Other people: chapters filled with action or actual plot.

Me: ~2k words about two androids talking to a human while he eats breakfast.

A sinking feeling gripped your chest. Anemone and 9S had told you conflicting statements. Each claimed you would be under their respective organization's jurisdiction, but you remembered that the talks hadn't been going anywhere. You hoped 9S could get your mind off the subject.

"Do you have a question, 9S?" You remembered he was eager to ask you questions while you were preparing to leave your old base.

"Huh?" He turned his head back up to you after sitting down. "Oh, right! Why are you on Earth; why aren't you on the Moon?" You took a second to parse his question as 50G's holographic stand flickered back into existence.

"Why am I not on the Moon? Why would I be there?"

9S tilted his head. "Because of the colony? Because you fled the Machine wars?"

You never knew of any colony on the Moon, nor of any machine war. "This probably sounds foolish, but I'm not on the Moon because I never went…" The look on 9S's was that of pure confusion, his jaw slightly slack. "I don't know what you want me to say! I'm from the Earth, and I've never left this blue marble."

"But… But then you'd… If you were…" 9S brought his hand up and ran them through his hair as his head dipped slightly. His head shot up. "No! There'd-" It dropped back. After a moment, he let out a sigh. "I'll need to think about that. Are we switching off questions?"

You shrugged. "Sure." But what to ask him… "So I have these two pods. What exactly can they do?" You continued cutting though your odd breakfast.

"Ah! Right, so pods are-"

"9S, if you parrot back the whole 'tactical support units usually assigned to Yorha units,' I swear to God-"

"No! I wasn't going to say that. I think you've seen what pods are capable of, with the different submodels. You've seen that mine fires photobullets, 2B's does the same. 47D's can fire tethers to pull enemies in. 50G, you want to explain yours?"

"Yeah," 50G continued, "mine's a bit custom. Usually, that submodel just creates bombs, but this one creates launching charges so they can carry further. For a while, I actually used a pod that fired tethers. A lot of Gunner-types like those 'cause they can get them up to sniping positions more easily. Me, I moved toward being a mortargirl. It's just so..." She tensed up her hands and brought them in front of herself. "Satisfying, seeing them flying all over, never having gotten close to you. 'Course, I can still appreciate a good gun. Remember 'ol Titanwrecker?" The gun suddenly flashed into her hands. "I fell in love after one pull of the trigger."

"There's still a bit more about the pods, though. They can have these plug-and-play programs loaded into them, and they have loads of different abilities. For the most part, they're just stronger versions of the submodels' abilities. Running them is a bit taxing on the unit as a whole, though."

"Speaking of the pods," you asked, "where are yours?"

"Maintenance." 9S and 50G said deadpan, almost in sync. Okay, that was a bit funny.

"Alright," 9S sat forward, "So what's the deal with apartments? A bunch of humans live together- I assume for efficiency reasons- but why do they have these other solutions at the same time?"

You had made some progress on the steak, but it was time to put it aside for now, while you gave your monologue. "I assume you're talking about things like houses being the other 'solutions'?"

"Yeah, the archives also talk about things like mansions, barracks, and hotels."

"All of those are places of residence, but the manner and why people are housed are different. You know about apartments. Houses are usually for one small group of people, usually a family, sometimes for people unrelated to each other. Mansions are mostly the same as houses, but they are, by definition, much larger than house. Hotels are places for people to stay temporarily- people are packed together much like apartments. Barracks are large buildings to house a nation's army.

"What's important about each of them is that they have different positives, so people selected what they wanted/needed. Apartments for ground footprint efficiency, houses for privacy, barracks for armies, and mansions for… rich people. That mostly answer your question?" You picked up your meal.

"For now, I guess."

"So what makes the Yorha androids different from the resistance androids?" You took a bite of the steak. Ugh, gristle. "I realize I may get a biased answer."

"YoRHa androids are, for the most part, the next generation of androids. Sure, the Resistance is keeps coming out with updates and upgrades, so they're more like two different product lines. YoRHa androids have a 'Black Box'- it's like a secondary storage medium, and it's uniquely suited to house these upgrade chips, which affect an android's operational ability, usually for the better."

50G spoke up, "I kind have noticed something, took me a while- YoRHa androids are more suited for going out and dealing with Machines head-on. We take the fight to them. Resistance androids really like sitting back in their bases, and they're really good at doing that. Think of it like this, 9S- when was the last time you saw a Resistance base get attacked and really take the hit, or get overrun?"

9S thought while you took another bite. "I can only think of one occasion, and the Resistance was going to abandon that outpost, anyway. All they lost was a few day's provisions."

"Exactly! Anywhere the Resistance wants to set itself down, they take! And how has YoRHa been faring on the base front?"

"We've been facing a lot more attacks, and we've had more trouble keeping them away."

"And when's the last time you've seen the Resistance make a serious offense, unless it was handed to or spearheaded by us?"

