#jesstella

Standing up, fingering the number in her hand, she walked over to the young woman, easing into the seat next to her and giving a small, awkward smile. “You’re here for the audition, too?”

The young woman blinked twice and turned to look at Stella. Upon realizing there was someone sitting next to her all of a sudden, she gave a small smile and adjusted her glasses. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

Her voice was vaguely familiar to Stella for some reason, but she waved it off as being an ordinary voice or something– most voices sounded kind of familiar to Stella.

Stella adjusted her suit jacket slightly, looking back down at the number in her hands. “Have you… done this a lot?” 

The young woman gave another smile. “Yeah, I… guess you could say that, too.”

“Oh.” Stella scratched her cheek, giving a slightly awkward chuckle. Through a tremendous amount of uptalking herself, she managed to sound less awkward than she would’ve otherwise. “The last audition I had was an audition for the role of Lucy in ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown’ back in my senior year of high school.”

Green– Stella was going to call her that now, she did have very pretty green eyes– gave a light laugh, her shoulders relaxing slightly. They’d been a bit wary a moment earlier. “Ah, I see. The process here is pretty similar. They’ll just ask you to read a few lines with different emotions and the different roles being offered. If you get called back at the end you’ll do the same thing, just with someone being the person you’re addressing.”

Stella gave Green a grateful smile. “Ah, thanks. That’s pretty similar to what I did back then, too, except I also had to sing something.”

“Great, then you’ll be set. They have you do a blind read because otherwise you could prepare the heck out of it and they want to see ‘the most natural reaction’ or something.” Green rolled their eyes. “I’m really not sure.”

Stella gave a light laugh. “Well, this studio is… unique in its approaches.” She should know. She’d followed the studio near-religiously for about two years now.

“Tell me about it.” Green adjusted her glasses again, leaning back and giving a friendly smile. “What number are you?”

Stella resisted the urge to check– she’d already memorized the number. “73.”

Green gave a sigh, scratching her cheek. “Well, you’ll be pretty late in the process then, unless they do the same thing they did last time and just throw all the cards into the air, mix them up, and then call out the numbers in the order collected.”

The blonde let out an astonished laugh. “You’re kidding. They actually did that?”

“Yes. Yes they did. It took half an hour alone to pick up all the cards.”

Stella would’ve asked more, but right about then someone came onstage and thanked them all for coming, asking number 1 to please come onstage and begin the auditions.

Stella glanced as that casting judge– or director or whatever– sat down in a chair at the front of the crowd, with two other people. Green gave a little laugh and leaned in so that she could whisper into Stella’s ear.

Stella felt a shiver run up her spine as Green whispered, softly enough that nobody else could hear but close enough to Stella’s ear that she could’ve kissed it if she leaned in about an inch closer, “I guess they got fed up with randomly reordering it in such a messy way.”

“Honestly, I probably would be the same,” Stella whispered back, hoping that the darkness of the auditorium hid the way her cheeks had just flushed a bit.

The first twelve auditions were… horrible. That was the nicest way Stella could put it. The first person was so loud that it left Stella’s ears ringing, the second was so quiet that nobody could hear them (especially not after the first auditioner had blown out everyone’s eardrums), and the fourth had such a nasally voice that you could barely understand what they were saying. The sixth was decent until you actually had him reciting his lines, the eighth was so monotone that Stella saw three members of the audience nodding off during his audition, and the twelfth burst into tears halfway through the audition and sprinted out of the auditorium.

The thirteenth was a young man wearing a green suit jacket over a yellow sweatervest and a dark blue tie. His hair stood up, and under the stage lights you could see that he’d put some gel in it.

Also, the most noticeable thing about him were his glasses. Green’s glasses were already fairly thick, but this guy’s were thick enough that Stella could’ve pinched them, removed the glass, and there would’ve been a noticeable space between her fingers.

“Name, please,” the casting director intoned.

“Um– my- my name is Radar,” the boy said, rather nervously and in a voice that seemed fairly high pitched for his age. (Actually, how old was this kid? He looked like he was only 17.)

“Okay, Radar, is there a particular role you wanted to try out for?”

“Uh, m-mostly the Intern…”

Stella raised her eyebrow slightly. This kid’s personality would certainly fit that role.

“Cute kid,” Green murmured.

