"Awkward Introductions" Prompt Requested by @AirCadetFire

Jesse had to admit, it was nice at first. She had the whole tree-house to herself, and could do whatever she wanted. The constant arguing was gone, allowing Jesse to listen to the sounds of the forest she almost never heard. But after a few days, the empty house quickly got lonely.

"When will this week be over?" Jesse muttered, leaning her head against the cool glass of the bedroom window, as she stared out at the calm forest below her.

Olivia had left to visit her family the previous week, scheduled to return in two weeks. For the first week it was just Jesse, Axel and Reuben in the tree-house, which wasn't too bad. However, only a few days ago Axel wanted to go watch a TNT rally in a neighbouring town. Jesse honestly didn't like the idea, and had volunteered to stay home. At first it was great, but honestly she just couldn't wait for Friday, when Olivia would return. Axel wouldn't be home until Sunday.

Reuben snorted softly, nuzzling Jesse's arm with his snout. She smiled at him, allowing him to clamber onto her lap. Jesse then returned to staring out of the window, stroking Reuben's head the whole time. She wasn't just lonely, she was straight up bored.

The feeling appeared to be mutual. After only five minutes, Reuben grew restless on Jesse's lap, tugging at her hair to get her attention.

"Reuben, you've already had enough treats today." Jesse said with a sigh. "The carrots won't last four more days if you eat them all now."

Reuben whimpered, glancing up at Jesse with big eyes.

"And it's too late to go into town right now." Jesse continued. "We won't be back before dark. Maybe I'll go tomorrow."

Reuben let out a heavy sigh, laying his head back down on Jesse's knee. She continued to stroke his head, whilst looking out at the tree tops. It was a nice calming sight, and Jesse quite enjoyed looking at it.

Finally, after a silent 10 more minutes, Reuben started fidgeting again, pawing at Jesse's overalls with his tiny hooves, trying to get her attention. Jesse didn't want to scold him, in fact she didn't blame him. Both of them longed for some entertainment.

"Okay, let's go outside." Jesse said, picking Reuben up, and walking through the tree-house with him in her arms.

Reuben squealed eagerly as she opened the trap door, desperate to scrambled out of her grip as she slowly climbed down.

"Don't go far, OK?" Jesse said seriously, setting Reuben down on the grass. "It'll be dark soon."

She leaned against the tree, watching as Reuben excitedly started to chase a butterfly. Jesse longed for some company, other than Reuben's. She just wanted somebody around who could understand her, talk back even. But alas, Axel and Olivia were Jesse's only friends.

Jesse glanced up at the sky. The light was slowly starting to dim, thick clouds steadily forming. Could a storm be approaching?

"Come on, Reuben." Jesse called. "Let's go inside again, I'll start making dinner."

Reuben didn't seem to hear Jesse as he dug through some shrubs, snuffling through the leaves as he searched for something to eat.

Jesse pushed herself off the tree, starting to walk towards Reuben. She knew the rain probably won't hit for a while, but the rapid decrease of light made her uneasy. She didn't have a weapon if something started spawning.

Jesse bent down, reaching out her arms for Reuben. He playfully dodged, snorted excitedly.

"This isn't a game, Reubs." Jesse said with a groan. "Come on, I'll play with you inside."

Reuben snorted again, once more dodging Jesse's attempt at picking him up. He ran a few metres, stopping and turning around to look back at Jesse with shining eyes. To him this was one big game.

Jesse crossed her arms, blowing a loose string of hair from her eyes.

All of a sudden a low rumble of thunder sounded above them, making both Jesse and Reuben's gazes shoot upwards. The clouds started blocking out the light from the setting sun, thunder growling.

Jesse glanced back down at Reuben, desperate to grab her pig and go inside. She did not fancy getting rained on. Reuben seemed mildly spooked by the thunder, his short stumpy tail between his legs as he took small steps back.

"Come on, boy, let's get inside before it starts raining." Jesse said, once again reaching out her arms.

Just as she did that, thunder sounded again, this time much louder. Reuben jolted at the sound, his eyes wide in fear. In a blind panic he shot right between Jesse's legs, sprinting into the distance.

"Reuben!" Jesse called out in horror, not hesitating on running after her pig.

Reuben was very quick for an animal with such small legs. He darted through the bushes, slipping underneath branches and through clusters of leaves. He didn't seem to be registering where he was going, every crack of thunder causing him to accelerate.

Jesse ran as fast her own two legs could carry her, leaping over most of the objects Reuben went under. Her heartbeat was rapid, her breathing quick as she saw the gap between her and the piglet quickly grow.

Jesse silently cursed herself under her breath for being so unfit. Why didn't she go jogging more often?

Reuben darted out of the dense trees, now into an open field. Jesse was far behind him, trying hard not to loose sight of Reuben as he ran through the open field, making for another cluster of trees.

