Mcmolly

Amygdala Circuit

Mona laughed along with Quinn, it seemed, sincerely. She leaned back in her seat, daintily yet expertly picking out pieces of the salmon with her fork. The wine glass had taken up permanent residence in her other hand, swirled gently around when it wasn’t brought to her lips. If she noticed the change in Quinn’s voice, she didn’t show it.

Besca did notice though. She was used to the frayed nature of Quinn’s laugh, never quite right, like she didn’t really know how to keep the other emotions out of it. This was much different. It was clean, happy, almost curated. On the one hand it was elating to see her in such control of herself. On the other, it was so blatantly unnatural—at least to her ears, though no one else seemed to notice—that it almost didn’t sound like Quinn at all.

“So, honey,” Mona went on between bites. “You know I’m so curious—before RISC popped up, I talked to all sorts of pilots, from all over. Now, some of those programs run things pretty strict, pretty hard. When I had little Dahlia on her she said things were definitely a little high-energy for her. And that I get, you know, she’s the Dragon and all that—but what’s it like for you? What do you do all day up there? Do you like it? It’s gotta but such a jarring change of pace for you, I’m sure. I mean, compared to what life must have been like before. I guess—what's the biggest difference been, joining RISC, becoming a pilot? Me personally, I get anxious whenever I have to change hairdressers. I couldn't imagine upending my whole life like that, it must have taken a little getting used to, hm?”

Amygdala Circuit

Mona grinned, clapping excitedly. Behind her, Besca was almost slack-jawed at how bright and giddy Quinn sounded—how enthusiastic, how normal. She’d heard her happy in the lulls between personal apocalypses, but this was so much…different. She hardly recognized her voice.

“That’s right, folks!” Mona said. “Quinnlash Loughvein is here with us tonight, and I could not be happier, let me tell you. But first things first—the entre to our entre. We had another guest join us earlier, a chef from the Aerie Station, mister Akihiro—am I saying that right? Akihiro? Well he came down and whipped up this salmon for us tonight and, folks, if I could just…”

She brought the plate up to her face and took an exaggerated whiff. “Oh, my gawsh. I don’t know a whole lot about Tohoken cuisine, but if this doesn’t just smell like heaven, then nothing does. Quinn, honey, I know you’re the star here tonight but I am almost as excited to dig into this as I am to talk to you, and it’s your favorite dish so I can only imagine how you’re feeling. So why don’t we kick things off here with a few bites, hm?”

Mona twirled her fork between her fingers and speared a small chunk of fish up. She popped it into her mouth, and her other hand came up over her lips while she chewed.

“Good god,” she mumbled, swallowing and turning briefly around to Besca. “He cooks up there for you all? Are you hiring? Oh, I don’t think I ever need to ask another Runan why they want to be a pilot again.”

She took a few more bites, and whatever idea Quinn might have had that the questions were coming soon and rapidly would quickly melt away. Mona hadn’t been lying, she seemed just as interested in the dinner than she was with her.

Eventually she did manage a question, unceremoniously covering her mouth to speak while she chewed. “So, Quinn, I gotta know—what do you do with that beautiful braid while you’re all set up in the cockpit? You know, when you’re running and jumping and blasting and all that, is it in there flapping around? Does it, like, smack you at all? I’ve heard it’s hard to snap a pilot out of the zone, but that thing looks hefty. I mean, it’s so cramped in there, isn’t it? And I wake up if I turn the wrong way at night. I couldn’t imagine having a flail come at me in the dark.”

