Oh my- 91 CHAPTERS AND OVER 30 THOUSAND VIEWS?! GUYS!
There's gonna be a special for the 100th chapter, btw. ;3
Onscreen-Lukas stopped smothering his own giggles, his twitching ears flicking a bit in agitation as his face went serious. "As crazy as Aiden's been lately, if he gets that thing... it would be bad."
Real-Aiden winced a bit, looking away from the screen. Cassie glanced at him, but didn't say anything.
"You're right," the spider hybrid agreed, straightening up with her own smile dying on her lips, blinking her green and red eyes, "and that's putting it lightly."
"Well, if we beat him to it, he won't be able to get his slimy little hands on the thing," Petra growled, glaring at a pebble on the ground as if the pebble was Aiden and she wanted to drop-kick it off the edge of the city.
Jesse shrugged a bit. "We just need to find the inn that nervous guy mentioned. How... hard could it be?"
Milo blinked as he suddenly realized exactly what that meant. He glanced over at the Founder and the Captain of the Guard sitting next to him, feeling his stomach slowly twist. Oh, joy.
"No idea," Lukas replied, the ocelot hybrid giving a shrug with his tail flicking around a bit. "But it's definitely our best bet so far."
"Agreed," Ivor agreed tersely, before the entire group split up without another word. Jesse started walking towards the Egg-Palace, Ivor's voice sounding in the background as he said to a Sky Citizen slowly and loudly, as if they were an alien or something, "Hel-lo. It is ni-ce to me-et y-ou."
Gabriel put his head in his hands. Ivor huffed a bit as several members of the audience started giggling at this, his cheeks turning pink again.
Jesse stopped a wooden sign that was resting near the foot of the palace staircase and knelt down to read it. "'No building, no crafting, no brewing, no forging, unless with EXPRESS PERMISSION from the Founder. All complaints must be registered in person. That's it, you can stop writing now.'"
Isa sighed. Of course they'd leave that in there.
"Intense," Jesse hummed, before scratching her cheek awkwardly. "Well, the last part kinda ruined it a bit, but still- pretty intense," she hummed mildly.
Jesse walked past Petra and the garden, looking around the place in interest. She stopped in front of the palace, stretching a bit as her eyes flicked up to the sky. "I can't believe that we're on yet another adventure," she mumbled, talking out of the corner of her mouth.
"Oh gosh! Is Little Miss High-and-Mighty talking to me?" the narrator exaggerated surprise, making Jesse roll her eyes a bit.
Real-Jesse stifled a giggle. Lukas patted her on the back, reaching up his free hand to cover his own smile up.
"Cut the overdramatic playacting, please," Onscreen-Jesse whispered, smirking slightly.
"Okay, okay," and the narrator gave a light chuckle. "You liked adventures when you were a kid, too, ya know."
A curious look came over her face, and Jesse looked up. "Weren't we in the lab back then?"
"Yes, but the scientists gave you storybooks sometimes when you were younger. Don't you remember reading a few with your brother?"
Jesse and Jace exchanged a look.
"So I do have a brothe-" Jesse was cut off as her eyes widened again, the screen zooming and and then zooming out on little Spider-Jesse sticking her tongue out of her mouth a bit as she slowly read from the book. Little-Jace was next to her, too, the things on his head still a blur, but there was a slightly less blurry appendage wagging on the ground that was reminiscent of a tamed wolf's.
"And the he-ro sa-ved the pincess," Jace slowly read, squinting at the book's pages.
"'Princess'," Jesse corrected with a tiny smile, "there's an 'r'."
Jace just giggled at the correction and flopped over backwards, making the spider hybrid lean backwards a bit to get a better look at him. "We should go on an adventure when we get out of here!"
"That'd be fun," the young spider hybrid said thoughtfully, before grinning at him. "As long as I'm not the princess."
"We can both be the heroes!" Jace jumped up and mimicked holding up a sword, before dropping his arm and holding his hand out to Jesse. "Jesse promise?"
The spider hybrid gave a little nod and extended her own hand. "Jesse promise," she agreed, bumping her fist with his, high-fiving, and then entwining their pinkies with each other, before little-Jace tackle-hugged Jesse and knocked the spider hybrid over, making her giggle cheerfully as she sat back up.
Jesse let out a soft huff of sad laughter. This seemed... nice.
Lukas glanced at Jesse, before wrapping his free arm around her as well and pulling the shorter girl into a warm hug. She let her head drop into his chest, shoulders sagging a bit.
Several of the other members of the audience exchanged sad glances as well.
"Love ya, Jesse," Jace said, his voice a little muffled from where his head was buried in her shoulder.
