"Well, looks like we experienced another population dip," Magnus remarked casually, nudging one body aside so he could step through.
His eyes locked onto the three lords, and he gave a somewhat polite half-bow. (It was a bit tempered by the fact that he was grinning lopsidedly at them.) "Hello Mevia. Harper. Isa. What brings you here?"
"Oh, they're stopping through on their way to Fortrylle," Axel said, back to being a teddy bear in the blink of an eye as he went and scooped Jesse up, before holding them out.
And by holding them out, I mean literally holding them under their arms and letting their feet dangle as he extended the little human to Magnus while they wiggled in surprise. "This is Jesse."
"Axel, it looks like you're holding a toy or a cat," was Magnus's reply as he stepped closer for a better look.
(Mevia's fingers twitched warningly.)
"Hello," Jesse said meekly, after a moment of Magnus staring intensely at them.
"Hey, tiny. What's a human like you doing in Cosmos? You're gonna get eaten alive." Magnus gave an almost wicked grin, licking his lips. "Literally."
A wooden axe clocked him in the head immediately. He flinched, then turned to glare at Mevia for throwing it at him.
"I was kidding."
"Watch what you say around Jesse. They don't need further trauma," was Mevia's icy reply.
A bystander wouldn't have thought anything of the second wooden axe already at the ready in her hands, but most of the lords and barons knew that Mevia didn't pull that out unless she was about to do something with it, so Magnus hefted a long sigh and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright, it was just a joke, jeez. I'm not gonna eat you, tiny."
Jesse blinked at him. Their heart had leapt into their throat, and it took them a solid thirty seconds to unlodge it enough to squeak, "Okay..."
Axel pulled them back over, made them get on his back in a piggyback position (it was just safer) and tucked them under his flannel shirt, making it look like their head was poking out from his back. Jesse squeaked again, then giggled slightly.
Magnus's eyes might've softened slightly.
Might.
"Huh. Guess you need a place to spend the night... the safe zone's probably the safest place. If a bit crowded," Magnus grunted after a moment, crossing his arms.
"Is it really appropriate for a lady to spend the night in a communal house where she could get harassed to the Nether and back?" Mevia replied drily.
"Why are you so concerned about being a lady all of a sudden?" Magnus remarked a bit impolitely.
(Jesse was still boggled that the lords, while speaking formally, could end up speaking like normal people and let barons and normal people speak casually to them. It didn't really feel like they were lords.)
"I'm not, but Isa's a lady. You think I'm letting her get harassed?" was Mevia's reply.
"True," was Harper's reply.
Magnus considered this, scratching the stubble on his cheek, before giving a long sigh. He didn't agree with the statement, but he didn't snark or anything either. "The spire's kinda uncomfortable since it's not like I've got a ton of beds in there, but if you're okay with sleeping on the floor be my guest."
"Well, Harper's covered then," Isa quipped mischievously.
Harper proceeded to swat at her with a faint smile on her face.
Axel had offered to let Jesse have their bed, but judging by the way Lukas was tensed up worriedly, it was a bad idea to stray too far from the October Children right now, especially after watching Aiden's eyes bug out as he looked at the alley piled high with bodies, so they just declined politely and sat in Petra's lap.
She ran her fingers through Jesse's hair quietly. Listening to the human breathe.
Lukas, who was talking to Isa and Harper from where he was sitting on the floor, glanced over at Jesse. "You doing alright? We didn't exactly wanna leave you behind..."
"I'm fine." To be honest, they'd missed most of the bloodshed this time, keeping their face turned away from it, so they hadn't seen too much.
Emphasis on too much.
Maya gave Jesse a reassuring smile and leaned into the bed, trying to avoid bumping into Gill if at all possible. (This wasn't going well, but they seemed too collectively concerned about Jesse to care too much.)
"Well, that's good. We're gonna make sure you don't get separated from us this time around." She patted them on the back, before shooting a look at Gill as if it were somehow his fault that Jesse had been piggybacking Axel and thus unable to flee with the rest of them. "Right, Gill?"
"Fuck you," was his reply, although he did make sure to promptly reassure Jesse that yes, they would make sure that Jesse stayed with at least one member of the group.
Magnus watched the kids all bicker while the lords set up a good, secure sleeping area for them all.
