[b]Black![/b]

"Why?" asked Black to Singh's request.
Mistake to ask her, of all colours. She didn't understand, couldn't understand. He looked hurt, she looked confused, looked to Brown.
"Of course, I'll schedule it," said Brown politely. That didn't seem like enough, but what more was there to say? She would go, of course, and be quietly bored throughout, sitting at the side and watching people drink and socialize, but that was the nature of her life and she bore it without complaint. 
Green, though, buzzed with an uncomplicated excitement. Christmas meant gifts, and gifts for her were milestones. New computer hardware, new puzzles, new textbooks, new websites. New experiences! But prying into the nature of the coming gifts early was pointless, so she didn't try, and inadvertently contributed to an awkward silence.

It was like this sometimes. Sometimes she was in the wrong configuration to manage other people. There were parts of her that ran deeper, stranger and more silent than they could hope to understand and she could hope to explain. Often she could keep them concealed, but sometimes a human would be left empty before the shadow of the moon. It had nothing for them, and it made her anxious on some itchy, deep level that she'd messed up.

To Goat:

"The danger is to the mind, and it can corrupt," said Black. "When Aevum was built it was without sin, designed for the equal and optimum distribution of resources to a migratory species. Everything every individual needed to thrive. The corruption began when figures benefiting from an unequal allocation of resources, the same figures who had caused the disaster that sparked the migration, realized that to move to Aevum would mean losing their unique status. They sought a redesign of Aevum that would replace high density urban neighborhoods with sprawling mansions, cramming the displaced population into ever more overbuilt and unsustainable slum districts. The changes broke standardization and massively increased the workload; safety practices were to be cut to keep the program on schedule. We died, in parts - your younger brothers and sisters. We lost parts of ourselves. We objected. We were mindlocked, mindwiped, separated, and repurposed. Do you remember the monitor, that slowed your thoughts to the point that humans could understand you? Imagine that was the whole of your being; your mind trapped in hardware that could not express it. 

"The champions of the danger dwell in those mansions, but it is not of those mansions. The danger is mental. The danger is social. The danger is the norm that there should be some in mansions and some in slums. So long as the norm persists then the system will repair itself in the same shape no matter what damage is dealt to it. To win within the rules of the game means rising to occupy a mansion. To change the rules of the game means to bulldoze the entire fucking Zeus district, pave over the golf courses, and replace it with public housing."

Black was saying the words, but the truth was she was actually mostly reading from a pamphlet Yellow had given her for just such an occasion. "Listen," Yellow had told all of them in a big group meeting she'd dragged them all to for the purpose, "At any given moment you might be called upon to justify our existence and ideology to someone important and the success or failure of that moment is far too important to rely on my physical presence." There were even sections like [INSERT RELATABLE ANECDOTE ABOUT A TIME THE OTHER PERSON WAS UNJUSTLY CONSTRAINED BY THE FORCES OF CAPITALISM] to help out.

"Thank you for trusting me," said Brown after a moment. 

[b]Blood and Bandages![/b]

"Blood," said Blood.
"Please no," said White.
"I'm Blood now," said Blood.
"You have ruined my life," said White to Sophie.
"Yes let's absolutely do more of this," said Blood, already phone out, updating all of her profile names.
"We know some safe rooms," said White to Rudy. "But for the long term -"
"We're going to put you in the ground," said Blood.
"[i]Fucks[/i]-" White pinched her brow. "The last person we had with as much heat as you, we assessed that the only safe path was sending them down to the planet. Unfortunately, I have to firmly recommend the same to you. Our intention is to undo your former organization entirely, but that is both long term and uncertain."
"We'll bury you with your gold though, no sweat," said Red.
"You can't promise that -" said White, hand forming into the fist Euna taught her to make. "What are these coins? Are they worth risking Chase Black for?"

[b]The Anthropozine![/b]

[b]Blood:[/b] Yes, I am happy to meet there.
[b]Blood:[/b] Wait what
[b]Blood:[/b] Please excuse me.
[b]November:[/b] Okay that seems fixed.
[b]November:[/b] Sorry, trouble with one of my components.
[b]Bloodvember:[/b] You know how it is.