Thankfully, before anyone else has a chance to notice, Lucas manages to control his facial expressions. He's already annoyed enough without having to explain why.
Once the call has ended and Miss Calculated shares Lakshmi's contact details with Lucas, she can't resist chuckling a bit while thinking it back over.
"Really, nothing should be a surprise anymore if it involves Lakshmi. Sometimes I can't help but think that they actually have the most powerful and impressive power in the world. On more than one occasion it has proven to be rather far-reaching, if it even has any restrictions at all, and it's all passive to boot. For all we know, everything that happened this morning was just leading up to you becoming a source of funds for them. For example, Something as simple as Mash deciding not to follow me to work today would
"Well... Guess we're off to I4 then... Together..." As Lucas gives his hesitant parting, Willy fetches his three inexact supe likenesses from where they were neatly placed on the shelf under the coffee table, leading the way out of the door that Lucas holds open for those whom are leaving.Miss Calculated has set about gathering her belongings and cleaning everything up, giving a nod of farewell to the doggo and three people on their way out the door.On the other hand, her twin has decided to express solidarity with the rotating blocks she controls, pivoting her own position on the couch. She settles down with her knees resting on top of the backrest, her bent legs hanging freely down the back, her hair stretching to try to touch the fine carpeting of the floor. She merely gives a grunt of acknowledgment to the fact that the
"Well... I don't know about RIVAL, we basically just met. Uh, anyway, Hi Nat, this here's my sidekick, Jackknife, and... Well, my dog, Willy." As Lucas tries to widen the interpersonal relationship gap between himself and Miss Masher, she snorts, crosses her arms, begins to sneer, and gives a condescending chuckle."Well then, I guess if you want to just admit that you're not as strong as me, then I guess it wouldn't be fair to call you a rival, after all." Making a verbal below-the-belt jab, Miss Masher deals a critical hit to Lucas's alarmingly fragile ego, getting the exact kind of reaction she wanted."I WILL KICK YOUR ASS IN AN ARM-WRESTLING CONTEST RIGHT HERE AND NOW! LET'S FUCKING GO!" When Lucas immediately pounces on the very obvious bait, Jonathan facepalms with an audible smack, an
Misinterpreting Jonathan's shy awkwardness as being polite, Natalie gives him a brilliant smile before typing away on her tablet, going through what little remaining work is left for her to do after Miss Calculated did the vast majority of it for her already.If Lucas had noticed the slight hitch in Jonathan's breath or the fact his heart practically skipped a beat, there would have been a 0% chance of him resisting the urge to mock him right then and there, so Jonathan's lucky in that regard, at least.Shortly after Natalie shifts her attention to a drawer she just pulled open and began rummaging around in, a different employee-only door than service bot #18 had originally left through noisily creaks open.Now wielding a tall rectangular four-legged end table, it duti
'Uhhh, that didn't sound so good.'[I fear this table isn't long for this world. If you are going to insist that the positioning at the moment it breaks determines the victor, you should do what you can.]'Oh, good idea. Let's go!'Realizing that this match will be decided by an inch and is going to be getting cut off very shortly, Lucas musters up all of the strength he can possibly bring to bear, offsetting Miss Masher's advantage and even claiming a tiny bit of his own.As she had been caught off guard at first by this sudden burst of vigor, her elbow almost lifts when she shifts slightly to attempt to reclaim her lead. Legitimately wanting an accurate result from the contest, she directs so
'...Okay, gimme just a small clue.'[You only saw him for a short moment, and you were paying attention to other things at the time, but you were definitely looking in his direction.]'...The fuck kind of clue is that?'[So what you're saying is, you want a bigger clue?]Lucas tries to hide the fact that he's staring at Timothy by just so happening to put his suit jacket back on while conveniently facing in his direction, chewing on his lips and squinting while deep in thought.'...Yes please.'[He was in costume at the time.] After a few clicks, whirs, and time spent pretending to be reading, the machine finishes with its testing and its screen declares the chip suitable for use.Natalie hits a button, gets no response, and therefore hits the button again much harder, two more times. Finally, there is a brief buzz and a small compartment spits out a fresh small anti-static case surrounding the chip, which she casually grabs and then stands up."Considering it's uhh, a bit of a challenge for a dog to pick their own location, if one of you could bring him to surgery room C with me to make the selection, unless you want me to pick somewhere at random." As Natalie starts heading over to open a locked door nearby to lead the way, Jonathan and Lucas both start speaking up at almost the same time.I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch79 - Stressful Small Talk
Withdrawing her hand from Jonathan's shoulder, Miss Masher slowly draws in and exhales a deep breath, a vacant expression on her face as she stares at the ceiling. Leaning back against the wall again, she's quiet for a few seconds longer before sighing softly."Yeah... Uh, Chi is way better at telling stories than I am, but I guess I could try a little? Uhh, so it was actually back while the supe war was still going on... No, first things first, I said our folks kicked us out, but that's not entirely fair to say, there's more to it than that. It wasn't just gettin' our powers that made 'em drive us out, it might have just been an excuse even, still shitty either way though. They were just fosters, to begin with, our real mom and pops were offed fairly early during the war. You know the usual ol' tryin' to but can't have a kid of your own, adopt, lose interest in them the moment you
Meanwhile, in the back section of the building, in surgery room C...Willy is busily being extremely vocal about his displeasure about being forced to wear a cone of shame. Up until Natalie snuck it around him and velcroed it shut, he had been happily exploring the parts of the automated surgical equipment which are exposed in accessible locations for him, all brought abruptly to a halt by this cruel act of betrayal.Lucas's sympathy is expressed in the direct opposite fashion of what Willy would have wanted, via him pulling his phone out to take pictures while laughing so hard he's started crying, all while poor Willy keeps pitifully double-barking at him.Dan's assistance isn't needed for translation, the intent behind his "HOW DARE YOU!?" pairings of barks proves to
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