"Do you have anything interesting planned for today, dear?" Danny asked his daughter as she sat at the table, the Varga appearing next to her in the twin form he seemed to find funny to use.
"We've got a few projects of Amy's to work on, plus I need to make quite a lot of stuff this weekend for the police and the fire guys," she replied, pouring some juice into a glass. The juice came from a jug, the glass just appeared in her hand, which made him smile. "And Lisa said that Dragon is likely to want to talk to us about various things today or tomorrow as well, so I'm expecting a phone call soon. She's pretty sure it will be this morning."
"I see." He put a plate in front of each copy of his daughter, then the last one in his place, and sat down to eat. "How much does Dragon know about the truth?" He was slightly worried, but felt that the Canadian Tinker was one of the few 'official' Parahumans who could be trusted with things that his daughter and her friends didn't want becoming public knowledge. And was quite possibly smart enough to have already divined some of them.
"I'm not sure," Taylor shrugged. "I have a fairly good idea that she knows more than she's let on, or at least suspects that the public story isn't all of it. She's really smart. Whether she'll actually ask or not I don't know, and I'm not sure yet what the best approach is if she does. I'm still terrified of you getting hurt, and now I have Amy and Lisa to worry about as well, not to mention all my other friends." She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, a somewhat bemused expression in her eyes, then lowered it.
"Friends. Sometimes I hear myself saying that and I get this weird feeling… Three months ago I didn't have any friends any more, and now..." She shook her head as he watched her with sympathy, the demon next to her putting his hand on her shoulder for a moment, with a glance at him. The girl was lost in her thoughts for a second or two, but came back from wherever she'd gone with a small smile and resumed eating. "It's still strange every now and then. I can't believe how fast things changed."
"That's what happens sometimes," he told her, stirring a little sugar into his coffee. "And it all changed in the right direction, so I wouldn't worry about it." He met her eyes and smiled. "Oh, on a completely different note, I didn't tell you about the crazy car accident I almost got caught up in on the way home."
Both Taylors raised identical eyebrows, looking quizzically at him, which made him chuckle. He spend the rest of the breakfast time regaling them with the story, and afterwards they sat and listened as he talked about his trip, seeming happy for him. When he glanced at his watch and saw it was nearly nine, he finished off the last of the nearly cold coffee and stood up. "Anyway, when you finish that book, I want to send a copy to Antonio and Serafina."
Taylor nodded. "I'd be happy to let them have it. These recipes they send back look really tasty, I can hardly wait to try them." She was looking through several sheets of paper with neat handwriting on. "And those cookies were amazing."
"Serafina was always a remarkably good baker," he replied, looking at the now empty plate. "I'll be impressed if you can duplicate the results. I'd happily eat those more often."
"I'll give it a try soon, I think we have all the ingredients," his daughter said with pleasure. "Are you going in to the yard today?"
"Yes, after lunch. I've got some work to catch up on around the house first. The train should be leaving this afternoon and everyone will want to watch. Roy is coming to see it as well. It's the first major step in a long but good process and I think it will make a lot of people happy." He pushed his chair back in, then took his plate and cutlery to the sink. She followed with the rest of it, the Varga, who had so far been silently listening, helping. "It might be a good idea to have Kaiju there too. She made it all possible and I suspect a lot of people will want to say thanks."
"I'm sure we can get word to her," Taylor chuckled, glancing at the demon who was grinning.
"Most likely, Brain. She's not that far away..."
"Great. That'll be… about three?"
"No problem, Dad." She hugged him, which he returned. "I'll see you later. Oh, by the way, you're going to love Amy's latest toy."
Both of them appeared highly amused as he gave them a flat look.
"Love, or be terrified by?" he asked suspiciously. "With you girls, sometimes there appears to be confusion over things like that..."
She winked at him, then vanished. The Varga grinned, shrugged, and did the same.
"Oh, god," he sighed. "Here we go again."
Shaking his head and wondering what fresh insanity was inbound, he went to deal with some email, then finish unpacking the car and doing the laundry.
Coming out of her bedroom, Amy nearly tripped over her sister who was standing outside her door with her hand half raised and a weird expression on her face. "What the hell, Vicky?" she exclaimed, having to almost dance around her, her tail hitting the other girl's legs and causing her to unconsciously take a step back. "Do you have to turn your brain off right in the middle of the hall?"
