Scar was running towards the portal hub. Yes, he was in a rush. Yes, he was late.
One hand clung onto his hat, preventing it from flying off, and the other held the strap of his backpack tightly.
As he jumped into the menu portal, he 'flew' into his menu portal area. The newest portal was the closest, with a sign saying 'Hermitcraft VI.'
His feet falling over one another, he literally tumbled into the portal. Falling out of it, he hit the ground with a loud thud and collided with Doc.
"Whoa-Scar! You alright?"
Laying there, Scar gazed into the night sky. "...How late am I?" Laughter echoing in the mostly silent night air, Doc grabbed Scar under his arms and yanked him up.
"Just a couple hours. What held you up?" Scar let Doc drag him towards where the laughter was coming from. Probably the camp for the night.
"Eh, I just forgot what time I was supposed to be waiting for the portal to appear. I also lost my hat." Suddenly dropping Scar, Doc looked at him critically as he stood. "Your hat? Really? That's what held you up for five hours?"
Shrugging, Scar stuffed his hands into his pockets, fiddling with a match he had in one. "Drop it."
Doc stared at his friend for a moment before deciding it wasn't a good idea to push it. "Come on Scar. Jevins cooking his infamous soup-" He didn't need to say anything more. Scar was already halfway down the hill.
Jevins soup was to die for. Like, False was very close to killing Iskall when he ate her share one time.
Doc yelled after Scar as he began to run after him "wait up! Don't eat all of it!"
The cyborg was slower then Scar, so he saw the glint of something moving in the trees before anyone else did.
It slid through the trees, gingerly jumping across the branches. Looked human, but the head clearly either had a bandanna around their mouth or they just didn't have one.
Pretending like he didn't see them, Doc caught up with Scar, who was serving himself while chatting with Cub.
Trying to keep his voice low, Doc approached X who was chatting with his guard, Wels. "Xisuma... Xisuma!" Both of them looked at him, and they both read the look on his face.
Someone, or something, was watching them.
Subtly jerking his head, Doc signaled towards the trees. He saw Wels stand, going to wash off his wooden bowl but also keeping a eye on the person perched in the trees.
"You think they could be the newcomer, X?" Shaking his head slowly, X replied in a quiet tone, not wanting to alarm the other hermits. "No. He's arriving in ten minutes, Ren's bringing him. I think whoever that is is (Gah I hate the English language) a native to this world."
Doc watched the person in silence for a long moment. "..Do you think they are a threat?"
"-no, I doubt it. They have the stature of a flier, and I think they might just be curious about who we are." Wels voice cut in out of nowhere, and both X and Doc jumped. "You're way to stealthy for your own good Wels-"
Jevins voice rose above the rest of the players "Doc! If you want some of my soup, grab some now before Scar eats the whole damn pot!"
The rest of the hermits burst into laughter, knowing Scar had the largest appetite out of all of them.
Doc walked over, and while he was serving himself, he heard the talking of a excited Rendog.
Head snapping up, Doc look towards the portal to see Ren dragging a second person behind him. The second person seemed to have wings.
'Oh... A second hybrid? Wow. Hybrids are already rare, and we have two of them now.' Doc pondered this thought as Ren dragged the poor other player into the light, revealing a very short, very sleepy, and very happy new player.
"Guysssss! This is Grian! Grian say-Oh wow you look like you've been hit by a truck Mumbo-hi!"
"Oh, but I was!"
"Hi."
Conversation continued after Ren started interrogating Mumbo about his response, and 'Grian' wandered around trying to find someone that his gears clicked with.
...Which also happened to be with every living being, because the moment Grian started talking with Scar, they immediately clicked and started chatting about building.
Which left Wels and Tango keeping a eye on the player sitting in the tree, watching them. At this point, the glint of their eyes had caught the fire, and they reflected like a cats.
That gave them the info that whoever this was had nightvision.
That was terrifying. And the agility and speed that this player moved across the branches to get closer or farther away...
They were both on edge, that for sure. And Ren? Ren was subtly keeping a ear and a eye on the person.
