Chapter Text
Jesse expected today to be like any other.
…Okay, well, that was kind of a lie, but still.
He had groggily woken up in his bed, as per usual, taking the time to wake Axel and Olivia up, as per usual, and then took to feeding Reuben, also as per usual. Now the three of them sat on the floor of their treehouse, because today was important.
It was two months before Endercon, and the four (counting the pig) wanted to actually plan something this year. They had never won the con’s building competition, and Jesse chalked it up to the fact that they barely planned in previous years, scrambling for ideas mere days before it happened.
“Y’know Olivia, maybe we can rig up some redstone stuff this year.” Axel was the first one to break the silence, glancing over to said pigtailed friend. “I could totally get some gunpowder for fireworks, that’d be pretty cool.”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe?” Olivia rubbed her arm whilst holding a few loose pieces of iron and redstone, “I’m not super sure how that would go.”
Jesse couldn’t hide his wince; he knew exactly why Olivia was so hesitant, and he felt more than pity for her. She had entered a redstone competition a week or so ago, and hadn’t done so well; in fact, she hadn’t even made top five, beaten out by entrees with more people and resources at their disposal. Olivia hadn’t quite gotten her confidence back yet, and it worried the other two greatly.
“C’mon Olivia” Jesse chimed in, “We’ll do great this year, and you have us to help.”
The redstone lover sighed, mumbling a quiet “I guess” before turning to see Axel pull out a sheet of paper and a quill. He made rough, scratchy lines into the parchment, murmuring as he did so.
“So, this is what I’m thinking. We make a fireworks dispenser, then hide it with something, like a mob. It’d look cool, and we can make fireworks to match it.” Axel’s gaze swept over them, then fell on Reuben. “We could also like, get a costume for Reuben this year too.”
At the mention of the last part, Jesse nodded eagerly, “That sounds awesome!” He turned to look at the small pig as well, who also seemed to nod and-somehow-do his own little version of a giggle.
Olivia cracked a small grin, but her tone remained skeptical. “Maybe, but…are you sure about bringing Reuben? We’ve always gotten made fun of for bringing a pig every year.”
“Of course we’re bringing him, he’s my best friend.” Jesse knew very well where Olivia was coming from, but the idea of not allowing Reuben to go simply couldn’t stand. “You can look at him kinda like…a mascot, if you want.” He took a carrot out from his inventory, holding it out to his beloved pig to eat. “But either way, he’s going.”
The woman opposite of him seemed to give in, adopting a more thoughtful look as she laid back and placed a hand on her chin. “Let’s see, we’ll definitely need a lot of redstone and a couple dispensers, maybe we could try a flip-flop circuit? It’s pretty old school, but we can also change the pace of the machine instead of pulling levers over and over again.”
“You can count on me to get the stuff for fireworks,” Axel grunted, “Who knows, maybe I can get extra for different shapes.”
Olivia eyed Jesse up and down, without hostility. “Do you think you could go into town and grab dispensers? Maybe some wool for the mob, we can figure out what kind later.” She seemed to sigh, “Looks like I’ll be going into those caves for redstone today.”
Axel suddenly scooted over, placing a large hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “I’ll go with you, remember when we found all those creepers down there?”
“Oh, don’t remind me.” Olivia said exasperatedly, knowing exactly what the large man was referring to. “I’ve never run faster in my life! I counted a dozen of them all in that tiny spot!”
Having not much else to say, Jesse stood up and stretched, popping his back some as he did so. “So, we’re clear on what we’re building?”
The other two nodded, Olivia turning away to rummage through the nearest chest for gear.
“We’ll win this year, I can feel it.” Jesse pumped his fist in the air, Axel mirroring the gesture before Jesse opened the trapdoor leading downwards from their tiny treehouse. He grabbed hold of Reuben-who was getting heavier by the day-and tucked him under the crook of his elbow.
The pair gingerly descended the ladder, Jesse taking care not to drop his right-hand pig. The late summer air was pleasantly warm, and the grass a healthy shade of green as the morning sun seasoned the sight with its rays. The forest around him was lively despite how early it was in the day, the sound of creatures chirping echoing throughout the land.
