After a bit of time spent peacefully playing phone games, Miss Chievous’s attention is pulled over by her sister indirectly mentioning her vitzlite tool technology. She keeps quiet as their conversation continues, but decides to chime in after Miss Calculated is struck silent from Mark dragging Alley Cat’s powers into the mix.
“You wanna use my knife first, or are you gonna go straight to using yours?” When Miss Chievous suddenly asks this in a slightly raised voice, both Jonathan and Miss Calculated flinch with surprise. Amused by Jonathan’s startlement, Miss Chievous elbows him once while snickering, earning a brief side-eyed glare paired with a huff from him.
The M & M couch had quieted down ever since Mark finished his happily scheming
Miss Calculated slowly inhales, holds, then exhales a deep breath before speaking once more.“I… Yes, thank you. You’re right. Today’s just been, well, rather overwhelming. It has been borderline surreal, and I’m half expecting some sort of reversal to happen at any moment.” After Miss Calculated makes this guilty admission, both Mark and Mikah chuckle. Mikah has a distant look for a few seconds, then chuckles with a smile.“I was only around for, what, roughly half of it all? If even? Even still, that was enough to see how crazy of a day it’s been. Really, it sure feels like there’s a whirlwind of chaos around the Lynn family, hmm?” As
Mikah looks from Miss Calculated over to the approaching service bot, then back to Miss Calculated again, holding back laughter the whole time.“Well, I guess we’re about to find out if there’s at least a decent chance of it working, hmm?” While Mikah is teasingly asking this, Miss Calculated is busy twisting a few rings around the vitzlite end of her utility knife, telescoping the handle into itself by a small amount. Once she finishes aligning the safety locks, a small rocker switch that was previously recessed in the handle pops out, located such that it is directly under her thumb when she holds the Viblade in a ready-to-use position.“Mm, exactly. I have no idea
With their grand, trollish, entrance complete, Lucas and Miss Masher walk over to rejoin the others. Two notable details about them, apart from the fact that they’re now in workwear, complete with work boots; Miss Masher is carrying the sisterhood’s black insulated messenger bag, and Lucas’s previously slicked-back-with-gel hairstyle has been aggressively tousled.Now that the waiting period has passed, Jonathan pauses his game once again, shuts off his phone, and tucks it safely away within one of his inner suit jacket pockets. Once he actually looks up at Lucas, he snerks involuntarily.“Wh-what the hell happened to your h-hair!?” Afte
After Lucas gives Willy a few comforting pats, he holds his arms outstretched before him.“Here, buddy, lemme pick ya up. It’s gonna be tight in here, don’t want no one steppin’ on ya.” Once Lucas makes this offer, Willy barks agreeably and climbs up Lucas’s chest, resting his front paws over Lucas’s shoulder, with his snoot between them, holding the chew toys dangling over Lucas’s back.After Lucas takes a moment to melt a little, he makes sure his left forearm is securely under Willy’s rump. He slowly stands back up again, ensuring the awkward long boi is staying comfortably in place, which he is.As the rest of the group files into the elevat
Post important pupper protective equipment placement, Mikah pulls Mark and Miss Calculated’s masks out of his pocket, as well as Mark’s phone. Not inclined to walk around while the elevator is still in motion, he holds onto Mark’s belongings for now. But, he does hold out Miss Calculated’s mask towards her.“Here you are, Mary. I imagine that all of you want to have your masks on in advance before getting there.” After Mikah says this, Miss Calculated turns to face him. Before she manages to secure a solid one-armed carry for the box of miscellaneous contents that she’s carrying, Miss Chievous claims it on her behalf.“Oh, thanks, both of you.” By the time Miss Calculated finished saying this and turns her attention fro
Lucas is still staring past Miss Calculated’s shoulder, transfixed by the recently revealed wreckage of racks, robots, ruined remnants of remodelings, promotional materials, and more. As the elevator doors finish sliding all the way open, he clears his throat before speaking up.“Hey, uh, Marsha? Are ya gonna be busy the next few days?” Lucas asks in a deadpan voice as he slowly blinks.“...I guess I am gonna be, now. Seems I’m havin’ a protein shake for dinner tonight. Eheh…” Miss Masher matches Lucas’s tone at first while staring past Miss Calculated’s other shoulder, but she gains a simultaneously delighted and dangerous smile when she starts chuckling. Although, the smile is hidden from sight, courtesy of her
