Durian is out for a jog when his phone rings. “Hey, Lilly!” he puffs out.
“Hey, babe!”
“I was just thinking of you! How you doing?”
“I’m okay,” Lilly says simply. Then, confused by how he is gasping out his words, she asks, “What are you doing?” After he explains his morning workout, he asks what planet she is on these days. “I’m in the ship. I’m on Saffron,” Lilly carefully enunciates. But then she takes another chug from Imogen’s whiskey bottle. Despite this, and how much she is repeating herself, Durian remains oblivious to how drunk she is.
“I’m starting a new contract tomorrow,” he tells her proudly. “I’ve got to be fit and ready to go.”
Malorn motions to Lilly, trying to get her to discuss his matter, but Lilly just giggles. “We’re on Mar Shara,” she slurs into the phone. Then her mood plummets. “I crashed the bike into the sand.”
Durian comes to a dead stop. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay, Lilly?”
“Yeah. I rolled over a hydralisk’s hide.”
“Oh, there were a lot of zerg left over on that planet, weren’t there?”
“Yeah, but Imogen… Imogen… Imogen…” Lilly loses her train of thought.
“Uh, is Imogen okay?” Durian asks, confused by Lilly’s demeanor.
“She’s so nice!” Lilly swings back to cheerful. “She fixed me up! She’s so nice.”
“Yeah, she is pretty nice,” Durian agrees. Those must be strong painkillers she gave Lilly.
“And she fixed me up, even though I didn’t want to tell her about it.”
“That’s why she’s a good friend to have,” Durian affirms.
“But Durian!”
“What’s going on Lilly?”
“Durian, babe.”
It seems like Lilly wants to tell him something but is reluctant to come right out with it. “Lilly, sweetheart, I’m going to start on this contract tomorrow. It’s going to run for several weeks. But we might be able to find some time to meet up. It’s on Korhal. You coming here soon?”
“You should come here!”
“Uh, Mar Sara’s pretty far. I don’t think I can make it to Mar Sara, hang out with you, and be back in time for work.”
“You’re right. It’s too far. I miss you.” Lilly sniffles a little when Durian reciprocates. Finally she admits, “Someone saw my tattoos. All of them. All of them! Well, not the one on my leg, but the ones—you know the ones.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Lilly. I don’t know what to say.” Lilly begins panicking that the fellow will tell everybody and they will all believe him. Durian tries to calm her down. “Hey, hey! Do you know how many Dominion citizens have been resocialized? It’s over a quarter of the population! These are the things they tell you when you’re an officer, go figure.”
“Yeah, but three times?”
“It doesn’t matter how many.”
“Do you think I’ve been resocialized more than three times, Durian?”
“No, I don’t think so. And even if you were, it wouldn’t matter,” he assures Lilly.
“You’re so nice. I’m glad I called you. You’re the best, Durian. You’re the best.”
“No, no. You’re the best. And you’ll be all right, you know?”
Lilly does not pay any attention to the frantically gesturing protoss, but she does look down in shock at how empty the bottle in her hand is. “Oh my gosh, Durian, I drank so much whiskey! Imogen’s whiskey!”
“You don’t normally drink whiskey, do you? Oh, Imogen’s probably got the good stuff, doesn’t she?”
“I told you, I had a bad day. I’m pretty drunk.”
“You’re safe though? You’re on Saffron?”
“Yeah. But I’m not flying!” Lilly assures him quickly. “Wait, am I? Malorn, am I flying? Are we flying, Malorn?”
“Who’s Malorn?” Durian asks.
“We’re on the ground!” Malorn hisses. “Ask him about—”
“Oh! Oh! Malorn wants to talk to you!” Lilly says brightly into her comm. Then she shoves the device at Malorn.