After all, he didn't want to fail his job as Observer guard. Linehead would murder him if the servers current Observer died. There was very few Observers, and it was Lineheads job to make sure they all live.
"-I have a really good friend, who's wheelchair bound, right?" Xisumas onesided conversation with his fellow silent admin (Biffa) cut through Ren's thoughts.
"Well two days ago, I asked what he thought about being pushed around all the time, and he said 'I just roll with it.'"
A snicker made its way though Biffa's paranoid head. Ren laughed at the joke "Roll with it-"
He got a odd look from Biffa AND X, mainly because he was on the other side of the campfire and shouldn't have been able to hear the joke.
Ren decided to pretend that he didn't hear the joke and continued eating his soup, choking on it multiple times.
"-ing is awesome. The way it slowly comes together, and how you can add detail? It's so exciting." Scar and Grian. "But when I forget to light it up?... It always becomes a mob spawner, I swear."
"And that's why if you have a build with carpeted floors, throw a sea lantern under one! Light!"
Frowning, Scar shook his head "I never have enough sea lanterns, no matter how many ocean raids I do.." Grian squinted at Scar "...Huh. Usually I do have enough. Well, you can always use glowstone if you cover the textures with leaves or something."
"The cursed glowing rock. What maniac thought it was a good idea to put that texture on something? It always ruins the beauty of a build!"
Nodding, entirely serious, Grian agreed with Scar. "Unless your trying to make a ugly build. Then it'll be helpful."
Scar raised a eyebrow critically, and began to question Grian. "Why would you want to waste resources to create a ugly build?"
The hybrid bumped Scars shoulder, a bubbly laughter generating from him. "Why, for a build swap of course!"
"A build... swap? What?"
Ren diverted his attention from the builders conversation as he pulled himself to his feet, walked so he just had some warmth from the fire, and began setting up a sleeping bag from his backpack.
Rolling it out, he transformed into a wolf for the extra warmth and snuggled underneath it.
False and Iskall had watch tonight. He could sleep peacefully for once.
As the noise of the players chatting began to fade, so did the light of the fire. He could tell that it was only four, maybe three players awake?
Finally he began to drift to sleep. His breathing slowed. And it happened. Someone knelt next to him and gently nudged him. "Pssst... wake up.. hey..."
Shifting into a human, Ren squinted himself awake. And was surprised by the player who had been in the trees earlier kneeling next to him.
Realizing Ren was about to scream for help, the player clapped a gloved hand over Ren's mouth. "Chill.. I'm not going to hurt you... i just want to chat. Kay?"
A slow nod from Ren, and the player lifted his hand. "Question number one... what server group is this?"
Ren calmed down. This player was clearly a curious native. Sitting up, Ren whisper replied "Hermitcraft. My turn. How did you get past the guard on duty?"
The player sat down. "Hm? Cyborg eye dude? Oh, he fell asleep and forgot to wake up the next guard. I was keeping a eye on the mobs in the area for y'all anyways. Is this the first go or just one of many?"
Interesting question... "Season six. What's your name?"
For some reason, the player was stumped by this. "I... You can call me Ex, stands for..." A long pause. "...EthanX. Whats your name?"
Ren stiffled his laughter and replied swiftly. "Ren. Where do you come from?"
"I don't come from here, but I don't really come from anywhere else. I just... wait. Wait for my chance to see my friend again, and wait for my chance to strike my revenge against my torturers."
Ren squinted at Ex for a moment before deciding he was serious and muttered "That went from 1 to 100 very quickly."
Snorting, Ex shifted his position as he stood. "One last question. Is there anyone that might go by GTW or something similar among you?
"Yeah, Scar. Goodtimeswithscar, or gtwscar. Why?"
Beginning to walk away, swaggering slightly in his step from excitement, he replied "nothing important.
With that, he vanished into the night.
Andddd that's a wrap!
A bit shorter then the prologue, but only like 500 words.
That wont damage much... Will it?
Anyways, bya!