Ivor nodded, giving a faintly apologetic look. "Yes... I'm very sorry for the short notice, but–"
Harper shook her head almost immediately. "No issue."
Petra nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it's basically my job to help you, so I don't mind either. And the other October Children don't mind, right?"
The others immediately shook their heads. The quicker they sorted the issue, the less they had to worry about beyond the gates and the keys and the party– none of them could afford to worry or be distracted when they went.
They almost did it in unison actually, which made Jesse hide a huge smile.
Gill glanced at Jesse and frowned. "Uh... I don't know if Jesse can really be of much help while they're, uh..."
Everyone looked at Jesse, who blinked back at them with big eyes.
"Blowing snot out of my nose every ten seconds," Jesse chimed in, proceeding to, indeed, blow their nose about a second after they finished that.
Maya laughed and ruffled their hair. "Sounds about right," she said teasingly.
Gill hid a grin and nodded. "Yeah. But I'm kinda worried that, uh..." He hesitated, glancing at Jesse as they rubbed their slightly pink nose, and continued, a bit more hesitantly. "Jesse might end up in a hairy spot if they come along with one of us. Having a cold doesn't exactly help your reflexes or anything... but, then, I don't want to leave them alone, since..."
"Basically he's scared they're going to be a nuisance and he's being a paranoid bastard," Aiden replied bluntly.
Maya and Gill simultaneously dug their elbows into his side.
"Um... ma-maybe you guys can split up?"
Everyone turned to look at Radar while Aiden swore and grabbed a nearby pillow to practically bludgeon the two of them with.
He flushed, but upon spotting Jack's encouraging look he swallowed his nervousness and spoke up. "Like... like Jesse can stay with someone to help as necessary but stay on the back-lines so they're, uh, safer, and then the rest of you split off into three groups to go-go deal with the issue? Like... Gill, Maya and Mevia and, uh, me I guess can be in a group, then, um, Isa, Lukas, Nurm, and Aiden, and then Petra, Jack, Harper and Ivor..." the young demon murmured, adjusting his glasses. "I'm, uh, n-not too helpful in a fight, but tactically I'm not... too... bad..."
He trailed off, face going red as he realized everyone was looking at him quite intently as they pondered this option.
Nurm signed quickly– a bit too quickly for Jesse to spot, especially since they were a bit preoccupied blowing their nose.
Jack nodded and translated that "Nurmie said he won't mind tagging along too."
Petra hummed, scratching her chin. "Yeah, I don't see too big of a problem with that," she said, perhaps innocently unaware of the fact that Gill and Maya were starting to protest the grouping despite Aiden still whacking them with a pillow and the fact that Harper and Ivor were a wee bit pink now.
Jesse blew their nose and considered the way her look was incredibly innocent. She practically had doe eyes and had her head tilted to one side.
(Actually, she looked a little like Jesse right now, except the way she looked innocent just seemed unnatural and a little too innocent, while Jesse just naturally seemed to do that.)
Yeah, no, she absolutely knew what she was doing.
"Hang on, though... that doesn't leave Jesse with someone to accompany them," Lukas pointed out quickly, glancing around the room of people and doing a second head-count and coming up at around the same that Radar had. "Maybe one of us should stay back?"
Harper shook her head. "Bad idea." She made a small hand gesture indicating some kind of negative energy... aura thing and then shook her head again. "Need everyone."
"Yes, I think we might need everyone to tackle this issue, considering I couldn't simply expel it from where I was..."
Ivor considered this, biting his lip for a moment as he considered the options before nodding. "I think Jesse can go with one of my assistants and provide assistance where necessary. He's not a contract," he remarked quickly when he saw Mevia's head come up. "You know him, Mevia."
Realization dawned on her face, and she quickly scowled. "He'll just murder Jesse immediately, he hates kids."
Ignoring the very comforting aspect of that statement...
"Technically I'm a teenager," Jesse piped up meekly.
Harper absently patted their head.
Lukas glanced between the two of them. Or, at least, they could only assume Lukas glanced between Ivor and a scowling Mevia, as his blindfold did make whatever direction he was looking in slightly unclear. "Uh... are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"
Ivor gave a faintly apologetic shrug. "It only makes sense," he told a faintly frowning Harper when he saw her expression. "His special ability is teleporting, though he can only do it once a day, so he's probably the quickest option for receiving help if you end up needing it."
"I hate him."
Isa elbowed Mevia with an unimpressed look at her flat declaration.
"I'm being honest! You don't like him either," Mevia said, narrowing her eyes at Isa in a half-joking way.
The black-haired demon lord sighed in slight exasperation. "Nobody likes him, Mev."
"Glad to hear it."
Ivor glanced to his left at the sudden unfamiliar voice. Isa had tensed slightly, while Aiden had stopped whacking Maya and Gill with a pillow and looked a bit like he might turn the pillow on the source of the new voice.
Jesse's eyes followed his and they started; there was a man– demon, they corrected themselves; nobody here was really a man– standing beside him, as if he'd materiaized out of nowhere. His hair was much like Harper's– a shock of white– but cropped short.
He wore glasses that tinted slightly, his mustache a lot neater than Soren's unruly hairstyle. The violet suit he wore was almost perfectly impeccable, compared to Mevia's robes and Isa's dress and Harper's lab-coat-robe thing and Ivor's armor. The kind of thing you'd wear at an office, Jesse thought, except most people at an office didn't wear a bright purple plaid suit and a gold tie-thing to work.
"Oh. Good timing," the blue-clad lord said simply.
Mevia scowled at him. Actually, it probably could've been compared to a glare more than anything else.
"Hello, Hadrian."
A/N: Oh my. xD
Jesse'll have an interesting time, sticking around with Hadrian.
RQTC: Do you have stuffed animals that are named anything?
I have a squishy shiba plushie called Potato, a pink Pusheen pillow/plush called Squishy, and a (very flat) Webkinz duck named Rosie. I also have a penguin named Tony.
I am a phone. Reviews are my battery. I'm not dead yet. xD
Responses to reviews!
Northern Goshawk: Yep! Though it might be a good several chapters before we bump into them. Though we do see Magnus and Axel again soon xD / Except Soren, but then his sanity was in question anyway xD / Nope xD / Only a couple? There's only six lords right now and Jesse has five of them on their side xD / You know... yeah, I should get on that xD
Happygoluckymegami: Yaaay! / They never will. xD / I think I put the A/N on Cinematic Mode, but I've definitely discontinued that– too many ideas have changed since then as well as my writing style and I don't really have the patience to just repeat what I've written. Composite might be the next one I finish though.
Syra Nyth: Hehe, yeah, many people were pretty cheerful about it. / Perhaps... / Aiden's lovely, he's just also a bit of a tsundere. / I'm glad to hear you like all of them! To be honest there's probably a good several I'll just have to discontinue; I write fanfiction a lot less than I used to.
That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!
x.X. A.L. X.x
"Though, uh," Romeo glanced down at Reuben, who was quietly snuffling against Jesse's chest, his lips twitching into a smile. "I've never seen a vessel creature be a pig before."
"Well, th–" Gill yelped as there was abruptly the sound of something chewing on his sleeve.
The camera panned down to show that Lluna had somehow meandered onto the set and started munching on the hem of Gill's pants.
Maya cracked up. "Oh, so the llama wants to get in your pants."
Gill flailed at her while simultaneously shooing at Lluna frantically. "Get off, you weirdo llama!"
Lluna bleated through her mouthful of fabric and continued munching, Gill giving an odd whining sound and frantically trying to bat her off without actually smacking the llama. "Shit she's got the band on my underwear–"
Lukas started laughing himself, and Aiden pressed his face into his hand. His shoulders were shaking, but it was the kind of way you'd shake when you repressed laughter as much as you could.
"No, Lluna, you'll ruin his pants..." Jesse had gone over and was gently trying to detach the little cream-colored llama. Of course, Lluna being stubborn, she just munched more insistently.
The cloth ripped slightly. "Lluna! No!"
Stella chuckled and went over. "Alright, Lluna, get off before Gill yells that you're a pervert."
