In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 44):

Kevin frowns and stuffs the last of the burger into his mouth.  He picks up another burger.

"I was afraid it might be another someone in the Program.  But if you haven't noticed anyone new, it's probably not that.

"I'm kinda worried.  Minneapolis usually isn't this exciting, ya know?"

He sighs.  "I had a run in with the Pale Image.  Well. Some of his images.  They were tryin' to break into the records room of that hospital again.  Made me actually break into it just to see what they were after.  Still trying to figure it out.

"And the Feds have somethin' goin' down.  They flew in a couple of big dogs a couple of days ago.  Agent Orange and The Bait.  Don't look at me like that. I didn't come up with their stupid code names.

"Anyway, you may not have heard of 'em," You haven't. "But they're with some govie black book operation.  They're both real pains in the ass.  So keep a low profile for a bit.

"Anything goin' down I should know about? Or you got anything you want me to look into?"

“I have some thoughts on why we have all the recent problems, but it's pointless speculation at this point,” Jack replies, and keeps mum on the reasoning.

After he gets the lowdown from Kevin, and Kevin asks if he has anything to look into, Jack has to take a moment to actually think about it: “No, I think you're pretty much in on everything new to me.” Thinking of how he'd possibly seen his dad, he doesn't really want Kevin to get involved any more than he has to. He also thinks that his dad might be Manitou, maybe? 'World ending genius' and then after the event at the  bodega with the shapeshifting, it fits on that level as well.

Maybe.

Then something Kevin could use his skills for comes to mind:

“You should look for this guy who supposedly made Roger, Sarah _____'s dad. She's his target at Edison, and it'd be good to see if there's any truth. Maybe he's a hood too.”

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 46):

Let's just call her Sara Smith.  I have lost some notes and can't find her surname.  Thanks

Kevin frowns.  He picks up a chili cheese tot and chews on it.  "So...I kinda connected some dots when you told me about Sara bein' on Roger's To Do list.  I don't think her Dad is..."

He shakes his head.  "Hell. If he's who I'm thinkin' he is, he's deader than disco.  He was a researcher at the Program when Roger and I were there-"

He stops chewing on chili cheese tater tots.  His frown deepens.  "Crap."

Kevin is quiet a moment and then shoves a bunch of tots into his face.  "Something just occured to me," he manages not to shower you with tot bits as he speaks. But it's a miracle it doesn't happen.  "I never really thought about why they picked Minneapolis for the first run through of the Program...well.  Never mind for now.  I need to snoop a bit.  I'll fill you in once I know something for sure.

"Have you already told the Program people that Roger was lookin' around for Manitou? Don't if you haven't.  If you have...just keep an eye on things. Let me know if they seem like they're doing anything weird. Well. Weirder."

He gulps down the last of his Mr. Pibb.  "Remember to keep your head down. Ya know. As much as you can. Keeping a low profile never really worked for me. I doubt you've been able to do a bang up job of it.  It's the Life.

"Stay in touch."

Anything you want to ask ol' Kevy before he rockets off?

Moving on.

---

HT waves as you and Darja land on the ground the next morning.  He's leaning against the back of his SUV parked out in the middle of the field twenty miles outside the city limits.

"You guys enjoying your time off?"

He sighs.  "So I'm guessing you guys have some questions or comments about what went down.  Wanna start there?"

Jack listens to Kevin as he has his epiphany and lets it play out without interruption, and in response to the question of whether he’d given the program anything about Manitou, he replies: “I still have the phone tucked away, pulled apart.”

He’s not sure what Kevin is thinking here, but he trusts that the guy will fill him in when he has leads. He is a bit tempted to ask for a full explanation, as he can probably look for things that Kevin can’t, but he decides that for the moment he’ll just trust the process.

“You’re the one who needs to keep his head out of crosshairs,” he points out as he starts to get up. Intending to exit with Kevin.

---

Jack thinks about how he wants to approach the subject: “A few comments.”

Though he does give Darja a little space if she wants to express anything first.

“First: I think the Program needs to include regular updates on the known badguys operating in the Midwest. Like, I had some idea who Roger is because I talk with the Monkey occasionally, but Odelia was about to gut the poor lady he possessed the other night.”

