CT taps her nails against the cold neck of the bottle and pulls a face, this one tinged with that quiet rage that always seemed to simmer beneath the surface even when she wasn't tossing the conversational equivalents of live grenades into the room back in the program.
"As far as I could see? No. It was all just this— pointless psychological trial, like they just wanted to see what she'd do, how far they could push it before... something happened, I guess."
It took longer than they may have expected it to, by the sounds of it. But something definitely happened.
"They'd probably have tried to spin it as somehow valuable data if caught, I think the twins in the other squads might have been their sorry excuse for control and comparison variables since Hawaii and California got AI—" Huh, was that from Carolina, or the Eye? She honestly can't remember. "—but it's all nonsense. They had your psyche profiles. There's no chance they didn't know the bomb they were arming. She still set it off, but— okay I'm getting too metaphorical... no. No, there was no clear end goal. But it still worked as they expected, I'm sure."
"Wow! That's great. Really cool." For all his sarcasm, North feels like he's going to throw up.
In a lot of ways, this makes it... a little less South's fault, at least? And there's some comfort in that, he thinks. She still has to be accountable for the things she chose to do, for letting her hatred of Theta get out of control, for not thinking her ridiculous plan through---- but she was manipulated. It's not like this was all circumstance. This was engineered. The Director played with fire, and let North be the one to get burned.
"It's extremely fucking stupid," CT echoes, sympathetic wrinkle in her brow. After a second's consideration, she reaches to give his shoulder a squeeze. "If I could've told you sooner, I would've, I just... didn't want to risk making things worse."
Rushing back to South before he was ready would've done neither of them any good. This brings new context, context South needs for her own actions, too, but...
"What happened still happened. She still chose to do what she did to you," she affirms, again. "...but the woman we're seeing now is not the same woman we started that program with, is she? Not really."
"No," he admits quietly, eyes falling to the table. "She's always had a temper, y'know? Most of the time in a fun way. Just--- my spitfire sister, getting mad about something stupid. We could laugh about it later. But over the past couple years, she just... stopped laughing. She got so angry. And then I did too. ...It scares me."
She keeps the hand there, won't remove it unless he shrugs her off. It's something Connie would've done, more than the person she became later. "The Project did a lot of damage to all of us, but what they were doing to you two..."
It's something else. She doesn't even have the words. Fucking stupid, but also just... a nightmare.
"...it is scary. South loves you, North, I could see that even on her worst days of complaining. To turn her into someone that could hurt you like this— that's why I was so worried when she turned up. If she could hurt you, she could hurt anyone, in a way I would never have expected of her before. And knowing someone can do that to you— it's scary, and it makes you react in ways you're not used to. I— actually don't remember ever really seeing you angry. Definitely not the loud kind, anyway."
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CT taps her nails against the cold neck of the bottle and pulls a face, this one tinged with that quiet rage that always seemed to simmer beneath the surface even when she wasn't tossing the conversational equivalents of live grenades into the room back in the program.
"As far as I could see? No. It was all just this— pointless psychological trial, like they just wanted to see what she'd do, how far they could push it before... something happened, I guess."
It took longer than they may have expected it to, by the sounds of it. But something definitely happened.
"They'd probably have tried to spin it as somehow valuable data if caught, I think the twins in the other squads might have been their sorry excuse for control and comparison variables since Hawaii and California got AI—" Huh, was that from Carolina, or the Eye? She honestly can't remember. "—but it's all nonsense. They had your psyche profiles. There's no chance they didn't know the bomb they were arming. She still set it off, but— okay I'm getting too metaphorical... no. No, there was no clear end goal. But it still worked as they expected, I'm sure."
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In a lot of ways, this makes it... a little less South's fault, at least? And there's some comfort in that, he thinks. She still has to be accountable for the things she chose to do, for letting her hatred of Theta get out of control, for not thinking her ridiculous plan through---- but she was manipulated. It's not like this was all circumstance. This was engineered. The Director played with fire, and let North be the one to get burned.
"God. That's so fucking stupid," he finally adds.
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"It's extremely fucking stupid," CT echoes, sympathetic wrinkle in her brow. After a second's consideration, she reaches to give his shoulder a squeeze. "If I could've told you sooner, I would've, I just... didn't want to risk making things worse."
Rushing back to South before he was ready would've done neither of them any good. This brings new context, context South needs for her own actions, too, but...
"What happened still happened. She still chose to do what she did to you," she affirms, again. "...but the woman we're seeing now is not the same woman we started that program with, is she? Not really."
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no subject
She keeps the hand there, won't remove it unless he shrugs her off. It's something Connie would've done, more than the person she became later. "The Project did a lot of damage to all of us, but what they were doing to you two..."
It's something else. She doesn't even have the words. Fucking stupid, but also just... a nightmare.
"...it is scary. South loves you, North, I could see that even on her worst days of complaining. To turn her into someone that could hurt you like this— that's why I was so worried when she turned up. If she could hurt you, she could hurt anyone, in a way I would never have expected of her before. And knowing someone can do that to you— it's scary, and it makes you react in ways you're not used to. I— actually don't remember ever really seeing you angry. Definitely not the loud kind, anyway."