The spider hybrid approached the pair, the other man pulling out a bundle of sticks as she walked towards them. "And where should I put them?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Milo casually climbed off of the couch and began to walk to the other side of the room, passing the cluster of people on the floor as he did so and ignoring the way the entire audience was starting to give him odd looks. His heart had just kicked into double-time, and he was starting to feel like he was a cornered mouse.

Onscreen-Milo glanced about him nervously, reaching out and taking the sticks with an anxious look on his face upon spotting the spider hybrid. "Yes, yes, just give them here- I'll deal with them."

Isa's eyes widened as she regarded the screen. "Where- I don't remember authorizing any sticks..."

"He's a criminal!" Reginald shouted, leaping to his feet and making Benedict squawk in fright as he drew his sword. "An illegal dealer!"

Milo let out a very un-casual squeak at the sight of the Captain of the Guard storming towards him and cleverly escaped by toppling onto his butt. As Reginald kept approaching, he scrambled back to his feet, backing away from Reginald rapidly with eyes flickering everywhere for help, but most of the rest of the audience seemed to be just as shocked by this sudden display of violence as he was.

"Whoa!" Jesse wiggled out from under Lukas's arm and quickly jumped in front of Milo, the blonde male still towering a full head above her from where he was standing behind her, but effectively blocking Reginald's path, as he hesitated to whack the tiny girl with his sword.

Milo breathed a soft sigh of relief.

"Whoa, whoa!" Jesse finished, flailing her arms in a sort of 'please, please, please stop' motion at him. "We don't know that for sure, do we?"

"The Founder said she didn't authorize any sticks!" Reginald growled, shooting Milo a scathing glare (the blonde innkeeper shrank down even more than before), "and they were obviously trying not to be seen or heard."

"Well, there's not anything we can do about it right now," Lukas agreed, standing up and moving to stand in front of Milo next to Jesse protectively, "it's not like there's a jail you can lock him up in or anything."

Milo pointed at the duo and nodded frantically. "Yes! Precisely!" he exclaimed, hands trembling with fear.

Reginald hesitated, before huffing and returning to his seat, sheathing his sword again. "Fine. But this isn't over." He punctuated the statement with another pointed glare in Milo's direction.

"Yes yes yes," Milo agreed nervously in a single breath, returning to his own seat and positioning himself as far away from the two now-glaring Sky Citizens. (Well, as far as you can get while you're still sitting on the same couch with them.) Upon seeing that the conflict was averted (for now, at least), Lukas and Jesse sat back down too.

Nell leaned closer to Em and lowered her voice so no one could hear what she was saying. "Those two are, like, becoming my OTP," she whispered to Em, who was barely able to repress an extremely loud snort at the comment.

Milo began to shoo the other man away onscreen as Jesse approached. "Get out of here. Go, go!" he hissed in a panic. The other man followed his advice and ran off.

Isa's scowl deepened, eyes hardening angrily. How dare he do something so reckless.

Onscreen, Milo moved back to lean against the wall, giving the spider hybrid an anxious smile as his eyes flickered over her extra arms. "Why, hello there. What can I do for you?" he asked the girl after a few tense moments.

Jesse just arched her eyebrow a bit. Milo gave a nervous chuckle and continued, "I'm not sure what the custom is where you come from, but here, heh, it is considered impolite to stare."

"Yeah, Jesse," Olivia teased the girl, "where are your manners?"

Jesse smirked a bit. "I think the guy with the sticks took 'em with him."

This prompted a round of snorts from the audience. Even Isa's lips twitched unwillingly.

It was kind of hard to be angry at anyone for too long while Jesse was in the room- you'd either want to bake her a huge tray of cookies, hug her, and tell her you were sorry about her crappy life... or you were just trying your damndest not to laugh at the petite girl on the floor.

"Especially when people are doing boring things not worth staring at," Milo continued, "like simply minding their own business next to a wall."

"Smooth," Stacy deadpanned.