Reaching the bottom, Jesse placed Reuben on the ground, who circled him and sniffed the air. The pig was always curious, one of the many things the dark-haired man liked about him.
Jesse spun on his heel and prepared to leave when someone called his name, and he spun back around just as fast.
The owner of the voice was Axel, who practically slid down the trunk’s ladder at a surprising speed. He swiftly jogged to meet Jesse, the sound of something jingling in his pockets becoming apparent. The green-clad man revealed it to be a bag’s worth of iron ingots, which he tossed to Jesse.
“You forgot these.” Axel seemed to look over his shoulder, as if the treehouse itself was about to come to life and eavesdrop on their conversation. Quietly, he leaned closer to the shorter man.
“Do you think you can find a cake there while you’re at it? I wanna help Olivia feel better, but y’know, cave stuff.” He whispered in hushed tones, strangely unlike his usual self.
Jesse understood, “That’s a great idea, I’ll be sure to remember.” He whistled for Reuben to come to him, who was digging at something under a tree. The pig’s head shot up, then trotted back to him. “C’mon Reuben, we’ve got shopping to do.”
The pig simply oinked in return, following the brown-eyed man as he swiftly jogged out of the clearing, in the direction of town. Axel waved as he disappeared into the brush, soon heading back to the treehouse to meet Olivia.
-
There was not much to note about the walk there, Jesse occasionally passed by some animals or the odd cave, but it was just trees for chunks and chunks otherwise.
After about half an hour of walking, the sight of buildings became more apparent as they approached their destination. The tall, masterfully built structures of wood, stone, and materials of all kinds wasn’t what Jesse was focused on, however, even as he passed through the town’s gray brick walls. Rather, it was the sight of the stalls peppered around them that caught his attention.
It wasn’t particularly busy due to the time, mostly vendors setting up shop with a few early-bird customers milling about. Jesse figured it would be best if he acquired everything early in the day, before the crowds came in. Perhaps he could spend the rest of the day getting dye for the fireworks, and probably for the wool as well.
He decided to go find wool first, given it was most likely the easiest thing to find, especially given that there was a colorful stall not too far from where he stood with a high concentration of sheep nearby. Jesse checked the small bag of iron he was given, finding it had about eighteen ingots, which should be more than enough for what he needed.
The wool vendor seemed to still be setting up as the short man approached, Reuben chuckling a bit at the very-much-shaven sheep nearby. Jesse stood awkwardly as the shepherd perked up at his presence, dropping the box she held to meet him.
“Good morning! Welcome to Jingle’s Wool Stand! What can I getcha?” She spoke with a slight accent and a deep voice, albeit with a cheerful tone.
Jesse knew he needed a lot of wool, but wasn’t sure how much iron he would need. He decided to put 7 ingots on the stand’s table, “How much can this get me?”
The vendor seemed to examine the bars, then looked at the almost excessive amount of sheep penned away. “That’s quite a few bars, whatcha need ‘em for?”
“My team and I are doing the Endercon building contest this year! We wanted to start preparing early.” Jesse puffed out his chest in confidence, cheerful demeanor almost infectious.
It certainly infected the vendor, who chuckled at the young man’s energy. “Heh, normally I’m a bit stingy with bartering, but I’ll support anyone who’s participating in that.” She bent down and opened a chest, pulling out an enormous stack of wool, worth far more than just 7 ingots. “I used to join in on those before I got busy with raising sheep, these guys take more time than it looks to raise. But I like your moxie, kid.”
Jesse happily took the stack of blocks on the table, inwardly wondering how many sheep one would have to shear for this much. “Thanks so much! I appreciate it!” He waved as he slowly walked away, Reuben trailing behind him.
“You’re welcome kid! And good luck!” The vendor called as he disappeared back into the market grounds.
Well, that was easy. Jesse thought as he examined the stalls passing by him, leaving one of the items crossed off of his short list. At this rate, he’d be done in under an hour.