"You make a good point," 9S said at last. He turned to you. "Does that answer your questions?" You nodded. "Okay, so this is more of something that my Operator wants to know, she keeps prodding me to see if I have any information related to the human concept of families. When you're done, of course." He added the last sentence since you were chewing.

You swallowed and answered, "Families… Anything in particular you want to know?"

"Not… really? 21O just asks a lot about what I've found out, but it's never enough or it's not what she's looking for."

"Hm. Classical ideologies say that there's this rigid structure that must exist in a family. That there has to be a father who's this strong paternal figure and supports the family financially, and a mother who needs to be there to support the family in a number of other facets- cooking, cleaning, activities in that vein. The parents are there to support and raise their children, bringing the next generation of people into the world and preparing them to live lives of their own. Is this information good?"

"I'll ask her later what she's looking for."

"So you mentioned 'your operator', is that important within Yorha?"

"Yeah, every YoRHa unit on the ground is supposed to have an Operator that works with them. They are how information is disseminated from Command to the units on the field, as well as coordinators of major operations."

50G decided to voice her opinion. "And every single one of them has a rod shoved up their-"

"50G, they're not all like that."

"You haven't had to deal with 32O, she shouts at me when I did nothing wrong!" Thirty-two… you remember that number from somewhere. "I was asking her for more details about a mission, and she flew into this ten-minute rant!"

"21O isn't like that. Sure, she can be… distant at times, but she's still a really good operator!"

"Sounds like you haven't listened to a lot of other androids' stories about their Operators."

"Everyone exaggerates their stories, especially if they've been slighted by someone else."

"I'm not exaggerating. I timed her."

9S stopped in shock, then slowly turned to you. "If that's enough explanation, then-"

"9S, how about I ask the human a question? I haven't had much voice here."

"Eh? I- okay, fine."

50G paused to collect herself. This was apparently something nerve-wracking for her.

"Are you going to-" 9S was cut off.

"Look, it's a sensitive question, okay?" 50G turned back to you. "Look, humans… do they have to have- do they have to go through-" She took a deep breath.

"Get on with it…"

"Look, to humans need to go through the operation, or not‽" 9S was shocked by her outburst, but you just sat there confused.

"F-50G, that- you can't just ask that!"

"But he's a human! Shouldn't he not need to go through that?"

"Think about what you're asking here!"

"Uh," you interrupted, "what is she asking here?"

Both androids flinched. Back and forth, they motioned toward you at the other.

"Look, just tell me what you're talking about." You said to a fidgeting 50G.

"…Okay, look. When androids are created, they're fully formed. They don't grow up like humans do. But they don't have everything humans do, they don't have… 9S, tell him!"

"Tell him yourself!"

You took another bite as 50G squirmed.

"Look, do you have a ****‽"

You coughed in surprise, nearly choking on your breakfast. After a couple seconds of your body doing its best to prevent food from going down the wrong pipe and reassuring 9S that, no, you weren't going to die, you attempted to parse your way through 50G's question.

"Okay… What?" You were incredulous.

"Don't give me that, you heard the question!"

You sighed. "Ugh… Fine. Yes, I have one. Was that seriously all you were asking?" 50G quietly nodded, not looking at you.

"Right. Now for a question that actually makes sense. What's up with your names? Why is there a number-letter pair?"

"Well, the letters stand for the type of YoRHa android- I'm 9S, so I'm a Scanner. The number is the personality type, so I have personality number nine. 50G has personality number fifty, and she's a Gunner. 21O has personality number twenty-one, and she's an Operator."

"So two androids with the same number-"

"Have the same personality type. I don't think it needs to be said, but the Resistance androids don't follow this pattern."

You hummed in thought as you ate the last piece of breakfast. You flipped the lid back onto the top of the container with the silverware inside, then stood to hand it over to 9S.

50G spoke up. "I hate to break this up, but we need to meet up with the group for preparations for the next operation." She walked between you and 9S and opened the door. "Come on, 9S."

9S stood up and took the container, which shortly disappeared in another of those bursts of white-golden light. "Thanks for answering our questions, Theodore," he said with a smile and turned to leave.

"Thanks for breakfast, 9S." Before 9S walked out of reach, you brought your hand up and ruffled his hair. "And thanks for answering my questions." His hair was surprisingly soft. 9S stopped in his tracks almost as soon as your hand found his scalp. You felt him tilt his head back into your palm. As you glanced back up, 50G was in the hallway, staring back into the room.

She began to lose her patience. "9S!"

9S jumped in fear, then ran to catch up with 50G, closing the door behind himself. You turned to 320, "So any updates on 904's repairs?"

"Pod 904 is approaching final stages of repair. This unit estimates the repairs will terminate in 48 minutes."

You looked around the room. "What to do until then…"

Sorry for the lackluster chapter, but it needed to be somewhere where the reader asks questions to some of the androids. ...And I realized, after writing this chapter, that I didn't introduce something that I said I would introduce. Next chapter, then.