Taking longer than was really necessary, Jonathan eventually settles on light blue pajamas covered in cartoon fishes and a dark blue tracksuit with a few vertical white stripes. With these painstaking selections bagged to go, Lucas leads him off for the grand finale of the trip, the suits.

Ever since Mikah left, 427 and Lucas have been having a constant back and forth.

[-Also, while being aware of other supes nearby is clearly beneficial, when we're at a large organization HQ like this there is obviously a very high concentration of them. Though yes, I will admit, that ones that there would be a reason I cannot inform you of them in real-time are worth advance notice.]

'As long as you admit to your mistake.'

427 lets out a huff and Lucas can't help chuckling. Jonathan is completely unfazed by his random reactions, though still notices it and takes a rough mental note. He really wants to try to figure his boss's weirdness out.

[Regardless, this sort of incident should never occur again.]

'I'm waiting.'

[…]

'…'

[...I'm sorry.]

Lucas has quite the self-satisfied grin as they're riding the escalator down to the second floor.

'Apology accepted. Oh, backing up a bit. Considering how prepared he seemed to be to explain everything, Mikah dropped the name 'Josephine' as if it was someone I should recognize?'

[...Yes. Josephine Hendry, a very famous enhanced violinist. Even though she could kill the entire audience at will, tickets to her performances sell out within minutes of becoming available. Strangely enough, it seems to add to her appeal for some people. Ah, her ability is sound manipulation, I'm sure you can see the relation. Supposedly, whenever she gets a cold she'll accidentally shatter glass when sneezing sometimes, I'm uncertain if that is purely rumored though. It's almost a good thing she wasn't around, the honor would have been wasted on you.]

'...You know, I was just thinking she sounds kinda cool and then you had to attack me like that. Too cruel.'

It seems that 427's pride was hurt a bit from needing to apologize, but he's in better spirits now after the casual insult. Lucas really is corrupting him, he earned this taunting laughter.

By now they've reached the second floor. Lucas completely disregards the normal suits and heads over towards the more distant enhanced section. As adventurous as they were with some of the normal clothing, there is a clear goal of more classic styles in regards to the suits.

Before they make it all the way to their goal, they're stopped by a service bot calling out to them.

"Good evening, honored guests. Would you perhaps require assistance with sizing?" As the bot asks this, he lifts up a small clipboard and a cloth measuring tape.

"Oh. Yes, actually. Thank you." Stopped in his tracks, Lucas turns to face the bot with a smile. Jonathan hadn't stopped right away and almost walks right into him.

'This is a bit of a delayed question, but uhh, do they have feelings? Or was that just Mikah's HR etiquette peeking through earlier?'

[They aren't programmed to have emotions, though as you may have guessed they often have some limited degree of sapience. Much easier to have them react to things in real-time than programming a fixed response for a ton of different scenarios. Having them constantly connected to the internet to look up how to respond in uncommon scenarios would just be asking for them to be hacked. Though, in regards to what I believe you were leading up to, there's no harm in being polite. Even if they don't necessarily feel it, they are aware of how people treat them.]

'Huh... I feel a little bad about kinda ignoring them most of the time now. Eh, it's not like I've actively been a dick though, that's probably already better than most.'

[Pretty much. Some people act a bit... Arrogant when they perceive that they have authority over something. Your predominantly neutral ambivalence is probably a higher standard than they're accustomed to.]

'Aaand now I feel bad for a different reason.'

[...Then I believe you know what to do. No harm in testing if AI can trigger GDV rewards. Just don't stand out too much, although there is something to be said for displaying a character trait of treating non-humans better than humans. It certainly works for Black Ash Snow.]

'...Animals definitely deserve it. But yeah, sure, for science, or something.'

[Truly motivational. I feel inspired.]

'I'd smack you right now if I could.'

[…I believe it. Heh.]

Lucas rolls his eyes as he's led into a fitting room to be privately sized. Outside, Jonathan quietly parks his butt on a padded bench to wait his turn.

Two sizings, some shopping around, and beginning to try a few things on later...

Nearly finished with putting on the first suit he's trying on, Lucas stands in front of the three-way mirror nearly as relaxed as he was up on the eighth floor. Over a white silk shirt with silver buttons, the classic cut black suit jacket is still unbuttoned as he starts knotting up a red satin tie, barely paying any attention to what he's doing.

[...I was ready to give you instructions. I'm surprised, you seem to know what you're doing?]

'Eh? Yeah, I had to wear a suit for work most of the time, a tie all the time. This is nothing. You know how easily I get bored, I learned a ton of different style knots to keep things interesting.'

Before long, a neat full Windsor knot has come into being. It's a bit short though.

'Whoops, I guess I'm a bit taller now. Whatever, I doubt Jon could tie his own anyway.'