…Then again, wool was pretty easy to find, but where would he find someone selling dispensers specifically? Jesse decided to go find the cake Axel asked for first, maybe he could find a cheesecake if he was lucky, knowing it was Olivia’s favorite kind of cake.
The shorter man craned his neck to look over the slowly growing crowds, catching sight of a large stand lined with baked goods. Jesse allowed himself to crack a small smile, exchanging glances with Reuben, who oinked happily in turn.
The cloth roof of the stall was a pleasant orange and white as he got closer, various breads and cookies on display, which were flanked by pies and cakes on stands. A young man stood at the counter, a line already beginning to form at the stand. With a small sigh, Jesse moved to the back, waiting on the two people in front of him to get their treats.
A few minutes had passed by (and one customer had left) when the morning sun suddenly disappeared for the short, stout man, a looming shadow taking its place. Jesse wheeled around to find its source, and he heard Reuben oink in confusion as the owner revealed itself to be a…strange figure?
Yes, an impossibly tall, hunched figure stood behind Jesse. They were beyond mysterious, mostly because Jesse couldn’t see any part of them. Their form was clad in a large, thick trench coat, most of their face obscured by a comically long, brown scarf that matched their coat, and even more of their face obscured by a wide-brimmed hat. The suspenders-clad man could barely see the person’s large eyes through all the clothing.
The figure’s eyes trailed around the area, but soon noticed Jesse’s sudden attention, pupils clearly dilating in surprise as they locked eyes with the small man and seemed to freeze completely.
A tense staring contest seemed to begin, only stopping when the figure abruptly twitched harshly, shuddering as movement returned to them. They broke their owlish gaze first, turning to the side, seemingly nervous. They seemed to contemplate something, before turning back to Jesse and speaking, keeping their pupils glued off to the side.
“...Hello there.” Their voice was muffled through their scarf, but it was clearly masculine, and quite shy.
Jesse’s curiosity was piqued by the strange, quiet individual. “Uhhhh,” He blurted, “Hi!”
A gloved hand emerged from within the coat, moving to pull up the scarf adorning their face even higher than it already was, Jesse swore he saw a leather jacket somewhere under all the clothing. The man seemed to shuffle nervously, before speaking again, “Sorry, am I in the way? I’ll move.” They stepped to the side, not enough to get out of line but just enough to expose the shorter man to the sun again.
“Oh, no, you’re fine! I was just wondering where the shadow came from.” Jesse inwardly wondered why the man seemed determined to stare at anything other than him, or where he’d come from. Reuben shot the figure with a particularly suspicious side eye, squinting and grunting.
“Next!” The vendor suddenly called, leaving Jesse to wheel around and draw the awkward conversation to a close.
He easily spotted the cheesecake he was looking for, along with a glimpse of a sweet berry loaf cake. It dawned on Jesse that he hadn’t actually eaten breakfast before leaving, and his mouth watered at the sight. Cake for breakfast maybe wasn’t the BEST idea-but it was a delicious one.
Three ingots were put on the stand, “Can I have that cheesecake and a slice of that?” Jesse asked while pointing at the loaf cake.
The vendor-a gangly, tired looking man-wordlessly took the ingots and began to box the cheesecake, pausing only to hand Jesse the slice of loaf cake he asked for. The latter could feel the gaze of the impossibly tall man behind him, a nagging curiosity beginning to worm its way into his mind. Jesse gave a quiet thank you, but didn’t exactly leave-rather, he merely stepped a few feet away and waited.
Jesse watched the man carefully as he did so, trying not to look too creepy as Reuben gave him a strange look, sniffing the air. He noted how hunched over the man seemed, how he still towered over anything even with the poor posture. His movement was incredibly awkward, but noticeably cautious, as if he was trying as hard as he could to not show any part of his body. This intensified Jesse’s curiosity even more rather than satiate it, even as the figure received a boxed loaf of plain bread and began to walk his way. Jesse noted how his tense body language started to relax…before noting Jesse was still there, instantly stiffening up again.
He seemed to suck in a breath, refusing to look him in the eye. “Sorry again, I thought you walked away already.”
