Quinn's heart was still hammering in her throat when she arrived at the park. The brief walk had nearly stretched her to snapping again; but with Camille's cold eyes in the back of her mind, she'd managed to hold on until she could extricate herself. This was nicer; not too terribly unlike the Aerie's main plaza if she closed her eye. So she closed her eye, breathed deep, and tried to figure out how she was going to make any of this work.

She wasn't naive enough to believe she could spend the duration of her stay here alone, whether in the hotel, in the military zone, or in parks like this one. It just wasn't how a pilot's life went. At some point--and likely before long--she would be called on to make an appearance. She was the vaunted [i]Runan Hero,[/i] after all; people would want to see her, and talk to her. And like Camille said, [i]mistakes.[/i] She couldn't afford a breakdown in public, no matter what, but she could still feel the horrible panic clinging to her.

So, again: [i]how was she going to make this work?[/i]

Nursing that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she slid her phone out of her jacket pocket and opened her texts. A few more taps brought her to Dahlia's messages, and she hesitated, finger hovering over the keyboard. A long, long moment passed.

Then she closed the messenger app and opened the phone, and once more went to Dahlia. Another silent moment

Then she tapped on the contact, and it began to ring.

And ring.

And ring.

The seconds stretched out into yawning gaps as she waited for that familiar voice, and yet it wasn't forthcoming. The phone simply rang. Once. Twice. Three times. Four. Five--

"[color=skyblue][i]Quinn?[/i] Quinn--hello? Hey! Sorry I was just--I was in--nevermind, [i]hey![/i][/color]" Ah. There it was. Breathless, like she'd been exercising; but so very happy.

Quinn let out a strangled noise that sounded something like a simultaneous laugh and sob, and had to check her eye to make sure she wasn't actually crying (again). When she finally brought herself to speak, her voice was...unusual. It had a cheerful enough tone; but it also had the characteristic tremble that she wore whenever she was really upset. "[color=ffe63d]H--hey, Deelie, what's it like back home right now?[/color]"