Meanwhile, as the mannequin madness is mounting, Mark and Miss Calculated amble out of 23’s way when it reaches the clear space around the elevators.23 brings the decommissioned bot over near the boomerang pile, gingerly setting it down so it is sitting upright next to another inactive bot, which is missing an arm. Behind the two inactive bots is a modestly measured mound of a motley mix of miscellaneous machine materials in myriad magnitudes of mottled marring. At least, they’re ruined by wealthy people’s standards. Miss Calculated began eyeing the collection hungrily once she noticed it, as her eyes were previously fixed on the robot in 23’s arms without paying any attention to anything else. Mark snorts and sharply turns away, marching to the elevator. He has to circle around Miss Masher to get there, and she pivots in place to keep her eye on him while he does so.As she is tracking Mark’s path; when her gaze passes Lucas he covertly points at her and gives a thumbs up, then gently pats his chest in solidarity. Even though he can’t see her smile directly, her eyes visibly crinkle a bit from it, and she gives a small nod in acknowledgment and appreciation.Mark hits the elevator’s downward call button before turning back to look at Miss Calculated once more.“Even if you’re right, that was unacceptable. I expect an apology once you’ve calmed yourselfI'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch184 - Educated Estimates of Scam Specifics
Lucas and Jonathan—dressed decently but nowhere near as fancy as yesterday—are most of the way to Cat’s Paw Cafe, pointedly not utilizing the stinky subway station to get there.‘Ya know, it’s been surprisingly peaceful, yeah? Though, not havin’ people gawk as much as yesterday is kinda nice. All that attention was gettin’ old fast.’[Ahem, well, fortunately, Boss System approved my long-term task priority filtering proposal.]‘Oh? Whassat?’[Compared to before, now it requires an opt-in before being bombarded with every single task in range. Before receiving alerts—and therefore penalties for ignoring them—we’ll run the calculations of the tasks’ estimated impact vs. potential unwanted attention. This effectively weeds out a majority of minor tasks—plus some moderate ones—by accounting for how suspicious it would be for you to know the event was taking place, let alone be believably compelled to interfere. I knew there was no need to ask if you were interested in activating it immedi
Once the allotted thirty minutes have passed—precisely down to the second—427 tentatively undeafens Lucas. At first, all he can hear is a booklet’s pages being flipped through, followed by Lucas grumbling.Hesitantly removing the remaining sensory suppressions one at a time, 427 nearly sighs with relief upon discovering that Lucas is standing in the kitchenette by the new automatic drip coffee maker—thankfully dressed—in the midst of poorly attempting to demystify its instruction manual.‘How the hell is this so complicated?’[Ah, making good on your promise to Jonathan?]‘Oh, thank fuck; yer back. Took ya long enough.’[…Hello, again, to you, too.]‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Welcome back. So, anywho, can ya scan through this or somethin’ and tell me how to use it?’[…I already looked up the instructions from everything’s model numbers earlier. First, measure out—]427 guides Lucas through measuring and grinding a serving’s worth of coffee beans and setting it up in the machine with such in-d
For a few peaceful minutes, Lucas delights in demolishing the delicious delicatessen delivery. As Jonathan reaches for his coffee cup to gauge if it’s cool enough for a sane person to drink, he ends up cutting himself off with a yawn, earning a side-eye from Lucas.“Hey, ya barely got any sleep, yeah? Instead of havin’ caffeine, shouldn’t ya go take a nap?” Upon Lucas’s question, Jonathan pauses, looking at the contents of his mug with an obvious longing. “I’ll make ya a fresh one in like half an hour; I’m sure 427 can figure out howta use whatever newfangled machine ya got,” Lucas continues, his eyes also fixed on the beverage.[…I suppose I appreciate your vote of confidence.]Jonathan’s gaze lingers on the coveted coffee for a moment before he sets it back on the table. As soon as he lets go of it, Lucas lays his claim upon it.“Um, o-okay, yeah. I just, um, sh-should take a shower first,” Jonathan stammers as he stands.Lucas hums an agreement around a mouthful of coffee.[Did y
Thankfully, there are no further interruptions during the rest of this round of deliveries. Or even during the next one, either.Once Jonathan finally has the fourth and final load of freight, he makes a detour to a delicatessen. More specifically, the one where he previously purchased yesterday’s breakfast.After equally uneventfully acquiring milk, third breakfast for himself, and first breakfast for Lucas—since he’d totally only eat sugary baked goods if real food wasn’t conveniently available—he makes his way home.With his back to the recently re-locked front door, Jonathan reclaims the last armload of supplies as he looks at Lucas’s still-shut bedroom door.‘…Our food will still be too hot to eat for a little while; I’ll make some coffee first.’Jonathan may or may not be making up excuses to keep putting off waking up Lucas in the hopes that he’ll do so on his own, knowing full well that he probably won’t.While taking longer than necessary to decide which appliance to christen
