Jesse had reached the center of the crowd when suddenly Aiden popped out from behind someone, making Jesse start back and her gold barrette slip out of place, making her hair fall into place over her eyes. "Well, if it isn't Team Trashbag!"
Most of the audience let out a groan.
"How's your stupid pig?" Jesse stilled, before reaching up. "I hear intense heat causes brain-" Aiden's celery-green eyes widened as he abruptly cut himself off, going perfectly still.
The screen switched back to Jesse abruptly, making several people jump in shock.
Jesse was glowering at Aiden, but she'd moved the hair away from her left eye, and it was glowing blood-red, casting dramatic, red-tinted shadows over her face. Both of those things combined made Aiden extremely lucky that looks couldn't kill. "I don't know how-" She stepped forward, making Aiden step back, "I don't know when-" Another step. "But someday, far into the future, when you're least expecting it," and the screen changed to show Jesse getting right up in his face, still glaring. "We will get our revenge."
"Holy crap!" Axel exclaimed. Even Petra looked surprised at this.
"That- that was dark," Stacy said, vocalizing the thoughts of everyone in the room. Lukas slowly shook his head and gave Jesse a strange look. "Remind me never to mess with you. Either of you. Like, ever."
"We will, don't worry," Jace said, glued to the screen.
"Wh-whoa, I was just joking! Geez," Aiden whimpered slightly, cringing away from the one-eyed glare Jesse was sending him.
Jesse readjusted her hair, leaning back, still glowering at Aiden. Her lips were pressed together with rage, her fists balled up and trembling. "Yeah?" she asked, almost sweetly, "well I wasn't." With that, she shoved him out of the way and continued on, obviously fuming.
"It was kind of Aiden's fault," Jace mused, "I'm pretty sure Jesse wouldn't have gone all scary-creepy-red-eye on him if he hadn't insulted Reuben." And he reached over to rub Reuben's head.
"Like I said earlier- mess with my friends, and I will break you," Jesse responded simply.
Jesse paused at the sight of Ivor, squinting at them for a minute.
"What's the hold up?" Petra wondered, watching Jesse watch Ivor curiously onscreen. Jesse shrugged at the redhead.
"No idea."
Finally, onscreen-Jesse stepped forward and tapped them on the shoulder. "Um... excuse me?" she asked, tentatively.
They turned around to reveal that it was actually a woman who looked remarkably like Ivor from the back. "Yes?"
Magnus let out a loud bark of laughter, making everyone glance at him. "Ha! Ivor resembles a woman!"
Ivor glared at Magnus over the giggling fits everyone was having now at this comment. "Or maybe the woman resembles Ivor," he said, through gritted teeth as he stared pointedly at the Rogue.
"Mmm, nahhh."
Jesse rubbed the back of her head. "Ah, sorry- you just looked like someone I was looking for," she said sheepishly, sounding immensely relieved that she hadn't just up and confronted her.
"Oh, okay." And the woman turned away again.
Jesse let out a disappointed sigh, before a loud, terrified squeal rang out through the area. Her head immediately snapped around in the direction of the squeal. "Reuben?" she called out, hopefully.
She started walking forwards, coming near a butcher stand. "Get your pork chops here! Fresh off the bone!"
"Who sells pork chops at a convention?" Sparklez asked, turning to look at Jace. The boy shook his head tiredly.
"People sell everything at EnderCon, from voodoo dolls to board games. It's just best to not question it," he answered.
Jesse was about to pass the butcher's stall, when the butcher lifted a pig out and set him on the counter. This pig happened to be Reuben.
"Reuben!" Jace nearly shrieked, jumping so that his knees collided with the coffee table.
Most of the occupants of the room winced at him sympathetically. Jesse leaned forward with wide eyes at Real-Reuben's frantic squeal, Benedict letting out a sort of worried clucking sound from where she was perched in Isa's lap.
Onscreen-Jesse looked as though she might faint as the butcher pulled out an axe. "Nothing quite sticks to your ribs like a juicy pork chop!" he called out.
"REUBEN!" Jesse screamed as she raced towards the booth, eyes wide with utter horror.
"It's a really good thing Jesse got there in time," Olivia sighed in relief, reaching over to rub Reuben's head. Jesse was hugging Reuben in a near death-grip, and Jace was practically standing up to watch the screen, emerald-green eyes wide with horror.
The butcher turned to glare at her as Reuben jumped around to face Jesse with a desperate squeal. "What's the big idea? I'm trying to run a business here!"
Jesse's hands were shaking with both anger and fear as she glared at the butcher. "That's my pig!" she snapped at him.
"Oh really? Well, I found him out in the woods, so I think that makes him MY pig."
"Leave him alone!" Axel yelled as if the butcher could hear him. "Reuben belongs to the Jesses!"
Both Jesse and Jace turned to look at him. "The... Jesses?" Jesse asked him, looking bemused.
"Yeah. Both of your names are Jesse. So you're the Jesses." Axel gestured at Reuben. "Besides, Reuben practically belongs to the both of you at this point." Reuben snuffled in agreement at this. "See, he agrees with me!"
The mocha-haired boy and the black-haired girl looked at one another, then back at Reuben, before conceding the point and turning back to the screen anxiously.
Onscreen, Jesse took a deep breath, before looking at the butcher, her expression becoming desperate. "Please?" she asked pleadingly. "He's my friend."
The butcher's expression softened as he looked at Reuben. "To me, he's inventory... I might be amenable to some kind of trade," he hinted, glancing back up at Jesse.
