Another long silence followed Roaki's question, with no answer immediately forthcoming. For a brief time, there were only Quinn's soft, hiccupping tears.

Then, a bit later, she gritted her teeth, swiped her arm across her eye, and spoke huskily, "[color=ffe63d]I don't...[/color]" The word [i]know[/i] was on the tip of her tongue, when she cocked her head to the side as a thought struck her. Because she did know at least a [i]little[/i] now. "[color=ffe63d]Or, well...they're, or they [i]were,[/i] modiologists. Really, [i]really[/i] good modiologists. The most famous in Runa, I think.[/color]" And maybe more than that; she thought she'd seen some articles in Casobani when she'd run her search.

She rubbed her eye and socket with her hands, and when she pulled them away, she looked down at the floor and spoke softly, giving voice to the thought that had been lurking in the back of her mind since she discovered their modiology: "[color=ffe63d]Maybe I was just a science project.[/color]"

She wished she could talk about this kind of thing with Besca and Dahlia too. But Dahlia was either asleep or in sims, and she was awake—as seen today—she was certainly in no place to help Quinn work through her own problems. Besca was in the dorm to sleep for three hours and then leave for the bridge before Quinn woke up; they almost only talked over the phone now. So Roaki was...she gave a weak, weedy chuckle. [i]Roaki[/i] was her [i]only confidante[/i], and there was something sadly funny about that.

She shook her head vigorously then, doing her best to banish the thoughts. "[color=ffe63d]I didn't mean to lay all that on you.[/color]" She forced another laugh, still pained but a little less so. "[color=ffe63d]It's just...on my mind today. Sorry.[/color]"