He leaves it at the first point so that HT has time to respond to each point without being hit with a deluge of Jack-thoughts.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:11, Thu 16 Dec 2021.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 48):

HT gives a dry chuckle.  "Yeah. We've been arguing about that.  Some thought that you guys wouldn't be running into the bad guys. At least not at first.  Some of us thought "Yeah. Has that ever worked out to be the case in these kinds of situations?".  Anyway.  I can guarantee there will be briefings on subjects like that goin' forward.

"Keep in mind though these kinda things are...fluid.  Bad guys might stick around then they might not.  Also..."  He shrugs. "Minneapolis was chosen for the Program cos this area historically had a low incidence of meta activity.  Obviously, that's not the case."

Darja cocks an eyebrow.  "You mean things are more...super-villainy than usual?"

Now the chuckle has some warmth to it.  "Yeah.  Things are more super-villainy than usual.  Sorry.  Just never heard it put that way.  Remind me ta teach you guys about magnet theory.

"But that's another conversation.  What else?"

Darja purses her lips.  "Is the Program all that secret now?  I mean...lots of security guys were all over the place during all that.  People are gonna wonder."

HT nods. "When they set up the Program, they considered what to do if there was a breech in security.  All I know is they are deciding which protocol to put into place.  I'll let you guys know what it is when I know what it is.

"Next?"

Jack would have made more comments, but HT acknowledges the point and says that they are going to be giving briefings going forward. No need to reiterate his thinking or argue its merits when the goal is accomplished. He slides his hands from his hoody pockets and folds up the sweater, setting it on the roof of the SUV.

Thinking about how he’d handle the situation with the exposure of the Program, he has some ideas, but those too are tucked away. In the end, it seems like the main ‘problem’ with the Program is that the Capes aren’t committed to the Program whole-assed.

“What's going on with Ron and Roger?” he asks.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 50):

HT frowns.  Scowls really.

"Ron has been removed from the Program. Obviously.  I'm not part of the debriefing team.  So I don't honestly know much more than you right now.

"All I know is they apparently had dealings at some point in the past.  Don't know if that's Roger got....uh...'inside' Ron or what.  I'll let you know what I can when I know it.

"What else?"

“I’d like to get privileges to read some files, find out a bit about what we’re dealing with. It’s stupid for me to need to figure some of these things out when people I know, already know the answers. Also, I still want to do training with Omen or a psychic, as a side note,” Jack tells HT. He doesn’t have any more questions though.

He anticipates the answers to the rest of his questions are going to be satisfactory. That the mercs were detained, and that they are going to ..

Even as he thinks through the problems swiftly, he thinks of another question, “What additional measures will be taken going forward?”

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 52):

"You'll be given information that is available during the briefings.  But I'll tell you now: you may not get everything there is to know."

He sighs.  "Here's a quick lesson in the realities of the Life.  There's just as much bureaucracy and government red tape in superheroing as there is in the military.  More actually.  There's been a lotta times I've had to go into the field not knowin' something cos the information was classified above my level.  I will tell ya all I can.  Best I can promise with that one.

"As for the psychic training...Omen is kinda out of commission for a bit.  We're bringing in a couple of people to do some training on the psychic and magic stuff.  I was gonna let you all know this week about it but...you know.  THings got cluster fucked.

"As to how it will look goin' forward...all I know at the moment is this.  They're gonna shut down most of the facility at the school and move the Program to an orbital facility.  At least for now.  Since the Program's been exposed, we want to make sure any Hoods know we've cleared out so they don't show up at the school.  Also it's easier to control access when everyone has to teleport in.

"There's gonna be some substantial changes.  They won't axe the program...mostly cos of you two and Mia.  But now that it's blown up in everyone's face, all the suits will show up and second guess everything.  We already got some big wigs in on the Feds side.  You may have to talk to them.  Gut Shot's still arguin' over that one."

He sighs.  "Anyway.  This may sound like a cop out, but sometimes things just blow up in your face.  It happens.  We're dealing with people and beings that work on wavelengths regular folks don't.  Roger...or I guess now it's "Meat Puppet". I hate when they give themselves names...anyway, Roger is a good example.  He's just..."

HT hunts for the words.  "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.  The big thing is minimizing the civillian collateral damage.

"Does any of that make sense?"

Jack listens to HT.

“I’ll need to work on getting some sort of top level clearance then,” he decides, letting HT know his feeling on the matter. He’ll leverage something in the future for it. They’ll want him to do something and he’ll require that they give clearance, that’ll solve the issue. Hopefully.