Amygdala Circuit

As the minutes counted down, the crew shuffled around with purpose. Someone produced a pair of small microphones over, unobtrusively clipping them to both Quinn and Mona’s collars. Napkins and cutlery were brought out to the table next, along with a pitcher of water, and glass of wine, which Mona immediately sipped from. A thirty-second countdown started, and with only fifteen seconds left the food was served piping hot. From behind the counter, chef Akihiro gave Quinn an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Besca made her way around the set, to Mona’s back, where she’d be in full sight of Quinn. She waved, smiled. Her look said: “You got this.” But like Quinn, she was undeniably still nervous. Mona was about as good a draw as they could have gotten for the first interview, but a million things could still go wrong. They had just this morning, and while Besca had tried to be as comforting and supportive as possible, in the back of her mind she knew it was ridiculous to expect Quinn to have a complete hold of herself after a nap and a few sincere words.

A beep sounded, and red lights blinked to life on the cameras. A brief musical cue played as Mona waved to the centermost camera, and then there was relative silence.

“Good evening, Runa, and welcome to dinner!” Mona said. Her voice seemed much bolder now, more projected, almost like a stage actress. “Tonight’s show is a bit shorter, but it’s very special. That’s right. I’m sure some of you watching right now are asking yourselves: who is this beautiful young lady? and to those first-time viewers—hello, I’m flattered.” She giggled to herself, as if in-time to the laughter of some unseen audience. “But no, no, really! A lot of you probably have no idea who this is joining me tonight, and I don’t blame you! But we’re very honored to have her here tonight, and—you know what, I’m gonna let her do the honors.”

Mona smiled to her, gesturing to the center camera. “Honey, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself? Tell’em why I’m so excited to have you here tonight!”

Amygdala Circuit

Mona listened carefully, like she thought she might be learning some deep, dark secret. She didn’t, but even still, she let out a delighted snicker and nodded. “Oh, honey, I hear you. I run almost every last inch of this show, but sometimes I feel like the producers have got me on the world’s smallest leash, like I’m some kinda yip-dog. Business,” she made a disgusted sound and waved her hand dismissively.

Her eyes softened somewhat, and she brought her own voice a bit lower, too. “Oh, and just so you know, we won’t be bringing up any of that uh…well, that whole situation. ‘Course, you have my deepest condolences, I just don’t want you to worry about our talk turning into the tragedy hour. Like I said, we have fun, here.”

“I usually like to keep things open-ended, but when I was your age I hated being thrown into something blind. You know, when lil’ Deelie came through here, I let her pick almost all the things we talked about ahead of time.” Mona sat back, a wistful smile on her face. “She was such a sweetheart, too. Would love to catch up with her again. But anyway—figured you might feel the same way, so, anything in particular you want to talk about? Anything you wanna avoid? Don’t let the wrinkles fool you, I’m a nimble thing, I can adapt.”

Someone off-set held up their hand, fingers splayed. Mona gave a thumbs-up back. “Dinner’s about five minutes out. Bessy really talked this guy up, said you love this salmon. I don’t eat a lot of Tohoken food but that smell is divine.”

Amygdala Circuit

“I have fans?”

Mona burst into laughter, high and cackling, but not in an unpleasant way. She had the sort of laugh that people found contagious, unique but not grating—the perfect fit for a talk show host. Of course, when she realized that Quinn hadn’t been cracking a joke, and was in fact entirely serious and very visibly confused, her laughter settled. She kept her smile though, a match for Quinn’s own.

“Oh—oh wow, you really mean that, don’t you? Sweetie, you’re a pilot, you had fans the moment your name hit the net. And you know, that was pretty recent all things considered. It was impossible to find a single picture of you that wasn’t from some blurry drone—but that’s alright, people love the mystery. And you know what? You’re just cute as a button in person. After tonight that crowd out there is gonna look like a puddle compared to the ocean of fans you’re gonna have.”

She waved off-set, and a few moments later someone came over with glasses of water for each of them.

“Oh, what’ll you want with your dinner? Just that? Pop? I’d offer you something more fun but I wanna stay on Bessy’s good side.” She barked out another laugh and sipped from her glass. “Plus, I’ve got a rule—no alcohol on the first interview. I had Renny Falsam on thirty years ago. He wanted these huge steaks, I mean big as they get, and just a little bit of whiskey. Well, twenty minutes in, that boy is slurring and cross-eyed and he’s laughing at jokes he’s only said in his head. Wow! Talk about a disaster. Yep, no alcohol this time, but maybe down the road.”