“He’d definitely fit the Intern role… and his age definitely fits, too,” Stella mumbled back.

“Okay, please flip to page 3 and read the lines as indicated.”

Radar flipped in the script provided, scanning the lines provided, before taking a deep breath– you could hear the inhale through the microphone– and then taking the microphone off the stand.

Stella blinked. Everyone else had just left the microphone on the stand.

“Oh, Jesse, there you are, I was looking for you!” Radar’s tone was still nervous and high-pitched, but now there was a definite business-like tone to it. “There’s a lot that we need to get done. The maintenance team needs thirteen more lightbulbs but they’re insisting that they get 14 because one of the members is super superstitious, the IT guy wants us to buy him a dead cat even though we already have a bunch–”

“Did he say a dead cat?” Stella whispered to Green.

“You know that fuzzy thing that goes on the boom pole? He’s referring to that,” Green whispered back.

“Oh.”

The casting director cut Radar off. “Second line, please.”

Radar promptly segued into a loud yelp, stammering. “Oh man, oh gosh, that is so disorganized! Nothing’s been alphabetized– oh no, nothing’s color-coded– this is such a huge mess!”

Stella couldn’t help but snort. For some reason, that line really fit this kid’s personality. In general, this role fit this kid’s personality.

“Cut, third line, please.”

The next twenty or so auditions were dull as doornails, Green and Stella occasionally exchanging comments about an audition (”Ugh, 21 is way too childlike to be anyone, even the Intern.” “Yeah, if they had a kid role they’d suit that role a lot better.”), until sometime around 37.

This guy had brilliantly red hair, the color of a very bright crayon. It was similar to that White Pumpkin character back in Season 1– Cassie Rose, wasn’t it? 

“Audition Number 37–” the casting director cut himself off and blinked up at him. “Oh, hey, Romeo. Did you take Jesse’s suggestion to audition?”

Romeo gave a rather shy grin, adjusting the sleeve of his nondescript gray t-shirt. “Yeah, uh… Cass– uh, my cousin gave me some encouragement.”

Green snorted slightly at that, for some reason, but she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, almost expectantly. “Hey, do you know who this guy is?” she whispered to Cassie.

“Who?”

“He’s the music guy at the studio. He’s not bad at acting like a bad guy, though, so he’s probably auditioning for the rival or the villain’s role.”

Stella’s eyebrow shot up. Romeo Blanc was an extremely good composer and, to date, had composed all of the tracks in Minecraft: Story Mode. She’d never heard anything about him acting, though. “Seriously?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

“Yeah, though most people’ve never seen him acting, so this’ll be fun.” Green grinned, giving Stella a bright smile that made Stella’s heart skip a beat in surprise. It was surprisingly cute.

The casting director gave Romeo a slightly more realistic smile than he’d been giving the others. “Well, okay. Did you have a particular role you wanted?”

“Uh, I really liked Jack… but I also liked the villain and the rival roles…”

“Okay, we’ll start with Jack. Please read the… fourth line on the first page.”

Romeo nodded shyly, cheeks tinting slightly as he flipped to the page needed, scanning the lines, before he cleared his throat and began.

For the most part, Stella felt this audition was okay so far. He at least wasn’t fumbling his lines every other word, but there wasn’t anything particularly outstanding about the performance as Jack. He sounded very… casual.

“Okay, we’ll try the villain next. Page four, first line.”

Romeo nodded and quickly flipped to the page, scanning it just as quickly as he’d scanned Jack’s lines. Then he looked up, inhaled a deep breath, and–

He scoffed, expression twisting into a sarcastic one that spoke volumes about patience. “Oh, you just don’t get it, do you? I’m just trying to separate the diamonds from the gravel here, Jesse. Rubbish. Gets. Dumped.” The last word came out so derisively that Stella actually shrank back in her seat in surprise– he suddenly sounded so condescending. Huge departure from the shy guy that had been standing on the stage.

“Third line.”

“I’m DONE–”

Stella flinched as Romeo’s voice suddenly deepened into a vicious near-snarl. “–letting you make me feel bad. I prefer to feel good. And I’m gonna feel real good,” Romeo grabbed the microphone off of the stand, making some sounds as the stand rattled a little bit, his voice seething with an almost petty rage befitting of a villain, “when I send you to a place where you’ll never see the light of day. Ever. Again.”