Jesse's lips twisted hesitantly, before she pulled out the stone sword she'd made earlier. "Well, all I've got is this sword."
"Jesse, no!" Petra protested, as if the girl could hear her, "you might need that."
"I might, but I'm not letting Reuben get eaten," Jesse said, tightening her grip on the pig. Reuben let out the faintest complaining squeal, upon which Jesse looked down and relaxed her grip.
Petra frowned. "You probably could've done something else..." she mumbled.
"Like what, threaten him? For all I know he would've thrown that axe at my head," Jesse pointed out.
The butcher hummed onscreen, drawing the audience's attention back to the screen. "Oh... that's very nice. With this I could cut my butchering time in half."
Jesse's eyes narrowed at the screen. "Did- did he just make a pun." It was not a question, no matter how much it was stated as one.
There was a pause, before Maya snorted, covering her mouth to try to smother it. It really didn't work.
He hesitated for a moment, before smacking Reuben off the counter onto Jesse's side and taking the sword from her unresisting grip. "Nice doing business with you!" he called after her as Jesse scooped Reuben off the floor and started speed-walking away from the booth, as if she was afraid the butcher might change his mind.
"I am so sorry, Reuben," she apologized to the pig in her arms, "I shouldn't have let you run off in the woods."
Reuben grumbled a bit, but it was evident he wasn't really upset as he nuzzled into her grip. A minute passed before Jesse spotted Olivia, upon which she set Reuben down and jogged over to the girl before tapping her on the shoulder. Olivia immediately turned to look at her. Keeping her voice low, the black-haired girl said mildly, "Hey, you know that thing I had to do earlier? Long story short, he cheated Petra on a deal, so now we're trying to track him down. Ya in?"
A grin came over Olivia's face, eyes sparkling with interest. "Oh, I'm in alright."
"Did you find him?" Petra asked, racing onscreen with Axel hot on her heels.
Jesse huffed a bit in annoyance and glanced offscreen. "Nah, I thought I saw him earlier, but it was a false alarm wait there he is!" she blurted at the end, swinging her arm to point as her eyes widened.
Everyone swiveled to see Ivor at the entrance of the keynote, panting. He glanced backwards, not seeming to spot them, before rushing into the building.
"I just realized something," Ellegaard spoke up, turning to look at the black-haired man, "Ivor, why are you even at Endercon? You hate conventions. I'm not sure you've even been to one for thirteen years at least."
"And why do you want a Wither Skull?" Soren wondered.
"And why did you cheat Red out of a deal?" Magnus asked, pointing at Petra. The redhead glared at him halfhearted. "My name's Petra," she muttered, once again halfheartedly.
"And why," Gabriel mused, "are you going to the keynote?"
Ivor glared at them, dark blue eyes hard. "You'll see. You'll all see."
The Order all exchanged slightly worried glances.
"We have to follow him!" And the whole group ran over to the usher. He gave them all a bored look.
Jesse grinned at him sheepishly. "Um... hi. What would it take... for us to get inside tonight?" And she gave him an innocent smile.
The usher blinked. "Uhh.. tickets." He started laughing really hard, as if he'd just made the best joke of all time.
Gabriel sighed.
"So, uh, here's the thing," Jesse said, fiddling with her hair awkwardly, "we had tickets, but then we lost them."
The usher winced sympathetically. "Oh man. That sucks, man, I hate when that happens."
Jesse nodded quickly. "I know, I feel like such an idiot."
He winced apologetically at her, rubbing his head as he apologized, "I'm sorry, brah, but... no tickets, no show."
Suddenly, an escaped chicken fluttered out of nowhere. The usher cowered away with an extremely high-pitched shriek. "Chiiiiicken! Chicken! Chicken!" he nearly squealed in fright.
Gabriel muttered something under his breath that nobody caught.
The chicken wandered away, and the usher quickly straightened back up. "I-it's okay, it's gone, you're a totally cool dude..." He caught sight of the blinking Jesse, and shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, brah."
The four of them walked away, before they all gave each other a look that seemed to say, "Okay, what the heck are we supposed to do now?"
"How are we going to get past him?" Olivia hissed. "The keynote's been sold out for ages."
"I could get past him," Axel suggested. "Just need a little wind-up room."
Jesse's eyes widened, giving him a nervous laugh. "Haha, no."
"Yeah, no, that- that was a very good suggestion," Stampy said, wincing at the thought of what might've happened if Jesse HADN'T vetoed the idea.
She paused, her gaze moving up, before she straightened up, a small smile forming on her face. "What we need is a distraction."
Petra turned to see what Jesse was looking at, before a grin formed on her own face. The screen switched to show what they were looking at- some sort of chicken machine. "A bunch of chickens running around might be a distraction."
"And the usher's afraid of chickens!" Axel agreed, his own eyes lighting up.
The ghost of a grin formed on Axel's face. "Is this going where I think it is?" he asked, slowly.
Jesse's mischievous smile grew to beauty-pageant proportions. "What would you say... if I said I wanted to break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?"
A/N: Heehee x3
RQTC: Favorite character in MCSM (excluding Jesse and Reuben, I already know you all love Reuben)?
My personal favorite is gonna be Lukas or Ivor.
EthanDaCabbage: You and me both, buddy xD
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) He does.
: Yeeeaaaahhh (high five)
Guest: You and me both, fam xD
Guest: Of Hybrid specifically or in general? xD
Guest: (thumbs up)
LittleAngelbun: Never actually had gingersnap cookies, haha xD
x.X. A.L. X.x
