"Ivor?" Ellegaard hummed, eyes narrowing, "what do you want with a Wither Skull?"
"Ohhh, that's where I recognized you from," Petra said, snapping her fingers as she looked over at the scowling Ivor, "you're my buyer."
"I'm- my name is Jesse," Jesse responded, sounding supremely startled.
Ivor's eyes narrowed at her. "I'm supposed to meet up with Petra, not whatever you're supposed to be!" Ivor snapped at her.
"A... human being?" Jesse said, tentatively.
Lukas made a sound that sounded somewhere beneath a sneeze, a cough, and a laugh. He attempted to smother it and in the end came close to choking. Aiden thumped him on the back, smothering his own grin at the joking response.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just walk out right now!" Ivor continued.
Jesse took a deep breath, letting it out shakily. "I'm with- Petra," she responded, slightly awkwardly.
"My deal's with her, not her partner!" Ivor practically snarled at Jesse, making her wince and step back once, before catching himself and letting out an annoyed huff. "But as long as we're here... do you have the skull?"
"P-Petra has it, and she'll be back any second now," Jesse said hastily, putting up her hands in a surrendering sort of motion.
Ivor glared at Jesse for another moment, before crossing his arms, his expression relaxing. "Well, as long as she's coming... I suppose it won't kill me to wait a minute longer," he said, more calmly than before.
Jesse let out a long breath that she must've been holding the whole time, an awkward silence settling over the alley.
Real-Jesse let out a shaky breath, clasping her hands at her throat as she tried to calm down. Jace noticed. "You okay there, Jesse?" he asked her.
The girl turned to smile weakly at the mocha-haired boy. "Yeah... I just don't really handle confrontations well most of the time... whew," and she absentmindedly pressed her fingers to the side of her neck, testing her pulse.
Petra's voice rang out in the alley clearly. "Ivor!" she called, cutting through the awkward silence.
Ivor's faint scowl cleared. "Ah, here she is."
"Sorry for being late," Petra said, smiling slightly, "but... good things are waiting for."
"Technically HE was late," Reginald pointed out, Real-Petra conceding the point with a nod.
Ivor sneered at Jesse, who maintained a deadpan look. "You didn't mention you had a partner... and I don't like surprises."
Magnus snorted derisively. "Don't we all know!"
"Perhaps we should just call the whole thing off!" Ivor finished, looking back at Petra.
"Where in the world are you going to find someone else who's willing to get you a Wither Skull on such short notice?" Jesse suddenly pointed out, her own deadpan look becoming more curious. Ivor sent her a scowl, which seemed to make her realize she'd just called his bluff. She quickly backpedaled, putting her hands up in surrender quickly. "Buuut, I'm cool if he's cool," she tacked on.
Petra glanced at her, mouthed 'thank you' so quickly the audience almost didn't realize she'd even done so, and turned back to Ivor. "See? You're both cool."
"Proceed, then," Ivor said in a silky tone. Jesse's brow furrowed onscreen- apparently those two words struck her as being menacing, and particularly ominous. Real-Jesse had to agree.
Petra reached into her pocket and held out the Wither Skull, Ivor taking it and scrutinizing it. His dark blue eyes seemed to clear up into a more pleased look. Petra crossed her arms and arched her brow at Ivor. "I'll take that diamond now."
Ivor glanced up from the skull. "Take it. You've earned it," he responded, and the two girls looked at the chest from before. They slowly walked over, the view switching so they were looking up at the two from inside the chest. Jesse's eyes widened, and Petra's expression turned to anger. "Um- that's not a diamond!" Jesse blurted.
"No- it's lapis!" Petra exclaimed as she pulled out not a diamond, but in fact- lapis.
Olivia, Axel, Petra, Jace, and Lukas gaped at the screen. Everyone else just looked a bit surprised or were looking at Ivor with faintly disgruntled expressions. Harper mainly looked startled.
"This guy," Lukas spoke slowly after a long moment, sounding utterly astonished, eyes widening, "cut out on a deal with Petra?" He turned to stare at Petra, who looked as though she might pull a Jace and start chucking books at Ivor's head. "With PETRA?"
Petra turned to glare at Ivor's armchair. "What the hell, man?!" she asked, eyes blazing with fury.
Jesse and Jace rapidly exchanged a look.
"What?" Ivor shrugged, looking extremely uncomfortable but sounding as if he'd done- as if he wouldn't do- anything wrong. "Look, I needed that skull, and I didn't have a diamond, s-so... I thought you'd at least get lapis instead of nothing?"
Petra made to get out of her chair. "Lapis-?!" she began in a hot fury, before suddenly something landed in her lap and she was forced back down. She blinked wide-eyed at the mocha-haired male currently literally sitting on her lap, his cheeks faintly pink at this position. "J-Jace-?"