“Go, dude,” Green said softly, giving an almost mischievous grin. Stella really did have to admit, he was a fantastic actor.

“Second line.”

Romeo caught his breath from the near-hellish tone he’d been using at the end, glanced back at the page, and gave a derisive, menacing chuckle. “Oh, Jesse. Jesse, Jesse, Jesse– I just don’t understand you! Letting your friends go?  I mean, clearly they weren’t supposed to make it, despite you dragging them everywhere.” 

His voice grew colder as he glared out over the audience. “Losers… are supposed to lose, Jesse.”

“Cut.”

Green grinned and gently clapped their hands together softly. “Good show, buddy.”

Stella gave a breathless chuckle, leaning over to whisper in Green’s ear. “You weren’t kidding. He’d make a great villain.”

“Of course I wasn’t kidding. I’m not a kid.”

Stella raised her eyebrow at Green, unable to help the smirk twitching on her lips.

“Huh, tough audience.”

Upon which Stella couldn’t hold in the giggles anymore and had to bite her knuckles to keep from laughing in the middle of someone’s attention.

Most of the other auditions were fairly nondescript, although there WERE a few that stood out a little more, so Stella zoned out, only paying attention to the numbers being called and the occasional elbow to the side from Green as she pointed out some of the better auditions.

Around number 61, Stella started paying more attention. Her number was coming up in a bit, after all.

62 was an older guy with brown hair streaked with a few strands of gray. One eye was dark enough that Stella could make it out, but the other eye was harder to make out, and Stella figured out why a moment later– the other eye’s iris was a pale gray, so it was barely noticeable if you were a good distance away. And if he was even further, Stella would’ve thought he didn’t even have an iris.

“Name?”

“Jack.”

Stella couldn’t help but grin at the name. “What do you think the odds are of this guy actually wanting to audition for Jack?”

Green gave a light laugh, covering her mouth to cover it up, before lowering it and leveling a daring grin at Stella. “I bet he actually is going to audition for Jack.”

Stella grinned at the bet. “Alright, then I bet that he won’t. If I win, you… have to tell me your name.”

Green made a sound rather like a snort, Stella having to shove her hands up to her mouth to muffle her own giggles. “Well, Little Miss Confident, when I win–” Green gave an impish grin that made Stella’s giggles amplify a little– “you have to tell me your name, and give me your number.”

Stella’s giggles cut off in surprise.

Was this girl asking her out? Trying to be friendly? Friends asked for each other’s numbers, right?

“Uh–” Before Stella could ask to clarify, or even give a response, the casting director was already speaking up. 

“Okay, Mr. Jack, who are you auditioning for?”

“Jack.”

“I win,” Green whispered in Stella’s ear mischievously, sending more shivers up Stella’s spine.

“… right. I’ll give you your ‘prize’ after the auditions are over,” Stella whispered back, turning to face Green. The moment she did, she was surprised by how close Green’s face was to hers. She could’ve leaned forward and kissed the other girl if she wanted to.

(God she kinda wanted to, was she weird for wanting to do that? She probably was. Shut up, brain.)

The casting director chuckled a bit. “Okay, please read page 1′s fourth line.”

Jack cleared his throat, looking down at the page and checking it, before looking up and clearing his throat again. When he spoke again, his voice was effectively deep, dramatic… heroic. “It’s time to chart a course… for Doom Sea.”

Green apparently couldn’t help it– she let out a brief laugh. Jack glanced up at the laugh and rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut up, it’s a cool name,” he shot back, in a slightly less dramatic and heroic voice, but still in character.

A laugh rose from the crowd, including the casting director.

Stella glanced back at Jack as he continued reading his lines, dramatic in the perfect places and slow and steady in the slowest, most suspenseful ones.

Before Stella knew it, 73 was called, and she was rising out of her chair and walking up to the stage, Green giving her a cheerful thumbs’ up.

“Name, please.”

“Stella. Uh, my name’s Stella.” There’s half of Green’s prize, she thought to herself.

“Anybody you planned on trying out for?”

Stella hesitated. “Uh, Intern, Villain, and Rival.”

There was a short silence as the casting director scribbled some stuff down on a notebook, before looking back up at her. 

