"Any sign of him?" They looked up to see Petra running up, Axel at her heels. Jesse gave a one-sided shrug.

"I thought I saw him earlier, but it was just a-a false alarm." She sounded sheepish. Petra sighed. A couple of seconds passed in silence, before Jesse suddenly let out a gasp. "W-wait, there he is!" They all turned to where the woman pointed to see a figure moving up the pathway to the Hall, where the keynote was supposed to be held. "Looks like he's… Headed towards the hall…?" Olivia's gaze fell from the retreating figure to the usher standing in front of the gate.

"We'll have to get past that usher to follow him," Petra mused. Jesse gave a silent nod of agreement, and she and the redhead lead the way up to the stocky blond.

"U-uh, hey…!" Jesse gave an awkward wave. The rest of them put on false smiles, feigning nonchalance.

"What would it take to get us inside tonight?" Petra placed a hand on her hip, using the other to gesture to the Hall. The usher blinked, then cracked a smile.

"Uh, tickets?" He started laughing. Their smiles fell; they glanced between each other, Jesse looking at Petra for advice. The redhead mouthed something, and Jesse turned back to the usher, whose laughter was dying off. "That was funny, you should laugh."

"Uh… See, w-we had tickets, but we… We l-lost them on the way here." Jesse fiddled with her hands.

The usher inhaled through his teeth. "Oh, I hate when that happens." Jesse gave a sheepish nod. "Sorry, but… No tickets, no show." He cracked a smile, then turned to talk to the next person. Olivia sighed, backing away with the others. They circled up, glaring at the floor.

"We need a way to get past him." Petra glanced between the rest of them. Olivia raised an eyebrow, turning her head slightly to look at the redhead.

"Like what? The keynote's been sold out for ages." Petra made a face.

"I could probably break through." Axel lifted his arms, fists clenched. "Just need a little wind-up room." Olivia and Petra glanced at him incredulously.

"Any other bright ideas?" Petra glanced at Jesse. The brunette blinked, looking at them from watching the usher. Olivia glanced at him; he was trying to shoo away a chicken, but flinched away whenever it moved. Jesse shot a glance at him again, then motioned behind them.

"A lot of chickens running around m-might be a distraction," she suggested. Petra followed her hand to the chicken machine behind them, and nodded slowly.

"That'd be the mother of all distractions." The redhead grinned. Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"But you'd have to break that-" she pointed to the center pane on the bottom of the window- "pane of glass." Olivia turned back to Jesse. "How are you gonna reach it?"

"Let's look around." Petra lowered her voice. "There's gotta be something we can do." They all nodded, then hurried off in separate directions. Olivia approached the chicken machine, examining it carefully. Axel stood nearby, and she could see Jesse making her way towards a booth.

As she examined the machine, she noted something. If they were to jump up there, they wouldn't need that much momentum. They'd need some, both to get this done before they were noticed and to reach the glass at all. Olivia glanced behind her; the booth on the other side of the gate entrance would be close enough. If Jesse could simply find something to bounce off of…

That was the thing, every year. They always needed something and couldn't get it, or left it at home. She wasn't sure what it was this time, exactly, but it was sort of frustrating. They had been extra careful to grab everything they needed, and they were still missing something.

Movement caught her attention, and she turned to her left. Petra was approaching her and Axel, motioning to the side. Olivia shot a glance past the man standing guard over the machine, spotting the other man bouncing on a slime block. Beside him, Jesse was talking with the woman ruining the slime booth. Catching onto what they were thinking, she and Axel followed Petra towards the booth.

"...two per customer. I'm afraid I can't make exceptions." The woman behind the counter was explaining. "No matter how… 'Important' your reason is." Jesse hesitated. Axel was quick to help.

"A round of slimeballs for everyone, please." Olivia shot a smile towards Jesse as she turned to glance at them. The woman behind the booth counter lifted an eyebrow, but shrugged and pulled the items from below it nonetheless. They approached, taking the slimeballs with a multitude of 'thank you's and turned back towards the gates.

Jesse glanced between them, then sighed. "This is only eight. W-we need one more to make a block." Olivia glanced at her, then at the two slimeballs in her hands.

"Okay," Petra whispered, passing her two to Jesse, "we need to find another way to get some more slime. Quick." Olivia passed her slime to Jesse as well, as did Axel.

"On it!" Axel took off. After nodding to Jesse, Petra did as well. Olivia hesitated, then after sharing a glance with Jesse, walked towards the other end of the aisle.