Nudging her glass aside, Mona leaned onto the table, head rested on her hands. Her eyes were big behind her glasses. “So how’d you adjust to living up there? Coming from such a quiet little town and moving into space. That must have been so weird, right? Do they shut the gravity off? Do you all just float around everywhere? How do you know when to go to bed? Gawsh, that’d mess me all up.”

Amygdala Circuit

As the they drew closer to the ground, Quinn could see the bounds of the area that had been marked off for their arrival. They touched down in a vacated parking lot outside of a modestly tall and very wide building that must have been the studio. One side was blocked off by a wall, and a few hundred feet away at the other end, there was a minor blockade set up with police officers behind lines of tape. There must have been a hundred people there, and the moment Quinn and Besca stepped off the elevator they exploded with excitement. Shouting, cheering, volleys of camera flashes and signs—full signs—with Ablaze printed onto them, held up above the crowd.

“C’mon, hun. Let’s head in.”

Besca didn’t hold her hand on the way, but she didn’t stay entirely distant either. There was a level of professionalism she had to maintain planetside. Her past as strictly handling RISC’s pilots afforded her some leeway when it came to how close she appeared to be with them, but as commander now, it had been made clear to her that she was to present as their superior.

It was bullshit, but like this interview, it wasn’t her call. She’d shuck that order the moment they were inside, anyway.

Two soldiers remained outside, two more at the door, and two in the hallway. The rest followed behind. Crew darted between rooms, speaking into headsets, scribbling onto clipboards; they were frightfully efficient, no one ever bumped shoulders or came anywhere close to Quinn—though a few did eyeball her as they passed. Curiosity, mostly, but an undeniable level of wonder as well.

Eventually the hall opened up into a tall room that was dark along the fringes, and further in, where all the lights were pointed, was the set of “Dinner with Mona.” Hard wooden flooring, upon which sat a small, round table and two cushioned chairs. Behind it was a backdrop of a cityscape, though Quinn wouldn’t have known which. It was framed in such a way that they might have been sitting by a window of some penthouse restaurant.

Just out of the light were an array of large cameras, each manned by two or three people. Off to one side was a long table stacked with plain food, catering for the crew. To the other was a fully functional kitchen. It wasn’t meant for the cameras, obviously, but with a moment’s thought it did seem necessary. It was Dinner with Mona, after all—it seemed they just cooked that dinner on-set.

And it seemed like it was being cooked as they spoke. The smell had been there before they’d left the hall, but now it was much clearer. Aromatic spices filled the air, the smell of seasoned oil and the sizzling pop as it cooked on the fire. It was floral, buttery, faintly heated, and familiar.

Then, a man popped up from behind the kitchen counter, aproned and sweating but his face was split with the grin of a man in love with his work. It was the chef from Tohoki Grill. He caught sight of Quinn and Besca as they entered, and waved, before returning to his pans.

“Oh yeah, Besca said, giving Quinn a wink. “They wanted to know what you’d like for dinner. I asked our friend, and he insisted he make it for you himself.”

“Oh my gawsh!”

From the dark behind the cameras, an old woman came scuttling up to them. She must have been in her sixties, small as Quinn and quite skinny. She’d let her hair whiten with age, curled and puffy, with a single black streak dyed up the side. Behind her circular glasses was a pinched face, powdered and smiling through pearly teeth and dull red lipstick. Her dress was simple and elegant, red with a black stripe up the side just like her hair, and with every step she took, her ruby heels clacked against the ground.

She threw her hands up, painted nails long and black, and put an arm on either of their shoulders as if she meant to hug them both at once.

