𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃, coriolanus snow

𝟬𝟬𝟭. volunteer

╭── ✿ ❀ ღღ ✿ ❀ ──╮
001. volunteer
╰── ❀ ✿ ღღ ❀ ✿ ──╯

gracie may harp and lucy gray baird were known all over district 12 for their singing. they sang at the hob as often as they could. gracie's mother, alice, called them sugar and spice [a name they both protested] but she said it reminded her of when they were kids, when lucy would start a fight with someone and grace would simultaneously try to smooth it over. whoever was on the other end of the altercation usually got very confused very quickly.

alice thought they balanced each other out wonderfully. lucy would make sure gracie wasn't too much of a pushover and gracie may would make sure lucy gray didn't get herself into too much trouble. and that's why the kind girl felt responsible when her best friend got herself chosen for the 10th annual hunger games.

"lucy gray baird!" was yelled out across the district, her name sounding foreign to gracie may. it couldn't be her lucy gray. could it? said girl began walking in between the rows of boys and girls, twelve year olds at the back then thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and finally eighteen year olds at the front. apparently ot could be.

the slightly shorter brunette girl thought she'd blacked out or something to the same effect because the next thing she knew, she was pushing through the crowd surrounding her and yelling a sentence she never thought would leave her lips. especially since no one had ever said the dreaded words before. "i volunteer!" she shrugged a peacekeeper hand off her shoulder "for the games, i volunteer!"

you could've heard a pin drop. the only sound left around them were ones of nature. the rustling of tree branches and the stuttering of the district 12 mayor. "well i uh- i don't know if you can do that" the mayor marched across the stage to converse with a peacekeeper. they spoke for a while, the peacekeeper leaving and returning after another few minutes. all while lucy gray stood cradling gracie may's head against her shoulder, the boys and girls who managed to escape the games that year staring at them intensely.

"why did you do that? you stupid, stupid girl" lucy gray mumbled against her best friends hair, rocking them both back and forth soothingly.

"you're my best friend, lucy, i love you" she smiled, pulling away and twirling a piece of lucy's hair around her finger despite the tears in her eyes "although i do feel like crying right now about now"

"never let 'em see you cry, gracie may" as they embraced once again, lucy closed her eyes, thinking of what to do. she couldn't somehow revoke gracie may's offer for her, could she? while she thought of a few other alternatives, she attempted to sneak the small snake she was holding into grace's grasp. the girl shook her head defiantly while pulling away for the second time "she's why this is happening" she mumbled, giving away her plan to gracie may.

"you don't even know if they'll let me, luce"

"they'll let you, sweet gracie, it's a good show" that managed to convince the younger girl as she took the snake just as the pair flinched further away from the stage in synch when the mayors microphone let out a high pitched feedback whine. the girls looked back up to the stage, the mayor coughing obnoxiously to get the districts attention.

"we have gotten word that volunteers are allowed so i give you our female tribute for this years hunger games, gracie may harp!" neither the mayor or the mayors daughter looked very happy at the announcement seeing as they'd planned the reaping so that lucy gray would get chosen. given that she'd done nothing and her cheating ex was truly the cause of the whole upset between them, the whole notion of trying to get her killed was more than dramatic.

gracie may took a deep breath before attempting a confident looking stride up the stage, not knowing that back in the capitol, coriolanus snow was frozen, staring wide eyed at the screen as his classmates giggled around him. he wasn't having the best start, a scrawny looking girl from district 12, but coriolanus was sure he'd could make up for it. she was pretty, that could be something? perhaps she was agile? strong maybe?

the brunette slowly walked along the stone and dirt path, getting closer and closer to where the mayors daughter stood at the end of one of the rows. "sing your way out of this one gracie may" she heard the redhead mutter to herself, just as gracie had convinced herself not to make even more of a scene. gracie quickly turned from her path, pulling the back of the girls dress back and shoving the small snake down her back.

the girl began wriggling frantically where she stood, screaming for someone to get the snake away from her. "my daughter! help her!help her! help her! get it off! get it off!" the mayor shouted, ordering the peacekeepers about. the peacekeepers quickly dealt with the situation and two others began dragging her up to the stage.

gracie may's then mission was to retain some dignity while being dragged away to die. that mission didn't go very well as she quickly tripped up the stairs just as quickly as she got herself into the situation itself. her cheeks began glowing red. god, could you be any more embarrassing? she thought to herself, the dark haired girl scrambling up from the floor.

"you can kiss my ass" she glared and mumbled to herself as the mayor gave her a sickly sweet looking smile. it quickly dropped when he caught snippets of her sentence, questioning her immediately.

"what did you just say to me?" he asked aggressively, stepping forward and grabbing the top of her arm.

gracie may spun around out of his firm hold and marched up to the microphone, holding the base of it and looking at the mayor angrily "i said... you can kiss my ass!" she spoke loudly, the majority of the crown chuckling quietly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. she spun back around and stomped off the stage and straight into a group of peacekeepers.

unbeknownst to gracie, her mentor coriolanus could only think about how screwed he was. "well she's mentally ill"

───── authors note !

hi! so i obviously don't like old president snow but he's hot when he's younger so... yeah
please comment and vote <3 byeeeeeee