Jesse decided to play nice, wondering if he could uncover something about the strange man. “It’s fine, I’m not annoyed.” He looked at the loaf cake in his hands, tearing off a piece and offering it up to the figure. “Want some?”
“Oh! Ah…no, I’m fine, but thank you.” The heavily clothed man’s voice seemed to raise an octave higher as he adjusted his scarf again.
With no real regard for boundaries in the moment, Jesse shoved the piece into the man’s gloved hand. “I insist.”
The figure’s pupils dilated, gazing down at the piece of loaf cake in his hand. After a long moment, he retracted his hand back into his coat, “...Thank you, I’ll…save it for later.”
It was Jesse’s turn to shuffle awkwardly, trying to think of something while Reuben oinked and sniffed at the other man’s coat, causing him to inch away nervously.
“Is…that your pig?” The tall man murmured, voice muffled by his scarf as he pointed towards Reuben.
Jesse suddenly brightened at the subject, happy to talk about his best friend. “Yup! This is Reuben, my right-hand pig and my best friend in the whole wide world!” He paused for a moment, “I’m Jesse, by the way!”
“Ah.”
An awkward silence passed between the two, the taller man seemed to stare daggers into the grass, contemplating something.
“...Lukas.”
Jesse raised a brow, “Huh?”
The man’s head raised slightly, not quite meeting the short man in the eye but getting fairly close. “You can call me Lukas.”
Finally, we’re getting somewhere , Jesse thought inwardly before deciding to keep up the friendly energy. “Well, Lukas, what brings you here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone like you around here before.” The town that hosted Endercon was actually fairly small, and Jesse was certain he’d seen almost every resident and regular visitor twenty-times over.
Lukas’s voice cracked, “I arrived here pretty recently! And I’m just…y’know, getting basic things for later.”
That seemed innocent enough, Jesse pushed his curiosity further. “If you don’t mind me asking, uh-What’s with all the extra clothes? It gets pretty hot during the day.”
The moment Jesse asked such a thing, Lukas jolted harshly, muffled voice almost three octaves higher as he seemed to panic. “I-uh-I have a skin condition! I’m allergic to…sunlight?” The way Lukas blurted out the last part seemed as if he himself was answering his own question, “Aaaanyway it was nice chatting with you but I’ve got things to do today and they’re pretty important so I gotta go okay bye!” Lukas frantically exclaimed before swiftly turning around and speeding away, desperate to escape their conversation and not waiting for any kind of goodbye.
Well…that was unfortunate, Jesse put a hand on his chin as he let out a “tsk” as he watched the tall man bob and weave through customers, curiosity turning to suspicion.
Jesse turned to his pet pig, who sniffed at the ground. “Well Reuben, I don’t know about you, but I say we follow him.”
Reuben grinned and nodded eagerly, now beginning to follow some kind of invisible trail, it seemed he had already picked up the man’s scent. Jesse followed the pig, keeping watch for any sight of this “Lukas” person. Some (most) would probably argue that Jesse was being far too nosy for his own good over slightly-shady looking people he met at a market stand, but Jesse would say…uh, he didn’t actually know. He was bored, maybe, or “curiosity killed the cat, and satisfaction brought him back”.
It wasn’t too long before Jesse could see the bob of a large, brown hat weaving through the crowd at a slower pace than before, and he slowed down similarly. The already small crowd was thinning, and the intrepid man-and-pig-pair found themselves maneuvering behind buildings and crates to stay hidden. At some point, Lukas took a sharp turn behind an alleyway, looking over his shoulder as if to check for people watching. He didn’t check well enough, apparently, and the pair managed to slip into the secluded path right as the man slipped through a small hole in the town’s stone wall.
After some time, the presence of buildings and humanity faded out entirely, Jesse becoming even more suspicious as the man strode into the woods without a care in the world. He’d been to the woods plenty of times-he quite literally lived in there-but something about this guy being a potential neighbor unnerved him.
This concern was eased slightly when the barely-used trail Lukas had taken transitioned the simple oak forest into spruce, the grass beneath Jesse’s feet becoming paler in color. Unfortunately, Jesse was now in territory he wasn’t exactly familiar with.
