Foreword
Oh my GOSH this one came out so long… O.o According to the first result on Google, way too long, but I've have to revise and shorten/split it later, because it is going up TODAY. So on top of coming out SOOOO long, I had very little time to work on it over the past couple weeks, so my apologies if it's kind of… half-asleepish. :} Many late nights were ground through for this, and it definitely shows, but I'm still pretty proud of this one. :) Also, sorry it's so late in the day. I'm trying to get them up earlier, but sadly that didn't happen this time around. ^^' I still met my deadline though!
Anyways, here you go! Seriously, brace yourselves, 'cause this one is a doozy. XD My longest chapter yet by far.
Chapter VIII
Time to Strike
««««« … »»»»»
He's okay, Jesse told himself. He made it back just fine. In fact, he's probably wandering around sniffing out buttons to press or something…
Although now that Jesse's nerves had had a chance to settle, he was starting to get anxious again.
He tried to remind himself that there wasn't anything he could do. Of course with the exception of running out into the untamed forest again without a weapon or decent skills, but… he doubted his chances. If he had to fight another tiny zombie, his heart would stop.
Now Jesse just hoped Reuben wouldn't try to come back for him and risk his life again. It seemed nothing was going his way today. He would have asked if things could possibly get any worse, but he didn't want to jinx himself. With his luck, he would end up a pumpkin by midnight.
"Well. Here we are." Petra called his attention back. "My home."
His mind had wandered off in the long silence as he allowed her to lead him like a sheep. He was honestly glad to finally have the chance to let his brain air out and not worry about where he was going or what he was doing. When he came back to himself, he noticed they were in a cave room.
Jesse marveled.
It was… small. That was the first thing he noticed, anyhow.
Petra's—uhh—home was composed of a bed, a torch, and a chest, with no doors or windows. Unless the giant hole in the wall where the cave let out counted for one.
This is where she lives?
It didn't look bad, just kind of dull and… lonely. But he supposed that was just how she liked it.
"Wow," he said, trying not to sound too underwhelmed at the sight of it. "It's, um… cozy."
"I know, right?" Petra said. "I don't like to brag, but with digs like this… Pretty sweet being me, huh?"
He… honestly couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but better safe than sorry. "I mean, it's—it's nice."
"Hey, it's fine," she said with a mild chuckle. "You can be honest with me. I'm not a noob, I know it's nothing special."
Petra walked out in front of him and sat down on her bed as she continued, "I mean it's certainly not as luxurious as your treehouse, but I have been trying to work on that." She put a hand to her chin and, looking thoughtful, she mused, "I've been thinking about getting a potted flower or something…"
Then she turned to him. "What do you think?"
Jesse quirked an eyebrow. "You want my advice?"
"Of course. Who better to ask about houseplants than the one and only Farmer Boy himself?"
He blinked. Not that he had so little trust in his home decoration skills, but he was a little surprised. No one had ever asked for his advice on something like this before. The closest anyone ever got was when Olivia asked him if he had a preference between choice A, B, C or D.
"Oh. Well. Okay. Um…" he stumbled over his words, then put on his most confident face as he gave his recommendation. "Flowers are nice, but if you really want to spruce the place up, you should get a poster."
She looked bemused. "A poster?"
Jesse smiled and said proudly. "Yeah! Posters are the best! They really bring out the life in a room. You can take it from me, I built an awesome creeper statue."
He struck a confident pose. Petra blinked.
"Umm… Okay. I'll… think about it."
Mission accomplished.
Jesse grinned in satisfaction, and he wondered if he had one he could give her. It could be a thank you gift for the green dye. He thought about it, then realized that something was still bothering him.
"So… did you actually bring me down here just to ask me about plants?" he realized how that sounded and corrected it. He didn't want to seem ungrateful or impatient. "I mean, not that I mind, but… I was just wondering…"
He wasn't actually sure what to say after that, so he was happy that she interrupted.
"Oh right. Here."
She indicated a spot to his left and he turned, now noticing the grid topped block sitting there. It was a crafting table. He had never actually used one before. He bought everything and never had the materials to craft anything, so he'd never needed one.
"You just keep a crafting table down here?"
"Hey, you never know when you might need to craft some sheers," she teased, mimicking his tone from before.
Technically, you didn't need a crafting table to make sheers. He happened to know that from a book he skimmed through once on hand crafting.
"For your information," he said, crossing his arms, "you don't need a crafting table to craft sheers."
"Yeah, but who still uses hand crafting?" Petra said through a laugh.
That was true, and she undoubtedly knew more about crafting than he did, so he decided best not to try to retort.
Jesse just blinked.
"So," she said, "since that wooden sword of yours got busted..."
Jesse turned back to her and asked in excitement, "You're giving me a new one?"
His better judgment kicked in a moment too late on that one, but before he could take it back she said, "Even better. You can craft your own."
Jesse perked.
Did she just say… 'craft'?
