Memory

Memory didn't require remembering to exist. Memory could wait dormant, metastasizing in silence. What he had forgotten might dismantle or appropriate what surrounded it. A mass of loaded neurons fired across gray matter, set off with a squelch of wet distortion and biofeedback until there appeared those nameless faces lost in the void, lost as from a great distance, he had stared helplessly into the world of their anguish, their screaming and begging for what had once been his name: Grian

Xisuma stood at the window, arms crossed behind his back with gauntleted hands clutching at his bracers. The netherite gleamed a soft purple, iridescent shimmers protecting the soft skin of the Admin from harm.

The man had taken vigil in quiet contemplation for quite some time. More often than not, the admin stood facing the tinted glass with a heavy frown behind his thickened visor. He watched irregardless of the time of day, uncaring of the weather and rare lightning storms.

Keralis sighed, slumped lazily across a pool lounger he had hauled from his island oasis. It was difficult to work in his office when every moment he glanced out his window, he could see Xisuma standing at the glass motionlessly. After a few days of this nonsense, Keralis knew he had to step in.

"You need to take a break, Shashwammy," the man cooed to him, beckoning towards a matching poolside lounger he had hauled from his home. Blinking slyly, the man asked: "take a seat, rest your eyes for a bit! You'll feel much better after a little rest, no?"

"I can't," Xisuma said stiffly, gazing through the tinted glass, "I can't afford any moment of carelessness."

"Ah, but you'll be careless if you are tired," Keralis argued with a huff, plucking a bottle of chilled melon juice from the cooler he brought with him. "Just a moment, what if I watch our feathered friend."

Xisuma started a word of protest. Keralis huffed and stood, snatching another cold bottle before he swaggered to the Admin's side, draping one hand across the armoured shoulders. He held the bottle teasingly in front of the man, swishing the pink juice back and forth. "Take a break, Sheshwam! Leave it to Papa K!"

Xisuma scoffed slightly, reluctantly plucking the bottle between three fingers. He held it at a lost for a brief moment of time, looking adoringly perplexed at what to do with it.

"It helps if you drink it," Keralis teased the man, offering a single exaggerated wink before he giggled quietly. Xisuma rolled his eyes, sighing fondly before he allowed himself to be herded towards the empty lounge chair.

"I'm going, I'm going," Xisuma mumbled, settling himself heavily. His thickened netherite protective armour forced the chair to creak, groaning under his considerable weight.

"Don't you worry about a thing, you sweet-face!" Keralis crowed, spinning on his feet to stare determinedly through the tinted glass to the weird misshapen figure that was Scout. Keralis huffed, his breath momentarily fogging the glass, "I will watch this creature with my own two big eyes!"

"I know you will," Xisuma said to him, shaking his head. With a small sigh and a wistful smile, the admin reached around the side panel of his helmet to deactivate the pressure seal and allow it to be removed. Keralis fidgeted slightly at the noise, recognizing it obviously 

Xisuma sighed at the taste of the melon juice- Keralis obviously had created the drink himself. The man had remarked on a few occasions how he wanted to open a cocktail bar but simply hadn't the time yet. The man had a certain knack for it, even for nonalcoholic drinks.

"What about this creature worries you?" Keralis asked, leaning closer to squint through the glass. He could see the vague shape of the creature, huddled in the furthest corner motionlessly.

"I've never seen anything like it," Xisuma said, his voice thin and tinny without the synthetic speakers all hermits had come to know him by. The man sounded shockingly frail, although it was deceptive at best. Keralis did not turn to look over his shoulder, respecting Xisuma's privacy. The fact Xisuma had willingly shown Keralis his face before did not mean he was comfortable in this exact moment to be seen without his helmet.

Keralis hummed, peering into the tinted cube. "It is odd, I heard it has an effect?"

"Doc confirmed it, and Etho gave some sort of explanation for it," X said, sighing through his nose, "it isn't a status effect I've ever heard of. It may be reacting to the player code itself."

"Oh, that would be strange," Keralis agreed, bouncing on his toes, "it makes you anxious, yes?"

"Something like that," Xisuma agreed. The soft clink of an empty bottle being set back into the cooler alerted Keralis that his friend's break was quickly ending. 