[Honestly, I'm a bit impressed. Normally, the ways you remind me that you're not the original person are... Not in your favor.]

Loosening the knot a bit, he slides it up over his head so he can hand it off to Jonathan, whom he assumes should be nearly ready as well.

'I can't even be insulted, you're right. But really, of all the things that could be surprising to know from my previous life, this feels pretty underwhelming. Some isekai knowledge I have, bah.'

[Ise-what?]

'Nevermind.'

[…]

'Seriously, it's nothing.'

[...Then there's no harm in telling me?]

Lucas chokes back a laugh, trying not to seem like a lunatic to the outside world.

'Isekai. It's from another language that you wouldn't be familiar with. Uhh, it's a type of fiction of someone going to another world and they'll often have some kind of special benefit. The knowledge benefiting types usually can make lots of money off of it or something, hence why knowing a couple of different necktie knots is pretty lame.'

[...You know more than one language? I'm impressed, again.]

'What? Oh no, just random words here and there. I can't remember an ounce of the second language I learned back in high school...'

[...I appreciate the honesty.]

'You sound so clearly disappointed. Whatever, let's go see if Jon is ready.'

Holding the pre-knotted tie in his left hand, Lucas pushes aside the cloth covering for the fitting room, stepping out in front of the patiently waiting service bot. The bot is carrying a few other suits for him to potentially try on, as well as some more ties. Lucas gives it a little nod with a smile and turns to face the room Jonathan is in.

"Hurry up in there brat. I'm sure you can't tie a tie so don't bother trying." The guilty-sounding yelp he gets in response seems to confirm Lucas's suspicions.

Not long after, Jonathan stiffly pulls the cloth covering for his fitting room open. With a slightly wrinkled navy blue satin tie in his hands, he's wearing the same style suit as Lucas. Every fiber of his being seems to be expressing discomfort, as if he's afraid of really moving much.

Nearly smacking Jonathan in the face, Lucas holds out the red tie in his hands, openly laughing at how nervous Jonathan is. This doesn't help Jonathan's comfort levels whatsoever.

Claiming the wrinkled tie in exchange, Lucas remembers to actually gauge the length this time before tying it, instead of operating on subconscious muscle memory.

"Oh, you tied this for me? Thanks!" Jonathan pulls the tie on and into place, fussing with it a bit to get it tightened nicely, tucking the end of it into his already buttoned jacket. While it was short on Lucas, it's a bit too long now on Jonathan.

"Heh, check this out." Lucas now begins a more complex series of motions, this time paying full attention to his own hands as he does it. Before very long, there's now a perfectly even-knotted trinity knot.

[Well, at least you're good at it, even if it's not a very profitable ability.]

'It's more satisfying than I expected to get a genuine compliment from you.'

[...You're welcome?]

At the beginning of the tying process, Jonathan had a bit of an excited look, about halfway through his eyes practically glazed over. Yeah, he's not going to remotely try doing that anytime soon, thank you very much.

Seeing his reaction, Lucas can't resist laughing again.

"Don't worry, all the ones with the interesting knots up top are hard to do. There's plenty of easier ones you can learn, no problem. Also, what are you all wound up over?" Lucas finally buttons up his jacket as he finishes asking this.

"Oh, um, well suits are always so... You know. Stiff. I feel like I'm gonna pull a seam or something if I move too much." Jonathan jumps a bit when he was first called out, defaulting to fidgeting a little bit by the end of his answer.

He gets a low chuckle from Lucas this time.

"That's the whole reason we went straight to the enhanced section, go on, run around. Look." As he says this, Lucas makes a show of rolling his shoulder and flexing a bit, the material of the suit shifts and stretches as needed, appearance neat and professional the whole time.

Realizing that it is actually legit, Jonathan's face lights up a bit as he decides to test it out. A moment later there is a blur and Jonathan's previous location is empty.

After a few more seconds pass he comes back. The only noticeable differences are his now slightly different position, his mildly messed up hair, and the two pairs of designer sunglasses in his hands.

Now grinning broadly, he hands one of the pairs of sunglasses over to Lucas, putting the other on himself. Throughout this process, the service bot is completely unfazed by their actions.

-----

Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 6

Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 6

Lucas current GDV: 4.52 (+.01 +.01 = +.02 net change)

Jonathan current GDV: .76

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan, happily posing in front of a mirror next to Lucas: Hehe, the suit really makes the villain. Too cool.

Lucas, also doing matching poses: ...It really does make you feel kinda bad-ass, doesn't it?

427, rather amused by their antics: [Why does it feel like you didn't need to buy all those clothes, and should have just gotten a ton of suits?]

Author, shaking their head repeatedly: Having some regular clothes is a good idea too, don't listen to him.

Mr. Quacks, very agreeably: Quack. (He still gets the final word.)