Jesse blinked a few times before deciding the incident just before was none of her business and meekly asking, "Um, hi. Sorry to bother you... you're Milo, right?"

Milo paused, before stepping forward a bit and rubbing the back of his head. "Yes... yes, that's me. A pleasure to meet you. Don't see many new arrivals here in Sky City." He paused, before adding, in a quieter voice, "Er, incidentally, why do you have four extra arms?"

Jesse blinked again, looking down at herself. She seemed to have almost forgotten about the matter. "... ah." A brief, rather awkward pause. "I was experimented on as a child. I just have four extra arms. Don't worry about it."

"That sounds a little like something I would worry about," Jace told the black-haired girl next to him.

She grinned at him in amusement.

"Ah. I see." Milo shot Jesse a supremely awkward grin, another brief pause reigning. "Well, er, how can I help you, friend?" His voice had become slightly more relaxed, but the way his shoulders were still tensed and the way his blue eyes flicked to Jesse's extra arms every few seconds betrayed his fear.

Real-Jesse blinked twice. "We're friends?"

Lukas stifled a sound that seemed to be a mix of a cough, a sneeze, and a gag. He struggled to keep it back and ended up very nearly choking in the process. Jesse patted him on the back, smothering the amused grin spreading over her face.

Onscreen, Jesse just regarded Milo for a moment. The blonde innkeeper swallowed nervously and continued, in a slightly shaky voice, "I'm busy, but I can spare a few moments for a friendly stranger. But, ahem, not too many moments, haha..."

This prompted a small round of laughter from the audience.

Onscreen, a faint smile played over Jesse's lips as her eyebrow went up. Milo faintly returned it, looking torn between rushing off or helping out the red-and-green eyed spider hybrid. "What did you need...?"

Jesse waited a moment longer, before the smile fell and a rather anxious look came over her face. "I heard you talked to the Blaze Rods earlier... what did they want?" she asked the blonde innkeeper.

Milo's eyes narrowed, and he started walking in a little circle while tapping his chin. "Hm... hmm... 'Blaze Rods'? Hm..." He came to a stop after a moment, before rubbing his head and shaking it at the same time (it seemed a little hard to do, but he managed it). "I... I don't know any Blaze Rods. You must have been misled."

"Seriously?" Axel grumbled at the screen a bit in frustration. "Is he trying to protect them or something?"

"He might not actually know the Blaze Rods' team name. We didn't know it until we confronted them about it," Olivia pointed out.

"True."

"I'm sorry, but it's like I told those other outsiders-" The spider hybrid's head snapped up immediately when she heard that, "I can't help you. Now please-" Milo moved to enter the inn, when a blonde head appeared over Jesse's shoulder from behind.

"Hey, this our guy?" Petra asked, casually.

A faint smile twitched over Jesse's face as she turned around to face her friends, Ivor, Petra, and Lukas all approaching. Ivor's brow raised as he arrived, behind the other two hybrids. "He tell you where to find the Blaze Rods?"

"How many of you are there?!" Milo snapped, looking both worried and irritated, "I told you, I don't know anything!"

"He hasn't told you anything yet?" Ivor asked, his brow going even higher.

Petra scowled at Milo a bit, gold eyes beginning to spark as she put her hands on her hips. (Milo stepped back a bit upon spotting that.) "Is he hiding them somewhere?"

"I am uncomfortable with this line of questioning!"

Ellegaard hummed. "Everyone sounds so formal up there."

Magnus made an annoyed 'blegh' sound, making Ellegaard, Reginald, Milo, and Isa all shoot him a glare.

Jesse reached out, looking as if she was going to put her hand on his shoulder, before it stalled. A moment later, she drew her hand back and put all six of them up in the air in a surrendering motion. "Come on. You can trust me," she said sincerely, one of her arms reaching down and crossing her heart before covering her eye, "Nothing bad will happen to you. Please just help us?" And she gave him a pleading smile.

"Awwww," Facemeat said teasingly.

