. . SONGBIRDS ,

WHERE‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎TOLD ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎YOU ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎TO‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ RUN, ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎* 𓅪  ─── ‎ ‎ ‎ SO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎WE'D‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ BOTH‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ BE‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ FREE.

[2birds1song]

can't take my past , CAN'T TAKE MY HISTORY .

* ❁  ───   #2BIRDS1SONG. hidy there, this is an independent writing space for 𝐿𝑈𝐶𝑌 𝐺𝑅𝐴𝑌 𝐵𝐴𝐼𝑅𝐷 and 𝘒𝘈𝘛𝘕𝘐𝘚𝘚 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘋𝘌𝘌𝘕 from 𝚜𝚞𝚣𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 . be warn of dark and heavy topics . duplicate friendly ! fandom friendly , oc friendly , crossover friendly . always accepting memes .

𓅪 . . . memes. »   open starters. »   redirect to my theme to find info/rules.

[pureastheedrivensnow]

"do you believe that you're not? you're just doing it because you think i deserve it." he muses, not sure if he could believe she didn't get some enjoyment from the game she was playing with him. "like i said lucy gray, i think we're more alike than you realize." he repeats. "and i think both of us can hurt the other one pretty bad without there being a loss of love… like a curse." it spoke a lot about how he saw love, as something that should be beneath him. something that was in the way. still he couldn't help how he felt, staring into those doe eyes of hers.

"trust is more important then love." he repeats her words from what seemed so long ago, because right now she was lying. she did love him. she wouldn't be able to show him this kind of affection after what he had done to her if she didn't. he closes his eyes and lets out a soft hum, leaning his neck to the side to give her easier access. he takes in every word as he's touching her skin and she's moving his hand to his heart. asks him the question and he the silence fills between them as he feels every kiss of hers etching into his skin. his hand moves from her stomach and up her back to tangle into her hair again, he pulls at it slightly, carefully so it doesn't hurt. so she can look at him. "where else would i feel it?" he's staring deep into her eyes. "i wish i didn't feel it… but i do." he says as he takes his hand and places it on her chest, over her heart. "just like you feel." like he said they were similar. his words wouldn't be able to prove that. he leans forward and repeats what she had done to him earlier, pressing soft and careful kisses down her throat. "it's not a desire. it's not something i can will. it's not something i can control." he whispers in between kisses before he pulls away from her to look at her again. "it's not even driven by lust. i could be content. just holding you like this."

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. “of course i don't.” continuing to deny it while she sat on him in silence, agreeing with everything he was saying. hating she agreed. “maybe we are in just bein' stubborn, but we're real different in needin' to prove somethin' with all this power obsession. i don't let it control me like you do.” then again, she was obsessed with dominating him because she had an obsession to always be free. even in the confines of the capitol. “we are a curse.” could agree with that one out loud. because if it's really love from his side, then it still can't be perfect love. and even if he does really love her they would still be cursed in the way of coming from entirely two different places where they can't meet a middle in. been a curse since the day her name was never meant to be drawn in that reaping, it was rigged & yet they crossed paths. coriolanus snow landed the runt girl, from district twelve.

“well you broke that trust and i still can't figure out why.” what person was he hiding and why? she had a few guesses through out the years, but she'll never really know unless it comes from him & he doesn't lie. his palm lays over her warm chest and it presses the cold songbird pendant hanging from her necklace into her skin, chilling her, reminding her she was definitely overheating when the coldness of it struck her like electricity. “you would feel it somewhere you think is your heart, maybe.” gaze guided back on him as lucy gray answered, lips pulling away from his neck when his hand in her hair gently leans her head back. meaning she couldn't tell if he genuinely loved her or if it was just something to do with power like it always was with him. pulse racing harder when his lips connected with her neck, chin tilting back, letting him worship her skin momentarily until it starts to feel too good, too warm.

any time that happened a snowstorm always froze their summery evening blooming in her chest. hand slips into the back of his hair, gently pulling his mouth away from her throat this time. “not lust nor power? since i know you got a thing for that, too.” still skeptical, still not willing to believe it's not about just flaunting her like a shiny toy or being egotistical about capturing a rare bird and getting to parade it. “makes me wonder. what kind of child were you, coriolanus? was you always willin' to share your toys with the other children? or did you keep them all to yourself... or even found just one to get really attached to and that was your only focus.” obsession. it was probably so out of the blue to question that, but for her, she was fishing on answers on what was he like in his earliest years for a reason.

