WINGS - Coriolanus Snow

TWENTY-FIVE

TIGRIS WAS AT HOME, CLEANING THE ENTIRE PLACE. Coriolanus was coming to visit with Aria, and she wanted it to be spotless. After Coriolanus was sent to District 12, she had almost been evicted, but she managed to scrape just enough pennies to keep the apartment.

Coriolanus was saddened at the fact that he wasn't able to help Tigris when she was struggling, but now that might all change. He'd received countless amounts of money from all the interviews him and Aria had done, and he could give some to Tigris so she'd be able to afford the apartment, and even renovate it since it had gotten extremely run down over the years.

"Your grandmother sounds like a scary woman," Aria mumbled, feeling nervous to meet the woman. She already knew Tigris was lovely, but she wasn't sure about Coriolanus's grandmother.

"She is, but don't let her get to you," Coriolanus smiled. He recalled all the numerous times she'd talked down on the Districts, and he prayed she'd keep her mouth closed when meeting Aria. Hopefully Tigris had given her a talk beforehand on being polite to Aria.

Aria had little to do that morning, so she'd taken it upon herself to bake some pastries for the Tigris and her grandmother, but Aria had never baked before considering she lived in District 12, where it was common to only cook things like soup or occasionally a loaf of bread, if they had enough money. Baking apple tarts, cinnamon rolls and cookies wasn't her forte. She followed the recipe as best as she could, but everything had came out burnt or simply looking inedible, so Aria ate them all for breakfast instead. They might not have been up to Capitol standards, but Aria enjoyed them, even giving some to Coriolanus for him to taste. He smiled and told Aria they were great, but when she turned away he had to spit out his apple tart and brush his teeth again to get rid of the awful taste.

Aria regretted this later on in the day. "I wish I hadn't eaten all those pastries," she sighed. "I could've just cut off the burnt bits and given them to Tigris and your grandmother. Hm, next time, I guess."

Coriolanus panicked, knowing that his grandmother wouldn't hold back telling Aria how terrible her cooking was. "Oh, Tigris only really eats meat and... Grandma'am can't eat sugar because of her teeth," he lied.

"Oh, that's a shame," Aria hummed.

"Truly," Coriolanus said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Are you laughing?" Aria asked.

"No, no, I'm smiling," he replied.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I'm not laughing! I'm smiling because I'm so excited to see Tigris and Grandma'am," Coriolanus lied.

"Is there a problem with my cooking?" Aria asked, offended.

"Whaat? No, that apple tart was so good, it makes me hungry just thinking about it," Coriolanus said, even though thinking about it made him feel sick.

"Good," Aria huffed.

It was 11 AM, and Aria had just finished getting ready. There was a wide range of clothes available to her, courtesy of her stylist Edith. Aria decided to put on what she believed to be a vintage dress branded by 'Vivienne Westwood', paired with a faux fur coat over the top. The flashy, over the top style of the Capitol wasn't really her thing, but she had to at least try a little to fit in.

Her and Coriolanus got in their car, being driven by a personal driver. Even Coriolanus wasn't used to this; he had to use public transport usually. He watched out the window at all of the familiar sights of the Capitol. It was all so different to District 12, which he had actually gotten used to.

Coriolanus was hit with a wave of nostalgia upon seeing his old apartment. It was once a magnificent building, but over the years, the inside had become shabby and run-down. It was home, though.