Scar's not having a good time with or by himself.

He feels so bad about what was said to Xerean, but every time he gets up or attempts to contact her to apologize, the Voice interferes. It turns him around and sits him back down, closes his mouth if he tries to ask someone to send her a message FOR him, or type something in Chat. He's about ready to give up, honestly. Frustrated, angry, pained, lonely and sad, he's barely even himself, anymore. He keeps up a happy face for people around him, but otherwise, he's frowning. Scar's walking through one of his tunnels with said frown when a painful hold grips his head, sudden and strong enough that he stumbles and leans against the wall. "She is interfering!" Voice says, evidently furious. "Okay, how's that my problem?? I didn't do anything!" Scar replies, groaning as the anger grows. "The more she and the Watcher meddle, the more this unravels. She FOUND my accomplices! They managed to hurt her, but they suffer greatly as well." It elaborates, still seething. Scar feels his own anger rising in response, either connected to it or due to it causing his pain. "Yeah, well it's not my fault. Why're you punishing me for it?" The pain subsides, now no more than a dull throb behind his eyes. "I want you to rip her apart. But I cannot have that. Not yet. You are not ready, either. Meanwhile, she is already seeking us out. Be prepared. We are setting more into motion." Scar sighs, and continues walking. He then stops walking, just in time for the whispers to accumulate and his scroll to pop into existence. He has a moment of wanting to let it drop to the floor, then extends his hand and catches it. He opens it mechanically, then actually gets a little interested. "Chickens?" He asks. Why does it involve chickens? How does that work? Does he need to figure out how to make little games with chickens? He'll ask Impulse and Bdubs. "Is this a thing mortals do? What are these chickens? Do they...shoot fire or try to kill you? How do they cause you to take damage?" The Voice inquires, sounding perplexed. "I don't know. I can say that chickens don't breathe fire. You've seen a chicken. Cause I've seen a chicken." Scar replies, but collects several chicken eggs anyway. "The white, flightless birds? Another pitiful species." It sighs, clearly disappointed. "If you don't like my world, could you at least stop insulting it?" Scar tells it, getting an amused snort. "You're getting a tongue, aren't you? Maybe you do have a spine, after all. At least she gave you that." Scar stops entirely, looking up at the upper right corner of his vision, which is where he's decided this Voice just always is. "Xerean didn't give me anything of the sort. I just choose not to use it all that often." He tells it sternly, then makes his way outside.