The blonde twitched slightly, as if she'd been thinking of something else, stared at her, then turned and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Amy stared at it, feeling pretty confused, wondered if she should demand what the fuck was up with the damn girl, then sighed and shook her head. Vicky was, at times, a pain in the ass with her odd moods, and this one seemed to be a particularly strange one.
Deciding that she'd wait at least until they'd both had breakfast, she finished doing up the belt of her robe and descended the stairs, quietly whistling 'Greensleeves' to herself. She could hear her sister in the shower, her mother apparently poking around in her closet upstairs, and her father in the kitchen. Vicky had smelled weird too, like she had about three or four mutually exclusive emotions all running at once, but she'd been like that for a couple of days now. Their parents both seemed, from what all her senses could tell her, in better than normal moods.
When she went into the kitchen she found Mark just sitting at the table, a pot of coffee in front of him. He looked up at her and smiled. "Hello, Amy. How did you sleep?"
"Very well, thanks, Dad," she replied. He filled a mug and pushed it across the table to her, then did the same for himself. Sitting down she added sugar and a little milk, then took a long drink of it. "Ah. Just right. Thanks."
"You're in a good mood for this hour, particularly considering how late you got in," he noted, stirring his cup and watching her. "Were you with Taylor or at the DWU with the Family again?"
"Both, actually," she said, putting the mug down and holding it between her hands. "We spent some time helping Ianthe with a project. Might have got a little too into it." She smiled back when he chuckled.
"I'm very glad you've made so many friends recently," he said affectionately. "Even if half of them are strange reptilian people. They seem good for you."
"I think they are." Amy snickered. "I've had more fun in the last couple of months than… well, for a long time."
"I'm sorry things got so bad, Amy," he said with a look of regret. "I should have stepped in before you and Carol had that argument, but, well..." He sighed a little.
"It's not your fault, Dad," she assured him. "Don't worry about it. Things are improving and to be honest I'm in a good place now, so I'm not upset. Life can be difficult for anyone at times."
He watched her take another sip. "I'm very proud of you," he finally said, raising his own mug. When he'd swallowed, he put it down again. "I don't say that enough."
"Thanks, Dad. It means a lot." They shared a moment of quiet contemplation.
"Your mother also means well despite some of the things she's said in the past. There are reasons for most of it, but she shouldn't have taken it out on you like that," he added quietly.
"I understand," she replied equally quietly. "Like I said, things are getting better, so it doesn't matter now, really. Assuming they continue to improve, of course." Both of them looked at each other, then turned their eyes upward as there was a loud crash from above.
"Victoria Dallon!" Carol's voice yelled. "Watch where you're going! What did I tell you last time about flying in the house?"
"Sorry, Mom, I was thinking about something and forgot!" Vicky sounded embarrassed.
"Well, try thinking about the here and now and not Dean or whatever it was," Carol went on at slightly lower volume. "I liked that vase and now look at it."
The shouting died down to a more quiet lecture, which Amy listened to with a slight grin. Vicky seemed apologetic, but she could hear from the tone of her sister's voice that she wasn't paying complete attention. Once again she wondered what was going on, resolving that she'd definitely pin the damn girl down and get it out of her if she didn't open up today.
"Oh, dear," Mark chuckled. "Your sister has been a little absent minded recently. Do you know why? Is it another fight? I thought she and Dean had got past that, I've been impressed with how much more mature she's been recently."
"Almost like an adult at times, right?" Amy giggled.
"I wouldn't go quite that far," he laughed.
"I don't know what's going on," she admitted. "She was weird at school yesterday too, and at Taylor's house, although not as bad. But she hasn't said anything to me at all so far. I don't think it was a fight, Dean looked more or less normal yesterday and he's not rushing around buying her new sparklies as far as I know." She grinned. "That's normally the giveaway."
Her father looked amused, shaking his head a little. "Your sister does have that poor boy firmly under her thumb in some ways. Good thing his family can afford her tastes."
Both of them laughed again. "Keep an eye on her, will you?" he requested. "You know how she gets at times. You're..."
"More responsible? More mature? Generally a much better person?" Amy asked, smirking. "Someone with a work ethic? Nicer freckles? Better hair? Stop me when I get there."
