Once the allotted thirty minutes have passed—precisely down to the second—427 tentatively undeafens Lucas. At first, all he can hear is a booklet’s pages being flipped through, followed by Lucas grumbling.
Hesitantly removing the remaining sensory suppressions one at a time, 427 nearly sighs with relief upon discovering that Lucas is standing in the kitchenette by the new automatic drip coffee maker—thankfully dressed—in the midst of poorly attempting to demystify its instruction manual.
‘How the hell is this so complicated?’
[Ah, making good on your promise to Jonathan?]
‘Oh, thank fuck; yer back. Took ya long enough.’
[…Hello, again, to you, too.]
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Welcome back. So, anywho, can ya scan through this or somethin’ and tell me how to use it?’
[…I already looked up the instructions from everything’s model numbers earlier. First, measure out—]