4 years later | 3

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at 15 years old, Coriolanus wakes with his Grandma'am beginning her day, prepping coffee and her shower, for the anthem to play before sending him off to school. Tigris graduated this past year and has begun her never ending climb in the fashion industry, already catching the eye of the biggest designer in all of Panem. This leaving Coriolanus to begin his journey to becoming the president of Panem some day, as Tigris and Grandma'am encourage.

He stretches out of bed quickly changing into his uniform and styling his bright blonde curls before making his way into the kitchen. Tigris stands at the stove pulling bread out of the oven. She wears a bright orange pencil skirt with a matching fitted blazer topping off the look with orange tinted blush and eyeshadow.

"Good morning Coryo," She says taking off her oven mitts preparing the transfer of the bread, not allowing it to cool due to inexperience of cooking and no time to waste. "This is very hot, but I want to make sure you have something to eat while you walk to the Academy. Take out the peanut butter so I can spread some for you."

Coriolanus rolls his eyes,  but follows orders, as he dreams of more lavish breakfast, unlike the scent of peanut butter everyone will bully him for the rest of the day. He'll have to come up with an excuse as to why he smells of such an inexpensive food. 'Our driver had a peanut butter sandwich in the car while driving me, ugh! How irresponsible'. When in reality, he won't even be given two slices to make it a sandwich.

-

After classes Tigris meets Coryo outside of school to walk into town with her, as she had some errands to run, and he doesn't mind keeping his older cousin company, even at their very different stages in life. He can't wait to be Tigris age, 19 and fresh out of school. On top of the world, he thinks.

"One more stop, Pluribus' place," Tigris crosses off her never ending list of items to obtain for her boss, leaving Coryo to carry each item around.

"Why there?" He groans as he feet begin to throb, losing circulation to both of his pinky toes.

"I promised Mercedes I would help her sort through the instruments and furniture at the club to see if they're worth keeping or not. They need to clear out the private rooms and remodel those for," She pauses thinking for a moment, cursing at herself for opening her mouth in the first place. "business meetings."

"Business meeting?" Coryo questions shifting the boxes in his arms. "Why would people go to the club to have business meetings? Aren't clubs for partying?"

"You'll understand when you're older and I'm not explaining it to you," Heat rushes to her cheeks as she picks up her pace avoiding any further questions.

-

"Mercedes?" Tigris calls out pushing through the wooden sheet covered revolving door. She instructs Coryo to set the boxes down on an elevated surface as he examines the progress of reconstructing the club. From the outside it looks like, one of the many still, abandoned businesses with wood planks covering the glass window and door access, but on the inside, sound echos through the tall two story building with multiple bars on both levels and multiple poles located on a few of the elevated surfaces. Coryo makes a point to ask if those Poles are to keep patrons from falling off the platforms.

"Tigris!" A sweet voice calls from the second floor. 'Mercedes' gleams down at the cousins over the banister allowing her thick deep brown curly hair to fall over her full chest. She skips down the stairs and stops to pull Tigris into a hug, wrapping her olive toned arms around the older cousin. "Is this who I think it is?" She asks pulling away from Tigris as her bright green eyes scan up and down Coryo, with her hands on her hips emphasizing her frame from the loose fitting rainbow sequined dress flowing down to her mid knees.

"Oh yeah, this is my cousin Coriolanus. He's helping me run errands today," Tigris messes with the curls on his head. "He doesn't mind hanging out while I help you for a little while. He can do his schoolwork in the mean time."

"Hi Coriolanus, I'm Mercedes," She introduces herself followed by pulling him into a hug. He can see why the two of them would get along so well, they both are kind souls who would give any person they met a hug. Mercedes reaches to Coryo's Adams apple, as he has finally reached the beginning of his growth spurt, unfortunate for Tigris altering his clothes. "Feel free to sit wherever you'd like this should only take a moment." She releases from him with the same big smile on her face.

Coryo feels his cheeks burning as he finds himself speechless over the beautiful woman in front of him, much prettier than the stuck up girls in his classes.

-

A moment turns to two hours. At least Coriolanus finished all of his school assignments, leaving him time to spend with Grandma'am and Tigris before going to bed. His ears fill with joy as the two girls make their way down from the second floor laughing at their own comments.

"I'm sorry that took so long, we we're catching up on drama now that we don't see each other much without school. Let's get going," Tigris wipes a tear from laugher from her eyes, careful not to mess up the makeup. Coryo packs up his bag and picks up the boxes.

"Maybe next time Coriolanus could lend a hand. It would go faster and you two would stay on track," A deep voice proclaims filling the empty building with a very contagious laugh. Pluribus appears from the back room, a drinking glass and towel in his hand, with a wider smile than Mercedes if that's even possible. "I could hear you two ranting and raving from the kitchen."

"Oh Pluribus you know you use us to keep up on the latest capitol gossip and I think he'd be a great help," Mecerdes agrees throwing a wink towards young Coryo and that's all Coriolanus needs to melt away internally.

Perfect Fit - Coriolanus SnowWhere stories live. Discover now