Foreword

Here we go! The next chapter! And guess what? This one's bright and early, proof-read, pretty and polished (for the most part)! It was very important to me that this one had a lot of attention, so I made sure to give it that attention. ^^

Enjoy!

Chapter IX

Ender-Conned

««««« … »»»»»

"Y'know, now that you mention it…" Jesse quivered with a nervous chuckle and a sword inches from his throat. "My day isn't going very good at all."

"Hey!" Petra yelled at his captor. "Leave him out of this! This is between you, and me!"

She looked angry, but also shocked and afraid. He'd never seen her look that scared. He'd never seen her scared at all. Even when they had charged into a burning building together, she hadn't betrayed the slightest sign of fear.

Strangely… it emboldened him.

At that point, something inside of Jesse seemed to settle. He wasn't suddenly fearless, but he found that instead of shaking in terror, he was scowling in indignation.

He was being ransomed? Like, actually used as leverage?

Oh, that's so uncool!

Maybe it was adrenaline, some untimely desire to look tough, or just his ego stupidly thinking that this guy wasn't so tough—he could take him. Whatever the case, Jesse didn't feel so scared. Still, he listened to his instinct not to move.

And as the reality of what was really happening slowly caught up to him, he actually found it easier to relax. He was being threatened at sword point over a stupid black skull. Either this man was an insane negotiator, or he was just insanely impatient. Either way he was insane, but was he serious? Or was he just bluffing? Jesse wasn't about to test fate on which one was the case. Neither was Petra it seemed.

"Well then?" questioned Ivor. "What will it be? Neither one of us has all night."

"Okay!" she conceded. "Okay, take it! Just leave him alone!"

She pulled out the skull and threw it on the ground at Jesse's feet.

"Ah-ha!" Ivor exclaimed. "That's what I thought."

Jesse hit his knees as Ivor shoved him forward, snatching up the skull. And just like that he was gone, the Wither skull gone with him.

As soon as he was free, Jesse had to take a deep breath. Even miraculously not freaking out, he was still a bit shaken up and had to recover from his second life threatening situation that night.

"Hey!" Petra shot into action, dashing after Ivor.

Worry leaped back into focus and Jesse's instincts kicked in. Right as Petra brushed by him he grabbed her by the arm.

"Petra, wait!" he exclaimed.

Petra turned back at him, a look of righteous fury on her face. "What are you doing? That jerk just tried to kill you!"

"And you want to go after him?" argued Jesse. "He's a crazy old man with a sword. Do you really think chasing him down is a good idea? What are you going to do when you find him? Make him apologize?"
Petra gave him a look but then relaxed and sighed. He could tell she knew he was right, and while only by a string, she agreed.

"Look," he reasoned, "the chest is right there. Let's just get what we came for and go."

"Fine," she grumbled.

Together, they knelt down and opened the chest behind them, and laying there in the middle was a big, shiny, blue…

Jesse blinked. "Uh, this isn't a diamond."

It was pretty, but the much deeper blue-lopsided-chunk was clearly not a diamond, but rather a piece of lapis.

Petra seethed, and he could tell the frail resolve she made a moment ago was already fizzling.

"That—slime!" she fumed. "He planned to cheat us from the very beginning!"

This was skulduggery if he'd ever seen it. Hah. Skull-dugger—euh, never mind.

"Hey, lapis isn't so bad," offered Jesse, attempting to appease whatever peace-seeking side of her might still be in there. "You did want something decorative for your cavehouse."
Petra snapped. "Screw THAT! He is NOT getting away with this."

Well, it was worth a shot.

Petra spun around, leaping into a sprint.

"Wait!" Jesse shouted as he grabbed the blue chunk from the chest and shoved it into his pocket—lapis wasn't a diamond, but it wasn't nothing—then, getting to his feet, dashed after her. "I'm coming with you!"

If she had to go, Jesse didn't want her to go alone to face a dangerous madman.

Petra looked back, and stopped as he rushed to catch up.

"I dunno, Jesse," she said, "I think you should let me handle this. I don't want you to get hurt because I got you involved."

Jesse didn't want to tell Petra, the awesome warrior girl whom some called a mercenary, that he was worried for her safety. Somehow he thought that would sound demeaning and arrogant, and she wouldn't put up with that.

"Psh, please," Jesse waved a dismissive hand at her. "I've fought zombies, spiders, and creepers every night since I made my first stone sword."