"I was going to say, more even keeled," he said, smiling at her. "I suspect due to your work at the hospital. If it makes you feel superior, you can have some of those other things as well. I would debate better person, as both my daughters are good people." After a moment, he added, "And Vicky also has nice hair."
She waved a hand grandly. "Thank you for your approval," she said airily, then giggled.
Her father studied her, then stood up. "You are definitely a much happier person these days," he stated, moving to the fridge and opening it. "I'm very pleased to see that. If nothing else, cutting back on the hospital hours seems to have reduced the pressure on you a lot."
Finishing her coffee, she got up and took both mugs to the sink, washing them and putting them upside down on the draining rack. "A lot of things in my life all changed at once," she said after a few seconds, turning and leaning on the table, watching as he started to make breakfast. "Sometimes I wake up and have a moment where I wonder if it was a dream, and am then very pleased to remember it's real." She handed him the spatula from the rack when he started looking in the drawer it usually lived in. "Don't worry, I'm still the same sarcastic and moody person I've always been, though. Just having a lot more fun now."
"We would miss the snark if it vanished," he chuckled, cracking some eggs into the pan. "But I'm very glad you're enjoying life so much."
"I am," she told him totally truthfully. "Ever since I met Taylor, I've decided I can make something of myself. She was really the key to it all, and I'm incredibly glad I tripped over her and made friends."
"The girl is a very nice person and a good friend," he nodded, starting some bacon going. Amy reached around him and got some bread, then put it into the toaster. "I'm pleased for both of you. Her father is a decent guy as well, and that union of his is making a hell of a difference to the city already. Not to mention the crazy lizards."
"Hey, I like the lizards," she protested mildly.
He reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately. "So do I. I think most people do these days. And even the ones that don't at least respect them."
Reaching up she picked his hand off her head, then held it for a moment, before smiling widely. "It's really helping, isn't it?" she asked, letting go.
Mark nodded, returning to his task. "It is. I'm definitely not cured, I think, but I feel more like me again than I have for literally years." He glanced at her. "Please pass on my thanks to Ianthe. And your friends at the hospital."
"I will," she assured him, very happy at how well his brain chemistry seemed to be working at the moment. He was right, it still wasn't quite correct, but it was much closer to normal than she'd ever seen it before. The one-shot had worked far better than she'd hoped it would. It looked likely that in time he'd be pretty much normal. The contrast from before was already remarkable.
By the time Carol and Vicky came in, the latter looking mildly embarrassed and the former still rather ticked off, they'd nearly finished making a quite large breakfast. Soon they were sitting at the table eating. "You got in very late, Amy," Carol remarked once she'd wordlessly finished her first cup of coffee and seemed less miffed at Vicky's earlier actions. "It's becoming something of a habit. Remember you need your sleep."
"Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine," Amy assured the woman, who examined her for a moment then nodded a little. "I just got really into Ianthe's latest project." She smiled as her adoptive mother looked at her a little askance, but merely sighed a little. "Her stuff is really interesting and I'm learning a lot."
"I can't help but feel that those lizards are… not necessarily a good influence," Carol mumbled, pouring another cup full of steaming brown fluid. "However, at the same time I can't deny that you seem more contented than I've ever seen you before, and they do seem to be, somewhat surprisingly, a stabilizing influence on the city. You can see their mark almost everywhere in some quite odd ways." She shook her head with another mild sigh. "It's very strange how quickly things changed after Saurial turned up. I can hardly believe sometimes that it's not even three months since then, sometimes it feels more like a couple of years."
Vicky glanced at Amy, who looked back, raising an eyebrow at the contemplative note that had come into their mother's voice. After a few moments, the older woman shrugged.
"A lot has changed, I agree," Mark nodded, reaching for the syrup. Vicky pushed it closer to him, getting a smile of thanks. "But on the whole I like it."
Carol looked at him, and he returned the gaze, both of them smiling in a way that Amy hadn't seen all that much in the last few years. "I suppose I can't complain all things considered," she finally said, holding the hand he held out briefly. "Please thank Ianthe when you see her, Amy," she went on, turning back to her daughters. "While I don't have the medical knowledge to fully understand it all, I can say that her work is helping our family a lot, and I'm grateful."
"I'll pass it on, Mom," Amy smiled.