« … »
"Since that wooden sword of yours got busted..."
"Wait a minute, how do you know that my sword broke?" asked Jesse, skeptical.
"I saw it break before I rescued you," she tried to explain.
"But my sword broke ages before you showed up! What took you so long?"
"I was, uh… planning my attack."
He crossed his arms in disappointment. "You spent TWENTY minutes planning your attack, and the best you could come up with was to charge in with a pickaxe and spam it to death?" He stuck his nose in the air and said with an offended scowl, "We are so through."
Petra blinked and shook her head. She really needed to stop letting her imagination run wild.
Jesse wasn't mad. On the contrary, Jesse actually seemed excited that he'd broken his sword. Ecstatic even.
"You're giving me a new one?" He asked like the mere thought of it was mind-blowing to him.
"Even better. You can make your own."
Jesse looked like his jaw would have hit the floor if it wasn't shocked into place. He looked amazed, and also kind of overwhelmed and a bit nervous.
She pointed out the chest by her table. "Just grab what you need."
He took notice, then said, "Oh. Okay. Thanks,"
She could easily tell he was underplaying his true feelings. He sounded casual, but looked like he was secretly nervous.
If she wasn't already painfully aware of Jesse's noobishness, he proved it yet again when he was surprised that she had a crafting table of all things. As if she needed more reassurance of the hopelessness of this relationship. But he was about to dig himself even deeper still.
He knelt down and began rummaging through it, taking an awful long time for just three items. A moment later, he stopped and still hadn't pulled anything out.
She raised an eyebrow. "You… do know how to craft a sword, right?"
"Uh, of course I do," he said, glancing back at her.
Petra waited another moment before she said anything else. "One sti—"
"One stick, right."
She paused, then slowly continued, "And two—"
"Two…" he murmured.
Come on, Jesse.
"Pieces of cobbles—"
"Pieces of cobblestone. Right."
She wanted to be annoyed. If he had been anyone else, she would have been.
Jesse pulled his head out of the chest and now held the three items in his hands like a little kid might hold a slice of cake.
"Oh, here we go. Jackpot!"
Jesse had a funny definition of 'jackpot'. She wouldn't spoil his fun though. Or embarrass him by calling out his obvious lack of crafting experience.
He faced away from her and started crafting.
"Just place the pieces on the table."
Of course he already knew how, but it wouldn't hurt to give the poor little noob a push in the right direction. You know, just in case. Even with that push in the right direction though, he still seemed to be struggling.
Petra chuckled. "It's like this is your first time crafting or something."
"Ha ha," said Jesse.
Petra's endeared smile slowly melted away as she started to get impatient. No one could be this bad at something so simple, right? It was a three by three grid. You just made a pattern with items. It wasn't exactly an advanced redstone circuit.
"C'mon Jesse, we don't have all night."
She gave him another minute. Then another. Aaaand another.
"Put the stick at the bottom, and then the two stones above it."
He had arranged and rearranged the items on the table now several times. It took him a good ten seconds still before Petra finally heard the crafting table click.
"Ah-HA!" he exclaimed.
She smiled… until Jesse turned around and revealed very proudly the lever he'd made. He looked about twice as happy as she had a moment ago.
He was doing this on purpose, wasn't he?
"Jesse…" Petra sighed, "a lever's not going to do you much good in a fight. Is it?"
It was a good thing she didn't give him the materials for an iron sword or he might have made a pressure plate. If you asked Petra, pressure plates weren't worth stone, let alone iron.
"Sorry," he said, looking like he was having a hard time wiping the goofy smile from his face.
"It's fine. It's literally a quarter of a plank stuck to a piece of cobble. Just… make a sword this time please?"
"Okay, I got this!" he said enthusiastically, and still beaming, turned back to the box to grab more materials.
Heeee… wasn't doing it on purpose.
He was just that much of a noob.
Petra couldn't help but smile again and give a silent chuckle. That quality of his was endearing in its own right.
With the second click of the table, Petra internally pleaded that it wasn't a pressure plate this time. However Jesse turned around now clutching a sword in his excited grip.
"Behold!" he announced, "My awesome new stone sword!"
Petra smiled. "Isn't it better when you make it yourself?"
"Wow! Are all swords that easy to make?"
She raised an eyebrow for probably the millionth time.
"Um… as a matter of fact," she said, hoping her sarcasm was somewhat subtle. "Yeah."
« … »
Jesse already felt like they were best friends. She had saved his life, invited him to go with her to one of her cool deals, brought him to her house thing, and let him make a lev—a sword. If that didn't say best friend, he didn't know what did.
He had always liked Petra. After she saved the life of his best friend, and now his own life, how could he not like her? She was a generally standoffish kind of person, but he liked to think she considered him a friend.
