Parker raises a hand, palm down, and tilts it back and forth in a so-so sort of gesture. "I definitely couldn't ignore it anymore, and there was so much talking and people with more normal lives explaining things to me and me explaining things to them, but I got rid of some some insecurity. Not all at once, but it's sort of like horses. Sometimes it's worth doing the thing that feels like jumping off of a building, except scary instead of fun because it's with your feelings." She scratches her chin. "But I still don't have the weird hangups and insecurities that people with normal lives have. Like, people are really weird about being naked, have you noticed that? And lying, and theft, and disarming bombs with pudding."

She wrinkles her nose at him. "Why would you need a big mission to test it? We could do it right now, I could poke you to make sure you don't use all your good luck juice, then throw my coffee on you, then get a new coffee and wait, oh, twenty minutes to be safe, and try again to see if you don't get hit the second time. Definitely seems less risky than waiting for an actual mission."