The Runaway Victor | Book II

Chapter Four | Convince Me

{Thank you to MissingPaiges for the new amazing trailer for Runaway Victor!}

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"Would you mind stepping out, Ms. Maverick?"

She stared blankly at him for a moment, her arms still crossed over her chest. Orion could see her still struggling to not say anything that could get either of them in even more trouble. His grandfather sat behind his desk, with the usual vase of white roses to match the single one he wore on his jacket. Both Quinn and himself had been seated in a nice chair that had been put in front of his desk, both of them uncomfortable in the material of the nice clothes they had been put in. They had spent nearly three months wearing the dull grey uniforms that weren't exactly comfortable. They had become so used to it, that now the nice smelling fregrances that were usually on the clothes in the Capitol, the smooth expensive material all seemed so foriegn to them.

"I'd just like to have a word with my grandson," he added his eyes landing on Orion. As usual, they weren't warm or caring like they were when he looked at Celestia. But now that was understandable. Orion knew he wouldn't be welcomed back to the Capitol with open arms by his grandfather. He wasn't welcomed there before he ranaway either.

Quinn glanced at Orion for a moment and then stoop up. It wasn't hard to see how uncomfortable she was there in the Capitol already. They had only been there for maybe two hours, and already there were plans for them to be on with Ceasar Flickerman; that must have been a nightmare for Quinn. Everytime she had been on with him, she said something that she shouldn't have. Orion was good at playing things off to make a good impression, Quinn just wasn't.

After Quinn left the room, the two of them sat in silence for a moment. Orion could feel his grandfather's eyes on him but he kept his eye's on the blue leather of the armchair he was seated on.

"Orion," he stated simply to get his attention. "So far neither of you have made it seem like you are even trying to act like you are happy to be back."

"What's the point of that? You're the only one who has really seen us, and you already know we don't want to be back." Orion replid simply.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, "Yes, but it makes me worry that you won't try to end all of this madness in the Districts."

Orion rolled his eyes, "Just trust us."

"You've given me absolutely no reason to trust either of you." he snapped quickly. "I want you to do three things, Orion. The first being, get rid of the..." he paused, trying to think of the right words to use. "Get rid of that Radical image you've attached to yourself."

"That might be difficult." Orion stated unenthusiastically, "Considering I ran all the way to Thirteen."

Snow sighed, "Second, convince me, Orion. Make me believe you actually care about her. That's why you ranaway." he stated, "Finally, convince me you are relieved to be back."

* * * * *

Not long after Quinn and Orion had been excused with the basic things they had to talk about during their Welcome Back interview as Snow called it, they had both been taken back to their new stylists to get ready. Quinn had been hoping she may have gotten Ciruss, but the odds to that we're practically nothing. Besides that, now that he was back in the Capitol, he was probably paired with another Tribute. Sitting in the prep room didn't seem right, not with a new team. None of them knew her, they only knew what they had seen and what they had been told. None of them had worked with tributes before, so they didn't know what she had been like before the games-- and how empty she was when she came out of them. Hell, she was still pretty empty. But since she hadn't been able to use morphling or drink any, she could tell there was a difference. She wasn't completely empty any more.