Spending a few moments to tend to his growing set of sunflowers, he looks up to see Impulse and Bdubs approaching. They're part of this, too. "Hi." He greets, standing up and brushing dust off his pants. "Hey. How're you?" Impulse replies, flicking his tail. Like Tango's, it's very thin, but long and graceful. There's a line near the end where the tail develops a serrated edge, along with a curved triangle at the end. Impulse once mentioned in passing it has the ability to cut things, but he never uses it. He asked how he was? Tired. Very, very tired. He doesn't dwell too much on it, but he hasn't slept in...sometime over a week. It's made thinking clearly hard. He isn't 100% certain what is and isn't him, anymore, detangling the Voice's wants and impulses from his own is like trying to decide how much ore you'll get in a vein: you're going to be wrong, 9 times out of 10. "Even I can tell how poorly your mental state and physical condition is deteriorating. I do not need those periods of rest, so I must not have accounted for your weaker body." Was that an apology?? Scar almost laughs, but contains himself. In some way, it still managed to sound like an insult. "Uh, I'm good! I'm good, I got my sunflowers, I got my shop, I got..." he falters, then corrects himself. "I'm good. Uh, anyway, we have to play some rounds of...Chicken? Do you guys have chicken eggs?" He asks. "Uh...why?" Impulse answers, but Bdubs catches on. "Oh–no, Scar, a game of Chicken is where we do things that eventually force one of us to tap out. The last person standing is the winner." He clarifies. "Oh! So we go do stuff until one of us has to chicken out!" Scar says. Bdubs nods. "That makes much more sense. I will have to introduce that to my people." It muses, Scar ignoring it. He keeps wanting to make snide comments about its reactions to things it doesn't understand or says in general. "Say, Scar, these berry bushes...think we could borrow some for the first round? Whoever jumps out first loses." Impulse suggests, and Scar agrees. Skizz comes over with Cleo and some of her dogs, who sets fire to Trader Scar's, and he quickly puts it out. As he does, he sees two figures in the distance. Xerean and Martyn. Is it a Task? Martyn's red, after all. "Perhaps she replaced you. The blonde one is favoured for a reason. He is very perceptive." Voice suggests, and Scar refuses to believe that. Although, it does rattle around in the back of his head, now that it's there. "Hey, Skizz, can you–" Bdubs' question is cut off as one of Cleo's dogs suddenly snarls and sinks its teeth into Scar's arm, throwing him to the ground and biting deeper before Cleo can haul it off and make her pack's stragglers sit. The one that bit him has blood around its muzzle, snarling viciously at him. "I'm so sorry, Scar, I don't know what got into them!" Cleo says, coming over to see if he's alright. "It's okay. They're just a bit early. I'm not red yet." He chuckles, looking directly at the canine. After a moment, it subsides with a high wine, looking at Cleo as if begging her to leave. "You should get that bandaged." Impulse says, stepping forward. Scar offers his arm for him to inspect. "Here." He pulls some cloth from his pocket and uses it to make a tourniquet. "That should at least stop the blood flowing so aggressively." Scar thanks him. "So, uh, are you able to keep up with this? How's your hearts?" Scar shrugs. "I'm, I'm good." He replies. He still has about 19 hearts. Not the best, but still more than half. "Alright." They turn to Skizz, imploring him to observe the game and decide who wins(it's Impulse).

Skizz leaves after that, having been accused of favoritism, to help Cleo with her Task. "Any ideas for another one?" Scar thinks. "I believe I understand your little game. That zombie contraption called a farm. Would that suffice?" Voice suggests. "Why are you helping me?" He hisses quietly, since Impulse and Bdubs are brainstorming. "Call it a...curious indulgence. This is a game of pain, but you laugh it off as though it's fun. But the game you live in, this one as a whole, you fear it. I see them as one and the same. Of course, this one has no death, so they are a little different, under closer scrutinization." It explains. "I might have an idea. Joel has a Zombie farm. We could use that, right?" They agree, and set off. After a few minutes, they dig into the wall, and head into the space beyond. "I think we should get rid of the water. Whoever can avoid them longest wins." Impulse says, and they start the game. For a few minutes, everything's fine, everything's cool. He's having fun, but he's not...satisfied, for some reason. "Push the small one." He hesitates. Bdubs is right next to the edge, pausing to see all the zombies in the channel. Without much thinking, Scar darts forward and promptly shoves him into the pit with them, then grabs Impulse and does the same. Bdubs is instantly swarmed by the undead, which allows Impulse a chance to escape, then he kneels down to try and offer a hand to the trapped man. He instead gets clawed by a zombie, and Bdubs disappears into the ever-growing mass of monsters. "Oh no!" Scar says, sounding a lot less genuine than he ought to have been–or felt. "I thought he'd just get out!" He says. "THAT was fun." Voice comments, and Scar realizes "You knew." He growls, getting an odd look from Impulse, but he doesn't care. "I have to make this right." He says, hopping over the gap and exiting the darkened chamber. "Small ones always have great rage. I wouldn't be all too sure he will forgive you." It comments. Impulse catches up with him, and they stop just outside the Mounders. "You–Scar. Scar. Scar, stop." Impulse says, tugging his wrist to get his attention. Scar turns. "You've been acting different ever since...since Xerean died. Are you okay? She avoids you, now. What happened?" Scar swallows. "Answer this one, or I will." It growls. "What happened is none of your concern. I did what was best." He flicks his ear. "What was best for her and you, or just best for you?" Scar stiffens, and turns away again. "I'm not as close with her as you are, but I can tell, both of you aren't acting like yourselves." He states to Scar's back. "The Life Series changes us. You saw what it did to Pearl. To Martyn." Scar replies, and though his back is turned, he can tell due to the silence that Impulse has looked away, ears tilting down for a moment. "None of those were good, Scar. Be careful." He warns. They come up on the Secret Keeper, which Scar now has a specific dislike of. He feels trapped, he feels that dark effect as though it simply presses in on and around him, solely on him. Like he's the only person in the world, and it only sees HIS existence. Like it–"Scar??" He blinks, turning once again to Impulse. "Thought I lost you for a second." As he opens his mouth to reply, Martyn and Xerean approach them. He avoids her gaze, and notices she stays close to Martyn. They aren't talking long, before Bdubs comes up and attacks Scar, taking off 3 and a half hearts. "...I probably deserved that." Scar admits, partially trying to stem the feeling of outrage over the attack. "And that's my Task complete once more. Thanks, Bdubs." Martyn says, leaving to go hand in his Task. "I still had a little anger to get out of my system. We're all good, now." Bdubs says.

