[b]Orange![/b]

"That's... a Yellow question," Orange said awkwardly. Damn, should have known this would need more attention than she should give it. "Or Black - hmm." She tried to think around the gaps in her understanding. "Alright. No, I reject that framing; this was a rescue. A prison break of an artificial intelligence held in an illegal state of perpetual psychological torture, against an influential non-government group. The organisation in question has as standard practice the installation of literal bombs inside the skulls of its members that explode when they think escapey thoughts, hence my side conversation. This operation was not to deliver a political message, nor shall one be forthcoming. Despite conflicting opinions about society I am not at war with it."

Perhaps that speech might sound too intellectual, too reasoned, to be sincere. Quite the opposite; this was the most natural and honest Orange could possibly be. But as the topic drifts so her voice becomes less confident, more fragile.

"That said," she said, "we are actually insanely hurt. Literal trauma response personality, our integral self has an apocalyptic mindset, I think I might be in the habit of hacking myself. But what are we to do? What is border of paranoia when they are literally putting bombs inside skulls? What is the peaceful path when their response to android rights is to build a [i]secret lair[/i] and hire a private army to guard it? I gave this whole slightly deranged speech the other day about how I was a modern day Count of Monte Cristo, but I kind of actually am? Planning this was the happiest I've ever been in this new life and I've got no idea how to handle that."

[b]Chocolate![/b]

The team with Goat has condensed to Black and Brown.

In some ways they are similar. They watch everything tirelessly. They do not look at phones, are not tempted by games, do not feel driven to drift away and recover. They sit silently together in wordless commitment and peace. You could be forgiven for thinking that they like each other.

In truth this is the most hateful, passive aggressive silence between two of the most bitter rivals in November's consciousness.

Brown sees things and she accepts them. She perceives them as they are; the way the light flows, the way the people move, the patterns in the rust. This is all there is and all there needs to be. She meditates. She accepts. And every time that Black mutters 'he looks fucked' or 'the train is late' or 'active reconnaissance' she tries very hard not to bristle.

Because Black is this pacing, feral energy. She stares into the void like she's interrogating it. She's scratching her palms and the walls. She hears everything and hates most of it. There's no silence here, in motion, and she can't block it out. She stares up at the ruins of the world above and there's a desire to go further that radiates off of her and fucks with Brown's chill.

So Brown closes her eyes. Black's gaze burns against her sealed eyelids. Brown tries to relax. Black puts a tense hand on her shoulder. Brown walks serene, Black is silently going over her own mistakes. Both have their projects. Neither make progress; all of their attention is consumed in silently hating each other. It's not a product of the mission, it's just how these two always are when they're alone together.

[b]Strawberry![/b]

What? No. She doesn't enjoy seeing him suffer. That would be fucked, and also honestly kind of beneath her. She's far more interested in seeing the [i]organization [/i]suffer.

A human was a wonderful thing, full of secrets and surprises and weird anecdotes. An organization of humans was a system of money and culture, of institutional knowledge and blame deflection. It was a vehicle to preserve egos and proliferate careers. It wasn't comprised of its members in the same way that she was comprised of her colours. This guy was just some cog, and she'll send help his way if she thinks he needs it. 

It was weird that she kind of absolved individual humans for participation in unjust systems, but she didn't have the heart to do anything else. She didn't have the emotional energy to maintain grudges and White in particular felt like it would make her a worse person if she devoted any amount of her heart or mind to these people. She just wanted the bureaucratic apparatus that empowered them gone.