[snowbairdd]

RACHEL ZEGLER via Instagram Stories

[pureastheedrivensnow]

he bit his lip, he might be caught up in her right now. but he knows what's happening. she redirects his face towards her, she's still angry and upset at him. rightfully so. and she's not looking at him with the love he wants. she's mocking him, being cruel just like he was last night. he should throw her off him, threaten her, throw her in the carriage that's meant for shipment. instead he lets her be cruel to him. his hands move from her lower back and up to her shoulders, sliding under her arms and to her throat and finally lands on her cheeks. he's blinking as he's looking into her eyes. "maybe we're not so dissimilar lucy gray." he tells her as his thumb strokes her cheeks. "you're enjoying it aren't you? being cruel to me? having your revenge." he asks her. his eyes drift towards her lips, but he can't kiss her now. she has too much power right now. his thumb goes to her lips, brushing softly over those lips he had against his last night. still she isn't leaving his lap. he can't begin to understand what that means and how long she'll stay if he just lets her do whatever she wants.

"but as much as you hate me for what happened last night. you can't help your feelings." his hand moves from her cheek and to getting tangled in her soft curly hair. "just like i can't help mine." there's no cruelty to his words. no tone in his voice that signifies that he know best. he's simply telling her the truth. "if we're going to be married, we should not lie to each other." he tells her. "you love me. and you don't want to. but you can't help the flutter" he says as he places his hand on her bare stomach. "right here when we're this close."

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. “maybe not.” going along with him because she wasn’t gonna let him see a fight from her, how she really thought they’re still not alike. she’s not cruel without a good reason, not until someone crosses her from THEIR wrong doings & if she was really cruel she’d use an utensil to hurt him right about now. all thoughts are derailed when chills roll up her spine at the touch of his hands brushing under her arms and over her throat, not sure if she’s nervous about him being that close to her breathing or because that’s just the power of it. “not enjoyin’ it. but reckon everyone deserves a taste of their own medicine.” she replies, if she was enjoying it, she’d be able to allow herself to love the feeling of his hands on her cheeks right now no thanks to him & making her believe it’s all just a game & a trick now. especially as she keeps thinking the second those train doors come open all of this will be over again.

“is that what you think, darlin’?” a faint smirk twitched at her lips, “i don’t got much feelin’ for a man who left me in the floor. you’ll have to make up for it and maybe i’ll love you again.” she taunted before going still, feeling too many things when his thumb brushes against her lower plump lip. eyes wandering over his face, how heavy his stare was. and then right on cue the butterflies filled her belly when he touched it, heart pacing a little faster in her chest. “and i’m not... LYIN’ to you.” lucy gray claims, reaching to grab his wrist, peeling his thumb off her lip and kissing the pad of it before leaning in to press her lips to his neck. starting to leave a little warm & wet trail of them down his throat, holding his hand on her stomach with her left and her right hand moving up to press over his heart. “is this where you really feel for me, coriolanus? or is it all false. cause if it’s not from here, then it’s not real.” lips part from his throat to speak before pressing back to his skin, this time under his jaw.

[pureastheedrivensnow]

he listened to as she explained him and how he was. about girls in the district. about capitol people. an argument that would have lasted forever had the train not braked. it probably wouldn't be the last time they discussed it.

she's mocking him and giggling, he feels anger spread throughout his body. but it doesn't come out. instead he's looking at her like he has since he fell and dragged her down with him. "sounds like you're jealous at the thought of me touching another woman." he simply says. he did have his mind on other things than women… but. "maybe i do… but not when it comes to you." this wasn't part of his plan, he was speaking the truth to her. he was completely off the track right now. "no one compares to you." he repeats her words. that was why ever since her women hadn't been a problem. no one really got to him like lucy had. he had sworn off love, he would find someone he could trust to follow and obey him. those plans went out the window as soon as he found out lucy gray was still alive. this wasn't real, that's what was going through his mind right now. this wasn't happening. she wasn't sitting on top of him. they weren't on a train on the way to the capitol. this was a dream, a long dream that would soon end.

her hand disappears from his body and goes to his wrist instead, a disappointment rushes through him, but he still holds onto the feelings of her fingers on his wrist. but none of them compare to me? that's what he wants to ask. but even if this was just a dream, he can't bring himself to say it. he just looks up at her, studies her face. his eyebrows furrow. "i can't tell if you're lying." he whispers, it bothered him immensely, that he couldn't tell. he should be able to tell. "i don't like it." he's still completely calm, his hands move up from her waist and to her back, sliding up as he himself also slowly gets into a sitting position so he's face to face with lucy gray who is sitting in his lap. "i don't like the thought of you with anybody else" he clarifies, he's shameful and he doesn't look at her as he admits it.

