The screen faded back into a bunch of stone walls, a bed in the corner with two torches on the walls. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the camera panned down to show Jesse staring up at the ceiling with a look of trepidation. Reginald's humming could be heard faintly in the background.
Jesse turned her head to look through the bars, Ivor and Lukas able to be seen in the background. The ocelot hybrid was dragging his claws along a bed post, making an annoying grinding, scraping sound that ceased when Ivor shot him a look.
The camera switched to show Reginald's back as he went through a chest, humming quietly. He looked back at the group in the cell. "You guys have some really fascinating stuff here," he muttered, going back to the chest a few seconds later.
"Did you seriously confiscate their stuff?" Dan asked, looking over at Reginald with a raised eyebrow.
The Captain of the Guard shrugged at the looks he was now receiving from several members of the audience. "Wouldn't be much of a jail otherwise."
Onscreen, Jesse just shot the Captain of the Guard a deadpan look through the bars. After a moment, Reginald stopped humming, turning around to see the three of them regarding him. "I'm just doi- what? Come on, I'm just doing my job here. You're criminals. I catch criminals," he defended himself, turning back to the chest with a huff.
The spider hybrid rolled her eyes and turned back to look inside the cell, her lower arms all fidgeting quietly.
"Oh, wow... what is this?" The screen switched to show Reginald holding a block of sand, standing up with a bemused look on his face.
Hadrian snorted. "You've never seen sand before?" he asked Reginald.
Real-Reginald's cheeks colored both in frustration and embarrassment, but he decided not to say anything.
Lukas looked up from where he was curled up on the floor, getting to his feet with his own bemused look. "That's... mine?" he said, sounding as if he was asking a question.
"What were you even doing with sand in the first place?" Petra wondered, looking at the blonde with his arm around Jesse.
Lukas rubbed the back of his head, giving the redhead a sheepish smile. "I, uh... I may or may not have just been keeping it in my inventory just in case. I tend to do that."
"Oh, so you're a bag lady."
For once, the pillow that was chucked at Gill's head was not due to him joking that Jesse and Lukas were a thing.
Reginald approached the cell slowly, staring at the sand block in bemusement. "It's almost like dirt... but not." He tilted the block from side to side, regarding it carefully.
Jesse climbed to her feet, staring at Reginald in bewilderment and making the Captain of the Guard look up at her. "That's called sand... you've never seen sand before?" she asked, slowly.
Reginald looked back at the sand block. "'Sand.' Wow. What's it do?" he asked, sounding interested.
Jesse tilted her head to one side, as if trying to figure out how exactly she was supposed to explain the concept of 'sand' to someone who'd never heard of sand before. "Ah... well-"
"Are you kidding me?" Ivor interrupted, sounding highly irritated, "we are not going to explain sand to the guy locking us behind bars! I refuse!"
Real-Jesse looked at Ivor, arching her eyebrow a bit in amusement. Ivor shrugged in return, a lopsided smile sneaking its way across his face.
Onscreen-Jesse put all six of her hands in the air in surrender, giving Reginald a slightly apologetic but slightly amused look. Reginald had looked a bit startled by the outburst, but he quickly re-composed himself and said, "Well, whatever it does, it's going in the chest with everything else." And he walked back towards the chest, presumably putting the sand back inside.
"Feh," Ivor scoffed. "Nothing sadder than an unimportant man on the world's tiniest power trip."
"Hey!" Real-Reginald exclaimed, sounding extremely offended by that comment.
Onscreen, Lukas grinned at that in amusement, ears perking up a bit, while Jesse's eyes widened and she shook her head in warning about half a second too late.
Reginald slammed the chest shut, finally having come to his last tether. "Hey, I don't have to take this!" he snapped, stalking towards the cell, Jesse looking rather startled but standing her ground. Real-Jesse blinked a bit in surprise as well; the Captain of the Guard had seemed as if he had a pretty good handle on his temper up until that point. "I'm in charge here. You're criminals. Aiden told everyone about how horrible you are."
