For Prompt 1 Of The Snowbaird Valentine Event: Valentine @snowbaird-events

Only one week until it starts!

Last prompt for the event! I am so excited to post it and so happy for the opportunity to write this story 🥰🥰🥰💖💖💖

Snowbaird Valentine event

Thanks as usual @snowbaird-events and @burntblueberrywaffles 💖💖💖🥰🥰🥰 love you and the discord snowbaird server so much! 🥰💖

7. Stars

Lucy Gray is plucking the strings of her guitar and humming to herself.

It is a beautiful, still warm mid-September day, she is in the roof garden, and the orangey light of the sunset forces her to keep her eyes closed as the music flows through her.

Images, words in poetry, sensations invade her and she has to let them out.

She does not feel him coming but, as always, she senses him. Lucy Gray smiles and turns her torso slightly and opens her eyes.

Coryo is there, watching her with a huge, love-filled smile on his lips. He has two heavy dark circles under his eyes - the result of his job as president, which robs him of too many hours of sleep - but his face is always beautiful and every time he looks at it Lucy Gray feels the butterflies in her stomach stir.

She has been very, very lucky. The stars have chosen well for her.

Today is a special day; there is a reason Lucy Gray went up to the roof, waiting for him. Today they are celebrating two months since their wedding, and Lucy Gray intends to ask a favor… No, a blessing.

Roses surround them, the only glimpse of nature she can find in Capitol City, the only one she can claim as her own. It is not the Coveys' lake - but the power of Mother Earth is quite the same, for in the roses their bond is cemented.

And the sunset, the sun dying in the sky.

Making way for the stars.

The hour of magic.

Lucy Gray has spent most of her life confined to District Twelve first and Capitol City later, but in her mind are held endless traditions; grandmothers' secrets passed down through music and poetry. Rhymes to unravel the very threads of fate.

A direct contact with the universe.

She stops playing and places the guitar beside her. She does not get up from where she is sitting - in the middle of an empty flowerbed, virgin soil under her skin , the moment her clothes disappear.

She stretches out her arms.

Without a word, Coryo cancels the distance between them. He kneels before her, heedless of the elegant dress he is soiling. She encircles his neck and smiles on his mouth, after a small, lip-smacking kiss.

"Best wishes, gorgeous."

"Two months" he replies "I bought some chocolate and wine to celebrate" he continues "I expected to find you in the house".

"And instead".

"And instead" Coryo kisses her again, this time holding her by the waist with one arm, and with his free hand grabs her face. He sinks his tongue into her mouth and Lucy Gray welcomes him, as always "Why are we here, my love?"

Lucy Gray smiles, cunningly.

“Because then the stars will witness us,” she replies, mysterious as ever. She kisses him again and pulls him to her as she lies back down and in no time his hands are under her dress, their desire already ignited, their spirits seeking each other as well as their bodies, impatient.

In the magical space between the Before and the After, in the advancing twilight, Lucy Gray spreads her legs with her bare back pressed against the virgin earth and asks the stars for their blessing.

***

It is early June, on one of the first evenings when it really feels like summer, and the cool breeze is silent. It is hot, very hot.

Even hotter because Lucy Gray feels huge and heavy. Her back rests on Coryo's chest, they both sit in an empty flowerbed in the middle of the rooftop garden, while he gently massages her baby bump and tries to catch every tiny movement under her taut skin.

The sun is dying in the sky and Lucy Gray hums with closed lips, enjoying the last distant rays on her face, waiting for the moment when she can open her eyes and observe the sky again.

"That was a kick!" exclaims Coryo, excited, as their unborn child has well and truly decided to wake up and make its presence known.

Lucy Gray smiles and interrupts her song to giggle. The sun sets behind the walls of Capitol City and she opens her eyes again, looking for the stars in the sky.

The same stars that blessed everything: from their love, intertwining their lives, to the fruit of their passion, that day Lucy Gray completed her ritual.

Mother Earth and Father Sky.

Who poured life into her womb exactly when she asked for it.

She can't wait to give birth. She knows she should be scared - Coryo is definitely hysterical, alternating between sheer joy and terror like a spinning top gone mad, mindful of his own mother and the baby sister he lost but still happy with the fruit of their love; impatient to see how their bodies mingled to give birth to their own flesh-and-blood child - but the reality is she is just tired.

Tired, and huge, and short of breath, and unable even to bathe herself, having reached this point.

Lucy Gray sighs and resumes humming to herself, watching the stars become more and more defined against the gradually darkening sky.

She asks for one last grace, one last blessing.

That all is well.

Coryo leaves a light kiss in her hair and smiles, continuing to massage her belly and seek contact with their child.

The stars shine high in the sky.

And she knows that they have also answered this prayer.