Petra raised an eyebrow like that was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard, but she couldn't argue. "That… is technically true."

To be fair, it was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever said.

"Besides, I don't want to let you have all the fun."

Petra didn't look annoyed. In fact, she gave him what he thought to be a proud, perhaps impressed smile.

"Poster Boy," she said, "you may be the biggest dork in the Overworld, but you are not a loser."

Jesse grinned and Petra nodded, taking off again toward EnderCon. Jesse fell in step beside her and she craned her head to look at him.

"I'm either getting that diamond, or I'm getting my skull back. And he's going to pay for what he did to you. Come on! Let's find this guy and show him what happens when you dare to mess with me."

"Yeah!" Jesse enthusiastically agreed. "Uh—and—what is that exactly?"

Petra's expression went from burning with anger to slightly confused. "I… don't know. No one's ever dared to mess with me."

"Oh. That's fair."

As they ran, Jesse was honestly shocked at how… not terrified he was at the prospect of tracking that slimeball down. His heart was pumping fast, but he felt less afraid and more… cool.

A smile spread across Jesse's face as a thrilling feeling coursed through him. He knew he should be leery. He should insist that she forget about it and move on, but she probably wouldn't listen to him anyway, and… he couldn't help it if he was a little excited, right?

« … »

"Okay, so it wasn't entirely an accident," Aiden said, brushing the question aside like he might brush crumbs of bread off his lap. "I knew there was lava, and I knew the block would break, and—okay, maybe I kinda wanted to watch that build burn…" Aiden paused to give a chuckle. "I just wasn't really thinking, I guess."

The question of 'how the flip did one go about accidentally breaking a block of stone with lava behind it?' seemed as trivial to Aiden as what he might have for breakfast. The topic of actually losing the competition on the other hand, he seemed to think was of equal importance to the end of the world. The fact that the two were practically one in the same was lost on him.

"Uhh-huh," Lukas muttered, Aiden didn't seem to notice the lack of disbelief in his tone. Truthfully, Lukas wasn't surprised in the least. Aiden wasn't always the smartest, but he wasn't stupid. Lukas knew him well enough by now to know that when he did stupid things, it was never an 'accident'.

"And if it weren't for those snitches," Aiden crossed his arms and sneered, "we wouldn't have been caught."

Caught?

Lukas couldn't muster a response to that.

He bit his lip. Just the idea of being involved in something worthy of being 'caught' doing made him feel guilty. He hated that feeling. It was such a nagging, shameful one, even with the truth being out out in the open.

I didn't do anything wrong, he told himself, but he felt like he was lying to himself. Like he was betraying himself. He felt terrible… but he wasn't about to tell Aiden about it. He wouldn't understand.

Before he could think of anything to say, Aiden looked indignant and grumbled. "Oh great. It's Bandana Girl."

Sure enough, once Lukas looked up he saw Petra walk out a few paces ahead of them. She did so with a hostile posture and a look in her eyes that suggested she was out for blood.

She turned, and once Petra met his eyes she marched right up to him without a hint of hesitation in her stride. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was mad at him. It was unlikely though, as he found most of the time she looked like that, it was to ward off anyone she didn't want to deal with. However this time, she did look a lot more aggressive than usual.

"Lukas, I need to talk to you," she stated flatly, crossing her arms and apparently cutting straight to the chase.

Lukas tensed. Was she mad at him? He couldn't fathom why, if she was. He hadn't even seen her all day.

"Hey," Aiden scoffed, "can't you see we're trying to have a conversation?"

Petra spared him an impatient glance, her already short temper getting visibly shorter. Her level tone contrasted her incensed air in a way that was almost scary. "Aiden, why don't you make yourself useful and go do anything else."

Aiden didn't get the hint. He wasn't stupid, but he could still be a little dense. "Pft—You're not the boss of me!"

Petra didn't say anything, just slowly turned her head to glare at Aiden.

Aiden flinched, looking suddenly stunned, and finally seeming to get the idea that he shouldn't try her patience right now.

"Okay, okay. I'll go," Aiden huffed, reclaiming his scowl and storming off.

Aiden had never liked Petra, but he was just going to have to deal with it. Lukas wasn't going to let Aiden dictate who he was friends with any more than he would let Petra herself.

"Sorry about that, Lukas," said Petra.

"It's fine," he replied, turning back to her. "I'm not exactly thrilled with Aiden right now anyway. What's up?"

