I would rather be trapped with anyone but you {inga/lionel}

There was something about Inga Vanas that struck an unsettling cord of familiarity. In many ways when I found myself silently observing the career in the distance I felt like I was look at myself through a filthy broken mirror. Maybe it had something to do with the way she seemed to put 110% into everything that she did, in a way that suggested that failing wasn't an option. I hated it. I hated it because I knew exactly what it felt like, only in my case, it never mattered just how hard I tried, I would never be enough in my fathers eyes, and I would never outshine Wren in my mothers.

Watching her now I tried to shake off the feelings of familiarity, forcing myself to approach her casually as I picked up a staff from the nearby station. Since arriving at the Capitol I had made it a mission to shred the carefully constructed boy who had been so fucking eager to make his father proud, determined to embrace this new found freedom, to embrace the way it seemed to settle uneasily around me even as it encouraged me to step in deeper. To allow it to seep into my skin, my muscles, my soul. To whispered devious words in my ears, words that sounded a lot like the ones Wren might have said if things had been different between us.

Get that stick from so far up your ass and let go, it seemed to whisper.

So I did.

Damning the rules I stepped in front of the girl from four, smiling broadly at her. "You know, you look like you are wound up so light that its almost painful," I remark, studying her carefully. "Wanna have some fun?" I ask her as I subtly pull out the vape Wren had given me on his departure from the justice building. I had almost thrown it in the bin after he left, surprising myself greatly when instead I had tucked it into my pocket. "Do you like lemon drops?" Using my chin I gesture towards a small storage room in the corner of the training room before moving towards it.