OUR FOREST OF THORNS | tbosas ✔️

021 || Fragile Things

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE -        Fragile Things ..

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          One of them is going to betray me tonight, as I am sure you could already sense so yourself — that was just how easily Daphne had managed to get Coriolanus feeling as if he had been tossed right into a bowl of boiling water from the moment they left the bunker. He could no longer even appreciate the much awaited nocturnal glimpses at District 2's industrialized town center, because his heart was thudding in his chest a pulse which deafened all of his senses save for one: the gun he had up until then forgotten he was even carrying inside his suit jacket had abruptly turned heavy again, nudging him uncomfortably in the ribs with bruises reeking of responsibility at every step taken besides Daphne, with Thaddeus behind them.

This was most definitely the first time Coriolanus had come close to objecting over Thaddeus choosing to give the two of them some space. Had it not been for a last strand of pride regulating him into distinguishing between necessity and pitiful behavior, he would have asked rather promptly before he allowed himself to enter that local pub arm in arm with Daphne why Thaddeus can't be joining them too, given the less than favorable situation.

Daphne was acting, much to his distress, as if an attempt on her life was indeed something that had happened so often it became downright boring and banal to even acknowledge it as a danger anymore.

What puzzled Coriolanus even more than her abrupt rise of recklessness was however the fact that he was supposed to know who the traitor was already — He didn't know these people!

Upon entering that dark place with too few and too pale yellow lights to distinguish luminescence past the clouds of smoke and dust lingering in the air, his eyes scanned not merely scientists, but strangers; all of Daphne's co-workers looked suspicious to him, even in an environment where the old music player in the corner was trying its best to lighten up the atmosphere for everyone, not just those engaged in conversation, laughing, drinking or all of the above.

Goodness, Coriolanus couldn't even understand why they had answered the celebration invitation to begin with. Why were they out in the open like that? He failed to recall if he had seen any District people out after curfew on the street, but surely this was a security risk to the project even without everyone in town out and about.

To have a whole bar overtaken by people in white lab coats was most definitely a dangerous gamble to allow and had he been Daphne, he would have insisted the celebration happen in the bunker, if it should happen at all — that pristine white of their coats didn't change who they were in the slightest, not to him. He prayed Daphne hadn't forgotten their nature either.

"Two of whatever everyone's having," Daphne smiled brightly at one of her colleagues who had taken it upon himself to be the bartender. If she had noticed Coriolanus' growing tension at all, she was adamant on ignoring it entirely, especially now as it grew exponentially around a premise of confusion — she wasn't a drinker.

"Coming right up, ma'am!"

"Miss Ravinstill," Dr. Birches approached, making Coriolanus flinch. His right hand had twitched closer to his jacket's lining, but he clenched it in a fist before it could slide ever so slightly underneath. He's long since realized that Dr. Birches and Dr. Watt were the only two scientists on Daphne's team that he knew by name and given this woman with hair as coarse as wool had had her arguments with Daphne before the test, she was a prime suspect — still, grasping his pistol felt awfully exaggerate, especially as, looking back over his shoulder, he noticed the woman was holding only a napkin, over which she scribbled some calculations.