"I think Jesse could convince a polar bear to become a vegetarian if she just talked to it," Sparklez joked, grinning at the black-haired girl on the floor jokingly.

"I like polar bears," was Jesse's mild reply.

Milo paused, before letting out an irritated huff. "Fine! If it will make you leave me alone..." the blonde innkeeper let out a sigh. "That 'Aiden' fellow did come talk to me earlier. Wanted to know where the Eversource was."

"Called it!" Ivor called, raising his hand like a student. Lukas, who was next to him, winced a bit as Ivor nearly shouted into his ear, the ocelot-hybrid's ears flattening against his skull.

"Yes," Gabriel agreed, looking rather amused, "we know, Ivor."

Several members of the audience repressed a rather loud snort at that.

Milo shrugged. "I just told him what everyone else already knows: the Eversource is in the palace with the Founder. That's all that happened, I swear," he said, emphasizing the last word.

Petra growled a bit, eyes sparking even more. Lukas just blinked at the Blaze hybrid as sparks began to spit off of her and hover in the air. "What a bunch of creeps," she nearly snarled.

"Yes, I wasn't terribly fond of them," Milo agreed after a moment, his tone sounding a little softer.

Jesse's upper arms reached up to scratch her head, but her arms crossed over her torso thoughtfully. "So... where is Aiden now?" she wondered quietly, looking as if she was partially asking herself.

Milo shrugged slightly. "The group left for the palace, and I haven't seen them since."

Maya and Gill exchanged looks. They were having some pretty bad feelings about that...

Reginald's voice suddenly rang out onscreen, making some members of the group jump a bit. "Attention! Attention, everyone! Just a moment of your time, please! Emergency meeting, attendance is mandatory!"

"And everyone's vocabulary is huge. I don't think I learned the word 'mandatory' until I was 12," Gabriel murmured.

"Ya sure? I would've thought it was 22," Magnus teased, grinning wickedly at the warrior.

Gabriel smacked him.

"Aaaaaand there it is," Em deadpanned at the screen, ignoring the playful byplay between the two Order of the Stone members. Sparklez frowned a bit.

"You have to wonder what they did to cause an emergency meeting..."

Milo growled a bit in frustration. "Oh... slime blocks!" and he reluctantly joined the crowd. Petra, Ivor, Lukas, and Jesse watched him go with bemused expressions.

"Curious..." Ivor stated, "I wonder what that's all about." And the hybrids (and Ivor) trotted after the blonde innkeeper out of the alleyway, standing behind most of the other citizens in front of the palace as guards descended the staircase.

"Oh!" gasped Nervous Guy's friend, "it's the Founder!"

And sure enough, ISA appeared onscreen, looking around over the crowd with a grim face.

The screen switched back to Jesse, who was watching the screen with interest, before her eyes widened in shock.

It switched back to show the Blaze Rods coming up behind her, Aiden standing next to the Founder with the two of them sending a smile at the other.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Isa murmured, brows descending into a scowl. Cassie glanced at Aiden, who was blinking at the screen in stunned surprise, with Maya and Gill exchanging startled looks.

"I wonder what this is all about," Petra said to Lukas and Ivor, apparently having not spotted the Blaze Rods yet.

"Yes... I'm nervous about being surrounded by so many people," Ivor said, dark blue eyes flicking around at the crowd of people partially surrounding them and standing in front of them, Jesse still staring at the palace's doorway in surprise.

"You'll be fine, Ivor."

Magnus snorted at that, subsiding when Ellegaard sent him a look.

"Hey, guys?" Jesse finally spoke onscreen in a sort of strangled voice, making the rest of the group look at her, "I think I found the Blaze Rods."

"Oh no," Petra muttered as the screen switched to show Aiden saying something to Isa, but the group was too far away to hear what.

"What are they doing...?" Lukas wondered in a hushed voice.

"I think we're about to find out," Real-Jesse said quietly. Several members of the audience glanced at the girl, but she was staring at the screen intently, green eyes reflecting the light emitting from the screen.

