Ivor found himself learning a lot about the new order that he hadn’t known before. For instance while none of them particularly like being swarmed by bats, no one in their little group hated them more than Jesse. When they’d found their exit portal from one of the countless world’s they stumbled blindly into, they left pursued by dozens of the fuzzy, winged creatures. While the rest of the group was by no means happy about it, swatting and dodging them, Jesse went one step further than the rest in the most literal fashion. She’d sprinted down the hall as fast as her legs would take her in an attempt to get as far away as possible.
Lukas, he learned, as not a fan of the cold. Their trip into the ice-world hadn’t been a particularly fun one (except of course for the snowballs Ivor’d snatched on the way out), but Lukas seemed to have to worst time of all of them, regularly lamenting on the snow and ice lakes, especially the latter. Ivor would forever be curious about that one; it was as if Lukas were afraid the ice would break beneath him and drop him into the icy water below.
And Petra, despite her previous loner, wanderer lifestyle, had the least patience for all of the portal hopping madness. She grew more and more frustrated with each failed attempt at finding their way home, the final straw finally being the aptly named fire world. It was her subsequent loss of temper that led them to where they were now, hiding from PAMA-controlled mobs while Jesse executed their TNT plan.
“We all want to go home you know.” Ivor said out of nowhere, turning to Petra from where he’d been watching Jesse.
“What?” Petra quirked an eyebrow in mild surprise, not expecting to be having this sort of conversation, especially not while they were in the middle of trying to destroy something like PAMA.
“You’re not the only one who wants to go home, despite how it might seem sometimes. We’re all just trying to make the best of a unfortunate situation. Everyone has their way of coping with this...unexpected turn of events. Like Lukas and his little journal full of terrible world naming. It gives him something to focus on. And Jesse...well she’s trying Petra, the only way she can think of. Systematically going through the portals might be tedious but it’s not a bad plan. In fact it’s quite logical! It just...takes a while.”
“We’ve been at this for weeks and we’ve gotten nowhere, and Jesse’s the only one who’s been deciding which portals we go through and calling all the shots and look where’s its gotten us! At least the portal I picked got us to someone who might actually know how to get us home.” She argued, her arms crossed in annoyance with a scrunched up expression to match.
“So you’re saying you think you should be the leader of the New Order then?Yes, it must be very nice to be in Jesse’s shoes, calling all the shots, don’t you think? She gets to make all the fun decisions like whose armor to take in a crisis, who to save from being eaten by the witherstorm, which of her friends to save from the angry machine.” He said, giving her a pointed look on the last two.
Petra crossed her arms with a huff. “Alright, you’ve made your point, Ivor.” She replied, wincing slightly. Okay, so maybe calling all the shots wasn’t the greatest job, but wasn’t that all the more reason for Jesse to share the burden once in a while? But that wasn’t Jesse’s way, instead choosing to carry those choices so no one else would have to.
“She didn’t go asking to be the leader of your group, you all looked to her during the witherstorm and she’s just doing her best to live up to that all this time.” Ivor said, gentler now. “I know it’s not easy for you either being used to going about things on your own, but everyone’s trying their best, Petra. There’s only so much anyone can do in a mess like this.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of TNT exploding not far off before Petra could reply. Jesse it seems had finished their plan, which meant it was their cue to join her. “Well let’s go. It sounds like Jesse’s ready for some back up.” Ivor looked like he wasn’t quite finished with what he wanted to say but knowing she was right, he nodded seriously and the two of them took off running to what they hoped would be the final fight,t he final showdown before they finally returned home.