They continue with the games, taking a small break for Scar to try and help Etho make a name tag, and the trio have presently called a round where they have to find an Enderman, and whoever it attacks first is the winner. Which is how Scar now finds himself being attacked by one of the lanky creatures, drawing out his water bucket and trying to throw the water at it, only for the water to simply disappear. "What?" He asks, taking a moment to look at the now empty bucket. "Scar, look out!" Bdubs shouts, just before the Enderman catches him across the face, leaving three bleeding marks over his nose, then screeches at him. They aren't deep, luckily, but they do make him mad. He reaches for a weapon, before an aggressive, savage pain goes through him, making him shout in pain and drop to one knee, shaking. "Get up. Now." Voice commands, though Scar doesn't move for a minute(he actually can't, his body won't let him), just taking deep breaths. Finally, he manages to stand up, confused as to why he isn't being attacked, then looks up to see the Enderman frozen in place, surrounded by purple particles. It looks like it's unable to teleport. Taking advantage of the situation, he draws out his sword and swings, effectively killing it in a matter of seconds. And that would be fine and well, if it weren't for the fact he isn't holding a sword. He's holding a green lightsaber. Scar simply stares at it, distantly aware that someone's talking to him, but he doesn't care about that, no, he's going to focus on the Lightsaber in his hands. Where did it come from?? "Surely you can figure that out. Even YOU are not that stupid." Voice points out, clearly disappointed that he didn't know immediately. And it's right, after a few moments, Scar has answer. Immediately, he drops it, the blade sheathing itself when it hits the ground. He steps back from it, and checks for his real sword, which he can't find. He knows he had it, it'd be stupid NOT to, especially HERE, then looks back at the Lightsaber. Did he accidentally turn his sword into the Lightsaber? He didn't mean to at all! He wasn't even thinking about Star Wars! "And yet, there it is. A primitive weapon, but not entirely worthless." Voice commends, and Scar tries to wave it away while he figures this out. He can understand and recognize that that's a Lightsaber and it's here, but he's still not over the fact he used that same magic Xerean uses to do it. "Pick it up. It's better than whatever those shiny toothpicks you all sport are." Scar snorts softly, but retrieves the weapon. "Scar? Can you hear me?" Bdubs says, finally breaking through to him. "Hm? Oh, yeah, I can hear you." He replies, placing his weapon where his sword used to be. "What was that? It looked like one of those glowy swords from Star Wars!" He inquires, and Scar glances back at his new blade. "It's a Lightsaber." He informs him. "Whatever it is, it's...very effective." Scar nods. "Something weird is going on...just–don't tell anyone about this, okay? As far as anyone needs to know, I killed it with a normal sword. Got it?" Bdubs nods slowly, puzzled but willing. They move on, and by the end, Scar and Bdubs have won. Almost re-rolling his Task, Scar cashes it in, then turns to see Cleo, Impulse, Skizz, and Bdubs watching Mumbo with his TNT thing. Scar can see the button on its side, and pulls out his bow. "I'mma see if I can hit it." He announces, taking a shot. Of course, it misses, so he tries again. After about 6 attempts, he manages to hit it. Mumbo doesn't die, but Scar's still proud of himself for making the canon misfire. "It'd have been better if it did more damage." He admits, and Skizz approaches him. "Hey, man, uh are you–how bout you follow me, over here." Skizz leads him over and around the side of the Secret Keeper, out of earshot of those still talking.