"I have never heard of an effect like this, the panic," Keralis hastily added, trying to prolong his friend's break further.

Xisuma paused, tilting his head slightly as he glanced at the glass. After a moment of thought, Xisuma said: "Well, I've heard of some admins experimenting with different impacts. It reminds me of what I've heard of frenzy, but doesn't fit. It isn't…it isn't anger, it's more heightened paranoia."

Keralis hummed, turning his head to look at Xisuma only after he heard the pressurized click of his helmet secured in place. Keralis cocked one hip, blinking slyly at the man and asked, "ah, so it is scared?"

Xisuma stared at him, dumbfounded. Awkwardly, the man looked between Keralis and the container housing Scout, and back once more. With a small amount of shame, Xisuma admitted tightly, "you know? I think you're right."

Keralis was a man on a mission, and he knew only one person capable of radiating a soothing presence enough to pacify a raging ravager. There was only one hermit able to tame their new confusing friend, however finding him was a little bit of a challenge.

Keralis flew with two goals in mind. First, heading southwest into the boggy swamp to locate his trio of potential recruits. It wasn't hard to spot them, following the hard dirt path winding between mountains and birch forests, drifting through pillaring trees to end up in the shallow mud and clay of the swamp.

"Hello?" Keralis crowed, swooping carefully between tall spindly trees nurtured into their unique form. Glancing at each perfectly coaxed branch, there was only one woman capable of such a feat: Gemini.

"Hello?" Keralis asked, landing in a slight stumble on the packed dirt outside a shocking ravine descending far into the ground. The nether portal from his first glance appeared to be floating on an island above a great crater, leading into a subterranean cavern. "Ladies? Sweet beautiful faces?"

With a slight whoop echoing across the rocky walls, two elytra ascended with a burst of fireworks from below the ground. Keralis squeaked, leaping in surprise at the sound and sight. At the apex of the climb, both women crested and twirled downwards with elytra spread, gliding into a gentle descent to land on the loamy soil and thick moss.

"Keralis!" Gemini said, clapping her hands together with a loud satisfying smack. She bounced on her feet, netherite gleaming around her handmade slippers custom designed for the wet environment. Her hair had bits of leaves trapped in them, the small antlers protruding upwards like a tiara on her brow.

"Oh, 'ello Keralis," FalseSymmetry greeted, cocking her head to one side. Her hair was tamed in a bun secured with a thick leather thong, much more suitable than Gemini's muddy appearance. Keralis eyed the thick gleaming broadsword on her hip, shimmering with promises of pain and respawn.

"Hello beautiful ladies," Keralis greeted with a broad smile and a slight giggle, "how ah, how would you two like to help me a bit with a teeny tiny project?"

Gemini huffed, cocking her hip and wrinkling her nose. Keralis hadn't remembered how short the woman was until moments like these, where the sharp tips of her antlers were the perfect height to poke one of his eyes.

"We'll I'd love to," Gemini said, elongating the word with emphasis to convey that she was not interested in truth, "but I've got bog business! Moss won't plant itself, Keralis!"

False tapped her fingers along her arm, nails wrapping softly against the leather and iron inlay on her custom armour designed for her unique fighting style. False met Keralis' eyes, her own scrutiny causing the man to fidget under her steely expression.

"I could help," False offered sweetly, smiling slightly as Gemini cackled at her willingness. The other smacked her hand on False's pauldrons, twirling on her heels to leap back into the abyss below them.

"I do hope you weren't lookin' for Stress," False apologized shyly.

"Oh, no no no," Keralis hastily tried to correct, lifting both arms defensively, "you are perfect! Perfect False! You are lovely!"

"Aww, thank you," False said bashfully, shifting her weight from one side to the other, "what can I help you with, Keralis?"

"Ah, well you know ah, the creature? Scout?" Keralis asked, waiting for the slow nod before he continued with his hasty explanation, "yes? Okay well I thought, wow! What if we talked to it, good idea, yes? And I thought, who better than dah-dah-dah- XBcrafted himself!"

False shifted her head, curiosity burning behind her focused gaze. She nodded slowly, cuing for Keralis to continue speaking.

"Right! So then I thought, hmm…who better than one of the loveliest ladies in all this server? No other than False!"

