Lukas held her eyes for a moment longer, and the moment turned a little awkward. Jesse awkwardly cleared her throat and glanced away, arms still wrapped tightly around Reuben. Lukas averted his eyes as well, glancing away before back at her, his expression more serious now. Even though his cheeks were still tinted slightly pink from the awkward moment just now. "So, uh... sorry about Aiden. He just kinda... runs his mouth sometimes. And it's not really cool of him to make fun of you for..."
Lukas inhaled, as if trying to figure out a better term for it, before letting it all out in a little sigh and waving his arm vaguely. "You know."
Jesse gave him a grateful smile– the less reminders she got about... that... the better. "Yeah. No. It's fine, don't worry about it, it's... not like I exactly made it obvious that that was a traumatizing event for me."
"I mean... you'd think that nearly dying is traumatic enough," Lukas muttered, making Jesse let out a brief, half-amused laugh and look down at Reuben, who was snuffling and butting his nose into her face comfortingly.
"You have a point. I'm just glad that Olivia and Axel were there to pull me out in time." A warmer smile crept over her face, even though the topic was still not exactly a... happy one. But just talking about Axel and Olivia always made her feel better. "I don't think I'd be here if they hadn't." She looked back up at Lukas just in time to see an emotion that she couldn't quite identify flit over his face.
"Is something... wrong?" she asked, a little more hesitantly.
"Huh? Oh no, I just spotted Olivia," and Lukas raised his eyes and pointed over Jesse's shoulder– which wasn't that hard, since Jesse was so dang short. Jesse twisted to see her dark-skinned friend intently watching some sort of machine that involved chickens. (What was it with her friends and chickens?)
"Oh." Somehow, Jesse didn't feel like that was it, but she decided to let it go for now. "Let's go ask her for help tracking down Ivor– the guy that cheated Petra on her deal," the petite girl quickly corrected when she saw Lukas's brow start to crease in confusion.
His expression cleared up. "Ah, okay. Sounds good to me."
With that, the two of them jogged over, Jesse still hugging Reuben tightly as she came to a stop just behind Olivia. Extricating one arm from her death hug on Reuben, she reached up and tapped Olivia on the shoulder, making the beanie-wearing girl turn around to face her immediately. "You know the thing I had to go do with Petra?"
Olivia nodded. Jesse continued, "Well, long story short, we met up with this kinda creepy guy with a beard, he cheated Petra on a deal, and now we're trying to track him down. You in?"
"Oh, I'm in alright," Olivia agreed instantly. She glanced over at Lukas, before back at Jesse, her expression more neutral now. To Jesse's surprise, though, it was a little more mild than it was when the redstone-engineer-in-training was talking about any member of the Ocelots. "Is Lukas helping as well?"
"You can just ask me, you know," Lukas spoke up, a little sheepishly when both girls turned to look at him. "Yeah, I'm... doing my best to help."
"Yeah, he helped me get Reuben back." It dawned on Jesse that Reuben was probably just putting up with Jesse squeezing the life out of him, and she quickly leaned down and set the little pink pig on the ground. He let out a satisfied oink at that, so apparently her realization was right on the money.
Olivia glanced up at Lukas, her expression extremely hard to read. Jesse was jealous of Olivia's deadpan sometimes– the curly-haired girl could say "There's a man-eating wolf who has developed a weird obsession with candy" without even batting an eye. "I see. Well, then, welcome to the team Lukas." This was followed by the tiniest quirk of Olivia's lips.
Lukas rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, giving Olivia a slightly quizzical smile. "Thanks, I... think."
Jesse gave Olivia a surreptitious glance, the curly-haired girl meeting her eyes a moment later. The two of them proceeded to have a very quick mental conversation. The two girls had been friends for so long that they could read each other's facial expressions like a book.
Do you feel anything weird about Lukas?
Not really. Why?
Never mind then, it's probably just me.