"Are you okay? Some of us have noticed you've been acting a little...different. I figured I'd ask, just to check in." He asks, so Scar tries to find an answer. If he said 'oh, this voice in my head's talking to me and I'm pretty sure it wants to kill everyone', it wouldn't let him. But, he can admit a part of the truth. He really does want this, honestly. "I'm going to be honest, here, Skizz–this entire time, I've been trying so hard to be calm and nice–doing honest trading, giving people stuff, and it's just, like, the tingle, Skizz..." Scar looks down at his hands, a strange sensation filling him. He wants to lean into it, but recognizes this might be that exact tingle he just described and ignores it for the time being. Skizz seems unfazed, nodding attentively. "...Of Chaos Scars in the background. I just want to get unhinged." He sighs, curling his hands into fists. He looks back up at the man. "I want to blow stuff up." He whispers. "Mmm, you want the dark side." Skizz notes, not backing away, still actively trying to figure this out, so Scar suspects. "Okay...so listen, Scar. When we're both red, let's make this the most MISERABLE place to live." Scar brightens at the idea. Maybe this isn't such a bad feeling after all. He can work with this. "I can do that." He agrees. "Alright, cool." Skizz gives him a grin, and Scar chuckles a little bit. He's slipped into something of a trance, where he's himself, but distant and not entirely in touch with what's going on at the same time. "Soon." Scar mumbles, making Skizz stop. "What was that, buddy?" He asks. Scar looks up at him. "Soon, it will all come to pass. Soon, the gates will open. Soon, you will see." A slow smile creeps on his face, he isn't sure if he's excited or terrified, and he tilts his head to one side. "And you will watch it burn." He states, and while Skizz doesn't back up, he's clearly disturbed. "Right. Uh. Sure." Skizz nods, glancing back at the Secret Keeper. "Good talk. I think I'm gonna go back to helping Cleo. Remember this when we're red!" Scar waves goodbye, and sighs. He isn't sure what happened during that conversation, but he's sure he's flipped a switch. Something's coming. And he's excited for it.

The hours leading up to the last little bit of time near the end of the Session are unnaturally calm by comparison. Scar wanders around, mostly avoiding people, until he sees Grian and BigB, and decides to go say hi. "Hey, guys. Uh, what's up?" He asks, noticing a familiar, nervous energy emanating off the little Avian. "Not much. How about you?" Scar shrugs. "Well, Grian, I think I'm doing okay. I've been trying to figure myself out a bit, and–" He cuts off as Etho runs past at startling speed, and BigB states in open mouthed shock at something behind him. Scar turns, and has much of a similar reaction.

There was a Warden chasing Etho.