"You want me to protect XB?" False asked, tapping fingers shifting from her arm to the thick sword on her hip, "well, I suppose that isn't too much of a bother."

"Huzzah!" Keralis cheered, whooping loudly in delight, "you are lovely! The loveliest False! Lets go get XB now!"

"He should be at Horsehead farms," False said with a small smile, nodding in a southern direction. She plucked a rocket from her inventory, dancing on her feet gracefully in preparation for the shift in inertia, "I'll guide us if you'd prefer."

"Wonderful," Keralis beamed, bowing clumsily for the blonde woman to take the lead. False chuckled softly, taking one step forward before curling into a forward spread and ascending like a bird. False did not wait for Keralis, she expected him to follow just as any commander would.

Flying to Horsehead farms was an exciting path, winding above and over countless stretches of untouched land. They flew, False lagging slightly to allow Keralis to catch up and keep pace with her.

Pointing below, they soared above the dark red rooftops of a sprawling village below them. False pointed to each individual building, naming their function with pride in her voice.

"If you look over there," False said warmly, outlining a square protruding from the forestline of dark oak, "there's Leaf Spleef, made by Cub."

Keralis had yet to play it. False flew, arcing her spine in the shadow of protruding mountains of a shattered savannah erupting from the landscape. The faint familiar rooftop of Keralis' Pass-an-Gas glinted slightly in the sunshine, nestled at the base of Etho and Iskall's mountain home.

Eastward they flew until the stamped dirt path exposed itself from the covered forest across the grassland along the coast. False reoriented herself, traveling above the dirt path north along the ocean's coast, pointing out IJevin's monstrosity of a build carved into the ground on their left.

It was beautiful to fly so openly during the day. Keralis had considered taking the Nether for quick transport, but the serenity of a long flight was unmatched. False had a similar thought as they followed the bank, bending eastward once more along the thin landbridge connecting the eastern peninsula and the main continent.

Tango's turtle farm nestled itself in the sand below them, the large green animals sleeping happily in the sunlight. The Eastern Pass-an-Gas nestled itself beside Cleo's graveyard, disguising its true bee-farm function from an eagle eye. Joe's flower stall speckled the landscape with the bright colours of specially dyed wool, hiding the bushels of flowers in cool shade. Further they flew past the growing castle erupting from the landscape carved from rock and placed lovingly by Cleo and Joe since the start of this world. Further, over the shaded forest and dark-oak docks spanning across rivers and tributaries until finally the enormous horse-head motifs grew from the dirt. False pivoted her elytra, swooping downwards between the chestnut horse's ears with a rattling snap of exploding gunpowder. Keralis was not as confident with his flying abilities, not enough to twirl through the sculpted statues' open mouth.

Keralis stumbled to the ground, feeling his communicator vibrate in his pocket. False landed next to him with no fumble in her step, paying attention only to her communicator which apparently had sent a message. Keralis couldn't fathom the coordination to simultaneously send a message whilst landing- it was well beyond his coordination.

"I hope you don't mind, I sent a message to XB to see if he was here," False said apologetically, sliding her communicator back into it's specialized holster on the outer side of her hip. It was strategically placed, easy to grab in an emergency situation. "He hasn't responded, but I suppose it would be no problem to walk around for a while?"

"Not at all, pretty lady," Keralis said, a little frazzled and dizzy from such a quick descent. "Lead the way!"

They explored for a short moment of time, XB responding to their private message with a hasty apologetic explanation that he was some distance away but returning quickly. XB was anxious at heart, shy but not timid. He had a passion for creating that Keralis always admired, and a heart of gold that breached through his introverted exterior.

"XB!" Keralis cheered at the sight of the man, manifesting through the veil of the Nether. The man blinked, disoriented momentarily from the shift of light and temperature, before he spotted both False and Keralis standing outside the stalls.

"Oh," XB said breathily, hurrying down the steps hastily, "I'm so sorry, I was mining and hadn't noticed your message at first."

"It was not a problem," False said, smiling.

"Well, I hope everything is okay," XB said, gaze flickering between the two with slight nervous tension, "is…is there something I can do for you?"