The psychic training and the status of Omen earns a little disgruntled look, but he doesn’t say anything. He could have controlled that response, but he decides to let it show.

“Don’t suppose you could arrange a meeting with Mia? I don’t have any classes with her, and I still have no idea what sort of asset she is in the field. Like, could she have been useful to us the other night?” he asks, when the girl is mentioned. “The thing with the orbital—-if you need someone to lift stuff up there, let me know.”

Then as an aside he actually laughs a little and shares: “By the way, that’s one of my get rich schemes. I’m thinking about offering NASA and Elon Musk to haul stuff into space for them, I’m way cheaper than rocket fuel. Did you know that it costs like eight grand per pound to put things in space with rocket fuel? I’d do a huge haul for eight grand.”

(This is all dependent on them still using normal means to do things. I’m actually sort of expecting they can do it way cheaper with meta scientists and other metas, but it’s always been a fun idea I’d thought a guy like him could use if there weren’t that sort of influence by meta scientists.)

“Oh, and I’m fine talking to whoever.”

He nods at the last part about collateral damage.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 54):

The space thing is an interesting idea.  Let me think on that.

"Do it if you can. I don't blame ya," HT says about the clearance.  "If you end up gettin' one higher than me, will ya let me know what's goin' on? It would be nice if someone did."

He doesn't react much to your harumph over the psychic training/Omen situation.

Darja actually winces when you bring up Mia.  HT nods though. "I'm already schedulin' some training for everyone together.  Mia too.."  He shoots a look at Darja.

Just so long as she doesn't start laughing again...

"Can ya talk in English if you're gonna backtalk me? Thanks.

"Anyway...I know she's...challenging.  But she's a good kid. Ya know.  At heart."

Darja chews her cheek and doesn't say anything.

HT claps his hands together.  "Okay.  They want me to go over your performance during the event.  I think that's a bit crass, considering how things all blew up.  But any learning opportunity in a storm I guess.

"So lemme ask you guys: if there was one thing you yourself coulda done different during all that, what would it have been?"

Darja answers pretty quickly.  "I wish I had been earlier to check out the parking lot.  I heard some noises I thought were weird.  Looking back, I think it might have been the frequencies of the bombs that had been planted out around the parking lot.  But I might be second guessing myself."

Jack nods at the mention of training and getting clearance, he intends to follow through on all of it when the opportunities present themselves. Hearing about Mia, he continues to wonder how her powers work, and decides maybe he should just ask Darja to try to explain it. Maybe he can decipher it from the clues he has been given indirectly.

“I shouldn’t have needled Roger at the end there, I doubt he’s going to have a change of ‘personality’ or whatever constitutes his core being, but it was juvenile, and didn’t gain us anything. I’ll save my needling for the stable ones who need to be put off their game, not the ones who are already insane,” he answers, thinking about things in hindsight.

“I also could have acted more quickly, and I think I need to stash a more proper Cape outfit nearby. Oh, speaking of which,” he begins, not actually explaining this tangent immediately, “I need someone to make sure that my homecoming pictures aren’t available to the public. A person with sharp memory would spot that my tuxedo in my pictures with Lyds and ‘guy with mask in tuxedo’ are the same person. Same build.”

He thinks about it a bit more.

“Do you guys have a person who can make us something a bit less Walmart brand, in terms of temporary outfits in case of situations like this?”

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 56):

HT nods.  "Way ahead a' you on the photos.  We've got a media suppressor on it.  Long story short, lots a' cell phones started experiencing technical problems yesterday.  The internet's always  a pain to comb through.  But they combed it yesterday and feel good none a' ours are on Tik Tok.  Or whatever the hell it is you kids use now a days.

"And uniforms. Yeah.  They'll issue ya some.  Heads up: you won't like 'em.  But it's free gear.  Put up with it for now.  I'll work on gettin' 'em ta...ya know...design something that suits you.  If that's how you say it.

"Anyway.  Overall, you guys did solid.  There was a minimum of civie injuries.  No one died, which in my book is always a win.

"Darj...it was a good idea pickin' up that van and flying it to the cops.  One thing though: you didn't know if those guys had ammo that could pierce the shell of the van.  More than likely they did.  You were shakin' the van as you flew. But...be honest.  Was that on purpose?"

