As 427 successfully diverts Lucas's attention away from where his wandering gaze insisted on landing, Lucas had quickly become quite invested in his retelling of the sisterhood's stories.
'GodDAMN. I feel like I can barely survive if the fridge happens to be empty. Three pre-teen girls survived being homeless through a superpower-fueled war? Fuckin' ridiculous. There had to have been a ton of real awful shit she didn't bring up...'
[I would assume so. Even if they had still been with their family, there would have been no small number of horrid events as the war raged on around them. I must admit though, there was something amusing about hearing an external source mentioning Maynard, and in such a positive light in this day and age to boot.]
Maintaining a slightly awkward silence for the walk back to the front lobby, Lucas is absentmindedly fiddling with the phone in his pocket while he's lost in thought.'...While it would be kinda funny to troll Jon, it feels too weird to suddenly bring it up.'[Hmm? What's that?]'Eh? Ah right, you don't hear absolutely everything. Uhh, I was thinking it would be kinda funny to taunt Jon if I got Nat's number, but once I considered actually asking it felt way too... Off.'[...There's no way she'd interpret it as anything other than flirting.]'Exactly. And trying to explain would probably just sound weirdly desperate?'
Even though her target is unmistakable, the bearer of the cursed purse hesitates and stays where she is, waiting for the group to fully enter the Department of Villainous Organizations before calling out to them.At first, her attention is fixed on Lucas's face, but after a few moments, she belatedly realizes what he's wearing, as well as the fact that Jonathan beside him is equally suited up. Her eyes widen as she gasps, bringing a hand up to cover her smile.'This is so awkward... Now I kinda feel guilty about the uhh, occasional look I made at Nat, how the hell is this so uncomfortable?'[...Occasionally every chance you had.]'Hey!'
Taking a moment to process the fact that a minion proverbially fell into his lap, though if he isn't careful she might try to physically do so as well, his mind comes back to reality when Jonathan gently pokes him to get his attention."Um, d- Ahem, shouldn't w-we go get everything started?" If no one acknowledges what family-related word Jonathan almost said, he might not become too self-conscious. He already has become a little bit embarrassed though, as a free action. He doesn't have to worry though, Lucas certainly didn't notice."Oh, yeah, right. Whole reason we're here, an' all. Uhh, it's not like we're gonna need you around right away, Clara, so I uh, guess... We'll call you?" Being as smooth as ever, Lucas doesn't entirely realize the implication behind his statement. Trying to act natural for not just one but two high-stakes audiences, both Lucas and Jonathan somehow manage to do sufficiently convincing jobs of it.As Lucas is leading the group over to the nearest service bot, the front doors for the lobby swing open.Freezing in place, he deliberates if it would seem notably odd to the live-stream viewers for him to turn around to look and see who just entered. After a few short seconds, he errs on the side of solidifying an excuse for realizing Mikah is there. He figures there's not much use worrying about what people that aren't even there might think, and he's rapidly running out of available time to make this decision in.Coming to a similar conclusion, Jonathan also turns around to look, nearly in unison with Lucas. Oh well fI'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch86 - WHAT ARE THOSE!?
Once Mikah is satisfied with the amount of affection granted to Willy, he stands upright, his back still turned to Clarissa. Loudly clearing his throat to make sure he has Lucas's attention, he opens up the folder holding an extensive deforestation project covered in ink and brightly colored markings.When he notices he has Lucas's attention, he uses his eyes to indicate Clarissa's direction, then Miss Masher's as well, before finally speaking up."Well, with greetings out of the way, I do actually have work to attend to. Additionally, my boss and I decided we would streamline a few things, and take care of them while you're here as well." Lucas can't ignore the fact that Mikah put such emphasis on not saying Mark's name. Nor the fact he made a point of indicating the stream
Now that he has been granted a juicy bit of gossip, Mikah gives Jonathan a bright smile in thanks. Pausing for a moment, he laughs a bit before Jonathan has a chance to open his mouth."There's no need to apologize, that was a perfectly legitimate question. However, I should get started, the three of us all have our work cut out for us." Answering Jonathan's unspoken thoughts, Mikah raises the heavily laden folder in salute. Afterward, in short order, he marches off to engage in composition battle with a service bot a few feet away.While Lucas had head over to begin his request for organization creation procedures, Miss Masher had wandered off to claim a bench set against the wall, purposely the furthest possible distance away from Clarissa's claimed territory.Diseng
Spurred on by the pending arrival of a known troll, both Lucas and Jonathan have set about their work with far greater focus than they otherwise would have ever considered.Maintaining an impressive pace, they've both made pretty solid progress by the time one of the employee-only doors slowly opens, creaking loudly. There's a low hiss of dissatisfaction, a sourceless grumble, and then the door continues opening a few inches more before shutting faster than it had opened."Ha! The door busted your entrance, Chi!" Feeling the need to be a spoilsport, Lucas can't resist taunting her while facing vaguely in the direction she's probably standing. Which she is, she hasn't exactly had much time to move all that far.Jonathan chuckles alongside Lucas, though Miss Masher is co
As much as they would all love any sort of distraction to offset the monotony of mind-numbing legalese, their collective desires to get everything over with leads to a significant stretch of incredibly uneventful time passing by.As aggressively mentally singing at Mikah proves sufficient to satisfy Miss Chievous's desire for mischief, even she diligently plods through the tedious treeware red tape in a timely fashion.Even though she doesn't have any forms to fill out, Miss Masher has been busy doing her own work. Keeping in mind Mark's earlier estimate of roughly 5,000 square feet of occupiable space, she's started planning out Lucas's gym for him. So considerate.Her line of thought and corresponding notes break down to something along the lines of; Well, just how m