Silently, they all turned back to face the screen again.


A/N: I cannot tell you how tempted I was to put 'Nervous Guy's lady friend' in there xD I eventually decided against it because she's the only person we talk to with Nervous Guy, so it would've just been a little redundant.

Ehh, a bit shorter than usual. Sorry x3 I just had to end it on that sort of note.

RQTC: How are you with the horror genre?

Except for Tattletail, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and the infamous FNaF, I can't handle it. At all. I will literally stay awake hours into the night because my overactive imagination decides to be a b*tch. (Especially creepypasta. Don't ever ask me to read creepypasta. Ever. I made one OC, but that was 'cause the idea popped into my head and wouldn't let me freaking sleep until I wrote it out.)

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Hehehe xD / Ah, I see. / Yep xD

LegoGirl794: Nice :3

Beli0304: Yay :3 / Maybe not, but he does get confronted xD / (grins)

sailor . mikuchan: Cool :3 / Ahh. Yeah, it's not a great ship.

Guest: Cool :3 / What's wrong with your friend telling you to grow out your hair...? Sorry if that's insensitive, I'm just not sure.

LunarStarsMoons: Yep~ And Isa, too~ / Hehe xD / Jesslivia I like, Pexel is... eh (no offense), Lukesse's fine (duh xD), Harpvor's great, and Magnugaard isn't terrible either. / Yeah, Luktra's pretty good. /Pffftttt hahaha

RapidSammi: Lol yep xD / (hums) Luktra makes sense, but it's a bit awkward since I'm a huge Lukesse shipper. (Also Jetra. Don't ask me how I can have two favorites with one of them being the same person. It's not as weird as having Lukas, Jesse, and Petra in a threesome.) / Aiden and Petra seems weird to me as well. / No they won't xD / (blinks at my buddy)

NinaNaranja: (laughs) / (grins) Well, I'm glad to have you as one of the viewers! / (laughs) / Lol, so do I. / Unless you have perfect grammar or something in Chinese, Imma be a huge grammar nerd. xD I'm Chinese.

LittleAngelbun: (grins) / PFFFFFF hahaha how did you forget Milo's name? ... honestly, it's probably a bit concerning that I know almost every character's name by heart.

Emily The Avenger: Yeah, Aidassie's cute x3

CrystalTearsofFaith: Exactly! Hence why I ship it xD / Lukesse for da win xD / So I guess Hadrevia's a little awkward too, then xD

the indecisive bird: Oh xD I confuse Aidesse with Aidassie sometimes when I'm speaking quickly, so I just call it Jaiden to be easier. xD / Nice :3 / Right? I love Lukesse but at the same time... / Thank you!

Darkbeast Dend: Why don't you like Dancat exactly? / I'd rather be an ocelot hybrid. Cats are great.

RavenBlaze4850: Hehehehe OMG xD That sounds so awesome. ... I'm not going to write it, though xD / (hums) Cool! / Yeah, hence why I don't really have a least favorite.

Guest: (points at Chapters 6, 9, 28, and 35's A/N)

J.M.M.: ... oh! Yeah, cool :3

RebekahTPE: (laughs) / Nice :3 / Uhh... I don't honestly read crackfics, so I don't know any crackships... Ooh, but there is Sensei Wu and tea, from Ninjago... does that count as a crackship?

SofiaTheWriter88: Hehehe xD / Thank you! / (grins) Yeah, those are great ships.

Bella Katniss Everdeen: No, sorry... I'm already flooded with other stories I have to work on after I finish this...

Guest: Happy (late) birthday! / No xD / (hums) I see. / Night!

Rabbits rule: Why Reubenedict? (Besides the fact that it's a chicken and a pig shipped together...) If it were humanized, I wouldn't mind. / The second one's just bestiality. / I have no idea how they got that ship or who made it up, but someone did xD / That one doesn't even make SENSE.

Darkbeast Dend: Well, this is probably a bit late, but... good luck xD

x.X. A.L. X.x