“For the Intern role, please flip to page 3 and read line 2.”

Stella progressed through the Intern’s lines. Rather than take the nervous, skittish approach that Radar had perfected– she wasn’t really good at querulous characters like that– she took on a cool, business-like approach, except for the lines where she was supposed to blow up or panic, which she proceeded to do with so much gusto that at one point she nearly fell off the stage.

“Okay, page 4, the villain’s lines…”

Romeo had taken on an unpredictable route, so Stella just acted cruel and icy. She sneered condescendingly at ‘Jesse’ through most of it, her own voice sending chills up her own back at some points. During the lines where Romeo had blown up, Stella spoke so softly and menacingly that she actively saw audience members leaning forward to hear her.

And then she’d blow up, making them all flinch backwards in shock, a flush of pleasure forming in her center as her stiff tongue began to pick through the roles smoothly, her hands gesturing easily with each role.

“Page 2, the rival.”

Most of the previous auditions for the rival had been so sarcastic, cocky and unlikeable that Stella had been tempted to boo them right off the stage. Yes, the rival wasn’t supposed to be someone that you liked, but hatred was reserved for the villain, not a mere rival.

“Line 1, please.”

Stella cleared her throat and scanned the line. Okay, this was easy, she could do this…

“Ohhh, look who it is!” Stella said, adopting so much fake cheer and sweetness that it made her teeth tingle, “Jesse, leader of Beacontown!” Her voice took on a cooler tone a moment later. “And my sworn rival.”

“Cut, line 3.”

Stella nodded as she scanned this line as well, considering what it said. This time, she took on more of a petulant tone– less sweet and more petty. “I do not know what kind of mind games you are trying to bring into our rivalry,” she snapped, sounding annoyed, “but I’ll tell you now they are not going to work on me.”

The casting director cut her off again. “Cut, line 2.”

This line seemed different every time it was read– Stella had noticed several people reading it with so much sarcasm that you could tell they were being fake, some sneering condescendingly, some acting patronizing.

Time for her own take on it.

“Jesse, I really appreciate you helping me out back there. Love ya. Mean it. But you clearly have no idea what this… this paragon is offering,” Stella said, breezily and sweetly as before.

And then she winked.

A few more moments of silence as the casting director wrote a few more notes down.

“Alright, thank you.”

Stella gave a polite curtsy and walked off of the stage briskly, handing off the script to the next person and flouncing down in her seat from before.

Green gave her a friendly grin. “That was awesome, Stella,” she whispered.

“Ah– thank you,” Stella replied, touching her heart and feeling it pound away so fast and hard that it felt like someone was jackhammering around inside her chest.

“I’ll honestly be pretty surprised if you don’t get cast as at least one of the roles.” Green gave her a light pat on the back, hand lingering on her shoulder for a moment longer than it had to.

Stella wondered when she’d swallowed some butterflies.

“Okay, everyone, thank you again for coming!” The casting director announced, emerging after several minutes of deliberation and making Stella look up. Green had disappeared off to some place a minute before and still hadn’t come back.

“Getting a callback does not necessarily mean you have been cast; we’re simply asking those with a callback to come back for further auditioning. Please stay and wait backstage if you’ve been called back; otherwise you may leave.” The casting director looked down at his clipboard and called out a few numbers.

13. 17. 37. 49. 55. 62. 

And 73.

Stella had been called back.

She’d been called back.

“Again, thank you for coming, if you have a callback please come backstage.”

Many of the other people around Stella got up, a small handful walking their way to the stage and the others streaming out of the auditorium doors. 

There was Radar, some other young girl that Stella had barely paid attention to (Binta?), Romeo, some guy with a shaved head and pale blue eyes (His name was Gordon or something), a woman with sharp features (her name was Xara, Stella was fairly certain), Jack himself, and of course Stella.

“Okay, guys, we really liked your auditions, but we wanted to get a better look and see how you’d interact with one of the main characters of Minecraft: Story Mode, since you’re going to have to interact with them for most of the series,” the casting director said, when the last straggler had filed through the doors, “and your role kind of really depends on interactions with them.”

The casting director paused. “Also, depending on the way you’re able to play off of each other, we might ask them for their opinion on casting, so… go for it.”

