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The spleef tournament today had been a unique experience. Midway through the game those newcomers arrived and caused chaos. Slab had been throwing TNT at the contestants as instructed but these newcomers, that Jesse, threw some back at him.
He really hadn't done anything wrong. It was his job to attack the contestants. It's not his fault that Jesse took things too far.
Either way Slab felt accomplishes as he'd managed to grab a book from one of the respawns' inventories. He felt even better when he realized the book belonged to one of Jesse's friend. The book was titled "A Guide to Biomes and Structures". While flipping through it briefly after first obtaining it, he saw it had handwritten words in the margins, on top some of the pictures, and everywhere else the secondary writer saw fit.
And so he was here now. Sitting outside his house in the village, ready to stretch out and spend his precious free time reading. On the inside of the cover somebody had written "Lukas" in ink. He assumed this was the name of Jesse's friend as it was the same handwriting as the notes he had seen when he originally got the book.
The first chapter was about a newly discovered biome called "The Mesa" which seemed to be similar to a desert but all the sand was a reddish orange colour. There were some inky notes in Lukas' handwriting:
"Redstone Portal - This is the first mesa I've ever seen! Through the whole time we've been adventuring we have only really been in forests, plains and mountains. the red ground is shockingly bright compared to what I'm used to."
Farther underneath, in rushed writing:
"The zombies here are worse than at home. It might be connected to the strange glowing red objects on their heads."
Slab flips the page, it's a picture of a mesa but he can barely see the photo with the writing covering it:
"-and the rocks are all orange with streaks of browns and reds through them. So much clay. The ground looks like sand but it feels more like clay, it's not grainy. There are no trees in sight. In all my time adventuring I've never wished for the shade of a tree more. To see the green leaves and how it compares to the ground and cliff walls."
Slab continued reading his book as it talked all about different kinds of forests. How some wooded areas had only one kind of tree and how the soil was best for certain flowers and shrubs. How deserts only had cacti and dead bushes due to their lack of water.
Then there was another page with Lukas' writing:
"The people on this island seem to be quite fond of Jesse. They're refusing to talk to Petra, Ivor or me and honestly it's freaking me out. Obviously I know how great Jesse is and don't blame them for wanting to spend time with him but it still bothers me. I've been watching how the Island people interact with each other and it seems to be similar to how they've been treating me. This seems to say that they like Jesse more than each other? I hope we find the exit portal soon, this place gives me the creeps."
Then the chapter on snow biomes appeared. Slab didn't read this one though, he was quite familiar with snow and the cold. He was sure he would know all the information it had to offer. He did however read Lukas' notes:
"This snow world is absolutely horrible. None of us have the gear fit for trudging through snow but the only way to leave this place is to keep going."
"We built an amateur igloo to spend the night in. Logically we should all share our body heat but that doesn't explain why I woke up with Jesse on top of me. Luckily I woke up before him though, I wouldn't want him to get embarrassed. Unluckily Ivor was the first one awake and asked me to go on a walk with him to find wood for our fire. He then talked to me about how much nicer it was to adventure with his friends when he was dating Soren. I'm not surprised by that, the way Soren and Ivor were always arguing definately makes them seem like exes. What I don't understand though is how would he know about my feelings for Jesse. It's not like I climbed on top of him during the night. Either way Ivor definitely knows now, with me reacting by saying absolutely nothing."
Admittedly, this surprised Slab, but it made sense. It explained why Jesse had gotten so mad after he though Lukas was killed. Slab thought of Facemeat, who was openly gay and would target any competitor who had something to say about that. He looked up at the guy who was guarding the portal to the mines. Facemeat was talking with Jesse who seemed to be trying to convince him of something. That is, if Jesse's strategy to convince him was by flirting. With the way Facemeat was red and awkward.
'Well more red and awkward than usual,' Slab thought, 'Lukas would NOT approve.'
Slab laughed to himself while Jesse approached.
"Hey, uh, Slab was it?" Jesse glanced away, "What are you reading?"
"Something about biomes. I snatched it from someone's inventory." No need to let Jesse know that Slab knew who he, or his friends, were.
"Could it happen to be my friend Lukas'?"
"Perhaps. But I'm enjoying my time reading it, it's interesting. Biomes, structures, feelings,' he looked at Jesse to see how he'd react to the last word.
"Please, could I have it back? It's really important to Lukas," Jesse looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.
'Probably the strategy he used with Facemeat,' Slab thought. Unfortunately for Jesse, it wouldn't work on Slab. Doubly unfortunately for Jesse, Slab wanted to tease him a little bit.
"Why do you care so much? You in love with him or something?" Slab smirked at Jesse knowingly.
"Uhm. I," Jesse looked back at the portal nervously, "if I say yes will you give it to me?"
"Maybe."
"Then yes."
"Yes what."
Jesse sighed at closed his eyes, "yes I'm in love with him."
"Ha," Slab smiled happily at how he got to play match maker with these two, "alright, alright. Sorry, this job gets boring sometimes. I'll give it to you tomorrow, I wanna finish reading it first."
"Okay," Jesse turned to walk toward Mel, then walked back to Slab, "you're not going to tell anyone that."
"Alright," Slab agreed. But Jesse didn't say it like a question.
~~~
The next morning Slab took out his quill and opened Lukas' book to where his name was written. He wasn't the best with words but he was determined to make somebody happy for a change.
"Dear Lukas, I am Slab the Immovable. your book was enlightening so I hope to enlighten you in return. Jesse is in love with you and you are in love with him back. Good luck"
Slab smiled to himself and knew deep down he wouldn't be able to kill Jesse to disqualify him. But maybe he wouldn't have to.
~~~
The plan had gone well. Slab had respawned while saving Jesse but it was all worth it to be able to stop the corrupt games and turn them into enjoyable games.
He was now sitting against a wall in the portal hall watching people find their ways home. He was going to miss competing against these people but he felt good knowing that those he still did compete against, wanted to fight him.
He saw somebody walk towards him and sit down against the wall beside him. It was Lukas.
"Thanks for giving my book back."
"I should thank you. You and your friends are the reason these games will be fair from now on."
"No I should thank you," Lukas' voice got quieter, "for that note you wrote in my journal.
Slab smiled happily for a moment then his expression turned to mischief, "so you saw that. And what did you happen to do with that information."
Lukas didn't say anything for a few seconds then stood up, "I'm gonna go now. Have a good day Slab."
Slab chuckled and looked across the hallway to see Jesse staring at him. Jesse rose his arm and gave Slab and two-fingered salute with a grateful smile. Slab nodded back at him then looked back to the floor.
'I should do this more often. It's almost more fun than launching TNT at people.'