Her answer was concise, and quiet. "I just got scammed."

He blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Long story short," Petra continued, "some guy offered me a diamond for a Wither skull, and he took it and ran without paying up."

"You let him get away with it?"

Petra glowered at him.

Oops. Wrong question.

"No Lukas, I didn't LET him get away with it. And I'm not going to either." She gave a flustered sigh. "Can you help?"

He shrugged. "Sure. What do you need?"

"Just keep an eye out for him. He's wearing old looking robes, has black hair, a beard, and he's real scruffy looking."

"Robed. Black beard. Scruffy. Got it."

Petra smiled for the first time. "Great. Thanks Lukas."

He smiled back. "Not a problem."

Petra started to walk off but not a moment later she spun on her heel.

"Ohh, one more thing," she said, walking back up to him.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen Jesse yet?"

"Nah," Lukas said, then he perked up. "Is he here? Did he see the winning build? Oh, I wish I could see his face when he looks at that thing." Lukas laughed, then clenched his fists as the burning rage toward that monstrosity threatened to resurface and he glared at the floor. "Ooohh, that thing…"

"Good," she said, sounding relieved. "So, if Jesse comes by and talks to you, just… try to play nice, okay?"

"Ooo…kay," he said, forcing a casual chuckle. "Is there anything I should avoid saying?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Petra looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "'Better luck next year'. Don't say that."

Lukas, confused, said, "Uhh… why?"

"Just… play nice."

"Don't I always?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, none of that."

Lukas blinked. Did nothing please her?

"Oookay…" he said again, trying to mask his mild frustration.

It wasn't like he didn't want to get along with them, but why did 'playing nice' fall into his court? Didn't he always play nice? Wasn't Jesse the one with the grudge against him even though he never did anything to him?

"Why are you putting this on me?" he found himself asking. "You know I don't hate the guy, but he's the one who wants to turn everything into a battle."

"Because, Lukas," Petra said, her impatient demeanor returning. "I don't know if you know this, but your 'friends' kinda suck. This isn't all about you y'know."

Oh, was that it?

Lukas didn't understand why it was so hard for Jesse to separate him from his friends. It wasn't like every time Axel made a snide remark about him, he held that against Jesse.

"I don't see why my choice of friends is any of his business."

"You're not his business. Your friends are his business, and your friends are your business."

Lukas blinked. "What?"

"Look, I don't have time to discuss what's your business and what's Jesse's business, because I have my own business and it's none of my business, but you and Jesse are my business, and what's yours and his business is not mine."

Lukas blinked several times. "Whaaaaat?"

"Ugh!" she huffed. "Why can't you just get some better friends?!"

Why was she so persistent in this? He didn't march around micromanaging who she could hang out with. Why couldn't she just not do the same?

Lukas frowned, but kept his tone level.

"Petra, we've been over this. They're not the best people. So what? Everyone deserves a good friend. Even bad ones. It's not like I'm a bad influence, and I'm not going to ditch them just because my 'competition' doesn't like me because of—"

"Okay, okay," Petra said, in lieu of a 'shut up I don't care'. "Look, sorry, but I really don't have time for that right now. Can you please just—do this one thing for me?"

Two things.

Lukas reserved a sigh, and tried to smile.

"Heh. Yeah, sure, of course." He paused and dared to ask, "What… do you want me to say?"

"Just talk," she said. "You're good at talking. He's not a creeper, he's not going to explode if you get too close. The best advice I can give you is to put a lid on the sarcastic wit."

Lukas smiled wryly, opening his mouth to say something sarcastic and witty… but thought better of it.

"Okay," he finally said simply.

She nodded. "Good boy."

As soon as she was out of earshot, Lukas sighed and leaned up against the nearest wall, not so eagerly awaiting this possible conversation. Lukas was not the type to avoid conversation, but he found himself wondering, maybe…

Maybe… he thought. Jesse won't talk to me. Maybe he just won't see me.

« … »

Maybe I just won't see him, Jesse hoped. Maybe he went home.

Jesse and Petra had split up to look for Ivor, but Jesse couldn't get what Petra said to him before the deal went wrong out of his head. She wanted him to talk to Lukas. Of all people.

Or maybe he won't want to talk to me, and then I can just say 'I tried, but go figure, he's a jerk who's too good to talk to a loser'. That would be awesome.

