And Quinn [i]was[/i] excited. The last time she'd been planetside, it had only been to transfer her over to the Ange from the Aerie. And the last time she'd spent any [i]actual[/i] time down, it had been the duel, and the less she thought about [i]that[/i] the better. So as the elevator began its descent, she took a deep, calming breath to still her excitement.

She wasn't bringing much down with her; she didn't really even have that much to bring. Some clothes. The laptop Casoban had given her. Phone. Some snacks. And her new dress, of course; if she was going to wear it anywhere, might be down there! At the moment, she was wearing the jacket that Besca had given her before she went down to Mona's: the gray one, with the paired yellow stripes. She had her arms crossed, and her finger tapped at her her upper arm with a rapid [i]tap-tap-tap.[/i] Her face was spread in an uncommonly wide smile.

As they left the bounds of the Ange and emerged into the hardlight sheath, she looked down, and...the smile lessened. She was excited. She really was. The bay below, the ocean reaching to the horizon; the afternoon sunlight, whipping and flashing over the waves. The patchwork of the Casobani fields stretching out one way, and in the distance she thought that maybe she could see some fraction of the Euseran cities, though she wasn't sure. It was beautiful, and she was excited. But...it felt...[i]off.[/i] Less, somehow. Almost hollow, in some strange way, like there was a parasite eating the excitement from the inside. And as the minutes went by, and they dropped further--as Cantimine came into focus beneath them--it only grew hungrier. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

It was wrong enough that as she stepped off the elevator, it wasn't with the same steady stride that usually characterized her. It was slower, if only a bit. Halting. Almost a stumble, though not quite.

She took another deep breath. What was going on? Was she getting sick? She felt so [i]cold.[/i] Cold like she hadn't felt in a long time, a chill that she recognized in her bones but couldn't name. She only realized that she was shivering after she heard her teeth chattering. Shook her head distractedly. She had to be sick. Something was wrong with her. It was fine. Cyril was right. She just needed to get out and get some air. That's what she'd done in the central plaza after the first time she'd gotten sick on the Aerie, Besca had led her out and she'd felt better after she'd breathed. That was all she needed. She screwed her eye tight for a second before opening it and walking with a more sure stride up to the barrier that separated the landing zone from 

[i]the street full of people the sound of music SCREAMING the smell of copper and iron SAFIE her heart[/i] throbbed in her ears as she stumbled back until she collided with someone, she couldn't tell who, face suddenly ashen, ghost-pale as all the blood drained out of it. Black fuzz encroached around the edges of her vision, narrowing it down to a tunnel of muted gray shapes as tears poured freely from her wide, terrified eye. In the distance she though she could still see the water of the [i]lake the sun that GLARED AT HER the SCREAMING THE SCREAMING THE SCREAMING the fish full of BLADES glass in her feet glass in her throat BLOOD SO MUCH BLOOD run run RUN QUINNLASH RUN to the[/i] bay. Her head was filled with cotton, thick cotton that drowned out her thoughts and left her with nothing but the images and the deafening sound of her heart. She tried to speak, but all that dripped from her numb lips was a terrified, almost inaudible squeak. She tried again; another muted nothing-sound. She felt like she might faint. Tried again, and this time what came out was understandable, if only the barest whisper:

"[color=ffe63d]Not...not...again...not again...[/color]"