The ride down was quick, quiet. Rarely was her presence in the hangar a good omen, but then, perhaps the recent days of her new habit were enough to help her forget that. Perhaps they weren’t. As the doors opened, she was given the chance to find out; [i]Ablaze[/i] had been moved, and when Quinn exited the lift’s hallway, passing by the pilots’ locker room, she found her Savior standing directly across from her on the other side of the hangar. 

From here it looked fine, which was to say, it looked like a monster. An array of braces, like shackles, helped keep it upright, and even, even with the light in its singular eye out, the beast radiated malice. Every person that passed below, every vehicle beeping by its feet, it regarded them all with the same hungry, flayed rictus. To see it in such stark light was an equally stark reminder that these things were not dead, only subdued. 

Subdued, and angry. 

Less malevolent were the smiles and waves she received on her way over. The crew’s numbers had been greatly reduced from the incident at Hovvi, and the river of applicants had been dammed until Quinn’s duel against Roaki. Only in the past week was the Aerie really beginning to restore its personnel, and even then there weren’t many in the hangar to begin with. 

She saw familiar faces; this shift was small, and most of the people moving through the hangar weren’t technicians. Those present seemed glad to see her, and throughout the tumultuous weeks that had not changed. True, there were some among the security staff, and in administration whose opinions of the girl were more mixed than they once were, but here, in the hangar, Quinn was still the rookie hero, out to change Illun for the better. 

As she drew closer to [i]Ablaze[/i], Quinn would notice something…odd. A figure was crouched by its foot, lab coat bunched up into a puddle. They were scraping the steel carapace of the Savior’s organic greaves with some kind of tool, and collecting the shavings onto the plate of another device. It beeped, sharp and loud, overshadowed only by the person’s own bubbly giggling. Eventually they noticed Quinn approaching, and as though they’d been shocked, they jumped to their feet so abruptly, they nearly fumbled the—presumably expensive—equipment onto the ground. 

“[color=f26522]Quinn! Quinnlash![/color]” 

In a mad dash, they made their way over, and Quinn could see that it was a young woman. Tall, even hunched, and lanky, with her hair pulled back into a messy tail that still left strands hanging over her face. Wide eyes behind wider, round glasses stared down at Quinn with frankly alarming intensity, though it was somewhat disarmed by the enthusiastic smile. 

“[color=f26522]Quinnl—uhm! Ms. Loughvein! [i]P-pilot[/i] Loughvein! Hi! Wow, you—oh![/color]” Awkwardly shifting the equipment against her chest with one hand, she struck the other out. “[color=f26522]Hello! I’m Tillie Tomm, I’m, uhm! I’m the new intern! W-well, I mean, sorry, I’m [i]a[/i] new intern, not [i]the[/i] new—nevermind. Sorry! Wow, gosh. Look at you! I’m actually talking to you![/color]”