"You... must be Soren," Jesse said at last, trying to figure out something proper to say besides 'um, hi'.
Which was fine, but they wanted to be slightly more wary around this guy, so sue them.
Soren shrugged. "I am. But must I be?" He adjusted his grip on his armor and blinked at them thoughtfully. "I'm not particularly sure I want to sometimes. Sometimes, I'd like to be anything but Soren." His face lit up as a thought occurred to him. "Ooh, like a donkey for example."
Jesse blinked.
"Do you like donkeys?"
He shrugged again, bending down so that he was more on their eye level. The baron's unruly ginger hair bounced with him. "I don't know. I'm partial to cats, myself. But I do prefer Endermen."
Jesse gave a little shiver at that. "Oh... aren't they dangerous?"
"Actually, from what I've seen they simply don't like eye contact. Endermen won't attack unless you make direct eye contact with them," Soren remarked, eyes glittering with interest. His mustache curved up as he grinned. "Did you know they're one of the only mobs in this world that can move blocks about? The other ones that are formed from negative energy merely destroy. But Endermen have the potential to create."
He paused for a moment. "Truthfully, they do look a bit distasteful. But they're still fascinating creatures."
Jesse hummed, thumbing the corner of their mouth. "I see... were you looking at them earlier?"
"Oh, when you first came? Yes, actually. One was stuck in just the right position that I could get an excellent look at their teeth without getting my face bitten off, and, well, that sort of opportunity is not one to be missed," Soren almost gushed, his eyes gleaming. You could really see that he enjoyed them.
"I got attacked by one the other day," they replied, not knowing what else to say. "Nobody told me not to look it in the eyes."
Soren sighed and plopped down in the woolly grass. Jesse, not knowing what else to do, followed suit. "Yes, humans and half-demons fare the worst when they first see one. They never know not to just stare at it like it's a circus attraction or something and inevitably tend to make eye contact with it."
"Oh," Jesse replied cleverly.
Soren smiled at the reply and fell quiet, listening to the water burbling through the little fake stream.
Jesse watched the water glitter in the 'sun', before looking up at Soren bemusedly. "What is this place?" they asked, as politely as they could when that was the question they were asking.
"Oh, this?" He gestured around at the woolly little slice of peace. "This is my Wool World."
Jesse looked around politely. Now that they were over the surprise of it all being wool, it was actually rather nice. Better than the laboratory that looked like something had exploded in it. Besides, it was so well crafted that they couldn't help marveling at it a little. "I didn't know demons knew how to knit."
"Crochet, actually," Soren corrected. "But yes; crocheting and knitting and the such is a human skill, so the half-demons that decide to become full demons and stay in Cosmos rather than fulfill their wish are rather wealthy, since they sell those such things. Personally, I find crocheting to be more interesting."
Jesse considered these words, sifting through the information.
And then they remembered something that actually seemed to be a gem amid the other pieces of information, and they looked up at him. "But if demons don't knit or crochet, and you do, then... you came from my world?"
Soren scratched his mustache. "The human world? Yes. I had a wish, spent a long stint as a half-demon, you know those details but by the time I'd finished serving most of my time, Ivor was searching for a new baron due to the previous one's dying. And this place is magnet for Endermen, which I found fascinating, so..."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "I gave up my wish to become the baron of this place."
Jesse's eyes widened. "You did...?"
"Oh, yes. I did decide to stay half-demon, though, as I'd become quite handy with light magic by the end of it and I didn't believe I'd be able to get used to the abrupt switch of how the lords have trouble with it," Soren added, quickly.
"You can do that...?"
"Oh, half the barons are half-demon," Soren said dismissively, waving off Jesse's amazement. "Even Fred- the former lord of Jupin- even he was half-demon, I think. It's much rarer that a half-demon becomes a lord, though, so it did cause quite a stir."
Jesse blinked and looked down at their hands, considering this in quiet boggled amazement. "Oh..."
They considered it for another minute, watching the sun glitter on water and feeling the woolly floor press through their pajamas as they sat next to Soren, who had leaned back to look at the small hills and blue 'sky' absently.
"Do you regret it?"
Soren hummed, scratching his cheek. "Odd enough, no, I don't." He glanced back at them for a moment, before continuing, "They did return my memory once I became a baron, so I remember my wish. But it wasn't as important to me after such a long stint as a half-demon, and I didn't have much to return to. So it wasn't so much of a loss."
Jesse thought this over and, after a moment, asked, "What was your wish?"
Soren gave them a dry smile, still watching the water glow. "A bit of a personal question, isn't it? We've hardly spoken before."
"Oh...! I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
He laughed, cutting them off. "Relax..."
"Jesse."
"Lovely name. Relax, Jesse, I was only joking."
Jesse smothered a small yawn the best they could. They were starting to feel tired now. Something about Soren just put them at ease. "Oh."
He chuckled at the simple reply and shrugged again. "No, er, my wish was to live longer."
Jesse blinked.
Then turned to look at him. "That was your wish?"
He nodded. "That was my wish. I had been in a car accident a few months prior to being brought to Cosmos, and it was... painful, to say the least?"
He ran his fingers quietly over a small bumpy scar on his hand that they hadn't noticed. "I'd needed a lung transplant due to some... ah, complications, but there weren't many willing donors, and the date was approaching, and it wasn't likely to... succeed, anyhow."
He shrugged, as though he were talking about the weather.
