Minecraft Story Mode Season 3, Episode 1: Powerless

Part 11: Clever Trickery...

Jesse seemed panicked at first, but after she observed her surroundings she sported an expression of confusion.

"So... Erica just let you go and didn't 'make you pay for what you'd done' like she said she would? Weird," Jesse commented.

"She didn't intend on harming me, that's for sure. Erica told me... these were her exact words- 'I only told the crowd I'd make you pay for what you'd done so they would leave you alone. They were going to lynch you if I didn't say I was going to,'" Romeo stated. Jesse knitted her eyebrows together.

"So... she blatantly lied to an entire crowd to manipulate them?" Jesse asked. Romeo nodded and he pressed his lips together.

"Yeah, she's... interesting," Romeo sighed. Jesse tilted her head.

"Was there anything else about her that you found strange?" Jesse questioned. Romeo racked his brain, then nodded.

"Erica told me to not tell you anything she said to me and generally seemed like she was holding back some information. Before she used an ender pearl to teleport away, she said she was busy with 'projects.' And judging by her tone, I don't think she meant something benign like scrapbooking or painting," Romeo answered. Jesse's eyes widened to the size of golf balls and her eyebrows rose.

"She used ender pearls?!" Jesse exclaimed.

"Yeah, I thought it was kind of weird too. It's not often you see people use those," Romeo agreed. Jesse touched her hand to her chin.

"And you also said Erica didn't want you telling me anything. I'm guessing she doesn't like me, doesn't trust me, or both. I think we should look into her as soon as we get back," Jesse added. Her gaze wandered to the far off crowd as her expression gradually melted into sadness.

"Are you okay?" Romeo asked her. Jesse made eye contact with him and nodded.

"Yeah. I- I'm fine," Jesse assured. Her tone and miserable expression suggested quite the opposite, which only furthered Romeo's concern. He wanted to demand Jesse to tell him what was wrong so he could help her and talk it through, but at the same time he didn't want to violate her personal boundaries.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to tell me," Romeo stated. Jesse's eyes moved to the floor and she nodded. The two of them walked silently until Jesse broke the ice.

"Can we talk?" Jesse questioned. Romeo immediately knew those three words meant she was going to tell him something personal, so he nodded. "The reason why I'm not feeling good right now is because... oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm saying this... is because I feel like I have to be perfect. In my mind... I always have to do the right thing, say the right thing, not do or say a single thing wrong. I don't let myself make any mistakes. When I do somehow make a mistake, I feel really terrible. I know I sound crazy," Jesse sighed. Romeo smiled at her.

"No one's perfect, Jesse. Not even me. Heck, especially not me. And there are some people out there that hate my guts... Xara- who wants revenge because I killed Fred, the Sunshine Institute Prisoners, the people of Fred's Keep, your friends, and every single Beacontown citizen because I impersonated you and did horrible things to them. And those are just the ones that I know about. My point is... no one can be perfect no matter how hard they try and there's always going to be some people who don't like you. What matters is being the best you can and trying to be kind to people," Romeo answered. Jesse beamed and nearly tackled him with a hug. Romeo wrapped his arms around her, and a few seconds later both of them broke away from the hug.

"Romeo... I have a friend that needs help, but she doesn't want me to tell anyone she needs it. I think you could give her some good advice, so I'll replace the names of everyone in her scenario with other names to let her keep her privacy. Okay, let's say there's a girl named... Riley. Riley makes a mistake and suddenly Riley's friend Zoe hates her. And then it just goes down from there. Riley starts making more and more mistakes until her mistakes gradually get much worse and almost everyone hates her," Jesse responded.

"Tell your friend it doesn't happen like that. Sure, Riley's going to make mistakes-- but she learns from those mistakes. She apologizes to Zoe and says she'll do her best to make sure it'll never happen again. Then Zoe will either forgive her or not forgive her," Romeo told her. The corners of Jesse's mouth turned upwards.

"What if Zoe doesn't forgive her?" Jesse questioned. Romeo knitted his eyebrows together in thought, then relaxed his facial features.

"Well... if Riley tries-- like, twenty times to apologize, but Zoe still won't forgive her... Zoe isn't worth it, then. Riley needs to move on and find some new friends. And--" Romeo began. Suddenly realization smacked him in the face. "Wait a second. Did you just trick me into giving myself advice?" Romeo asked. It all made sense. Jesse had smiled slyly- not sweetly like he thought- after she asked him a question on the scenario and the names were suspiciously similar. Jesse beamed at him.

"Yep. The friend I was talking about was you. The whole 'Riley and Zoe' thing was me tricking you into giving yourself advice. And it worked like a charm. Anyway, we should probably get Radar to be my temporary replacement as soon as possible. I don't want to keep Lukas waiting for too long," Jesse replied. She took black sunglasses out of her inventory and held them out to Romeo. "You might need these. I don't want any more citizens angry mobbing you. If you don't think the sunglasses are enough, I also have a newspaper in my inventory," Jesse piped up. Romeo held back a laugh. He couldn't tell if Jesse was serious or if she was joking, but he took the sunglasses and put them on.

"Do you really think people aren't going to recognize me in these?" Romeo asked. Jesse's expression became blank and she shrugged.

"It works in movies," Jesse replied. Romeo snickered and the two of them continued to stroll down Beacontown's streets.