Jesse's room was nice.

It wasn't a super fancy room or anything, but there was a pink carpet, a bed with pink blankets, a bookshelf with some books on them, and a couple portraits hanging on the walls. Reuben seemed to be happy with the pink, and Jesse was just happy to see that there weren't any particularly weird things in the room. (There WAS a chest with random items in it, but none of the items seemed to be particularly dangerous.)

Jesse was also already starting to see why you needed the wristband's map function. To reach the rooms from the room they'd been in earlier, you had to ascend a set of stairs into a large hallway.

(As a side note, the hallway was very pretty. The rooms in the hallway were separated by glass, the floor appeared to be made out of quartz, and the ceiling was made of wood with glowstone lamps keeping the hallway well lit. There was a bathroom with flowers on the roof, a dining hall, and a kitchen that was very well-stocked, as far as Jesse had noticed.)

Once reaching the hallway, you had to walk to the main entrance, which was at the other end of the hall, before turning into a smaller room with several pressure plates on them. Then you had to step on the pressure plates, which then... teleported you, or whatever, to a small sort of atrium with hallways lined with various colors. Locating the gold hallway was easy, and then you had to walk down the hallway and find your assigned room.

Jesse's was at the very end of the hall, right next to Ivor's and right across from Stella's and on the left side.

(Jesse had forced herself to memorize this location because, knowing herself, she would instantly forget where it was even if she had to walk down the exact same hallway twelve times in a row.)

There was also another pressure plate in the teleportation area labelled 'Amenities', but Jesse was way too tired to check that out right now. She wasn't really in any particular mood to do it, either.

Her wristband buzzed, startling her out of her slight stupor. She'd been honestly considering just going to sleep at this point until the next day. Glancing down at the glint of gold on her wrist with the black band through it, words flickered over the surface- apparently it was a communication from Petra.

Huh. She and Petra hadn't ever been particularly close before, but whatever- she tapped the wristband to 'answer' the 'call'. Immediately, Petra's voice appeared in her right ear, sounding as normal as if Petra was just standing at her right and talking.

"- this thing working? I don't know how this thing..." Some weird scratching sounds that sounded like the microphone on Petra's was being adjusted. "Hey, Jesse? Are you there?"

"Hi Petra. Yeah, it's me. I'm here." Jesse waved, before realizing nobody was in the room and the only other 'person' in the room was Reuben. "What's up?"

Petra's relief could be heard in her voice. "Hoooh boy. I was hoping I got the right person. I accidentally called Olivia the first time." Her tone shifted to a slightly more business-like one. "So, how are your teammates so far?"

Jesse hummed, lips turning up in a slight pout. "Mm, I haven't actually talked to them, maybe except for Aiden. I guess they all seem okay."

A knock sounded on the door all of a sudden. Or, well, it was more like a tap of the knuckles on the door. "Sorry, Petra, someone's at the door, I'll talk to you later."

Petra's tone had turned rather teasing. Jesse could practically see the grin on her face. "Wow, you're popular. Sure, if I can figure out how to use this thing properly."

Jesse gave a bright laugh. "Okay, see ya later- yes, hi, who is it?" Jesse called, twisting around to face the door as she hung up the call. Crouching on her bed and facing the wall, while it did help her feel more drowsy, didn't help if she was trying to talk to someone.

"Oh, I, er, you're in there?"

That was Harper's voice.

"Mmhm." Jesse quickly swung her legs off of the bed, jogged over to the door, and pulled it open quickly. Harper was standing in the doorway, hand hovering in the air as if she was about to knock. Quickly, Harper lowered her arm back to her side, a flush spreading over her cheeks in slight embarrassment. It was hard to see against her cheeks, but she definitely looked rather embarrassed.

"Er, sorry. We were about to have a meeting about figuring out a strategy for winning the game, so, I thought I'd come and let you know."

Jesse gave a pleasant smile. "Ah, okay. Thanks for that!" She stepped out of her room, waited for Reuben to pop out of the room as well, and let the door slide shut behind her. "Where are we having the meeting?" She decided the best thing to do would just to be nice to Harper. No need to embarrass her or anything.

Harper jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "We decided to have it in Stella's room, since her llama is sleeping and she didn't want to leave it behind."

"Understandable."

"Yes, ah..."

Harper would probably have said more, but the door across the hallway promptly slid open, and Ivor stuck his head into the hallway. "Did you get her yet- oh. Yes, you did."

Jesse smothered a laugh at that, but managed to keep it in what looked like a mostly pleasant smile as she lifted her hand in a wave. "Hi, Ivor."

He jerked his head at her in what looked like a nod, before stepping aside and allowing her into Stella's room.