💖💖💖

Link on ao3:

May Trope Mayhem is a multi-fandom/original creation event open to writers, artists, and creators of all kinds! We’ve put together a list of 30 of our favorite tropes (plus one free day!), one per day through the month of May, and we encourage creators to join us for this month of fun tropey mayhem.

Our goal is to promote motivation and help with habit building, so we’re encouraging authors to keep their ficlets under 1,000 words, artists to stick to making just a sketch, gif makers to only do a single image, etc., as applicable to whatever you’re making.

This event is primarily held on Tumblr, but you’re welcome to participate anywhere Duck Prints Press has an account (you can see all our current platforms here) and we’ll keep our eyes on our tag everywhere!

How can you participate? It’s easy! There’s just a few simple rules:

write a ficlet or a poem, create art, make a gif, or create any other content that you want, aligned with the prompt for the day!

post your correctly tagged fills to Tumblr, and we’ll reblog them! We’ll reskeet works on Bluesky, retoot those on Mastodon, you get the idea. Note: we do not use Twitter.

you must tag warnings such as gore, MCD, sexual content, etc., so that people can make informed decisions!

please also tag fandom and ship, so people can find what interests them!

we ask that you put the tags at the top of your post, so they’re easy to find.

if you write more than 1k words and post the whole text on Tumblr or wherever, please use a read more if the platform allows.

if you create something with NSFW content or potentially triggering material, please put the entire work under a read more.

Ping us (duckprintspress) or tag your creations “#may trope mayhem” and so we can find them! We’ll reblog all fills that follow the above rules and are posted between May 1st and June 8th, 2024.

If you post to AO3, you can also add them to our collection there!

You don’t have to sign up for May Trope Mayhem, just post your fills. You don’t have to be a member of the Press nor do you have to be following us. You don’t have to be part of a specific fandom. We’re open to all ships, genres, formats, etc.! You don’t have to post fills on the corresponding day, though we ask that if you’re creating for a day that hasn’t happened yet, please wait for that day to post.

Participating in May Trope Mayhem? Want to chat fandom, books, creation, and more? Join our Book Lover’s Discord Server!

This is a low-pressure event, held in good fun, and we look forward to seeing what you create!

(read more: the full list of prompts written out! with links or definitions to any prompts we thought might be confusing!)

MAY TROPE MAYHEM Prompt List!

Secret Relationship

Mistaken Identity

Accidental Ownership (Character A accidentally ends up the owner of Character B)

Space Western Setting

Marriage Before Love

Time Loop

Wound Tending

"This is our get-along shirt."

Reincarnation

Mutual Pining

Forced Proximity

Sentinel/Guide

Vampires

Outsider Point of View

Monster F*ing (censored in the image)

Foodservice Setting

Meet Cute

"Keep your dog on a leash."

Mecha

The Soulmate Goose of Enforcement

Steampunk

Love Requited Too Late

Bottom Storage (or however you feel like interpreting it!)

Werewolf/Shifter Character

Fake Relationship

Reciprocal Idiots (like idiots to lovers, or however else you feel like interpreting it!)

There Was Only One Bed

OMG They Were Roommates

Soul-Bonding

Homoerotic Swordfighting

Free day!

Here is the link to the ao3 collection if anyone needs it!!

officially only a week left until the start of the Snowbaird au fest event!!! (See our pinned post for all the details!)

It's that time again!

Snowbaird Valentine Event!

The prompt for today is birds u.ù

As usual, thanks to @snowbaird-events ( @burntblueberrywaffles ) for this event 💖

Birds

During the summer break, after he has been forced to work hand in hand with Dr Gaul on the new edition of the Hunger Games, Coriolanus has asked and been granted to spend the summer at Twelve. President Ravinstill has made the first house built in the Victory’s village available to him also because, in fact, he is taking Lucy Gray home to see her family.

Lucy Gray shakes his hand throughout the train journey, without saying anything.

She too knows that the Hunger Games are an evil he is forced to endure, but there is a limit even to his acting ability.

***

In the Twelve everything is better. They are no longer at the Seam - although coal dust still gets everywhere - and the Coveys have huddled together, happy and excited to have Lucy Gray back for a month and a half all to themselves. They have moved into the Victory’s house with them - although they take turns not to leave their house empty - and spend their days together, as happy and carefree as they have ever been.

The schools are closed and none of them have to work. Coriolanus personally makes sure that plenty of money arrives every month to support the whole family, because the idea of CC or Tam Amber going down the mine gives him the creeps.

They spend wonderful days amidst music, singing and games, and then the time also comes for a trip to the lake.

They talked about it briefly, him and Lucy Gray. Coriolanus told her that it would be no problem and, then, following her glare, confessed that he would do his best to overwrite the bad memories.

So they set off early in the morning, taking advantage of the still cool breeze of the night before the sun burns them. They walk briskly; Coriolanus grasps Lucy Grey's hand tightly and tries to concentrate on Maude Ivory's voice and the songs she sings.

Unfortunately, so do the damn birds.

