"[color=ec008c]Okay, sure. Why’d they do it?[/color]"

Quinn went quiet again, though this time for only a few moments, as she screwed up her courage, forced herself to think back to Hovvi, and her life. The discovery that water was supposed to be [i]clear[/i] was a memory as crisp and clear as it was painful to look back upon, and she sucked a harsh breath in through her teeth.

"[color=ffe63d]When I...when I was a girl--a kid, I mean, or, a few months ago, before the Hovvi Incident.[/color]" she started slowly, voice stopping and starting as she fought to string her words together properly. "[color=ffe63d]...I thought water was supposed to have a dark tint.[/color]"

As she went on her voice grew more constant, but also unsteady, shaky, like it always did when she was really upset. Yet she still forged on.

"[color=ffe63d]I had no way of knowing. My...my parents, they didn't tell me anything, they cut off almost the whole internet, they told me everything was normal. Including the water.[/color]" She closed her eye, taking a few deep, shaky breaths in an attempt to calm herself. "[color=ffe63d]It would've tasted funny too, though I didn't know it at the time, really. Bitter metal and salt brine.[/color]"

One more deep breath. One more long pause. Her eye grew hot and stung as she fought back tears, holding herself together as her voice quaked.

"[color=ffe63d]...Modium. It was modium.[/color]"

"[color=ffe63d]They kept me inside so nobody would know and I wouldn't understand.[/color]" She clung grimly on to her composure, even as her voice grew thick and tears started to build around her eye. "[color=ffe63d]They cut me open to check if my insides were okay.[/color]" She wasn't [i]sure[/i] if that was true, but it was the only thing that made sense. "[color=ffe63d]I didn't—[/color]"

She stopped speaking abruptly, and finally, her composure broke. Her thin shoulders quaked.

And she began to quietly cry.