Stella's room, interestingly enough, had a mostly purple motif. Purple carpet, purple bed, even mostly purple books on the bookshelf (which Jesse found sort of interesting. The books on HER bookshelf weren't primarily pink). Apparently, everyone was already seated in various places around the room, or in some cases, like Aiden's, standing. The llama (Stella had called her Luna or something earlier) was actually taking a nap in the corner.

"Okay, so we're all here," Stella promptly began, the moment the door shut behind Jesse, Harper, and Reuben. "I think the first thing we should do is elect a leader."

Jesse blinked at how quick Stella was to jump to this, but a moment later she nodded. "I... don't see a problem with it. It would definitely keep things more organized if someone was there to rein it in."

"Let me guess, you're volunteering," Ivor piped up, rather flatly.

Now it was Stella's turn to blink. "Well... yes. Is there a problem with that?"

Despite the pleasant tone of voice the blonde woman had taken, Jesse couldn't help but notice the almost hostile undertone to Stella's voice.

"Yes, actually." Ivor leaned against the wall himself, crossing his arms. "I've noticed that whenever people say 'we need to elect a leader', they tend to volunteer themselves. And those people don't tend to actually make very good leaders."

Stella's face darkened. "What exactly are you insinuating, then?" she snapped back, voice sharpening to the point where the hostility was no longer an undertone but plainly evident. "That you want to be the leader? Because clearly you seem to be interested."

"I mean, he could be a good leader," Harper murmured, making Ivor blink and then look at her in bewilderment.

"Actually, I think I should be the leader." This came from Romeo.

Aiden scoffed. "Are you kidding? I should be the leader. I'm used to working with a team. Jesse can vouch for that."

Jesse started as Aiden abruptly looked at her, but before she could say or do anything, Aiden continued, "I don't know anyone else in here who has anyone else that can vouch for their ability to be a good leader."

"Well, Jesse does, I suppose..."

Jesse blinked and looked at Stella, Stella looking just as surprised that she'd said it. How would Stella know? Jesse had never met her before. (Well, there WAS the fact that Stella seemed to recognize her, but that couldn't possibly count.)

Aiden looked startled at the assertion, but before this little argument could escalate any further out of control, Mevia interrupted, sounding irritated about everybody's immaturity. "I have an idea, who doesn't want to be the leader?"

Jesse's hand instantly shot up. She was already nervous enough from leading a group of two people, those people being her best friends. She did not need to be in charge of a group of seven people, only recognizing one of them and that one person being someone who pretty much hated her guts for a not-particularly-good-reason, that would certainly shoot stress levels through the roof-

"I vote Jesse to be the leader, then."

"Wh-?" Jesse immediately snatched her hand out of air, feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment at suddenly being nominated as the role of the leader of the group.

Mevia ignored this and looked at everyone in the room, simply looking bored. "Everyone in favor, say yes or aye."

"Wait wait, I didn't-"

Harper shrugged nonchalantly, looking over at Mevia. "I mean, I have no objection to it."

Ivor considered Jesse for a moment, this tiny, practically-a-midget girl with her pet pig in her lap, before giving a nonchalant shrug himself and looking back at Mevia. "I suppose we could have a worse option."

Romeo's eyes lit up as he regarded Jesse, irises practically starting to sparkle in excitement, before he turned back to Mevia and gave her a rapid nod. "Yes. A definite yes from me."

"Hang- guys, hang on, I didn't-"

Stella frowned, glancing over at Jesse. "Well... I can't deny that she's not a good leader." A short pause as Stella's hazel eyes flicked over Jesse a little, before she let out a sigh and turned back to face the others. "You know what, why not."

Aiden scowled. "Well, I don't think-"

Mevia interrupted before he could get any further with that. "Too bad. At this point, 5 out of 7 people in this room have already voted yes, ignoring the person who is being voted for. Even if you say no, you have been completely outvoted. Any objections?" she asked, ignoring the way Aiden's face was beginning to turn red with anger.

"Hang on, I certainly don't agree to this!" Jesse exclaimed, face bright red at this point, although unlike Aiden's, hers was red out of complete embarrassment. "What was the point of asking who doesn't want to be the leader if you're just going to make them the leader anyway?!"

"Someone who doesn't want power or leadership is that much less likely to abuse it. Besides, we did all default to having you greet everybody and give them a quick explanation when they started teleporting into the room," Mevia promptly answered.

Jesse paused, mouth frozen in the halfway-open position as she tried to think of a proper retort.

Upon coming up with none, she slowly shut her mouth and gave them all a rather shy smile, feeling the blush pumping through her cheeks uncontrollably. "Well, um... then I guess I'll be the leader for now."

