Title: Crafty
Written For Caesar's Palace Summer Olympics Challenge (Sailing)
566 words of actual story
Hunger Games
Pairing(s): None
Short Story
"Grampy!" Celestia calls. "Grampy, Grampy, Grampy!"
"Yes, Celly?" Coriolanus answers with a big smile on his face. He ducks into the room and swoops up his little granddaughter, who squeals as he twirls her through the air. Her pale pink dress spins around her, and her little plastic golden crown nearly falls off of her head. Coriolanus rights it with the grin never fading, not one bit, as he sets Celestia down and lays down next to her on the carpet.
"Grampy, do you wanna play architect with me?"
"Sure, Celly."
An Avox scurries off and reappears a moment later with a tub of small plastic blocks that lock together, once called Legos in the bygone age. Now they are just called blocks. The Avox sets down the box and runs off.
"You don't have any holo blocks, Grampy?"
"Why, Celly, you've guessed your big birthday gift!"
"Really! Yay!"
Coriolanus tucks Celestia close to his side as they empty the box onto the carpet. Most of the blocks are shiny silver or glass like, so children could recreate the buildings that they see around them in the Capitol.
Celestia is 7 years of age, and she fancies the most recent Victor of the Games, Augustus Braun of District 1, from the 67th. Celestia and Coriolanus recreate the aspects of the 67th Games. It had been held in one giant cluster of skyscrapers. They build the skyscraper the Games had concluded within, painstakingly constructing it from hundreds of blocks. They build two small blobs of blocks that resemble the male tributes from 10 and 2 and the female tribute from 1, and then they reenact the finale. First, the District 10 male is gutted by Augustus action figure. Meanwhile, Augustus' District partner, seemingly shy and quiet, becomes vicious, springing atop the stronger and more proficient male from 2, ending his life in moments. Then it is District 1 vs. District 1. Coriolanus plays as the District 1 Female, Silvera, and Celestia plays as Augustus. They reenact the last battle almost exactly, both giggling as the two battle, and eventually Augustus swipes off the gray block head of Silvera, ending the Games and becoming the Victor.
They laugh and play a bit more, and then Celestia demolishes the building that they painstakingly built. They leave the Avox to clean up the mess, and Celestia prances off to go play with the Vice President's daughter, Ophelia. They're probably going to go have a tea party, like normal, except the guests are Coriolanus' advisers and actual tea and biscuits are served. The perks of being the President's granddaughter, undoubtedly, are large.
Coriolanus locks himself in his private study, returning to the project he had been working on before. He swirls the mixture of liquids, of poisons, in his vial, before using a dropper to deposit small drops of the poison onto a bouquet of snow white roses. When Senator Crassus' wife picks up these flowers, the poison will quickly enter her veins. She will have the symptoms of bronchitis, and in a couple of days she will be dead, even with medical help. Coriolanus is a master of construction and destruction. He can create, and he can build. He can play blocks with his granddaughter one moment, and then craft a lethal poison the next.
After all, every monster is human. Even Coriolanus Snow.