Fristad watched in fascination as Steve and Jennifer dug away at the walls of the cave, seemingly in perfect unison. Fristad couldn't help but feel rather useless to assist, given the unnatural speed at which the two adventurers worked. Their diamond pickaxes tore away at the stone in huge chunks as if burrowing into sand. The expanding walls of the once-modest hole became smooth and rectangular.
Steve swiftly scooped a pile of fallen stone into his arms. He shoved them into his pocket with little regard for their massive size, and they seemingly disappeared as they fell into it.
Then, the two adventurers began to hack away at the floor around Fristad with the same haste with which they had flattened the walls. Steve pulled out the Ender chest from his pocket and planted it near the mouth of the cave. He opened it and lifted out a pile of meter-high stone bricks with one hand. He tossed them easily and Jennifer caught them several meters away. The two of them began laying down the stacks of stone bricks in opposite directions. Fristad quickly had to step out of the way as the two of them converged to the center of the newly-constructed room.
"Hey Fristad, catch!" Steve called out.
Fristad was startled to notice the diamond pickaxe hurtling towards him from Steve's outstretched hand. He caught the handle ungracefully by its edge, nearly dropping his new enchanted diamond sword as he struggled to hold both tools in his hands at once.
"Could you help me dig out a mineshaft?" Steve asked. "I was thinking we could mine some coal, iron and maybe some diamonds if we're lucky, so you have better armor to wear. Meanwhile, Jennifer could scout the area and look for food. Sound good, Jen?"
"I was thinking the same thing," responded Jennifer as she finished placing furnaces along the newly torchlit walls.
Fristad replaced the axe in his sheath with his new diamond sword, and placed the axe on top of a nearby furnace. He held the pickaxe in both hands and turned it over, inspecting it. "I've never used a pickaxe before, but I can try my best."
"You've never used a pickaxe before?" Steve asked, surprised. "How'd you get the iron to craft your armour and axe?"
"Well, usually I buy iron for my tools from the miners in Veridale. Not everyone is a miner where I come from. I also usually wear leather armor made from the cows I raise on the ranch back at home, not iron armor like this. I got this armor from... another miner." Fristad nervously paused for a moment before uttering those last two words. He chose his words carefully, so he wouldn't accidentally reveal that he stole the armor from the site of the miner Brittany's death. That would not make a good first impression on these people, Fristad thought.
"Well, I suppose you're right," Steve said, smiling, "some people have to be majors rather than minors."
"I suppose, Fristad," replied Jennifer, rolling her eyes at Steve, "that is how it works in most towns, but we're used to living outside of those. We live in a mansion in a clearing in a forest. We haven't been to a town in quite a while... not since-"
"You should get going," Steve interrupted abruptly. "We'll start working on the mineshaft soon. Be back before dark."
And with those words, Jennifer nodded and left with enchanted bow in hand. Her stride was swift and steady despite her being encased in diamond armor from head to toe, which Fristad imagined was quite heavy.
How odd, Fristad thought. When I first encountered these two people, it seemed like Jennifer was the serious one who would impatiently cut off Steve, but now it seems as if their roles have reversed. What is also odd is that these people cut each other off at the most inconvenient moments, just when the conversation is about to get interesting. First, Jennifer cut Steve off after Steve insisted logs could float in the air, and then she cut him off again when Steve mentioned that Herobrine was his father. Now, Steve just cut Jennifer off after she tried to explain why the two of them live alone in the wilderness.
Fristad walked over to the indentation Steve was digging into the wall and lifted his pickaxe above his shoulder, in preparation for his first swing.
I'm not the only one hiding something, am I? he thought. All these unanswered questions were beginning to make him nervous.
The honed diamond edge of Fristad's pick plunged into the wall, bursting out fragments of stone and dust at a speed that Fristad thought impossible. The power of this miner's tool filled him with awe, and for a while he forgot about the other, third being in that room, a being which wanted so badly to control him.