Jesse's face was solemn as they looked up at him. "I'm sorry about that."
Soren shook his head, still not looking directly at them. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault, and it was a long time ago anyhow." He rubbed his eye slightly, lips pressing together as he considered his words. "I was... afraid."
He gave a weak little chuckle. "Despite my close friends perishing in the incident, despite not having anyone left except for myself, I... I simply didn't want to die."
After a moment, he tilted his head back to look at the 'sky' and exhaled quietly. "So I made my wish. It just so happened to be the day the door was open, and where the door was open, and... becoming a half-demon halted the process of me dying. It would've been resolved before I was reverted, but staying a half-demon regardless has kept me from dying. So in a way, I did receive my wish."
He turned to look at Jesse, taking their little waif of a form in, their wiry little body and big (slightly sleepy) eyes and fluffy dark hair and the slightly over-large footie pajamas as they looked up at him earnestly, drinking in the story silently.
And he smiled.
"You ought to go to sleep."
Jesse rubbed their eye sleepily, humming and standing up, still rubbing their eyes. "Okay... I like your house, by the way."
Soren's smile broadened. "Thank you. I built it myself."
Jesse gave him a thumbs up (he looked amused) and offered a sleepy 'goodnight'.
They were about to meander back out of the Wool World and in the direction of their room, but a sneaking question crept into their thoughts and before they knew it they had turned around.
"Why did you tell me... about your wish?"
Soren's smile faded slightly as he pondered this.
"Well, I thought friends told each other secrets." He paused, smile falling entirely into a thoughtful frown, before he lifted his eyes to Jesse's, red eyes searching their green ones. "... tell me something. Are you my friend?"
Jesse was still, turning the word over in their head.
Friend.
They hadn't had many friends before Cosmos.
After a moment, their lips curved up into a happy little smile and they nodded.
Soren's smile returned, relief tinting it this time. "Excellent. That's the best news I've heard in a long while." He paused, before gesturing around himself drily. "Although, clearly that's not a very high bar that I've set."
Jesse giggled and mumbled another sleepy 'goodnight' before turning around and leaving the room. It was a straight shot back to their room, and they'd left the door ajar anyway.
Soren kept the smile up for another minute, before it fell, exhaustion and tiredness creeping into his expression.
He was tired of this skill now.
As a half-demon, he was able to see pain. Upon becoming a baron, the skill was amplified to the point where sometimes he could tell that someone was literally going to die- either from their own pain driving them to it, or as a direct result of the pain. It was part of the reason he didn't mind living alone. Endermen weren't people.
He did not have to worry about seeing pain.
And simply being next to Jesse...
Well.
He was surprised they were still here. He would have given up a long time ago.
Or would he have?
Perhaps not.
You weren't willing to join the one person who cared about you the most when they died in that accident, some part of him whispered to himself. You were too scared.
You wouldn't be willing to remove yourself from the earth even if you did give up.
What word suited him?
Turncoat? No, he hadn't betrayed anyone (even if he felt as though he had).
Wicked? No, perhaps not. That didn't sound right either.
Soren's lips twitched up into a smile that held no humor.
Ah, yes. He knew the right word.
Coward.
A/N: This chapter got so much longer than I was expecting.
Soren appears! He doesn't have too much of a role in this story... well, actually, no, but that's spoilers. But aw, he's a sad bean :(
No, I'm not gonna say who died.
RQTC: What's your favorite food that sounds weird but actually is really good?
Boiled peanuts. Especially Asian-cooked boiled peanuts. Those are really good. Soft, too xD
I am a bag. Reviews are items. I am stuffed with items but I can take more.
Responses to reviews!
LegendEmpress: That's fair. I do like purple and black, but for some reason I don't like wearing them together too often? Maybe it's too Witherstorm-y for me xD / Probably like this summer. I've got time. / Hehe, you are pepperoni-ing me with puns. I love it, pizza have mercy on my bad skills. / He's good at working with the Endermen, I guess xD / Yee :P
Toni42: He doesn't particularly care who's wandering around his house; since if they know the passcode they're supposed to be there. However it's like one AM when he asks, so xD / Ahhh, I remember that. I might dye the ends pink sometime, but xD / She punishes people with bad puns. But yes, puns xD
ThinMintE: That's neat! If I did green I'd look kind of like a Chocolate-Chip Mint ice cream cone or something, so that's probably not the right color for me xD Your hair sounds lovely though! / Possibly xD
TheAmberShadow: I dolphinitely think I'm running out of water puns. Maybe we should stop clownfishing around. / Negative energy would probably screw it up and no one has the time or patience to eternally repair it, probably xD / No, not Romeo. / A very interesting contrast! xD / I dunno the context of 'the lords have good what' xD / Yeah, they're not allowed in, unfortunately xD / No, the area just attracts it more heavily. The Command Block actually acts as something of a deterrent in this situation but Soren doesn't know it's there. / Soren's rooms are themed. So some of the kitchens looked like they MIGHT be kitchens but are themed in such a way that it's hard to tell. / This theory was not mentioned xD
Guest: xD
Guest: Puns are quite puntastic, yes. / They already know martial arts; it's more of a matter of honing it so that they can fight more effectively. / xD / I believe I answered that question xD / Ahhh, thank you!
That's all for now! Wow, this is big. Okay, see ya, so long, and g'bye!
x.X. A.L. X.x
