even have a moment to think about him between the doctor putting her to sleep and replacing her knee and the stylist playing dress-up with her.
Evelyn pushed herself off the couch and wrapped her arms around Sasha, who gave her a light pat on the head. "Hey." was the only thing he said.
The victor took a step back and cleared her throat, "Thank you for the bandages, and the matches."
Sasha's face went from impatient to disappointment, and Evelyn couldn't tell if it was directed at her or himself. "It's nothing to be proud of."
Maybe it was a bit of both. He seemed disappointed in himself for sending the matches, but he also seemed disappointed because of the way she used them. Evelyn understood his feelings. He probably wanted her to cook something with the matches since she hadn't eaten in a while, but instead, she burned all her opponents in one go. Most of the time there's a final battle with the final couple of tributes, but Evelyn Brinley didn't give them a fighting chance.
"Has anyone said anything?" She asked under her breath.
"No, and if Cassandra told you otherwise she's a liar," The mentor assured the girl, which earned a scoff from Cassandra. "I'm sorry, it was just- it was quite the ending. I am proud of you though. I told you you could win."