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. “why, course not.” lucy gray denies, when if there was a woman in the picture right now she'd be boiling with something hot and red. “how come? thought i was bein' pretty honest actually.” if she wasn't so on guard now, it would be so easy to fall for this trick again. melting right into his hands once he sits up, going starry eyed, letting her heart soften for him... but what he did just last night is still fresh on her mind & she's not about to let it happen twice in a row. all of that hardens real quick. really, her heart didn't want to let go of the moment as it lasted, figuring he'll snap back to cruelty any second now... & her mind definitely told her to get up, leave him stranded and empty handed like HE did to her. take it away as soon as it comes.

instead she decided to have her cake and eat it too. stay right here but keep an emotional distance, not rushing to reassure him this time. but maybe not cake, maybe that rose petal she plucks from his chest, sticking it onto her tongue as eyes stare silently at him for a second while she snacks. tastes like bedtime, as usual. but the way his expressions looked, the way his gaze was avoidant, had her eyes glimmering with something fascinated & observant. there he went again... actin' a lot like that younger boy she first met who came at her with a fancy shirt and borrowed confidence. how did shards of that boy keep resurfacing? coriolanus was as fascinating to her as she was to him, seems like.

“you don't, do ya?” saying after she swallows. well neither did she like the thought of him with anybody else, just didn't blurt it. wasn't about to lay her feelings on the line in front of him like she foolishly did last night. recalls that moment he punched billy taupe too, he has no idea how much that had her heart soarin'. one of the moments she blames him for-- for getting her heart hooked on him in the first place. “my poor honeybee,” small affectionate hands gently place on his cheeks, thumbs swiping over his cheekbones, having her fun touching him, exploring all over again & being sweet knowing she gets to be the one to take it away this time. fingers brush through his pretty blond hair, idling her time letting her fingers brush over his ears, part of her genuinely feeling a little sad the way he looked but that cruel reminder reels her back in every time. fingers moving to softly scratch at the nape of his neck before hand finally moves to tilt his chin up at her, wanting him focused, “well that's just the consequence, husband.” sarcasm dripping off that last word, “your actions have consequences,” that's what he told her, hm? bitterness growing in her voice, warm eyes hardening. he doesn't get to be pretend he's a pot of honey and turn into grueling poison, doesn't get to be a sweetheart & then turn into an asshole without reaping what he sowed last night. “who goes warmin' my bed is all on you for not bein' there.”

[divinetenebris]

lucy gray was someone of vibrancy that cade was sure he had never met like before. in the moment, when they had first met, it was easy to think that. to say that. but as time went on, the truth only proved itself more and more. it was evident in the way she spoke to him, the speed at which she looked to care for them. all the while preaching the good words of some more than positive thinking. their smile grew a bit from the warmth of her palm, a move that would normally draw up dark blush and more of cade's trademark tripping over their words. instead, the smile was all they had energy for. "go-go for it. i'll help where i can," the strength in the fisherman's body was virtually non-existent, but then again so was the body of his shirt. so it might equal out. "good thing i didn't wear my favorite shirt. or pants. or shoes then."

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. "don't worry 'bout it, darlin'. i'm fine with bein' your caretaker today. all you need to worry about is restin'." and lucy gray highly encourages that, she wants him to feel at ease, not worry about things like helping. her soft hand lingered delicately on his face a second longer, feeling sympathy even more when he gave her a little smile. made cade appear even more vulnerable right about now then her eyes refocused on the knife in her hands, "hope you trust me," she joked, since she would be sure to be careful as can be. picking the hem up stained shirt up, keeps the direction of the blade away from him as far as possible before it goes piercing through the material, tearing it in one rip. placing the knife down on the table behind him, she carefully lifts one of his arms now, pulling the sleeve down. "that is a good thing didn't decide on any favorites today," trying to keep it lighthearted even if the blood was becoming more visible and awful looking, "just dreadin' the part i'll have to make it sting when i clean it and put medicine on it." shifting around, coming to pull down his sleeve on this arm next. "you ever had any cuts like this before?"

[2birds1song]

[slayianthe]

rachel zegler looks 1/? ↣ custom paolo sebastian for the snow white tokyo premiere

[pureastheedrivensnow]

"you have a child's definition of what happiness is. power, control. that brings stability and stability brings happiness." that' what he thought of it. she was lying to him again, because he wouldn't be this man he was now without her. "you keep telling yourself that lucy gray, if it makes you feel better. that your actions don't have consequences, unlike mine. i'll take the blame for you, i'll carry your burdens. like a good husband. i'll take the responsibility and you can just sit there and look pretty." he knew she hated that, sitting still she wouldn't be good at. but it seemed both of them had to change for this to work. coriolanus wasn't giving up on her, not that easily. if he was the type he wouldn't have gotten as far as he had. he needed to be careful with lucy gray, not let her find a way to slowly chip away at him. he knew that's what she would do. crack away at his heart and distract him from thinking with his brain. slither herself around him until she choked him. she needed to be kept at an arm's length.