Keralis beamed, striding forward. For the slightest sliver of a second, XB tensed at the sudden movement. The introvert relaxed himself, averting his eyes shamefully at reacting in such a way. Keralis ignored it, XB was always a bit unsure with social interactions but never needed to feel shame from his natural reaction.

"XB!" Keralis enthused happily, gently patting the man's shoulder with one hand, "you are just the lovely face I wish to see! Thank you for being here! I ah, I was looking for you to help with something!"

"Me?" XB parroted, somewhat stunned by the pointed words, "I- well I'm nothing special-."

"You are very special, my friend," Keralis told him honestly, "you are the kindest man around! You are sweet enough to make bees angry at your niceness!"

False shrugged one shoulder, smiling fondly at the interaction as XB looked at her desperate to escape the praise. She did not miss the embarrassed flush painting his cheeks below his scruff.

"You know of the creature of Boatem?" Keralis asked XB, dropping his hand from the man's shoulder. 

XB slowly nodded, looking very overwhelmed but not yet stressed by Keralis' very demanding presence. Everything about Keralis was loud, but not unwelcome.

"I- yes. There were a few messages in chat, is everyone okay? Can I do anything?"

That was a reason why Keralis loved XB, the man instantly thought of others long before he thought of himself.

"The creature, Scout, is a shy thing," Keralis explained rapidly, clicking his tongue as he scrambled to find his words, "it needs a friend! And I thought, who better than XB!"

XB gawked, blinking rapidly as he tried to understand the request. He swallowed thickly, glancing to False and the obvious weapon on her hip.

"I…uh," XB said weekly, looking a bit faint, "you…want me to…talk to it?"

"Yes!" Keralis exclaimed happily, "If I were afraid, I'd always wish to see you, XB! You are so kind, you could calm a Wither!"

XB chuckled anxiously, running one hand through his hair, "I ah, I don't know about that,"

"You don't need to!" Keralis shushed him, twirling on his feet, "it was a thought! I wanted to try something, Sheshwammy has been so busy I wanted to see if perhaps this Scout would like a talk!"

XB exhaled in a rush, shifting his weight, "I ah, I mean…I could give it a try."

"I'll be right there with you," False said to him gently, tapping her sword with a pointed look. XB smiled at her, some tension leaking from his body but the nervous nausea tinting his skin pale.

"Me too!" Keralis said happily, "nothing could go wrong!"

Fear was an interesting thing. It formed below your skin, parallel to each vessel in your body. It squirmed not unlike fish trapped in dwindling tidepools, aware of their impending doom but not when and not how. It crept in obviously- you knew when fear grew and you knew what you were afraid of, but the strength of it was never something you could predict.

Anxiety was similar, looming and present in every moment. For XB, he felt the odd pressure of expectations and failure on his back from the moment he stepped outside to the moment he slipped into his bed. It was an unwelcome friend, but one he knew well and had accepted years before when it first appeared at his door.

Social anxiety was a constant. Anxiety and nerves were a state of living, one he knew and one he combated with careful tactics and alternative means. 

It was a shock when False stumbled, her body rolling through the waves of tension and anxiety. Her grip tightened along the handle of her sword, creaking the leather hilt and tracing its pomel with one thumb. Keralis winced as they drew closer to the tinted box, wearily swaying with a pale complexion.

XB paused, reexamined himself, and felt no different now than he did at home.

"Oh, that's…" False whispered, wincing once more. She drew something from her pocket, potions of regeneration and poisons for combat. Glancing over her shoulder, she fidgeted and scowled at no source in particular.

"Ah, yes," Keralis said, shaking himself like one large excited dog, "that is Scout! He is ah, very scared we think."

"I don't notice anything," XB said, then immediately regretted ever speaking. Keralis and False looked at him, he averted his eyes hastily.

"Ah, that is good then!" Keralis told him happily, clapping his hands together once more, "I will tell Shashwammy to take a break!"

False nodded him off, peering through the tinted glass. Above them on a platform constructed by Tango, Keralis went to dismiss the current watch. Presumably Xisuma would take a break for as long as they were there.

"Is it that bad?" XB asked quietly, curiosity burning. False glanced at him, then back at the glass square.

"It's uncomfortable," she admitted simply, "a bit like combat."

