As the melody-induced gyrations continue further, 23 rotates its head to stare directly at the newly arrived individual. Past due for a little oil, there is a slight creak from its movements, and the young man immediately looks over at it. Noticing that 23 is looking right at him, he flashes a smile and raises up one finger in a ‘shh’ gesture before turning his attention back to Josephine.

Mikah has glanced at the recent arrival a few times with an amused smile, obviously looking forward to seeing people’s reactions once they realize he’s there.

Considering that Lucas would rather die than be outdone; when he can tell the song is winding up for a flourish before ending, he leads Mark for a spin, and during the return, he takes on a wide stance, crouching slightly. Once Mark has returned, Lucas supports Mark’s waist with his right arm while holding Mark’s right hand up in the air with his left, and dips Mark over his right upper leg, supporting his lower back with the aforementioned leg. He tilts the dip such that Mark stops just shy of having his hair touch the ground, his legs high up in the air behind Lucas.

Mark lets out some delighted laughter and has fun hamming it up, striking a pose as Lucas effortlessly supports all of his weight. Lucas steadily maintains this pose, giving Jonathan time to zip around photographing them at just about every angle possible, with the exception of directly up Mark’s dress. Just, no. They’re terrorizing poor Ji Soo enough as it is.

Miss Chievous made a wolf whistle right away, and shortly after breaks out in hysterical laughter. Of course, the majority of those in attendance are laughing nearly as hard as her. The unacknowledged guest flinched when she whistled, but he is otherwise chuckling alongside everyone else.

Upon noticing the extra set of chuckles, Josephine makes a soft and mildly startled “Oh!” and then lowers the violin, clearly ready to put it away. Miss Calculated notices the movements on Josephine’s part, holding the case opened before her. However, she didn’t seem to notice the stranger’s presence, as of yet.

“Ah, there you are. I’ll be ready to go in just a moment, Richie.” When Josephine says this, she glances in his direction briefly, then sets about putting the violin away carefully.

Miss Calculated reflexively follows Josephine’s line of sight and then jumps with a startled yelp upon noticing the complete stranger that is standing just a few steps away from her, whose presence she was completely oblivious to. She does at least recover rather quickly, stabilizing the case for Josephine.

Once Lucas helps Mark back onto his feet, he can’t help looking over to see why Miss Calculated yelped, and is also mildly surprised by the unknown young man’s previously unnoticed presence.

The first thing Mark does once he is upright again is adjust and smooth out his dress, then finally turns to look over as well.

“Ah, good afternoon, Richard. Hmm, though it’s nearly evening by now, isn’t it?” Mark uses a soft conversational tone when addressing him, even though there’s a bit of a distance between them. Richard looks over and smiles, nodding slightly.

“It is still late afternoon, but yes, fairly soon it will technically be evening.” 23 took Mark’s rhetorical question to heart, answering accordingly, eliciting a few amused smiles.

Once Josephine finishes ensuring that the violin case is securely shut, she lifts it from Miss Calculated’s hands and shifts it into a left-handed hold.

“Thank you, Mary. Everyone, this is my nephew, Richard. Richie, this is-” Josephine proceeds to introduce him to the brotherhood and sisterhood by their real names, also mentioning their supe names as well, maintaining a soft voice throughout. For each person indicated, he gives a nod in greeting, all while maintaining a polite smile.

“...I’m looking forward to the story that led to all of this. Pleased to make your acquaintance everyone. Though, if you’ll excuse us, Fina and I really do need to head out… If we’re lucky, the meeting will be just an hour, but, well, I’m betting it will be at least two.” Once the introductions were completed, Richard finally spoke up in a clear, quiet, voice, surprising Lucas a bit since he was starting to think he might be mute.

‘Ha! I Bet he’s the one that gave her that nickname and Mark just stole it!’

Mikah stifles a chuckle and hums an agreement, the timing making it pretty clear that it was in response to Lucas’s thought, causing him to chuckle as well.