the right man to tame her. snow's blood was boiling, no man was going to tame her. "is that what you think i want lucy gray? that i want to tame you?" snow let out a scoff and a grin, shaking his head. "if that is true. if you really can be tamed." he licked his lips as he looked at her. "then i'll happily throw you out to another capitol man. because then you'll show me you're just as weak as you were last night… you're a pain lucy gray, with your morals and your stubbornness. but i don't think i can tame you. change your mind maybe. but if you could be tamed." he said as he put his hand back on her chin. "i wouldn't have loved you at all. you'd be just like the rest of them." he said with a certain disgust in his voice. "we might not agree, but at least i respect you."

she didn't believe him and they were about to get in another argument before they were both on the floor. coriolanus thought she would swiftly get off him, but she didn't. instead she straddled him. and there it was, the thing that confused him to no end. her words about him was one thing, but her actions spoke of something else. he didn't know what to believe. a part of him believes you can't fake the look in her face before she composes herself and so does he as he looks up at her. still he can't erase the look in his eyes, the look you have when you're taking in the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. still he manages to remain calm. "why?" his voice is soft, contrary to the argument they had just had. "would you be jealous?" he asked her as his hands moved from the floor and to her waist, and because of her state of undress, his fingertips dragged across her skin. one of his hands leaves her waist and slowly comes up to her face, putting some of her curly hair behind her ear to get a better look at her face. "have you been in this position with another man?" again, his voice is calm. it's not accusatory and there's almost something vulnerable about the way he asks her.

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. “nothin' childlike about seein' happiness for how it it really is, coriolanus. you have such a dark, sad definition of what happiness should be. and if seein' the world in light like a child, then i'm happy to be compared to one. that's a compliment to me when children do see the world in such a bright way when it's so dim, you sound jealous of it.” starting to think his damage to his brain leads all the way back to whatever his childhood was like, from her guess, it wasn't a bright one & she really just felt sorry for him. “someone more reasonable would see through it. that wasn't a consequence, that was just you bein' cruel to me. and just solid proof on why i thought it was a good reason to run away from you.” she repeats, he seems like the type that would push her out in the middle of winter in a snow storm to teach her a lesson. or withhold food from her if she didn't obey. “wish you would get to actin' like a good husband, we ain't off to a good start on that. you're bein' more like a mean father i don't need.” rolling her eyes at that & him sayin' she'll just sit and look pretty. she'll sit and do the opposite, make a show one way or another, he'll see.

“you're a bigger pain with no morals and you're stubbornness.” arguing before going silent, trying not to let his skin touching hers burn when his hand takes her chin. luckily he was saying something she was keen on listening to or he would get it smacked again. it did surprise her, hearing him say he respected her and in some way liked her back talking which struck her as really surprised but the fact of it all was ironic. “well,” she started with a gloating smile, “good thing i'm messin' with you. that's the thing with us girls from back there, in that place you hate so much. we are the ones who always fight fire with fire. that's amusin' for me . . love your capitol, but got a love for women far outside of it cause we are made a lot differently. you hate it, but that's how come we got more character and resilience. builds you strong and you learn how to have a flame for a mouth with a mind of your own, unlike this place. full of weak minded people, followers and robots. lot of tamable people here. hm . . . least you got taste.” and she bet it made him an outcast in a way which was even more funny for her.

“ain't jealous,” definitely jealous, but she has to taunt him or it'll burn her alive wondering if he's messing with her about it or not. “cause like i said . . think you're too shy,” lucy gray giggles at teasing him, now she was having fun which was a lot better than burning in rage if he had been with another woman. had to convince herself he was just lying. “and got your mind too much on other things than goin' to bed with someone. mr. so power obsessed,” eyes rolled as she mocked before falling back on his face, “'sides, even if you did, i know it didn't compare to me.” involuntarily the muscles in her lower belly flinched at his hand finding her hips and his fingertips dragging against her skin, body betraying her & awakening to something she hadn't felt in a long time. reminding her deprived of touch she really had been.

really hating what comes next with the way his hand lifts and moves her long curls out of her face. it tears at her in a painful way whenever coriolanus could show a small moment of whatever this is for her, something in his eyes more sweeter now than that terrible look from last night. when he wasn't cutting her down with venomous words and touching her softly. like something he cared for. brunette stared at him all sparkly eyed & doe eyed because that's what it can bring out of her. but recalling last night, lucy gray quickly snaps out of it before she becomes a fool again. replaces affection with playing a mystery game, one hand leaving his belly and letting her fingers trace circles around his wrist, “can't tell you that, darlin'. but we all like a little affection time to time, don't we?” saying something vague, leaving it ambiguous to keep his mind ticking on it. “did have a few boyfriends before you. maybe after, too. you never know.”