"If I let you up, you're pretty much going to murder him, so until you calm down, I'm not moving," Jace responded stoutly, although his cheeks were currently beginning to flame red with embarrassment.
Not that he was the only one; Petra's cheeks were red too.
She stared at him before huffing and crossing her arms. "Okay, fine, but I'm kicking his butt later," she muttered, relaxing a bit and sending a glare in Ivor's direction.
"Fair enough," and Jace hopped back off and resumed his seat on the carpet, still blushing heavily.
Onscreen, Jesse glanced at Petra, whose eyes were literally filled with fire. "Um, Petra," and she pointed at the smoking glove on Petra's arm. "I'm pretty sure spontaneous combustion is not how you want to get revenge..."
There were a few chuckles at this.
Petra looked back down, and patted the smoking part out again, relaxing slightly. The fire was still in her eyes, and her jaw was clenched tightly and her fists were in balls, nearly breaking the lapis that was still in her hand. "Of all the rotten, dirty-" she snarled softly.
Jesse got up. "We have to go after him!" she said determinedly, and Petra nodded, shoving the lapis in her pocket. The two girls then raced out of the alley, neck and neck with one another.
"Either I'm getting that diamond, or I'm getting my skull back!" Petra snapped, eyes still filled with flames.
"Either that, or we'll beat the tar out of him," Jesse added, her own eyes hardening.
Everyone turned to stare at Jesse. She shrugged as if she'd said nothing out of the ordinary. "Mess with my friends and I will break you," she said, simply.
"EXACTLY!" Petra snarled, before the two of them burst back onto the main street, looking around. "Where did he go?!"
Jesse's eyebrows contracted angrily, but her voice was hollow when she spoke again. "We lost him...!"
"Then we'll just have to find him again!" Petra said sharply, before pointing at one of the adjoining streets. "I'll head this way, you go that way!"
"Fine by me!" Jesse agreed, and the two of them broke apart to run to their respective crowds. Upon reaching hers, Jesse slowed down, although she was still trotting along at a decent clip. Judging from the buzz of the crowd, she'd just missed Gabriel.
"Well, I think I'd usually be more disappointed, but I should probably find Ivor... and Reuben." She actually stopped in her tracks, eyes widening, before they softened and she drooped. "Aw, man- I actually forgot about Reuben for a minute..." she mumbled, looking dejected. Reuben looked up at her and nudged her, making the black-haired girl grin as she fondled his ears.
"Hey."
Jesse started back a step and looked up, Lukas's blue (and seemingly slightly green) eyes meeting hers. "Oh- h-hey, Lukas," she said, sounding startled.
"'Sup with you?" Lukas asked.
"N-nothing. 'Sup with you?"
"Nothing. 'Sup with you?"
Jesse relaxed a bit, the ghost of a smile forming on her face. "I just said... nothing."
"You both are such dorks," Petra announced. Both Jesse and Lukas twisted to glare at her playfully. "Hey!" they chorused indignantly.
Lukas blushed a bit at that, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish look. "Oh. Oh yeah. You did. So, um... congrats on the win." And he smiled at her nervously, his hair twitching a bit. "I mean, I still think our beacon was amazing, but... good job. I mean, I thought the whole monster thing was plenty cool, but... fireworks, too?"
"You're totally flirting," Gill said, deadpan. Jesse stared ahead at the screen, the only hint of her hearing the red-hot blush that was starting to flood over her face.
"No, I was complimenting her build. There's a difference," Lukas said calmly, his own blush beginning to come over his face.
"Not much of one."
Lukas stared at Gill for a moment with a deadpan expression, before reaching over Aiden to shove him off the couch.
Jesse blinked, looking taken aback at this. "Thanks... your- rainbow beacon wasn't too shabby," and she grinned at him kindly.
"You don't have to do that- okay?" Lukas smiled at her again. "You guys won, fair and square."
Jesse's smile faded. "Your friend hurt my pig," she said, quietly, her expression much more solemn.
Real-Lukas winced a bit at this.
Lukas's face went deadpan at this. "Yeah. I know. But I swear, I had nothing to do with that."
Jesse dismissively waved at that with a sigh. "No, no, I believe you... Aiden's just... kind of a jerk." Jesse stared at the ground, crossing her arms, voice going even quieter than before. "He's still missing, you know."
Lukas's face went a bit more sympathetic. "Is that why you were looking all sad a minute ago?" he asked.
Jesse let her eyes close. "... yeah..."
Jace drooped a bit, Jesse patting him sympathetically on the back while Reuben snuffled.