“Psst, Reuben.” Jesse leaned close to the pig, whispering as loudly as he dared, given how quiet it was now. “Stick to me, you never know what could be in here. I heard these parts of the woods often have mobs hanging out underneath the trees.”
Reuben rolled his eyes, but his attention was swiftly drawn back to the task at hand when the man they were following suddenly stopped. Jesse nimbly crouched behind a bush, watching with bated breath.
The tall man on the trail seemed to heave a large sigh of relief, looking over his shoulder once more before reaching up and removing his hat to reveal-
…
…What?
Jesse at first wondered if it was a trick of the light, or a sign he needed glasses, but no-what he saw was very much real. That wasn’t hair, that was a full head of leaves . Bright, yellow leaves neatly arranged into what appeared to be a stand in for hair. What appeared to be a stem jutted out from the back of his head. Large, square shaped eyes fully came into view, possessing yellow pupils that seemed to softly glow in the shade from the trees around them. Jesse remembers an older woman once telling him that the eyes were the window to someone’s soul-but these looked more like windows into the fabled void itself.
Lukas-if that really was his name-then removed his scarf next, exposing the lower half of his face. Jesse didn’t think his jaw could drop any further, but he was proven wrong when he caught sight of a jagged mouth that curled into a surprisingly soft grin. At that point, it dawned on him why the “man’s” face appeared like that-because its head was a pumpkin , a white one, in fact.
The coat that the man(?) previously kept so tightly drawn around himself opened up some, revealing two hands who’s gloves were swiftly removed and stashed away, revealing sharp, wooden claws that seemed to pause as the man stared at something in his pocket.
It was the piece of loaf cake Jesse had given to him earlier, clasped gently in those wooden talons. The expression on the creature’s face shifted, mouth curling and eyes narrowing as if to ponder something.
“I do want to ration this out, but…it’s been awhile since I last ate anything…” Lukas murmured aloud to himself, prodding at the treat with his other hand. After a long moment, his conflicted expression faded as he shoved the entire piece in his mouth. “What a strange little man.”
A solid few moments passed between the tall man saying that and Jesse processing it, but when he did, he jolted harshly.
Little?! He wasn’t little!
The movement caused the bush next to him to rattle, very audibly.
Lukas’s head instantly shot up at the noise, shoulders almost comically hiked up as he scanned the area around him, gaze soon falling on the bush Jesse was hiding behind.
A long, tense moment passed, with the creature seemingly shielding his eyes from sunlight as they squinted harshly at the bush, then-
“Wait!” Jesse tumbled out of the bushes, Reuben following after him, but the tall creature had already shrieked and taken off. Running straight off the trail and into the untamed wilderness around them. Jesse followed, naturally.
It felt near impossible to keep up with the pumpkin-headed man he was now pursuing, Jesse’s legs weren’t exactly the longest things in the world. Reuben seemed to keep up just fine, as pigs were much faster than most people gave them credit for.
Jesse huffed as he barely avoided tripping over another tree root that would’ve sent him crashing into those spiky sweet berry bushes, “Good gunpowder, this guy is fast!” The short man paused for a moment, before cupping his mouth and shouting “WAIT! STOP! I’M NOT GONNA HURT YOU!”
It seemed that Lukas slowed, if just for a moment, head wheeling a solid 180 degrees with no issue (something that unnerved Jesse greatly) and getting a good look at the person chasing him. His face gawked in surprise, before whirling back around and picking up the pace.
Panting heavily, Jesse turned to the pig next to him, “(Huff) Maybe…we can cut him off!” He glanced up to see a very steep hill nearby, getting closer by the minute, and an idea began to form. “Reuben, remember what I said about sticking together?”
The pig nodded.
“Scratch that, I need you to run and corral that thing into the side of that hill, because I don’t think he’s gonna slow down otherwise.”
Reuben simply nodded again, deceivingly stumpy legs embracing a great burst of speed as the pig split away from Jesse and off to the side, dashing into the growth around them.
