[i]I mean, compared to what life must have been like before.[/i] Quinn's smile froze on her face like brittle ice. "[color=ffe63d]I—[/color]" [i]Compared to what life must have been like before.[/i] Her voice hitched a bit, and she carefully put the fork down on the plate. "[color=ffe63d]It was—[/color]" [i]What life must have been like before.[/i] She started to feel a little heat building around her eye. No. No no no. She couldn't. She needed to...she needed to focus on the [i]good[/i] things. She closed her eye for a moment, taking a long, deep breath. When she spoke, her voice had changed. Reverted. Not fully, but the almost...vacant quality to her voice tapered off. That chaotic emotion was bleeding through her now, and she couldn't quite hold it back anymore. "[color=ffe63d]After—well, after—after what happened...it [i]definitely[/i] took a long time for me to get used to life up there.[/color]" "[color=ffe63d]It was...really really different. Back...[/color]" She swallowed heavily, [i]carefully[/i] picking and choosing her words. "[color=ffe63d]Back...[i]home[/i], I mostly just...stayed inside. Being a pilot is waaaaay different.[/color]" She tried to push some of that enthusiasm back into her voice, but it was only [i]barely[/i] effective. She let out a heavy breath that she didn't know she'd been holding and relaxed the hands that she suddenly realized had been incredibly tense. That was the hard part. The hard part was over. "[color=ffe63d]It's—it's [i]busy[/i] up there, you know? I can't [i]really[/i] train on the ground with Deelie—[i]Dahlia,[/i][/color]" she hastily amended. "[color=ffe63d]We both phase so fast that by the time we got going we'd have to stop again. So it's a lot of sparring hand to hand in the gym, and [i]man[/i] it's a lot of sim training![/color]" "[color=ffe63d]Still, it's not bad. The people on the Aerie are all really nice, especially Besca and Dahlia. It's...[/color]" She hesitated. She knew that Besca was supposed to show professionalism, and she probably shouldn't jeopardize that. But she was [i]important[/i] to Quinn. She was [i]going[/i] to say it! "[color=ffe63d]...It's like having a whole new family, you know?[/color]"