"Yeah, brainstorming." Her smile turns a shade guilty. She has been doing her research, reading books on engines that warp through space, taking pictures of the Nexus so she has some photographic evidence... but she knows, on some level, that she's procrastinating, that all the research in the world is not going to prepare her for the moment she needs to talk to someone in charge about it.

"It's, um... I've been keeping the Nexus a secret for so long." She smiles nervously. "It's a little intimidating to finally share that with someone."

Adia has no idea that Ash meant characters "literally". She still doesn't, giving the other woman a blank look. "Um... I've heard of dwarfs..." Although something about that phrase triggers a memory, a book she might have looked through when trying to acquaint herself with Earth mythology. "Is that a... a fairy tale?"