However, he hadn't exactly made a very good first impression. He suspected she was avoiding him for a while after they first met. She had been new to town though, so she was probably just too preoccupied. He got the feeling she wasn't very social. Like he was one to judge. He was 'the guy with the pig'. He was hardly Mister Popular. By now, she probably had more acquaintances than he did after living there his whole life.
Still, as awesome as it was to be hanging out with Petra, he needed to be getting back to town. He needed to make sure Reuben was okay, and assuming they made it back—because the alternative was a terrifying prospect—Axel and Olivia would be worried about him. Fortunately they knew better than to go scouring the forest for him in the middle of the night, but he wanted to keep them waiting as little as possible.
"So uh, I really should get back to town," he said. "Axel and Olivia are probably wondering where I am."
"Agreed," Petra—agreed. "Come on."
She got to her feet and started down the mineshaft again, back to where they came from. Jesse followed her down to another branch in the path. An even dimmer lit tunnel than before.
"Wait, isn't town in that direction?" he pointed back behind them "Wouldn't that be faster?"
"It's a shortcut," was her response.
"Uhh, through here?" he said, trying not to sound too nervous. "Isn't there a faster way that's… less dark and dangerous?"
She spared him an incredulous look. "Would you rather swim through the river?"
Well, she could have just said no.
« … »
Jesse left a trail of wet footprints behind him as he and Petra walked—and dripped—through town to EnderCon.
"How about that one?" he asked, pointing one of his wet hands at a cool poster of the Temple of the Order of the Stone.
"Jesse, I already told you," she said. "Deal first. Posters later."
He spotted another poster on the wall that he recognized and happily pointed it out.
"Oh, see that poster there?" Jesse asked in a hushed voice and explained, "That right there is a limited edition."
Petra looked unamused. "Oh please, do tell me more about this 'limited edition', Poster Boy."
Jesse opened his mouth.
"Ah—don't. That was sarcasm, Jesse." She sighed. "So. When we're making the deal, I need you to let me do the talking, okay? I just—really want this to go well, y'know?"
Jesse nodded. "Sure. I'll let you handle it."
"Great," she said, sounding relieved. Then she added, "Aaand if you want to be really useful, try to look intimidating."
Petra smiled and he smiled back. "Like this?"
Jesse slouched, flexed his arms and gave the hardest, coldest looking glare he could. For a finishing touch, he gave a menacing growl.
"Well…" she said, "you are scaring me."
"There he is!"
Jesse heard a familiar voice call out, and he turned just in time—with tremendous relief—to see Olivia and Axel running up to them.
"Olivia! Axel!" he shouted.
They made it back okay!
His friends came to a stop in front of him.
"Jesse!" Olivia said, then moved in to give him a hug. "Oh thank goodness you're—soaking!" and with that she pushed him away. "And—you have Petra with you? What happened?"
He opened his mouth to explain, but before he could Petra jumped in. "We were fighting some monsters up on the bridge and this noob fell off into the river."
Jesse gaped and shot her an indignant scowl. "Fell?! You pushed me!"
"I did not."
"And you jumped in after him?" Axel wondered.
"Of course I did," said Petra. "I wasn't going to let him have all the fun splashing around."
"It was so cool!" Jesse started going off, too excited to stay mad at her for long. "We were falling and there was this creeper, and I punched it in the nose—"
"You did not," Petra interjected.
"Okay, so maybe I imagined some of it, but I definitely remember—"
"Ahem," Olivia cut in, then gave him that look that said, 'You better start actually explaining some things.'
"Oh, right," he said, clearing his own throat. "Guys, you all know Petra, my new—super-close friend. We're super-close now."
Axel looked confused. Olivia put her hands to her hips and raised an eyebrow. Petra facepalmed.
Jesse bashfully scratched his head and explained in a way that was hopefully less awkward. "Um… I sorta got myself cornered by zombies and she uh… sorta helped me out."
"Oh, also I sorta saved his life, and he sorta owes me big time."
"Nice recap," said Olivia sarcastically.
"So…" Axel drawled, "no Reuben then, huh?"
With that one comment, Jesse's heart sank again. Axel and Olivia were all right, thank the Creator, but Reuben was still missing.
"I found him," Jesse explained, "but before I knew what was happening, we were under attack by a zombie horde! So I told him to run for it, and I haven't seen him since."
Jesse wilted, and a quiet moment later, Petra patted him on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry Jesse," she said, sounding somewhat guilty.
"It's not your fault, Petra," Jesse reassured her. "Just you showing up was more than I could have hoped for."
Petra was quiet for a moment then said, "I know."
"Hey, It's okay Jesse," Olivia said, "He'll turn up sooner or later—I just know it!"
"Right," Petra said. "He's gotta be here somewhere. Don't worry, we'll find him."
Jesse inhaled and exhaled, and tried to take heart in their words. "I hope you're right."
"What were you doing in the woods, Petra?" asked Axel.
"Funny you should ask, I happen to live there," she replied. "Jesse's just lucky he has such a high-pitched scream."