“Wow, wow wow wow—just look at you!” she said, earthy eyes turning to Quinn. “You are just the cutest! Honey, I love your jacket, and—oh my gawsh look at that braid. That is just powerful. Wow.”

“Miss Dunway,” Besca said, holding a hand out. “We’ve met before, I—”

“Bessy!” she took Besca’s hand with both of hers and shook vigorously. “Oh a’course! I never forget a face. Hah! You were so nervous, now look at you! Feels like I oughta salute. So nice to have you back, honey.”

“Quinn, this is Mona Dunway.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Quinn—can I call you Quinn? So much better without all the formality.”

“Listen,” Besca said, still with a hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go check on our friend, see how the food’s coming along. Why don’t you two take a few minutes before this gets started, get to know each other a little bit?”

Mona clapped her hands together. “Bessy, honey, you took the words right outta my mouth! Quinn,” She started off towards the set. Besca gave Quinn a confident nod, and stepped away to the nearby kitchen, making sure not to leave eyesight. “I’ve just gotta say, I am so happy you agreed to come here. You’ve probably heard this a lot recently but I am a huge fan!”

She led them to the table, taking a seat. Off-set, people scrambled like they thought the show was about to start, but she waved them down. “So please, please! This is your first interview, right? Ever? We like to take things easy here, keep it casual, nothing serious. Let the daytime suits have all that junk. Me? I just want this to be fun, so if there's anything I can do for you, lemme know!"

Amygdala Circuit

Besca hugged her as she walked past, quick and tight, and only mumbled a quiet: “I know, kiddo,” on their way out. She kept close. When they reached the hangar, they found only a skeleton crew at work, along with the relatively small escort that would be accompanying them down. That was Caster’s doing, she guessed. A stalemate and begrudging understanding didn’t mean he wouldn’t still skimp on her where he could—besides, his people probably expected him to retaliate somehow for her overstep.

It was ultimately meaningless—and she figured he knew that, too. Local PD would have the whole studio cordoned off anyway, and here on home soil Besca doubted there was any real danger. If he tried pulling something like this in Casoban or Eusero, then, well, there’d be words.

A smaller railing sprouted up around a smaller, inner section of the great elevator, still more than enough for the dozen or so departees. The replacement had been designed for compartmental decent, which was honestly refreshing. This way, they wouldn’t need half a mile of clearance every time they wanted to send down less than their entire force.

A series of checks from the control room. Loud buzzes, clicking. Green lights flashed along the railing, and with a decompressing hiss, they began to descend.

The hardlight channel was not red this time, but almost entirely translucent, like they were dropped through a glass tube. Mona’s studio was in Dorsey, a smaller city encircled by hills and spiderwebbed with thick runs of pastel trees. Even with so many leaves fallen, the world below them was a soft blur of pale blues and gentle pinks. Pockets of seafoam and amethyst dotted the brushy veins, wind lifted and twirled the fallen leaves, made the earth a rippling kaleidoscope broken only by the rises of a few tall buildings.

Besca leaned against the railing, smiling wistfully. “When I was little, my mom used to tell me how beautiful Runa was. Her grandparents were born here, and she always talked about taking me and my cousins to see their old home in hills outside of Queenshand.” Her eyes turned to the horizon, to the setting sun and the sky so vivid and contrasting to the pastel world below. “Even on the hardest days, when I look down here, I get a little reminder of what it is we’re fighting for. What we’re really fighting for.” She looked back to Quinn. “What you’re helping protect.”

Amygdala Circuit

Besca took the brush from Quinn with a nod, and led her to the couch. She stood behind, pulling Quinn’s curtain of hair over the end, and got to work. Long, easy strokes, pausing when she reached a knot to straighten it out gently. She still hesitated, still made mistakes here and there, she was certainly much better at it now than she had been before—even if she couldn’t quite manage the braid yet.

“Deelie told me about lunch,” she said, and her tone was very deliberate. She’d had time to think, and time to make sure she didn’t convey even an ounce of disappointment or frustration. Only measured concern, and understanding. “She wanted me to tell you she loves you, and that she’s still proud of you. I am too.”