It was dumb, he knew that, but he couldn't help it if he wasn't looking forward to having a conversation with his number one least favorite person. Okay, number four. But still, he made the top five, and that was saying something. Number five was Ivor. He ranked better than Lukas right now, because at least he made him feel cool.

Maybe he was so embarrassed by the winning build that he's rolling around in the mud somewh—

He spotted Lukas leaning against one of the buildings nearest to him.

Oh come on!

Jesse sighed, but right as he was about to relinquish himself to his fate, he stopped as something occurred to him.

Wait a minute, he thought as a glimmer of hope stirred to life in him. I've just been through a life threatening experience!

He was—in shock! Traumatized even! Petra wouldn't still be expecting him to go and talk to Lukas after everything he'd just been through, especially since he was helping her look for Ivor. Surely that qualified as a good reason to not talk to someone.

Jesse smiled and happily turned around and walked the other way, delighting in his perfect excuse.

Relishing his antisocialness, he looked for the next person he wasn't obligated to talk to, but actually wanted to.

He found Olivia by a booth selling books, and she was holding, well, a book. She looked distressed, and as soon as she noticed him she closed the gap between them.

"Jesse! I looked up quincunx!" she said, holding up a dictionary and waving it in his face.

Jesse raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Look!"

She shoved the dictionary at him and grabbed his hand to point somewhere on the page as she read, "'Five blocks in a cross, or a pattern of five points arranged in a square with one point at the intersection between them.'"

Whatever significance that was clearly supposed to hold was lost on him. Jesse stared at the page and scratched his head.

"Umm… okay…" he muttered. "So?"

"It means five!"

Jesse was starting to feel denser by the minute and glanced back and forth between her and nothing in particular before asking again, "…Sssooo?"

She gaped at him in incredulously. "We're three people!"

Was that what she was flipping out about? The fact that their team name 'The Quincunx Stars' wasn't absolutely perfect? Even though the contest was over, and they would probably never even need one ever again?

Well, why that mattered at all he didn't know, but regardless, she was wrong.

"That's not true," he argued. "We have Reuben."

Olivia gave him a look of disbelief and blinked at him before repeating, "It means five!"

"Okay then," he said, "the middle point is… the common ground that—unites us all together."

Olivia blinked and raised her brow at him disapprovingly.

"Oh, whatever Olivia!" He finally gave up. "It's a cool name. No one else is even going to look it up, so no one will ever even know."

Olivia sighed. "Okaaay… if you say so, Jesse."

Jesse gave her back her dictionary and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Um, hey, speaking of that fourth person…" he said, "have you seen Reuben?"

Olivia looked downhearted. "No…"

That's okay, he told himself. He'll turn up. He's fine.

"Okay, well, keep your eyes peeled."

Olivia lethargically saluted. "Eye eye."

Then he walked out into EnderCon again, in search of their elusive thief.

"Okay, ya creeper," he thought out loud. "Where are y—"

Lukas walked out about ten blocks in front of him, passing him by.

Jesse's conscience nagged him, and he bit his lip.

He knew he wasn't really still in shock, and he knew Petra knew that.

But then he realized something.

He was supposed to be looking for Ivor. That was supposed to be his top priority, not talking to people. Especially lame people. He should be looking for Ivor. That's what he should be doing. Yeah. Definitely. Petra would understand. Lukas could wait.

« … »

After running into several dead ends, Jesse spotted Lukas… again.

Hey, that mask booth has some pretty cool masks!

So he went to the mask booth and asked the owner if they'd seen someone with Ivor's description.

No luck.

He spotted Lukas again, this time by a different booth.

Hey, that pumpkin pie stand has free samples!

And off he went. No luck there either.

He saw him again, and It was practically instinct at this point. Turn around. Walk away. Don't look back.

Jesse quickly turned around, less quickly started to walk away, but then slowed to a stop. Then he wilted.

What was he doing? Why was he procrastinating on this? Why was he more eager to find the guy who'd just threatened to kill him than talk to a guy who he little more than saw once a year for a 'friendly competition'? He kept trying to reason things out, to figure out the next way to put it off until tomorrow, but…

No, no matter how he tried to justify it, he wouldn't feel right. He could have all the perfect excuses in the world and it wouldn't matter if at the end of the day he actually didn't do it. Not when he knew full well that they really were just excuses.

Jesse had been hoping that after beating the Ocelots, things would finally even out. Axel and Olivia would finally feel like winners, Aiden and his derp friends wouldn't mess with them again, and he would never have to deal with Lukas.

