Walking back home along the rim of the galaxy, Q paused at certain places along his path to watch (and perhaps toy with) the existence of lesser beings than himself. He had always enjoyed doing this, for hundreds, thousands of years. Even humans such as Picard or his beloved Kathy couldn't dim or destroy the small amount of joy he received from exerting his influence over inferior species. If anything, tormenting those particular two brought a special flavor to his fun.

Because that's all it was. A bit of fun.

After all, there was only so much to be seen in the Continuum itself. It was dreadfully dull there after awhile. Q couldn't understand how so many of the others were able to simply... exist there, content to simply observe the happenings in the universe at large.

Q wanted to be a part of the universe, to understand how such undeveloped creatures lived and reacted to things. That brought a small grimace to his face as he remembered a certain commander who had actually punched him. He had never thought a human could injure a Q, as mild as it had been.

Turns out he couldn't. It was only the fact that he was partially one of those beings the Bajorans called "The Prophets." Q thought that perhaps one day he would pay them a visit. He'd heard that they were non-corporeal and lived non-linearly, similarly to a Q. Such a group would be fascinating to understand and talk to (and maybe play with).

Then again, it could be another species unwise to provoke. Q had been scolded one too many times for irritating the Borg, a scourge on the galaxy at large.

What could he say? They were excellent choices to taunt the humans with. And to be perfectly fair, he had a reason for doing so, he had warned them that they were coming (an event that was not his fault in the slightest, unfortunately.) It was only Picard's arrogance rivaling his own that had made him do it.

There was only room for one Q, after all, and it wouldn't do to have the humans become too much like him.

Then there would be less fun in the universe, because no matter how the humans protested, they were violent creatures, prone to becoming much like those Klingons they called barbarians.

He had seen it, time and again, in the past and the future of their history. Despite noble individuals, such as his two beloved Captains, he still realized that humans were gullible, cruel creatures at their core. But the Continuum saw it otherwise, and instead forced him to become one of them for a time. What a horrible existence that had been.

And yet he had been less... alone, during that time. Despite the fact that almost everyone on the ship hated him, they'd been there. Q had begun leaving the Continuum a few thousand years previously, even becoming bold enough to leave the Road behind in search of small trails leading to hidden corners. He'd found some excellent hiding places that way, away from other Q.

Because even with them, he still felt so alone in the universe. He couldn't understand why these lesser beings were so rarely subject to the same feeling.

Wondering why, he traveled, and he observed. And he filled that little void in his heart with tormenting these lesser beings for being happy, when he couldn't be.

So he continued on the Road, looking for something he couldn't understand. But he would, someday.