Meanwhile, the suspender-clad man decided to try negotiating again. “I’m being serious! I don’t want to hurt you! Just please stop running!”
His plea was either missed or ignored, as the tall creature didn’t slow a bit.
Out of the blue, a loud squeal was heard, followed by Reuben leaping out from the trees and full-on tackling Lukas with a surprising amount of force, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Jesse finally caught up to the sight, hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. It seems the hill idea wasn’t needed after all, and he watched as Reuben sat down on the gangly creature’s torso, presumably to keep him from getting up. “Good job, buddy.” Jesse croaked out as he sat down onto the soft grass, legs aching from exertion.
Once he’d caught his breath, Jesse looked over the clearly unnatural sight in front of him, confirming that-yes, everything he noted earlier was true. The thing in front of him was, in fact, a monster man, with a wooden body, and a pumpkin for a head.
Said pumpkin man’s yellow pupils were wide with pure terror, but soon harshly squinted from the sunlight leaking through the canopy.
Jesse stumbled to his feet and thought back to their conversation earlier, wondering how best to approach this. He remembered how the man had seemingly froze up when Jesse made eye contact with him for the first time, then avoided looking at him completely afterwards.
What if…?
With little regard for his own safety, Jesse suddenly leaned right over the man’s face, making an effort to look Lukas right in the eye.
Surprisingly, Jesse’s suspicion was correct (for the second time today), as the pumpkin-headed man froze the moment his eyes met Jesse’s. His empty eyeholes shot wide open, peering right back at him with a look of absolute horror etched across his face.
A solid thirty seconds passed in this way, only stopping when Lukas abruptly flinched, seemingly regaining control of his body and instantly throwing those long wooden claws over his eyes. “Nnnnghhh…” He groaned, seemingly in pain.
Jesse decided to pull back from the staring contest, thoughts now directed towards…well, what he would do next. What would he do next?
It was probably best to start by getting Reuben off of the creature, for one, given he wasn’t trying to hurt it. “Reuben, please get off of him.”
Reuben’s brow raised as high as it could go, but he obeyed, hopping off of Lukas and instead plopping down next to him. The pumpkin-headed man (Pumpkinhead?) let out a short grunt as he was freed from the large weight, but didn’t move.
Jesse tutted to himself, placing his hands on his hips. “Sooo-”
“Why did you do that?”
The human paused, not expecting the man to willingly say anything. “What part?” He also couldn’t help a little bit of his playful side sticking through despite the circumstances.
He saw the other man’s mouth curl into a scowl, but kept his tone relatively calm. “Let’s start with the staring.”
Jesse twiddled his thumbs, “Well, I noticed you seemed to freeze up the last time I looked you in the eye, so I was curious to see if that really made you freeze.”
Lukas slowly sat up, stumbling over to a nearby tree and laying under it. He emitted another pained noise, “My eyes are burning.”
Oh , Jesse thought, whoops . “Ahh…sorry?”
The fingers keeping those void-filled eyes hidden loosened a bit, and a brightly shining pupil peered at Jesse. Lukas slowly sighed, “It’s…fine, it’s fine.” His fingers moved slightly to massage his temple, as if to clear a headache. “You don’t know about the light thing, but…” Lukas trailed off, tone becoming something more anxious “...Why were you following me?”
He didn’t quite know how to answer that, and the light smile on Jesse’s face became quite sheepish. “...Curiosity killed the cat? Satisfaction brought him back?”
One hand left Lukas’s face and began raking through his leafy hair instead, making an oddly satisfying noise. “...That’s-okay, well that’s not great-I’m gonna have to find another place to live before there’s people out to find me. But…fine, okay.”
“People out to find you?”
Lukas stood up again, body making strange creaking noises as he shrunk away, as if he was trying to find a spot to blend into the forest. “Look, I know how this works.” He couldn’t stop the paranoid edge seeping into his voice, “You’ll run back to town, tell everyone that there’s a monster in the woods, and then I’ll have to run, or hide and slowly starve to death.” It was very unlike him to lose his cool, then again, he barely dealt with people.