"Oh, while I think about it, have you had any interactions with Rachel Lindt at the DWU?" Carol asked out of nowhere, releasing her husband's hand and picking up her knife again.
Amy looked at her curiously. "I've talked to her a few times, and healed a few of her dogs," she replied.
"What are your impressions of the girl?"
"Um… She doesn't talk much, and she's really not good with normal human interaction," Amy said after some thought. "She's much better with dogs. I don't know how much of that is her power and how much is just her, but she's… different. Not really in a bad way, though. I like her, I guess."
"Would you say she was violent?"
The brunette thought for a moment, studying her mother. "She can definitely fight, and you really don't want to hurt a dog when she's around," she replied slowly. "She doesn't like that at all. But violent?" She thought some more. "I wouldn't say she's someone who would back down from a confrontation, but at the same time I don't think she's someone who goes looking for trouble. I guess I'd say she was tough, rather than violent, if that makes any sense. But from what I've seen she's also capable of being a loyal friend and I know she gets on with most of the DWU people pretty well."
She shrugged a bit as her mother nodded thoughtfully. "Many of them like dogs too, and she helps out with training the guard dogs they use, which seems to have won her a lot of friends in the security department. And in some ways her background and personality isn't all that different from quite a few people there. She seems to trust them a lot more than she's trusted most people in her life from what I've been told and seen. As far as I can tell she's happier where she is right now than she was before. I think she had a pretty hard life up until she Triggered, it wasn't just one bad day. But I don't know the details."
"I see," Carol said when she stopped talking. "Thank you."
"Why did you want to know?" Vicky asked curiously.
"Just filling in as much data as I can on my client," their mother replied, before taking another sip of her coffee. "I'm going to have to meet her soon, but I need everything I can find on the case. Personal impressions can be useful to build a background, which helps with working out motives and hopefully separating fact from rumor."
"Do you think you can get her out of those murder charges?" Amy asked.
"I can't discuss it in detail, but the more I look into it, the less I like what I've found," Carol responded, frowning. "I suspect Director Piggot might feel similarly considering how cooperative the local PRT are being. On the other hand that might just be to keep the DWU and the Family happy." She finished her coffee and put the empty cup down, looked at the coffee pot, then reached for it and refilled for the final time. "Time will tell."
Mark, who had been listening quietly, turned to the two girls. "Do you have interesting plans for the weekend?" he asked.
Amy glanced at her sister who was apparently lost in her own thoughts again, as she so often was at the moment. "I'm going to pop into the hospital for a couple of hours, just to see how it's going with the instant healers, and see if there's anyone who needs some healing," she began. "I don't want to get out of practice."
He chuckled as she smiled.
"After that I'll be at the DWU again, Taylor is going to be there too, and we're going to just hang out and see how Ianthe's work is coming along. You never know, I might make a new friend or two as well." She giggled when he grinned at her. "It's an interesting place."
"You do seem to be spending most of your free time there," Carol noted, placing her knife and fork on the side of her empty plate. She sounded just a tiny bit disapproving. "Perhaps you should also do other things."
Amy shrugged, replying, "It's educational, there are some really cool things going on there, and I'm having fun. Plus I've helped out several times with healing some of the people there. They're very safety conscious but accidents do sometimes happen. Admittedly now that Ianthe made the instant healers that's probably not going to be a problem any more." She grinned again. "Plus I get to play with some of Vectura's toys, which are just amazing. Did you see all the photos and video of Lisa riding that virtual bike all over the place the other day?"
Mark looked amused. "There do seem to be a lot of people talking about it on PHO," he said. "I suspect that if BBFO started selling them, assuming that's possible, they'd sell a lot of them. It looks like fun."
"It is, those things are incredible," she giggled. "Apparently when she went in for powers testing that was what she made, and Armsmaster was gaping at it for about half an hour."
Vicky snickered, having once again rejoined them mentally. "I bet he wants one now," the blonde said slyly.
"Vectura said she let him borrow the prototype, so he sort of has one," Amy told her. "I wonder if he's managed to take it to pieces yet? Considering Saurial made half of it for Vectura that might be a bit difficult."
The sisters exchanged a look of hilarity.
"As long as you're being thoughtful, Amy. I don't want you getting carried away." Carol looked meaningfully at her. "Don't forget you are still representing New Wave even out of costume and act appropriately."