Aiden's scowl grew darker, but he said nothing for a moment before crossing his arms. "Well, any ideas for strategies then, leader?" He said that word rather bitterly, like it was a pill someone had shoved in his mouth and told him to swallow.

Jesse winced slightly, but then tapped her fingers to her lips thoughtfully. "Well... 'Ariza' explained that 'Werewolf' or 'Mafia'-"

"Mafiawolf," Romeo suggested, cheerfully.

"Sure, Mafiawolf, is basically a game with a smaller group of the 'bad' people who tries to eliminate members of the larger 'good' people , where the 'good' people try to eliminate all of the 'bad' people while the 'bad' people try to outnumber the 'good' people. Is that about right?"

Ivor pursed his lips, considering this, before finally giving a nod. "Yes, that sounds about right."

"Okay..." Jesse pursed her lips a little, before giving a firmer nod herself. "Okay. Ariza mentioned that we had 'special' roles in the game. So regarding those, assuming we're good- and even if we're not good, just assume so for now- don't immediately give away your special role. Don't tell everyone that you have that special role."

"It makes sense. If we were the good side and we had a special role, telling everyone that we had that special role, we'd get eliminated very quickly," Ivor agreed, thumbing the corner of his mouth.

"Right, but also, if it is helpful to the team you're on- let's say the good team- reveal your role then. If revealing your role will provide some sort of benefit to the team you're on, go ahead and give it away," Jesse added. "Don't just keep it secret for the whole game- if you're about to 'die' or if you can figure out a way that the team can win, use it."

"I think it might also be beneficial to lie about your role, regardless of if you're on the good or bad team." That was Harper. "Keeping your identity a mystery would definitely keep you from being killed by the 'bad' team if you're a special role, but if you're trying to keep the 'special' roles in the game, then it might also be helpful to get yourself eliminated by claiming you're one of the special roles and then having them waste their elimination on a 'normal' person."

Jesse grinned. "Yeah, that works too!" She paused, before raising a finger and tilting her head slightly. "For that matter, let's say we're a 'bad' person. It might not be a good idea to eliminate the most obvious person."

"How do you mean?" Stella looked a bit confused now.

"Well, let's say there's somebody out for blood and trying to eliminate one of the 'bad' people. What would seem most obvious is to just eliminate them right on the spot. But that could result in the 'good' people becoming suspicious that this person was bad-mouthing someone and then ended up eliminated," Jesse continued. "So it would be better to eliminate someone else and throw off the scent."

"Ooooohhhh, yeah!" Romeo grinned and then patted Jesse on the back, which was a bit awkward because she didn't really know him. "You're good at this."

"Um, thank you..."

The meeting eventually came to a slow halt when everyone had come up with some various ideas, Aiden even eventually seeming less annoyed- enough to at least offer a few of his own ideas. (He actually even suggested that one should ignore body language and just focus on reasoning and voting to guess who the bad people were, if you were good.) With slightly awkward goodbyes and nods and handshakes, everyone returned to their rooms.

Jesse had been drowsy earlier, but now she was wide awake. The meeting had gone well (nobody maimed, terribly offended, or otherwise injured), but now she was excited to see what else was going to happen tomorrow.

This sounded like it was going to be fun... right?


A/N: Yes xD

Okay. I've noticed that I've been getting really far and few between on updates, and the main reason is that I have no motivation to write Composite or Hybrid: Cinematic Mode at the moment. I do have SOME motivation, but not enough for me to really write a good chapter. I don't know why motivation levels have been so low- probably because right now is my exam period and I'm trying to get my grades to a decent level by the end of the year, and I also don't like feeling like I'm forced to do things.

So, for the next month, I'll be updating weekly on Wednesdays, but there's no guarantee that I'm going in any order. I'll literally just be updating whatever strikes my fancy at the time. Keep in mind, I'm also working on a video game, so that also takes a HUGE chunk out of my time.

LunarTheMooncake: Pfffftttt, glad you liked this. xD

homeworkoverload: Oh no, they are cuddling us to death. xD / Maybe ;3

MiekoHiroshima: (winks) / Glad to hear it!

Watcher321: Lol, yep xD / Yes, Werewolf is lots of fun. xD

TheAmberShadow: Nah, fair enough! / (shrugs) I dunno. What do you think? / Hahahahaha oh boy, someone is going to end up maimed. / It was something along the lines of 'wtf?' probably xD / I shall answer ALL OF THE QUESTIONS (just not necessarily in the story haha) / Same honestly xD / (winks) Hm, I wonder why. / Agh xD

BrightentheSun: Platonic, sure. Romantic, probably not.

Emily The Avenger: STAY READY

CremeDeLaCreme: Yeet x3

CamronXTheXGamer: Ahhh, thank you! That's such a nice thing to say. x3

x.X. A.L. X.x