A Baird and the Snow

Argue

Coriolanus followed Lucy Gray through the threshold of their new room and the door shut behind them, leaving a dimly lit room that felt dreary and miserable.

The walls were gray and the bed was small, although still big enough for two. Without sitting on it, Coryo could tell it would be creaky and uncomfortable. He hoped it would at least be better than the cot he had as a peacekeeper.

Coriolanus didn't care about the room right now though. He and Lucy Gray needed to talk about what just happened.

"Lucy Gray—" he started at the same time she said "Coriolanus—"

They both stopped abruptly and stared at each other for a second before they both let out a short, small burst of laughter.

Lucy Gray plopped onto the sheets of the bed that were surprisingly clean, and just as Coriolanus suspected, it creaked under her weight.

The light feeling between them dissipated quickly.

"We can't stay here," Coriolanus said, still standing.

"Why not?" Lucy Gray asked immediately.

Why not? What kind of question was that? There were so many reasons why not.

"Lucy Gray," Coriolanus said, "think about what  they're asking us to do." He couldn't see how Lucy Gray thought any of this was a good idea.

"I know exactly what they're asking us to do, Coriolanus," Lucy Gray said fiercely and she was going to continue but Coryo cut in.

"We can't stay," he said again, his fierceness measuring equal to hers, not knowing how else to convey the fact. "We just got away from the Capitol, from a battle that we would have lost if we hadn't run! And now you want to head straight back in? It's reckless, Lucy Gray." Coriolanus could feel anger in his chest and he didn't know why he was so riled.

Maybe it was the thought of Lucy Gray being in put in harm's way again. Maybe it was knowing the danger it would put his family in. Or maybe it was that Coriolanus had had such hopes for where he and Lucy Gray would be once they got away. He wanted to be out in the world, living a life with Lucy Gray that didn't include Panem, where they wouldn't even have to think about Panem.

But that hope had disappeared now and it was tearing him apart a little bit. He'd given up so much for something that wouldn't be happening anymore unless he convinced Lucy Gray that staying wasn't worth it.

"But now we have this entire army, Coryo," Lucy Gray stood up, stepping closer to him. "You saw all of those weapons. Imagine what we could do, the people we could save." She took his hands in hers.

Coriolanus shooks his head, pulling away from her. "What about the people it will kill, Lucy Gray?" His voice was soft now, almost broken.

Before she could reply, a knock came on the door before someone opened it.

The air was awkward as the General Odair realized he'd just walked in on something. "Sorry," he said gruffly. "I just brought your guys' food and a change of clothes." He walks in the rest of the way, holding two trays in his gloved hands that he sets down on the metal table.

Another man holding two sets of clothes followed him in and Coryo noticed the pistol holstered to his hip and the shotgun slung over his shoulder. 

The clothes were gray and bland and Coriolanus knew Lucy Gray would hate wearing whatever they brought her. He hasn't ever seen her wearing something that didn't have bright colors.

"Thank you," Lucy Gray says, as though they weren't just arguing.

Coriolanus stays silent as the general and his man leaves. His arms are crossed over his chest and he tried to not let every one of his paranoid thoughts consume him.