The skullport vanished, and Quinn immediately felt better.

That's not to say she felt [i]good.[/i] Not in any way whatsoever. But with the immediate reminder gone, she found herself able to—with the support of the long table that ran alongside her—haul herself to her feet and give Tillie a genuine, if weak, smile again. "[color=ffe63d]N-no, nothing. It all looks fine.[/color]"

[color=ffe63d][i]That's right, Quinn. It's fine. It's all fine. Stop worrying about it.[/i][/color] Hangar staff would obviously catch any fluctuations or problems right as soon as they happened. There was no reason for her to come here like this, go through the torment of opening the port, diving into the cold, lonely, enclosed dark, and endure the Modir pressing in all around here, [i]all alone.[/i]

Thank god for Tillie. Without her there, Quinn would've just had a breakdown, she just knew it. She swallowed heavily, wiping the remnants of the sweat off again. It wasn't usually this bad. She opened her mouth to thank her for being there so she didn't completely fall apart—

Before she stopped.

Did she really want to make Tillie feel responsible for her? To layer her with Quinn's problems when she had nothing to do with them and no obligation to help with them?

No.

Deelie was pushing herself to hell and back because she was afraid for Quinn. Besca was working nonstop—she was surprised she'd even gotten a response from her—day in and day out because of what Quinn had done. The population of the Aerie was still a fraction of what it used to be, it seemed like, because Quinn just [i]had[/i] to be at Hovvi. So everyone else had more work.

She didn't want to be a burden on Tillie too.

So instead, she kept that lame smile pasted to her face as inside, she screamed.

"[color=ffe63d]I'm...glad you enjoyed it. I'll tell head of hangar security that you can come up here any time you want.[/color]" After all the trouble and pain she'd caused, making her new technician happy was the least she could do.