Since they weren't even going to be able to beat them for another year though, he supposed it was about time he did something about this.

However, before he did, he decided one thing: He wasn't doing this for Petra.

Not because he didn't want to do it for her, but he didn't want that to be the only reason. He had no pride about making up his own mind or doing things on his terms, but if he was going to give Lukas a chance he didn't want to do so out of obligation. He wanted to do it out of a genuine hope that he had misjudged him, and give him an opening to maybe make things right.

It was still hard to muster the goodwill to think of it like that, though. Jesse heaved a deep sigh.

I'm giving him a fair chance. I'm just giving him a fair chance.

Jesse looked back. He steeled his nerves, and with the most nonchalant disposition he could manage, he approached Lukas.

Lukas took notice of him and Jesse crossed his arms.

"'Sup?" said Jesse.

"'Sup?" said Lukas.

"Nothing," said Jesse, "'sup with you?"

"Nothing," said Lukas. "'Sup with you?"

Jesse frowned "I just said. Nothing."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them as Jesse regretted not preparing something to say. All that boondoggling and coming up with excuses, and none of them were an explanation for why he would be talking to him.

Jesse tried to think of something to say, but he was surprised when it was actually Lukas who spoke up first.

"I'm sorry you guys didn't win this year," he said, a contemplative… almost sad look on his face. Jesse perked, and gave him a curious eye and all his attention as he went on. "It was looking pretty cool before it—y'know, burned down or—whatever."

"Eh…" Jesse drawled, still reluctant, but otherwise resolute. "It's… not your fault."

The words tasted like charcoal on his tongue.

"Thanks for being so cool about it," Lukas said with a smile.

Jesse swallowed his pride and said, "Your beacon wasn't too shabby."
"You don't have to do that, okay?" Lukas said much to Jesse's surprise, waving a dismissive hand. "You guys have been trying to win against us for years, and I honestly thought for a minute there that you were going to, and… it's not fair you had to deal with Aiden being an idiot."

Lukas met Jesse's eyes with an intense sort of look that gave the impression he meant every word he spoke.

"Man, what he did wasn't cool," Lukas went on, pausing to cross his arms. "I know that."

Jesse blinked. He was… he was amazed.

Who are you and where's the real Lukas? he wanted to ask.

Lukas frowned and looked indignant, but not at him, just in general. Jesse could hardly blame him, and even couldn't help feeling a bit bad for him.

"Sorry you got disqualified for Aiden being an idiot," Jesse found himself saying. "You…" he sighed, "probably would have won anyway."

"Hey, you don't know that," Lukas interjected. "You guys did a really good job, too. I thought the whole monsters theme was—well… it was cool."

What is this guy's deal? Jesse wondered, raising an eyebrow. He looks like a jerk. He doesn't act like a jerk. His friends are jerks. He's got awesome hair.

"And fireworks, too?" Lukas went on, "I mean I still think our beacon was amazing and it should have won—" he cut himself off and bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "—if yours wasn't going to, that is… I mean—"

Lukas stopped, his abashed expression turning sour in only a moment. "The build that won didn't deserve it."

Jesse… understood. He actually understood perfectly. Even Jesse's team felt embarrassed about losing to a chicken coop, he could only imagine how humiliating it would be for the team with the nine year streak. Especially since they were disqualified.

"I know," Jesse agreed.

Lukas' eyes seemed fixed on the ground as he grumbled, "I would've way rather lost to you than that—sorry excuse for a—!"

Lukas took a deep breath and Jesse stared at him in astonishment. This was not the way he had expected this conversation to start. It was actually… better.

"Anyway," Lukas said, smiling again and extending a hand. "Nice buildin' with you."

Jesse… smiled back, and shook his hand.

Maybe this wouldn't be so—

"Um, if I might suggest something?"

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Try building with stone. It might not look as good as wood, but it's stronger and… fire resistant."

You're stone, Jesse thought. "I'll keep that in mind."

He wanted to be more annoyed, but he was actually in a pretty good mood right now and didn't want to ruin it.

"Hey, cool team name by the way," complimented Lukas.

"Thanks," Jesse replied, barely knowing how. He was still getting used to 'nice' Lukas.

"You do realize quincunx means five though, right?"

Jesse, annoyed, grumbled, "Yes."

"Well for what it's worth, I like your team name a lot more than the winner's…"

Jesse smiled.

"…Even if you are only three people."

Jesse frowned.