"Oh," XB said awkwardly, regretting his words. 'You should have said something better than just 'oh', you're a hermit!'

"It's okay," False said to him, clearly picking up on his nerves, "I'll be there to help you, would you like me to come inside or stay just outside the door?"

XB wet his lips, trying to think of the best option. What would he do if he was in there? Having False would certainly make his nerves worse, especially the sight of an obvious weapon.

"Outside," he decided after a moment, "I don't want to intimidate him."

"Alright," False said with a short nod, shivering randomly from stress, "if you need help or want me to come inside, give me this signal-."

She demonstrated something that looked very much like an official signal. XB clumsily followed it, feeling very out of place with a combat signal on his hand. False nodded when he replicated it adequately, drawing her sword and equipping a bow and quiver on her body for quick combat. XB swallowed at the sight, feeling nervous just from her pure intimidation factor.

"XB!" Keralis called from above them on the second level platform, "go ahead, you beautiful man!"

"Okay!" XB shouted hoarsely, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers.

He stood at the door, an iron door with an external lever to allow access, and placed a shulker from his inventory. Sorting through the objects on his person, he set aside unnecessary things- some dirt, rock, a few dozen flowers. He set aside his weapons, lingering on keeping a torch on his person but deciding against it. False frowned at him, clearly uneasy with his lack of protection, but didn't protest. After a lingering moment, XB stripped his armour and placed that too inside his box.

"XB-," she said worriedly. He ignored her, hastily closing the box before she could convince him to put his chest plate back on.

The iron door opened with a creak, spilling sunlight through the gap. Inside the box was bright from an absurd flooring of sea-lanterns, but partially dimmed from heavy tinted glass. The air inside felt cooler, filtered somehow from below ground. XB didn't know who crafted the enclosure, but they made it with all factors considered.

His nerves didn't increase, but they didn't decrease either. XB swallowed, his mouth dry, and stepped further into the box. 

He saw Scout, the only thing inside the box beyond some oddly placed clumps of red wool pushed through the smallest iron trapdoor in a wall. The thing did not move, a ball of weird feathers with no arrangement or orientation. It hurt XB's brain to try and fathom- how were some feathers as long as his hand and others as long as his leg? Where did they go? How were some pointing in opposite directions? What was it?

XB swallowed once more, then hoarsely said in a quiet near-whisper, "hello."

The thing did not move, but XB had a good idea that the creature was very aware of his presence.

"I'm uh, I'm XB," he introduced himself, shuffling forward softly on his feet. The creature did not move as XB shifted to the middle of the room, settling himself into a clumsy sprawl on the floor. The feathery ball was pressed into a far corner, barely moving beyond that of a slight shift as it breathed.

'Just give it time,' XB thought to himself, steadying his anxiety as he always did. He breathed carefully, holding it and releasing it gently. After a few seconds of this, he felt inspired to once more speak. "Are you Scout?"

It didn't move, but that was alright. Sometimes it took a while before XB felt comfortable enough to speak, he gathered it was the same.

"I'm not going to come closer," XB said softly, tracing one hand along his shoes to trace the seam mindlessly, "I'm right here. I'm going to keep talking so you know where I am, but I'm not going to come any closer."

It didn't respond, and XB smiled to himself. It was nice actually, being in the enclosure. The tinted glass gave a great illusion of privacy, the cold mountain air felt blissful compared to the heavy heat of the sun. He should invest in making something similar.

"It's a wonderful day outside," XB said in a gentle murmur, thinking back to what he had done that day, "I went to the Nether to get some quartz. I was thinking it would look likely in a new project of mine. The weather here is much nicer than the Nether."

And so, XB talked. He continued to speak in a gentle roll of sound, never increasing his volume beyond that of a quiet mumble. It didn't strain him, and after a while XB himself felt more relaxed simply by the exercise.

He didn't know if Scout felt any bit relaxed, but XB felt that something was changing. 

XB was not looking at it when it moved, but he heard the sound of feathers across the ground. XB did not look, knowing that eyes were sometimes the worst pressure in the world. He waited, feeling the air swirl slightly as something shifted- something that keenly told him below his normal levels of stress: I am watching you.

XB smiled slightly and repeated, "hello."

