With every word that [color=black]Quinnlash[/color] spoke—each wavering of her thoughts—Quinn grew stronger in her own. She uncurled, standing up to her full height, and joined her counterpart on the bench, looking up at the void of an endless sky. The stars had flickered and died. All that was left was...

She let out a light gasp. A moment of revelation. "[color=FFE63D]It's the same thing.[/color]" 

[color=black]Quinnlash[/color] glanced at her, mouth pursed in confusion, then followed her vision. "[color=ffe63d]Distorted, broken, but still the same in the end. Right?[/color]"

This time she was quiet for a longer time. Minutes passed as she looked out at the sickle crescent wavering on the black surface like a liquid mirror. Perhaps hours. She didn't know. She couldn't know.

"[color=FFE63D][i]They[/i] were monsters,[/color]" she suddenly spoke again. "[color=FFE63D]They hurt us in ways that I still don't understand.[/color]" 

She took a deep breath. She still didn't know if she needed to. If she even [i]was[/i] breathing, unless she did so willfully. The wind gusting by was growing stronger. "[color=FFE63D]But...Roaki isn't like them. She's not an adult either. I think...[/color]" She picked up a piece of ice from the ever-full and unmelting cooler, then hurled it off into the water. It struck the moon, shattering the reflection into incomprehensible fragments of silver light. 

"[color=FFE63D]I think she's a little more like us. Us,[/color]" her voice sharpened to match [color=black]Quinnlash's[/color] and she glanced sidelong at her, "[color=FFE63D]If we were angrier.[/color]"

She sat down on the railing, meeting those black, infinite eyes. Her razor voice shook, but held. "[color=FFE63D]She's us, [i]once we enjoy it.[/i][/color]"