Finishing up, Besca set the brush aside and came around the couch. She knelt down in front of Quinn and took her hands. Small, and there was a cold there that she couldn’t feel, but that she knew anyway. She’d been thinking about this, too.

“You’re Quinnlash. That’s who you are, that’s what you are. If I have to remind you of that every single day, I will, because it’s true. You are not a thing, you’re a person.” She reached up, gently thumbed the dried tear streaks on her face. Smiled. “You’re one of the most important people in the world to me. You’ll never be anything less than that.”

She wanted nothing more than to keep Quinn here, to just let her be and decompress, but it wasn’t her call. Patting the girl’s cheek, Besca got up and went to grab her coat from the kitchen counter.

“Alright hun, we’re due at the elevator in a few minutes. I’m gonna be right with you the whole time; I’ve been on the set before, it’s not too big. I’ll be right off-screen, I’ll even stand behind Mona.”

Amygdala Circuit

---

---

In the dream, Safie sat with Quinn at the back of the boat, their legs dangling in the water while Dahlia and her father chatted idly at the bow. She told her how proud she was, or would be, if Quinn became a pilot; it was hard to tell even in the moment whether she was speaking prospectively or of some nebulous present. The idea of working together was exciting, and Safie was absolutely certain that Quinn would love Tohoki Grill. She described dishes so vividly Quinn could taste them on her tongue, and a chef who sounded so familiar she could hear his jovial voice wishing her well.

It was a warm afternoon. The sun was silver upon the waves. Eventually Safie pointed out to the forested shore, where a great white deer rested. Its antlers were tall and branching, and trickles of blood leaked from they sprouted on its skull. It seemed to know they were looking, and bowed its head.

“See?” she said, smiling bright. “Even the stag believes. You’re meant for greatness, never let anyone convince you otherwise.”

And before that warmth could turn to confusion, Quinn woke up.

---

---

The haze of her dream faded, only a pleasant comfort lingered. There was a weight beside her on the bed, and fingers brushing through her hair. As the bleariness of sleep cleared, Quinn could see Besca sitting next to her.

“Hey, hun.” Her voice was soft, her smile gentle. “About an hour ‘til the interview, time to get ready. I brought you some new clothes—tried to pick stuff I thought you might like. Just for tonight, in case you don’t like’em. Next time I’ll bring you shopping and you can pick out the stuff yourself, promise.”

She nodded to the end of the bed. Laid out there was a simple pair of pants, a solid black shirt, and a steel-gray jacket with a pair of golden stripes angled across the back.

“Go ahead and get dressed—I’ll be right outside.”

Besca left the door cracked on her way out, but a feeling lingered within Quinn like she wasn’t alone. Even once she was well and properly awake, it stubbornly refused to leave. It came to her not like a chill down the spine, but rather, like a hand on the shoulder.

Ready or not, she had herself.

Amygdala Circuit

Dahlia didn’t know what to say. Seeing Quinn wither further and further was absolutely crushing, and every last atom screamed for her to do something, but she just…didn’t know. She had nothing, no answers to give, no comfort to offer. Nothing she could say or do seemed like it could ever be adequate. She just couldn’t match that fear.

You’re not enough. Again.

Stop trying. You’re making it worse.

So she just sat there, squeezing Quinn’s hand while she continued to cry. She called herself a doll, and though the mere suggestion sickened Dahlia to her core, she couldn’t bring herself to argue. Maybe it wasn’t her place to. Maybe it wasn’t the time. It was hard to know anymore. All she could really do was hope, and right now, hope seemed utterly worthless.

Whatever remained of Dahlia’s will to smile died. Burned to the roots.

“We should go,” she said softly. “Back to the dorms, or the gardens. Somewhere else. Somewhere quieter. This…this isn’t good for you.”