Stella couldn’t help but feel nervous. Of course Green had liked her audition, but this person wasn’t going to be Green–

“Does this have something to do with that rumor that the main actress for Female Jesse– you know, the one that showed up in most of the teasers– was going to be here today?” Radar asked, in a nervous voice.

“She was here. That wasn’t really a rumor,” Romeo muttered.

The casting director gave a sheepish grin. “Yeah, uh… we’re going to have you interact with Jesse, basically.”

“Ugh, sorry, Eric, I think I left my contact lenses at home.”

Stella’s head snapped around to see Green walking into the room, black hair no longer up in a messy bun but hanging around her face nicely. A gold pin pinned it back, and her blouse was off. In fact, if she’d been wearing overalls over a red-sleeved white t-shirt and she hadn’t been wearing glasses over it, she would’ve been the spitting image of the white Female Jesse. 

Especially the height. Stella hadn’t noticed before because they’d both been sitting down, but Green was short.

“No problem, Jessi. Guys, this is Jessi with an ‘I’, one of the lead actresses in Minecraft: Story Mode,” ‘Eric’ said, casually.

Stella was trying to keep her jaw from smacking into the floor. She’d been sitting next to Jesse (Jessi, she supposed) the whole time?

Green Jessi smiled easily at them, lifting her hand in a wave. “Hey, guys, nice to meet you. I’m Jessi. Listen, there’s no pressure to do your best– just try to stay in character the whole time, yeah?”

“Aye-aye, boss!” Radar snapped into his ‘Intern’ character, putting his hand to his forehead in salute.

Binta nodded, tossing some of her black hair over her shoulder and giving a pleasant smile. “Certainly.”

Gordon gave a light shrug. “Very well.”

Xara gave a low huff, ruffling one hand through her hair. “Well, I suppose that works,” she muttered, sounding tired.

Romeo gave Jessi a shy grin. “Well… you are the one who asked me to come.”

Jessi smirked. “I’m aware, Rome.”

Jack crossed his arms and gave a warm smile. “Of course, I’m open to ideas.”

“I–” Stella cleared her throat, feeling her cheeks warm up. “Of-of course, Jessi, that– that works.”

Jessi grinned when she spotted Stella. “Ahhh, you got called back too. I really did like your performance. You’re very good at interpreting roles.”

“Ah-ah… th-thank-thank you,” Stella stammered, feeling her cheeks grow even warmer.

Radar and Jessi immediately hit off acting like a very nervous intern and his much more laid-back boss, Jessi giving him smiles that made Stella’s stomach leap a little in surprise.

(Seriously, she’d been sitting next to Jesse the whole time?)

Binta and Jessi didn’t have as close of a relationship as Radar and Jessi were able to go with, but they still had a pretty nice rapport.

Stella watched Jessi interact with Gordon next, who’d apparently tried out for the rival role himself. Jessi sounded sincerely sympathetic at times, but for the most part the Gordon seemed more menacing than cocky or like a rival.

Xara’s interaction with Jessi was less villain and hero and more… very-intense-woman (because oh my lord, if Romeo’s acting had been villainous, Xara’s had been so frightening that Stella had seen Radar crawl under his seat from her chair) and hero. It was still a very interesting interaction, though.

Then Jack and Jessi started tag-teaming, hero and older hero, and they immediately had Jessi being slightly skeptical and wary about the older hero after the whole Order-of-the-Stone incident, yet willing to be helpful and kind. As the minutes ticked on, they became more friendly and even were able to bounce some improv with each other.

Romeo and Jessi got along immediately, Jessi able to seem extremely annoyed with his arrogant, unpredictable, almost insane-at-times behavior, while also appearing rather concerned. For his part, Romeo’s able to seem enamored by Jesse before getting angry at them. 

Then it’s Stella’s turn, and she’s standing up next to Jessi with a piece of script in her hands.

Jessi adjusts her glasses, glancing at the script. “I think the casting director liked your rival bit best… we’re going to try going with that first, alright?”

Eric nods. “Yeah, we’ll just jump around the script areas that I need to check out.”

“Yes. Alright. Sure.” Stella clears her throat awkwardly before she can start rambling.

Jessi gives her a cheerful grin, before adopting a cooler expression and inclining her head at Stella. “Stella.”