[pureastheedrivensnow]

"what you did was real." snow argued with her. "you actually left. did i kill you lucy gray? i had the chance to do it in that cage, but i didn't. you think me having my revenge is proof you left for a good reason, but it's just an excuse for you. excuse to tell yourself you did the right thing when we could have at least had the chance of being happy, and you're the one who spoilt that in the end. not me." he was convinced she was in the wrong. he had lied to her, but a lie could be fixed. leaving couldn't. "how is leaving me not personal? you say that i live in my own world, but you're just as bad lucy gray." the conversation was going from him trying to intimidate her to them bickering like an old married couple, which was fitting considering what the plan was. but it annoyed snow that she was so easily making him lose control of himself. he's getting angry and most of all he's getting upset. "you have no idea how it feels lucy gray. if you lived inside of me for just one day you'd feel the havoc you wreaked on my heart. you've made your mind up on me being the villain so you'll easily put all the blame on me and none on yourself. because how could anyone hurt a monster." he spat back at her frustrated with this loop they were already in. it couldn't continue like this if they were to be married and he would have to get lucy gray in line.

snow could feel the train start to move, finally they were heading towards the capitol "you'll find when this train reaches the capitol that there is no one in the capitol as big and powerful as me. and you'll come to see when you meet the other capitol men that being with me is not that bad compared to how they would treat you." she was making him crazy and the thought of her with another man sent rage to his heart and uneasiness to his stomach. "they won't treat you like you're human. coming from district twelve and all. they'll be fascinated by you, but they won't see you as their equal. and none of them would have gone through the trouble it was keeping you around like i did." she didn't understand how many talks he had, how much he had sacrificed, how many favors he owed to get her to come to the capitol. he certainly was not going to tell her now. "oh trust me, i know all about your opinions on me." he told her not needing to hear the words repeated. she was pulling at two different sides of him right now, and he felt stretched thin. "i'm not going to do that. i'm not a child." he tells her, not really caring if she believed him or not right now. if she didn't want it, he'd throw it away. "shopping. clothes. wedding preparations. ring. getting things for your room" he tells her. he watches as she sits down on the table and he lets out a sigh, she can't act the way she's supposed to and it would be a long way to teach her proper etiquette before their wedding. he's tired of fighting her after last night and today.

snow lets out a scoff at her childish remark. "trust me i've seen women more naked than you." he says as he isn't careful with his eyes anymore as he looks her up and down. "i've done more than just look too." he says in a low voice as he puts his hands on her bare shoulders. "does that bother you lucy gray?" he's trying to speak to her heart, to the feelings she claims still lay there. the problem is, the train suddenly brakes violently while his grip is on lucy gray and his body is propelled to the floor, pulling lucy gray with him. he lands on his back and she lands on top of him, his breath gets knocked out of him, but he doesn't know if it's from the fall or if it's from her being so close. he completely loses his train of thought from the shock of the fall and their closeness and he ends up just looking at lucy gray.

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. “i don’t know.” keeping it vague, not letting him in on her additional thoughts that maybe he’s just waiting for the perfect time or maybe he hasn’t snapped on her yet. she doesn’t know if he’s capable of it or not & that’s a feeling that keeps sinking her heart over and over. “but do you even know how to be happy, coriolanus? i think i only saw you happy a few times before you let your mind take back over again. like i said, it’s tragic how imprisoned you are.” he can’t feel happiness for very long or he’s failing himself it seems like, that’s what she’s picked up on him. why does power and ambition overrule his brain so much? “and neither do you, you don’t know how it feels… how i trusted you and you broke that trust. not just with the lie but with that and the fact your actions told me you’d treat me just like you are now. i didn’t HAVE to leave for you to turn into this man, he was already there. i just ran away from him before he could hurt me, for a little while til i landed back here with him. watchin’ him prove my point. you don’t know how much you hurt me.” does he really think it didn’t? lucy gray wonders.

“not sure about it, sweetheart,” using pet names sarcastically, “i might find one diamond in the rough.” she pressed, going at him like everything was a challenge to beat him, even if he was probably right about that— she didn’t have to act like she agreed. she pushed back harder & continued to challenge him. “is it hard keepin’ me around? no, it just takes the right man to tame me.” the songbird corrects, a kittenish smirk quirks her lips, sticking her foot out menacingly and letting it drag down his chest. “how do i know? you did it last night. maybe you’re tryin’ to see me feel happy towards it and then crush it, since you have a never ending revenge towards me.” for leaving him because HE gave her a valid reason to disappear in the day on him. hearing him argue her that he has seen women and apparently more, brows involuntarily creased at the disgusting infuriating idea of it. jealousy pricking at her, the way the first thought of it irritated her until she convinces herself to believe he’s just messing with her. “what’s to bother about it? when it ain’t true. somethin’ tells me about—” words trail off & a SQUEAK tears from her when they crash into the floor, brought along with him. the blanket slipping next to them in the midst, hands quickly using his chest to push herself up, shifting around until she’s straddling his hips. a blush almost spills across her cheeks which is why lucy gray scrambles to resume back to what she was saying, “somethin’ about you tells me that you’ve never been with a woman in hmm…” pretends to think about it, putting her hands on his belly & scooting closer with a sly little smile starting to tear mischievously at innocent features, “a similar position?”