A moment later, Petra jogged up to them with Axel hot on her heels. "Any sign of him?" she asked, before double-taking and frowning at Jesse for a moment. "Jesse, you okay? You look like you've been crying."
"Aiden," Olivia, Axel, and Lukas chorused in complete unison.
Jesse felt her cheeks color. Apparently she'd been loud enough that even Olivia had heard her from all the way over here.
"Ah. Say no more," Petra said, putting her hand up to stall any further explanation. Mainly because they didn't really need any more after that point.
To answer Petra's question, Jesse shook her head. "No, I didn't spot him. I got slightly sidetracked when I spotted–"
A rustle of movement caught her eyes in her peripheral vision, and her head snapped to the left and up, spotting a man with a pale face, black hair and a beard, and robes that looked very similar to what she'd been able to see of Ivor's. "Wait, there he is!"
Everyone's head rotated to see Ivor checking over his shoulder warily before breaking into a run for the keynote building.
"Looks like he's heading towards the Hall," Lukas murmured thoughtfully, his right hand reaching up and touching his bottom lip thoughtfully.
Petra made a low growling noise deep in her throat that made all of them look at her. Sure, Petra got angry after being cheated, but none of them had ever seen her this angry before. Ivor was in trouble. "We've gotta follow him," she almost hissed angrily.
"We're gonna have to get past that usher to follow him, though," Olivia pointed out.
"Well then, let's go!" Petra snapped, and she marched over to the usher. The other four exchanged confused looks, shrugged, and then walked after her over to the usher, who was looking quizzically at the very mismatched group.
Jesse gave a little wave. "Um, hi. What would it take... to get us inside tonight?"
"... Uh... tickets." The usher laughed, as if he'd just made an amazing joke.
He hadn't, of course.
"That was a good one, you should laugh."
Lukas looked as if he wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Well... okay, so here's the thing," Jesse began, aware that now everyone's eyes were on her, "we had tickets, but then we misplaced them or something and... I think we lost them."
The usher grimaced sympathetically. "Oh man, I hate it when that happens."
"Right?!" Jesse agreed, nodding at him, "I feel like such an idiot."
He paused, before giving them an apologetic shrug. "I'm sorry, dudes, but... no tickets, no show."
Jesse would've continued trying to convince him, except right then a small white chicken fluttered by, and he recoiled with a muffled scream. "CHICKEN!" he whisper-screamed, enough for Jesse to back up and almost trip backwards down the steps, "Chicken– Chicken– chickeeeen!"
A moment later, the chicken clucked and walked away. The usher, who had flung his arms up over his head to protect himself, now looked around nervously. "It's gone, you're totally fine, you're a totally cool dude."
Jesse retreated to the bottom of the steps and lowered her voice to a whisper. "We've gotta do something," she spoke, in the lowest voice she could to avoid the usher hearing.
"Like what? The show has been sold out for ages," Olivia whispered back.
"We could bust right through," Axel suggested, also in a whisper, "I just need a little wind-up room."
There was a long pause as everyone considered the ways that could go wrong, in which Jesse started looking around for some other method of getting past the usher... spotting the chickens racing around in the chicken machine that Olivia had been looking at earlier.
"Any other bright ideas?" Petra asked at last, also keeping her voice low.
"We need a distraction," Jesse said softly, slowly raising one hand and pointing at the machine.
Petra slowly started smiling. "A bunch of chickens running around might be a distraction."
"And the usher is afraid of chickens," Lukas nodded, also speaking in a low whisper.
Jesse slowly started smiling a little. "What would you guys say... if I told you I want to break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?"
Olivia straightened up, narrowing her eyes at the chicken machine for a full minute, before pointing at a single pane of glass. "You're going to have to break that pane of glass. How are you going to reach it?"
"Well, if we had a rock... we could just try throwing a rock at the glass?" Lukas suggested softly.