"Oh," said Axel. "Coooool…"
Another long awkward silence later, Olivia sighed and brushed herself off, "Well, now I'm depressed, and wet."
"Huh?" Jesse said, raising a curious eye.
In lieu of a response, Olivia unenthusiastically gestured to something behind them.
It was… some kind of machine? It was made of dirt and glass? It had some redstone, it didn't look like it did much. Inside were a bunch of…chickens? They were running around like their lives depended on it, but for the life of himself, Jesse couldn't figure out what it was. Some kind of… torture device? Or perhaps a… fancy… fish tank? But… with chickens? Chicken tank?
He scratched his head and squinted at it.
"Uhh… what is that?" he asked.
"That, Jesse…" Olivia stated, a shred of bitter finality in her tone as she concluded, "…is the winner of this year's EnderCon Building Competition."
What.
WHAT.
"Wait a second, wait a second, wait just a second, that… THAT is the winning build?!"
"Yeeeeep."
"This is just sad…" Axel lamented.
"Tell me about it," Olivia agreed.
Jesse was just stunned. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if his mouth was stuck hanging open for a whole year.
"Well… at least the Ocelots lost this time," said Axel.
"I don't know…" Olivia disagreed, "I think I would have rather lost to the Ocelots than whatever this is. Seriously, what even is this redstone?! I could have wired this in my sleep! In fact, whoever built it probably did."
Jesse shook his head and finally found his tongue. "But—But with so many people competing to see Gabriel, how did this win?"
"Apparently there were more cheaters this year than just Aiden," Olivia explained. "When they were announcing the winners, six teams besides the Ocelots were disqualified for sabotage. Needless to say, none of the teams that got sabotaged had much of a chance either."
"Dang…" Jesse muttered.
Well, at least his misery had some company for once.
"I gotta admit, I'm pretty bummed we lost... again." Axel mumbled.
"I mean there's no way we were going to let you go after Reuben yourself," said Olivia "but... it's okay to be a little disappointed, right?"
"Or like, a lot disappointed?" Axel corrected.
"The saddest of the sad sacks?" Olivia stipulated.
"Ugh, losing is the worst." Axel complained.
"WORST-er than the worst." Olivia double complained.
"I'm so low, you could wipe the floor with me." Axel triple complained.
Jesse shook his head.
He had to pull himself together. Had to pull them together. This wasn't a loss it was—a… new opportunity, or… something.
Jesse walked between them and gave each of them a pat on the shoulder. He faked a smile—as he was getting pretty adept at doing—and said as confidently as possible, "Come on guys, it's just a competition."
A competition that would have let us meet Gabriel the Warrior… he thought.
"There's always next year."
As if that makes a difference.
"Cheer up, guys!"
What a letdown…
Axel and Olivia spared each other knowing looks.
"I dunno, Jesse…" Olivia said, which Axel followed up on.
"The spirit is willing... but the flesh is sad."
"Hey," said Petra, "if at first you don't succeed... then, uh, succeed later than originally planned. Right, Jesse?"
Jesse smiled. "Yeah, exactly!"
Much… much later…
Jesse was dying inside.
Gotta stay strong, he told himself. For their sake.
"Hey, Jesse," Petra said, "It's time to go see about that—thing."
"Oh, right. The 'thiiing,'" Jesse now remembered.
Olivia sighed. "Ugh, Jesse, you're as bad as Lukas," she said. "Axel and I were gonna head into EnderCon anyway—See you later then?"
"Yeah," Jesse smiled. "See ya later,"
"Later guys," said Petra.
They started to walk off, but Olivia stopped in her tracks and turned back to face them once more.
"Oh, and Petra," she said. "Thanks for helping Jesse."
Petra smiled, gave a small shrug and a simple, "Sure."
Olivia nodded and waved behind her as she followed after Axel who commented as he walked, "I heard somebody saying there's a free cake booth…"
Jesse waved back to them and turned to Petra who gestured for him to follow.
"Let's go," she said, and Jesse obeyed.
Of course he wouldn't say it, but inside… Jesse was kind of glad that Petra had pulled him away from them. He wasn't sure how much longer he could fake it.
« … »
As soon as Axel and Olivia were out of earshot, Petra watched Jesse's optimistic demeanor turn into a dismal one. He gave a deep sigh, and went from being the picture of confidence to the picture of misery and suffering.
He grumbled and groaned, kicking at rocks and mumbling things under his breath as they walked. From, "I can't believe this…" to, "So unfair."
Part of her was somewhat annoyed, but another part was somewhat surprised and curious to why. Jesse's upbeat and carefree attitude was almost unbelievable at times. No one could be that confident all the time, right? Somehow though, he was. But this…
This was a side of Jesse that she had never seen before, and she wasn't sure what to think. She admired him so much for always being the optimist, but was that just a farce? Was he just putting up a bold face when he was really feeling just as sorry for himself as everyone else?