"And you believed him?" Stacy asked drily.
Stampy repressed a snort at that.
"He said that you burn down trees, just for fun," Reginald snapped, pacing away. Onscreen-Jesse's eyes widened a bit, and they widened even more when Reginald continued, "That you use your mob abilities to torture people who get in your way."
Real-Jesse flinched violently, hand straying to her back. Torture struck a little too close to home for her. Lukas's arm tightened protectively around the petite girl sitting next to him.
Onscreen, Jesse frowned at that, looking away awkwardly. Reginald added, "That you steal all the world's treasures and hoard them for yourself."
"The first two don't even have any basis in fact," Sparklez complained. "This one's just taking one thing and blowing it way out of proportion."
"He also said that you tame wild animals, just so you can make them chase innocent people," Reginald tacked on, glaring at nothing in particular.
Real-Aiden winced.
"Well, if he really wanted to make you hate us," Ivor snapped sarcastically, "he would've told you that I spawned a-"
Lukas literally slapped his hand over Ivor's mouth, making Ivor flinch a bit in surprise and giving a high-pitched, nervous laugh as he (to the audience's immense relief) cut off the fact that Ivor was about to say that he'd spawned a 'giant, three-headed monster that nearly destroyed the whole world'. Or, well, something along those lines. "Whoa!" he chuckled, "he wouldn't have said anything. Hahaha... (shut up, Ivor.) Ahaha..."
Harper couldn't help it anymore and let out a snort. "Very smooth there, blonde guy."
"Why is everyone calling me blonde guy?" Lukas complained.
Real-Jesse hid the smile ticking over her face.
Onscreen, Jesse moved to stand next to where Reginald was standing in front of the bars, glaring in a different direction. "Does this look like the face of a horrible criminal?" she asked meekly.
Reginald turned to look at Jesse at that. The screen switched to show the spider hybrid simply giving the Captain of the Guard a plaintive look. There was a long pause, before Reginald mumbled, "Well... no... I suppose you don't seem that way now that I meet you..."
The spider hybrid smiled a bit, perking up a bit and looking much relieved about this fact.
Reginald's mouth settled into a thin line, and he looked away from her awkwardly, before sighing and turning back to face her. "I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go help the Blaze Rods beef up security," he said, adopting a sterner tone at the end and turning to his right, walking away briskly. Jesse began to dash after him, breaking into a light jog to catch up with Reginald before he left the area. His muttering became clearer as she neared him. "Can't believe I'm taking orders from that sniveling little-"
Real-Aiden winced. It was pretty clear that Reginald meant him.
Reginald sensed onscreen-Jesse's approach, and stopped to turn and give her a halfhearted glare. "Ahem. Stay here, and don't cause any trouble," he instructed them.
"What trouble can they cause in jail?" Dan pointed out.
Isa huffed but didn't actually answer the question.
"I'm sure you'll be very comfortable," Reginald finished, beginning to walk away again.
"Reginald," Jesse said urgently, Lukas and Ivor approaching in the background, "you're the Captain of the Guard. If your instincts are telling you not to trust Aiden, then you should trust those instincts."
"Jesse's right," Isa spoke up, making most of the audience look at her. "Reginald, I chose you as the Captain of the Guard for a reason. If you ever feel like something's wrong, you should never feel afraid or concerned about telling me about that feeling."
Reginald blinked, a ridiculously pleased look coming across his face at that.
"They're personal guests of the Founder," Reginald said gruffly. "And... sure, maybe I don't like Ai- them," he hastily amended, "but I'm... probably just being... paranoid."
"Why do you think Aiden's sucking up to the Founder so much?" Jesse asked, frowning a bit at the thought of Aiden.
Ivor let out an irritated sigh. "They want to get her guard down and then steal the Eversource," he stated flatly, making Reginald look at the man in slight alarm, before looking at Jesse as if to confirm that.
"Did you really have to say it like that?" Ellegaard asked the potionologist, trying to hide her mixed amusement and exasperation.
"I'm just telling the truth..."
