Trying not to make too big of a deal of Miss Masher's questionable standards, Lucas clears his throat loudly and then finally begins heading for the door.
"Well, anyway, we should get going, too." Speaking up to get things going once again, Lucas makes a beckoning gesture with his right hand, intending on leading the way.
Although, he doesn't make it very far before being stopped.
"Oh, when I left Calc was still in the back room you guys last saw her in, we should probably go check there for her first. We're better off taking the employee door." When Miss Chievous speaks up to adjust their route, Miss Masher turns to look directly at her face. Pausing for a moment, she seems to determine that her sister's actually being honest, so she turns and starts leading the way t
After a few more rounds of wordlessly agreed-upon improvised hopscotch, the group finally reaches their destination.Unconcerned with minor things like knocking or such kinds of decorum before entering a room with a closed door, Miss Chievous just pushes the door open and walks right on in.It would be foolish to assume you have anything resembling privacy when she's within a several-mile radius, short of being locked in a very VERY secure room. In which case, she'd probably coax Miss Masher into smashing a wall down so she could get in out of sheer spite, even if they know there's nothing worth being interested in within it.In a turn of events that didn't surprise anyone involved, Miss Calculated is still sitting exactly where she was when Miss Chievous left, her tab
Finally noticing the awkward atmosphere, Lucas develops a bit of a confused expression, then scratches the back of his head a few times. Jonathan is tensely locked up next to him, at a loss as to how to diffuse what he assumes is a misunderstanding, but isn't confident enough to act on that guess."Wh-what? The three of you combined probably can't eat as much as Jonathan alone, it's not like it's a big deal." Although Lucas is off-target, it at least breaks the strange tension in the air when Miss Chievous starts giggling.Miss Masher looks thoughtful for a moment, then starts sizing up Jonathan, seeming to have accepted the interpreted challenge.Miss Calculated finally thaws, gently pats Willy twice, then stands up to walk over toward Lucas with her tablet after sett
Realizing that free lunch is imminent, Miss Masher is up and on her way out of the door in surprisingly short order. Miss Chievous had actually managed to beat her there, thanks to the couch she was on being notably closer to the door.Not having much else to tidy up, Miss Calculated heads back over and shuts off Willy's tablet, putting it into the bag with the other electronics paraphernalia that belongs to Lucas and Jonathan."Shall we?" Miss Calculated raises a brow while asking this, offering the bag of their recently purchased possessions back over to Lucas. Once he takes it, she starts heading out the door which Miss Masher is still holding open.At first, Lucas just nods in response, but seeing how all three women are apparently rarin' to go, he chuckles and sta
Once everyone is outside and James has finished his keyless hands-free locking of the door, he wastes no time at all in vacating the premises, as if staying a second too long would make Miss Calculated change her mind. He at least had the decency to wave his tablet goodbye at them before peacing out.'Same dude, same. I certainly lost count of how many times I did roughly the same. Without, you know, super-cool psychic powers, though.'[...]'Like you're even remotely surprised.'[Not in the least bit. I can certainly see the similarities between you two.]'I'm not sure why, but I feel like you just insulted me, somehow.'
Without his recently destroyed toy to amuse him, Lucas, unsurprisingly, grows bored in short order."Sooo… Hey Mash, what were ya talking about with Jon before, anywho?" Craving some form of stimulation, Lucas decides to finally break the silence of their traveling trio plus pooch."Eh? Oh, I was just tellin' him some stories from around when the war ended. Even though lotsa us supes end up on the streets, we don't really talk to others about it much, since we often don't wanna bring it up. It was nice. Could really tell he went through some serious shit too, what with how he reacted to some of it." While Miss Masher fondly recalls bench-time story-time, Miss Calculated visibly flinches and stops walking.Noticing her older sister's reaction, Miss Masher immedia
Noticing Miss Masher's intent on joining in the pending scuffle, Miss Calculated holds an arm out in front of her."Mash, seriously, this is a terrible idea. I can almost guarantee that they're far back in the alley, with nothing for you to hide behind on your way to them. There's no way you'll be able to get close. If anything, you should be trying to stop Lucas." While Miss Calculated actively tries to dissuade her sister, Miss Masher visibly hesitates again."...But pointlessly destructive assholes like that are the worst. Even if we do leave, what if Chi or Jon get hit on their way past here while tryin' to catch up with us? 'Sides, Lucas has got endurance too, he can probably take the hit, an' maybe when seein' two of us the bastard might even surrender." As Miss Masher speaks her mind, she gently pushes Miss Calculated'
Snapping his eyes open while leaning against the wall to support himself, Lucas trembles while stabilizing his breathing. Thankfully, Miss Calculated's attention is currently on her sister, just now reaching her arm out in front of her to stop her.Willy, however, was in the process of scolding Lucas. When he noticed the odd behavior, he ceased his barking.[Unfortunately, the time given is fairly limited, but at least the damage caused before you had time to react doesn't count against you. You seem calmer than I would expect, did you come up with an idea already?]'Yeah, actually. When I tripped, I fucked up the wall just trying to get my bearings, right? That damn girlie is causing so much havoc, I don't feel bad breakin' a few walls to stop her.'
[It's all well and good that you got to enjoy a snack, but you just lost some GDV from the destruction caused by her recent shot into traffic. Also, Jonathan is nearby now, but he's swamped with tasks for aiding the growing number of victims.]'Bah, I wouldn't have stopped her in time regardless. Tch, you'd think we should swap tasks, dealing with her would have been way easier for him.'[...You're nearly there, it won't be much longer now. Miss Calculated will probably be stopping you just a little way into the next room. If not, maybe speak up to ask when.]'Right, would be too weird if I suddenly veered off through the wall without her say-so.'Lucas resumes his charge, clapping his hands 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