Neither of them saw the dark figure that was kneeling down in the bushes, bow raised as they aimed it right at the pig.

Jesse was pushing herself harder than ever to catch up to Reuben before he could reach the forest. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw an arrow shoot from the nearby bushes, right at Reuben. Jesse shrieked in fear.

It was as if everything went into slow motion. Hearing Jesse's sudden shriek, Reuben dug in his little hooves, skidding to a stop. The arrow impaled itself in the ground right in front of the pig, making Reuben snort in surprise, taking a scared step back. Jesse ran up to him at full speed, stopping protectively in front of her pig. She rested with her hands on her knees, her chest burning from the run.

She looked up to see a person standing up from a kneeling position in the bushes, clutching a bow in one hand. They were wearing a large blue jacket with the hood pulled over their head. It cast a shadow over the person's face, making it impossible to recognize them.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jesse hissed through gritted teeth, still trying to get her breath back.

"I should be asking you the same thing." The woman replied, flinging her bow over her shoulder. "I'm hunting for food – you're intruding."

Reuben whimpered cowering behind Jesse's legs. She felt her gaze evolve to a scowl.

"Move aside." The woman said to Jesse. "That meal is mine."

Jesse didn't think, unexpectedly lashing out, her fist raised. She was not going to let this person hurt Reuben.

The woman saw Jesse's attack coming, responding at the speed of light. She grabbed Jesse by the wrist, twisting her arm downwards and knocking Jesse to ground. Jesse cried out in both surprise and pain, gasping for breath and clutching her bruised arm to her chest. She looked up as the woman glanced down at her. Jesse could now see she had large blue eyes, her gaze glaring down at Jesse.

"Feisty one, aren't you?" She asked, before glancing back at Reuben, who was slowly reversing back in fear.

"Don't hurt him, please." Jesse begged, her voice now desperate. "He's my friend."

The woman cocked her head to the side, looking from Reuben to Jesse in surprise. "You're pet?" She asked, looking surprise.

"If you want to phrase it that way, sure." Jesse said, as she pushed herself up on her uninjured arm. "Just please don't hurt him."

"I didn't know there were people who kept pigs as pets." The woman muttered to herself, looking back down at Jesse. Surprisingly her gaze had softened.

"I'm sorry, I thought he was wild." She apologized, holding her hand out to Jesse, who hesitantly took it.

She winched slightly as she got up, pain spiralling up her arm. Was it broken?

"Apology accepted." Jesse said sheepishly, giving a nervous chuckle as she clutched her right arm to her chest.

Reuben nervously cowered behind her legs, uncertainly glancing up at the stranger.

"I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" She asked, nodding to Jesse's arm.

"Kinda." Jesse said with another awkward chuckle.

To her surprise the woman reached out, examining Jesse's arm rather harshly. Jesse tried not to whimper in pain.

"Nah, I don't think it's broken." She said, shrugging as Jesse pulled her arm back to her chest.

"I'm Petra, by the way."

"Jesse." Jesse replied matter-of-factly. "And this is Reuben."

Upon hearing his name the piglet snorted, stepping out behind Jesse's legs. Jesse stiffened as Petra bent down to his level, but she only stroked his head.

"What are you two doing out here?" Petra asked as she got up again. "It's late, things will be spawning soon."

"Reuben got frightened and ran off." Jesse explained, continuing to rub her sore arm. "Honestly, if it weren't for our unfortunate encounter with you, I'm not sure if he would've slowed down soon."

"Do you live far from here?" Petra asked, sounding a bit concerned. "It's getting quite late and you don't appear to be be armed..." She paused for a second. "...and I beat you up pretty good."

Jesse looked around. "We were running for a quite a bit, but..." She felt herself getting anxious.

"But?" Petra asked sceptically, crossing her arms.

"I can't say I'm sure where we are." Jesse replied softly, feeling her heart sink to her boots.

Petra hesitated for a moment.

"I don't live far from here." She finally said. "If you want, you could spend the night at my place. Tomorrow we could go into town, I assume you know your way home from there?"

Jesse nodded quickly. "Are you sure?"

Petra shrugged, it being her turn to give and awkward chuckle. "Hey, I did nearly slaughter your pig, as well as nearly broke your arm. I owe you."

Jesse returned the awkward chuckle, hesitantly starting to follow Petra across the field, into the dark forest. Things haven't started spawning yet, still Petra kept her bow raised – ready to kill anything in their path.

Jesse was kind of amazed, only having shot a bow once in her life. She nearly needed surgery to get the arrow out of her leg.

"Do we have to go through here?" Jesse asked as Petra lead her and Reuben down into a dark cave. Reuben whimpered nervously.

"Considering this is where I live, yeah." Petra replied casually, not looking back at Jesse.