Coriolanus is forced to listen to their echoes in his ears for as long as it takes for them to arrive. There are times when he thinks he'll go mad, when he just wants to squat on the ground and plug his ears - echoes and reverberations of that terrible day, of the song of the hanging tree smashing his head and shattering it into tiny pieces.

When it happens Lucy Gray understands him, and always distracts him with a kiss.

Her smile and her love are the most valuable weapon he has to fight every crisis.

***

They finally arrive.

At last they can undress and dive into the lake and make noise, and the birds above their heads, apart from a few neutral melodies, no longer sing like in his nightmares.

It's shaping up to be a perfect day.

They soak for the whole morning and then engage in various other activities and games - Coriolanus has brought a real ball and a pack of cards, and everyone enjoys themselves.

Then, after lunching on fish - caught by Tam Amber and CC - and bread and cheese - brought from home - they all lie down in the shade of the trees, praying that it will be enough to combat the heat.

Lucy Gray has laid her head on his chest and has one leg entwined with his. It seems that not even the mugginess is enough to keep them physically apart , and Coriolanus is perfectly fine with that. He caresses her hair and she begins to murmur a quiet melody.

Immediately the Mockingjay stop singing, and then imitate her. Coriolanus' hand stops and so does Lucy Gray, raising her face to his, worried.

“Sorry,” she murmurs.

Coriolanus smiles.

"It's not your fault" he replies to her "Nor theirs" he adds, under his breath.

Holding her still helps him keep his mind clear of terrible memories. The tiredness and peace that pervaded him that morning also help to keep him calm.

Lucy Gray smiles and leans in to leave a small kiss on his cheek.

"They are the true example of freedom, you know?"

"The Mockingjay?"

"No, birds in general. I'd like to be like them" Lucy Gray pauses "That's what they call me at the capital, isn't it? Songbird. I wish I had a pair of wings, and I could live and sing in the sky for the rest of my life."

Away from me.

Coriolanus turns to her and grabs her, sinking his face into her hair.

"I'm sorry," he tells her, as his heart breaks for the umpteenth time, "If you feel trapped at home.

If I'm not enough.

Lucy Gray bursts out laughing and returns his squeeze.

"I didn't say that, silly."

Coriolanus knows that he cannot afford to make demands on her. He knows that Lucy Gray is a free spirit, and that trying to force her into a trap would lead to her dying little by little, day by day. At the capital, she expresses her need for freedom by singing all over the place; she enjoys her fame as the Victor to have the doors open in any club that tickles her fancy. And Coriolanus has learnt to let her go and hush the terrible, insistent voice that tells him she will find someone else.

But here it is more difficult.

Here, in the Twelve, it is established that Lucy Gray belongs to no one.

Least of all to him.

Coriolanus hopes that it will be enough to keep showing her love day by day, to make her stay.

***

University has been going on for a fortnight when one afternoon Coriolanus comes home and Tigris announces that Lucy Gray is waiting for him in the roof garden.

Curious, after hurriedly changing his clothes, Coriolanus goes up and is stunned when he sees, in the middle of the rose garden, a huge aviary.

It is a wonderful cage, gilded and decorated with wrought-iron roses. It has inside it a lot of small bowls with grains at different heights, others with water, and various bird handles as well as hanging cuttlefish bones.

And the birds are there. Some are hopping on sticks, some have decided to take a bath, some are eating. They hum, but the wonderful melody he hears is that of Lucy Gray, standing in front of the aviary enchanting the birds.

Coriolanus, past the first moment of surprise, approaches and embraces her from behind, interrupting her song.

That is the moment when he realizes that the aviary has no little door, that the birds can come and go as they please.

Lucy Gray raises her head, staring up at him from below with a huge smile.

"There are no Mockingjay here," she tells him, "No bad memories. But, you see? Even in the city the little birds live ".

At that moment two of them come out of their cage with a shake of their wings and disappear into the sky.

"This is a safe place. With food, water, fun and fragrant flowers," Lucy Gray continues, "A home to come back to again and again. A safe choice."

You are my safe choice , Lucy Gray is telling him, the place I want to return to.

Coriolanus smiles and spins her around in his arms until they are facing each other. He leans towards her and kisses her passionately, and she reciprocates by sinking her hands into his blond curls.

Her. Lucy Gray.

His wonderful songbird.

Who chooses him day after day, never leaving him alone again.

💖💖💖

Link on ao3:

Only one week before the start of our Valentine event!! (See pinned post for all the info l!)

I made a whole promo for the server look at me go- but seriously, we always love seeing new faces, so don’t be scared to shoot me a DM! 🫶

The second run of the 2024 Snowbaird AU fest is officially two weeks away!! We accepts all mediums, see our pinned post for more details and feel free to ask if you have any questions! 🫶

only a few days before the start of the first run!!

Two weeks until the first run of the AU fest event!!!