The spider hybrid gave a warm smile. "Love ya too, Jace."
The screen zoomed out to show Jesse's hand was clenched into a fist over her chest, the spider hybrid desperately trying to steady her breathing. After a moment, she glanced up at the sky. "So, what was that all about?" she murmured, letting her hand drop to her side listlessly.
No comment from the narrator.
Onscreen-Jesse gave her eyes a roll. "Annnnd of course, when I do want you to respond, you don't show up. Terrific," she murmured in a teasingly sardonic voice.
This prompted several snorts from the audience.
When there was still no response, the spider hybrid shrugged and started walking again, before coming to a stop on the other side of the garden, where a woman was very, very, very carefully placing down oak wood. CAPTAIN REGINALD stood next to her, and gave the approaching girl a friendly smile. "Captain Reginald, at your service." His eyes flicked over Jesse's arm, the smile fading to a slightly more wary look. The citizen was too busy putting oak blocks down to notice Jesse.
Real-Reginald gaped at the screen in amazement. "That- wow." He sat back a bit, looking perplexed. "Actually seeing yourself on the screen is- wow."
Isa hid a small smile at the nearly incoherent comment.
"Hey," Jesse said in a friendly voice, giving a sheepish little wave and tucking her other arms behind her back quickly, "so what are you guys up to?"
Onscreen Reginald kept staring at Jesse oddly for a moment, before shrugging and replying, "Ah, just supervising this citizen while she does her build..."
He still sounded really wary though.
The citizen he was supervising looked up at Jesse, not noticing the way Jesse's arms tightened behind her back, beaming happily. "The Founder finally approved my petition!" she gushed.
"The Founder?" Jesse asked questioningly, tilting her head to one side curiously.
Reginald regarded the spider hybrid for a moment longer, before abruptly seeming to come to a decision and pointing at the egg-palace behind him. "That's her palace up there. She is the Keeper of the Eversource! Builds everything you see."
"Every- everything?" Jesse blinked abruptly, looking startled and making several members of the audience look in her direction as she twisted 'round from where Lukas still had his arm around her to stare at Isa. "You built that entire city by yourself?"
Isa scratched her head awkwardly, giving a shy sort of smile. "It... took quite a while. I'm thinking about renovating the place a bit."
Now everyone's mouth was hanging open at the fact that with the Eversource, this one woman built the entire city. Reginald and Milo seemed less surprised, although both men gave an impressed 'hmm!' sound.
Onscreen-Jesse shared the same sort of surprise that Real-Jesse was feeling, because her arms dropped to her sides from where she'd been hiding them, green-and-red eyes widening in surprise. Reginald continued, thoughtfully, "Some days I can't even fathom how she keeps it all straight. She's... incredible. I'm a, heh... I'm a fan."
Real-Isa grinned teasingly at Reginald. The mustached man grinned back mulishly.
"She builds EVERYTHING?" Onscreen-Jesse asked, flailing with all of her arms in an expansive gesture at the city. Reginald flinched a bit, but doggedly continued in his explanation. "Yeah, well, it sure is amazing, haha. That's why she gets to make the calls about what does or doesn't get built."
"I... guess that makes sense," Soren hummed musingly.
The woman crouching on the ground with her blocks of oak wood grinned up at Jesse, who hastily pressed her arms behind her back again. "Like my build!" she exclaimed.
"It's no easy feat to get all of these oak blocks," Reginald said to the citizen with a nod, Jesse looking back at the man again as he continued speaking, "Your petition was very well-handled."
"What is she even building?" Dan wondered, squinting at the screen.
The citizen smiled shyly. "Aw, gosh, that's nice of you."
Jesse frowned a bit, the spider hybrid relaxing her arms as the woman went back to meticulously working with her oak blocks on her project. "I just don't understand why everyone shouldn't be allowed to build."
Reginald shook his head, giving a soft laugh. "Ha! What a sentiment! I mean, it is a good though, but... that's crazy," he finished weakly.
"Exactly," Isa murmured. Milo scowled a bit.
Jesse looked around the city for a moment, before tilting her head. "I'm kinda curious, what kind of stuff do you do for fun around here?" she wondered.
"Yeah. I mean, considering you can't build or anything," Sparklez said weakly, with a little shrug when the rest of the audience looked in his direction.
"Oh, all sorts of things. Make wishlists of resources, practice low-inventory builds... some people do poetry," Reginald said lightly. "It's a pretty great place to live."
Lukas shrugged. "Actually, the poetry doesn't sound too bad to me."
"Do people read up there?" Petra wondered, turning to glance at Isa. Isa scowled a bit at the redhead.