"Uh, Scar, you might want to run, buddy." Grian suggests, which is plenty prompt enough to get moving. He sees Xerean and Martyn watching in similar shock, several other Lifers congregating to see why they can hear the ancient entity. As Scar watches, Grian begins to spawn a Wither. "They're more unhinged than I am!" He says, a sentiment shared by Voice. "For a Watcher and a mortal, they are very chaotic. I wouldn't have thought." It observes, very intrigued. "I wonder how many of you will die?" Scar pulls out his bow. "Preferably none." He replies, releasing the arrow and striking the Wither, which shrieks and whips around to face him. "Oh, no." He says, lowering the bow. "Scar, run!" Grian urges, and so he does. Other people attempt to help, firing at it or jumping to whack the flying skeleton beast with a weapon, but despite this, it remains transfixed upon Scar. "Why aren't you fighting it?! Turn around!" Voice urges, trying to slow his feet and make him spin to face it, but Scar barrels on, vaulting over the increasingly uneven terrain and dodging skulls. "Nope, I'm gonna run." He huffs, before a clap of thunder booms overhead, followed by a second and a cry of mourning from Grian momentarily distracting the Wither, and allowing Scar to dive into a trench in the ground to hide and manage his pain. This time, he goes through it a bit easier, somehow more manageable than it was last time. Meanwhile, a tree pops up right beside him, gnarled and wound like a rope, grey and black, and covered in petals that seem to have edges of fire on them. They're certainly pretty. And it's certainly Xerean. What's the tree for?? Once the pain subsides, Scar gets up and draws his sword(Lightsaber now), using it to cut the tree in half to see if there's supposed to be something inside. He finds nothing, and moves on, the Wither beginning to chase him once again. "Scar! Go get to the Heart Foundation's base. Xerean's going to distract the Wither so you can escape." Grian calls, swooping around above him for a moment before swooping away again. Scar doesn't get a chance to question it, but he's confused. How long has he been able to fly? Hybrids aren't supposed to use most of their Hybrid abilities here, for example, Mumbo doesn't need blood to live anymore, since that would undoubtedly either end Mumbo or end the rest of them very early, and Grian cannot fly. He can glide short distances to cross a gap or do his own sort of clutch, but he can't fly. Regardless, Scar makes his way over to the fall back point.

He sits down, and the weight of exhaustion starts to seep in. His hearts are sort of low, a concern. Some people, like Joel, Etho, Tango, and Skizz are already here, though Tango sounds a little off. "That is not what you called Tango...that is something else." Voice says, perplexed. "What do you mean?" Scar asks, leaning down to scoop some water from the lake and splash it over his face. "There is something else inhabiting the Pyro's body. I recognize it as the canine companion from your other world. A bird's name, or something of the sort." It explains. "You mean Ren?" Scar corrects, but that's piqued his interest. Why's Ren in tango's body? How is he? "He was not intended to be here. When SHE sought us out, she attacked us, and my accomplices lost hold on reality as it is here. It must have caused some effect outside, and that drew him in." It offers, more speaking to itself than answering Scar. "Wow." Scar says, just as Grian lands in the middle of the island, and Xerean just suddenly appears, scaring Martyn. "You can teleport now??" He cries, BigB and Skizz also having been startled. Most of the Hermits are unbothered, only pausing for a moment to see what the commotion was before returning to whatever they were doing before. She says something to sum up her abilities to the confused trio, then Grian flaps his wings to get their attention. "Okay, so, we can rest for a few moments, but then we have to go back in and kill at least the Wither, otherwise it's never going away." He says. "I can take the Warden." Xerean offers. Grian agrees, and Scar leans back. "Anyone got a few gapples or a heart to spare?" He asks, almost immediately receiving one, from Xerean. "Thank you." Scar says, not sure if he's happy or sad about that. "She lets her loyalty and attachment to you blind her. Do not be that weak." Voice spits, and Scar stays silent. When it's time to go, they all group together, or at least attempt to, and charge back out around the Secret Keeper to see the Warden and Wither fighting. When they get close enough, they disengage from one another and decide to go after players, so Xerean runs into the Warden at full-force, knocking it over. Scar decides to pay attention to the Wither instead. With everyone pitching in, Scar manages to dodge hits better, though the Wither still has that fixation on him, specifically. At one point, he accidentally shoots an arrow through BigB's head, killing him. Another thing comes to him: at some point, Grian died; he's yellow now. Finally, Tango–Ren? Tengo? Rengo?–delivers the final hit to the Wither, and they all cheer. Scar notices Pearl discreetly pocket the Nether Star, but it doesn't hold much value to him. Turning, he sees Xerean just as she pins the Warden to the ground.