"Mmm, no, the throwing trajectory is too up-and-down– once it reached it's peak, the rock wouldn't have enough force to break through the glass," Olivia pointed out, reaching over and pointing out what she meant.
Lukas narrowed his eyes at the glass, before his expression cleared. "Oh. Yeah, I see."
Petra gently clapped Lukas on the back, her hand lingering on his back for a second longer than was actually necessary. The movement was so quick and smooth, though, that Jesse was already doubting if it had happened, and it had just happened. "Well, it was a good idea. Let's split up and look around– there has to be something we can do."
With that, everyone moved apart to have a look. Jesse wandered the area, looking around and frowning a little. Reuben snuffled and trotted after Jesse, sticking close to her after the whole event with the butcher– they did not need a repeat. After a few seconds, Jesse spotted a guy jumping into the air using a slime block as a trampoline.
"Hmm... I bet we could reach the glass with a slime block," Jesse mumbled, reaching up to her mouth and biting her thumbnail thoughtfully as she glanced back at the chicken machine, before back at the slime block. Then at the slime ball booth right next to it.
Carefully, Jesse moved closer to the booth. It might be time to get some slime.
(Hey, that rhymed.)
Olivia glanced over when Lukas moved towards her, his eyes fixated on the ground with his hands shoved deep inside his pockets. "Have you told her yet?" she asked, keeping her voice low in case Jesse moved back over to her.
The blonde shook his head in a dejected way. No.
Petra made a grunting sound as she approached. "Dude, it's not that hard. Just tell her." With that, she clapped the blonde on the back, hard enough to make him wince a little.
"She... she doesn't realize." The comment was soft enough that Petra had to lean in to catch it.
"Of course she doesn't realize, Lukas, she's the most oblivious person of all time." Petra paused, before shooting Olivia a sheepish grin. "I mean that in a good way. She's innocent and all that, but she doesn't pick up on a lot of things."
"No, no, you're right about that," Olivia replied with a grin. "I can't tell you the amount of times some guys used an inappropriate pick-up line on her and she just didn't get it."
Lukas gave a tight smile at that.
"But yeah. Plus, it's not exactly like she knew what was going on at the time when... you know." Olivia gestured vaguely. Lukas winced and nodded a little at that.
Petra pursed her lips, before frowning a little. "Okay, wait, hang on, I'm getting the feeling that we're all having two different conversations. What exactly are we talking about again?"
Lukas gave an amused shake of the head, lips quirking up slightly. "Never mind. Thanks for trying to help anyway."
"No problem. I'll keep playing wingman." Petra winked at Lukas jokingly and gave him finger guns before moving away to check on Axel– the guy had the attention span of a lightning bolt.
Lukas's cheeks reddened as Olivia turned to give Lukas a raised eyebrow. "What was... you know what, I'm not going to ask. If you want, Axel and I can just tell Jesse...?"
Lukas paused, lips tightening into a thin line as he considered it.
Then he shook his head again.
No.
"You alright, by the way?"
Jesse blinked at the lady at the booth, who was leaning on her elbows and regarding Jesse with some concern. "Huh...? Yeah, I'm fine, why'd you...?"
"Well, I mean, you were crying and yelling at some guy about nearly dying earlier."
Jesse's cheeks now turned red– either this lady had been nearby when she'd had her little yelling session with Aiden, or she'd been much louder than she'd realized. "Oh– that. Um, yeah, I'm fine now." To prove her point, she smiled perkily at the woman. Or, well, as perkily as she could manage without looking like she was faking. Badly, at that.
The woman gave Jesse a dubious look. "Well... if you're sure."
"Mmhm. Thanks for asking though. Um, one slime block, please."
The woman held up a slime ball with a slightly apologetic shake of the head. "We don't give out slime blocks here. Just slime balls. But we've got a limited supply today, and we're only giving out two per customer. You could craft your own slime block if you had nine slime balls..."