[angeltearss0]

In another life we stayed together like we promised.

– angeltearss0

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. hearing his groan was music to her ears, glad she successfully stepped on it hard enough even if she was forcing a confused look on her face. "i'm not ungrateful. i don't like what i'm wearin', would you if i forced you into somethin' you hated?" no longer in her home and neither did she have her belongings, it made being stuck here feel even worse. "alright, fine, i will." stripped from everything else, so being in her undergarments would be better than this bland piece of gown that made the imprisonment feel even tighter. least those would still be hers. "why leave? thought you need their assistance to protect you from me." the brunette snorts, "besides that... you're ruinin' their show." lucy gray decides she will remove the clothes, since wearin' capitol material burned her skin & to get on his nerves. "that question doesn't even make sense, when clearly you sayin' you'll have the peacekeepers do your dirty work is the same thing. except to me it's even more pathetic." one upward tug of the patient gown swallowing her whole & it's off with lucy gray throwing it at his face, left in her bra and underwear and her necklace that hung from her bare neck. "use your brain," she demanded, feeling irritated while her fingers ran through her damp curls that touched her waist, "don't act dumb coriolanus. i'm mad because instead of letting me leave with you.. you left me on the floor and you looked like you were enjoyin' it. what man does that? like i said, no better than billy taupe just when i thought maybe you were. besides drinkin', you two are the same."

glaring out the window at that thought, her eyes wasn't puffy for no reason. it did hurt her feelings, it was like a knife to the chest all over again finding the old coriolanus just for him to squash it and squash her with someone cruel that she despised. but at least she learned something from it-- that clarity once again, she couldn't be guilt filled for leaving him. because the man he turned into last night was the same one inside that cabin with her holding those weapons four years ago on that stormy summer evening. when she spotted it behind his blues that were once really sweet looking to her, but they were just scary now ever since that moment. scary, unpredictable, untrusting, dangerous. that version that's alive in him now was well alive that day too, nothin' at all now to blame herself for running from him for. he earned that snake & an even meaner one.

"well as much as i liked my time in district twelve, i'm still covey. i don't belong to nowhere. and i don't think the people in my brief district would even agree considerin' i'm sittin' with a man who'd leave me in a damn cage and smirk about it. think that is what we have in common," her and district twelve, "they'd have enough sense to see that kind of treatment doesn't feel good at all. think we'd all rather live in rags and eat dirt than be treated like it. and you can't just make it up to me now with any gift, that's not how it works." snapping at him as angry eyes watched him leave the seat, it's probably that stupid ring. she just knows it, convinced until he places something way bigger than a ring down in front of her. for a second she's compelled by the shape of it when doe eyes fall on the obvious shape of a guitar case, but deems it as a trick since he's full of them. now since last night she'll question his every word & move. hand lifted from her lap holding her clothes, fingers unlatching it and pushing the lid back. so it really is a guitar? reaching out, fingers brushed against the surface, the strings as something sentimental tied to her love for music twisted in her chest. "hm, yeah. that sure would be nice if there wasn't some kind of gimmick behind it." so she closed the lid back up with a thud and pushed it away before she could get lost in dream land and let coriolanus have fun taunting her and being mean to her like a bully again.

[pureastheedrivensnow]

snow is surprised that actually does remove her clothes and he makes sure to look her right in the face and not be distracted by anything else. snow bites his lip hard, almost enough to break the skin and draw blood. "i'm sorry, did it feel bad lucy gray? to be left behind all alone. cold and dirty, nothing but your own thoughts on what had just happened? doesn't feel so good when someone twists the knife does it?" he had enjoyed it, to give her the same pain she had given him. she didn't know how deep the hurt ran through him and he didn't want to admit it to her. who knew what being in the wilderness all these years had done to lucy gray, she might have feelings for him still but he didn't trust she wouldn't want to hurt him even worse than she already had. then again a lingering voice in him wanted to shout at her all the ways she wronged him. permanently damaged him. "a man who was standing in front of the person that hurt him more than anyone else could." he shouldn't have said it and he regretted it. but what other person could reach inside of him as lucy gray could. who else could peel back his layers with only their eyes.

