There was waiting silence again, as if the anchors hoped beyond hope that Quinn might suddenly burst out laughing and claim she was joking, that of course she’d had everything under control on her own and there was no way some Euseran vulture could be owed any of the credit. They were on the brink of losing their union with Casoban forever, and surely, [i]surely[/i] right now, Quinn would know better than to hand them a reason to trust Eusero over Runa. 

Of course, they waited in vain as Quinn’s silence extended far past awkward, and the producers evidently had nothing ready to parry her comments with. 

‘[color=gray][i]Oh god,[/i][/color]’ Besca thought. Was it possible to get double-fired? She had a feeling she’d find out soon.

Dashing over, she came up behind Quinn and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “[color=gray]Thank you,[/color] she said into the camera, best PR face on. “[color=gray]Miss Loughvein is needed for secondary debriefing. Any further comments will come from RISC directly in the next few hours and days.[/color]”

“Thank you for—” the anchor started, only for the screen to cut off. Across the room, Dahlia got the signal and started to bring her own statements to a close. 

Besca slouched, forehead touched to the top of Quinn’s head, and sighed. “[color=gray]Okay…[/color]” she mumbled, eye squeezed shut. “[color=gray]I feel like you know why that probably wasn’t the best thing to say, so, lets just…take a moment. Lets just take a moment.[/color]”

Dahlia eventually came over, puzzled look on her face. “[color=skyblue]What’s wrong? What happened?[/color]”

“[color=gray]We’re taking a moment,[/color]” Besca said, still leaned against Quinn’s head. “[color=gray]Considering our actions, and reminding ourselves how much we love each other.[/color]” Her hands came up, weaving fingers gently into Quinn’s hair and taking hold before softly shaking her head. “[color=gray]So much. So much more than our well-intentioned mistakes.[/color]”

“[color=skyblue]I don’t get it,[/color]” she said, coming around to Quinn. “[color=skyblue]What’d you say?[/color]”

“[color=gray]She gave rightful credit to Axan Dane for saving her life and helping her close the singularity,[/color]” Besca answered for her, tone flat and just a little bit pained. “[color=gray]Because it’s what happened and it was the right thing to do, and I don’t want you to think I would ever be disappointed in you for doing the right thing.[/color]”

Dahlia went wide-eyed. “[color=skyblue]O-oh. Oh. You [i]thanked[/i] Eusero?[/color]”