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Bad idea. This was a very bad idea. A super terribly gone-so-horribly-wrong idea.
To be blatantly clear; Lauren knew she only had herself to blame for this. It was her fault, entirely, that got her into this situation in the first place. She hadn’t meant for this to happen; she would have never gone out if she had known.
Lauren thought it wouldn’t take that long; after all, how hard could it have been for her to find a lush cave? She just wanted to see what some of the axolotls looked like, after the other members had been chatting about having found some pretty axolotls when they went exploring. How bad could it be to want some harmless little water pets?
Actually, she was maybe an idiot for wanting them in the first place. Being an Enderian, surely it was a really bad idea to get an axolotl, which was a water animal. A beautiful aquatic creature that could only spend so long on dry land before needing some form of water to stay alive. Yeah- that wasn’t very bright on her part.
She had a… very bad allergy to water, let’s say. Enderians originated from the End, before the End made a portal connection to the Overworld. And water did not exist in the End before the Overworld came in contact with it- meaning her kind had never seen or interacted with water. She pitied whoever had found out water hurt them first, because water hurt like acid and she had no doubt that would be a highly unpleasant experience. Hopefully whoever it was didn’t find that out by jumping into a lake, because that’s just about the most painful way to realize that it burns.
So riddle her this; why had she, the Enderian who was very allergic to water, decided that an axolotl was the best suited pet to get?? Well, to answer that, it’s the same reason why she’s so enthralled in jellyfish.
Water animals were weird. She didn’t really like most of them, and some of them look a bit unfriendly… but a few of them she found odd and was curious about. And well, if they say that curiosity kills the cat… she wasn’t a cat so she’d be fine. Probably. Is she stronger than a cat? Most likely, so yeah curiosity was not winning today. Lauren was absolutely fine, she would not be dying from curiosity today.
So in her great moment of exceptional brilliance, she decides that she needs to find an axolotl. She really, really wants one. At the very least, Lauren is hoping to see one. If she’s lucky, maybe she find one of the cute colors of axolotls! So off she goes, out in to the wilderness with a wish a hope and a dream, completely unprepared.
Yeah. No, she shouldn’t have gone out looking for an axolotl in the first place. And forgetting her umbrella this time was definitely not helping her case either.
And now, in forgetting said item, she was stuck in a bit of a pickle. More like the biggest pickle she could possibly get herself into. Because of some stupid rain.
So perhaps camping out under a tree, waiting for the rain to pass and then going straight back home sounded like a great plan to her, if the damn torrents of rainwater gushing out of the clouds could just hurry up and end. She would really like that, especially sooner rather than later.
Leaves didn’t really work as good covers from the rain either, to be fair. Well, olay, maybe she wasn’t giving the trees enough credit. The leaves did their job well enough, shielding the worst of the water, but she could still feel some of droplets sting as they snuck through the canopy of leaves and fell onto her arms and face. Ow.
She hated the rain. It always meant miserable times. Now, she was stuck, waiting impatiently under a tree for the worst to pass and let her sprint back to her house to never step foot outside for a dumb adventure like this again.
She shivers, huddling as close as she can to the trunk when an annoyingly strong gust of winds blows past, shaking the leaves and sprinkling more water down on her. One droplet of water falls concerningly close to her eye, and she vaguely wonders that if it had been closer, would it have cost her the vision in one eye? She tries not to dwell on it.
She watches the forest, wondering if it will turn to night soon. She would prefer to not come across hostile mobs when she is unable to run away. That would be quite a terrible predicament.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a flash of red among the dull colors of the forest. Maybe there was a fox nearby? Whatever, it wasn’t dark enough yet that hostile mobs would spawn… she thinks.
Wait- no. That couldn’t be a fox, the shadow was too big. Maybe mobs were spawning already. She hopes that’s not the case. In any case, she tries to peer between the trees to find out what it is. Maybe it was another one of the players and not a spooky creature?
“Hello?” She calls out, a little hesitantly. “Is there someone over there?” She nervously laughs.
Void, if it is a skeleton or zombie she’s probably dooming herself right now. She really hopes it isn’t, she doesn’t have any weapons on her, considering she had been hoping for today to be a peaceful venture for a new pet.
The figure- person? Something, whatever it was, freezes, and the only thing that can be heard is the blowing wind and rain.
It’s as though time has stopped for a precious second, giving her a chance to reconsider if it might just be better to run away and take her chances in the downpour.
But then a familiar face pokes out of the trees, with white hair and blood colored eyes.
When he steps out into full view, she’s able to see the shock resting over his usually well-collected stoic expression, before settling into something more exasperated. “Lauren?”
“Heyyyy, Scott… uh…. Fancy seeing you out here in the forest! Do you always take strolls when the weather is terrible?”
