บท 89: Professional Procrastinator
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.
Disengaged from his conversation with Mikah, Jonathan rejoins Lucas. He's just in time to witness the last of the requisite paperwork being stacked up onto a clipboard and fed through the narrow opening designed for such purposes by Lucas's service bot of choice. A standard disposable ballpoint pen drags along behind it, attached to the clipboard by a short chain.
Barely suppressing his desire to start crying, Lucas claims the proffered clipboard and zombie-shuffles in the direction of a bench as well. Deciding that Miss Masher is less of a threat (?) than Clarissa, he shambles toward the next bench over from her, planning on leaving room for Jonathan to sit with him and commiserate over the paperwork together.
As the sulky Lucas lumbers past him, Mikah bursts out laughing.
"Oh come on now, a little paperwork never killed anyone." Mikah turns slightly, chiding the petulant man-child for his thoughts of no longer wanting to start his organization purely because of the contents of the clipboard in his possession.
'Hmph, if all it was trying to do was kill me, I'd have an easier time dealing with it.'
After Lucas's mental follow-up, Mikah starts laughing again.
"Mmm, after all, it's not like you can threaten to punch the paperwork until it fills itself out. Heh." After taunting Lucas a little more, Mikah turns his attention back to the service bot he was working with, still chuckling quietly though.
Suddenly thinking of a viable excuse to delay the inevitable monotonous legal translations by a few more seconds, Lucas stops to ask Mikah a question he only thought of just now.
"Hey, isn't it really distracting hearing everythin' from everyone around you all the time? Do you need to like, go in a private room or somethin' to concentrate? Or can you just turn it off when you need to?" As Lucas engages in a thinly-veiled conversational attempt at procrastination, Mikah turns to him with an amused smile.
"A bit, but I've mostly gotten used to it over time. If there are too many people, it becomes a bit hard to shut out, though. Too many people in a large gathering ends up giving me a headache after just a few minutes if I'm in the thick of it, unfortunately. Can't say I'm much of a party animal, thanks to it, even when everyone else is having a good time. I can only begin to imagine how awful large groups must be for someone with empathic powers, so at times I'm a bit thankful in comparison." Trailing off a bit after his explanation, Mikah has a slightly vacant expression as he looks off into the distance. His supposed thankfulness is nowhere to be seen.
Following a few steps behind Lucas, Jonathan gives Mikah a rather sympathetic look, though he seems to be too wrapped up in his own thoughts to pay it too much mind.
"Huh... Oh, speaking of parties, I bet you can really tell when someone's drunk, yeah? That must be a... Mess." Once Lucas asks this follow-up, Mikah's expression sinks into clear contempt, the first distinctly hostile expression Lucas or Jonathan have ever seen on him.
"...Very much so. I make a point of leaving social gatherings before more than a small handful of the people present have become inebriated, and for good reason. Hmph, far too many get-togethers devolve into heavy drinking. No small amount of why I get along so well with, ah, my boss, is that not only does he not insist on making me drink as well, he doesn't even try to make me stay once other people have really started in on it." While elaborating, Mikah's expression begins to soften, but it's perfectly clear what his stance on alcohol is between his tone and body language.
Not sure what to possibly say as an answer, Jonathan gives a flat "oh." Lucas, however, makes a curious hum.
"I would have thought he'd be the type to go around with a bottle, filling people's glasses up and makings toasts and whatnot." Trying to keep the proverbial ball in the air in order to maintain the conversation, Lucas muses about how he'd imagined Mark's drinking behavior to be out loud.
This observation completely clears Mikah's disdainful expression, switching to a much more familiar smile.
"Oh, he absolutely is. He just doesn't force it on those that are actively unwilling. Ah, he's told me more than once that back when he was developing his powers, or even now if he uses them too much, he can get some real awful migraines. Because of it, he's very sympathetic to any sort of mental fatigue or discomfort. A touch ironic, if you ask me." Expounding further, Mikah chuckles briefly after he's finished speaking.
As both of them have experienced being on the receiving end of Mark's powers, the humor is not lost on Jonathan and Lucas, though their shared laughter is a wee bit forced.
"Yeah... No kidding. Ah, sorry, I'll let you finish what you came for... UGH." Finally letting the conversation end, Lucas hangs his head a bit and finishes his sluggish journey over to collapse onto the bench, glaring at the clipboard in his hands.
Jonathan follows Lucas at a pace that is decidedly unremarkable in comparison, sitting down in a fashion much more like a civilized human being than Lucas had.
Mikah laughs a bit more, then deftly resumes what he was in the middle of going over with the temporarily ignored service bot.
Willy decides he's done with the hard and slightly cool tile floor, opting to trot over and jump up onto the bench next to Miss Masher. Unsurprisingly, he ends up receiving a gentle head-pat as a greeting.
Still bemoaning the tragic fate of having to be an adult, completely unassisted by 427, Lucas immediately snaps the chain attaching the pen to his clipboard in protest. Also because the chain is just too damn short to write comfortably.
Merely two pages through this hell on earth constructed of ink and murdered trees, Lucas is rather easily distracted by the sound of Miss Masher receiving a text message.
"Oh! They agreed, Chi is on her way over to do the forms." When Miss Masher narrates her translation of a far more professionally worded text than she gave it credit for, Lucas and Jonathan both flinch.
'Fuck! Chi's like, the last person I want to have to also deal with right now!'
Needless to say, Jonathan's thoughts aren't all that far off from his foster father's.
-----
Lucas kills this chapter: 0
Lucas total kills: 7
Lucas deaths this chapter: 0
Lucas total deaths: 10
Lucas current GDV: 9.07 (+.01 net change)
Lucas's fame level: 2.75* (Mostly just local)
Lucas's hero suspicion level: 1.5* (Only highly paranoid people)
Jonathan kills this chapter: 0
Jonathan total kills: 5
Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0
Jonathan total deaths: 2
Jonathan current GDV: 2.04 (+.01 net change)
Jonathan's fame level: 1.75* (Just local)
Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)
Supervillain social circle size: 11
-----
Little character theater:
Jonathan diligently combs over the rest of the rental agreement forms so that all Lucas has to do is sign, though that still will take more effort than Lucas wants to make.
Willy, sprawled on his back, enjoying Miss Masher branded belly-rubs: Bark!
Lucas, mentally sobbing with every single non-standard word he reads, which is, unfortunately, most of what the paperwork is comprised of: This bullshit should be illegal.
427, equally dreading Miss Chievous's arrival as much as the other two: 'Last time she was sufficiently distracted, but this time..? Not being able to speed things up thanks to Mikah's presence while also being watched by an alarmingly high percentage of the internet when dealing with her has the potential to be such a nightmare...'
Author, laughing heartily: Major LoL if you think Miss Chievous enjoys paperwork any more than Lucas does.
Mr. Quacks, contemplating getting a drink after all this talk about alcohol: Quack..?
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