Onscreen, Jesse nodded once, green-and-red eyes gleaming, deadly serious.
Reginald's expression turned worried, and he looked away. "That... aw, geez. You might have something there, I dunno. Hm..." He made a soft grunting sound in frustration, before looking back up at the group. "Okay, let's say you make a good point. And I'm not saying you do," he added hastily.
"'Course not," Em drawled sarcastically.
"But hypothetically... why would I, the Captain of the Guard, let you, a criminal, out of that cell?" Reginald finished, staring at Jesse expectantly.
"I'll never know how you looked at them and thought, 'there are some upstanding citizens'!" Ivor mumbled sarcastically in the background.
Several members of the audience may or may not have begun giggling at that comment. Even Maya and Gill were now grinning broadly at the comment. They may or may not have been choosing to ignore that the comment was partially directed at them.
Jesse shot him a look that made him subside, before turning to Reginald. "Technically, because the Founder only said we were being detained, not arrested," she pointed out, making Lukas grin a bit in the background and several members of the audience start tittering. "But more importantly... because you know it's the right thing to do."
Reginald frowned at the floor thoughtfully, deep in thought.
The audience held their breath expectantly.
"Well, you do make a compelling argument..." Reginald muttered after a few moments, still deep in thought. A moment later, he looked in the direction he'd been heading, an anxious look coming over his face, before he turned back to the group in the cell. "Hm. Hm hm hm." And he walked off to his left.
Blinking, Jesse, Lukas and Ivor rushed over to where Reginald was going.
The Captain of the Guard came next to a stop next to the lever, giving the area around the cell a look-around as they drew level with him again. "Okay. Let's say I'm heading to the pantry to get you prisoners some bread." And he gave her a conspirational grin.
Real-Jesse's eyes lit up in relief. Lukas gave her a comforting pat on the back, barely able to conceal his own growing grin. Reginald gave Isa a sheepish grin. The Founder shook her head a bit, waving her hand a bit noncommittally to show that she had no problem with this.
Onscreen, Jesse's shoulder sagged a bit in relief as well, but she still hummed casually, "Oh, I see. How long would you say something like that would take you? On average?"
Reginald put his hands on his hips. "Probably as long as it would take for someone to get from here into the throne room..." he replied. He gave the area around them another look-around, before reaching out and flipping the lever up. The door swung open with a clang, and Reginald spoke quickly, "Please just get out of here. Get to the throne room and stop Ai- the Blaze Rods," he amended again.
Real-Aiden was starting to feel as if someone had grabbed his insides and was twisting them violently.
Almost before Reginald had finished his statement, he walked off to his left, leaving the area.
The spider hybrid stared at the open door in shock, before carefully stepping out, watching Reginald leave. The moment she was in the clear, she dashed over to the chest, Ivor doing a strange little march-dance out of the cell.
Magnus snorted, Gabriel biting his lip to stifle his giggles and Soren developing some amusement at something on the ceiling. Ellegaard rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the grin twitching at the corner of her lips.
"Ha! Nice work. Now, on to the Eversource!" Ivor said cheerfully.
Isa's amused smile fell.
Onscreen, Jesse opened the chest that Reginald had been putting stuff in and rifled through it, eyes scanning the contents. The screen switched to show Lukas drawing level with Ivor and Jesse, frowning. "I mean, I understand wanting to stop the Blaze Rods," he mumbled, "but, uh..."
There was a loud shing! as Jesse withdrew her enchanted diamond sword from the chest, looking relieved at the sight of it. Lukas continued, rather hesitantly. "You can't still really want to take the Eversource, can you?"
Jesse nodded, sheathing her sword as she turned to face the two men. "I'm... actually starting to have my doubts about taking the Eversource as well," she spoke tentatively, glancing at Ivor nervously, "these people seem to really depend on it."
Isa blinked in surprise at Jesse and Lukas, before exchanging a look with Reginald to see the same surprised look on his face.