It looked at him, watching him, and XB continued to fiddle with his shoelaces. He waited, the creature clearly expecting something from him. Then, it moved again.

It did something significantly greater, settling after a moment of orientation. When XB looked, he kept his eyes on the gentle glow of sea lanterns until he saw the edges of Scout's body, then slowly observed what had changed. The confusing orientation of feathers made more sense, as from the disorienting ball emerged more structured appendages in various states of splay or fold.

"Hello," XB repeated gently, the creature shifting through something reminiscent of a shudder. "You're alright," XB whispered softly, "you're okay here."

It must have been curled in on itself uncomfortably at first. Once repositioned, it had stretched out on its stomach or its version of a torso. From its back, where a tail may emerge on a reptile sprouted two enormous wings folded clumsily with long trailing feathers all broken and dirtied. On the middle of its back, parallel to the protruding bone of a spine, stretched another set of wings where a saddle would sit on a horse. These wings were larger, pointed and spread to disguise its body further- yet both sets paled in comparison to the enormous spread protruding from between its shoulder blades like a true avian. These wings looked the most anatomically correct, and were potentially capable of flight if not for the strange contorted posture they rested in due to a hideous fusion of its first joint and what looked like a human elbow. There was a hollow between the two bones, where separation should occur but could no longer do so.

"Hello," XB whispered again, feeling pity swell in his chest sickly, "you're alright, it's alright."

It was hiding its head below the enormous front wings, arching its neck with more bones sticking out from its back. The poor thing was emaciated, hungry and sick with old feathers trapped and matted with mud and dirt, old pins trapped from broken pin feathers with their casing still adhered. 

"Hello," XB repeated, shifting himself sideways to sit facing the wall instead of the creature. He knew it was watching him somehow, perhaps through a different sense than sight, but he wanted it to know he wasn't going to press further.

He waited for ages, at some point stretching out in his own lazy sprawl as exhaustion pulled on him. He felt safe oddly, unconcerned with being attacked by the enormous creature. It was scared and nervous, but so was XB and that was his normal state. He dozed, napping before stretching and pulling a lunch from his pocket to eat.

He didn't know if False was still outside the tinted glass, the glare made it impossible to see through. He didn't know if Xisuma was back or if Keralis was lingering on the periphery. All XB knew was a very scared creature that he wanted to help.

"Hey," he whispered softly, noticing the slightly splayed position of the creature in one corner. It had stretched out at some point, still alarmed and scared of him. XB repeated, "hey there."

It tensed when he scooted the slightest bit closer. Its feathers vibrated, trembling through a muscular exhaustion that came with atrophy. XB stilled himself, only one small bit closer, and went back to his relaxed state of absentminded daydreaming. Eventually, Scout relaxed and XB repeated the same movement.

He drew closer, until he could reach out and touch the thing. It still avoided him, pressing itself as far away as possible. XB didn't want to touch it, but he wanted it to know he wasn't trying to scare it further.

"Hello," XB said, smiling as the entity slumped into the floor. Finally, XB reached into his backpack and withdrew his original goal.

The red wool blanket was soft, washed by hand until the knitted material had felted into a single thick fabric that XB had used numerous times when stressed or nervous. It smelled of flowers, gentle and fragrant and felt like sunshine. He let it settle on his lap, waiting for Scout to settle after the nervous tension that came from any form of change. He waited until the vibrating feathers from trembling muscles relaxed, then stood.

What he had accomplished reversed itself immediately. The splayed lower wings retracted protectively, forming some sort of heavily broken shell around what XB presumed was its lower legs. The middle wings mantled and arched, protecting itself and splaying- had XB not expected such a reaction it would have easily thrown him off.

But XB was determined, and he knew sometimes when you were panicking and scared, you would lash out when in truth all you needed was a nice warm blanket.

He tossed one edge of the red blanket as far upwards as he could, allowing gravity to do the rest. The angle wasn't optimal since a good portion of Scout was pressed flush with the wall, but it was enough for him to adequately cover something. The blanket sank heavily, blocking light under its thick fuzzy surface. It landed with an ungainly fwump, half splayed on Scout's presumed upper back.

Scout froze, utterly still. XB ignored it, mentally repeating his soothing chant: It'll feel better after this, It'll feel better after this.