She almost felt like she'd been lied to… but… that wasn't fair. It was a natural feeling—she of all people should know that. She couldn't blame Jesse for being frustrated that they lost the competition they'd been trying to win for a whole decade now, but why had his attitude changed so completely, and so suddenly in mere seconds?
Jesse didn't care how he looked to other people. He didn't care if people judged him or called him dumb names. He certainly didn't care what his friends thought, because they knew him.
Unless… maybe he did.
Jesse was the picture of confidence, but she was right before. No one could be that confident all the time. Not her, not Lukas, and not even Jesse. Everyone had their masks, but Jesse was special. She used to think it was because he was so crystal clear that he had no mask, but now she wasn't so sure.
It was like… he was putting on a mask, but instead of doing it selfishly around strangers, he did selflessly for his friends? Could that be? Could it be that he did feel sad and miserable just like them, but he wanted them to feel confident?
She didn't know if it was the weird subconscious girly part of her that wanted him to be perfect that had thought this a flaw, but the realization of this possibility only made her respect him even more.
Petra stopped as they arrived at the meeting spot. Jesse kicked another rock, not seeming to notice that they'd stopped.
Then why… she wondered, why is he acting like this around me?
She was surprised by how quickly the answer to that question came.
She was his friend, but not a member of his team. It implied trust, but also distance. It made sense, really. He knew her well enough to be honest with her, but didn't feel responsible for her the way he did with his close friends.
It sounded silly just thinking about it but… maybe… that's what she needed to be right now. Maybe Jesse needed someone he could be open with who wasn't too close to the issue. She wasn't sure what to think of that either, but she wasn't one to overthink things. Normally. She seemed to be doing it a lot more recently.
Whatever happened, she decided she would take it in stride.
"I'm sorry about the contest, Jesse," she said, craning her head to look at him. Jesse smiled slightly, and she had an idea. She thought she might test him with a little optimism of her own.
"But hey, come on," she continued with a smile. "You said so yourself, there's always next year right?"
Jesse wasn't smiling anymore.
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, betraying the first hint of hostility she'd seen in him all night. "I just wanted THIS to be the year we finally beat that jerk!"
Aaand there it was. The most important thing that needed to be resolved and the opportunity she had been waiting for, all put out on the table and crafted into a block of perfect timing.
She wondered what it was about Lukas that Jesse was so offended by. It wasn't like she knew him that well, but it wasn't like Jesse to be so hostile towards… anyone. He didn't seem the type to hold grudges or have any enemies at all, let alone someone who really had nothing against him. She wondered what it was about Lukas that he hated so much. Could it really just be his attitude? He liked her okay, and she wasn't much better.
Well, fortunately they had some time to kill before Ivor would arrive. Hopefully it would be enough time to find out.
« … »
"Hey, Jesse…"
Jesse almost thought he noticed a twinge of… something in Petra's voice. Somberness? Unease? When he looked up at her however, she leaned casually up against the wall of one of the buildings without a trace of this unidentified emotion on her face. Had he imagined it?
"Yeah?" he replied.
"I've actually been wanting to talk to you about something."
She had been wanting to talk to him? "On what grounds?"
Petra suddenly looked annoyed and she crossly stated, "Uh, how 'bout on the grounds of 'I have the right of free speech and I say whatever I want'?"
"Okay," he muttered. "Uhhh-'bout what?"
Then, just as suddenly, her expression returned to what he now realized was a 'contemplative' one as she stared down at the floor. "About… what you just said."
"About losing?"
Petra looked back up at him. "About Lukas."
Jesse frowned. "Oh. What about him?"
He didn't really want to ask, but he didn't see a way around the conversation.
"You know, Jesse," Petra said, "he may seem kind of arrogant, but he has come through for me in tricky situations. You might wanna get to know him—just in case."
Immediately Jesse's skepticism turned on as she started to list off the jerk's 'good qualities'.
"He's good at building, that's for sure…" Meaningless. "…It's always useful to have a guy like that around…" Questionable. "…no matter what you might think of him personally." Yeeeahno.
Jesse crossed his arms, unconvinced. "I already know him. I've had to put up with him for ten freaking years."
"So what do you have against him anyway?"
Jesse scoffed. "Pft, you mean besides the fact that he's a cocky punk who dresses the part and lets his lackeys run around rampant insulting whoever the heck they want and does nothing about it."
He wasn't giving him credit for telling Aiden to shut up at the competition. Too little too late, and what Aiden did more than negated it. Besides, it was probably for selfish reasons anyway.
"Ohh… I get it," Petra said. "You don't hate 'Lukas', you hate 'the leader of the Ocelots who doesn't stand up to his dumb friends'.
"And who has the attitude of an ocelot," Jesse added. Honestly, what kind of stupid name was 'the Ocelots' anyway?
"Right. Okay. Fair point," she conceded. "He's not the most humble person, but his heart is in the right place."