Darja thinks about it and shakes her head. "No. I just...wasn't sure what to do other than to get them away from everyone."

"And that's fine.  You thought it out as you went. And that's what ya gotta do sometimes. But try to keep in mind the details.  That's where the devil is after all.  In all them details.  Goons like that usually have good equipment. If they fired at you through the van, it might not have hurt you. But it could have.  And even if it didn't, it could have travelled towards the ground.  Shakin' the van as you flew would keep them off their toes.  You ended up doing that just from jostlin' it around in flight. But that has it's own dangers.

"Jack.  When you came up on those two metas, you handled it well. You resolved the situation alright, but I think we need to work on how you deal with Caspers.  That's what I call hoods who can go insubstantial.  You threatened her body to make her retreat, right?  And that was solid. But some of 'em don't have that issue with their bodies lyin' around.  If her body had transformed into that ball of light, instead of it comin' out of her, that might have been a different fight.  The other thing was how you handled moving that guy Dan around.  He's in good shape, so there wasn't any harm. But you could've just moved him out of there completely.  You had time.

"But that's more or less nit picky stuff.  Well.  Kinda nit picky.  I thought it would be fair to give you guys a chance to critique."

He grins and brings what looks like a long decorative silver chain out of his pocket.

"As you know, we weren't around for all a' that cos a mission came up.  It's not one that has to be classified.  You guys want to see what happened?  It'll give you a chance to watch us so-called professionals in action.  You can critique how we handled the situation.

"It'll take us a few hours.  And you'll have to plug into my memories.  But it might be instructive.

"You game?"

Hearing about the media suppression, Jack nods. He should actually look into writing his own program to do that, it’d give him a coding project to use his novice coding skills on and progress to a new level. In case he didn’t have the Program people to do it for him in the future.

“As long as they aren’t as loud as the luchador mask or have a huge codpiece, I’ll be fine,” he says when HT talks about the uniforms they’ll be issuing.

Hearing the thoughts about Darja’s van handling, he wonders what he would have done differently. He’d have ripped the door off and bludgeoned them all unconscious. Leaving the Program to clean them up, instead of directly moving them. So he’d have never had that problem to begin with, but like the Mercs who’d run away from the shop, perhaps leaving people loose was a bad idea.

Hearing the critique of how he handled the ‘Casper’ he nods, he agrees. He’d dealt with it in the moment. He could try to explain his thinking, but the fact of the matter is that he agrees with the critique.

“I’m game.”

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 58):

Darja frowns at her critique, but nods at the end of it.  She can't deny she hadn't thought of armor piercing ammo.

She also nods at HT's offer.

I am going to pause us here until I get back next Sunday.

Let me know if there is anything in the game that you would like to see more/less of.

Thanks Sir.

In reply to Editor-in-Chief (msg # 59):

HT holds the chain up by one end and lets it dangle down.  He hasn't released the full length, and it's already dangling inches above the grass.  It's much longer then it should be.

"Alrightie. Lissen up campers.  This here is something Alkie...er...The Almchemist whipped up for us a few months ago.  It will store a day's worth of memories.  You guys are gonna plug into my head.  Without all the cussin' and such.  Alkie swears it only records like a video camera.  Not like a thoughts and all kinda thing.  You'll be able to go along with me as we went out on the mission that kept us all occupied while the Homecoming shin dig was goin' down.

"Now I'll tell ya upfront.  It got a little squishy.  And that's not edited.  You're gonna see dead bodies.  And not as in the whole "Oh she looks so peaceful in that casket" kinda state either.  This was a definite blood an' guts mission."

He flips up his wrist, sending the chain flying into the air.  HT quickly grabs it, deftly snatching it by it's middle before it has a chance to get near the ground.

"Okay.  If you're still game...grab one of the ends."

Darja studies one of the ends and shrugs, reaching out for it.  Can't be any worse than back home...

Assuming you take an end, but I will pause here so you can ask any questions before Jack does so.  If not, we'll move along.

Thanks

Jack takes a look at the chain when it is offered up and listens to the explanation, he isn’t sure he’d want to share his memories so openly. Since it might include things like using the bathroom, and depending on when it was made, intimate times with Lydia.

“Will it be a replay of the entire thing from beginning to end or will you have control of what we’re seeing?” he asks, just to get an idea of what to expect.