"Let me get the other corner," XB murmured softly, essentially a whisper. He grabbed the other corner, tossing that as best he could. He felt a bit like he was trying to throw a duvet over a bed from only one side- constantly struggling but the effort was there.

The blanket settled heavily on Scout, compressing it under the gentle pressure. XB made sure that it wasn't going to slide off, then retreated exactly three steps until he was out of arm's length and settled himself on the ground. He gazed at the tinted glass wall, carefully not at Scout.

'Any second now,' XB thought, trying not to smile as the creature clearly was flummoxed by his action, 'just wait.'

XB waited. Slowly, the creature beside him moved. Like a cat exploring the underside of a blanket, it reached out with one of its limbs to shift the blanket and marveled at the resulting shift of fabric. Innocently, like a child, it adjusted and continued to do so under the protective cover of the blanket.

Transfixed, it appeared to completely forget about XB's presence until it stretched its bones with an uncomfortable crackle of stiff joints. During the movement, the outer edge of one appendage brushed the outer warm edge of XB's leg.

Scout froze, flattening itself below the blanket. It stayed still, remembering XB's proximity and presence.

XB smiled against his will, finding the entire experience oddly mystical to witness. It wasn't often he had the honor to watch something so innocent.

"Hello," XB whispered, voice even softer under Scout's obvious stress and fear. He waited, looking directly ahead with no motion to readjust himself.

'You're okay,' XB thought to himself, wetting his lips with anticipation, 'come on…'

Slowly, Scout prodded his side again. The blanket operated as a barrier between them, a veil to disguise the exact texture of Scout's appendage or limb but not the size and strength of it. XB thought it was too bony, too thin and frail from what he could feel on his outer thigh. 

"Hello," XB repeated, voice slightly louder. Scout paused, then nudged him again.

It took actual effort to not celebrate the communication. Scout may not understand him, but it clearly had formed an association between XB's voice and his greeting. XB clearly wasn't an immediate threat, and with all people and sentient creatures, trust was the first step.

"I'm XB," the man stated gently, looking straight forward. "You're Scout, I'm XB."

It waited, comprehending something behind the feathers and in its presumed brain (unless it was a slime, or a slime variant). It nudged him again, shifting below the feathers so its entire body adjusted. XB hoped it was comfortable now, resting however it preferred. XB repeated gently, "I'm XB, and you're Scout."

It nudged him slightly, withdrawing after a second. Then, it shifted in some odd way and prodded him hard.

It knocked XB over, kicking his legs out from under him. He collapsed to his side, startled by the sudden weight and force behind the shove. Scout flinched back, curling in on itself either in shame or surprise. XB blinked, then chuckled softly.

"Oh, you're just a horse, aren't you?" XB asked fondly, righting himself slowly, "you've got no idea how big you are!"

Scout waited, hesitating for some sort of reaction. Slowly, it relaxed back to the posture it was in before. The sudden jerk had shifted its blanket, forcing it to slide downwards from its head and upper set of wings, slowly sliding downwards.

XB kept his eyes averted, if Scout didn't want him to look then XB surely wouldn't. It was all about mutual respect, and Scout was learning just as much as XB was.

"I've been thinking about digging a tunnel by my base," XB said softly, musing about his new business plans in the making, "either connecting some of the outer farms to my megabase, or somewhere close by. I think it would be quite nice to have a foot-path, don't you think?"

And so, XB talked. 

Time rotated on its axis, distorted inside the gentle hazy space that was Scout's enclosure. XB relaxed, at some point eating his dinner or lunch or whatever and however long it had been. Scout stayed there, adjusting and accommodating XB's presence and personality the longer time stretched on.

Scout was struggling to understand, his brain operating sluggishly but with increasing efficiency. Things were coming quicker to him, thoughts reacting with less delay.

Remembrance came with its unwelcome rapture, bright and searing with knowledge of his crimes. There had been a number of them, but he was careful not to think too often in specifics of their titles and shapes and so many eyes. The given name was more than that: mere words elevated to description, words elevated to knowledge of what a thing was. All power resided in the giver of a name and a giver of words, without such a gift all things were a simple type and a simple herd of what was him and what wasn't. 