Doubtful.
Why is she being so defensive of him anyway?
As he listened, a scary thought came to mind.
I wonder if she likes him…
"He's really not that bad once you get to know him," she said.
That would really suck.
"In fact, if you ignore those other guys, he's actually pretty cool."
That would break Axel's heart.
"I mean… I get along with him, and don't have many friends at all. Wait, that didn't make sense…"
I mean, it would be bad enough her liking any other guy. I can't imagine someone worse than Lukas.
Why did it have to be Lukas? Why couldn't it have been anyone else? Poor Axel…
Ultimately, it was none of his business who she chose to like. It had nothing to do with him. But—
"Hello?!" Petra hollered, "Overworld to Jesse! Are you listening?"
He snapped out of it. "Huh?" he said. "Huh? What? Yeah, I—huh?"
Petra huffed. "Okay look," she said, sounding like her fuse had run out. Had he really spaced out for that long? "I know you've had your tiffs, but Lukas is my friend, and I'm not just going to let you hate him without giving him a decent chance."
Jesse blinked, kinda taken aback.
For some reason, her just being his friend had never even crossed his mind as a possibility. For some reason it was hard to imagine that guy having any real friends.
"But—" Jesse tried to think of an argument, but he was starting to feel like he was grasping at straws. "Even if I wanted to—get to know him, there's no way Olivia and Axel would go along with it."
"Olivia and Axel aren't the boss of you." she said. "In fact, if you ask me, it seems more like you're the boss of them. The chances of them 'going along with it' are pretty high."
Jesse bit his lip. He felt cornered, and against his own selfish desire, he found he could do nothing else but give up.
"Well…" he said, hesitantly asking next, "what do you want me to do?"
He'd done it. He'd asked. Now his fate was in her hands.
"Just—think about it, okay? Aaaand if you run into him at EnderCon—try talking to him."
Okay… he thought. That's not too bad…
Jesse tried to smile back, but it felt awkward. He was still processing what he'd just signed up for, but… he had to try, right? If Petra was so sure about it, then… maybe he… wasn't so bad? Was that too much to hope for? Would it be terrible for him to hope that Lukas turned out to be a two faced liar on top of being a jerk so he didn't have to change his opinion? Yes.
No, if he was honest with himself—as he tried to be—he was just bitter. Still… maybe it was about time he tried to… 'get along'.
Yeah… he could do that much.
Even with that… very… very small resolve, all he could say in response was a simple, "Okay."
Petra seemed satisfied at least. As the silence dragged on though, he was starting to feel even more weird. He felt a topic change was in order.
"So. Um. The guy you got the skull for—what's his deal?"
"Ivor?" she said. "He's kind of strange, I guess, but hey—everybody's got their thing."
Their 'thing', huh?
"And you never thought to ask him, hey—what's with your whole... totally normal... not at all weird... skull thing?"
"As long as this guy is willing to pay…" she trailed off. "…Speaking of which… where is he?"
Jesse looked around.
Come to think of it, they had been waiting for a solid ten minutes or so, but this 'Ivor' was no where to be seen.
"That's weird..." Petra said, "he said the dark, creepy alley close to the gates, and I assumed by 'the entrance to the convention grounds' he meant once the event had started."
Jesse blinked.
"Wait, HE wanted to met in the dark creepy alley?"
Petra looked bemused. "Yeeah?"
That's not creepy at all…
"Well," Jesse said, "are you sure this is the dark, creepy alley he meant?"
"Hmm. I was…" Petra looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Okay, new plan. You stay here just in case this is the spot he meant, and I'll look around."
"I dunno, Petra," he said, putting a fist to his mouth. "Something about this feels off to me."
Petra dismissed his concern. "All of my secret deals feel off. That's why I usually keep them a secret."
With that she started off down into the street again. "I'll be back before you know it. If he shows up while I'm gone, just stall for me."
"Wait, Petra, you can't just—!" but before he could finish, she was already gone. "—leave me here…"
Jesse wilted, letting the hand he just realized he had extended droop back to his side.
A long moment later, Jesse finally blinked.
"Oooookaaay…" he muttered. "All by myself in a creepy alley. Nothing to be afraid of at all? Pft, I mean who goes into creepy alleys anyway?"
Jesse looked around and was surprised when he noticed a chest sitting on the ground to his left.
"Mooore importantly…" he murmured to himself. "Who leaves a random chest unguarded in the middle of said 'creepy alley'…?"
Jesse cautiously walked over to it and knelt down. He reached for it—
"Ahem!"
Jesse flinched back and let out a loud yelp, spinning around to see a dark figure slowly walk out of the shadows and into the light.
"And just who are YOU?" the man demanded. "Well?"
Jesse tried to think of a response, but he was drawing a blank.
"I'm waiting," the man growled impatiently. "Answer me!"
Then Jesse remembered what Petra had said.
