Upon opening the entrance, Scar immediately spotted a lump in the bed. Bingo. He was about to move in when Mumbo grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wait." He whisper yelled, his face full of panic and worry. "Look— I know how this looks! But I can explain! I swear!"

The scarred man took one more look over at the stowaway before replacing the blocks and wheeling backwards. He gave Mumbo a look to ask him to tell this supposed explanation.

"Look— I... I know I shouldn't have snuck him here, but...!" Mumbo began to ramble, beginning to sway side to side, then walk back and forth with him playing with his fingers. "Look, he was desperate! And— and well, it's just like any of us, ain't it? He needs a safe place to stay, and— I was going to tell!! I promise! I just— wanted to get him comfortable first..." hearing his own words made him realize that he really had messed up. His eyes lowered to his shuffling feet, feeling the weight of silence with the exception of the noise of his shoes scrapping against the floor.

"It's okay, Mumbo. I understand." Scar assured at last, placing a hand on his heart as he met the Brit's gaze. "You were... misguided, but any of us would have helped him." His words were enough for the tension to ease from the guilty man's shoulders.

"Thank you, Scar..." he breathed in a whisper.

"But you need to know that I need to tell the others." The usually silly man said, determination lighting in his eyes. It was enough to immediately return that doomed feeling to Mumbo. "They deserve to know. You know they do. In fact— I'll be honest with you. Xisuma sent me to find them." His eyes glanced at the false wall.

"H-he tricked me?" Mumbo asked himself, taking a step back. He shook his head; he should have known. Onto the more important issue, he began, "Scar, this man— he's had so many panic attacks and things already! He's... he's terrified of being found! If he learned that thirty people knew where he was...!" He sucked in a breath. "Look— I tried to tell him that we're all nice, but he wouldn't believe me! The poor guy's traumatized.."

As much as Scar knew how important it was to keep the others informed, he couldn't help but feel sympathy for this little scared man. He still believed what Mumbo did was wrong, but now he could see why he did it at least. His eyes shone sympathy, remembering how nervous he had been two years ago. Even when he was supposedly dead, he was afraid of being recognized, for being brought into that life again. Even now, that feeling lingering whenever he left Hermitcraft.

"Then we won't let him know... yet." Scar decided. "We can sort the details out later, with all the Hermits." Whatever they decided, they had to decide together. It was only fair, it's how they handled nearly everything, despite having an admin. The look he gave made Mumbo gulp. Having had said everything he had needed to, he pushed himself to the elevator again before leaving without another word.

✧✰✧

"What did you find?" Xisuma asked after light suddenly flooded through his door, dispelling much of the darkness. He knew it must be Joe; the American was his partner since he often took ahold of admin duties in his place. Only he would enter without knocking (with exception to villagers, but he'd be surprised if one could find themselves all the way in here.)

The man only shook his head. "Not much, I'm afraid." He only sighed as he shut the door, turned on the much needed redstone lamp and came to join Xisuma. He took the chair nearby with him so he could sit face-to-face with the void, whose helmet remained on the desk next to him. "Or... rather I did, but none of it really made much sense." He itched the top of his head.

Xisuma couldn't help but frown. Joe could usually find enough information about any subject he requested. "What did you find?" He asked again, hoping the breadcrumbs would help at least.

"Well, I first tried looking into Grian." Joe began. "That was a dead end. The only thing I could find was a human who had the same name who lived over two hundred years ago. No mention of wings or other added appendages. All it led me to was some traveling group called Crafted Movie that disbanded, and Yandere High School, which also closed. Don't think that Grian is this one." The man wearing glasses paused before he continued. "So I looked into angels instead." The way he had said it carried weight that said he may have found something there.

"And what did that lead you?" X asked, searching into the man's eyes.

"Angels are said to be the children of Watchers." Joe explained, his face churning into a weird look. "But at the same time, Watchers are said to be a celibate species, so they shouldn't have children. You see— the difficulty is, Watchers are very elusive; no credible source has ever seen one. Some people claim that they've seen statues of them on Update Days, but I don't know if those sources are credible either."

Xisuma couldn't help to hum as he knitted his fingers together and rested his chin on them. He had almost feeling the beginnings of a headache as he tried to wrap his head around this. The information was disordered at best, conflicting in nature. "Are there any other leads?" He asked.