"Well, of course they can read. We're not idiots-"
"No, no! That's not what she meant!" Jace jumped in, flailing his arms in denial and making Petra grin and pat him on the back. "I mean, I know they can read, but do they read? For fun, she means?"
Isa's scowl cleared up as fast as it had appeared. "Ah. Well, there aren't many books there... but some people do borrow books from me from time to time."
"So, you're the Founder and the librarian?" Gill joked.
Isa arched her eyebrow at him, ignoring the way Milo's scowl had turned into a snicker at those words.
"Fancy duds you're wearing there, Reginald. Is that a uniform?" Jesse asked curiously, after considering exactly what the Sky Citizens considered 'fun', gesturing at the uniform Reginald was wearing.
Reginald gave a small shrug, touching his chin. "I try not to brag about it, but I'm actually the Captain of the Guard... one of the reasons I'm allowed to supervise a build like this one."
Jesse made an interested humming sound, before tilting her head. "Reginald... huh. Can I call you Reggie?"
Olivia shook her head in amusement. "I can't believe you're asking the Captain of the Guard that."
Jesse grinned sheepishly.
"No, I'd- really rather you didn't," Reginald corrected immediately, "It's Reginald."
"Can I call you Reggie?" Isa teased the man next to her. Reginald rolled his eyes with a grin and resisted the urge to elbow the Founder in the ribs.
"Gooootcha," Jesse said quickly, pressing her arms behind her back even more firmly. "So, um, I'm looking for the inn... know where it is?"
Reginald blinked at the question and pointed in the general direction behind her. "Uh, yeah, it's back over thataway. Milo's place."
Stacy grinned sheepishly after a moment. "I was going to ask how you knew his name, but then I realized that this was pretty much the most tight-knit city in the world."
Stampy grinned a bit at that statement.
"Worlds," Otto corrected, laying extra emphasis on the 's' sound.
"Ah, thanks. Welp, don't let me interrupt you guys," Jesse said cheerfully, stepping away from the duo and giving a little wave, "good luck."
"Much obliged," Reginald replied, giving Jesse a friendly grin and seeming to have decided that she was trustworthy.
That said, Jesse left the two behind and trotted away, passing a small pond next to a sort of spacious alleyway that Lukas seemed to be standing next to and chasing off a guy that happened to be standing at the railing and looking around. A curious frown came over her face. "I... don't see any inn in the vicinity."
"You walked past it just now," Reginald said dismissively, gesturing at the screen, "I'm sure if you ask around, they'll point you in that direction."
"-can't believe they just built their way right into town-"
Jesse looked up at that comment to see the nervous guy from the entrance and a woman whispering to each other nearby. Quirking her eyebrow curiously, she trotted in that direction. As she got closer, the conversation got clearer.
"I know, I've never seen anything like it! And two of them had- well, one had six arms! Six!"
"What about the other one?" the woman whispered, sounding curious.
"Busted!" Gill grinned.
"Well, he had ocelot ears and a tail-"
"Uh... hello?" Jesse asked tentatively.
Both the man and the woman jumped around to face her anxiously, the man rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Oh! Oh my! Hello, again!"
"Can we, uh," the woman stuttered sheepishly, "do anything for you?"
"Were... you two talking about my friends and me just now?" Jesse asked slowly, tilting her head to one side curiously and making her red eye glint noticeably in the light.
"Well, I mean, one of them was talking about you having six arms and Lukas having a tail, so..." Em trailed off meaningfully, arching her eyebrow at the spider hybrid.
Real-Jesse made a face at her, to the amusement of the rest of the audience members.
"Umm, no, no, of course not," the nervous guy stuttered, waving his hands furiously.
Onscreen-Jesse gave him a deadpan look. "Mm-hmm..."
The nervous guy maintained a smile, before it dropped into a more frightened look as he near whispered, "Please don't hurt us."
"Awww, but Jesse weally doesn't wook wike she could hurt anyone," Axel said, adopting a baby-voice and squishing Jesse's cheeks together.
She responded with a very mature poking out of the tongue, to which he simply grinned and removed his hands. Lukas patted the black-haired girl on the back sympathetically, grinning slightly.
Onscreen, Jesse just blinked at them, before deciding to change the subject and asking, weakly, "Could you two point me in the direction of the inn...?"
"They must be looking for Milo," Nervous Guy whispered to the woman, who hastily shushed him, and he hastily corrected, "I mean, n-no, we- we don't know any Milo!" He then veeeery subtly glanced over at the alleyway's opening, next to him, before glancing back at Jesse.
"Subtle," Lizzie deadpanned with a shake of her head, although she still appeared highly amused by that.