Josephine looks thoughtful for a moment, then looks over at Mark. She takes half of a step towards him, but then seems to think better of it, merely opting to speak up from her current position instead.

“You don’t have to wait for us for dinner, I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes on even longer than that.” Before Josephine is even completely finished saying this at a conversational level, Mark is waving a hand from side to side dismissively.

“Don’t be silly, of course we’ll wait. Besides, they all had lunch late anyway. Daniel, Mikah, and I will just grab a snack to tide us over. ...Daniel? Bah, of course he snuck off. Just shoot me a text when you guys think you’ll finally be set free, I’ll make reservations somewhere and let you know, and the first ones there can queue up some apps.” While Mark is saying this, similarly not raising his voice despite the distance, he holds a hand out towards Mikah, although he is still facing Josephine.

In short order, Mikah has pulled Mark’s phone out once again, handing it over to him. He deftly unlocks it, and starts spam messaging poor Dan within a few short seconds.

After a mix of waves and quiet partings, Richard leads the way out. After he and Josephine have taken a few steps, Miss Calculated clears her throat self-consciously, turning to face the leaving pair.

“Ah, right, as I promised, Josephine, a little feedback on your new arrangement. While it had a very high bar to meet in terms of technical quality, I dare say that it may have actually managed to exceed the original. However, it did shift the overall tone of the piece, to be sure. I would say the original had a more provocative spirit, whereas the new arrangement had a more wistful and whimsical vibe. Given your technical mastery, I can only assume that was your full intention, though. It was magnificent, thank you.” Shortly after Miss Calculated addresses her, Josephine stops and turns to face her. As Miss Calculated proceeds to not even remotely hint at any negatives in her critique whatsoever regarding Josephine’s performance, Josephine looks increasingly more and more embarrassed.

“Oh, um, th-thank you. And, you’re welcome. There… There’s no need to be overly formal, you’ll have plenty of chances to hear me play in the future. I, well, I’ll see you later.” Once Josephine shyly stammers this out, she spins in place and resumes walking out of the store, now with a notable increase in speed compared to earlier.

Mark had an amused smile throughout the entire course of their exchange.

As Josephine is marching off, Mark loudly clicks his tongue before saying “See? I told you.” at a normal conversational volume. Josephine flinches, and Richard snorts out a brief laugh, though they both continue on their way out without any further acknowledgment of his remark.

-----

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas total assists: 1

Lucas current GDV: 17.18

Lucas's fame level: 5.0* (Already beginning to receive authentic global attention. His local levels are effectively maxed.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.5* (More than just passing suspicion for many paranoid individuals, numerous people have realized he's an impulsive idiot.)

Jonathan total kills: 7

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 5.96

Jonathan's fame level: 2.75* (What fame he does have is predominantly local.)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 3.0* (More than just overly-paranoid people are suspicious at this point.)

Willy's fame level: 1.5* (Anonymous meme fame, local fame primarily as 'Xenoclast's dog', but some strangers know him as William/Willy now.)

Supervillain social circle size: 15

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan after managing a few shots of Josephine’s embarrassed state, as well as Miss Calculated’s matter-of-fact stance as she proclaimed Josephine’s prowess: Hehe, I bet Mark is gonna love these.

Sylph’s pupper pile nest was briefly disturbed by the loud laughter, but had settled back into doggy dreams after a short delay. Sylph glared a little longer, but she nods off once again as well.

Lucas, making a belated realization: ‘Crap! There’s no getting out of dinner with them now, is there!?’

427 and Mikah both stifle laughter simultaneously.

Author, nodding along with Jonathan’s observation: And once Mark gets his hands on them, one of them is going to become his lock screen. Yes, she’s going to hate it. No, he will not change it, no matter how many times she asks.

Mr. Quacks, over in Faunahorde, supervising Dan as he is dutifully writing out multiple recipes for Willy’s proposed diet plan, not even sparing a glance for his repeatedly vibrating phone: Quack.