He hadn't had lords stop by in a while– well, except for Ivor, but Ivor was the lord of his district, so it only made sense. Maybe he'd have to socialize. (Axel sure would, so he'd get dragged into it before long.)
He did have to admit he was a bit curious about Jesse– anyone would be, really, with a human that tiny– but he was sure that even if he didn't get to talk to him the others would talk to him about them, so either way he didn't mind the socializing too much this time around.
A little blob of color caught his eye– green. Bright green. He turned to follow it, but it had vanished before he could really lock onto it.
He could've sworn he'd seen...
Well, Magnus wasn't one to assume. (Goodness knew Ellie would proceed to lecture him if he got even half a detail wrong.) So he wouldn't assume.
But for a minute...
Well, he thought he'd spotted a doll outside.
But that couldn't be right.
Boom Town didn't have dolls. Not in the sense that Hizelk or Enchantra would have them, or even the little mechanical things in Yurin or the basic ones in Narvid. It was easy for them to blow up and lose it– or, in other cases, release a wave of potent magic over everything and cause some mess-ups.
So he couldn't have seen a doll.
A/N: Oh, couldn't you, Magnus?
Welp, Boom Town's not over yet. We've still got a day of travel.
I'm gonna be playing Pokemon Sword when it comes out– I don't get the unicorn Ponyta but I get Sirfetched, so I think that's a good tradeoff. I'll also be doing a Nuzlocke and then... probably shitposting an MCSM version of what's going on. I don't know. xD
RQTC: Do you like ginger ale?
I do! I don't know why. I really like the taste.
I am a computer. Reviews are my files. I'm lagging from all the open files xD
Responses to reviews!
Happygoluckymegami: I guess they did xD
Guest/Saran: Hehehe / Yeah, Jesse's pretty good about kicking people's butts. / It does change, but one thing that stays the same is they can fight decently enough, and they care about people. / Yes, chickens. xD / Haha, Magnus is great. / Don't worry about it! / It is convenient, but feel free to do whatever you want!
Guest: Don't forget, time moves faster in Cosmos. So a few weeks or months could easily just be a few hours or a day. / But also probably not...
TheAmberShadow: I didn't know that; I just really like the music xD / This is pretty sweet, but maybe we should start before it ends up going all sour. I'm salty about some puns, but don't worry– I'm not bitter. Maybe we should switch to less flavorful puns. / Yeah xD / That too, but also so she can express irritation by chucking them at people without killing them. / Hehehe / True that xD / Yeah, I didn't have anything to add or slide in; didn't see how I'd be able to just have a random egg there. / Not much at the moment. / Hehe :3
Northern Goshawk: Yeah xD / I don't think I decided that. Just a brand of martial arts. / Nope xD
Toni42: Yep, just pure chaos. / Ahaha, I think a chicken flying at your face is pretty distracting. But yeah, Mevia's nice like that xD / He kinda showed up at the tail end, yeah xD / No, but since 'best bear' is your nickname, you're the best at being cute. / Hehe
Darkbeast Dend: Glad you liked the chapter, dude! Six is pretty cool though.
ThinMintE: Any distraction involving a chicken wins. xD / Aww. / Thank you!
That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!
x.X. A.L. X.x
Romeo inclines his head at Jesse, who has to crane their neck back a good amount to make eye contact with him. "Well, Jesse, my name is Romeo. I'm the lord of the south of Cosmos."
"... isn't the south of Cosmos just... Narvid?"
"... well, yes, Jesse, but you're getting too far ahead in the script, you don't know that yet."
"... oh. Whoops."
"Cut!"
"I'm the lord of the south."
Romeo abruptly adopted a long Southern drawl, making Maya break down into uncontrollable giggles. "Yeah, ya heard me right, I'm the lawd of the south."
Aiden facepalmed, shaking his head. "Oh my god, Romeo."
"Cut!"
"Well, Romeo, my name is– wait, fuck" Romeo slapped his forehead in irritation as Jesse started giggling.
"Hi, Fuck, I'm Petra," Petra deadpanned back.
Jesse's giggles turned into uncontrollable laughter. They might as well have flopped into a little puddle.
"Quit goofing around!" Aiden snapped, although his poor attempt at hiding his own laugh wasn't going that well and made the snap so much less intense.
"It's not our fault Romeo keeps messing up!"
"Cut!"