"Really," Jesse deadpanned herself onscreen, the spider hybrid's eyebrow going up by a few centimeters, "because it sure sounds like you know him..."
The nervous guy looked around a bit, anxiously. "Uhh... okay, okay, we know of him." Dropping his voice to a whisper and leaning forward, still looking about anxiously, "if you really wanna find him-"
"He's the kind of- messy-looking guy," the girl interjected.
"Suspenders always falling down."
"So messy!"
Milo blinked twice, hands automatically going to his suspenders. "That... that's just rude."
Jesse had a very confused sort of smile on her face onscreen. "Thanks... I guess. I'll just... leave you guys alone, then. Have a nice day." She turned away and started walking away.
"Please stop building, it scares me!"
The girl paused and looked over her left shoulder, red eye glinting in the light as she twisted to look at him. "What?"
"Nothing!" the man exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air and hastily turning back to the woman. Jesse blinked again and trotted away, looking confused. Nervous Guy whispered to the woman, glancing nervously at the spider hybrid, "We could have died just then!"
"Oh, hush!" the woman hissed back.
Jesse backtracked to the alleyway and trotted inside. The camera switched to show the interior of the alleyway. Inside, MILO was leaning against a wall, talking to another Sky Citizen.
Milo looked his onscreen self up and down in astonishment. "That is... amazing," he breathed, fascinated by the image on the screen.
Onscreen-Jesse blinked at Milo, nodding absently as she noticed the loose suspender, before giving a small nod. "All signs point to that being the innkeeper. Especially that one," she murmured in faint amusement, looking at the sign above Milo's head that read 'MILO'S INN'.
Nell snorted into her elbow.
Onscreen-Jesse gave a small, thoughtful nod, before walking towards Milo.
A/N: And we meet Milo onscreen...
Next chapter. xD Also (I'm sorry, I have to say it...)...
Deals, deals, deals. That's it. Theory confirmed- Hadrian is secretly Bill Cipher in disguise.
RQTC: What is your favorite ship in MCSM? (Not voting, just curious.)
It's a tie between Lukesse, Jaiden (DON'T. JUDGE.), and Harvor.
And if you don't have a favorite ship, then what is your LEAST favorite? (It can be the one that makes the least sense, or one that you just think is simply terrible.)
(scratches head) Honestly, I don't have one...
Emily The Avenger: Yee! And here's another one :3 / Hehehe xD / Yep! / Agreed.
the indecisive bird: Ahh xD / Yep. Say hi to the peeps, Jace. x3
Darkbeast Dend: I'd rather be a spider hybrid.
NinaNaranja: I know, right? / (grins sheepishly) I mean, technically she just 'detained' them. / Yee!
homeworkoverload: Yeah, she's a tough cookie :3 / Nope, but I'll have a look :3
LunarStarsMoons: Puns are great :3 / Hehe xD / Ooooooooh xD / Okey :3 / I know, right?! And... probably! This is the most reviews I've ever had... period!
AquaK13: 'Lava Lord'- PFFFFF hahaha xD / A lot of things are different from original Hybrid xD / Yeah, same here :/
RapidSammi: :3 / Yep! / Yep xD I loved writing the Lukesse fluff, the Jesse sibling fluff, and the narrator. I just like writing this entire story, honestly xD / Yes, I think so xD
Beli0304: (grins and pumps fist) / Yes, at last! / Same here xD / Yeah :3 / Thank you!
LittleAngelbun: Okey dokey :3 / I'd take my laptop, my sketchbook, my notebook, my pencil case full of pencils and erasers, and my phone with the headphones plugged in. (Cheating a bit on the last two items, but I don't care x3) Although, tbh, I'd be tempted to take the Command Block so I could just teleport right back off the island, but I feel like that'd just be cheating xD
RWBYSTRQ: Didn't we vote on this a few chapters back? xD
McGinley: Uh, cool :3
J.M.M.: Never played Bioshock Infinite, but I'll take your word for it :3
Guest: No. Despite having extra mob-like appendages, the gang still are definitely humanoid figures. Only when they're in 'full mob mode', as I call it, do they look more like mobs than humans. Therefore, while there may be some apprehension about the mob-like features, they cannot be mistaken for actual mobs.
Bella Katniss Everdeen: Um... okay. / ... you already said that...? / (hums and looks at the ceiling) / Hi / Cool, me too :3
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Yeah xD / Of course I don't mind. As long as Jace isn't a wolf hybrid, we're good xD / Well, IRL they're not. xD / (evil grin) What do you think?
Rabbits rule: No, I write fast xD / Thank you! / Nope. xD / Wow... what?
x.X. A.L. X.x