Lukas, I'm trying really hard to like you right now…

"Four," Jesse insisted. "We're four people."

Lukas nodded impishly. "Riiight…" he said. "That wrong number."

He was almost cool there for a second.

Still, that aside… Jesse was too curious.

"Uh… what—was the winning team's name?"

"I'll give you a hint," Lukas said in a faux sing-song manner. "It's just as lame as their build."

"Oh no…" Jesse moaned. "Okay, lay it on me."

"'GetPwnedNoobs'."

Jesse blinked. "What."

"Yeah," said Lukas.

"WHAT?"

"Yeah!"

Jesse's fury reawakened at that moment. "That's so STUPID!"

"I know, right?!" Lukas agreed, looking just as incensed.

"What kind of stupid—WHY?!"

"RIGHT?!"

"If they were going to let that guy win, they should have just disqualified everyone and canceled EnderCon!"

"Or just make Gabriel the winner and he can meet himself."

Jesse had to bury his face in his hands to keep his brain from exploding. "Ugh, so STUPID!"

"I know!"

Huh. That was one more thing they could agree on.

"Well, I should probably be going. I'm kind of on an important mission."

He wasn't sure why he felt the need to add that.

"Oh, hey," he suddenly remembered, "you haven't happened to see Reuben roaming around anywhere, have you?"

Lukas looked curious. "You… couldn't find him?"

"I found him and I told him to come here, but…" Jesse drooped, "I haven't seen him yet."

"I'm sorry. I hope you find him soon. I'll keep an eye out, okay?" Lukas gave a sympathetic smile.

Jesse smiled back. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

As Jesse turned to walk away, feeling good in spite of everything, Lukas called back out to him, "Hey, um, Jesse?"

Jesse turned back around. "Yeah?"

Lukas looked almost like a little kid as he averted his eyes and timidly muttered, "…So, uh… are we… cool?"

That was the question, wasn't it?

Jesse gave a faint sigh and smiled back at him. "Yeah, we're cool."

Lukas smiled. "Cool. Cool."

Jesse thought for a moment. "Cool beans."

"Coolness," Lukas replied.

"Coolio," said Jesse

"Cool-o-rama."

'Cool' was starting to sound less and less like a real word.

"Ha!" Jesse laughed. "See ya later, Lukas."

Lukas smiled back and said, "Yeah, see ya."

Jesse was a little more than pleasantly surprised at the realization that that must have been the first time in his life that he'd parted on good terms with Lukas… and Jesse couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't be the last.

« … »

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

— James 4:17

Author's Notes

Jesse searched everywhere, from booth to booth high and low, and no matter where he checked it seemed there was no place in this whole convention that Lukas wasn't conveniently in sight.

First, I realize that them going after Ivor after he just tried to kill Jesse might seem a bit dumb. Hopefully my reasoning for why covers it all right, but I might just have to come back and fix this later anyway. XD Just for your info! Didn't want you to think I was fixing problems just so I could add more. ;) As always, if you have your own ideas for how to make things better, feel free to message me! I might not add them right away, if at all, but I'm writing for this story because I love it and I want it to be the best it can be. ^^ As such, I am excited at the prospect of going over it in the future for a second draft, and I would love to have your ideas in case I ever do! I am a firm believer in scrapping stuff, even big stuff, to make way for things that will improve the story. :)

- Or you'll make him pay, right? Right? :D — Not a choice exactly, but this was another one of those instances in the game of Jesse acting like a fan boy, and inexplicably excited to rush out into danger, even though he can be a bit of a 'wimp' at times. Granted in the canon, Ivor wasn't established as being 'dangerous' per se, but even if you make all the 'cool Jesse' choices, Jesse acting like this still seems out of character to me. Suffice it to say, that's even more the case with my version since… he is established as being dangerous. So while it does makes sense for Petra to charge into this, I needed a reason for Jesse to. I hope this works for you. :)

Choice Notes

It didn't actually have many, so again, there aren't many choice notes. XD

- 'Sup?— As you can see, I did a lot to Jesse and Lukas' first conversation here, because I was mainly following my heart on it. I won't go deep into why, but let's just say this conversation is very important to me personally, as well as crucial to the rest of the story, as it sets the stage for a lot of internal processes. I'll leave it at that, though. ^^

Glossary

-Charcoal— I mean, charcoal is charcoal…

- Pumpkin Pie — Yeah, it exists. It's delicious.