Tillie frowned in thought, tongue pressed against her teeth. Well, if [i]Besca Darroh[/i] had mentioned it, then surely there was more to the theory than she thought. RISC’s commander might have put her lab coat aside, but in the few and admittedly brief conversations they’d had together, Tillie was acutely aware that the woman’s passion for modiology had not withered over the years. Tillie respected everyone, but she [i]super[/i] respected commander Darroh. 

“[color=f26522]Y’know, why don’t I look into it a little, hm? I never gave it a whole bunch of thought, but, uhm! It could be fun poking around in shelved theories! I’ll let you know if I come across anything interesting, how about that?[/color]”

With her fun little side-project established, she turned her attention to Quinn’s next questions. These didn’t surprise her much. Speculation on Modir and the Circuit was wildly popular all over Illun. There were hundreds of years of theories and stories and films all centered around the idea of [i]what[/i] exactly it was humanity was dealing with. It fascinated her, too, and she felt bad that she wouldn’t be able to give her a real answer.

“[color=f26522]Well, uhm! That’s sorta out of my wheelhouse. See, modiology is split into two big fields, two sides, y’know?[/color]” she held up her hands parallel to each other. “[color=f26522]You have this side of the singularities—us—and you have that side of the singularities—them. I study the ‘us’ side. I can tell you [i]that[/i] modium melts, and to a degree I can tell you [i]how[/i] and under what conditions; which, by the way, happens at a molecular level and to any bits of the Modir that become disconnected from the brain. I can tell you that regeneration happens [i]ex nihilo[/i] and basically in the reverse.[/color]” she giggled. “[color=f26522]And, up until you came along I could have told you that regeneration is a static process that returns each Modir to their ‘[i]template[/i] state, without variance. Buuuut, now we have [i]Ablaze[/i] and we get to study this whole new exciting theory on it![/color]”

She paused, only just noticing that Quinn was leaning into her. Uh oh, was this her way of telling her to scoot over? Maybe she didn’t like someone else crowding her bed; Tillie could sympathize, she was very particular about her own spaces. Quinn was a nice girl, surely if she was annoyed, she would have said so. Tillie held on to that hope, and decided it was best to carry on with her explanation until instructed otherwise.

“[color=f26522]But when it comes to [i]that[/i] side—the [i]why[/i] side, I’m kinda in the dark. I’d say we all are, for the most part. The Modir aren’t really forthcoming with information, and the few times I can think of, [i]ever[/i] that people go into the singularities, they don’t come back. Unfortunately pretty much all of our knowledge about the Circuit comes from psychological evaluations of pilots, and, I mean I only studied it a bit in undergrad and, don’t get me wrong they’re super interesting, but they’re also not really reliable. No one knows what the Circuit is, just that it’s there.[/color]

“[color=f26522]Sorry I couldn’t be much help.[/color]” She smiled again. “[color=f26522]Actually, it’s kinda funny. You probably know more about it than I do. Technically, that makes you a modiology expert too![/color]”