Regardless of the answer, he steps up and takes a hold of the chain.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 61):

"I'll skip over parts, so you don't have to sit through the shuttle ride over or me usin' the head.  We'll start at the briefin'.  You can ask questions.  I'll be able ta hear you and answer back."

As you touch the chain, you feel a slight sharp, cold prick in the fingertips that touch the chain.  And then you hear a soft voice hiss in your ear

not allowed...contingency...

You blink.  You're standing in a small room that has the same kind of floor and ceiling as the training rooms in the Program, but isn't one you've ever seen before.

You're leaning against a wall, looking at a large screen on the opposite wall.  HT and Gut Shot are standing by the screen.

Sitting on a table...a very sturdy table...is a large man in heavy duty kind of battle armor.  You recognize him from the news as Hemi.

Sitting next to him, a tall, nervous looking, thin man is holding a red plastic SOLO cup and pouring a kind of bluish liquid into it.  It smells vaguely like peppermint.  The Alchemist maybe?

Standing next to the screen, touching the lower corner of it, is a young woman in a track suit.  She's frowning as if concentrating.  You have no idea who she is.

Gut Shot points at the screen.  On it is a picture of a group of sheds or warehouses set on the side of a glacier.

"Station Sunspot.  Joint research effort by the US, Canada, and the EU.  On record as researching weather phenomena.  In reality conducting experiments on harnassing planetary gravity as a source of power..."

The Alchemis suddenly jerks and looks around, seeming to be confused.  He looks at the goo he's pouring into the cup and frowns.  What the hell is this... he says in Estonian.

HT frowns as well and looks around, scratching the back of his head.  "Uh...you guys inside my head?  I don't...uh...'feel you' in there.  Alkie said I'd be able ta tell."

Gutshot keeps talking as if no one has said or done anything out of the ordinary.  "Two days ago, contact with the base was lost.  Marines sent in one of their meta units to check things out..."

HT looks towards the Alchemist.  "Don't tell me you half assed this..."

Alchemist blinks back at him.  "Half assed what?  Where are we?"

HT raises an eyebrow.  "You can hear me?"

ALchemist stands, setting the cup on the table.  "I thought I was supposed to.  You said we could ask you quest-"  He stops.  "Why do I feel taller?"

He look down at his hands.  "Why are my hands hairy? And what happened to my tits?"

HT groans.  "Darja?"

Alchemist looks up. "Yeah?"

HT holds up a hand.  He looks around.  "Okay.  Where's Jack?"

As you hold up your hand, you notice HT seems taller than he was before.  And as you raise your hand, you notice you're...not you.  The arms you're raising are in a t-shirt you don't own.  And their skinnier than yours are.  And older looking.

You have no idea whose body you're in.  But obviously it's not yours.

Gutshot is still going on.  "...last contact stated there was a second man in the complex. And it was him who had wiped out the team..."

Finding himself in someone else’s body, Jack quickly makes a few quick guesses at what has happened, though he obviously has no idea how it works. He has begun to unravel the mysteries of the scientific side of things with the help of the AER but the mystical side will have to wait until he can get some tutoring from Omen and the Alchemist.

Out of curiosity, he attempts to use some of his powers passively. Trying to float up off the floor and look through things, just to test the limits of the body occupation aspect of things.

When he is asked who he is, he raises his hand and takes the time to really try to put a name to the body he is occupying. Checking his pockets for an ID, since running out for a look at a mirror seems unlikely.

“Sort of like the pensieve in Harry Potter, in that we are apparently going to be walking around in the memory and not like a few movies I won’t mention, where we have to view everything from HT’s perspective and can’t change what we’re looking at,” he shares his thinking out loud, using pop culture to really figure out the rules to how this works. “Cool. So, who am I in the body of, HT?” he asks.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 63):

No hovering.  You have a wallet and the wallet has a driver's license.  Jackson Tollman.

A rather plain looking man with brown hair stares back from the photo.  The only remarkable thing about him is he seems to be missing his left eye.  But you aren't noticing any problems with your depth perception or sight on that side.

HT blinks at you.  "Jack?  So you're there.  That's Jackpot.

"Dammit.  No.  You guys were supposed to be in my head.  Not in...those bodies.  That's the only reason I agreed to this.  Because it sounded like it'd be safe.  Stop rolling your eyes Darja.  It's rude. And Alchemist does that enough on his own.