“Ah! Um…” Jonathan’s face scrunches up a bit as he looks over his pending purchases.‘Can we at least turn off tasks while my hands are full? I really don’t want to drop everything and have it get broken or stolen by the time I get back to it… It will be annoying enough having to run back and forth a bunch.’[Requesting temporary task suppression… Permission granted; disregarding minor tasks for one hour at no penalty, effective immediately.]Jonathan barely represses his urge to sigh with relief.Before Ji Soo works up the nerve to express concern over Jonathan’s vacant stare at the wall behind the service bot, Jonathan’s attention returns to reality and redirects to said bot.“Um, c-could you hold some of it for a few minutes once I’m done paying? I-I won’t take long… Like, five minutes?” Before fidgety Jonathan even finishes asking his question, the bot is already nodding.“Certainly. Do you wish to use a private scanning kiosk to complete your order?”‘I’m surprised it’s even an
Jonathan, however, doesn’t hear the utterance of recognition. Unaware, he continues his quest for a coffee maker.A short time later, Jonathan stands--while quietly grumbling--before a row of two-in-one coffee/espresso machines.Behind him is a sea of drip coffee machines, with cold press equipment further off to the side. Alongside the arrangement of two-in-ones sits a selection of espresso machines, both automatic and semi-automatic.‘How are there so many!? What even are the differences? Wait, no, don’t answer that. The technical details will probably just be even more confusing.’[Understood.]Although Jonathan notices movement in his peripheral vision, he doesn’t outwardly react to the recent arrival at the end of the aisle. Instead, he pulls out one of the two-in-one machines set at eye level, rotating it so he can read the back of the box.“Ah! Don’t get one of those! That entire line is overpriced trash,” the newcomer blurts out, muffled by the layers of carbon-filter fabric f
After the harrowing--see also; totally normal--experience of getting his hair professionally cut, Jonathan blinks a few times as he looks himself over in the mirror. ‘Oh, wow. That’s way better.’ He’s now sporting a long-top, backswept, tapered hairstyle with a rounded back. Given how clearly tense he was throughout the entire cutting process, a trendy skin fade would have fairly obviously been too much for his liking. After giving Jonathan a few moments to make his mental evaluations, one of the hairdresser’s dreadlocks uses a soft-bristle brush to clear away the loose hair clippings around the collar of the barber cape. A few other coils of his hair organize the various tools he used, setting them aside for cleaning. Meanwhile, he quickly sweeps aside the bulk of the rogue tufts of hair on the ground in a much more conventional hands-on-broom method as he uses the mirror to make eye contact with Jonathan again. “Lookin’ good, mon. Well? Whaddya tink?” His question pulls Jonath
Once Jonathan is finally en route to the hairdresser...[Safe distance from Mikah’s power detected. Alert; you have exceeded 10 GDV. You have one enhancement available.]‘Oh! Um, you said before that rank three vision should be good enough to see through Maria’s powers, right?’[Correct, rank three should be sufficient as long as her target is in motion. Rank four would be necessary to see anything stationary, given the current strength of her powers. Please be aware that going beyond rank three for any individual enhancement has additional requirements.]‘Three should be good enough to avoid most of her pranks... Use my upgrade on vision.’[Please confirm that you would like rank two vision.]‘Yeah.’[Understood. Please close your eyes during calibrations to avoid nausea.]Jonathan slows from running at enhanced speed into a normal-paced jog for a few steps, then stops and shuts his eyes.[Bzzt... Calibrations complete.]He opens his eyes and looks around, blinking several times.‘Wo
The duo’s fiery funnel further forces the growing multi-car pile-up towards the middle of the street for a few seconds longer. Finally, the flames falter and fade. After a short delay, the wind wanes as well.‘Oh, I shouldn’t give them any extra reasons to think I’m a threat.’Jonathan swiftly shuts and pockets his switchblade as he follows the sidewalk. While doing so, his attention flicks between the ongoing chaos in the street and the front door of Howling Cartographer’s HQ lobby.Ashley steps through the door with Jason right behind her. They both take a moment to appreciate their destructive handiwork with smug expressions. Considering that Jonathan is conspicuously the only person still in the immediate vicinity, they quickly focus on him.Before either of them manage anything beyond a glare, Jonathan raises both hands in a submissive gesture, showing that he isn't wielding a weapon. "I-I just wanted his gun!"Ashley's exposed eye squints with amusement, the not hair-hidden cor