Curate, connect, and discover
It's time for another Snowbaird Valentine prompt, so 💃
I'm in love with this very short story 🥰
As usual I tag @snowbaird-events and @burntblueberrywaffles 🥰 Also I've already talk about this idea back then in the snowbaird discord server... Eheheheh.
Coriolanus had stayed close to his mum, clinging to his dress while all around him was pure chaos .
He and his mum and dad had gone to see a show, there at District Thirteen, which had already been chaotic in itself - all people dancing and singing, and Coriolanus, squeezed into his little purple coat, had held his mum's hand so as not to risk getting lost in the crowd… At least until his daddy had put him on his shoulders, allowing him to see the stage where several colorful people were playing and singing - and then his mummy had kissed his daddy goodbye and taken him in her arms and run behind the stage, in the middle of a city of colorful tents. Now they were in one of them, and Mum was sitting at the small table in that makeshift kitchen, chatting happily with the woman who was singing as if they were old friends, even though they could not be more different from each other.
And, around them, other kids and children were chasing each other and shouting and playing... Chaos .
Coriolanus could not understand how they could all be so wild without the adults caring.
The few times he himself raised his voice while playing, a glance from his father was enough to extinguish any enthusiasm.
He felt lost, and bewildered.
"Why don't you play with everyone else, Coryo?" his mother finally told him, pulling his little hands off her dress "You'll see you'll have fun" she concluded, giving him a wink. It was their secret code to let him know that at that moment, away from daddy's gaze, they could do something forbidden .
And it wasn't that Coriolanus didn't want to play. It was just that... It was too much.
He wasn't used to having all those people around.
Not to disobey his mum, however, he shyly broke away from her and took a few steps towards two little boys who seemed to be the same age as him. The two - a boy and a girl - were talking animatedly to each other and Coriolanus froze again, uncertain.
Then something caught his attention, a movement he registered out of the corner of his eye.
Coriolanus turned and saw a little girl, who could not have been more than two years old and was tiny, enter the kitchen-tent yawning and rubbing her eyes. Without saying hi to anyone she grabbed a chair and started dragging it towards the kitchen cabinet and Coriolanus, alarmed, took two steps towards her. Before he could do anything, however, she had already climbed over the chair and leaned towards her target - a bowl filled with gummy sweets.
Coriolanus cast an anguished glance at his mother and the lady friend, but the two were laughing without caring what was going on around them.
The little girl had grabbed a handful of candy and then the chair had wobbled and Coriolanus, without thinking, had run towards her. The little girl, however, kept her balance and, as if nothing had happened, got off the chair again and shoved some sweets into her mouth. She turned around and Coriolanus saw that she had woken up completely and had two bright dark eyes.
The two of them studied each other for a moment and then, with a bright smile, she held out her little hand to him with the candy that had stuck a little, covered in saliva.
"You cute," she told him, and Coriolanus felt embarrassed, "Want some?"
Normally, Coriolanus would never have accepted anything in that condition. Not only was the candy with saliva on them, not only did he not even know her. But there was something about her... Barely hesitating, he took a candy and put it in his mouth. It tasted like strawberries.
"Me Lucy Gray," the little girl introduced herself.
"My name is Coriolanus," he replied, courteously, articulating the words well as he had been taught by his daddy.
Lucy Gray laughed and then grabbed him by one sleeve of his purple coat and then trotted towards the other children, dragging him along.
No longer thinking about anything, no longer feeling intimidated, Coriolanus started to play and soon was running and laughing around the table like everyone else, never losing sight of his new friend.
💖💖💖
Link on ao3: