Admittedly, the plan had been to rest so Jesse had enough energy to expel the... well, negative energy.
However, Magnus put a tiny, tiny dent in those plans.
"It's been getting pretty bad," he said, oddly quietly (after Axel had plucked Jesse right up off the floor to celebrate and Maya had had to rescue them before he dropped them and Hadrian had given Jesse another handkerchief to blow their nose as a kind of gift(?) and Mevia had fussed over them for half an hour).
Jesse frowned. "Is it consuming things or something?"
He shook his head. "Not yet. But it'll start corrupting soon, if we don't do something about it."
Jesse frowned. "Corrupting?"
"Negative energy has the lovely side effect of making people act at their worst when they're exposed to it for too long," Mevia chimed in.
Like a Horcrux, Jesse thought absently.
"They're more likely to snap or jump to the wrong conclusions, and then they're more likely to confront people with the wrong conclusions and insist they're right even when provided with all the evidence that they're not."
"... so like a Karen?"
Reuben almost sniggered at that; the demons just looked confused. "What's a Karen?" Radar asked absently.
Jesse blushed a little at the missed joke. They supposed it was probably less of a joke in the demon realm. "Um... never mind... so it'll start corrupting people soon? Why hasn't it started already?"
"Two reasons," Magnus said. "One, people have been so excited about the Death Bowl that it's been difficult for it to start corrupting people without them immediately noticing and coming to me to get it out. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to extract it this week alone."
"And... the other reason?" Gill asked, after a moment of Magnus not saying anything.
"I think this particular batch of negative energy's just really stupid, it infected a cow and just staggered around mooing like a drunken idiot," Magnus promptly replied.
The image of a drunk cow popped into Jesse's head at that and they had to stifle quite a few giggles at the idea.
"You're okay at magic, right Jesse?" Maya asked, glancing at Jesse.
They considered it, chewing on their lip, before giving a little shrug. "I've been doing okay with it..."
"Forget okay. You're a novice and you cast a spell nonverbally," Hadrian grunted (Jesse blushed a little; they hadn't realized that the 'nonverbal' casting was so obvious). "You're either a prodigy, or something's wrong with you."
Mevia kicked him.
Magnus grunted as Hadrian cussed at her rudely and 'accidentally' shoulder-checked her. "Yeah... well, we're hoping to try to just purify this batch enough that it goes away. It hasn't really gotten bad yet, since people've been so high-alert due to the Death Bowl and... well, like I said, it's a particularly stupid strain."
"It's not... sentient, right?" Jesse asked, dreading the answer.
Besides the sentient negative energy locked away beneath Jupin, Jesse didn't know if negative energy was really sentient. People certainly talked about it like it was, 'seeking' things to merge with... and it hadn't acted aimlessly in that storm in Enchantra.
"Oh, hell no," Magnus said absently, "it's kinda like... uhhh... you know how sometimes ants go crawling out in the open even though you keep squishing them? Kinda like that. Negative energy's not really sentient in the sense that it could communicate. Just kinda like a bug or something."
Jesse hummed slightly, considering this. "Some bugs are kinda cool..."
"Well, yeah, bugs are smart in their own way, but even considering the fact that bugs can be 'smart', this batch of energy's just extremely stupid," Magnus said, rather patiently.
"Oh."
Hadrian grunted. "So they purify it, get some sleep, and then we're done here, right?" he asked. "I don't really want to spend more time with this b-"
Mevia shot him the most warning look she'd ever given anyone. "Hadrian," she said simply, Jesse blinking between the two of them.
"-lue haired lady than I have to."
Mevia kicked him again.
Magnus hummed, scratching his cheek while Hadrian grumbled about 'bruising like an old apple'. "Yeah, as long as they can go purify it..."
"Yeah, okay... give me a minute..." Jesse blinked at the doors they were standing in front of it.
They weren't particularly ornate, just a set of solid wooden doors. There were iron bands that kept the planks making the door up solidly together. Kind of reminded them of an old castle door, actually, the handle a slightly rusted circle. "Is it in here?"
"The most of it, yeah. I've been letting it just go haywire on, like-" Magnus said a word that Jesse had never heard before, but it seemed to make sense, because Maya snorted and Gill broke down giggling, while Radar blinked before turning to grin aimlessly at the wall.
Hadrian shook his head, but he didn't seem too put out, so it couldn't have been a bad infection (right?). "You let it infect food?"
"Well, yeah, I wasn't gonna eat it. I told you this batch was particularly stupid."
Jesse slipped through the doors to purify it.
"Slugger, yell if you need help," Hadrian called before they shut the door.
An order.
Casually stated, but an order nonetheless.
They didn't know how often he'd do this.
Jesse nodded at him, already halfway through the heavy door. It was heavy- it tugged them along when they tried to keep it open until it was very nearly shut. "Alright..."
The door slid shut.
Maya sighed and scrubbed at her eye after a few minutes of awkward silence, Radar polishing his glasses for the umpteenth time. "Can't believe Jesse won the Death Bowl..."
"Why? 'Cause they're tiny?" Axel asked casually, making himself comfortable leaning on the wall.
They had no idea how long it would take, or even if it would require extra components to get rid of it, but if it did, they were right there. At a safe distance, where the energy wouldn't corrupt them.
Maya shook her head. "Nah, not 'cause of that... it's mostly 'cause of that cold or whatever they're sick with."
"That's the second handkerchief I've given them for all the snot," Hadrian grumbled.
Mevia shot a sharp glare at him, lip curling in distaste.
Nobody really knew why Mevia disliked him so much. Last time Maya and Gill had asked Isa about it she'd simply shrugged and replied, "Same reason why Milo and I got along so poorly at the start."
They'd tried to pester Milo about it, but he only shrugged and said that that was up to Isa to discuss, not him, and so they'd made absolutely no progress there, either.
"Oh, shut up, Hadrian. You can buy another one."
He shot her a disgruntled look at that. "I liked those handkerchiefs."
"Ask for them back, then."
Hadrian fell quiet at that, apparently not having a response for that.
Either that, or he thought the whole conversation a waste of his time.
Actually, that might've been the reason for it.
"Oh yeah... I guess so." Axel hummed and sat down, muffling a small yawn as he stretched. "Y'know, usually these are kind of boring."
"What's that? I should smite you for that comment," Magnus said lazily, raising a fist and shaking it at Axel a little jokingly.
Axel grinned at him, crossing his arms, before sighing. "Most griefers just try to bully their way through the games, so it's gotten kinda boring. As much as explosions are cool, only explosions all the time isn't super exciting. Y'know?"
"So what you're saying is explosion, actually doing something, then more explosion?" Gill suggested.
Axel grinned at him. "Yeah. Take a break from all the explosions now and again."
"If you say the word 'explosion' again I'm going to leave," Hadrian grumbled.
Mevia turned mockingly wide eyes onto him. "Oh no! You, leaving? That sounds absolutely dreadful," she said, putting one hand to her mouth, which was forming a perfect 'O' in mock-shock.
"Oh, shut the hell up, Mevia," he grumbled.
(To his credit, in all of their arguments, he'd never called her 'woman' or anything to imply that her gender made her any less capable... even though he swore at her every other minute.)
Magnus shook his head at their bickering and ignored it. "Yeah. Kinda why I changed up the Death Bowl format... well, Tiny did well enough for it."
"Did you choose the challenges on purpose? So they'd win and not some rando?" Gill asked.
Maya rolled her eyes. "Probably not, 'cause Jesse told me I won the bet."
"You only won the bet 'cause you weren't optimistic. Lukas would be disappointed in you."
"Fuck you, too."
And there they went on yet another argument.
"Hell no, I didn't even know you were going to have them participate until I had to announce them," Magnus grumbled in response to Gill's question, scratching his mask.
Nobody knew exactly what that part of his face looked like under the 'bandit' mask, or why he wore it. Some said he had scars, severe scars, from the times that Cosmos had been in constant war, so much so that he was horrifically disfigured. Others said he had to wear it to cover a mark of shame he'd been given.
And some said that he just wore a bandit mask for the hell of it, and would you let a man have his fun?
There was abruptly a burst of light through the cracks under the door, pouring through so brightly it left clear little seams of light along the walls and made Axel wince and cover his eyes.
Jesse toddled out of the room a moment after the light faded, blinking hard and muffling a yawn. "'S gone now..."
They proceeded to fall forward. Hadrian caught them before they could break their nose on the hard stone floor, immediately passing them to Gill. The taller half-demon took them, startled, adjusting Jesse so that they were curled against his chest.
"Alright, get them into bed so they can get some rest," Hadrian told Gill. "And they are getting a full twelve hours of sleep, got that? I need them to stop getting snot all over my handkerchiefs."
Gill nodded and glanced at Magnus. "Should we stick them in a spare room, or...?"
"Nah, they can sleep in mine," Axel said casually. "I've got a couch that they'll probably fit on in my room. Better to keep an eye on 'em- make sure nobody tries to attack the 'champion' after the whole Death Bowl thing."
"... is attacking the Death Bowl champion something that typically happens?" Mevia asked Magnus after a terrifyingly long pause, teeth gritted slightly while Gill handed Jesse to Axel and the two members of the October Children- Gill shooting jabs at Maya, who cussed in reply- heading off to Axel's room.
Radar glanced between Mevia, Hadrian, and Magnus, feeling the rising fury coming from Mevia in waves, before deciding he wanted nothing to do with this mess and scurrying off after the younger demons (half-demons, in Gill and Maya's case).
"Since it's usually me, yeah, I guess you could say it's kinda tradition at this point in a way," Magnus said casually.
Mevia's teeth were clenched so tightly together they squeaked. "You didn't think to mention this until now?"
"I didn't even know you were submitting Jesse as a contestant, how was I supposed to inform you when I was overseeing the damn Death Bowl the whole time?" Magnus grumbled.
Hadrian's strange penchant of being able to royally peeve Mevia off apparently came in handy, as he ended up having to piss her off in order to keep her from causing physical harm to Magnus at that statement.
A/N: Say 'thank you' Magnus; Hadrian just prevented your murder xD
And that finishes up Boom Town! Hopefully Jesse can finally get some sleep. Next chapter...
Responses to new reviews/questions!
TheAmberShadow: To a point yes, but they also build the towers anyway. / I forgot that was an answer, but I guess so xD
Happygoluckymegami: Almost there xD Poor Jesse
That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!