"you may be covey. but you belong to me." that's what he got out of her talking. that was the most important part. she had etched herself into a place no one could see but he could feel. "who says im trying to make it up to you?" he asks her, a genuine question. "i know what i did last night and i know what it meant. just like you know what you did when you left and what that would mean. i won't let my feelings for you distract me from the fact that your betrayal sunk deep into me, you think i would just forgive and forget?" he explained to her. maybe it didn't make sense to her, how he could love and hate at the same time. those weren't mutually exclusive. "you think that last night might have changed something in you. but there is a thin line between love and hate and it seems that you and me are destined to keep crossing it." he watches as she pushes the guitar away and he rolls his eyes. "you're going to let your hatred for me get in the way of something you love? how does that make sense." his eyes can't help but wander down her slender form, almost like he remembered it. it made him feel a desire he knows he shouldn't have. he goes back to the closet, opening it up and taking a blanket out from it. used for when the train runs in the winter. "i don't need you getting sick, we have a lot of things to do when we get to the capitol." he says as he hands her the blanket and holds it out for her to take. needing her to know he's doing it not because he cares that she might get cold. it's only for himself. that's what coriolanus tells himself.

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. “oh alright, that’s what that is. payback. payback cause i left you cause i sensed you’d be the type to BE capable of things like this. cause i figured out you were mean before you left me in a cage. and all these billy taupe comparisons and here’s one more.” now she was intentionally twisting a knife since he asked for it, “just like in the song i wrote for my death before goin’ in that arena— told him alright i’m bad, but he was no prize neither… always had to defend myself when i didn’t do nothin’ personal to him or you.” she hated to keep disrespecting the dead, but that man did nothing but torment her while alive and he’s the one responsible for how she ended up with coriolanus in the first place. if not for billy taupe cheating on her with mayfair, mayfair wouldn’t had intervened with her mayor father to get her named drawn in the reaping. wouldn’t be stuck here today being accused of leaving him without a reason & trapped in his iron hold, she’d be free as a bird, living her life with the covey and everything would still be semi normal. “i didn’t twist a knife in you, you brought that on yourself. YOU just don’t wanna admit it because mr. perfect can never be wrong!” really, how long was it before his mind switches and he’ll try killing her, that’s the question that kept ticking in her mind that left her feeling fearful. and still… her mind always circled back to wondering who that third is.

“do i belong to you?” brunette tests, “cause maybe i’ll find a nicer capitol man here who would save me from cages, not leave me in them. someone just as a big and powerful as you.” she adds, prodding at his jealousy, seeing if she can stir it back to life. but it again amused lucy gray because she wondered if it drove him crazy because she was wild and untamed, for someone who liked things in order so much it really made her wonder why he wanted her to belong to him in the first place. why not someone he could easily get to submit to him. “well you SHOULD, instead of holdin’ onto a grudge you created in the first place. i didn’t betray you, you’re the only one that betrays people who care about you.” that part irritated her & it was revolting but hearing him admit she had the power to hurt him did feel elevating when she thought she had none. “didn’t know nothin’ what i did besides protectin’ myself.” spitting back, digging her nails into her palms with her arms crossed. “ain’t feelin’ that love you speak of, feelin’ real empty on the inside. and just like i said last night you’re actually far more trapped than me, coriolanus.” least her mind is free, that’s the best freedom she has and he can’t take away while he’s letting his control him. “cause i ain’t fallin’ for your tricks again, so you can laugh at me when i take up with it and you take it away.” like last night. “like what? hope you know i’m too tired to do things right away.” she places her old clothes to the side, places the guitar in the seat & crawls out of the seat to sit down on the table like an unruly cat making a seat in the weirdest spot just to see if he has an issue while holding the blanket she takes to cover her lap, “tryin’ to cover me up cause you’re worried i’ll get sick? i don’t believe that, you’re coverin’ me up cause you’ve never seen a half naked woman.”

[thewhitecatwitch]

Penelope Cruz photographed by Robert Erdmann, 2003

[ily-a]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes 2023 | dir. Francis Lawrence

[indigomood]

Penélope Cruz as Maria Elena in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (2008)

[slayianthe]