"I'm sorry about that."
"It's- it's not your fault." Jesse hesitated, before looking back up. "Um, did you see this kinda creepy-looking guy... with a beard and a weird sort of belt? About yea tall?" She gestured with her hands to indicate the height.
Lukas thought for a minute. "Umm, I don't think so," he said finally, "why?"
Jesse rubbed the back of her head. "He... kinda scammed Petra out of a diamond a bit earlier," she replied.
Lukas's eyes went as round as marbles. "Whoa- everyone knows you don't mess with Petra. Not if you know what's good for you."
Petra turned to glower at Ivor. "Exactly," she snarled.
"I know, right?" Jesse asked, with a faint chuckle. Lukas chuckled a bit in return, before both of their eyes widened and they grabbed at their heads. "Ahh!" Jesse exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Wait, what's going on now?" Em asked, eyes narrowing.
The screen zoomed in on Jesse, before revealing the little fluffy-haired girl with six arms from the first 'flashback' sitting on the floor and looking at someone for a few moments.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Everyone's eyes widened as the little blonde-haired boy with blue-green eyes and ocelot ears came into view from where he lay on his stomach, his eyes glazed over with boredom. "Being bored," he said hollowly. There were claw marks on the floor in front of him, and his ears and tail twitched every couple of moments.
The spider hybrid hesitated, before getting up and trotting over to the ocelot hybrid and sitting cross-legged, before starting to stroke his head, being careful not to rub the hair the wrong way.
For a moment, he seemed not to notice, except for blue green eyes moving to look at the spider hybrid. "What are you doing?" he asked at length, his tail flicking slightly. Although it was hard to tell if he was irritated or happy about it.
She leaned over to look at him. "I'm petting you. Cats like to be petted, right?" she asked.
He opened his mouth to respond, before a funny look came into his eyes and he relaxed. His irises began to get bigger, and his pupils dilated. "That-" he was cut off by a round of purring. "That feels... really good..."
The girl kept petting him, and slowly he was full-out purring, his irises the size of golf balls. "Ooh... this feels nice..." he literally purred.
The girl grinned cheekily from where she was still petting him. "Hehe, who says experimenting with cats is a bad idea?" the spider hybrid joked, making the both of them chuckle a little bit at this.
The screen zoomed back out to see Jesse's eyes opening again as she straightened back up, staring at Lukas in surprise. The blonde Ocelot was straightening up, staring at Jesse as well, the two of them staring at one another in surprise.
Finally, Lukas looked away, rubbing his head. "Um... so... I'll keep an eye out."
"Thanks, Lukas," and Jesse gave him an awkward smile.
There was another pause, before Lukas tilted his head at her. "Um, so... we're cool?" he asked, sounding faintly nervous.
Jesse nodded. "We're cool," she agreed.
"Cool, cool," Lukas responded.
Jesse hesitated for a couple of seconds. "Cool beans," she replied finally.
"Cool-o-rama," Lukas answered, cracking the slightest smile.
"Dorks. You two are such dorks," Petra announced again.
Jesse laughed at that, relieving some of the tension. "Ha! See ya, Lukas," and she strolled off, almost missing the slightly late, echoed, "Yeah, see ya." She turned back to wave for a second, to see his expression had changed to a rather confused look.
"Flirting."
"Don't make me shove you off the couch a second time," Lukas warned Gill, his cheeks tinted pink as he glared at the bearded male.
As she turned back around, she spotted Axel watching some sort of chicken torture machine (which she decided to not even comment on...) and clearly enjoying himself. She rolled her eyes.
He spotted her after a moment and mouthed 'I'll find the weird guy in a minute or two.'
"Oh, Petra must've already gone through there..." Gabriel mused, touching his lip thoughtfully.
Jesse rolled her eyes at him with a grin. "Sure," she mouthed back. His own grin grew bigger, making Jesse chuckle to herself before spotting someone with brown robes and long black hair walking through the crowd.
"Oh, hey, you found him!" Axel exclaimed, trying to avoid Petra's playful glare for abandoning the little mission.
Jesse crossed her arms, squinting after the figure for some reason, before starting after the robed figure again.
"I wonder what the hesitation was for," Petra mused.
A/N: Wow. Long chapter xD
RQTC: Quick, name a type of cookie.
Snickerdoodle.
I'm sorry I didn't actually have a question this time around xD
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Yee x3 And you talkin' about the fanart or the A/N? Either way, good x3
DynamiteHunter6: Yet (wiggles eyebrows)
LittleAngelbun: I know, right? I probably should try to draw them myself, but I'm still figurin' that out x3
Emily The Avenger: (laughs)
x.X. A.L. X.x