“Ohhh, look who it is!” Stella touches her collarbone and gives a mock-delighted expression. “Jesse, leader of Beacontown! And my sworn rival.”

Jessi promptly arched her eyebrow, shifting so that one hand rested on her hip. “Sorry, I don’t think we’ve ever met before…” 

This girl managed to somehow sound awkward, confused, and wary at the same time.

“Our rivalry? Beacontown versus Champion City?” Stella ‘reminded’ Jessi, tilting her head to one side and regarding Jessi with a dismissive look as she ‘urged’ Jessi to go along with this. “Surely you think about it as much as I do?”

Annnnd now starts the improv in this part; apparently this scene hadn’t been written yet. So it was time to improv this choice.

Based on what Jessi said, of course.

Jessi finally gave a nod and crossed her arms. “Yes, that’s right, my… rival, I am here to finally meet you face to face,” she said, a little pompously to cover up for the awkwardness and fake quality.

Stella gave a condescending smirk. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

Jessi gave her eyes a roll. “Huh. Too bad your personality isn’t as pretty as you are.”

Stella blinked, taken aback by how sarcastically Green Jessi said this, before scoffing and touching her collarbone. “Oh, Jessi, sweetie, that’s far too petty. Don’t act like a child.”

Jessi didn’t even hesitate, segueing quickly into her next bit. “Says the one who won’t give Petra’s sword back.”

“Oh, please, she willingly gave it to me,” Stella shot back, trying to keep up with wherever Jessi was going with this. “But if you must know, it’s in my treasure room. By the way, Jessi, way nicer than yours.”

“And cut! Thank you guys, I think I had a good enough look at that…”

After some more quick thanks and some ‘please check your email’, the casting director dismissed them to go home.

Stella had barely made it to the door when she heard someone calling her name. Twisting around, she could see it was Jessi.

“Oh… hello, Jessi.” Stella shifted around to give Jessi a smile. “I… still find it funny that I was sitting next to you the whole time and really didn’t know who you were.”

Jessi giggled, covering their mouth a little bit.

Notch this girl is seriously adorable.

“Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to ask me for my name. Anyway, two things. One, you still owe me your number.”

Stella stared blankly at Jessi before remembering the bet they’d made earlier. “Oh, right, I– yes, alright, I think I’ve got a pen…” Stella rummaged around, finding her pen, before grabbing Jessi’s wrist and scrawling down the number in slightly crooked handwriting.

Jessi grinned. “Thanks. Second, you got the role.”

Stella paused, blinking.

“What?”

“Judging by what we’re looking for, and the way you interpreted the rival, I think you’re likely going to get the rival part. Almost certainly.” Jessi paused, before giving her a sheepish smile. “Also, I gave Eric my two cents, and you’d definitely make a more likeable rival than half of the people who tried out.”

Stella smirked and squared her shoulders. “Only half, sweetie?”

That elicited a laugh from the shorter girl. “Okay, almost all of ‘em. You certainly had a really nice interpretation.”

“Thanks, Jessi,” was the slightly awkward reply, the blonde woman scratching her cheek and meeting green eyes with her own hazel. “I was honestly feeling pretty weird about this whole thing.”

Jessi grinned, a grin that was familiar from the times Stella had played Minecraft: Story Mode. “Oh, no problem. We’ll send you something soon, alright?”

“Alright.” Stella inclined her head professionally and left the room, trying not to shoot glances back in Jessi’s direction. (The blush on her cheeks was growing to the point where you could really see it.)

Two weeks had passed, and Stella had done some ghostwriting for a few clients. She was flipping through her mail and checking for her latest payment, before she spotted something.

It was the game studio’s logo.

Taking the envelope and flipping it open, she let her hazel eyes skim over the page, a huge smile spreading over her face as she read and reread the words that she’d been half-expecting since Jessi’s prediction.

“Dear Ms. Albert, we are happy to say that you have gotten the role…”

Jessi had been right.

Yes, I’m aware that Antimo and Welles are the ones who actually composed the soundtracks for MCSM. This was just a Craft My Story translation.

OH MAN this turned out being so much longer than I expected haha

I might make this a continuous oneshot series or a story or something. What do you guys think? Five likes will be a ‘yes’, three is a ‘maybe’, and one or less is a ‘no’.