"Hold on.  I'm gonna get us outta here...and nothin'.  Shit.  Something's really wrong."

Gutshot has finished her briefing and, for some reason, everyone is staring at you.

HT scratches his chin and then snaps his fingers. "Oh.  Jack said somethin' here.  Like asked a question about the number of members on the seal team. I think."

Everyone just stares at you. As if they're waiting.

“Yeah, I figured,” Jack confirms and holds up the ID for a split second before he packs it away.  Glancing over at Darja when she rolls her eyes, he points out, “Imagine if you have to pee.” Just to tease her a little while they’re waiting for the conversation between Gutshot and her crew to finish.

When he realizes that HT is saying that things aren’t in fact going as expected, he narrows his eyebrows a little.

Replaying the conversation as Gutshot had had it, he tries to figure out a good contextual question based on HT’s prompt: “I expect the SEAL team was running sixteen deep, given the size of the operation? Or were they just running a fire team? In case we need to look for survivors.”

He then turns his body slightly to shrug at HT as if to say: Something like that?

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 65):

HT blinks.  "He's not usually that smart in how he says things."

Gutshot raises an eyebrow. "Did somebody have some IQ points for breakfast?"  She smirks. "Nice to see you present and accounted for for a change."

HT frowns. "She...she didn't say that.  That's...new."

"What is?" Gutshot puts her hands on her hips and turns the raised eyebrow to HT.  He shakes his head.

"Ah...sorry boss.  You were sayin'?"

She turns back to you Jack/Jackpot.  "The team was a standard meta-infiltration.  Two front liners. A long range.  Five regs in high tech gear.  A second team with a front liner, a support, and four gearheads were supposed to follow.

"But the first team sent a hold off signal.  Then all vid got cut.  Government won't hand over the footage cos...you know. The usual.  So we're going in with pretty much what I told you and nothing else."

She sighs. "We'll look for survivors of course.  That's priority one. But I'm not holding my breath. This may be a The Thing type situation. But we won't make assumptions.  Questions?"

Jack pauses in thought, wondering how he should play this. The way this chain seems to be working is that they need to play their roles and follow along with the action, but he wonders if they can’t break the sequence of events in some way.

Or could this be some sort of weird time travel shenanigans? No, not likely.

He shakes his head at the request for further questions.

In reply to Jack Sharpe (msg # 67):

HT jerks his chin towards a door at the back of the room.

Gutshot gives him and you and Darja/Alchemist a look but says nothing as the three of you head out this side door.

HT turns to look at both of you.

"So I think you guys get that somethin' ain't right here.  Didja notice anything odd when you grabbed the chain? Not that I would know what it meant."

He sighs and rubs his head.  "Can either of you fly or...you know. Bend steel girders?  No huh?  Didn't think we'd get that lucky.

"Okay. All I can think ta do is go with the flow here.  This should be a memory. But..."

He shakes his head. "We're kinda down the rabbit hole here.  I'm gonna keep tryin' to contact Alchemist. Not you Darja. The real one.  But I can't seem to get out to him.

"Lemme give you the run down on your powers.

"Darja...Alkie is mostly just that. Alchemy.  He has all those little bottles in all those pockets and stuff.  Some of 'em are labeled I know.  Dig through your pockets and see what you can find that makes sense.

"Jack, Jack's power...shit this is gonna get confusing. Jackpot's power has to do with luck.  He can kinda wave his fingers and these little disks pop up.  Red ones are bad luck an' white ones are good luck. He'll then pitch 'em at things and stuff kinda happens.  I don't think he knows ahead a' time what will happen.

"The other thing I know if he has to do both. Everytime he does good luck, he's gotta bad luck someone.  And vice versa.  Make sense?"

“I can remember being somewhat close to this, sensory wise, but it feels like my head is wrapped in a thousand miles of buffers. I can't believe you people have to walk around like this,” Jack relays once the others are out of the room, talking as they walk toward the next step. Listening to Hard Time as they walk.

Discs of luck. Weird, but he thinks he can manage that if his accuracy and coordination aren't taking too much of a nose dive.

As he walks, his foot catches on a doorway and he stutter steps, but manages not to fall.

“So weird,” he mutters.

“Yeah, it makes sense,” he agrees with HT.