"Don't worry, Mom, I'll be careful," Amy assured the other woman, feeling internally amused at how she'd react if she had any inkling of the truth at all. "I have Taylor to keep me under control, after all."
"She seems like a sensible young woman," Carol nodded approvingly. Amy had to work quite hard to keep the smirk off her face. Their mother turned to Vicky. "And do you have plans? Are you fighting with Dean again? I hope not, I was hoping we were past all that drama. Far too many things get broken when you get into that state."
The blonde rolled her eyes. "No, Mom, I'm not fighting with Dean again. I just have a lot on my mind."
"How?" Amy put in with a smirk. "It's so small, there isn't room for much."
Vicky reached out and poked her in the ear. "It's plenty big, thank you," she returned, scowling. "At least I can reach the top shelf in the cupboards without needing a boost."
"Careful, if you anger me I'll reach up and punch you in the knee," Amy warned, suppressing a laugh.
"Only if you take a running jump," Vicky shot back, her eyes showing she was trying not to giggle.
Carol watched them with resignation. Mark was smiling. "Thank you for the little skit, girls," their mother sighed. "Obviously you're both in a good mood."
Vicky turned back to her, as Amy returned to finishing the last of her breakfast, glad that her sister seemed to be more or less back to normal at the moment. "I'm going to go visit Aunt Sarah later, and Crystal's back so we're going shopping and might catch a movie. Then I have an essay to write." She looked slightly embarrassed once more. "I forgot to do it during the week, but the teacher said I could hand it in on Monday."
"Oh, Vicky. How many times do you have to be told to do your homework?" Carol sighed.
"At least once more than you hoped," Amy helpfully put in, making both blondes glare at her, although Mark snickered.
"Thank you, Amy," Carol said with heavy sarcasm.
"You're welcome, Mom," Amy chirped, pushing her chair back and hopping to her feet just in time to avoid another poke from her sister. "I need to shower and get dressed. Later, everyone."
She left the kitchen, smiling to herself. It was a good start to the day, and teasing her sister was always fun. Although she'd probably pay for it eventually, Vicky didn't like not getting the last word in…
Whatever. Her sister seemed fairly normal right now so perhaps she'd worked through whatever it had been that was bothering her and would open up about it. If not, she'd ask tomorrow and hope for the best. Right now, she had a hospital to visit, then another dragon to make. Along with a lot of smaller stuff. It was going to be a busy weekend.
Seconds later she was in the shower, already planning Lisa's copy of her latest design.
Looking out the tinted window of the SUV that had picked them up from the airport, Newter studied the cars passing them, feeling more than a little bored. It had been a long flight, their hired jet having had a minor problem with one engine that had meant they'd had an unexpected layover in Kansas City for three and a half hours during which they'd had to stay on the aircraft. He was tired and grumpy and just wanted to get back to his own bed in the Palanquin for the first time in months, kick back, and sleep for a couple of days.
And forget about chemical Tinkers, underground bases, stinky goo, and way more snow than he liked even a tiny amount.
God, he hated Alaska.
Peering out between buildings as they reached a high point where there was a view of the bay just visible to the right, he inspected where the old tanker had been for as long as he'd been living in Brockton Bay. The scene looked weird without it there in the distance. From what he could see there were more boats moving around out there too, a couple of them fairly substantial. Even after so short a time, things seemed to have changed noticeably.
"What are all the boats doing?" he asked out loud, pointing when Mel glanced back from the front passenger seat. She followed his finger and frowned slightly.
Ben, who was driving, met his eyes in the rear view mirror and also looked to the side. "Most of them are fishing boats, a lot of the old ones are being put back into the water since for some reason they say the fish are coming back. I think those large ones are freighters, I heard a company down in New York was looking into reopening some of the port facilities here and they were going to ship in some equipment by sea now that it's possible again. There's talk that this place could end up being a busy port again, but that's going to take time and money. So far it's mostly just locals, but I guess if it does take off, we'll get people from outside trying to start up here." He shrugged. "I don't know much about it, really, just what I've been told by some guys I know who hang around the bars down on the docks."
"Interesting," Gregor remarked, studying the scene until they went around a corner and it disappeared behind some apartment buildings again. "I wasn't aware there were that many boats left that still worked around here."