'Try to look intimidating,' she'd told him. So Jesse put on the toughest tough guy face he could and spoke up with a menacing voice, "The name's Jesse. What's it to you?"
"Jesse?" he sneered, "I'm supposed to meet with Petra, not whoever you are!"
So he was Ivor.
"I'm with Petra. I'm—her partner," Jesse tried to explain.
Ivor glowered at him. "Well I am a very busy man."
"You're the guy who needed a Wither skull, right?"
"Not so loud, you idiot!"
Jesse flinched.
"Too many people know my business already."
What…?
What did that mean?
"Do you have the skull?" Ivor whispered. Very loudly, he might add.
"Uh… well…"
"You do or you don't?" he demanded again. "You'd better not be toying with me!"
Jesse frowned. He'd had enough of this impatient blabbermouth.
"Take a breath, would you?" Jesse blurted out. "Petra has it—and she'll be back any minute now!"
Ivor looked taken aback for a moment, then his face screwed up again.
"I don't appreciate your tone, boy," Ivor barked, seeming just slightly less rude this time. "But… as long as she's bringing it... I suppose it wouldn't kill me to wait a minute longer."
Yeah, no kidding.
Awkward silence followed. Jesse tapped his foot, and his annoyance toward Ivor slowly went away.
Maybe he's just… having a bad day.
"Umm… so…" Jesse muttered. "Hooow… was your day?"
Ivor gave him a somewhat confused look, but finally just said, "Fine." He looked away, staring at the wall like it had offended him somehow, then added, "Thank you."
"Good. Good." Jesse looked off to the side. Another awkward silence.
"How about yours?" Ivor asked.
Jesse blinked. "Oh. Uh. Yeah, it was—fine."
Untrue, but he wouldn't tell this less than perfect stranger about… or would he?
"Yeah, just fought some zombies earlier with my friends," he mentioned casually. "Just—y'know, standard… everyday stuff."
"Ah," replied Ivor. "Sounds… delightful."
"Yeah…" Jesse paused. "So… s'that, your chest there?"
"That is your reward for a job well done…" Ivor said, "…after I get what I came for."
"Oh."
Okay, but why put it in a chest? Jesse wondered.
They lapsed into silence again until finally Jesse heard Petra's voice call, "Ivor."
Jesse turned to see her walk in.
Oh, thank goodness.
"There you are," Ivor said, "It's about time! What took you so long? Your partner and I have been waiting for a full minute."
"Sorry I'm late, but, good things are worth waiting for," she said with a businesslike smile. "I've got what you asked for—"
"—If you have what you promised us," Jesse inserted. Petra gave him a slight disapproving glace, but Jesse disregarded it. Maybe it was what Ivor said earlier, but he didn't feel right. Something felt…
"You didn't say anything about an 'us' when we first met, and I don't like surprises."
"My friend is fine," she said flatly. "Do you want the skull or not?"
As she said it though, Jesse felt a knot forming in his stomach. It was different from simple nervousness. He was certain of that. She said all of her deals felt off, but… something felt very off to him.
"Proceed, then." Ivor said with a nod, and what seemed to Jesse like a strangely out of place grin.
As Petra reached into her pocket, Jesse grabbed her arm.
"Heh, Jesse, what are you doing?" she questioned, clearly trying maintain her professional demeanor.
"I don't know, Petra," Jesse whispered. "Maybe you should rethink this whole thing. This guy gives me a bad feeling."
Petra whispered back through grit teeth, "I'll give you a bad feeling if you ruin this for me."
Jesse pulled her back and turned around to be more discreet.
"Jess—"
"Petra, please? Can we just—talk about this for a minute?"
Petra smiled and looked back at Ivor. "We'll just be one minute."
She followed him a few paces away and wasted no time. "Jesse, this better be quick."
"Petra, this guy seems way too secretive to just be a collector."
"What do you mean?"
"When I mentioned the Wither skull, he said that 'too many people knew his business already.' Isn't that a little strange? I mean, stranger than normal?"
"It's none of my business, Jesse."
"You're doing business with him, so yeah, it kind of is."
Petra opened her mouth to argue, but didn't say anything.
"And he said he put our 'reward' in that chest over there," he said, pointing.
Petra looked over at it. "What's suspicious about a chest?"
Jesse blinked. "Have… people paid you through chests before?"
"Uhh…" she muttered. "No?"
"And he's just got this… this vibe about him."
Petra raised an eyebrow. "A vibe."
"Listen, I just… I just have a really bad feeling about this, okay? Please, just reconsider this for a minute."
Petra's expression softened.
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."
Petra bit her lip, then sighed long and deep, putting a hand to her forehead. "I'm going to regret this. This is going to murder my reputation."
Jesse smiled, but he dearly hoped this didn't backfire, or he would be on the naughty list of two scary people.
"All right, Ivor," Petra announced, turning around. "I guess the deal's off."
If it were at all possible, the air around Ivor darkened.
