Chapter 151 - Gossip Guy

As Lucas starts heading in the direction of the men’s room, Miss Chievous seems inspired by the mention of pending photography, deciding to give Sylph her own photoshoot first.

Pulling out her phone, she doesn’t even hesitate to interrupt Dan’s ongoing canine conversation.

“Dan! Dan! Dan! Ask Sylph for me if I can take her picture too!” As Miss Chievous excitedly shouts out her request, he pauses in the middle of undoing the chaotic braiding of his hair, clearly surprised by the sudden address.

After a slight delay, he snorts softly and proceeds to whistle the request to her majesty.

Between Sylph’s cheerful little song accompanied by her fluffing her feathers and dancing a bit, Dan’s translation is hardly needed, but he still makes a point of saying “She said sure” regardless.

Miss Masher had previously switched back to a two-handed hold for her glorious feather-ness once more upon handing over Mikah’s boomerang. But, now that she is similarly inspired by her elder sister, she gently scoots Sylph into sitting on the palm of just her left hand and pulls out her own cell phone to take part as well.

Dan directly returns to his doggo discourse, now wearing an amused smile as he continues to absentmindedly comb out the tangles in his hair with his fingers.

Miss Masher has her phone in camera mode, angled to begin taking pictures of her highness, but after taking the first one she can’t help but notice the uncharacteristically soft appearance on Dan’s part in the background. Rotating her phone a tiny bit, the autofocus targets him instead, and she sneaks a few action shots of his self-grooming before going through her contacts list, specifically hunting down one individual in particular.

To Sarah (4:54 PM): You can thank me later [multiple pictures embedded]

Upon sending out this message, Miss Masher has her own amused smile now. Heading back to camera mode, she begins her originally intended Sylph plumage appreciation documentation in short order.

Mikah had finished entering in the Thieves of Elsewhere info into his own contacts list, now holding their calling card out towards Josephine. She looks at the boomerang-covered bread box in her hands briefly, then holds it out to swap for the card, which Mikah obliges the exchange of with a good-humored chuckle.

Setting down his own boomerang to join the two others atop the box, he turns his attention in Miss Masher’s direction, currently wearing a thoughtful expression.

“Sarah… Sarah… One that would know him… Oh, Nightshade? Wait… Does she..!?” While Mikah has a quiet voice as he muses out loud at first, but his incredulous tone gains volume towards the end.

Even more so than due to the sheer decibel level, Miss Masher is greatly startled by his understanding, as she had not been taking his powers into account with her recent thoughts. She’s generally been largely unconcerned by them, ever since getting some degree of understanding of his personality, and effectively let her guard down.

Her alarmed jump disturbed the resplendent one, resulting in a blurry shot on both Miss Masher and Miss Chievous’s parts. She also nearly fumbled her phone, but manages to get a solid hold on it once more, and then starts waving it from side to side at Mikah.

“Wait wait wait! Don’t say another word!” Miss Masher’s nervous panic has pulled Mark’s attention over, his gossip sense tingling as he raises an eyebrow curiously.

Mikah, however, does respect her embarrassed request, and even mimes making a zipping motion across his lips with his free hand. Even still, with the obvious way his face has brightly lit up, Mark KNOWS something juicy was just revealed.

“No fair! What did I miss!?” Mark gives Mikah a probing glare as he asks this, even stomping a foot in mock-anger for emphasis.

This served to be enough to bring Miss Chievous’s attention over as well, but rather than digging for clues, she’s glancing at the various involved parties and then has a thoughtful look while she continues taking in her sister’s flustered state.

Similarly, Miss Calculated has looked back and forth between the multiple people raising up a fuss, quietly shaking her head and chuckling after only a slight delay.

Dan is, of course, completely oblivious to these silly human socialization concerns, Willy's conversation is far more engaging. Dan’s even nearly finished smoothing out his hair by now, continuing the motions rather absentmindedly without much concern over his actual progress.

Despite Mark’s faux menace, all Mikah does is shake his head no, driving Mark to direct his gossip chasing warpath in Miss Masher’s direction.

“It’s really not my place to say!” Miss Masher is back to waving her phone side to side again in a panic, but at least she is careful not to disturb the venerable feathered being posing in her left hand.

Miss Chievous gains a look of enlightenment, turning her gaze toward Mikah. He gives a smiling nod in response and she cackles briefly before resuming Sylph’s photoshoot, satisfied that she was correct.

With an irritated “Hrmph!” and a snort, Mark turns away from them in a huff, muttering to himself. “Really Mikah, sometimes I wish we could just trade powers.”

Since Miss Masher’s attention is drawn back to her phone once more, now that she has received a response from a very appreciative Sarah, no one’s attention is directed Mikah’s way any longer. Noticing this fact, Mikah’s expression sinks slightly and he breaks his silence, quietly whispering “Me too.”

Miss Masher doesn’t notice Mikah’s fairly dark admission, animately tapping open her friend’s message, making sure her phone is held so Mark doesn’t have any chance of sneaking a covert glance at its contents.

From Sarah (4:57 PM): OMG!!!!! Where are you!!!??? BAS looks so soft uwu

Miss Masher smiles with clear amusement. Quickly scanning the area to make sure no one is spying on her phone, she knocks out a short response before returning to her avian admiration.

To Sarah (4:58 PM): Long story tell you later :D

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Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas total assists: 1

Lucas current GDV: 16.94

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: 5.79

Jonathan's fame level: 2.5* (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

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Little character theater:

Jonathan, walking out of the restroom at a normal speed to avoid messing up his hair again, and noticing Lucas headed his way: Oh, um, hi! I, uh, I think I need stronger gel, hehe.

Willy, glancing at the chaotic nonsense going on amongst the other humans, but he is still fully engaged in his discussion with Dan: Bark? Bark!

Lucas, reflexively touching his own hair: I think that was just some cheap crap we used, but yeah, ya probably do?

427, impatient for Lucas to finish getting to a safe-from-mind-reading distance: ‘Come onnn, you’re so close, but I know I shouldn’t risk it…’

Author, faking shock: Mikah! Inside thoughts!

Mr.. Quacks, somehow back home in their apartment’s bathroom, inspecting the subpar hair gel and scorning it accordingly: Quack.