"A lot of them got hauled out of the water and stored years ago, apparently. And more were moved down the coast, or up to Canada," Ben replied. "Now they're starting to come back. There have been a couple of coast guard ships coming and going as well. They're probably thinking that smuggling will increase too."
"With the demise of the Merchants I'd think it would actually go down for a while at least," Mel suggested thoughtfully.
"Probably will, but at the same time, there are a lot of idiots around who won't think things through," the man nodded, smiling a little. He indicated and overtook a truck, then pulled back into the outer lane. "Personally I think you'd have to be a special kind of fuckwit to risk getting the Family pissed with you, but that won't stop someone from trying to fill the gap they left."
"And of course the E88 are behind quite a lot of that sort of thing as well," Gregor said. Ben nodded again.
"Yeah. Although they're being very discreet right now. Kaiser isn't a total idiot, and he's definitely not going to risk getting them angry with him as far as I can see. Like I told you, he's put the word out that no one is to do anything at all to attract their attention. Seems mostly to be working, although every now and then some low level Empire idiot tries his hand at mugging or whatever and Saurial or one of her sisters or cousins ruins his day. Or the cops do. The BBPD is being remarkably effective recently." He looked amused as Mel muttered something under her breath. "Mayor Roy is pretty pleased with things at the moment."
"So I gather," she grumbled.
"Coil's out of the picture, Lung seems to have at least temporarily retired, Undersiders are gone, Circus is gone, Merchants are history, E88 are being very low key… all in all this place is going through a quieter period than anything I can remember." Ben looked at her, then went back to concentrating on the driving. "It's good for business, the club has been packed every night for weeks. People aren't so worried about going out these days."
"Something, I suppose," their boss said after a while. "I still find it very odd, and more than a little perplexing."
"So does everyone else but it seems to be working. Whatever the fuck it is."
Elle, who was sitting behind Newter in the rearmost row of seats, made a sound of surprise, causing the orange and slightly reptilian boy to look around at her. She was staring out the rear window with a smile on her face. He gazed at where she was looking and his eyes widened.
"Holy shit..."
Everyone else looked as well, Ben peering at the side mirror. "Oh, yeah, you'll probably see a lot of that sort of thing, I think," he chuckled.
They all watched as an honest to god Tron light cycle zipped past with a hum just loud enough to hear over the road noise inside the otherwise quiet vehicle, the glowing construct smoothly moving around the car in front of them in the next lane and accelerating away, leaving a short-lived yellowish trail behind. The feline woman who was riding it was wearing a very cool looking suit of motorcycle armor and a helmet that appeared to have spaces for catlike ears built into it. Seconds later it was gone.
"Vectura, I assume?" Mel asked, sounding fascinated.
"Yeah. Since her debut she pops up here and there, although normally she stays around the DWU place. Guess she's probably just out for a ride, or getting a pizza or something." Ben glanced at her. "There's some blonde girl who works for the DWU who's been seen driving one of those things too, and some sort of car that appears to be based on the same tech. I have to admit that I'd love to give it a try myself, that's the coolest bike I've ever seen."
Mel nodded slowly, still looking after the glowing bike, which reappeared in the distance going up the next hill, then vanished again.
Newter also watched the thing, feeling that he knew exactly what he wanted for Christmas. And more than a little confused about how many changes seemed to have happened while they were away.
"It will be interesting to see what develops," their leader finally said quietly and thoughtfully. "And I'm going to have to work out the best way to handle our place in the new order around here."
"Very carefully, if you want my opinion," Ben suggested.
She looked at him evenly. "Oddly enough, that part had already occurred to me."
He grinned, but kept his eyes on the road.
"Those dickwhistle nugget sniffing lizard cunts will never expect this."
"As long as you can pay the price."
"You'll get your goddam money, you mercenary sphincter pirate. Just make sure this thing goddam works."
"It will work. We guarantee that. And less of the insults."
"For what I'm paying, crotch hound, I'll say anything I want."
"Whatever. Just remember, you stiff us, we'll make it last."
"Yeah, yeah, so you keep saying. Get on with it, this is taking too fucking long. Knob gobbler."
The man watched his client stomp off muttering incomprehensible obscenities, shook his head, and went back to work. Some people really were disgusting, but their money spent as well as anyone's, so he'd put up with it.
Although he made a mental note to add twenty percent to the final bill.