Joe could only shake his head. "The only mention of angels are in Watcher folklore. I've spent a great deal researching everything I could, but everything just seems so... fabricated. Unreliable. For example, one source says that Watchers have no physical form and when they speak to someone, they sound like someone the player knows and cares about." He explained. "On the other hand, some sources say they'd never speak to a human. I've even seen sources that Watchers are just regular players in disguise, and it is a blood lineage. Some say that they represent themselves with purple, others white, others black. There are those who say that they don't even exist; that the updates come on their own, or that the Listeners killed them long ago. Some crazy people even claim that this... everything we know to be real actually is fake, this is some sort of simulated reality in the form of a-- I don't know. A show? A book? And the Watchers simply enjoy watching us like we do for our favorite series. And there's about a hundred other rumors I've heard." Needless to say, it was a mess so scrambled that nothing could be gleaned from it.

"So in other words, he might be associated with the Watchers but it's equally as likely he isn't." Xisuma interpreted, causing Joe to nod. With so many discrepancies, it was unfair to say that this angel was with the Watchers. Even if he was, there was not really anything that they could learn from that fact. And so, in the end, they didn't know anything about Grian. 

✧✰✧

"Mumbo, you did what now?!" Iskall exclaimed, slamming his palms against the wooden table and standing. He now stood along the sea of hermits sitting around the large meeting table.

"I-he was desperate! I was going to tell you! Promise!" Mumbo waved his hands. He too had the itch to stand, but he fought it, choosing to squirm in his seat instead as if there was an edermite in his pants.

"That's not cool Mumbo, not cool." Cub echoed beside Scar, shaking his head.

"What if he's a badie?" Stress asked, hugging herself as she stared at the wood in front of her.

"We have rules, Mumbo. We know you care but-" Tango began, but it was X who cut all of them off.

"Guys, guys." He yelled, quieting them all at once. He took a breath in the midst of the silence, letting him change his tone. "What Mumbo did was bad. It's true. But we have to move past that and decide what will happen now. I had Joe do some research on Grian, but he couldn't find anything useful. Mumbo, what do you know about him?"

For the second time, everyone turned towards the Brit. "Well," he began, chuckling nervously as he adjusted his pose for the fifteenth time in the last five seconds. "Admittedly, not much... Grian is really injured, probably from the firewall. He's spent almost the entire time in bed sleeping. He seems... scared, and paranoid, but he hasn't told me of what. He begged me to keep him secret— he was so scared... I'm sorry..." his fidgeting slowed as he stared at his lap. He knew he had messed up, but he couldn't help but feel bad for the mysterious man. His sorrowful look was enough to appeal to some of the others.

"I can't blame him." Impulse said, the others hesitating before nodding along. The universe could be a scary place sometimes; that was a lesson each of them had learned on their own. That was how they all came to this place.

"A lot of us were messed up when we found our way here. A lot of us still are." A young boy said, only thirteen now. He frowned as he stared at his lap, subconsciously placing a hand on his arm, where he knew an old burn was. Beside him, Keralis gave a small smile, rubbing his back affectionately. He may have not been around much this season, but he wanted to be here for this meeting at least. 

"It's okay, Princess." He whispered, his tone growing whimsical as always and his smile goofy. It was enough to make the little Xb giggle; it always did.

"Right," he grinned, "but what I mean is, we should give him a chance. He deserves it, just like all of us." His gaze turned to the others. 

"Wise beyond your years..." X shook his head with a small grin of his own. Even when he joined at the cusp of turning ten, he had fit right in with those who were decades older than him. Such a fact never ceased to amaze the void.

"You're right, Princess." The wide eyed man replied, giving his basically adopted son a side hug.

Despite Keralis' positivity, the boy was also met with a "tsh," the sound of iron boots hitting the table. On the other side sat a knight, decked out in iron armor like always. He had set his feet up on the table, crossing them along with his arms. His plume burned dubiously. "Your nativity will get you all killed one day. Just how many criminals and street rats are you going to invite onto this supposedly impenetrable world anyway?"

"Hels..." Cleo glared from a few seats down. She sounded like a mother scolding, but it seemed enough to appease the evil alter ego. He only sighed, moving his feet back onto the floor as the flame on his helmet lessened. The red color from his eyes drained, turning them back to their blue color. The remaining Wels sat quietly. 

"Alright then." X cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to himself. "Is there any other concerns?" He looked to each and every Hermit, finding that there was no sign of hesitance in any of them. He relaxed when he was sure that they were all on the same page. "Great. Now to create a plan of action..."

✧✰✧

Yeah, so Keralis wished Xb an 18th birthday this year (2023), meaning he joined when he was 9 years old-

Also I forgot the time I referenced Lizzie in this-