Captain Jack is a fartface–barrrrffff…

The annoyed look on Misato’s face is the cherry on top.

starts rhythmic clapping

HO-DEE-HOTEN-DOTEN-DAY, HO-DEE-HOTEN-DAY-O! HO-DEE-HOTEN-DOTEN-DAY…

FATTENING UP OUR TAAAAPE WOOOOORMS!

“What website do I go to to kick your ass?”

I know this is just a silly meme, but it makes me feel a little hopeful seeing evidence of other people thinking like this on the road, y’know, responding with empathy and concern for strangers instead of immediate vengeful anger.

…ah-tah?

“Sweet deal.”

Huh? How could that possibly…

squints

Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch. It’s like the world’s grimiest Magic Eye poster.

Yeah, kinda hard to ignore those themes in a game whose antagonist is a deliberate gender-swap of Ayn Rand.

Have you seen what’s down there? It’s terrifying.

You don’t have to tell me. Deep down at the bottom of the ocean? The whole place is crawling with…capitalists.

Yeah, yeah. I know. Andrew Ryan gave us all the big, shiny speech, “sweat of your brow” and all that, but what’s he got down there now? Just a buncha junkies and opportunists running guns and peeling off all of that pretty art deco veneer.

Thanks but no thanks, Ryan.

We can only hope it will take us far away from that mucky-muck, man.

“Bella Cummins, brothel madam.”

This HAS to be Roger from American Dad, right?

The near-blinding kaleidoscope of lights and color faded to blackness as my virtual reality headset powered down. Pulling the headset away, I yawned and blinked, my eyes adjusting to the LED lighting that bathed my gaming space in neon. I fumbled to turn off the lights. Many colleagues of mine had taken to configuring such devices with voice recognition and control, but truthfully, I was too uneasy to do so myself, fearing who might be listening on the other end.

I checked the device in my pocket for the current time. Damn. Later than I hoped.

I walked sluggishly away to bed, punching buttons on the slab in my hand until alarms were set, calendars were reviewed, and quiet again took the space.

Hell yeah. I also somehow ended up with the voice distortion model and it was the best.

37?!?!?

glances into mirror

Oh.

Right.

…Shit.

The microwave at the Future Gadgets Lab is about to experience one hell of an upgrade.

CUT MY CAKE INTO PIECES! THIS IS MY PLASTIC FORK!