Ivor sighed, his face falling as he saw the logic in that. He thought about it for a few seconds. "Yes, but... would you rather just hand it over to Aiden and the Blaze Rods?" he pointed out, frowning heavily.
"He's got a point there," Stampy agreed.
"Thank you... uh... SturdyCat," Ivor told him.
"StampyCat!"
"It would be one thing if we were plundering a temple," Lukas shot back quietly, his ears and tail flicking in agitation, "but this... This is starting to feel like stealing."
"Maybe we can find the Founder and warn her?" Jesse suggested, frowning thoughtfully at the other two.
Ivor thought the plan through, murmuring to himself and nodding. "Perhaps. It's not a bad plan." There was a long pause. "I mean, there are some extremely large flaws in the plan, but it's not a bad plan."
Lukas made a huffing sound that sounded like he was irritated, but then the audience saw a flash of teeth and realized he was smiling.
Jesse stuck her tongue out at her mentor, to his apparent amusement, and turned back to the chest. There was the clink and swish of bottles as one bottle, then another one and then another one flew through the air, landing in Ivor's arms. The potionologist very nearly fumbled all three of them and dropped them, Lukas grinning before diverting his attention to catch his iron sword and then his sand block with the free hand.
Jesse shut the chest quietly and dropped to all eights, beginning to scramble across the floor and up onto a wall. "Throne room was back this way," she told them in a hushed voice, the three members of the Order rounding the corner and disappearing from sight.
The screen blacked out.
"Can they even get to the throne room without bumping into a bunch of guards?" Dan suddenly wondered.
"If the Blaze Rods are going to be beefing up security, it's probably going to be outside the palace, not inside. So hopefully the hallways aren't being patrolled too closely," Harper mused, before shooting Isa a sheepish look. "Um, sorry about that."
"No, no, I- I must admit, I'm also hoping they don't run into any guards," Isa admitted, feeling a faint pink tint come over her cheeks.
A/N: Tfw you get new ideas and want to work on all of them... (sighs) Welp, looks like Imma have 28 ongoing projects after HCM is finished.
Also, the teaser for the comic (PHANTASMAGORIA) has nothing to do with the song or the horror game. It's a completely original thing.
RQTC: Who's ready for Chapter 100? x3
RWBYSTRQ: (grins) Ahaha, sorry. It would've been much the same as the way Jesse got them to help, except, you know, minus Jesse, so yeah xD / Thanks!
the indecisive bird: (squints at you) ... what's your dA username? / Alright, I'll have a look sometime xD / It does to a point... x3 I... think xD / Yeah, exactly!
LunarStarsMoons: x3 / I'm glad you spotted it xD / (nods)
pensuka: Yep xD
NinaNaranja: (laughs) Typos suck / Yay! :3 / Yeah, it's a little weird. Comparable to Narcissus falling in love with his darn reflection xD I mean, c'mon, man.
homeworkoverload: Yeah, I was just checking to make sure there wasn't another comic with that name xD / (winks) / Jessvor... well, if Ivor was a teenager, I could see it working, but yeah, he's not, so... xD
Emily The Avenger: (laughs) Thanks!
Darkbeast Dend: I'd rather have a katana.
RapidSammi: Right?! / Eeeee :3
Slayer88: Wait- wtf? That's a ship?
sailor . mikuchan: I can honestly see M!Jesse and Olivia happening, but Axel and Lukas... eh.
AquaK13: Heeheehee xD / Ahhh, yep xD
Rabbits rule: (laughs) / Cassie and Winslow is just bestiality. And Jesse x Jesse just doesn't even make sense xD / Awww, I'm sorry xD
Guest: Ouch xD
J.M.M.: Happy (late) birthday! / (laughs) I can start almost fifteen stories at once and keep up with all of them. You wanna bet? xD
CrystalTearsofFaith: (laughs) I'll advertise it, if you want. / It's more like narcissism, but yeah xD
Guest: Thank you! / It's not a story, it's a comic xD
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Oh god yeah, that's just bestiality xD / Yeah xD
x.X. A.L. X.x
