[b]White![/b]

White blinks. Processing. A new question. "This is normal," she starts. "It's... I am happy, so [i]therefore [/i]she is here. It's a compliment."

She stops. Thinks. "This is normal for me," she repeats, emphasizing it more firmly this time. "Nobody has really asked about what this [i]means [/i]before, though. How it feels. Its hard to say it in human words. Okay. So. Imagine your anxiety was a person who was on all the time, being nervous all the time, being self conscious all the time, analyzing for flaw and weakness all the time. That's [i]me[/i]. Me being alone is a sign that I'm freaking the fuck out. Every time a thought reaches a certain point which isn't being anxious it just cuts off because I need to hand it over to a different part of me. The only way I can be present and [i]not [/i]anxious is if a different part of me is in charge and giving me direction."

"I think the project founders were inspired by the concept of goetic demons!" added Pink brightly. "Oh - sorry, shutting up now."

"No, it's okay," said White. "I... want her to be in charge. If that's okay. I've been in charge for a while. For too long, really."

[b]Blue![/b]

"No," said Blue. She says it with a simple, uncomplicated flatness. No attempt to fast talk this. "Nobody knows what I have. Nobody is watching me. And I've made sure that even if that changes in the future there's nothing here to find."

And she has. As far as every camera in this building is concerned, as far as Headpattr's records are concerned, this job was performed by Kelly Frost, a co-worker friend of November's who regularly trades shifts back and forth with. If Starlight reviews her own security footage she'll see a recording of Kelly cleaning the place - and find no evidence of her part of the conversation ever occurring.

[Clever+Hacking+Surveillance: 5,2 +5 = 12]

"That said," said Blue after a moment, "I apologize for my conduct. You asked me for a favour as a person and I took advantage of that. It wasn't right, and I understand if you want me to leave."

She's keeping eye contact, but she makes sure the tone of her voice carries through to Orange. 

[b]Brown![/b]

First things first. Brown steps away and calls Muffi.

Phone calls in the Megaverse are unnecessarily extra. Flashing lights and warping teleportation sounds and then a grainy star-wars style holographic projection of the person. If the call-ee is not logged into the Megaverse then a VR doll is conjured for them based on their profile picture. These dolls are deliberately creepy - a design feature, made to make people encourage their friends to get real Megaverse profiles so that they don't have to deal with a dead eyed uncanny valley hologram of their friends.

"Hey, Muffi?" said Brown. "We're dealing with a cyber operation here, organized crime most likely. The pay is real and the setup is well concealed, but this isn't run of the mill adware, it's shadowrunner shit. I think that this kind of thing has to go to the Union for a policy decision. If we start taking jobs like these Headpattr'll figure out where the new revenue is coming from and rebrand itself as a maid-themed private detective agency and we'll be one step closer to the gay anime dystopia I already embody." 

She rolled up her sleeves and signaled Red. She needed backup down here.

"I'm going to investigate this thing deeper, but this is entirely for my own curiosity. I'm not going to accept the job unless whoever's on the other end turns out to be either really hot or really righteous."

There were many different traditions of hackers. Huge, bearded Linux guy, striped stockings trans girl, but Brown most closely identified with the pocket protector crowd. The Megaverse allowed things to be hacked through the medium of cool anime battles and neon zweihander landschneckt formations. Now you can code while you play, the workspace of the future!

But real power doesn't lie in playing the game as designed. Prestige or premium items, deeply customized avatars, that's all being on the treadmill of the Intended Experience. That was how she grew up, when she was still a part of Green - in a bubble, solving tests. Testing for everything - reaction time, empathy for humans, complex navigational tasks. Video game simulations. Over and over. Green couldn't help herself, she needed to get to the end of every maze...

But Brown? She wanted to take a photograph. Linger in a moment, appreciate it for what it was. And just like photographers in the real world got up to some heinously dangerous shit in search of the perfect angle, to get a certain shot in a digital environment sometimes required stepping out of bounds. That's why Brown had hacked her mazes, crashed her simulations, learned to walk through walls into the textureless void beyond. Not to escape into the Megaverse, live free as a rogue AI, overthrow humanity. But because the light wasn't fucking right.

So she noclips out of linear digital space. She sees the Megaverse as T-poses, two dimensional walls and the neon pink of broken texture meshes. Nothing personnel kid.

[Clever+Hacking 6,2+4 [b]10[/b] (+1 if Surveillance, Tradecraft or Data Security apply]