There wasn't much there, honestly. Nothing that would help them, anyways. There were simply more booths; the one to her left was a booth tent with a crafting table, which wasn't much of a booth in her opinion. All of the other booths were either too crowded or completely useless. She tried to see if one of the crowded booths was helpful at all, but all she could see was the heads of the other con-goers that were crowded around it. Olivia sighed, turning away.

What had she seen that could help them? Most of what she had seen before was just merchandise; hats, shirts, jewelry… All of it was stuff that wouldn't help any of them in the long run. Glancing back towards the chicken machine, she caught sight of Petra, who caught her eye and waved her over. Weaving her way through the crowd, Olivia quickly joined Petra near the machine.

"Find anything?" Petra glanced behind her as Axel appeared around the corner. He spotted them and made his way over as well.

"No. I did find a crafting table to make the block with, at least." Olivia shrugged. Petra gave a slight nod as Axel stopped beside them.

"There are a lot of people with slime, but they don't want to give it up," Axel reported. Olivia folded her arms thoughtfully as she tried to come up with another possible plan. Nothing immediately came to mind. Maybe if they… No, no, that wouldn't work. If they could just distract the guy in front of the machine, so they could build their way up with their spare pieces of their build…

Petra started walking, catching Olivia's attention. She turned, spotting Jesse talking with Lukas, who had a slimeball in his hand. She followed the redhead as Lukas shot a glance their way. He then turned back to Jesse.

"Whatever you guys are doing," he held out the slimeball, "count me in."

"Thanks, Lukas." Petra grinned, then shot a glance to Jesse, voice lowering to a whisper. "Told you he was useful."

"Aw, this guy isn't actually cool, is he?" Axel moved around to give the blond a once-over. Olivia glanced at Axel a second, then turned back to Lukas.

"Remains to be seen." She placed her hands on her hips. Lukas glared at them. Jesse moved around to use the crafting table under the booth canopy behind him.

"So," Lukas shook off his offence and glanced between Axel and Olivia, "have you guys been building together long? You've got good chemistry."

"Are you jealous?" Axel's tone was teasing. Lukas blinked and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I just thought you guys did well in the building competition." His voice gave away his surprise at Axel's comment. Axel rolled his eyes with an amused smile.

"You're totally jealous." Lukas rolled his own eyes with a huff. He went to say something, but was cut off by the sound of items slamming together, and an odd squelching sound. Olivia glanced at Jesse, whose hands hovered over a slime block, a look of mild disgust on her face. Olivia moved away from the others and approached the crafting table.

"One slime block," Jesse mumbled. "... Gross."

"I'll take that." Olivia pulled the slime block off of the table. She turned, silently measuring the distance between the booth and the machine window. "Right…" She paused, placing the block on the ground. "There." She quietly calculated the distance again to be sure, then stepped aside.

"It's all you, Jesse." Axel glanced at the shorter woman. She glanced at the top of the crafting booth, then looked back to him.

"Give me a boost." He nodded, locking his hands together and holding them flat. She used them as a step stool, pushing on them with her foot; he lifted and held her up as she grabbed the edge of the wool. Olivia watched as Jesse stood as straight as she could bring herself to, backing towards the far side of the booth. She shot a glance over the side, clenching her fist and forcing a deep breath, before taking a running start and leaping.

She must have hesitated ever so slightly, because instead of her feet hitting the slime, her stomach did. She still bounced up, managing to throw her arms up before she hit the glass. It shattered, like they wanted, but Olivia couldn't help but wince as Jesse fell to the ground with a thump and a muffled "ow." Chickens practically exploded out of the machine; Olivia stepped back as several of them ran past with fluttering wings.

As Jesse pushed herself up, brushing herself off carefully, the usher at the gate ran past, trying to direct people away from the mass of white birds. "Keep your eyes closed! They will peck out your eyes!" He paused, freezing up as chickens surrounded him. One even tackled him to the ground; he landed on his back with a yelp.

"Now's our chance!" Petra motioned to Jesse, and the group took off through the gate. Olivia found herself in the middle, Jesse and Petra in front of her and Lukas and Axel behind. The usher let out a shout after them, but they were too far to hear it.


AN: h a h we're getting into the good stuff

Guest: no, nothing really happened to cause it, i don't think. it's just kinda there. another way to see her; rather than the usual confident and adventurous Jesse, we have an anxious and rather antisocial Jesse.

GuestPerson13: thank you! and i'm not really sure yet; if there are any ships or hinted ships or whatever, it won't be for a while, anyways.

Ariza Luca: thank! :3c

until next time!