Jesse glanced down at Reuben, before hesitantly following Petra inside the dark cave. To her surprise it wasn't as creepy on the inside as she had feared.

There were a few chests positioned along one wall, all marked with different tags such as "iron", "stone" and "wood." Other than that the cave consisted of a tool rack, containing a sword and two pickaxes, and a crafting table. There was a makeshift camping cot in one corner. Petra clearly wasn't very sentimental.

"You live here?" Jesse asked, looking around the cave.

"Yeah." Petra replied. "It's functional, and far from other, annoying, people. You got a problem with it?"

"No." Jesse said quickly, holding up her hands in defence.

Petra nodded, almost in a way of saying "good, you get to live then," before tossing her bow onto the tool rack. She pulled back the hood of her jacket, revealing that she had shoulder-length red hair, tied back in a blue bandanna.

"You know, I was hoping to have a proper piece of ham on my plate tonight." Petra said, opening an unmarked chest. "But I guess we'll have to make deal with potatoes." She pulled up her nose. "Yuck."

"I like potatoes." Jesse said, giving a shrug.

"Eats potatoes, owns a pig... you are a weird one, Jesse." Petra said with a shake of her head, taking out two raw potatoes from a chest. Jesse was surprised when Petra tossed them both to her.

"Hold onto them, while I get the fire started." She said matter-of-factly, putting together some logs in the middle of the cave floor.

"Can't we just bake these in a furnace?" Jesse asked, as Petra started to light the logs with a flint and steel. She sceptically looked up at Jesse.

"If I had one, don't you think I would've used it by now?" She asked in annoyance. "Besides, a fire feels more real."

Jesse just nodded, sitting down by the fire with Petra, as they slowly started to bake the potatoes over the open flames. It was new to Jesse, but she actually found it fun.

After eating, the two of them chatted and talked, surprisingly finding each other's company enjoyable. Reuben even snuggled up against Petra and falling asleep with his head in her lap, despite the fact that she nearly ended his life earlier that day.

"Ssh, listen.." Petra suddenly said, holding up her hand.

She and Jesse exchanged excited glances at the sound of rain above the cave.

"I love rain." Jesse said, glancing up at the cave roof.

"Me too." Petra agreed. "Kind of soothing."

They were quiet for a while, listening to the pouring rain above them, accompanied by the occasional thunder. Jesse found it cool that no lightning could be seen from inside the cave, since it had no windows. As much as she loved rain, she's never been too fond of lightning.

"You know." Petra said, absent-mindedly starting to stroke Reuben's head. "I must admit I still feel kind of guilty about how we met."

"No, it's OK." Jesse said, trying to bend her injured arm slightly to prove it was OK. She hissed in pain.

Maybe it was broken after all. That's what it felt like, anyway.

"Do you live alone?" Petra asked. "I'd hate to send you home alone with that injury."

"I live with my two friends, but their not returning till Friday." Jesse replied with a shrug, giving up on trying to move her arm too much.

"I bet they're not going to be very fond of me once they meet me, considering I literally attacked you on the first meeting." Petra said with a dry chuckle.

"Nah, I'm so clumsy, I'm sure they'll believe me if I say I fell down the ladder." Jesse said, making both of them laugh.

"You know, if you want to crash here until Friday, you're more than welcome." Petra offered. "It's kind of nice to have some company in here."

"You sure?" Jesse asked, her face lighting up.

"Sure." Petra said, grinning. "As long as you don't mind what we eat. It depends on what I can hunt down." Then she added with a chuckle. "Buying food is just a waste of money, I've got better things to save up for."

Both of them laughed again. Jesse had to admit, she was looking forward to spending some time with Petra for the next few days. At least she'd have somebody to talk to.

"Well." Petra said, finally getting up. "I'm calling it a day. Hope you don't mind the floor, I've only got one bed and I ain't giving it up."

"Night." Jesse said with a chuckle.

She turned back to the fire, looking at the flickering flames. Reuben sleepily clambered into her lap, looking for a new pillow since Petra left.

Jesse smiled to herself. Despite their awkward introduction, she had a feeling that she and Petra would be good friends one day.

___

Eyy, I had too much fun with this xD 

When you said "Awkward Introductions" I knew I wanted to write about Jesse and Petra, as I've always wondered how those two met. 

I can literally see the gang sitting together in the treasure hall after all their adventures, and somebody asking, "So Petra, how did you and Jesse meet?" "Oh I broke her arm."
XDDD 

Also this was my first time properly writing about Reuben in the flesh. Most of my one shots are usually based after his death. So, this was a fun little thing to work with.

I honestly need to write more of these laid back, fun one shots. I'm always having a blast with them. I mean, I like torturing and suffering, but I think I'm lacking the cute goofy stuff. 

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this one shot!
Feel free to leave more requests, whether they are one word prompts, actual plot lines or sequels to previous one shots I have written!