HEART OF GOLD | CORIOLANUS SNOW

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 75

Disappointment greeted Lilith when she woke. She had no memory of falling asleep, or even returning to bed, but here she was, enveloped in the warmth of her quilt, in the comfort of her mattress. The light filtering through the chinks in her black-out curtains had been her first clue, with her clock affirming that it was a good deal past noon. She had overslept; she had missed the press conference.

Intending to find a clip of the interview, Lilith reached for her cordless but became distracted by the influx of notifications she'd received while she'd been out. Apparently, everyone had seen the news, except her. As she scrolled through her list of missed calls—Athena, Olympia, Archie—and the gang's flooded group chat, Lilith felt a swell of love, quickly followed by a pang of guilt for having worried them, too.

Olympia had announced in the group that she'd called the house and been told Lilith was fine, just asleep. Athena suggested they visited before heading to the barbeque, which everyone agreed. Archie had to prepare and couldn't make it but told them to video call him when they were there (well, here). That had been an hour ago. Lilith formulated her own reply, thanking them for their concern and declaring that they needn't make the trip—she'd see everyone at Archie's! Then she hurriedly swiped upward, to the very start of the chain where Archie had shared an article.

ACCIDENTAL BOMBING IN 2 KILLS FIELD MARSHAL AND GENERAL28 others confirmed dead; 201 injured.

Scanning the writeup, Lilith learnt several other new facts: The author was a fan of puns ("The 73rd military anniversary gala has been a blast. At 8.48 p.m. last night, distinguished soldiers and guests found themselves blown away at the celebratory event held in District 2 when a series of air-to-ground missiles struck the complex hosting the annual dinner commemorating the armed forces' birthday, killing 30..."). Search and rescue had completed this morning, after almost twelve hours, at 8.31 a.m., with all 300 attendees and other site personnel accounted for. Wounded Capitol officers would be transferred home as soon as their conditions were deemed safe for travel; deceased service members would be shipped back to the Capitol through Friday. An index of those belonging to the latter category had been appended after the details of the funeral, which was slated for this weekend.

It did not have a link to a recording of the interview, but Lilith never got around to digging for that. After responding to exclamations toward her apparent existence and Professor Kay's kind email that had wished her a speedy recovery, she noticed her next most recent thread.

Clicking on the predominantly blue icon featuring a miniscule hovercraft surrounded by a rainbow ring (the second was too faint), Lilith saw the picture she had taken in an enlarged form, captioned by: Sometimes, there's beauty in the unpredictable. There was a tiny heart at the bottom corner—her reaction to his message. There was a tiny heart at the bottom of her reply, which thanked him, together with a white heart emoglyph, and urged him to rest up.

The exchange had occurred just after they'd hung up. In her strange state of mind after she'd witnessed his reaction, surrounded by the dreamy pink glow of fairy lights and possibly still under the influence of too much adrenaline, Lilith had saved the image to his contact. Now that it was bright outside and her mind was relatively lucid, her behavior only inspired disgust.

Determinedly, Lilith archived the chat and forced herself out of bed. It was practically four—how had she slept so much?—so she requested for something light, just to tide her over until dinner. It had been instructed to be delivered to Val's nursery, where she had been told her family was.

Warned by the barking, Lilith entered cautiously. At once, Lady bounded toward her. Tail wagging furiously and tongue sticking out, the cocker spaniel ran in circles around Lilith's legs, jumping up and down in excitement, trying to paw its way up her body. Preferring not to have her freshly cleansed face slathered in dog saliva, Lilith rubbed behind Lady's ear—a known hack to soothe and calm the pet down. The same could not be said for her owner.