𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃, coriolanus snow

𝟬𝟬𝟲. food

╭── ✿ ❀ ღღ ✿ ❀ ──╮
006. food
╰── ❀ ✿ ღღ ❀ ✿ ──╯

the older girl left wovey side [not before making sure she was safe with jessup] and approached the bars where coriolanus was rushing forward "coryo, hi" gracie may greeted, the pleads from another capitol child directed towards marcus catching her attention for a second "is that for us?" she referred to the food he held before reaching a hand through the bars and laying it on his bicep.

coriolanus felt his cheeks warm slightly at the gesture as he smirked at her "hi, rose" he replied "of course it is"

"rose?" gracie tilted her head to the side, a small smile lifting the corner of her mouth.

"since you like roses so much" the blonde reasoned "also" he pulled a rose seemingly out of thin air and handed it to the now grinning girl. she took it tenderly by the stem and held it up to her face to see it clearer. "can you-" he began before stopping himself.

"can i what?" gracie may encouraged, placing the rose directly on the ground in front of her.

"can you see alright?" he looked hesitant to ask, not wanting to offend her somehow. gracie furrowed her eyebrows, not wanting to bring up the issue at all in fear of coryo thinking she was even more useless than he probably already thought she was. the truth was that her sight had been gradually getting worse and worse since she was a baby.

"i- i can, just not... not well" she admitted before turning to call jessup and wovey over, trying to change the subject quickly "jessup, wovey" she called over her shoulder, signally them over with a jerk of her head. "coryo brought food"

"i'm not hungry" the boy answered, his arm thrown around wovey's shoulder comfortingly.

"okay, can you bring wovey over though?" she requested, getting a nod from him in reply. he began walking over slowly, wovey letting him use her as a sort of crutch as the bite he'd acquired was making him weaker by the hour. once they got there, wovey sat on her knees mimicking gracie may while said girl reached out for jessup's hand "well you're here now so may as well have some" she shrugged, a faux innocent look on her face. the boy sighed and took the food that coryo held out, leaving again to sit on a rock further towards the center of the zoo cage.

"what happened to his neck?" the taller boy asked, handing more food in to gracie may.

"a bat bite" gracie may informed, breaking the bread up and giving some to wovey "the first night on the train, he didn't sleep a wink the whole first few hours while he was keeping the bats off me" she looked over to the right when even more yelling resonated from where one of the mentors was teasing their tribute with food through the bars of the zoo "your friend sure knows how to use hunger as a weapon, doesn't she?"

"she is not my friend" he denied "she is poison with perfect teeth"

"that one though" she pointed discreetly at sejanus who was still calling marcus' name in a begging tone "he is? i saw you walking over together"

"he is not my friend" coriolanus was determined to be alone, it seemed. he didn't want 'friends' or family holding him back which was part of the reason he wanted to win the money for him, tigris and his grandma'am. so he wouldn't feel so guilty for leaving them behind on his aim to climb as high as he could.

"having friends isn't a bad thing, coryo" she placed a small piece of bread in her mouth, glad for the opportunity to fill the pit in her stomach.

"having friends" he enunciated the word sarcastically, a strange look in his eyes as he got somewhat angry with her "slows you down"

"if all you think about in life is getting to the top, you'll end up there all alone"

"as long as i'm there though" he retaliated.

"hmm, if that's what you think"

"are you just going to keep arguing with me?"

"i'm not arguing with you" gracie may continued with a gentle tone "it's called a conversation"

coryo began to feel slightly judged and so he tried changing the direction of their talk "so are you gonna share everything that i give you with jessup and..." he trailed off, looking down at a food focused wovey, not wanting to bring her attention to his and gracie may's conversation.

"why?" she felt slightly offended at the implication she would be hurting either of them "you think im gonna strangle them in the arena or something because i'd rather one of them come out of that arena than me"

"i might have a chance to help you and make some suggestions to the gamemakers" he said "that way you might actually win"

"you don't think i can do it?"

"well, forgive me but you're what? 5"4? and you keep singing that district eight girl to sleep"

"how do you know that?" gracie asked, positive that he wasn't there when she'd sang.

"there are cameras everywhere"

"apparently" her eyebrows raised.

"look, i might even be able to get the audience to send you gifts in the arena. food and water to keep you going. you just have to keep... doing what you're doing to win people over"

"what am i doing?"

"being kind"

"i'm not doing it intentionally, it's not a chore, coryo" she laughed breathlessly, shaking her head pitifully "besides, i've seen your arena and there's nowhere to hide so what's the point?"

"the point is to keep you alive"

"the guards say you get money if you get more people to watch and you say you wanna help me and keep me alive. which is it?"

"both" he answered before moving on to another topic of "hey, whats your name?" he looked down and asked wovey who was still working on her piece of food. the girl in question gazed at the man before turning to gracie may. she furrowed her eyebrows, looking for confirmation from the older girl.

when she nodded, letting her know that coriolanus was to be trusted [to a certain extent] wovey smiled and answered his initial question. "my name is wovey and she's gracie may" she practically whispered, leaning further into her friends side.

"nice to meet you, wovey" he smiled as comfortingly as he could "maybe i can get you some food and water in the arena as well"

"can you get me home to?" she asked, leaning her head back to rest on gracie may's chest "my mama is at my home. she will miss me if i'm gone for long"

"i can try"

───── authors note !
hi loves! thank you for reading and for commenting! i might start posting edits on my tiktok of this book [im doing ones of my finnick book atm] so, yeah :)
please comment and vote 🫶🏻 tysm if you do!
byeeeeee 💗