Electric Heart (Coriolanus Snow)

17

Coriolanus

"You look tired." Sejanus said as he walked with Coriolanus from their first class of the day. He was tired, the word for it was actually exhaustion. He'd been up all night rereading and revising his Hunger Games paper for Gaul.

Then he'd arrived at school at 5 am, hours ahead of time, to turn it into the front desk. He just hoped that Gaul would at least consider his ideas.

"You weren't at the zoo this morning." Sejanus added, stopping Coriolanus who as beginning to speed up his walk. "Are you still angry with Sally for what she did yesterday? I mean- you have to think about what she's going through."

"I'm very aware of what she's going through Sejanus, thanks. But what she did yesterday was rash and idiotic. It may cost her in the arena."

"Well you at least could've-"

"But that isn't the reason for my absence this morning. I was turning in my paper to Gaul."

Sejanus perked up at the mention of it. "What did you propose? Besides betting on the tributes." He said it jokingly, but Coriolanus could tell there was a seriousness about him.

"Sponsers. So people can give us money to send our tributes things in the arena. Like water or food. Thats why Sally needs to watch her mouth on camera. The capital is watching. If they don't like what they see we're already done for."

"Snow." A voice boomed through the hallway behind them. Coriolanus turned around and bit back his scowl. Dean Highbottom. Clemensia was at his side.
"Dr. Gaul wants to see the two of you now. The guards will escort you."

Sejanus patted him on the back before continuing towards their next class, and Dean Highbottom rolled his eyes and gestured to the two guards behind him before leaving again, glad to go.

Coriolanus and Clemensia followed behind the guards, leaving at least ten feet at all times so they could remain unheard.
"She can't expect us to have written that proposal already. Not after the past week, I mean with Arachne and everything. I've been crying for days." Clemensia sighed nervously.

"We did." Coriolanus said, a smile creeping onto his lips. "I turned it in this morning."

Clemensia seemed to relax upon hearing this. "Alright. Give me the bulletpoints."

Coriolanus gladly filled her in on everything he'd written, and how he'd written it, just in case Gaul were to ask them the specifics.

Gaul's lab was bigger than he'd expected, filled with small and large tanks, holding unidentifiable creatures inside. It occurred to him that Sally had been in this room before, and she'd been inside before he had.

"Mr. Snow..Miss Dovecote." Gaul bellowed from the end of the room, and the both of them exchanged nervous glances. "Come and see my new babies." She was standing in front of a large metal tank. It wasn't close, so Coriolanus couldn't see inside, but he could infer that it wasn't anything good.

He and Clemensia creeped closer, until he could see that writhing inside were shiny, colorful snakes. Gaul grinned at him, before turning and walking up the staircase attached to the tank. Coriolanus followed her, and Clemensia was a step behind.

"Is there a point to the color?" She asked, and Gaul laughed. "There's a point to everything Miss Dovecote, or to nothing at all. This brings me neatly to your proposal. Which one of you actually wrote it?"

Coriolanus tried to think of a solution where he wouldn't have to admit that he'd done all the work himself, but Clemensia cut him off before he could even utter a syllable. "I was inspired by Coriolanus yesterday. Of course by his little betting idea. But the sponsorships and the gifts in the arena; those were all mine." She lied.