To Jesse, the paranoia struck him as odd, the strange, accepting calm of the blonde-leafed man moments prior already unraveling. The accusation of running to tell people about Lukas’s existence was understandable, but undeniably false. “I wasn’t gonna tell anyone.”
The other hand finally came down, Lukas giving him a strange side-eye, but not responding.
Reuben rolled his eyes again at the tense exchange, trotting forward towards Lukas. The wooden man in question flinched, but didn’t move as the pig sniffed one of his hands, then nudged it. Hesitantly, Lukas raised his hand and stroked the pig’s head, attempting to be as gentle as possible.
Jesse decided to try shifting the subject, “So…is Lukas actually your name?”
The pumpkin-headed man glanced upwards, “Yes, yes it is.”
The short man hummed, grinning at the sight of the pumpkin man and his pig. “That’s a nice name, I like it.”
More silence followed.
Jesse began to feel guilt eat away at his insides, the aftermath of his stalking actually weighing on him. But he continued to shift the subject away from the crime, “Are you really a…pumpkin-wood-guy…thing?”
Lukas’s eye twitched, but his earlier frayed nerves were already being masked again. “Yes, I’m not in a costume.” His tone became rather curt, “Boo, be scared, or…run away?”
He bit his lip, now definitely feeling bad. “I really mean it when I say I won’t tell anyone.”
Those strange wooden claws were raking through leaves again, “Look, I appreciate it, I really do. But-” Lukas paused, finally getting his bearings and beginning to slink off into the trees. “-I can’t really trust you, I hope you understand. And, uh, good day-” With that, he disappeared into the trees.
“H-Hey! Wait!” Jesse called, following Lukas with no hesitation.
-
Lukas suppressed what had to have been the dozenth sigh today, slumping slightly as the incredibly persistent human stumbled through the trees to follow him. His frayed nerves were equally as persistent, and while he appeared outwardly calm and unbothered by a human finding out what he was, internally, his mind was occupied with growing fear.
He really, really did not want to well and truly lose his cool, and thus he bottled those feelings. Just focus on where he could escape to next, or when he would have to leave.
“Where are you going?” The short man had caught up with him, followed by the clip-clop of hooves from the human’s pet pig.
The blonde-leafed man-or in Lukas’s opinion, monster-twitched again, feeling the leaves on his head shudder with anxiety. He raised a hand to smooth them down again, before it became a mess, and then turned his head to see Jesse alarmingly close to him.
Lukas took a good few steps forward, keeping a wide distance between himself and the human. “Home.”
The pumpkinhead turned back around and began to walk again, hoping that Jesse would leave him be, or eventually get bored and walk away. His hands were beginning to shake from nervousness, and he let his face betray him and morph into a visibly anxious expression. It didn’t help that he could feel Jesse’s gaze burrowing into the back of his skull, and the irritation still present in his own pupils didn’t help one bit.
The walk itself was fairly short, cutting back through untamed forest and onto the beaten path from earlier. As they walked, the sight of an absolute disaster of a building came into view; a cabin. Lukas had found the abandoned thing some time ago, and called it home; Even if it didn’t have a door, or proper windows, holes in the walls, a leaky roof, and other plants were beginning to move in, it was home.
To his dismay, Jesse had not given up on following Lukas, but hadn’t said a word, even as the monster man entered the shack without so much as acknowledging his presence. But the staring was still present, and it intensified as Lukas removed his coat, dropping it in a corner.
This was because the shack was deprived of furniture, with the exception of one rickety desk and a growing pile of items in the same corner Lukas left the jacket. It really was just an empty building, with 2-3 pitiful looking rooms.
Lukas trudged to the center of the first room, wooden joints creaking as he eased himself down, sitting cross-legged. The human was still there, standing in the empty doorway. He couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in the man’s head, perhaps it was his appearance-a dull, wooden body, a head that almost mockingly imitated a human’s, ill-fitting clothes that were clearly meant for someone smaller. But, perhaps Jesse was thinking of something else, like Lukas’s problem with eye contact, or his photophobia, or maybe just why the human was still here.