[pureastheedrivensnow]

he licked his lips as she smacked his hand away. she was angry and a part of him enjoyed her seeing so riled up. wondered if that anger in her could be used for something. coriolanus kept his mouth shut but groaned in pain through gritted teeth as lucy gray stomped on his foot, he kept his composure as the vein in his forehead became clearly visible and he blinked the pain away. "god, you're so ungrateful, you can walk around naked for all i care." he spat back at her. he let her run her mouth for awhile before he realized something. he slowly turned around to the peacemakers still standing there. "was your assignment to deliver her and then stand around with your mouths hanging open?" they looked unsure of what to say. "leave." his voice was calm but there was a certain threat behind it that made the peacekeepers scurry away, leaving him and lucy gray alone. he doesn't turn to look at her yet. his foot still hurt but he pretended it didn't. "you want me to put my hands on you lucy gray ?" he asks her in a calm voice, it's not a threat. he's actually asking if that's what she wants. if she wants him to be like the other men so she can hate him even more than she already did "are you testing my patience?" he turns to look at her. "or are you succumbing this easily to your rage? and who are you really mad at, me? or yourself for letting your feelings get ahold of you so easily yesterday? are you scared lucy gray that they're just there at the surface waiting for me to pull at them?" she despises him after last night and while he had doubted her feelings he had learned that they were true. there was no reason for her to fake them the way she had showed them last night, it served no purpose. he sits down in the seat in front of her. "you're going to live better now than you ever have. a lot of people from your district would be grateful for the opportunity." he attempted to reason with her. while he knew she was going to put up a fight, he'd rather skip the whole ordeal if he could. there were a million thoughts going through his head, taking in every word she says, every way her body and face reacts. gathering up all the information he could from her to be able to use it to his own advantage. he can't sit still for long and he gets back up from his seat. "i have a gift for you." he forgets the foot she had stomped on and he feels the pain as he walks on it but he keeps walking to the corner of the nicely furnished carriage. there's an oak closet that he opens and out he takes a guitar case. he walks over to lucy gray and puts it on the table in front of her, waiting for her to open it as he takes his tea and sips it. this is a better approach, better than yelling at her.

[2birds1song]

* 𓅪 ─── 𝓛. 𝐺. 𝐵. hearing his groan was music to her ears, glad she successfully stepped on it hard enough even if she was forcing a confused look on her face. "i'm not ungrateful. i don't like what i'm wearin', would you if i forced you into somethin' you hated?" no longer in her home and neither did she have her belongings, it made being stuck here feel even worse. "alright, fine, i will." stripped from everything else, so being in her undergarments would be better than this bland piece of gown that made the imprisonment feel even tighter. least those would still be hers. "why leave? thought you need their assistance to protect you from me." the brunette snorts, "besides that... you're ruinin' their show." lucy gray decides she will remove the clothes, since wearin' capitol material burned her skin & to get on his nerves. "that question doesn't even make sense, when clearly you sayin' you'll have the peacekeepers do your dirty work is the same thing. except to me it's even more pathetic." one upward tug of the patient gown swallowing her whole & it's off with lucy gray throwing it at his face, left in her bra and underwear and her necklace that hung from her bare neck. "use your brain," she demanded, feeling irritated while her fingers ran through her damp curls that touched her waist, "don't act dumb coriolanus. i'm mad because instead of letting me leave with you.. you left me on the floor and you looked like you were enjoyin' it. what man does that? like i said, no better than billy taupe just when i thought maybe you were. besides drinkin', you two are the same."

glaring out the window at that thought, her eyes wasn't puffy for no reason. it did hurt her feelings, it was like a knife to the chest all over again finding the old coriolanus just for him to squash it and squash her with someone cruel that she despised. but at least she learned something from it-- that clarity once again, she couldn't be guilt filled for leaving him. because the man he turned into last night was the same one inside that cabin with her holding those weapons four years ago on that stormy summer evening. when she spotted it behind his blues that were once really sweet looking to her, but they were just scary now ever since that moment. scary, unpredictable, untrusting, dangerous. that version that's alive in him now was well alive that day too, nothin' at all now to blame herself for running from him for. he earned that snake & an even meaner one.

"well as much as i liked my time in district twelve, i'm still covey. i don't belong to nowhere. and i don't think the people in my brief district would even agree considerin' i'm sittin' with a man who'd leave me in a damn cage and smirk about it. think that is what we have in common," her and district twelve, "they'd have enough sense to see that kind of treatment doesn't feel good at all. think we'd all rather live in rags and eat dirt than be treated like it. and you can't just make it up to me now with any gift, that's not how it works." snapping at him as angry eyes watched him leave the seat, it's probably that stupid ring. she just knows it, convinced until he places something way bigger than a ring down in front of her. for a second she's compelled by the shape of it when doe eyes fall on the obvious shape of a guitar case, but deems it as a trick since he's full of them. now since last night she'll question his every word & move. hand lifted from her lap holding her clothes, fingers unlatching it and pushing the lid back. so it really is a guitar? reaching out, fingers brushed against the surface, the strings as something sentimental tied to her love for music twisted in her chest. "hm, yeah. that sure would be nice if there wasn't some kind of gimmick behind it." so she closed the lid back up with a thud and pushed it away before she could get lost in dream land and let coriolanus have fun taunting her and being mean to her like a bully again.