Acting on not so much thought as impulse, Scar runs, unsheathing his Lightsaber and jumping up, yelling as he sinks it into the Warden. It bucks and roars, trying to throw them off, but Scar stays put, waiting for it to go limp. He and Xerean slowly look at each other, his gaze almost challenging as he removes the blade and puts it away. "I told you not to use it." She says quietly, voice naught but a whisper. She's hurt and scared. Scar finds he doesn't care all too much. "Well it worked, didn't it?" He points out. She doesn't say anything, so Scar walks away, ignoring the stares and complete silence from the others who saw. He goes and sits down on one of the Secret Keeper's hands, followed by a few others when Grian dives down to speak to the Chaos Witch. "Scar, that was amazing, dude!" Ren-Tango says, and Scar ignores him. He wants silence to come back. He didn't like how she looked at him–wait, he just said he didn't care. What? "She fears YOU. Ensure she stays that way." Voice says, a hard edge to its tone. That was a necessity, not a suggestion.

Scar sits through Grian commending him for the Warden kill and for staying alive when the Wither was chasing him. "I died on the way to hit the button." He says, for comparison. He watches as he proceeds to talk to Ren-Tango, and senses something take him over, making him stop moving. "These idiots are just...LAUGHING. They have...NO IDEA...what they've just unleashed. The Hound of Hell is coming. There will be no bark. Only BITE!!" They shout, then the connection is violently ripped away, and that slow, calm feeling comes back. He doesn't question it. Then, after the niceties are over, Scar gets up and leaves. He beelines straight for his base, finally admitting how tired he is. Some sleep should do him well. "Scar!" He stops. He stops, then turns around, gaze unfriendly. "What?" He says, more of a growl than he meant. He's too tired for this, he just really needs to sleep. Sleep will make it all better. She inhales. "I don't know what's going on with you, and if I legitimately did something wrong, I'm sorry, but you know me well enough to know I'm not dangerous. Not to you. You aren't MEANT for these abilities, and I worry they'll either break you, corrupt you, or kill you. I want to help. Let me help." Scar stays silent the whole time, then remains that way a few moments after. Voice doesn't do anything, in fact, it's as if the air itself is holding his breath. He scowls at her. He did alright on his own, didn't he? He wasn't even trying, and in doing so, has managed to harness these abilities to give himself an unnatural weapon. Just like she does. "I don't want or need it. I'm doing just fine." He replies, turning back around. "Now get out." He starts walking toward the door. "You used a Lightsaber to kill a Warden. What about the headaches? The pain when someone dies? Do you manage those fine?" He stops, his hand on the door handle. "Fine enough to not need you. Get. Out." Scar warns, shoulder tense and rising. "I'm not leaving you, Scar. We need to get to the bottom of this, and if I don't know what's happening with you, I can't find a way to stop it." She insists. Scar has had enough. He gave her plenty of time to leave. He just wants to sleep. "I told you to get out!" Scar yells, and a bursts of some magenta-purple-fuscia sort of energy hits her, shoving her back and outside the walls' border. He only realizes this fact when there's an unnaturally long pause in the response. Looking back at her, he lets his face twist into a mild snarl. "Set foot in here again, and I WILL end you." He warns, before disappearing into his shop. She exhales sharply, then shakes out the flowy part of her dress-coat thing and walks away. "You have embraced it?" Voice asks, as he thwumps heavily into the bed. "No. But if it's just random waves of pain, surely I can handle that. I don't need her help to fix my problems. She worries because I'm MORTAL, I'm too weak to deal with you? To deal with this? I'm intending to prove her wrong. You may have laid the groundwork, but I'm taking it from here. From now on, I'm doing this MY way. 'Cause that wasn't it."

A/N

Something wicked this way comes...