Avoiding any further eye contact, Lukas studied the man himself. His skin was a warm, tan color, with matching brown hair that greatly reminded Lukas of the spruce trees around them. His eyes, which had both knowingly and unknowingly frozen the pumpkinhead completely today, were large, with a deep, beautiful brown color that was like a smoothed pebble in a river.
He felt his nerves calm slightly at the distraction, knowing full well that it was both the cause and comforter of his problems.
But, Lukas caught himself as he remembered what that problem was, face hardening just a bit.
Jesse leaned on the doorway, twiddling his thumbs almost innocently. “I’m sorry, I really am.” He murmured in the midst of the tense silence, he almost sounded hurt himself, those puppy-like eyes eating away at Lukas’s heart.
Thus, the pumpkin-headed man weighed his options. For one, Jesse did genuinely seem sorry, but on the other…Lukas had no real, solid reason to believe him. His trust that Jesse was just a strange, short little man who gave him a piece of cake out of kindness was already a lie, this act of kindness could very well be one too.
Now, with his nerves sufficiently calmed and cooler demeanor returning, Lukas opted to try and be less brisk, to give him the benefit of the doubt. His leaves rattled again, the strange, inhuman action that his subconscious took part in a reminder of the still-bottled anxieties, but he pushed it away for later. “Listen,” Lukas began, voice shifting to something friendlier than his earlier prickliness. “If you really, really want to show you’re sorry, then just…go.” He paused, “If nothing happens, then-Great! Maybe we’ll meet in town again and we can never speak a word about this, but for now-That’s how you show you’re sorry.”
Deep down, Lukas hated conflict, he hated any kind of confrontation, but there wasn’t a single bit of dirt to worm his way out of this situation right now. He had to say it, he had to do something as much as he loathed it.
“I…” Jesse began to protest, then closed his mouth. “...Alright, I’ll go.”
The pig from earlier-Reuben, if Lukas recalled correctly-butted his way past his owner and bounded over to the monster man, sniffing his clawed hand. Lukas gave the pig a delicate scratch behind the ears, not wanting to accidentally cut the animal.
Jesse suddenly interrupted the moment, “Oh, by the way…”
Lukas raised a brow at the human trailing off, noting the extremely hesitant look on his face.
After an awkward moment, Jesse finally fumbled out “...Your hair is cool?”
…
What?-
“Uhhh…thanks?” Said Lukas, feeling oddly self-conscious as he scratched the back of his neck.
More awkward silence hung over the two, before Jesse called Reuben’s name, giving Lukas one last puppy-eyed look before leaving the rotting cottage. Lukas watched from inside as the pair’s form grew smaller and smaller the farther they walked down the trail, soon disappearing entirely…
-
…Said pumpkinhead couldn’t sleep that night.
Well, he couldn’t even do that normally-he was supposed to sleep during the day, but often did Lukas find that the night was cold and boring, so he pulled frequent all-nighters (day-ers?) even if he would regret it in a few days’ time. Today was one of those days-he’d sat there for hours, memories and emotions keeping him awake.
But that was besides the point, Lukas was still thinking about the bizarre encounter, and its even more bizarre ending. Complimenting his hair as a goodbye? What did Jesse even mean ? The moment confused Lukas so greatly that he finally left the cabin’s cold floor, walking outside, past the dangerous mobs who ignored him completely no matter what he did.
He traveled to a nearby river, one that he fished at with a rod he’d traded for some time ago, and peered into the relatively still surface. Glowing, yellow pupils stared back at a ghoulish, inhuman face, a frown seemingly carved into his very being.
Who would compliment this? Who would compliment a monster?
As Lukas pondered this, claws reached up and tidied his leaves again, arranging each leaf and picking out debris that had gotten caught in it. Those same hands then adjusted his clothing, dusting off dirt and making them seem less tattered.
Finally, the monster man focused on the reflection in front of him. He willed his mouth to lift its frown, not quite managing a smile, but at least a neutral, thoughtful look.
Yes.
This was much better.