South’s hands fall away from her head and droop between her knees, instead. She looks the kind of tired sleep can’t fix and uncharacteristically unsure of herself, now that so much of the rage has fallen away.

This certainly isn’t the South from the Project, and it’s probably not even the South that so baldly let Carolina know everything she’d done wrong when Carolina first arrived.

“No shit,” South says with a weak snort. “I... fuck. You pissed me off so fucking much with that— that golden child act, the way you freaked the fuck out about being number two when they just kept pushing me down and...”

She groans, again, dropping her head. She takes a breath.

“I was so fucking done with your shit I petitioned for one of your fucking AIs if you died or became a fuckin’ vegetable, as if that wasn’t fucked up as hell.”

It was callous and cruel and maybe South should have known then that she was on a path that would only end in her causing irreversible harm, but at the time...

“I was just so... so... done. With Command’s bullshit. With all of you. CT was fucking gone and North cared more about his stupid AI and—”

Another breath. Her hands cup over the back of her skull, now, her head down.