"Well, well, well," Aiden sneered, "if it isn't the Order of the Losers."
Jesse repressed a sigh. Great. On top of freaking out massively about possibly being a spider hybrid, and having to keep her arms at her sides to hide the bumps, she had to deal with these jokers.
"Lukas," Gill snickered, "get a load of these losers."
Lukas glanced at Jesse- just for a second- and then walked off, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Let's go, guys."
As they approached the booth, the lady there said, pleasantly, "Name please?"
"Axel, and, uh, how do you do?" Axel seemed to be fidgeting with his sleeve more than he did usually, but, that could've just been Jesse's imagination.
"No, your team name," the lady said, after glaring at them for a moment.
Jesse was still thinking about her possibly being a hybrid, and she said, absentmindedly, "We're the Bureau of Amalgamology."
Immediately, she, Axel, Olivia, and Lukas, who was still in earshot, froze stock still as a chill ran up their spines.
They stood there for a moment, before Jesse relaxed. Where had that name come from? And why had it made that chill go up her back? "Um... yeah, that's- that's our team name."
"It's an interesting one," Olivia shrugged, "and it's not really like people can make fun of it."
"Yep," Axel agreed, and Jesse nodded sagely. "E-exactly why I chose it." Of course, she was lying her head off, she'd had no intention of naming her team that and had just been all absentmindedly thinking.
She gave Lukas a look, as he regained his composure and continued on after his team. Why had HE reacted?
"Okay, Bureau of Amalgamology, you guys are in Booth 5!" the woman said perkily.
Axel went first- but he was so muscled that he actually got stuck in the gate, and had to worm his way through. Olivia followed next, and then Jesse, trying to ignore the way the Ocelots snickered at them.
"Is that a beacon?" Axel moaned, "they have a freakin' beacon?! Freakin'... beacon?!" His voice rose to a nearly hysterical level as Olivia groaned, "That's stained glass. They're not just building a beacon... they're building a rainbow beacon!"
A short silence as Jesse struggled to think of something to say. "W-we got this, guys," she said finally.
Olivia threw her hands up in the air, ever the pessimist. "Who are we kidding? We've got nothing."
Jesse had to think about that for a second. "We've got... a... mascot," she stated finally, making Reuben perk up with a squeal of pleasure.
Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin. "All right... we should probably stop staring," she stated, just as Gill sneered, "Oh look! It's the Order of the Losers... AGAIN."
Maya snickered. "Good one, Gill!" she snarked, as Aiden turned around, a smirk coming across his face.
"We were just looking," Olivia deadpanned.
"Plenty of time for you all to LOOK at it when it wins and gets shown at Endercon!" Aiden bragged.
Axel let out a soft hiss. "You're being unpleasant," he said, softly.
"Well, maybe not ALL of you-" and he leered down at Reuben, "Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink."
Reuben let out an affronted squeal.
Jesse's fists clenched, but she didn't remove them from her side. She didn't plan to remove them unless she was having a major problem and needed free movement of her limbs- and unfortunately, Aiden insulting Reuben wasn't one of them, so she just gave him a hard look.
"I mean, look at him! He looks delicious," and Aiden sneered at Reuben. "I could eat him right now."
Jesse blinked now, her fists unclenching. "That sounded like a bizarre compliment," she said, slowly. I mean, of course she was offended about Aiden calling Reuben food, but the way he was going about his insults just... didn't seem like insults.
"You'll have to eat me first," Axel defended, stepping in front of Reuben.
Olivia avoided eye contact with either. "Um... let's... hope it doesn't come to that."
"Cut it out, Aiden," and Lukas looked up from the chest, looking a little annoyed, "we have work to do."
Jesse shot Aiden a smug grin, and Aiden leered back at her. "You're lucky I'm busy."
Petra walked up now, her left arm hanging at her side casually. "Hey guys," she said lightly, and Jesse's face relaxed into a grin. "Hey, Petra," she said.
Petra rubbed her left arm a bit, as she arched her brow, "How's the build going?"
"Only time will tell," Axel said, "but we're optimistic."
He didn't sound very optimistic.
"Hey Petra," Lukas spoke up and walked towards the redhead, "I forgot to thank you for that Nether Star."
Petra smiled a little bit. "Hey Lukas... not a problem-"
She was cut off by Axel, who burst out, "You HELPED these tools?"
Petra arched her eyebrow. "For the right price... I'll help anyone." And she walked off towards the forest, saying, "If you need me, you know where to find me."
"Uh, NO ONE knows where to find you," Olivia corrected the redhead.
"Exactly," Petra responded, as she disappeared into the trees.
A soft cough from Lukas. "No hard feelings, guys. If you're cool with Petra," and Lukas batted at a bit of his hair for a moment, "you're cool with us."
By 'us' he means 'me', Jesse thought, but she didn't interrupt.
"So... why don't we just forget about all this and.. make this about how cool our builds are?" Lukas offered.
Everyone looked at Jesse. She was a bit disgruntled, but she pushed aside her anger with Aiden. Lukas had nothing to do with Aiden's being a jerk. And fine, he could be kinda arrogant sometimes, but, he wasn't a jerk.
So she said, lightly, after a few moments of silence, "May the best team win."
Lukas perked up when he saw she was willing to cooperate. "Careful what you wish for," he said jokingly, and grinned at her.
Jesse repressed the grin that threatened to sneak across her face. "We'll see about that."
Even as she tried to keep the smile off her face, she just got the feeling that she trusted Lukas.
Wonder what that was about.
A/N: (sighs) I am a guilty shipper of Lukesse. And Jetra. And Ivoren. And Magnugaard. And several other ships that I don't actually know the names of. So. This story will be chock-full of hints, but it can just be taken as overly chummy friendship if you want.
So! We've started the competition.. wonder what'll happen next. I mean, I feel like 99 percent of you already know, but... whatev! I might have a surprise... who knows?
NoIt'sBecky: Yep! I do know what you're saying. And yeah. xD
x.X. A.L. X.x