“No,”He gives her a deadpan look. “Obviously I don’t want to be out while it’s rainy and gross,” He gestures down at the mud sticking to the sole of his boot with a disgusted expression. She fixes him with a blank stare.
He huffs. “I lost one of the villagers I was trying to transport out here. I’m not exactly sure how , but it found a way out of the trap I set to keep it in place until I could come back to get it.” He shrugs. “It’s not a big deal if I don’t get the villager back, but I would prefer to have more livestock than less for when I get hungry…”
He trails off as he actually takes in the sight of her. “Wow,” he says. “You look like a mess. What happened to you?”
Oh. Yeah, right, he must be referring to her weary looking appearance. She couldn’t exactly see herself right now, not that she needed to see to know that she probably looked like a proper wreck. She really felt like one, in the moment. If she had any more of a mind to care, she would probably feel a little bit more shame in someone else pointing that out, but as it was, she didn’t feel like putting in the effort to care.
“I maybe perhaps made an awful mistake and some unlucky circumstances led to something or another.” She smiles like it’s fine, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
There is a flicker of something almost concerned that flashes across Scott’s face, but that couldn’t be right. Scott was like, the meanest, most uncaring, stoic, heartless person out of everyone here on the server. There was absolutely no way that was concern . It was probably just a raindrop reflecting off of his eyes. Yeah. That was definitely it. She just saw it wrong.
“So you didn’t pay attention to the weather, went out, and got stuck under a tree because of the rain. Is that it?” He states it plainly; it’s not even a question, he knows the answer already. She sheepishly nods her head. No point hiding what he can already see.
He pinches his nose with disappointment. “Oh my god. You’re allergic to water, Lauren, you have to be more careful than this!”
“It’s not my fault!” She grumbles. “It’s not like I could control the weather or see the future!”
His mouth twists into an irritable frown and he sighs. “Okay. Okay,” he mumbles. Lauren respectfully keeps her mouth shut to not contribute to making his mood worse.
Suddenly Lauren can feel a cool, smooth metallic rod being pushed into her hands. “Here,” Scott says. It’s kinda hard to see the expression on his face with the umbrella between the two of them, but he almost looks embarrassed?
“What?” She blurts out before she can think better of it. She gasps at her own blatancy. “I- I mean..” She stumbles over her own words.
Scott looks up at her, but his gaze rests just over her eyes. Which is awfully considerate, that he’s minded her aversion to eye contact and intentionally avoided meeting her eyes. …Or maybe he just is avoiding agitating her into attacking. I mean, eye contact did make her a little bit uncomfortable and self conscious, she’s not ignorant to her own lashing out whenever she met eyes with others.
Scott rolls his eyes. “Just take it.” He mutters. “Of course, this isn’t just for free . You owe me a favor later, you hear me? You’ll pay me back.” He adds, and there’s almost a threatening edge to it, but she can’t hear a real warning underneath his tone.
“Really?” She breathes. “Are you… sure?” She pauses. She’s giving him a chance to back out of this. To pretend that this encounter didn’t happen, to walk away.
There isn’t much that she can offer him in return for his help. She’s a klutz, clumsy and unsteady on her feet when it comes to fighting mobs or minding her steps. She’s a loner, an outcast from the others. She can be hostile and scary, and she barely entertains pleasantries in conversations. She’s blunt about her opinion, her words.
“Yes,” And there’s a twinge of what she almost wants to say is fragility in his voice. “It’s.. fine. You can borrow it.” His eyes wander up to the sky, the still crying clouds. “You need it more than me right now, anyways.” He reassures her.
She tightens her grip on the handle, and his hands fall away from it. “What about you? The…” The sun. She wants to say, but the words don’t leave her mouth.
His mouth twists into a teasing smile. “I don’t think the light will hurt me when there’s clouds covering the sun.” He reminds her. “And anyway, the sun is starting to set now. It’s getting darker.”
She startles at the reminder. “Right!” She exclaims. “Oh no.. I have to get home… I don’t want to get caught up with any mobs, that’d be super bad, gosh, I totally forgot about the time of day…” She rambles on, spewing out words before she can think about them. That is, until she notices the unamused eyes Scott is staring at her with.
“Just go home, Lauren.” Scott says. He steps out from under the tree’s cover, standing under the rain. He doesn’t seem very bothered by the water, even as it runs down his skin and soaks his cloak. He turns back around, giving her a tiny way and a fanged smile. “I’ll see you around soon.” His eyes glint with promise.
Somehow, Lauren thinks, his smile doesn’t really feel very threatening.
It feels nice, to have a good friend. She smiles back at him, waving, before he turns away and darts away into the maze of trees.
A genuine warmth sparks in her chest. Maybe this place isn’t so bad after all.
She raises the umbrella above her head and starts the journey home, feeling content.
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