"A round of slime balls," and Jesse twisted to see the other four walking towards the booth, Axel smiling pleasantly at the woman, "for everyone please."
The woman nodded back and doled out a serving of two slime balls per person. In the end, the entire group ended up with ten slime balls, which all went to Jesse. Jesse grinned and held up one of her slime balls. "Time to make a slime block." She trotted over to a nearby crafting table and began placing down every single slime. A slime in every slot, and in every slot a slime.
There was a short, awkward pause behind her, before Lukas spoke up. "So... you guys been building together long? You've got good chemistry."
"You jealous?" That was Axel. Unlike Olivia, who'd sounded slightly welcoming earlier, there was no hint of even being remotely polite in the burly boy's voice.
"I'm just saying. I think it's cool you have a team that works so well together. Especially one that trusts each other with their lives."
Jesse actually paused in her crafting upon hearing that. That last comment was... a little odd.
"You're totally jealous."
Jesse placed down the last slime ball, and they shivered together into a glowing clump. Moments later, a puff of smoke burst off, and a large block of slime the size of a stool replaced the nine slime balls. "Ta-da!" she announced cheerfully, "one slime block." She paused, considering what she'd just made. "... gross."
"I'll take that," Olivia remarked, reaching over and taking the slime block off of the crafting table– actually, having to essentially yank it off the crafting table, leaving a slimy trail behind, and walking over to the area with the chicken machine. Narrowing her eyes, the curly-haired girl considered the distance and trajectories and all that other math stuff (Jesse didn't like math), before finally leaning down and placing the slime block with a satisfying squish. "Riiiight there."
"It's all you, Jesse," Axel said, giving his friend a friendly smile.
"Don't worry, we're here in case you trip," Lukas added, giving Jesse a warm grin.
Jesse blinked in surprise– she hadn't been expecting him to care that much, honestly– before returning the smile. "Heh... thanks, Lukas." Turning to Axel, she gestured at the tent above the crafting table she'd just been working at. "Could you give me a boost?"
Axel obediently bent forwards and allowed Jesse to clamber onto his back, working her way to the roof of the tent. Once there, she carefully made her way to the edge of the tent. She was fairly sure that if she dropped her heart from here, it would shatter.
So let's not do that.
Backing away three steps, Jesse inhaled deeply, steeling herself–
And then raced forward, leaping just as she reached the end of the tent roof. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the slime as it grew closer, closer–!
Her feet slammed solidly into it, knees bending to absorb the small amount of shock from the landing, before launching her back up into the air towards the pane of glass. Jesse drew her fist back, steeling herself. Wait for it, wait for it...!
Now!
Her fist slammed solidly into the glass, smashing through it as if it were paper. Chickens immediately began spraying out of the machine at an... actually somewhat alarming rate. Startled clucking and white feathers rained everywhere as one guy, who had presumably been the creator of the machine, raced towards the machine. "My poultry! My precious poultry!" he cried out, alarmed.
Jesse made a mental note to apologize to him later.
A pair of arms caught her, keeping her from making a very painful greeting with the ground, and she looked up to see Lukas stumbling a little with an alarmed look on his face, having caught her from the fall. "Oh. Thanks, Lukas," she thanked him, rather breathlessly.
"No–" Lukas ducked, setting her on the ground as a chicken went flying over his head. "No problem."
Jesse clambered back to her feet and glanced around, the rest of the group racing up to her. "Now's our chance!" Petra exclaimed, pointing at where the usher was currently being attacked by a bunch of chickens. (Well, 'attacked'... more like they were hopping all over him.)
Jesse nodded at her and started running up the steps, racing through the gate and for the keynote.
Time to track Ivor down.
A/N: Update!
No, there is no Lukesse in this story.
Responses to reviews!
LunarTheMooncake: (pats)
That's it xD
x.X. A.L. X.x
EDITED: JANUARY 30, 2018. Corrected a small mistake where Jesse was supposed to ask for a slime block, not a slime ball.