Anonymous then, anonymous now. All things existed separate from him, or him. There was no distinction, no recognition or awareness beyond that of essentials. It had worked for him, it had ensured his survival in a place where no others could. 

He once knew them, but no longer remembered all the fine details. Who could possibly know all the right names for the vagueness of the world. Who knew the insufficient exact nouns and adjectives and structure that came with words. He didn't want a better system, because systems required order and structure and the emergence of higher questions.

He was nameless now, because he had unnamed each thing he saw. He was not a name, but once he had been something. A Watcher, dedicated to a philosophy of watching, of inaction except for where action was necessary.

He didn't want to remember words, he didn't want to remember names and the stories he knew of others and the stories others told about him. One day, things would repeat his simple syllables, speaking an unknown cipher to a riddle lost to time. 

He had a past but in the present it was only him who remained, him and a human sitting beside him, draping him in a warm fabric with a kindness he could not remember.

It was another bad idea, trained into him although he had long since forgotten the original lesson. He knew there would be ramifications, an unwanted outcome but the important thing he knew was to simply not ask- to not let your needs be known.

Scout shifted with a single purposeful movement, arcing high and painfully against fabric. XB gasped a soft inhale of surprise, head rotating to observe in a facsimile of awe. Scout shuddered, contorting forwards and upwards. The human had been good to him, and what did it reward him? The human had been good to him, and it meant more precisely because it would reward him nothing.

"Oh," XB whispered, struggling to assign a word or thought to the mindless observation of the thing before him. One by one, each element of the scene came into focus, the sharp angles of the room's corner, the steady glow of lanterns below their bodies, the musky smell of body odor and fear, the filth of mud and decay between feathers and skin. This is what I am, its body said. This is where I have been.

XB breathed carefully, trying his hardest not to cry. There was comfort in familiarity and this was beyond that which XB knew. He watched as Scout shifted, wings and broken body on display with an aggressive ferocity of an animal posturing in its last moments. Do you see me? Scout seemed to ask, its torso lifting and wings folding. The woolen blanket slipped lower, draping across its lap and around its second and third set of wings across its lower back. 

It's head was bowed, each vertebra protruding through its thin neck. Feathers wrapped around its skull, wings no larger than a grown man's palm pressed flush to its face and eyes. At first, XB had thought they were bandages wrapped around its face, then he imagined it to be a laurel of flowers and purplish leaves. Each wing was no larger than that of a songbird, stretched and curved tightly to shadow its face and every feature. It sat, a bastardized humanoid body grafted with feathers and wings and bones.

"Hello," XB whispered, voice tight and stressed. Anxiety thrummed through him, fear not for himself, but fear for the suffering the poor thing ultimately felt. How much pain did it feel? How long had it suffered in the damp and dark?

XB swallowed around the thickness in his throat, suddenly aware of how he felt close to crying. He repeated, "hello Scout,"

It arched forwards, humanoid arms trapped and bound to wings unnaturally, its fingers long and distorted like it had tried to remember the hands of a human but could no longer distinguish the fine details.

'No,' XB corrected himself, fighting against nausea, 'not It. He.'

An undeniably male upper torso bowed oddly. The red blanket rested on his lap, but it was not all comfort as such pleasures were sacrificed for the decency of folding either his largest wings or relaxing his human arms. Scout wasn't a mob, XB was certain of this. Scout had to be a corrected glitch, a broken bit of code trapped in an unlisted server.

"Hello," XB repeated, gaining confidence. XB had to help, he had to help. 

XB reached one hand out, palm upwards. Scout stilled, motionless as XB looked at him as gently as he could. XB waited, feeling sweat roll down his back and the compression and tightness in his chest.

"Hello Scout," XB whispered gently, wishing he would just take the hand offered. 'Come on..'

Then, Scout moved. 

The wings across his head were individual joints. XB had thought stupidly that they were decorative somehow.

The feathers trembled, contractures fighting one another as ancient songbird wingbones shook themselves open. They opened upwards and outwards with vibrating strain across filthy matted hair and purple iridescent sheen. 

"Hello," XB breathed, gazing at the face of someone lost and forgotten for far too long.

Scout mimicked in a broken whisper: "Hello"