"Excuse me?" he said, his voice laced with fury.
Jesse was suddenly unsure of his own decision, wondering if it would have been better to just give it to him and get the heck out of there, but Petra didn't even flinch.
"You heard me," she said, crossing her arms, "Deal's off. My… better judgment has spoken, and I've decided I don't want to deal with you. Sorry for the inconvenience."
It seemed in the span of a heartbeat, Ivor's expression went from enraged, to… casual.
"Is that so?" he said, sounding eerily calm, "Well then…"
Ivor turned around, Jesse assumed to walk away, but Ivor vanished. Like actually vanished, in the blink of an eye he was gone. Before Jesse could even process what was happening he was yanked back from the behind, restrained in a death grip with a sword pressed to his throat.
"Jesse!" Petra gasped, a good five blocks from where he now was.
"I already told you, I don't like surprises," Ivor spat, fuming, his voice livid. Then he bellowed, "I especially don't like those of which turn out to be a complete waste my time! So. New deal. You give me that Wither skull, and I give you your friend."
Jesse swallowed.
« … »
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
— Colossians 4:5-6
Author's Notes
Jesse blinked. "Have… people paid you through chests before?"
"Umm…" Petra muttered. "Maybe it's a… social distancing thing?"
So, did Jesse fall, or did Petra push him? I guess we'll never know. :)
One more quick note. Because of the nature of this game and the story, a lot of these chapters are VERY dialogue heavy, and I try to balance that out as much as possible with actual action, but unfortunately this turned out to be one of those cases in which that was very hard to do, so… it was almost ENTIRELY dialogue. ^^' Sorry 'bout that.
-Time to Strike— The title! Yes, you can expect many more of these title explanations in the future. XD By now the old achievements system in Minecraft is all but dead, but it is for that reason I feel even more compelled to pay homage to it in my novelization. Because to me, MCSM embodies so much of what makes Minecraft so beautiful to me, and I never want to lose that. Suffice it to say, Time to Strike was the name of the achievement in pre 1.12 Minecraft for making your first sword.
-Jesse's NEVER crafted anything?— While something everyone in the game does, of course, Jesse is so surprised when he sees Petra's crafting table and so excited when she tells him he can craft something that I can't imagine crafting is a regular activity for him. Or for that matter, anyone in this world. It's not like it's so hard, but it's just not as standard practice as it is in the game. Imagine it being in this world like cooking is in our culture. (America's, that is) Not a lot of people do it themselves. It's not unheard of for someone to go their whole lives not crafting.
As for Jesse having never crafted anything, it was either that or that he just doesn't do it often, but I decided to go with the former simply because it's more interesting. Also, it's a great way to have readers learn with the characters rather than just explaining even though they already know. Also also, this way we get to see Jesse actually craft his first thing ever! :3 I still couldn't help but have Petra tease him about it though. XD
- We are so through. - ,- — Okay, so even I agree that this is maybe a bit out of character for Petra. XD Why did I put it in then? Well, because this was something we came up with forever ago, and the original version of it was THE very first thing my little brother ever wrote (creatively, of course). For those reasons, I just didn't have the heart to take it out completely. Also this way, even if I end up cutting it out later, it will at least live on as that funny little deleted bit and won't have died on my hard drive without ever having seen the light of day. ^^
- Where'd the bridge scene go? — With neither build winning in my version, there was no rainbow beacon or fireworks in the distance to facilitate that conversation on the bridge, so sadly it had to go. :'( Boo hoo. Let's face it though, the only reason it was in there to begin with was just because it's cool anyway. XP That works for a video game, but in a novel, attention spans are more limited, so you gotta keep things moving, y'know? ;)
- "Maybe he's late."— I always thought it was kind of weird that as soon as they walk into the alleyway, Petra's like 'oh he's not immediately here, so I guess I better run off to look for him.' I mean, that's not a 'problem' per se, but FIXED I guess. XD
- "Perhaps we should call the whole thing off." — It never made sense to me why, during this exchange, Ivor threatens twice to just leave without making the deal. This would make some sense if he was trying to get a better deal, or if he really was okay with not getting it at all, but neither of those things are the case. Ivor doesn't care about getting a better deal because he plans on ripping her off, and he's on a VERY tight deadline for something he cares IMMENSELY about. Like, dude, really? Why are you testing the waters on this? :/ What did you plan on doing if she took you up on that and called the deal off? Oh, wait, I just wrote about that. XD
Choice Notes
Yeah, none of the choices in this chapter really needed any explaining. :)
Glossary
- Hand Crafting — Not an official title, but this is just what we took to calling the crafting in Minecraft that you can do without a crafting table. There aren't many recipes like this, just a few simple things. Like the aforementioned sheers, and the famous crafting table itself. :) Note: I am aware of the fact that 'handcrafting' is a word. I'm using it to distinguish because 'hand crafting' is way different than regular handcrafting.